pinkerton

That Darn Cat

December 4, 2010 by The Noisy Plume

I carefully tame the beast.

Be still.

That darn cat is a barn cat.

I wish you could feel his fur. At the moment it’s a lush winter coat — incredibly thick and soft. When I run my fingers through it I promise myself that it feels the same as a young polar bear or Arctic fox in the wintertime (I wouldn’t really know, but I’m brave enough to venture a guess).

He’s a sass.

He’s too big for his britches.

Literally.

And figuratively.

Meow,

Filed Under: pinkerton

Snowgirl

November 29, 2010 by The Noisy Plume

RW snapped these images of me today while I was out in the snow.

We had taken the dogs for a walk, played with them in the snow drifts in a nearby park, strolled our way back home again where we shoveled all the walks and patios at The Gables. Once the shoveling was done, I just sat down in a snowdrift for a while, held Mister Pinkerton there and tossed snowballs for the dogs to chase. I must had been in that drift for a good hour, cozy and warm; with cheeks stained pink by windburn and snowflakes. I realized, while out there, I’m really at home in the snow. I love playing in it. I adore walking in it. Just to be out in the winter weather feels extremely natural to me.

I hear, rather frequently, that it goes against laws of science for me to enjoy winter the way I do — being a small individual who is often cold when standing fully dressed in a heated house. For some reason, when I’m out and about in the weather, moving around, generating animal heat, I’m unaffected by it (within reason*).

I feel like it’s been snowing here for a week and a half. I welcome it. The past two winters in Idaho have felt so mild and my only complaint about Pocatello has been that the winters aren’t severe enough for my liking! I’m in favor of weather that makes me feel alive!

Here’s hoping we get snowed in!

Nothing could be better for my little soul.

The pantry is stocked. We’ve plenty of quilts on the bed.

Keep your fingers crossed for me!

I hope your weekending was wonderful in every way

and if you celebrate the Advent Season, I hope you can feel that first flame holding steady in your heart.

Hope, peace and snowflakes,

Plume

PS Have I told you that I’ve had my Christmas tree up for over a week and a half?!!! The living room smells of douglas fir. Sigh.

*When the temperatures drop below -30C I find it difficult to stay warm, no matter how much I move and no matter how much I wear.

Filed Under: pinkerton, plume gables, seasons, winter

Six Things and The Zany

July 15, 2010 by The Noisy Plume

1. It’s raspberry season!

My black raspberries are ripening at a lovely rate that affords me ten or so berries every morning for my cereal, warmed by the sun, fresh off the vine. I walk out to the raspberry patch, sometimes barefoot, and fill up my hand with my favorite little aggregate fruit of numerous drupelets. They are so sweet and sleepy looking. I adore the action of raspberry picking. It’s so satisfying to pull the fruit from the plant. One has to grasp the berry gently, so as not to squish it, but firmly because it takes a bit of force to separate the fruit from its stem. This fruit is so squashable. So vulnerable without the protection of a thick skin. No wonder they hide so well under broad leaves amidst the prickles.

What’s your favorite fruit?

I’m the queen of the raspberries.

2. Mister Pinkerton, the railway cat, throws you the stink eye.

I love to nestle my feet under under Mister Pinky, wherever he lays, because I like the feel of his paws on my bare feet. He has killer claws but he never pushes them into the tops of my feet. He just rests them there, soft and warm and if I get to feel his warm little pink and black pads on the roof of my foot, it’s pure heaven. Try it. It’s a glorious sensory experience — like petting baby grass.

3. My sweet peas are blooming. They boast the sweetest smell of all. I linger by the section of fence they are clambering up and I breathe deep. I hope the flowers last forever. When they are close, I feel cradled by their lanky tendrils and long legs.

4. Judith is the silliest chicken. I love it when she looks straight at the camera with this goofy expression on her face. Chickens are always so wide eyed. They’re never lazy looking. They’re all bright eyed bird, beak and wattle.

Winona is looking especially pretty this morning and was willing to pose for a photo. Rhonda is always quite camera shy so I failed to capture a shot of her but I’d like to point out that I DO think Rhonda the resilient red will be the first to lay an egg. She seems like the most physically mature out of the three ladies. She has the most developed wattle and comb. See Winona’s wattle there below her beak? It’s just been developing this past week and a half or so. Judith doesn’t really have a wattle yet even though she’s the largest of the three girls — she is, after all, six weeks younger than the big girls. Every day I check the nesting box expecting an egg. I think I’ll find one any day now and Rhonda will be the one to give it.

I love chickens.

Even if my radishes don’t.

5. Meanwhile. Out in the studio I’ve been hard at work on a handful of resin projects. There are two Bliss Necklaces featuring poppy pods, resin and aspen branches that I am hoping to finish today as well as a zany ring design I sketched up a couple of months ago that is taking AGES for me to finish. It’s quite sculptural, somewhat otherworldly and it involves resin. The resin work on this ring is taking me ages to finish since each layer needs about a 6 hour cure and it will probably take me 8 resin treatments to complete the pod filling. Whew! Resin is not for those who require instant gratification! That’s for certain. This ring will be zany if I can carry the design off without wrecking it! Keep your fingers crossed for me. This design is unlike anything I’ve made in the past! I can’t wait to show it to you!

6. I really like it when I line my fingers up wrong on the computer keyboard and then I look away while typing and when I glance back to the screen I’ve typed a paragraph of jumbly garble that doesn’t make any sense. I always laugh out loud, delete the nonsense and then start again. But I think it would be fun to type someone a letter with my hands shifted slightly to the right They’d have to sit down at their typewriter and figure out what the heck I was trying to write by translating my typing shifted back over one space to the left.
Wouldn’t that be infuriatingly glorious?

Happy Thursday.
You zanies.
xx
PLUME

Filed Under: chickens, chores, pinkerton, plume gables

Weekend Ahoy!

October 31, 2009 by The Noisy Plume

Gosh! It’s Saturday.

This week I tried to focus on a schwack of custom work I’ve had on my plate for a couple of months now and it was really difficult. I tried to work Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday but found it impossible to settle into a rhythm in my studio. I’ve pondered on this quite a bit and have come to believe it’s because I was feeling hugely overstimulated and needed a few days to decompress from the hurry of the past few weeks. With the end of fire season we have had a tidal wave of people in our home at all hours of the day. Pair that with my wonderful girlfriends who stop in frequently and I was feeling pressed and stressed for some peace and quiet. I ignored my phone all week long (which isn’t much different than usual), I didn’t do much computer work, I took some hot baths in the evenings and read through my mountain of Lapidary Journals. Again.

As it would happen, I hit my stride on Thursday and finished up most of the custom work that needed desperate doing. Of course, Mister Pinkerton was present for moral support and a chinny rub.

Isn’t he getting enormous? We’ve put him on a diet. Well. RW has put him on a diet. I still sneak him treats. That’s why he loves me best.

Here’s a quick view of a handful of goodies I finished this week:

Two are custom orders and the other two are for the update on Tuesday. I hope you don’t all have candy hangovers on Tuesday. Which reminds me, what are you doing for Halloween?!! RW and I are headed across town to the Fussleman household where we shall gallivant about in costumes, eat some tasty food, and hand out bonbons to the little’uns. I don’t know what we are dressing up as yet. I suppose I should make some sort of plan.

RW is very good with costumes. Whilst in New Zealand he managed to rig up a horse and rider costume from scratch. It was very impressive. He was always impressive back then. He’s always impressive now as well. Kristen will testify to his costume-a-bility. You should have seen his pirate costume in 2001. Picture him fresh off a Seeley Montana fire crew in a piraty peach shirt unbuttoned to his waist and billowing in the New Zealand breeze. SWOON.

I’d tell you about the rest of the costume but all I can remember is that unbuttoned shirt.

Oh. And some huge clip on gold hoop earrings.

I tell you, it’s not easy on the blood pressure to be married to something so bodacious.

Alright. I’m off to do my packaging and shipping

and coffeeing and cleaning and cooking and shopping.

SMOOCH,

The Plume

Filed Under: New Jewelry, pinkerton, studio

Distractions

September 14, 2009 by The Noisy Plume

There are more distractions at Plume Gables, Pocatello, Idaho than I can count with both my hands. The biggest of them all is the studio cat.

Mister Pinkerton is always in the way.

The cows eat him for hay.

Mother eats him in her sleep, she thinks she’s eating shredded wheat.

He’s always in the way.

The good news is that studio cat did not prevent me from making these on Friday, despite his greatest attempts at redirecting my already meandering mind and begging for a wedge of tuna:

[druzy agates, faceted carnelian & sterling silver]

I spent my weekend climbing with dear old Sue in the Pocatello Pump. It was good fun, my arms are sore and I did a heap of climbing which is very good for me, indeed. Additionally, RW arrived home last night after a long roll to Utah (17 days on that ridiculous fire), FINALLY. I almost forgot what he looks like but now I remember. Sigh. Currently, there’s a prevailing sense that life is very good. September marks a serious drop in temperature in the evenings in these beauteous little foothills and it’s nice to feel cozy in my bed at night instead of too warm for comfort!

Hope your weekend was downright nifty!

I’m off to stock the Etsy shop with some tidbits,

I’ll see you there.

Love and cozy sweaters,

PLUME

Filed Under: idaho, New Jewelry, pinkerton, pocatello