More Necklaces

I found pictures of necklaces I took in March and somehow forgot to mention on a blog.

These lampwork beads are larger than what I normally make. 

When I was organizing craft supplies, I found a necklace I made long time ago(below).  I made a mistake of leaving this necklace where my cats can get to and one of the cats chewed off the cord.  I'm grad that he didn't accidentally swallow the rock!

Things That Kept Me Busy in April

April is usually one of the most pleasant month in Arizona, but it wasn't a case this year at least for first two weekends.  The first weekend happened to be the 4th avenue fair weekend in Tucson and it felt like in June.  One of the vendors at the fair told me that it was so hot that people weren't even stopping to see merchandise.  Only the hat shops and drink vendors had great sales during the fair.  The second weekend was insanely cold and it felt like back in February.  I volunteered at Spring Shearing Festival at Kathy's ranch in cold drizzle.  I was really looking forward to see shearing of animals but I was too cold and wet to stand in a rain.  I was spinning with a drop spindle in a garage where three other people were demonstrating wet felting, continuous strand weaving and needle felting until I could no longer feel my hands.  I spun rest of the day in a shop.  Call me a wimp, I don't care.  I can't stand cold weather.

I went back to the ranch on Monday to see the rest of the animals (who got too wet to be sheared on Saturday) getting sheared.  By the time I arrived, all alpacas and llamas had been sheared and they looked pretty strange with their new haircuts.

I saw angora goats and sheep sheared.  I didn't know the brown hair on sheep was actually sunburn and hair inside was a beautiful black color.  Another surprise was that how fibers from each sheep differ.  Just like our hair feel different from each other, wool from one sheep was much softer and finer than the fiber from her barn mate.  It was nice to see how fibers I spin were collected from animals.  It requires continuous hard work to raise animals for fiber and then process them (wash, color, make roving/batts, spin) for sale.

We had our Easter dinner at my brother-in-law's house and I was in charge of veggies and rolls.  I baked plain dinner rolls and herb-cheese dinner rolls on Easter morning.  I served asparagus with roasted garlic-lemon sauce and it was a hit.  All the veggies including sauteed broccoli and broccoli stem and cucumber salad were all gone and it was a happy surprise in a not-so-veggie loving crowd. 

I started volunteering for Humane Society last December and I've been enjoying working special events such as Cover Dog Photo Shoot and Doggie Fashion Show.  The largest fundraising event for Humaine Society is Puttin' On The Dog (P.O.D.) and it was on April 29 this year.  I helped baking dog biscuits before the event and kept filling coolers with drinks and ice for other volunteers during the event.  I just realized that I forgot to take pictures!  It was a fun event with lots of dogs, food from local restaurants, and animal lovers.  I met Maya, a therapy dog who is a pitbull.  We don't usually expect a pitbull to be a friendly visitation dog who visits nursing homes and children's hospitals.  Meeting someone like Maya reminds me that we're product of environment and even certain bleed of dogs commonly believed dangerous can have a nice temperament when they are raised in loving environment.  I'll be volunteering for P.O.D. every year.  Now I understand why this event is nominated in various local media's favorite charity event polls.

Horseback Riding in Sonoita

My husband had a surprise for me on March 20.  He told me not to plan anything that day so that we can go hiking.  A hiking wasn't exactly what he was planning to do---he took me to my first horseback riding in Sonoita, Arizona.  First, we had brunch at a small restaurant called Canela Bistro with pleasant ambiance.  We both enjoyed house made smoked machaca & eggs.  

He booked horseback riding with Arizona Horseback Experience.  There were 7 others (5 from out of state) riding that afternoon, but I was the only person without prior riding experience.  The lucky horse who had to let the beginner ride on his back was Chief, a 23 year-old horse. 

Chief didn't act like an old man, I mean horse.  As his name suggests (although that's not why he was named Chief), he wanted to lead the group and he followed right behind the horse a guide was riding.  He made my first 3-hour horseback riding very memorable.  I really enjoyed riding on a beautiful sunny Sunday.  It was truly a nice surprise.

Next day, my inner thighs were sore from riding as my husband predicted.  It was well worth the pain!

Things That Kept Me Busy in February-April

I haven't been able to update my blog as much for last three months or so.  It's not that I didn't make anything---I have to be really sick to put away my craft tools and kitchen knives---I've been busy running around and I didn't take my time to share what I was doing. 

I took a diving trip to Bonaire for a week with my husband in middle of February and got my diving fix.  It was my first shore diving experience.  Diving whenever I feel like was nice, but we both missed diving off a live-aboard boat.  All we have to think about on a live-aboard boat is next dive---we don't have to worry about what time a supermarket closes on Sunday or which restaurant to go out for dinner.  Bonaire and other shore diving destinations are for people who can stay two weeks or longer and rent a condo.  The picture above shows slave huts where slaves who harvested salt used to sleep.  The huts are so small---I can't imagine how it was like to come home from hard labor to this little hut and to be crammed in there with other slaves like sardines. 

After northeastern Japan suffered earthquake and tunami on March 11, I joined Japanese Association of Tucson's fundraising and helped with two events.  The first bake-craft sale was on March 19 and I was there selling baked goods for almost 12 hours. Members of Odaiko Sonora entertained us with their strong performance in the evening.  Some people waited three hours to dine in at Sushi Yukari who donated 50% of the sales of the day. 

Another fundraising was held on April 10 instead of association's semiannual picnic.  We had yard sale and craft sale outside and Japanese food sale and bake sale inside Sushi Yukari.  It was an unusually cold weekend in Tucson and I was still a little cold even in my heavy leather jacket and long boots during craft sale.  I sold some of the earrings and polymer clay beads I made.  This fund raising was a great success as well.