They Aren't Going To Accept Losing, Chapter XXVII

They're not going to accept defeat.  Tbey've been saying so out loud in broad daylight for weeks now. 

I like to think "The Generals" are paying attention to this? 

Cool Beads: Fun With Filigree

Experimenting with these sterling silver filigree tubes. Haven't really worked with these before, but I love the dramatic look of them with these chunky Dragon Skin turquoise ovals and blue Peruvian opal.

May fiddle with it some more, but hope to get it (or something like it) listed in the shop by the weekend.  

Tuesday Nite Sundowning

Got my bike back from the shop. Full tune up, new tires, new brakes, new chain, new cassette. Vroom, vroom. 

  

Cool New Bling

Been busy in the shop this month. Sold some turquoise and some Roman glass, and a couple of collectors have noticed some of the really old stuff and are haggling over my asking price. I’m not budging, lulz.

And gemstones? We’ve got gemstones over here. 

But what sells the most is the sparkly, colorful glass, like this baby that shipped to California last Friday. Lamp work beads, dichroic glass and honey jade. 

Next up are these “baby Krobos,” which are much smaller than most of the African trade beads you’ll see out there.

 They are just TOO adorable and hard to find. These left for Washington State yesterday, because apparently the West coast love my stuff this month. 

I have a bunch of new stuff done and will get them listed this week. Here's a gorgeous strand of Hubei turquoise that I put with some chunks of magnesite. Might restring this with these gorgeous sterling silver tubes I found.

 

Last but not lease, a friend of mine requested "something with orange beads," so I put together these ceramic tubes with Peruvian blue opal, burnt orange Java glass "gooseberries," and Hubei turquoise. 

Memo to my fellow working stiffs: You've been hoodwinked

Next Sunday I'm doing a short presentation for the Humanists of the Treasure Coast about Mary Harris "Mother" Jones -- the agitator and labor icon from around the turn of the last century. To be honest, I'm not sure how I got roped into doing this lecture because I know almost nothing about her. But having cut my teeth in the unions, having lived some of it, I've become the defacto labor historian of our little group, and as such, I'm the go to guy for Labor Day. 

From the Wiki: 

"Mary Harris "Mother" Jones rose to prominence as a fiery orator and fearless organizer for the Mine Workers during the first two decades of the 20th century. Her voice had great carrying power. Her energy and passion isspired men half her age into action and compelled their wives and daughters to join in the struggle." 

That's all I've got so far, so we should be in good shape for Sunday! 

Look, I know the American work force, collectively speaking, is suffering from Battered Wife Syndrome. Working stiffs in this country have been treated so poorly, for so long, that we don't believe we deserve better. Here's the thing, tho: We do. 

We do deserve better pay, a stronger safety net, and access to healthcare. One of the main reasons I was able to retire a year ago -- a midwest kid who fell off the turnip truck in DC with little more than a high school diploma.  I was fortunate to find myself working under a union contract at age 19, a contract that afforded me a decent living, good health care, and a "defined benefit" pension -- that is, the kind of pension that doesn't run out. 

You don't see these types of benefits much anymore, and living wages? Certainly not in your so-called "right to work" states, more aptly described as "right to work for free" states. Everyone hates unions now, but lemme tell ya something, sonny: You've been hoodwinked, and you deserve better. 

America Is Tired Of Them.

Well darn, looks like this blog has been sitting here running all this time. 

Look, I can't keep up with the GOP Outrage O' The Day, there's just too much. It's relentless, and to be honest, I feel like something big and dumb and weighty has finally started paying attention: the American electorate. 

I'm not complacent, not at all. After 2016 I think we've all learned not to count our chickens before they're sitting on our plates. But I felt something change during the DNC convention, and it wasn't just "a bounce." 

People are fucking tired of seeing nazis everywhere. They're tired of toxic, fragile man-babies behaving badly. They're tired of the spittle-flecked rage, tired of people bringing their long guns to the grocery store, to the library, to the school. They're tired of the book banning, the race baiting, the endless preoccupation with other peoples' genitals. 

People are tired of the Trump show. They're tired of the paid off porn stars, the endless felony convictions and court cases, the sleaze that was the entire Trump presidency.

America is tired of being grabbed by the pussy, and it's about fucking time. 

Today's Cool Beads

 I found these cool black batik bone beads and strung them up with some burnt orange Java glass. Also too, magnesite turquoise. Listed later tonight. 

 

They Aren't Going To Accept A Loss, Part II

 Did I mention? They aren't going to accept a loss, no matter how overwhelming it is. 

Read My Beads.

Fine, I know I'm a shitty blogger but I'm try'na write a book over here (did I mention I'm writing a book? Because who isn't) and I've been busy. Or something. 

I can't even keep up with the news anymore. It seems like just yesterday  that I was despairing for our country.  I didn't believe in my heart of hearts that the dems could pull off a graceful exit for Biden, and then do the quick surgery required to heal the party. Worse, I didn't think the voters out there were even paying attention. 

Now with Harris and Walz at the helm there's new life in the Democratic Party, everyone is jazzed, and Trump and what's-his-name seem creepier and weirder every day. 

I personally think Trump is finished. 

Anyway, here are some cool beads I listed earlier this week. Are my colors getting happier...? 

modern glass, lamp work pendant

Antique Krobo beads from Ghana

Very old Venetian glass rune beads

Cool Beads - Thursday Bling Shot

Here are some very small, but very old intact beads (circa 100-400 AD) from excavations in Djienne, Mali in the 1950s. 

I just closed the strands on these and will add the finishing touches tonight. I should have these listed in the shop by tomorrow. 

Also, I was really happy to hear from a collector who's interested in this necklace (see below) that I've always loved and would almost kinda hate to lose. The beads are all ancient carved stone and Islamic era glass -- really old, you guys -- but it still looks great with anything you're wearing! 

"Next Time."

 Someone on FB just posted a question asking if anyone who’d been anti-vaccine during Covid had lost a loved one to the virus, and if they had changed their mind as a result. 

It was an interesting question, because it brought to mind the last conversation I had with my mother before she died, almost exactly three years ago.   

She was on the Covid unit at our local hospital when we had our last phone conversation. She was still able to speak then, was still lucid. She told me that “next time” she would go ahead and get the vaccine. 

“This stuff is nothing to mess with,” she said. 

But by that evening she couldn’t speak anymore. Late that night she went on a ventilator. The next morning she was dead.

We couldn't bring ourselves to tell Dad. He was in the same Covid unit, just a few doors down. He died three days later. 

Renee & Leon

My parents were fundamentalist christians, but they had never been anti-medicine or refused vaccinations before. With Covid, it was different. They were deeply in the tank for Donald Trump, and were avid followers of Fox News. They believed Trump, and Sean Hannity, and their Governor Ron Desantis, who told them that the Covid virus was a hoax, and that the vaccine was dangerous.