Memories of the Lilac City

I grew up in Spokane.  Spokane is the Lilac City.  They have a Lilac Parade and a Jr. Lilac Parade.  I marched in the parade in junior high, joyfully trying to play my clarinet while marching.  The parade is probably in late May.  There is also a fabulous run called Bloomsday that I've run a couple of times (been there, done that, got the tee shirt).
The lilacs don't bloom until May in Spokane, but here in Portland, they are in full bloom NOW!  The smell takes me back home. Love it!  We planted this one the year my brother died, 2006.  I was surprised that it bloomed in the spring and again in late August, early September.  I thanked Doug for that gift of the twice blooming lilac.  Well I later found out this is a variety that blooms twice a year!  Who knew?  I still think of Doug and Spokane and what a gift growing up there was and is.

Blown away!

I'm totally blown away that the bracelet I made (see previous posts) was posted by Kate on facebook today AND linked to another blog.  I LOVE the beading community.  You "meet" people that you'll probably never meet in real-life... but the support and the connections are pretty cool.  I discovered Christina's blog and low and behold my piece was featured earlier this week.  Christina is one of the team of folks I've been blogging about who was a part of the amazing book: Contemporary Geometric Beadwork.  The www is a connector that I'm appreciating today.
I'm also appreciating that today is Thursday which is my Friday AND we leftovers for dinner and a nice red wine.  Life's pretty good.  And I'm kind of giddy!

Gratitude

Fortune Teller, Chicken (taken with iPhone 5)

I sent this Fortune Teller bangle off for a little vacay in AZ, to be photographed by  Kate McKinnon (Contemporary Geometric Beadwork).  So much gratitude for the beading community and Kate's willingness to share the wealth of knowledge along the way.  I'm experimenting with some new shapes based on her ideas.  I'm just playing and allowing the beads to lead the way.  So far, so good.
We had a HUGE downpour in PDX today.  So much so, I felt that it would be beneficial to run from my office, out into the rain to turn my car around so it could get doused on both side.  A Portland car wash!  After the deluge, sun, beautiful sun.  Oh how I long to be in a sunny place... sandy beach, warm toes.  Maybe an umbrella in a DRINK not over my head.  So there ya go.  Another day in the life.  Gotta head back to work tonight... hopefully more beading later.