Jewelry, Jewelry, Jewelry

As some of you know, I am not just an author--I have also been making and selling jewelry for over 25 years. I'll confess, the jewelry doesn't get nearly as much attention as it used to, because the writing has eaten my life, but I still sell it in The Artisans' Guild and now, because people asked me to, on Etsy.

There aren't very many pieces up on the Etsy shop, since it takes a long time to do it, but I did just add a few new ones. (And if you are looking for something in particular, ask me, I might have something in the gemstone you are looking for. I also do special orders for weddings and things...)

http://www.etsy.com/shop/deborahblake

Here are a couple of the ones I just added. There are more at the Etsy site. Look...shiny!

My Holiday Weekend

How was your holiday weekend? Did you do anything fun?

Saturday was mostly spent doing gardening and housework, but Sunday was a relax and have fun day (although it was, in part, research for my current series, which features a hero who is a Seneca Indian). My best pal Ellen and I went to the Fenimore Museum in Cooperstown, NY--they have a fabulous collection of Native American art, including, at the moment, the Thaw Collection, which has been traveling the country. If you live anywhere near there, I highly recommend it.

Ellen and I went for the day's event, an Iroquois Festival. (The Seneca are one of a number of tribes who are collectively known as Iroquois, in case you didn't know.) There was amazing Native singing and dancing

And the folks doing it were lovely and friendly, besides being talented. In case you can't tell, I'm the one second from the right, with my arm around the cute guy :-)

I got to see a genuine bark longhouse, one of which I used in my book, SEEDS OF CHANGE. And was happy to see I got all my facts right :-)

And there were a lot of Native American vendors selling truly beautiful crafts and art--including this barrette, which I couldn't resist. (Because I have long hair, I tend to collect cool hair doodads...and this not only was my colors, but it had stars!)

Not only did I get to enjoy the museum, the Festival, and do research at the same time, and spend the day with one of my oldest friends, it was one of those rare *perfect* upstate NY days...low 80's, not too humid, sunny, and hardly any bugs. All in all, a wonderful day.

Then on Monday, I came back to reality, and spent some time in the hot & muggy morning, pulling massive amounts of weeds to reclaim the sort-of flower beds at the front of the house. I should have taken a "before" picture--but it would just have looked like a mess of overgrown unidentifiable greenery. This is what it looked like "after."

As you can see, once the heaping wheelbarrow full of weeds was removed, there wasn't much left...guess I need to buy some perennials to plant there. It gets full sun, and of course, it is Zone 4, so not much survives the winter. Any suggestions?

I hope you had a lovely weekend too. Anything you want to share about what you did?

Broken Barn Blues--Part One "Before"

This is the barn where Deb lives:

No, I don't live IN the barn. The house is off to the right, where you can't see it. That box is a strawberry bed, in case you were wondering. And my permanent ritual circle is up behind the barn. The downstairs of the barn is a garage, where I park my car and store all my gardening stuff.

This is the roof of the barn where Deb lives:

No, it's not supposed to look like that. In case you don't know much about barns, or roofs, what you are looking at is rolled roofing (as opposed to shingles) which was put on right after I moved in, ten and a half years ago. Rolled roofing can last anywhere from five to fifteen years. In upstate NY...well, let's just say that I was lucky to get ten. You can see that it is starting to buckle and pull up. This is, in professional roofing terms, Not Good.

I got a couple of estimates from professional roofers to replace it. You might have heard the screaming and sobbing from where you are. Luckily, my friend George (the husband of my friend Robin, who I often "rent" to do jobs that are too big for me to handle or require skills sets I lack...like the ability to use power tools without slicing off an important body part) was willing to tackle the project, which included some fairly substantial structural repairs inside the barn roof as well. It is still going to cost a Crapload of Money (multiple thousands) to put a new metal roof up there, but once I do, it won't have to be redone again.

And the metal for the roof comes in different colors :-) Anyone have a guess which color I picked?

In the meanwhile, the amount of money I'm having to spend (after having to put a new roof on the HOUSE last year!) is making me twitch a little. So if the gods could see their way clear to sending me a nice multiple-book publishing contract for my new novel, which is about to go out on submission, I would really appreciate it.

So--what color do you think I am putting on the barn roof? And if you had one, what color would you use?

The Russians are Coming! And Timely Reminders

I got something cool in the mail yesterday from my publishers, Llewellyn. Check it out:

Don't worry if you're having a hard time reading it--it's not you :-) What you're looking at is the Russian version on my third book, The Goddess is in the Details You can click on the link to see what it looks like here.

How cool is that? (Giggle.)

Also, a quick reminder: I will be on the radio (an online podcast, too, or you can listen through your phone at 1-858-683-1309) Saturday night, 9-10 PM EST at http://drjohnradio.com/

And my next online witchcraft class (also useful for those writing witchy characters) starts Monday morning. But registrations closes at 6 PM EST Sunday night, so if you wanted to take it, better go sign up now!
 Workshop Info and Sign Up

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend,
Deborah heading out to the garden

Live from New York, It's Me...

New York State, that is. No, I'm not going to be on Saturday Night Live (I wish). But I am going to be on the Dr. John radio show, where he discusses all sorts of paranormal and unusual stuff. Any guesses which category I fall under?

I'll be talking live with him this Saturday night, 9-10 PM, EST. You can tune in and listen online, if you've got nothing better to do with your Saturday night. Feel free to wear your jammies and have a glass of wine!

http://drjohnradio.com/

A Cat for Every Window

Now that the weather is warming up and I can finally open windows again after a long (and stuffy) winter, I am amused to see that the cats have apparently been as eager for this event as I have been.

Of course, each cat has his or her favorite window--and gods help the other cat who dares to try and sit there.

 Minerva prefers the bathroom window.

 Mystic likes the living room window. Probably because it is large enough to accommodate his bulk.

Samhain, on the other hand, insists on the kitchen window, despite the fact that she has to cross the (off limits) counter to get there. Still, it does keep her safe from Mystic, so I let her get away with it. There's no way Mystic would fit up here!

Of course, there are cats who don't care about windows...like Angus, who decided to stretch out on the dining room table, despite the "no cats on tables" rule. When I scolded him, he gave me a look that I'm pretty sure meant, "But MOM, this is where the sun is!"

I hope you are all having as much fun with your "kids" as I have with mine.

Oh, and don't forget, there is only a week left to sign up for the next online class. Herbal Magick & Kitchen Alchemy -- it won't be given again until next year.

Murmuration: The Magic of Nature

I've seen this a few places online before, but a friend sent it to me again, so I thought I'd share.

Murmuration

– here’s another mystery of nature: No one knows why they do it. Yet each fall, thousands of starlings dance in the twilight above England and Scotland. The birds gather in shape-shifting flocks called murmurations, having migrated in the millions from Russia and Scandinavia to escape winter’s frigid bite. Scientists aren’t sure how they do it, either. The starlings' murmurations are manifestations of swarm intelligence, which in different contexts is practised by schools of fish, swarms of bees and colonies of ants. As far as I am aware, even complex algorithmic models haven’t yet explained the starlings’ aerobatics, which rely on the tiny birds' quicksilver reaction time of under 100 milliseconds to avoid aerial collisions—and predators—in the giant flock. Despite their tour de force in the dusky sky, starlings have declined significantly in the UK in recent years, perhaps because of a decline in suitable nesting sites. The birds still roost in several of Britain’s rural pastures, however, settling down to sleep (and chatter) after their evening ballet. Two young ladies were out for a late afternoon canoe ride and fortunately one of them remembered to bring her video camera. What they saw was a wonderful murmuration display, caught in the short video - URL is below. Watch the variation of colour and intensity of the patterns that the birds make in proximity to one other. And take a look at the girl in the bow of the canoe watching the aerial display. Enjoy.   Murmuration