Always Working On Some Idea

Here's a photo I took several days ago. It shows my new umbrella, the green one on the right. It gives me a great deal of shade. This photo was taken late in the day, so you can see the sun is shining on the table. That doesn't happen until about 6:00 p.m. these days. Later in the year, I'll be glad to have the sun but right now it makes me very warm. Well, really. . . VERY HOT. The weather has been in the high 80's these last few days, much warmer than our usual 72 to 75 degree weather. We're so use to temperate weather that we complain if it gets more than a few degrees warmer or cooler. And in several months we'll wish we had this warm weather and long days back again.

Today was my day off, but I went to one of the bead suppliers that I frequent. After making the bead pictured in my previous post, I realized that I wanted to get some smaller pearls that I could use with the seed beads. Most of the pearls I have now are larger, really too big for what I want to make. So I found some, but the smaller ones are harder to find nowadays. Beads are like everything else: they go in and out of fashion.

Our eye changes. I had occasion to use my father's old laptop which he got in about 1995 if I remember correctly. So it's at least ten to twelve years old. It's a laptop, but it has a different look and proportion to it than the ones we have nowadays. The screen is more square, not the wide screen like we have now. And it is thicker. Of course that's the technology. Everything is getting smaller and lighter. Wires can be thinner and circuitboards smaller with all the components closer together. I like little gadgets. I like little things. I suppose that's why the seed beads are so appealing to me.

One of the problems with the seed beads is their size. I have no trouble working with them during the day. But recently I've been bringing my beads home with me and working on them before and after dinner which my housemate and I usually eat out in the patio. We have light out there, but I find myself struggling at times with the beads and also threading the needle. Sometimes it's hard to see what I'm doing. I find that I'm most likely to have a problem when I'm starting something new. If I stick to my regular stuff, I'm okay.

I've thought about not bringing my work home at all. I wasn't for a long time, but I'm trying to make headway with the seed beads and that's why I'm working ovetime. I'm hoping that will change soon, that things will begin to come together more. And I see some evidence of that. I'm getting the hang of it. When I went to the bead supplier today, they asked me to teach a class. They've asked me before, but I'm shy at this point. I'll give it some thought. I can see that it could supplement my income.