Beadfest!

 

My friend, Jan & I are in Philly for Beadfest & we are having a blast!  Although we are exhausted, we are so happy to be here.  Yesterday we had a great class with Richard Salley making our own stamps for metal work.  What a great technique to use lead free silver solder to make designs on copper sheet metal.  Jan made a great pair of earrings that she was able to wear for the rest of the day.  We both hit a wall around 4:00, said our goodbyes to Richard & Jennifer, his sweet assistant, & went to spend some hard earned cash before our evening class.  We will be coming home with so many new ideas our heads will be spinning!  Richard Salley is such a nice person & a really good teacher – very low key & patient.  I am hoping to take more classes from him in the future.  Life is too short to sit on your hands!

Jan & I are still at the hotel this morning just waiting for the vendors to open at 11:00 so we can see a few more booths.  This show is so large, you really can’t take classes & see all of the vendors in one day.  But we did manage to do some major damage to our budgets, so today will be low key.  It was so much fun to have show & tell at the hotel last night!  Even though we were so tired we could hardly stay awake, we had to share our goodies with each other! 

It’s great to have such good friends.   Life is Good!

Friendship

Friendship between women is a wonderful thing!  I have been really blessed with some special ladies in my life.  As a young child, I was pretty much a loner.  I didn’t want to be that way.  For reasons I won’t go into because it won’t change the past, I never seemed to be able to form a lasting closeness.  For years I thought it was something lacking in my personality, but as I have aged, I realize I have a large capacity to love sharing time with other women with same or similar interests as myself.

I always loved working with my hands & have tried many crafts & have made many wonderful friendships through those crafting classes.  In recent years, I have formed some very strong friendships with women who create wonderful jewelry & I feel truly happy to spend any time I can with them.  We feed off of each others creativity & encourage each other, share knowledge & laugh a lot!  As I age I realize that I need more time to develop & nourish strong friendships. This is my goal for my retirement  - nourish my friendships, old & new, by spending as much time as I have left  sharing stories, meals, music, talents & support.  I feel that this is more important to me  than anything.  That is, other than spending time with my family who always come first in my heart.