Getting Along With People and Understanding Computers

Even when the Spanish Village members are in disagreement about something or other, there's always some happy plant busy blooming. This succulent lives near my outside worktable and has the most beautiful but odd flowers on it. I think the colors are so delicate and subtle. The blossoms themselves look as though they might have been designed to be accessed by hummingbirds. Can't you just picture a hummingbird stationed below the flower taking a drink?

The rest of us grumble about various business issues and then go back to our studios to pursue our artwork. And even though we have our disagreements, like the members of any community, we're still just as happy as our plants when we pursue or discuss our art. I know I certainly am. I've spent the day typing up minutes of this morning's meeting, sending out several emails to members, and now I'm going to move outside and work on my jewelry.

This weekend, I spent time working on two necklaces and three bracelets made with seed beads. One of the narrower bracelets I made has approximately 500 beads in it. A great many pieces of jewelry made with seed beads tend to be rather weak in design or color choice or both. I'm working towards making some pieces that make stronger aesthetic statements. I think it will take a combination of the right colors, the right shapes and the right size to make the pieces a success.

I've never done any beadwork before, the term used for making jewelry and other items with lots of tiny beads. Usually when I begin something new, I start by studying some examples in books and on the web, looking at available materials, and then trying to make some pieces. I believe that the only way to really get a feeling for doing anything is by doing it. I like to begin by doing and then keep working until I get stuck and am forced to learn more. I suppose you could say it's kind of a circular process of learning.

Sometimes you can't make sense of instructions until you try and find what you don't know as well as what you do know. It's like that with the computer. You have to just begin and try to do tasks. When you get stuck, you read the help section. If you try to read the help first, you'll never get anywhere. I've wondered whether this attitude comes from that time in computer history when help manuals involved such error messages as: "error 13456." Huh? What error is that again.