Dandelyon's Worlds

Yesterday, we went on a quest. See, Mystique bought me a ring years ago, a goddess/tree of life that, at first glimpse, resembled a stylized owl's head. I lost it a while back when we went to see Tammy Baldwin speak.

We got it from the artist at Bastille Days, but the last time we saw the artist there, he told us had decided to only come to Milwaukee for Irish Fest. I really wanted to replace the ring, but was stymied because I couldn't remember his name and didn't have contact information for him.

So, yesterday's quest was to see if he was still, after all these years, showing work at Irish Fest, since I had no clue how else to try to find him. We peered at the map near one of the beer stalls, and a gentleman suggested we head to the far north of the fest grounds.

We did indeed find some beautiful jewelry there, but not the artist we were looking for. So then we walked all the way to the south end, where we found beautiful music, but not the artist we were looking for. I was disappointed, because we thought we had found all the little clusters of artists.

So we headed toward the band some of our friends planned to watch, but on the way we found a building with more people selling stuff. So it was that at the far end of the last group of sellers, we found him--and he remembered us!

Of course, he hasn't sold that particular ring for years, so he didn't have one with him. But he remembers it and can have more made. I tried on a ring with a similar shape, for size, and he made a note of it.

So, now when he gets home, he is going to send a picture to make sure we're talking about the same ring, and he will have one cast for me. He warned it would take a while, and I should be persistent about checking back with him until I get it. But I will be able to get a replacement!

It took a while to find our friends in the crowd. That happened with the help of a lured pokestop. It's amazing how much I've come to appreciate having virtual landmarks in crowded places. I'm also finding a lot more of the art and historical monuments around me because of the silly game. That virtual landmark thing.

A little later I went on a separate quest, hoping to find food I could trust not to make me sick, and totally failed. I hadn't thought that would be so hard, but the two places I'd found that could feed me at Summerfest weren't there for Irish Fest.

But I knew I had food at home, and the quest I thought was less likely was successful, so overall I'm pleased.

I had all these plans for the weekend.  I have paintings I want to work on, short stories I want to write.  I want to finish Fireborn, so I can focus more on other projects.  And I wanted to get a bit of sorting done, in the room I'd like to turn into a studio, eventually.  

But I didn't have much ambition this morning.

And then I found the cats had knocked over some stuff, exposing a box that had some miscellaneous stuff in it, including some of the jewelry I've been wondering where I put.   My ankle bells were in there, bringing back happy memories of dancing around campfires, and less-happy memories of having to try to quietly pack them away when I forgot to take them off before going to a filk.  And there was the amber necklace that Misty gave me.  And there was the second of my dream-catcher earrings, minus the "finding" that makes it an earring, but that's easy enough to replace.

And there's the first amber and jade necklace I ever strung, and my brass pentagram that I bought from Hedwig, and one of the matching earrings.  Oh, and the carved bone necklace, where the clasp is carved bone too.  And some of the gold-and-shell earrings I bought in the French Quarter, when Misty and I played hookey from Nolacon.  And there's a necklace my sister Dragon gave me, and there's the second of a pair of drop amber earrings My Angel gave me, that I'd started to believe I'd truly lost, and several other matches to earrings in my usual box...

Oh, and what's in this bag?  Oooh, pretty.  Cubic beads in amethyst and clear quartz, drilled on the diagonal.  When did I buy these? Sometime when I was lost in sleep apnea fog, I guess.  I piled them into a handy basket and brought them in by the computer, where I have some of my necklaces hung from the nearby lamp, to reunite the earrings with their twins, and look--there's a smiling crystal full moon pendant, that I don't wear much because the chain it's on is shorter than I prefer.

And I had succumbed to temptation when I found some stone peace signs at Duckon; then when I came home, decided I wanted to use the round blue stone beads I'd planned to use with the peace signs with a dragon pendant in the same stone instead, and squeezed in a trip to Planet Bead this week--if you're in Milwaukee, and like beads or yarn, you should go to Planet Bead--So I'd been thinking of jewelry-making anyway.

So I get out the beads and feel rich and fortunate, and then start working on the purple and clear crystals.  But there's not enough clear crystals, so I go looking to see what beads I have that I can use as spacers; no, those are paints, and those are paints too, and those are buttons--oh, here, in the button drawer, are just a few beads, but a few is enough this time, since this old paint jar holds clear plastic or glass beads that are the right color, and I only need them for the back of my neck, so they don't need to be perfect--oh, what's in this bag? There's the black jade and chocolate amber necklace I've been looking for, tied into a produce bag because the tigertail broke.  I wonder how long ago the necklace broke.  Another thing lost to the fog of exhaustion before the sleep apnea got treated.

Well, I can restring it too!   

And that still leaves the blue dragon and the other beads I've got planned to go with it for later.  Because it's late and I'm tired.

But overall, it was a good day, beading interspersed with internets and memories, and some cleaning and  yardwork, and capped off with macaroni and cheese.  Thank goodness for brown rice noodles!