Hi!

~~~ it's been a while since my last journal entry, and much has happened. But I am going to skip most of the depressing stuff about the lives and health of many people I know, and most of the ongoing long-term projects that I've already mentioned in previous journals.

~~~ My booth partner Teri had to miss Convolution, but Housemate Christine volunteered to help with transportation and booth watching, and that worked out OK. I didn't get a table at Further Confusion, despite getting my application in as early as was allowed, so I am using the time I normally would be spending on making art for FurCon to start the long-delayed computer project. More about that later.

~~~ I went to the Gem and Jewelry Show with housemate Rowan and her friend. Sadly, most of my favorite dealers were not there, and there were more jewelry dealers and fewer gem and mineral dealers. I still found some useful items. I hope to get to the next Crystal Faire, and the Bead Extravaganza. And I went to the Good Sam Showcase of Miniatures, where I saw a great many examples of amazing artistry and craftsmanship.

~~~ Hiking has been good. For my birthday I was given (besides a birthday pizza) a hike in a new area, and found yet another unculverted creek of the Baxter Creek Watershed. A trail with a stone spiral is a bit to the south of that one. There are many small walkable labyrinths and spirals in my part of the world, most marked out with the local stone, some installed as part of buildings.

~~~ My "Shapes Necklace" was inspired by Morpho, though not up to his level of craftsmanship:
donsimpson.deviantart.com/art/…

~~~ Some of the Napa quake damage I mentioned last journal, as seen by using a camera drone:

~~~ And that's some of the happenings. More on some of this later....