Stripey walls and a beautiful transom

Progress on the beadio is all due to this lovely guy, still working on it whenever he gets a chance.

My progress on blogging sort of matches the beadio progress. There is an intention there, but life sort of intervened. I had cataract surgery, Matt had a couple weeks of musical inspiration and had to record, school got busy for both of us, family came to visit.

I've spent hours researching using Facebook, Blogger, and Twitter for complementary internet marketing, another of the hats I wear on a different gig than my day job.

Matt was also inspired to create the preliminary drawings and carving for the pierced and lighted transom above the door. The carving along the bottom reads "Deep Roots Are Not Touched By The Frost."

This is a shot of the left side of the door on the "stripey wall." The dark area that looks sort of like a window is actually an opening into the wall, where a pegboard will hang. Matt hand-picked this pine to create this stripey pattern and it is just spectacular.

All that remains now are the pieces that need to be stripped down smaller, and the trim pieces. Then it's sinking and filling the nails, and on to sanding, sanding, and more sanding.

It's really coming along! It's a sunny, golden, happy space.

Work on the Beadio has Begun!

Matt next to a big stack of pine... this is a happy man. And I am a very happy and thankful woman at this moment. None of this beadio expansion would have taken place without this guy involved. He made up the spec sheet and figured out how much we'd need, drove the borrowed truck with the manual transmission - a Toyota Tacoma, no less; inspected each one of 36, yes, 36 8-foot long pine planks; moved each one 4 times without complaint; and served up a tasty blueberry gobble (shortcake with cream) for dessert later. Now, THAT is a MAN!

One after my own heart. I am completely gaga about this guy. All I can say - frequently, unreservedly - is thanks, we appreciate it!

Tater keikis

Baby spuds! Can anything be more exciting than little plants pushing their way up through the soil? So much potential in such a little package. We tried to grow potatoes once before, and nothing at all happened... we waited and waited and finally decided they just weren't going to grow. These little spud starts sat in a plastic bag on the kitchen counter for several weeks before I got them planted. They already had little sprouts forming. I planted 6, so there are still 2 to come.

Discussions on the redecoration of the beadio have ranged from "just paint it and get on with it" to "my ideal beadio? well, cedar paneling would be wonderful." Cedar paneling brings back many scented memories of my childhood clothes closets. My dad Warren was a carpenter, and built most of our houses. They were pretty much standard ranch houses, but had special little details, like cedar-lined closets.

Cedar is a distant memory on Kauai. It can be special-ordered, at GREAT expense. It seems more likely we will enclose the walls with pine planks, which can be done much more reasonably. Although "just paint it and get on with it" has its appeal.

I'm going to have a studio!

Fun to come in the beadio!

We moved into our new apartment on February 1. At that time, Abbie (the best landlady ever) took pity on us and told us that within 4-6 months, we could have another small room on her side of the fence.

Matt said at the time that it should become my studio, my retreat for beading, my "beadio". And the beadio it became... it was initially full of interesting cartons of stuff, old phonograph records, and pictures. The dryer vents in there, and worked loose from its mooring and covered everything with a fine coating of dryer lint, giving it a true Miss Havisham character.

When school got out for the summer, Abbie turned into a whirliwind of energy and cleaned out her garage, cleaned up the yard, took out 2 palm trees, and emptied out the beadio. The dryer is still venting in there, but firmly ensconced in a lint trapper. It's hot as Pele's fire in there when the dryer is on! Things certainly won't mold. And eventually it will be vented outside.

I took this picture of one corner with my digital camera the other night, came in and downloaded it, and then painted it with different colors to get a feel for the eventual scheme, which is drawn from all the colors in the inset picture in the mid-left. All this boggles my mind, it is so much fun.

I had a feeling that I should go with a soft coral on the walls and accent it with a sharp lime green, or purple. Tropo! But tropo so often morphs into circus, and I want the beadio to be juicy and creative, but also a serene harbor where creativity can blossom. Maybe a steam calliope is too much! But it would solve the problem of what to do with the dryer steam. Permaculture!

Tomorrow afternoon I'll start cleaning it. Abbie has donated several gallons of white paint to use as a primer. My goal is to have it finished by the end of August.

Bead on!

What bloggest - or globbest - thou?

An apt question, posed to me by my husband Matt as I compose this first post. Yikes! Now I've done it, I've gone and created a blog...after a few false starts.

And why, then? Do I have something unique to share? Well, mebbe not, but mebbe so. Everyone does! I've been greatly inspired and amused by blogs, and touched to the core sometimes. Robin Atkins' blog Beadlust is one of the ones I admire.

My Huna teacher Serge Kahili King has also started a blog, in which he answers questions he receives in email. It's a useful way of sharing knowledge. Maybe I'll be able to share some daily Huna.

Serge has built 2 amazing islands in Second Life and holds Talk Story there once a month. During the last one he told the story of Hakalanileo and Kana, the stretching shaman he found to help him retrieve his wife Hina. I questioned the stretching shaman, what is it? It signifies doing work at a distance, one of the basic shaman skills. Blogging is a little like being a stretching shaman.

Eventually I'll figure out how to insert a picture somewhere other than the top of the page. For now, Barbara the Parking Goddess has top honors. She is my latest finished spirit doll. Her body shape is Robin Atkin's classic spirit doll pattern, and her face was made by Dottie Hoeschen. I was introduced to Barbara by my friend Tami, when we commuted together to Seattle University, in my other life B.K. (before Kauai). We would apply to Barbara to get a good parking space at Mae's or in the parking garage at S.U. She is gracious, and we often got a good spot. This doll is for Tami.

Well, I've spent the whole evening learning to build a blog, and haven't beaded at all. This must not happen too often.