The idea of renouncing all worldly goods and seeking detachment from material things doesn't appeal to me.  Walking through the world with nothing but a saffron robe and an empty rice bowl is for MUCH more highly evolved beings than me.

I like stuff.

I like the feel of things - objects that have weight and texture, substance and permanence.  I like the leftover to hold on to, after the experience. 
My drawers are filled with bits of this and that, amassed from here and there - souvenirs, gifts, reminders, and markers of places visited and things done.  To me, half the fun of the trip is the stuff I come home with. 

Perhaps, I seek to balance the ephemeral nature of singing.  For once a note or a phrase is sung, it's essence of mere vibration spirals out and away into the ether, fading to eventual nothingness.  Gone.  Nothing remains, save the memory in the hearer's ear.   

But then again, maybe I just like stuff

It's no wonder that I'm drawn to stones.  What could be more permanent than stone?  The "stuff" of my earliest days of childhood was all like that, things that helped me learn about nature, about cultures, the things of my world, and things that were out of this world!

Who knew that those things, sharks teeth, Indian beads, arrowheads, along with a special cotton -cushioned box of shiny chunks of pyrite, tiger's eye, and obsidian, collected from family travels, would eventually lead me to creating lovely jewelry out of just such stones!
Picture
 
 
...people who need people, are the luckiest people in the world."  (sings Barbara Streisand)

How LUCKY I feel, after the launch of the "Belle Pietre" Facebook Page a day ago, to have dozens of (OK, as of this very moment, 70) Fans already!  What a wonderful way to promote this work, and what a valuable tool social networking can be.

I'll admit now that I created the page months ago, at the same time that I created a Fan Page for Dan May ~ www.danmaycd.com ~ friend, colleague, and BRILLIANT Singer/Songwriter. 

Of course it was easy telling the world about HIM.  My hesitance about promoting myself, naturally, fell under the category of (what's now becoming a pretty boring story about) "Tooting One's Horn."  

W
hat a wonderful thing, that it IS becoming boring!  And it's only gotten to that point by working it out here.  Bit by bit, post by post, success by success. 

You really couldn't have told me, on March 31st, when Belle Blog began, that I would be be doing promotion amongst hundreds of friends, colleagues, fans and acquaintances - and now THEIR friends, colleagues, fans and acqauintances, and the circle will continue to widen!

How could I have EVER imagined how supportive and encouraging they would be of me and Belle Pietre? 

Thank you, People!
Picture
 
 
Pablo Picasso, vanguard of modern art, notorious lady's man, and the guy responsible for driving more than one lovesick woman to suicide, is the source of Belle Blog's quote du jour:

"I am always doing things I can't do; that's how I get to do them."

This morning, I read a Status Update on Facebook from the "Chautauqua Belle," an historical paddle wheeler that gives the folks on Chautauqua Lake a taste of what life was like at the turn of the last century, when the only transportation in the area was the steam ship!

The Captain (actually, a young man named Mat Stage who spearheaded the re-building of the vessel some years ago) was calling for photos from people who had cruised on the steam boat, that would be included in their new, updated website. 


On a whim, I looked through my pictures from last summer, and posted a couple of the best on their Fan Page, thinking, "that'll be the end of that."

Merely minutes later, there was a lovely message from Mat in my Inbox, saying how beautiful my photos were, and that they'd give me and Mom a season's pass to ride the Chautauqua Belle to our hearts' content this summer in exchange for the use of my photos!

Who knew I could take website-worthy photos?  And who knew that I could actually take decisive action, when I couldn't already foresee the outcome? 

And so here's to more of THAT (whatever "that" may be) whether I know how to do it, or not!
Picture
The Chautauqua Belle ~ Summer 2009
 
 
Twas the night before Easter,
when all through the city,
not a creature was beading.
Not me nor my kitty...
~
Happy Easter!