Family First

 As many of you know I have been busy taking care of my beloved sister in law. Pat walked into the hospital in Geneva on March 11th. She was transported that day to The Cleveland Clinic. She continued to go down hill and was put on a ventilator.  After nine weeks and no diagnosis she was transported to rehab. My brother and I made daily trips to visit Pat. We did all we could to give her hope.  Pat continued to fight until there was no saving her. She lost her battle on July 23rd. My husbands birthday, the day before her sons wedding anniversary and three days short of her 75th birthday. I loved Pat and her death has been very tough for me. I know she is one of God's angels. Living life to the highest. But I miss her so.

 The same funeral home handled Pat's service as my husband's father, Don. He passed away on May 28th. Don said he wanted to live to be 113 years old. He gave it a good fight. Living to 88 years old. He was a proud war veteran and buried on D Day. He was a good father to Paul. It broke my heart to watch Paul cry and tell his dad he wanted him to stay longer because he had so many questions for him. Don told us he had no fear of death as he had "seen the light" during one of his more serious illnesses. That alone made his passing less painful. Knowing he knew he was going to be one of God's angels.   

  As family sat talking at Pat's service, my niece, Brittany had a strange occurrence happen. She wondered when my brother Jim would be there. She then realized he had passed away a year ago and would not make it to the service. Funny how you still expect someone to walk through the door even after they have moved on. Family is family. No matter who is here or who moved on to greener pastures. We love each and every family member.

After a long few months I feel my Mojo coming back and look forward to getting back to work. Stay tuned. For the love of Jim, Don and Pat I "feel the love" and my artistic juices will flow again. I see Angels in my future creations.

Hallelujah

God bless.

Norma     

Busy Busy Busy

But just wanted to take the time to stop in and let my most viewed follower Debby know all is well.

A Few Of My Latest

I created this horse bracelet for my niece. She is a barrel racer and looks good doing it! I used waxed cording with knots tied between each bead. I love the turquoise, silver and black combination.

My flower necklace is an Ohio Beaders challenge. Participants sent beads and findings to names drawn by the group owner. The focal bead is a beautiful ceramic piece.  Blues, browns and greens are my favorite colors so I made this one to fit me. It is a keeper!  

Our latest Ohio Beaders challenge is "I Found It". My "found it" is an iron ore ball that I found on The Greenway Trail. An old railroad bed which has been turned into a bike/walk trail. I had a concessions business on the trail years back. I wire wrapped and caged the iron ore ball in copper wire. The focal is two and one quarter inches from top to bottom. Rather large so I hung it from a twenty five inch copper chain.



My last project was for the people in the Philippines. A local family has been severely affected by the storm. I made fourteen prayer beads which were sold at a fundraiser this week. We raised several hundred dollars. All will go to their family. I am so proud of the generous  people in our small town. Way to go Geneva!

Beads And Such

I have been busy. Really. I will have an update soon of all the pretties.

Here is a teaser.

Remodeling And The The Spindle Bed

 Ahhh. It has been a while. My creativity has been halted by remodeling in our home. We are making our attached garage my new bead cave. I find the basement boring. No windows. Not the creative scene I need. Things are moving right along. The cooler weather helps. My sister, niece and other family and friends have been a welcome blessing in our endeavor. Lots of painting and carrying of heavy plywood to do.

 While all of this is going on we have decided to make our spare bedroom a spare bedroom. I recently received an old family heirloom and am so excited to put it to use. It is a spindle bed from my great grandma. The perfect size for an overnight guest or two. It was lost and then found. Go figure!

 So stay tuned. I am excited to get back at it. Been stocking up on beads so I am ready to get things going again.

 Enjoy your fall.

Norma

Wrapping a rootbeer barrel.

My latest creation is a wire wrapped bracelet. I used a large root beer colored, barrel shaped bead. This pattern used several feet of wire at one time. At first I found fighting with five feet of wire a bit demanding but after I got into it, things went quite smooth. I believe I found this pattern on the net and when I find my printed copy I will post who the original creator is. Her directions were easy to follow and this bracelet was a joy to make.

A Story About A Dog Named Floyd

A few weeks ago my husband told me that we needed to think about our Yellow Labs future. Floyd P. Dog was pushing fourteen years old and in declining health. It was becoming more and more of a struggle for him to make it up the three steps at the back door. I told my husband that I felt Floyd had a while yet and felt he may even make it through another winter. Floyd’s favorite season. On Thursday I went to the fair with my sister. They also have a Lab in failing health. She was gently trying to convince me that we should go together and let them both go at the same time. I told her the same thing I told my husband. I felt he had a while. ( I think hubby and sis had a conspiracy going on ).

I woke up Friday morning to the sound of Floyd P. Dog whimpering next to the bed. I reached my hand over the edge of the bed and pet him. He was shaking. I thought he was cold because he was laying in front of the fan. I got up, turned off the fan and covered him with a blanket that we keep next to the bed. I rubbed him to help the warming and told him he was OK and would be warm soon. After a few minutes I realized he was not cold. He was having seizures. He was unable to move. He could not even lift his head. It was then that I realized this was Floyd’s last day here on Earth. And I was/am devastated. I called my sister and our best friend. Both were here in minutes. I talked to Floyd and told him “I guess you are going to make this decision for me” and thanked him. I told him he was going to be reunited with his Bonnie Girl. Our cat who passed away totally unexpected in May. She and Floyd were best friends. (She went first because she wanted to welcome him at the Rainbow Bridge). I continued to talk to Floyd through tears like you would not believe. We brought Floyd out to the living room on the blanket. He, for the first time in probably years, was in no pain. He did not yelp or complain at all through us moving him. For this I am so grateful. It is the only thing that makes this somewhat easier to take. After talking to Floyd for a while longer, it was time to go. We loaded him in the car and off he went to his last Veterinary appointment. I kind of thought I wanted to go but was not sure I could. My sister felt because I knew he was in no pain it was probably best to let her and our best friend go alone. And I will always have his last pain free moments to remember Floyd by. I stayed home. I am glad I did. I talked to my husband, who was at work, and told him what had happened. Then I came in the sun room and sat next to Fredrick, our Shar Pei. I explained to him that his Uncle Floyd was not coming back to the house. Fredrick knew something was wrong. He walks out the back driveway looking for Floyd. Wondering, “when he is coming home“. When my sister and friend returned home we all cried as my sister let me know how peaceful his transition was. By this time my husband was home and the tears continued. We drank coffee, cried, laughed, and reminisced for hours.

It is day three after our loss of Floyd and I am still devastated. I no longer have my shadow…8/14/11