BEADS, BATS AND "STUFF"

Have you seen those bumper stickers, buttons, mugs and whatever that read, "She (or he) who dies with the most (fill in the blank) wins"?  I love those silly things.  The truth is, I think that I may actually have a chance of being a winner in several categories.  

If you are involved in a sport or any artistic endeavor, you know what I am talking about.  If you could just have that new model of fishing rod or reel, bowling ball, tennis racket or golf club you KNOW your performance would improve by leaps and bounds.  If your tennis outfit is cuter than anyone else is wearing, you KNOW you are sure to play well.  And if you are a painter, if ONLY you could get those sable paint brushes, or the new bright watercolors you have not yet tried, or the textured paper everyone is raving about...you would be able to create your masterpiece!!!  And so it goes.  I am a professional collector of "stuff", so I know these things.

And so it was that my good friend, Suzy, and I embarked upon our first

long distance expedition to attend an "Embellishment's Bead Show" where

we would take a few classes and...well, yeah, collect a few beads so we

could improve the quality of our newest love which was making beaded jewelry.

I think our eyes must have opened as wide as our jaws did drop to see so many fabulous things in one place.  And I can say with some certainty that this was ground zero for when and where we became infected with the disease which no longer allows us to pass by a bead store, Michael's, JoAnns, Hobby Lobby or even the bead isle at Walmart without stopping just to see what's there that we can't live without.

Currently on my bead table.....

My friend Suzy made this 
beautiful beaded necklace
for me for my 50th birthday.











One side line to this adventure.  The bead show was in Austin, Texas.  Although there will most likely be any number of posts regarding this trip (we did soooo much in only a few days) I did want to make sure to tell you in this post about the Congress Avenue Bridge, and the bat colony that resides beneath it, which just happened to be within a short walking distance from our hotel.  This particular colony is one of the largest urban bat colonies in North America.  

I could not wait to go stand on the bridge as the sun began to sink low in the sky when the bats would emerge to feed.  No, they were not vampire bats...just little fruit bats.  Sure enough, as Suzy and I waited on the bridge with many other tourists, all at once THOUSANDS of little bats came streaming out to fill the night sky.  It was one of the most amazing things I have ever seen.  

Based on her expression, Suzy was just a little uncertain about flurry of our little bat friends..... but we both survived the experience unscathed.  You can see several good videos of this event on U-Tube by searching "Congress Avenue Bridge Bats Austin, TX.
I liked the one by Jwattvo which was set to music.





Thanks for stopping by today.  Now go get some of that STUFF you have collected that you were going to do something with "some day" and have fun with it.  Play with the freedom of a child.  And come back and join us on Monday's and Thursday's to see what we have been up to.  I am going to go play with my beads now......

As Always...
Sketch on
Bonnie