Sunday, January 30, 2005

A disappointing month as far as ojo sales and production goes.....the big 48-inch ojo I was planning on custom making deal fell through....ouch! The good news is that I was giving the prospective buyer a rock bottom price, and she is willing to pay full price in the (rather indefinite) future.

Speaking of prices, I quietly raised all my prices to twice my older prices. Its a matter of taking more pride in my work, and achieving, I hope at least, a long sought level of artistic achievement. My son Abel suggested this to me, and says I actually sell more....as people will view the ojos as having more worth taking a clue from seeing what prices are attached to them. Time will tell.

Also, I'm switching more to calling my work mandalas instead of Ojos de Dios....as part of my perception of my work as more in the fine art instead of craft arena. As part of this I bought the domain name yarnmandalas.com. For now the site stays at ojos-de-dios.com, but the new name transfers web surfers to the site. Slowly I'll be going through the site pages and adding *mandala* or changing *ojo* to mandala.

Before bought yarnmandalas.com I did a Google search for yarn mandalas....and found this fantastic site of....

Mandala Tapestries by Charlene Marsh

This site certainly shows there is appreciation out there for a beautiful mandala to hang on the wall. I might add, with the very time consuming tapestry technique, her prices are still substantially higher than my new pricing. Fantastic work though, definitely inspiring.

I've been working on a web-site for friend and fellow Meher Baba follower Phyllis Ott the last couple days.....although at this writing it looks like another week (interrupted by four days of taxi driving coming up starting tomorrow) before I'll be able to upload the site. I'm happy with the work I've done on it so far though, and love the paintings being offered by Phyllis. I wouldn't mind doing more web-sites down the road, although this one has proved to be more time consuming than I had figured.

Hope to be writing more often in this blog in February. Until then...

Peace and Love always,

Jay

Sunday, January 9, 2005

I have this theory that God likes close basketball games. How else to explain how many game are decided in the last second or even split second?

I've been a fan of the NBA for years now, but have only followed college basketball casually....in spite of the fact that I live a short walk away from Trask Coliseum, where UNCW home games are played. Well today I got myself over there for a Women's Basketball home game, and it was, you could say, a TRIPLE cliffhanger .....went to triple overtime!

The most amazing cliffhanging moment ..... with 1.1 seconds left in the first overtime period, a visiting Drexel Dragon's player put up a layup, while surrounded my three defenders, that took little bounces around almost the whole circle of the hoop's rim to then suddenly drop in .... throwing the game into its second overtime .... and so allowing the eventual Drexel win after the three OT's!

There were plenty of other fine moments....clutch three-pointers from the corner .... smaller players penetrating to the basket between tightly grouped defenders .... and the Drexel Center, who swished in freethrows standing a casual few inches back from the stripe.

By the time the 3rd OT arrived, the home crowd was near hysterical to cheer their team to a win. I had to feel happy for the Drexel women though, who fought back after giving up the first 10 points to UNCW, and staying behind 10 to 15 points almost all of the first half.



Continuing warm weather today got my on my bicycle and over to the local co-op food market for lunch. It was the first time I've biked to there, and left me wondering why I had always driven before. It seems that every time I stretch myself a bit biking I surprise myself again at just how easy it is to pedal it a few miles. Next goal.....to the beach, which, after all, is only five miles away. I'm not in the greatest shape these days, but if I take it slow, that should be very doable. It feels good to once a week or so get some exercise beyond my usual one-mile walk.

Jay



Friday, January 7, 2005

January should be a busy month as its shaping up. I've got (haven't gotten the deposit yet, but supposedly will be here by next Wednesday) a 48 inch, 12 sided custom order ojo to spin out....as well as a 24 inch one that I've barely started, and a website to create for Artist and friend Phylis Ott of Myrtle Beach. Also a few household projects, and work on my van. Ok...some of this may carry over to Feburary!

I don't watch TV at all, but do rent a lot of DVD's via NetFlix. Today I watched *Bombay*, and Indian story involving much Hindu-Muslim violence, with a mixed religion couple as the main characters. I always enjoy films that give a glimpe into other cultures, and this was no exception, although the setting of a prolonged period of Hindu-Muslim roits, is hardly a pretty sight.

The weather has been totally amazing the last several days....with highs in the upper 60's ... and even into the 70's. I keep overdressing, not quite able to believe such weather is really here in January! Lots of other people are out and about in T-shirts, and a large area of pansies are in full bloom at the UNCW Entrance just up the street.

I re-connected with Alan Talbot, who I worked for in the mid-seventies at a Natural Foods store in Berkeley. He wants me to write up some of my experiences of that period. When I do, you can expect a link to the write up from here. Meanwhile, here's a pic of me, with my cousin Chloe, in front of the store, in 1974. CLICK HERE!



Tuesday, January 4, 2005

It's 2005, and I'm starting my blog again after several a break of several months.

For a quick catch-up on 2004 news, see my year-end posting from my Personal Webpages.

The Indian Ocean tsunami of Dec. 26 is much in the news still. I was surprised to read an article about how one whole village was saved by the simple knowledge that when the sea suddenly recedes to really low, its going to rise equally far! How many others would have been saved by this simple and, I would have thought, easily known fact???!!!

Other ambitions for 2005, not mentioned in my yearend roundup....

Spending more time cooking appealing meals, and, along with Anna, learning good housekeeping and organizational habits. A main inspiration...The FlyLady!

Well, not much of a start for my 2005 blogging, but its late late late, and I have to get up and drive taxi for 12 hours tomorrow.

Peace and Love always

Jay