Despite Me...

The apples and pears in our orchard are thriving and I've discovered I've made no plans for them! We've got (I think): Golden Delicious (gone), Granny Smith (nearly gone), and Jonathan(?) apples, in addition to Bosc and Sickle pears in abundance. The Bosc pears are the best I've ever had and all are available to anyone willing to make the trip!

Also flourishing are the cherry hot peppers and various tomatoes in the garden: Brandywine Heirlooms, Orange Mr. Stripey Heirlooms, Yellow Cherries, and Pumpkin tomatoes. I haven't felt much like cooking them so I've been existing on a diet heavy in tomato sandwiches, tomato-cucumber salad, tomato-basil salad, sliced tomatoes with salt & pepper, and most importantly, tomatoes right off the vine and into my mouth! Oh yeah, and omelets with tomato, basil, and sheep Romano. Mmmm.

NEEDED: great tomato recipes! Anyone?

The Peacock Girl & All Her Plumage

I know, the male peacock's are the pretty one's, but lets just pretend...

I recently worked on a necklace for a very kind, thoughtful, talented, beautiful girl named Maria. As seen in the preceding pictures, Maria is also a belly dancer. Her guy did a very sweet thing and commissioned a jeweler to create a necklace for her birthday. I was very proud to be the selected jeweler and took the challenge on of designing and fabricating a piece of jewelry that would be well suited for Maria. The requirements were that it be India inspired, formal for use with costumes, easy to wear while dancing, have movement, a bold centerpiece, and some color. The following was my interpretation...

I hope to get a better photo soon, perhaps even one with Maria. It's always fun making something for someone I know. The process of designing and fabricating with a specific person in mind is a delight.

Folk Fest Highlights

This past weekend at the Philadelphia Folk Fest was amazing! For those of you who don't know or remember, I started my little side job as a camera operator last year, which has enabled me to dabble in TV production (note: lightly dabbling side job) when the opportunity has presented itself over the past year. This has consisted of college sports shows, corporate meetings, a commercial, a live parade, etc. It all may seem a little random as compared to my interest in jewelry and metalsmithing, but I've accepted that life is more fun with many balls up in the air (more about other balls later)! Truly though, this work is yet one more outlet to be creative and frankly, it's a bit of a rush! So back to the Folk Fest for 2008 we went to spend some time with an amazing crew surrounded by great music. Below are some of my highlights...

The TV truck in the backstage area with one of the big screens

View of the main stage from the truck at night

In the truck, my first go at being a Technical Director

In the truck, shading the cameras

Doing handheld camera on stage (I Heart Gene Shay!)

Arms getting all wiggly!

Some musical highlights (some new, some old) from Folk Fest 2008:

• Steve Earl
• The Felice Brothers
• Hoots & Hellmouth
• Compadres (Oscar Lopez and James Keelaghan)
• Trout Fishing in America
• James Shimabukuro
• and so much more!

I could do a post on the music alone, but in lieu of not having more posting time, check out the links! These people are GRRR-ATE! I can't wait until 2009!

In Process

I'm working on a really fun commission, but it's a secret so here are a couple of nondescript pics from the bench to confuse the recipient. What could the second one be??

Did you see the meteor shower early this morning? Very cool!

I'm off to the Philadelphia Folk Festival later this week for more fun and I can't wait! Have a great day!

Out of Necessity

Where I find myself...
When I really need and want to be here...
And here...
Where did this summer go?!