Friday, March 28, 2008

The Things We Find...

I'm in the process of cleaning and organizing my studio (again). I figure that if I can stay up one night a week, even though I'm already tore up tired, I can make a lot of progress and have it finished sometime in June. Maybe... if I'm lucky.

Even with my best intentions, I found myself sitting in front of the computer and looking at blogs. First I was at Jean Yate's blog (which admittedly, I sometimes check several times a day), then over to Margot Potter's, and then up through the Ornament Thursday links to the Art Bead Scene blog (which as you can see from my blog roll, I do check daily but it's at the top of the list and I start from the bottom). At the Art Bead Scene blog there's a post about organizing one's work station and bead storage. Within it contains a link to Jill MacKay's blog. I checked it out and started scrolling through the archives. That's when I found this:

It's a picture I stole from Jill MacKay's blog. I like it quite a bit (even if my ears look more pointy than usual - except at Faerie Con). It's a shot from when we were in Tucson together. Nowadays the Thornton kids are all spread out. I'm in New York, Sheila is in L.A., and Cynthia is in Asheville. The other fine folk in the picture are even further dispersed - Katie Wall of Fusion Beads in Seattle, Heather Wynn in Florida, and Barb Switzer in California. It made me miss my friends and family something terrible.

It's funny the things we find on the internet in the pre-dawn hours. We find reminders and suggestions of the tasks at hand that have yet to be completed. We find pictures of ourselves we didn't even know were there. And somewhere along the way we find the reasons to keep going and do what we do. (AND you find really cool Moleskines with silver leaf patterns on Etsy!)

4 comments:

Jill MacKay said...

Dear Andrew,
I didn't know that you and your siblings lived far away from one another. Please forgive me I should have sent those wonderful pictures of you all to Cynthia. I do have email address. I didn't have yours till today. I will go now and send more pictures to you! It was so fun to meet you in Tucson. You are so very lucky to have such a wonderful family.
Glad to have you as a new friend... Jill

Andrew Thornton said...

Hey Jill,

It depends on timing, as we are reluctant to leave Azalea. So, either Sheila or I will be hanging out Greg and Cynthia's house living vicariously through their happy home. Though, Sheila and her man are planning to move to Asheville soon, so perhaps when they do... so will I? Who knows? Then we can all be together again. But for now, I must follow my destiny here in New York.

Thank you for sending me the other picture!

It was an honor and a pleasure to have met you in Tucson and get to know you there.

I know I'm lucky! My family is great. It took me a long time to realize it. But in the end, I came to the conclusion that they are pretty darn cool.

I'm glad to have you as a friend as well, Jill!

Barefoot said...

Hi Andrew,

I found your blog months ago while googling Anne Choi beads and have been reading it quite regular. I enjoy reading your musings and admire the necklaces you made. I love Anne Choi's magical beads and only started collecting them recently. I drop by to say thanks for posting the links to your friends' websites cos I found some wonderful pieces which I will be getting soon. I appreciate your insight in your entry on tea leaves...very poetic! I live in Singapore and my late grandparents came from the Fujian province in China.

Andrew Thornton said...

Hey Leah,
Thanks for reading my blog! I love Anne Choi and the beads that she makes. She is an incredible person who is so smart and has a wickedly delightful dark sense of humor. She's GREAT!

I always like to hear feedback from people who drop in on my blog. For me, blogging is a way of creating community. Sharing ideas and thoughts is such a wonderful way of expanding one's view and really provoke different ideas.

Thanks again for reading my blog. Also, that's really cool that your grandparents came from the Fujian province in China. It's so interesting to see how we are connected to each other.