Poco Mountain Girl

Happy Father’s Day to this raght here man. He is cranking it out in Washington State at US Open Golf, leading a team to connect the event to the online world.  We miss him so much and wish he was here with us (or that we were there with him!) Lots of love to you, from all your kids and your girl.

And happy Father’s Day to my own Papa, who never liked celebrating such an arbitrarily sanctioned day, but was the best father I could ever have, just the same.  Love you and hope we see you soon, waaaaay over there in NY. 🙂

These almost-summer days are full to bursting.  The weather has changed, and suddenly we’re soaking up these amazing days from sunup (4 am) to sundown (after 9 pm).  Yesterday in Boulder it was 100 degrees, and back home in the mountains, an unbelievable 80 degrees.  In these last few days before David comes home, we’re…

making little mice

and watercolor paintings

“Mama, do you know I love to make pictures?”

loving our new fridge 🙂  The old one was on the fritz 🙁

wading in Boulder Creek

and going home dirty

to make summer dinners and berry popsicles

and read books on the porch.  (We love Esperanza.)

After nine months of snow and winter, we’re not about to let summer slip by unnoticed!

I’m finally getting around to an update on my artist’s residency–ta-da!

I taught my first jewelry class, Celtic Designs, two Saturdays ago.  Since then we’ve been a little busy around here (David leaving to Seattle, Mimi coming to visit for a week, etc.) and I’m just now putting together some photos.  These are pieces I made in preparation for the class, mostly to show different Celtic designs.   We made two of the designs in class–which was waaay more than enough.

Here is a Celtic Triskelion, also known as a Triskele.  It’s simply three swirls wired together–this one is brass.

These are Triquetra (or Trinity Knot) earrings, made with copper wire.  The ear wires are also handmade.

Ding-a-ling-a-ling.  

Actually, they’re pretty quiet.

A larger Triquetra pendant, made with brass and copper.

Sterling silver Triquetra earrings.  (I really love these!)

A woven Celtic pendant.  I saw something similar to this on the Internet.  I formed it from brass, hammered it, then antiqued it by rubbing it with liver of sulfur.

Here is the brass in its original state

and here it is finished.  I think this would make a cool guy’s necklace…I mean a cool necklace for a guy.  Or a necklace for a cool guy.  Or either one.  Or both.  Of course, we all know who the ultimate cool guy is–but he would never wear a necklace, not even a cool one. 🙁 Whew, I’m glad that’s over.

A Celtic heart pendant.  This is another design I ran across online.  I made two hearts in nickel silver, inverted one, and connected them to a circle with brass wire.  This photo is after I antiqued the entire piece.

Another Triskelion pendant, this one in copper.

What we actually made in class was a pair of Triquetra earrings (with handmade ear wires) and–for those people who still had breath left in them–a Triskelion pendant.  There were about six ladies in class, and for nearly all of them, making the pieces was very challenging.  I probably should have begun with a simpler design to teach wire basics–you really have to get Celtic designs quite symmetrical or they just don’t look right.  But my students stuck with it, and by the end, each had something she was happy with.  Yippee!  Which made me breathe a huge sigh of relief.

Here’s a peek into our day yesterday!

Cash made a whole batch of these drawings when he got up in the morning.  It’s typical Cash art, and I think it’s actually writing (the paper is sideways).

A photo of my elbow, by Cash.

Bre’fis. 🙂

I love my new Lodge skillet.  I seasoned it in the oven with coconut oil for an hour, and it is beautifully nonstick.

The “cave” park in Boulder.  The kids thrive like prairie dogs in the little tunnels and on the ledges.

We finished the day with Glacier ice cream.  You can see the sugar high below, but I’ll mercifully spare you the sugar crash that happened at home. 🙂 And don’t mind the dirt on the face–this was at the end of a long, wonderfully grubby day.

Mimi left this morning to head home to NY.  We had such a great time this week, going to town a few times but mostly hanging out at home.  We took lots of silly pictures throughout the week, and I even got her to take these makeup-less pics out in our woods last night before bedtime.

Yesterday we went out one last time– to World Market in Denver West.  I’ve had my eye out for new dinner plates (ours are chipping) and although I’d like something unbreakable, this set at World Market caught my eye.  The horse salad plates are just so cool, and I really like the way the different plate designs layer together.  When we got home, I looked them up and found out the name of the set–Voyage–and the dinner plate is called–of all things–Mia. 🙂 I would totally mix up some of the Voyage pieces with these amazing Passaro bird design bowls–love them!

After sufficiently drooling in World Market, we left with a Lodge skillet, some forks, and a bottle of blue Japanese soda (that was all Caleb) and went to Whole Foods for lunch.  We stopped at Old Navy on the way back and found capri pants for Zia and Mimi and a cool star-print cami and two skirts for me.  I left Denver West guiltily feeling like a very big spender, LOL.  I don’t really enjoy shopping for clothes alone, but it was a lot of fun to go with Mama.

She left this morning to the airport, and I headed to the library to teach my jewelry-making class while Caleb babysat.  We made leather necklaces, earrings,and bracelets–I’ll post pics soon.  Here at home we miss Mimi already, but we’re so glad she came out to visit us.  Such an awesome, fun time!