How Green Was My Bracelet?

I started pondering: could I make a bracelet entirely out of recycled beads? I didn’t need to ponder that for long. Of course I could. I love beach glass, and recycled glass. It gets that texture from being pounded by the waves (or a tumbler).

So I made a bracelet, earrings, and a necklace entirely out of beach or sea glass and recycled glass. I even used some recycled glass beads hand painted in Ghana, Africa. They’re very funky and fun.

So here’s my It’s Surprisingly Easy to Be Green. Kermit would be so proud.







They're here: http://stores.ebay.com/Cornerstoregoddess

A Stroll Around the Lake… and Some Cool Earrings

This morning, rather than torturing myself with Boot Camp at the Y, Chris and I took Esmeralda for a nice long walk, down to Echo Park Lake, around it, and back. Esmeralda did very well. No meltdowns while passing other dogs. And there were no skunks along the way, so she didn’t feel the need to profess her love for the smelly cats.

This is me, fired up and ready to go.



I conducted my usual experiment, saying good morning to everyone who would make eye contact, seeing how many good mornings I got back. (14 out of 21, with 13 no-eye-contacts)

The last time we walked around the lake, we saw two blue herons and a brown heron. No blue herons today, but there were some brown ones on the island. The island was inaccessible; it’s closed off so the birds can hang without being harassed. Not close enough for a good shot. And no loti are blooming in the lake. Very sad.

But the lake was full of ducks and geese and coots. Didn’t get close enough to any of the geese (which was a good thing, Esmeralda having the freak out temperament she has). But we saw a coot and a baby coot:





And a mama duck with her ducklings:





While we were walking, I finally figured out a story point I’d been fiddling with for weeks (huzzah).

On the way back we passed some urban art: a painted mattress, on the site where an apartment building collapsed a few years back, at the corner of Echo Park and Park.



And, lest we forget the jewelry angle, I think the moonstone earrings I made match the color of the June gloom sky.



I know. It’s no mattress art. But so little is.

Jumpin’ Gem Flash is a Gas, Gas, Gas

I love gemstones. When I was a kid I had an awesome rock collection. I was always dragging home rocks. When my parents went on vacations to far off lands and would ask what they should bring me, the answer was generally “rocks.”

When Chris was in New Mexico, he went to Carlsbad Caverns. I was SO jealous.

As a consolation prize, he took me to a gem shop ion Albuquerque where I promptly became addicted. Today, since my stash had dropped below 50 pounds, I called them and made them hand-select some gemstone strands for me.

There are gemstone treasures in our future.

There are some right now, in fact. I made this necklace from unakite and tiger’s eye.

For those of you who are so inclined:

Tiger's Eye, or Cat's Eye is said to let you see everything. Use the cat's eye for insight and it will bring you luck. When used in jewelry the cat's eye is thought to bring good luck and protection from the evil eye to the wearer. It also thought to bring clear thinking and insight. It is a stone for the mind, not the body; it has the power to focus the mind.

Unakite, aka Unikite or Unakite Jasper, is a stone with gentle but powerful energy that can assist one in finding one’s animal guide. A good protection stone, Unakite brings unconditional love of humanity, connection and reunion. It is thought to be very helpful for pregnancy and childbirth and can help with healing of abandonment and separation issues.

I’m perfectly happy to find an animal guide, but mostly I think these stones are really beautiful.





They’re here: http://stores.ebay.com/Cornerstoregoddess. And eBay can’t hurt me because I have tiger’s eye protection. So there.

Dodger Stadium, Can You Hear Me Now?

We live close to Dodger Stadium. How close? Well, not so close that, during a game, due to the traffic, we can’t actually go home. We’re another hill over. There are advantages and disadvantages to all this. Advantages? When they do fireworks, we can see the high ones from our deck. Disadvantages: when they do fireworks, we can hear them all from the bedroom, with the AC on and pillows pulled over our heads.

And when Madonna was there? Don’t even ask. The entire house was vibrating from the sound… at 1 AM. Pictures were actually rattling on the walls.

But they put on a great fireworks display. I tried to capture a silent version in a bracelet and earrings.







The flash without the boom.

I also played around with some red, white, and blue beads. I was making flowers for my peace doves and started to wonder how many flowers I could actually fit on a bracelet. Three hours later I had a fairly definitive answer. Lots. Take a look.








Gilda helped me photograph the earrings,



She wandered off when she saw these. Probably looking for peace doves on the hill.



They’re all in my ebay store, or feebay store, as I heard it called today. Sing along, everyone: And the fees go on…

http://stores.ebay.com/Cornerstoregoddess

Birthday of the Buddha

Long, long ago, King Suddhodana ruled a land near the Himalaya Mountains.



One day during a midsummer festival, his wife Queen Maya retired to her quarters to rest. She fell asleep and had a dream. In it, four angels carried her high into mountains a dressed her in flowers.

A white elephant carrying a white lotus



approached Maya and circled Maya. Then the elephant struck her with his trunk and vanished into her.



When Maya awoke, she told her husband of the dream. The King summoned 64 Brahmans to come and interpret it.



They told the king that Queen Maya would give birth to a son. If the son did not leave the household he would become a world conqueror. However, if he were to leave the household he would become a Buddha.




When the time for the birth grew near, Queen Maya wished to travel to her childhood home, Devadaha, to give birth. She left on a palanquin carried by a thousand courtiers.

On the way to Devadaha, the procession passed Lumbini Grove, which was full of blossoming trees.



The Queen asked her courtiers to stop. She stepped down from the palanquin and entered the grove. As she reached up to touch the blossoms of the sal tree, her son was born.



Then the Queen and her son were showered with perfumed blossoms, and two streams of sparkling water poured from the sky to bathe them. The infant stood,  took seven steps, and proclaimed “I alone am the World-Honored One!”


And that was the birthday of the Buddha.