The Tribe in my kitchen

It may come as a surprise to some that know me that there were a few things about living in the Desert Southwest that I did appreciate, mainly the art. It seemed to be the only place with such a culture of art that I connected with. The colors that we painted in that house reflected the mountains that could be seen outside our kitchen window. And although our little backyard was totally surrounded by brick we did the best we could by adding texture and the colors of the surrounding desert.

Considering we only lived in Nevada for 4 years (and worked our butts off constantly) we collected more art in that area then any other place we have visited or lived. The piece of Rock Art that hung in that kitchen (now in this kitchen) reflected the colors we have latched onto. The funny thing is the color of the sun in this piece exactly matched the color paint I had purchased for the kitchen just days before. We found this piece the day the moving truck dropped off our belongings from South Florida, so, as you can see the connection to the art happened almost instantly, unlike my taking the lifestyle into my heart, that never really happened...although I tried I promise.

<--Us at the Grand Canyon
The little tribe that lives in my kitchen will be with me for a long time. They remind me of family, union and tradition, which is scarce in my little family. (More on that later some other time.)

I have been finding the southwest sliding itself into my jewelry since I've begun my deviation away from wedding jewelry.

Just recently I purchased my first piece of Wildhorse Jasper with many thanks to Jim at Jimsgemscabochons. My first thought was "this looks just like a map of the desert." I showed it to Jeff and he though it looked just like the map of Central Nevada. (Growing up on Long Island and living in Florida the landscape of the desert is still amazing to me.) I immediately had a plan for this stone, I just had to find the right person for this concept. I wanted to give the stone a large background and continue the line right off the stone on to the silver. It's a bit of a stretch but that's what came first and I'm learning to go with those first ideas. Here's what came if it:


Now for the connection to that little tribe in my kitchen (bet you were wondering where the heck this was going, eh?)
Meet Floyd...

Now Lois, you don't need to keep this name but Floyd lived in our community in Kissimmee where we lived before Nevada. (Follow me here.) Floyd was our self proclaimed Pool Monitor. He would walk around the community pool asking people for their pool keys as evidence that we all belonged there. We would often see Floyd walking home from the pool, pool-noodle in hand. Everyplace we have lived has had a Floyd, and although there is no disrespect meant to this Tribal Leader in the Making, he reminds me of Floyd and his noodle patrolling the pool deck.

Okay so I'm done...Lois, Floyd is in the mail.