Holiday Cheer

Time with friends and family is the best holiday gift of all. Knowing that some of my mother's beach glass jewelry will be worn by a dear friend's mother is like a candle in my heart. Thanks to everyone who has made it such an amazing year for us.

Sea Glass Festival

I am so excited that this year's North American Sea Glass Festival is being held in my hometown, Erie PA next weekend! My mother would be there if she could, and she would be amazed that others loved to collect as much as she did. She'll be there in spirit, I am sure. Check it out!

http://www.seaglassassociation.org/SeaGlassFestival.php

First Show

Thanks to the East End Food Co-op for providing the venue for our first ever craft show this past Saturday! We met wonderful people and had a great time.

Such a cool evening...we actually had stars overhead, a rarity for this urban area. This weather is phenomenal, but I still wish I was on the beach. I think I'll wear the one red bead washed ashore and collected by my mother in her 40 years of beachcombing to lunch today. It is a one-of-a-kind sort of day.

The temperature inside the house hit 82 degrees Fahrenheit; it is summer. The cats are lolling in front of the vents, loving the cold breeze on their fur (except for Oxygen, who is checking my typing skills by standing directly in front of the monitor). The marble pendant that Robin created is in the colors of House Gryffindor, which set me in mind for a whole new series of pieces...

Cloudless blue skies, heat and humidity...summer is finally here with a vengeance. I'll wear some cool, smooth glass today to remind me of the lake breeze.

Monday again...hard to believe the weekend went by so quickly! I remember watching fireworks by Dobbins Landing (when it was the Public Dock) and being amazed by the double display. Lights in the sky reflected on the water, it was just beautiful.

I've spent the morning watching the cats jostle for window space. Their little faces make me smile.

Monday

The cool morning breeze reminds me of summer on the shore of Lake Erie; the wind is almost chilly though the sun is so warm. Beach glass is a type of time machine for me, taking me back home.

An old friend is moving to Australia. I am humbled and amazed by his courage. I'll take a piece of beach glass to his going-away celebration...if he accepts it, there will be a piece of my mother's heart Down Under.

Beach glass...for eighteen years I would walk the shore of Lake Erie, head down, scanning endlessly for small, shining chips of happiness. How can I describe the joy upon finding a rare color...is that a red? Oh, maybe it's plastic...no, it's glass, hooray! But the glass wasn't for me. It was for my mother, Dolores Jane Toporowski Kreger, an extraordinary woman who chose to adopt me in the early 1970's. This blog will be devoted to our family business of creating art, especially the beach glass jewelry she inspires with every piece of her collection we see.
I love you, Mom. I miss you.