Ready to fall, the leaves' veins looked like the back of her grandmother's hands. Steady, hardworking, nurturing hands. She thought there might be stories wrapped in that curled gesture. She pulled the tattered sweater closer around her shoulders and sat down to wait. For the telling.

Keeping the GREEN in our Holidays

If you're tired of consumer-style holidays but still want to give someone you know a gift - first consider making your own, or giving a gift in your friend's name to a charity such as the Heifer Project. If you still want to purchase gifts, you might consider green gifts made entirely out of re-used and recycled materials.

Eco-Artware has a wide range of artsy fartsy stuff like these baskets of salvaged, used telephone wire. The baskets are made using traditional techniques (and nontraditional materials!) by the Zulu of South Africa.

They also offer other imbenge baskets such as baskets in the shape of plates, also made of salvaged PVC telephone wire.

Elsewhere in their online catalog, you can find bells made from used and discarded oxygen canisters (left on Mt. Everest and purchased from the Nepales people who collect them), ornaments made of recycled glass and painted tea bags!

There is lots of other cool stuff - check it out:
Footstools made from 100% used pulp egg cartons (fun design -- it can be used as either a footstool or the base for a coffee table)

Door Handles and Drawer/cabinet pulls made of fused, recycled glass

Business Card Cases of recycled computer motherboard pieces.

These tea light candle holders of salvaged bicycle gears from Resource Revival, are functional and beautiful:

Key rings made of discarded bicycle chains. The inexpensive ($4.50 each) key rings are manufactered by a company in Oregon called "Resource Revival" that was started by a bibyclist, Graham Bergh.

Here's an article about his inspiration for the company and how they operate in Portland now. Graham's own version of his story is here.

Invitation

Ok, here's what I've come up with as a quickie invitation for Tim's woodworking exhibit. This is the front of the invitation ... it's going out as a 5x7 postcard to a select mailing list of Tim's customers. The back of the p-card has the exhibit information. I've designed it this way so we can also use the postcard as a take-home piece at the exhibit (for that I'll just change the text on the back of the postcard ... we might also use it as a mailer at some point.



The exhibit is a collection of fine furniture and other handcrafted woodworking by members of the Helena Woodworker's Guild. The furniture is being shown at the Myrna Loy Center for the Arts.

feeling lavender ... made of blue & red with a bit of whiteout tossed in.

Tim's almost finished with this most outrageous (beyond gorgeous) rocking chair. I thought I'd take a few more in-progress shots. I'm still playing around with the camera settings, trying to learn to use my digital camera in the "program" mode.

a few photos from the set.:




Here he is trying it out -- sitting in his almost finished rocker -- a Satisfied Man!





If you're interested in seeing more photos of this rocker and Tim's other woodworking (photos I've taken of his work in progress and some completed works) please check out my photo sets on Flickr, called Ode to a Rocker or Tim's Artistry

Commentary: Mommy as a Role Model? Get Real

With nods to Kim Carney, who turned me on to this commentary from National Public Radio. Kim posted this today at her always-interesting blog, Something to Say ... and I couldn't resist posting this piece especially for all of my sisters and sisters-in-law. I hope you all get a chuckle out of this. I did! Click here: "Listen"

The commentary is by Gwen Macsai and aired on NPR October 19, 2005. I love it!