Back to Barrie

We are getting ready to head back to the cold weather and snow. I am going to miss Tucson and it's wonderful warm weather. But before heading out I had to give my favourite pony a few sugar cubes. Tonight we attended the Eric Firestone Gallery opening showing photographs of Andy Warhol. The place was packed and there in the center were girls on plinths, dressed in vintage garb gogo dancing. Music was provided by a disk jockey spinning LPs and of coarse the collection was in the regulation LP plastic milk carton. He also had a pretty nice collection of 45s. We will be on the road tomorrow at 4:30am and should make it home in time for a late dinner. Don't forget to mark your calendars for next weekends Artist Project show. I'm looking forward to seeing everybody there.

One Week Until Start of Show

The desert bloom is slowly starting. It is unfortunate that we are not going to see it. We can see flower buds on the cacti in the neighbourhood starting to swell and turn pink. One little flower has opened on a cactus which is situated in a parking lot against the south wall of an office building. A very sunny hot spot.
It was sunny and warm here today, an easy day to work with wax. It is soft and malleable all the way through. Only one week to go until the opening night of The Artist Project Toronto. The show runs from Thursday March 4 - 7. I hope to see most of you there. Look for me at booth# 421, Queen Elizabeth Building, CNE Grounds.

It's a Bird, It's a Plane

High above the Tucson skyline a strange object was spotted in the sky. No not the moon, the other one. I personally think it is a ufo but seeing that we are only minutes from an airbase it might be something else. Derek has recently been working on a series of ufo drawings and that might have clouded my judgement. Everyday there are planes in the air going around in circles and every night there is a helicopter making all kinds of noise. Some of the planes here are so fast by the time you hear them you can't see them. We didn't notice the plane, which is in the photo of the Tuscon Museum sculpture until I downloaded the pictures at the end of the day. It must be a ufo!!

Morning Hike

It was a gorgeous morning as we set off early to hike the hills at Sentinel Peak. We had noticed the trails the last time we were in the area. With two water bottles in tow we started up the trail. It was a beautiful two hour hike. The cacti were varied and plentiful and it had Derek clicking the shutter on the camera like he was trying to keep time with some music in his head. I was in the lead looking out for any straight "sticks" on the path that might be out sunning themselves. Luckily the only wildlife we saw was a flock of quail and we heard a couple of coyote calling to each other. There are two bobcats living in the area but no sign of them.
Afternoon was spent working!

Work Day

Today was spent working on my sculptures. It was a treat to sit outside and have the wax soften in the sun. At home I was having to place my bowl of wax on top on my side table lamp so that the heat of the bulb would soften the wax. I brought a bag full of wax chunks with me on this trip. I am going to try my hardest to get it all made into rabbits, birds, books, flowers, etc. and maybe even a cactus or two. I will be casting these pieces as soon as I get home because I want them for the Artist Project which starts 4 days after we get home. I will be a little tight for time but that has happened before on more than one occasion. My only concern with the waxes is getting them home in one piece. I guess a little bubble wrap will be the ticket.
Now I have to get back to crocheting.

Saguaro National Park

Happy Family Day to everyone. We celebrated the holiday by going for a bike ride. "What's new" you ask, I know we do that every day but today we rode to Saguaro National Park. Once we got off Broadway, the main east/west street, we started along Old Spanish Trail. The road lives up to its name by meandering up into the mountain. It was hard slugging on my blue Huffy but we made it. Thank goodness we had enough water with us. On the way down Derek's bike started to seize up and we had to stop as we got back into the city so he could buy some WD40 and drench his bike. In fact he had to carry his bike for the last bit. Derek has been talking about cycling in the desert since last year. He poured over the bike route maps and information we had at home. He googled bike shops in Tucson. He had it all planed, we were going to the National Park. Well we did it!

Happy Valentines Day

I hope everyone is having a good Valentines Day. My sister Ruth works in the floral department at her local grocery store. I bet she has been run off her feet today. Guys just remember we like to receive flowers anytime during the year. That goes for jewellery as well. You don't need a special occasion to tell someone that you love them. Since I am sounding so much like a sappy commercial I might as well say "think of Ruby Diego Sculptural Adornments next time you are looking for something special". Derek and I are going to eat dinner out on the patio tonight and I don't even have to wear a parka. I'm loving this warm weather here in Tucson. It's not hot like you would get in Mexico or one of the islands but no snow and no winter coat is fabulous. When we get home I am going to miss jumping on my bike and going somewhere. My bike at home, the Lone Ranger, doesn't come out of the shed until all of the snow is gone. I know some people ride their bikes all winter no matter what the conditions are. Not me, so I will enjoy biking while I can.

Gems and Minerals

We went to the gem and mineral show at the Hotel Tucson, formerly the Inn Suites, today. The quality of the rocks was amazing. People had set up in every available room in the hotel. The ballroom was full, the entrance hall was full, the large closets were full. In the bedrooms the beds were taken right out of the room or they were piled one on top of the other and pushed as far into the corner as possible. Display cases were brought in and spot lights were set up to make the gems and minerals shine. There were many museum quality gems. We looked at so many excellent specimens that we developed gallery fatigue and had to go back to our castia and have a rest. Once our overloaded minds cleared we headed out again. This time we were on the hunt for rough stone. We had seen some beautiful cabochons made of Tiffany stone and someone gave us vague directions on where to find it. So off we went on our bikes to find the elusive Tiffany stone. After an hour of riding around cental Tucson we finally found it. Here is a picture of me trying to decide which rock would have the most interesting colour on the inside. I will be cutting up the rocks and using the beautifully coloured pieces in my jewellery. I can't wait to get started.

Red Beryl Mine

Today Derek and I met the owners of the Red Beryl Mine which is located in the mountains of Utah. Red beryl would be near the top of any rare gemstone list. In fact, red beryl is so rare, most people don't even know that it exists, but I saw it. Gem beryl occurs in a variety of colours; green (emerald), light blue (aquamarine), pink (morganite), and very rarely, a deep red. It was in the late 1950's, around when I was born, that the deposit at the Red Beryl Mine was discovered. It is mined from an open pit. The red beryl crystals are more or less randomly distributed in the white rhyolite host rock. Red beryl was deposited in expansion fractures that formed in the rhyolite as the magma cooled. We are talking a long time ago. Tons of host rock are drilled, blasted, and moved in the search of fractures where red beryl crystals might occur. Now after your lesson on red beryl I must tell you that I didn't buy any. Remember at the beginning of the paragraph when I said it was rare, well rare usually means expensive. It was, but I did buy some aquamarine faceted stones. Look for these new stones set in bangles, necklaces and of coarse rings.
The picture here shows how we are getting around Tucson this year. My light blue "Huffy" just needs a basket and some streamers hanging from the handle bars to look perfect. It only has one gear and you can hear me huffing and puffing up the hills. Good thing Tucson is fairly flat. It's just those mountains around the perimeter of Tucson, that Derek keeps wanting to bike up, that causes me some trouble.

Shopping in Tucson

I have had a few days of shopping here in Tucson. If you like beads there are thousands of strands to choose from. You can get any size, any colour and any price range. There are pearls selling from1 dollar a strand up to 35,000 dollars a strand.I did not buy the later, big surprise. The faceted gem stones are found in abundance as well. I was lucky enough to find a couple of deals on some very pretty stones. I am going to set the smaller ones into some of my bangles. In my teacup necklace I am going to set an apple coral cabochon to represent a full cup of tea.

Welcome to Tucson

We have made it to the Tucson gem and mineral show for a third time. This year I am looking for faceted stones, beads and rough stone. The choice here is endless. There are tables piled high with every type of pearl you could imagine and every price you could imagine. From one dollar a strand to thirty-five thousand a strand. This year we bought bikes to get around the city. The city of Tucson is flat so my one speed coaster brake bike is working out fine. So far the only time I had trouble was when Derek wanted to go to the top of "A" mountain. I had to push the bike up hill but going down was fun once I had reassured myself that the brakes would work if I stood up and pushed hard.