Home Again, Home Again...

Purdue Memorial Union Hotel

I'm back from the conference (finally) and all revved up to get back to work. Yes, BronzClay is terribly exciting, the seminars were inspiring and seeing old friends was just too fabulous. Making new ones doesn't exactly suck either. Too much fun. And I had even more when I got home. Maggie Bergman from Australia stopped in L.A. for two days on her way back to Oz and we had the bestest time. I just dropped her at LAX and want to cry, I miss her already.

I'm not a picture taker, so nothing but Google Images to illustrate the fun we had (note to self: get a purse sized camera). Paige, Michelle, Maggie and I went to a wonderful restaurant in hippie saturated Topanga Canyon called Inn of the Seventh Ray. It's a lovely old place on a creek (at least it's a creek after the rains) protected by a  canopy of green leafiness - complete with fluttering Monarch butterflies and scampering squirrels. And probably even more unseen but observant wildlife. It's rumored to have been built in the 30's by Amiee Semple McPherson as a private getaway to escape the intensities of her pentecostal ministry.

Swimming Upstream

Then we went up to the Malibu Country Mart to go to a favorite folk art gallery that I haven't visited in much too long.  So long in fact that Tops Malibu doesn't exist anymore. It was so unique. Such a shame. So back into the car to go to Altered Space Gallery which carries two of my favorite jewelry artists, Todd Reed and Eric Silva. Of course while there I fell in love with a fine artist I wasn't familiar with before. Michele Mikesell's whimsical anthropomorphic animals make me smile, her technique with paint is luscious and I want one more than life itself. Okay. That may be an overstatement.

Today we went to San Gabriel Bead Company so Maggie can envison where I work when I tell her stories and drove to Pasadena to walk around the outside of the Gamble House which is only open for tours on weekends. Dang. Then back to my studiolo for a quick nap followed by the sad trip to the airport. Can't wait for 2010 when I get to see Maggie, Angela, Sarah, Linda, and all my other new and old friends again. To say nothing of the glorious conference.  Which I will report on in depth tomorrow. Stay tuned for more fascinating observations ...