If some of them we're so offensive the subject lines of the spam I receive would be funny.  The one in the title is just plain stupid: You're life may be crap but  you can still wear a good watch? Well if that made any sense at all it would still be crap .... since they are selling knock off watches I presume... thus by definition NOT a good watch.

I am begging you and all the American People to STOP BUYING STUFF SOLD BY SPAMMERS. If no one bought this crap then those selling it would stop filling my inbox with this drek. I know, I know, I'm like Don Quixote and spam is my windmill.

If you want to help the American economy stop buying crap made overseas and start buying handcrafted, American products. (nothing self serving in the statement is there LOL.) For the holidays I bought a few relatives a beautiful, handmade cutting board made here in Maine. I use one myself and have had it for years.  Think about it, having fewer THINGS but ones that are hand made with love and of good quality will actually make you happier. How? Because they are beautiful to look at and a pleasure to use. Plus, having fewer things to clean and move around from spot to spot makes life simpler, easier to manage and more organized. Remembering the occassion on which you bought or received that item will bring a smile to your face over and over for years to come. Can you say the same for a plastic cutting board you bought at Walmart?

An example from personal life: When I worked for Bigbrotherbank in NYC I used to purchase barrettes for my hair from Macy's. They cost me (way back then) about $35-40 bucks and they often broke within a few months. The bow would get detached from the barrette or the clip itself would break.  Now I make barrettes that also sell for $25-$40; they are handmade and last a lifetime. If the clip or the glass breaks I tell my customers to send it back to me and I'll fix it free of charge. I wear them myself every day so I know they hold up under pressure.

So, buying a handmade, American item provides better quality and better customer support. Knowing the person who made that thing you just bought and being able to get a response when you have a problem or a question is also a big plus. It also means less junk in the landfill because a quality, handmade item will last a lot longer. So, bottom line about the bottom line: buy American and buy Handcrafted. You'll be happier, the economy will be better, the environment will be better and the artist will be able to continue making beautiful things and not have to go to work at The Walmart. That is not to say that some days working a 9-5 isn't attractive, because sometimes it's downright seductive. The grass is always greener heh?

   Ok, stepping off the soapbox... let's discuss the weather:


I'm getting pretty tired of the cold I must say. Had to break out the thermal underwear when the mercury dropped to -27.  The only problem with it warming up is that we have  a bit of an ice problem and this past weekend, when the temp rose over 30, I had about 4 pans sitting around my living room catching drips as the ice melted and found it's way into my ceiling. What happened to global warming and when is it going to reach Maine?

There is always an upside and last night there was a full moon and the moonlight glowing on the frozen fields and through the trees was just beautiful.

Wow I was just gonna say a little something about the weather and spam and look what happened LOL. 

Happy Chinese New Year! Welcome to the Year of the Ox.

~Nancy

It's the dead of winter and well below zero; this morning it was -16.7 degrees.  Like most Mainers we've turned down the thermostat, switched to using more wood for heat and just plain gotten used to being cold.  It's cold but this winter hasn't started to drag on us just yet; I guess it's still too new.  Talk to me again around the end of February; that's when I've just about had it and yearn for the crocuses to show their tiny heads.  Unfortunately they don't do that here till around April.  In New York they would show in March and I think we're about a month behind up here. Think about it folks, a month extra of winter.... but at least it's not winter ALL THE TIME and we have spring to look forward to. 

I think I need to install some real daylight light bulbs though because I am feeling really tired and I think it's the lack of sunshine. My poor little chicken aren't laying right now and that's the same cause; they don't lay if they don't get a certain number of daylight hours and sunshine per day.  Can't say I blame the poor ladies.... who would want to lay an egg in sub zero temps?

Happy Chinese New Year!!

Nancy

So we've made it to 2009, another year gone by. It wasn't a great one for most of us financially but we keep moving ahead. The Friday after New Years I awoke to the sound of running water. Now if I were in the tropics this might be nice, but in the dead of a Maine winter this is not a good sound. A pipe  had broken and water was running into the spiderhole we call a celler.  Oy.  Then Monday, Greg was on the way home and stopped at the grocery store. When he came out the car would not start. Had to have it towed. Not a great way to start out the year. Anyhow, it's been colder than cold up here and we expect more of the same.

Have a great one,
Nan

So what's with Egg Foo Young gravy anyway? Did you ever try to reheat it with the leftovers? It never becomes a liquid again....after the first night it transmorgifies into a gelatinous goo that can never really be called gravy again. I don't know about you but I find this very disturbing....

Nan

I was in the office this morning and heard this weird noise out back so I opened the back door of the barn (which I rarely do) and lo and behold there were about 30 turkeys out there.  They took flight because I disturbed them and it was really something to see.  I'll have to throw out some seed and see if they come back.

This year I have to get up at 5:30 am to get my daughter on the bus at 6:15, it's obscene that middle school children have to get up that early but that's another rant.  I find it very hard to get used to because I am more of a night person but I'm adjusting. The turkeys and sunrises go a long way to ease the trauma of a 5:30 alarm clock.

Going to our last retail show of the year in Boston soon and we're looking forward to visiting China Town for some dim sum. We have pretty good Chinese food in Maine but nowhere can you get dim sum. YUMMY.

Anywho, hope you are all doing well.. I've got to go make some xmas ornaments.. I'm behind schedule.

~Nan

I've been working in the garden and getting the gallery ready for the season.  Last night I made Cream of Fiddlehead soup...just like cream of asparagus but used fiddleheads... it was pretty yummy.  The fiddleheads were locally wild crafted (picked in the wild nearby.)

Revisiting one of my pet peeves - the newest email spam/scam I've started to get is trying a new approach... insulting the recipient.  The subject line goes like this - "you have a stupid face there [insert your email name here]".   Now I was not foolish enough to actually open this mail and I don't care what the flying Fig they are selling but I was amazed at the approach.  Maybe when my customers come into the gallery I should greet them with a hearty "my don't you look shitty today!"  LOL.... I really don't get it.

Anyyyyyyyywayyyyyyyyyy.....

The hummingbirds are back and today I saw my first beautiful yellow butterfly. I've got to find an excuse to get out of this dark cave of an office and garden


Later,
~Nan

My Sister, Lou, has a beautiful site through which she shares a bit of her soul via poetry.  Check it out, you won't be disappointed.  Under The Arbour

It's baseball season and we are spending a lot of time sitting in the stands and cheering at the top of our lungs.  It's amazing that in the course of a few hours we go from sweating to freezing to needing an umbrella; such is spring in Maine.

It's been time to plant for a few weeks and we're running behind as usual. This wheel called life always seems to spin a little faster than we can run... like a poor little hamster we run and run without seeming to get anywhere at all.

My little niece (around 3 months old), Mya, was rushed to the hospital yesterday because she stopped breathing. Luckily her mother Erin, my niece, checked on her and gave her mouth-to-mouth which saved her life.  The doctors say she seems fine but will have to be watched for any signs of a problem that isn't detectable at this point.  We're keeping our fingers crossed and sending good thoughts their way.

We have baby ducks that are just about ready to go outside.. not a minute too soon because they really smell bad in a pen inside.  Cute but smelly.

Well, I've got to get back to the grind.. grinding glass that is.... TTYL,

~Nan

Back to one of my favorite subjects - SPAM.  Fried with eggs it is an amazing food, believe it or not.  I didn't till I ate it and now I'm a born again spam lover.  Oh, not that kind of spam sorry....

Today  my 2 favorites are "Re: Big Sausage - Easy!" and "Piramid in your pants"

They can't even spell it LOL.  Oh there is one more - "[insert email name] you're a moron!" now that's a new twist on a sales pitch ain't it?

I've got to take some amusement from all this spam or I'd poke my own eyes out.  I don't know about you but I get 100's, sometimes 1000's of spam emails a day.  If I don't check my email on the weekend I will have about 10k worth of mail to delete on Monday morning. Very very sad and time consuming as well. And yes,  I have more spam filtering tools that I can shake a big sausage at but I still have to eyeball them all to make sure none of the good stuff gets deleted.... it happens *shocked*.

What I want to know is WHO IS BUYING WHATEVER THEY ARE SELLING? I blame YOU personally.  If you would only stop then these people would stop sending it. 

Ok, stepping off the soapbox.

Have a great weekend, it's beautiful here in Maine and I hope it is by you as well!

~Nan

In the dead of night after a town meeting in Frankfort on the 22^nd, someone tore our mailbox out of the ground.  It amazes me that in this day and age we have among us people who must resort to violence and destruction when another disagrees with them.  In effect, this is a bullying tactic to get other residents to remain silent and relinquish their right to vote and their right to exercise free speech.  Fortunately this is not the Wild West of old and the good citizens of Frankfort will not allow themselves to be bullied into compliance or silence through the use of fear and intimidation.  We make a mockery of the American democratic process when we resort to petty bickering, unruly behavior and acts of violence.  This is not a third world country, this is America and Americans settle their differences with the vote not with their fists.  We may not always like the way the vote turns out but we must always respect the process and work within it to bring about the changes we desire.  The times they are a’changing in Frankfort there is no doubt.  Change is an inevitable as a force of nature.  I'm looking forward to it......

~Nancy

We just got back from the New England Products Trade Show (NEPTS) in Portland, ME.  The show was Sat - Mon; Sat & Sun we had snow and the show was very slow but Monday was a glorious day and we did well enough to make up for the prior 2 days.  We've done this show for about  8 or 9 years and have always enjoyed it both personally and financially.  It's a wholesale show with only products from the 5 NE states being offered. We enjoy being able to see our customers in person and show t hem our full line all in one place.

We're pretty wiped out about now so will be moving a bit slowly for a few days but it's back to the grind st one for us.....

Thank you to all our customers who came; it was nice seeing you. 

Best,
Nan

So I was going to post about my experience with the New England Products Trade Show this past weekend but then I saw these pending posts for the blog and I just had to share them before I delete the posts.  Here is the beginning of one:

"Morning till morning, than silica gel, you now echinacea is alike lily s especially catholics, we have a color wheel for its up for another and master"

There are links to what look like flower sales websites but I didn't follow them as the rest of the posts are so stupid.  Look like some foreign scam artists who don't speak English but what they wrote was so funny I had to share it.

Here is another:

"Wildflowers  inrest of success of cut the lily,   roses we said before a sincere respect to and greatly from acne, 000 or  gardenjournal, coffee."

Of course then all use different names but the IP address is the same for all the posts.

"Journals and receive what can help. Spiritual soulmate is there are you. Dna number of the best dating."

Yes DNA is very  important for dating these days......

"Whether the juniper tincture, to spread: this node: i love with tendrils and vigorous. "

OK THEN, I'd like to spread my vigorous tendrils around their throats.

At best this was a very poor attempt to add some spam to my blog, at worst these sites are scam sites.  The words don't even make sense.

Humorous though.... LOL....

Makes you wonder....

Nan

I just don't understand people who give advice/information to other craftspeople that they know is wrong.  If you don't want to share a piece of information because you feel it is integral to your ability to stay competitive then just say so. BUT to purposefully LIE to another artist is just unethical.  I have heard stories from customers and students about other teachers and other craftspeople who give false information on purpose.

For a teacher to do this is so bad. If you don't want to share your knowledge then don't teach. PERIOD.

For a fellow crafts person to do this is unethical, nasty and unnecessary. If someone asks you a question you don't want to answer just say so, politely. If the person INSISTS you tell them, and this happens too, then you have a right to get snippy.

The other side of the coin is an artist OFFERING incorrect advice/info during conversation with the intent to imped the other persons ability to grow and prosper. 

We go into this field for many reasons  but most of them involve some sort of satisfaction and a better way of life.  To sully this by intentionally trying to harm another is beyond belief for me. When you start to feel bitter towards your craft and others who ply it then perhaps it is time for you to seek other employment.. go back to the bank....or wherever you migrated from.

Harm none,
~Nancy

Happy New Year and welcome back to the Glass Menagerie.  We're having record snowfall here in Maine and the kids are very happy cause school is closed for one more day! An extended vacation is always welcome.

We spent a nice New Year's Eve at home with our friends Kimberlee & Alan and their two children. We rang in the new year in the traditional way by banging pots and pans and staying up as long as we could .. for me that was around 4am. We played board games, had some tasty treats and some vino.  It was an enjoyable way to pass into 2008!

Tech Notes:

I found this thing called Lemonade(tm) which allows users to add a little Lemonade stand type of store to their site and I've added one called Gallery 222 on which I offer glass art from other artists around the world.  I hope you like it!

Greg, Arianna and I have all begun to play World Of Warcraft and boy is it fun.  A big timesuck, but fun.

Well, that's all for now...

~Nan

Yesterday something, we don't know what, slaughtered 1/2 of our chickens, 3/5ths of our ducks and one of our geese.  Now the other goose is across the road on the stream bed honking and won't come home.  It might have been a wild cat of some sort or a fox, ermine or even a coyote. It was just awful. A few of the survivors are injured and I hope they heal. I hope the goose will come back; he/she (not sure which one lived) must be heartbroken as the mate is gone.

We captured the remaining chickens and put them in the locked up pen with the roosters where we think they will be safe; no more roaming free for awhile.  The ducks are in the hen house and we're locking the door at night in hopes whatever it was can't get in.

It's so awfully sad, poor babies. Thank the stars the cats and dog were in the house! We've lost a few cats over the years to 'something' probably coyotes but we can't be sure.  House cats seem to be the preferred snack of quite a few wild critters around here. We try very hard to get them all in at night cause that's usually when things go badly. this time however it was in the morning (around 11am) and we didn't even hear a thing.  After the 'event' I did hear something making a weird moaning sound out behind the house in the tree line..... yikes.

~Nan

Wow, we've had a big snowstorm and I was NOT ready for snow!! Silly me. Slaving away trying to fill all those holiday orders, get ready for the holiday myself  and keep the one of a kind page up to date.

Got another post on  my guest book today where the email address is bogus and there person tells me my work is overpriced.  Funny thing is this is the same person who did it back in July.. how do I know? The IP address is exactly the same ROFLMAO... nimrods. I posted a reply to them back in September I believe.. the name was Debbie. I've received 2 more very similar from the same IP but using different names and different bogus email addresses. It's ok to voice your opinion but show enough respect to allow the other person to respond to you. To do otherwise is cowardly.

Why would someone want to spend the time to come back to me over and over to voice that opinion?  No life perhaps? Well - Debbie, Bev, Janet or whoever you are... your posts won't make it to the guestbook you know as I have to preview and approve them.

Don't be a hater Deb/Bev/Jan - move on with your life and be happy!!


Nancy

PS: Normally I wouldn't post this publicly but since they chose to use a bogus email address I felt I had the right to respond as I see fit.

Wow are we busy! I'm dancing as fast as I can trying to keep up with holiday orders.  I've been updating the website these last few days to offer specific pieces for your holiday shopping pleasure.  Bear with me as I make changes.  I've added a new Earrings Special page where you can order the specific pair you want and I've updated the regular specials page with all new pieces as most of the others were sold already.

I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving; I know I did. It was just the 3 of us but I made the whole spread - turkey, stuffing, mash potatoes, gravy, peas, yams with marshmallows, baked sweet potatoes and cranberry sauce. On Saturday I  made the filling for turkey pot pie and made some turkey soup. Not one bite of that 18lb bird is going to waste this year!

It'll be a scramble between now and Dec 25th! Let's all try to have a good time along the way and not let the stress make us crazy!!

Pinky swear?

TTFN,
~Nan

I just wanted to take a minute and wish you all a very Happy Thanksgiving and to THANK you all for visiting Glass Orchids and purchasing our work.  You make it possible for us to continue creating and we are truly grateful to you all.

All the best,
Nan

Yesterday I was in the house doing some laundry when I heard water running in the bathroom. I thought maybe I had left the water dripping in the sink for the cats or something but OMG was I wrong.  Greg was upstairs taking a shower and the water was coming up out of the downstairs shower and the toilet!!!! I ran up and pounded on the shower for him to TURN IT OFF.... seems the pipe had a clog in it and it backed up all over the bathroom. Sheesh.

But wait there's more....

So I get in the car to pick up the kids from school and the tire is making a funny noise; I thought there was mud on the tires or something. When I hit the black top I realized I had a flat tire.  So I call Greg to come on down and see...

Luckily my friend, Joy, was over and she took me to pick up the kids in her car.

Some days are just like that....

~N

Well Hello out there! We spent last weekend in Boston doing a show at the seaport.  This was a retail show and our last show for the season. It was our first time doing it and it was ok; not great, not bad, just OK.  But on the bright side we had dim sum in Chinatown! I also traded with a few other artists and got some nice things for xmas presents. I got some gingerbread cookies from Ginger Betty's Bakery and man are those good!!

It takes me about a week to recover from a show - partially because setup and break down are physically demanding but also because being 'on' for 3 days straight takes a lot out of you.  In addition, I usually stay up to 2-3am for a few days prior to leaving for a show just making jewelry and getting ready.  I think I need to take Yoga or something!

We're gearing ourselves for the last push of the year... Christmas.... and then we'll have a couple of quiet weeks in January to re-coup. Can you believe it's almost the end of another year!?? I can't!

Well, Talk to you all soon,
Nan

Stupid Dog. I just wrote this whole thing and then hit Cancel by mistake so this is the short version. The whole house, yard and dog stunk.  The house is 98% clear as is the yard.  The dog is now about 85% skunk free.

To be honest we have 2 black and white cats so his confusion is understandable.  The skunk isn't so understanding.  What a horror.


On another front, my kiln malfunctioned and ruined about 30 Dragonfire(tm) pendants.  It just didn't shut off and they became one big puddle. Oy.

What a weekend.

Hope yours was better,
Nan