Tomatoes Time Arrives

The long awaited day has arrived in my Rochester, NY garden.  We took last year off to treat the garden for a tomato problem.   We are planting tomatoes this week.  Happy dance over here.  Their harvest will be the next BIG celebration.  

The current harvest or happy plants include leaf lettuce, mustard, and collards. Our  snow peas are vining but not producing yet. Lettuce in the picture at right. 

Happy for the normal temperatures to return so the spring growing season can produce the food we enjoy.   The climate emergency has shown types of plants we choose will need to change.  With strong fluctuations as wet and dry as well as hot and cold this spring we need to prepare.

Black Lives Matter

We need to change the way we treat others in this country. #blm #blacklivesmatter #ally #bekind #lovewins 

Free the People ROC is the group in Rochester, NY.  

 Free the People ROC

Buy Local from the Maker

Why shop small?  For every $100 you spend at a local business,  $68 stay in the community

#shoplocal

#buylocal

#artist

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Celebrate Womens History Month

 How are you celebrating the beginning Womens' History Month?  

Pink Boots Society

So inspirational to hear the founder of this organization, Teri Fahrendorf,  at the Pink Boots Collaboration BrewDay At Prison City Brewery. this is an annual event in Auburn NY and the entire weekend is a celebration. you can step up and support them on their site below.  They allow donations and sell merchandise.  

Pink Boots

 

Looking for other inspirational events which give back to the community for the month.  Feel free to send any events you were inspired by to me.  

These boots make me want to dig in the dirt.

Black Lives Matter

Free the People ROC is the group in Rochester, NY.  

 Free the People ROC

We need to support our brothers and sisters

#bekind

#blacklivesmatter
#blm 
#standup
#listen

#nojusticenopeace

Buy Local from the Maker 

 

photographer: Tim Fusse

 My Store:  My Shop

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Why shop small?  For every $100 you spend at a local business,  $68 stay in the community

Family Traditions with Love

Family 

• What family traditions do you practice especially in Fall & Winter?  
• Have you started new ones as you have grown your family?
• What new ways are you sharing quality time with family this year?   

We started what became a tradition about 20 years ago.  Valentines Day dinner was planned ahead. We made a turkey from scratch with all the trimmings.  The dinner provided easy meals later and one in the summer on the deck with leftover turkey and stuffing with a glass of wine.  We did not know how much we would like to do this until we tried it.  no long wait and restaurant for not great food anymore for us.  

BLACK LIVES MATTER

 Free the People ROC is the group in Rochester, NY.  

 Free the People ROC

 

I believe in supporting my local community. As an ally I know we need to listen and show up to support local groups. Stand up and join local events, organizations and / or protests and learn about wheat is going on in your city. 

Buy Local & Shop Small

Why shop small?  For every $100 you spend at a local business,  $68 stay in the community

My Shop:  My Shop

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This stunning statement necklace is made with a fund shell from North Carolina.  Always happy to work with found objects.

 picture by PIxel Wave

 

 

As April Ends, Beauty I find

 As April ends, I find beauty in the garden to share with you.  Romaine lettuce and Kale transplanted into the veggie garden.  Hyacinth in the front yard sharing their blooms and the fantastic fragrance they have.  

It is the season for rebirth and renewal because it is spring.  We are dealing with the pandemic still so be safe, and mask up.  my county is one of the hot spots in the state.  Could be because of many things:  the 9 colleges we have,  the removal of the mask mandate in the schools recently, covid fatigue.

Mask up, stay safe, take care of your friends & family. #maskup #staysafe #vax #besmart #test  

Black Lives Matter

 

We need to change the way we treat others in this country  I invite everyone to be kind and support our sisters and brothers.   We need to teach history accurately all year. 

Free the People ROC is the group in Rochester, NY. 

 Free the People ROC

 

Buy Local and Shop Small

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Facebook:  PandaWire Facebook
Twitter:  Panda Wear Gems  
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These are part of the Copper Geometry line showing the beauty of the raku with copper. Need a gift for Mom?
 

 

 

Why shop small?  For every $100 you spend at a local business,  $68 stay in the community

Black Lives Matter George Floyd

Today is the anniversary of George Floyd's  murder by police.  My local PBS station has several programs
they are broadcasting to educate the public.  We need to change the corrupt racist system we have in this country.  It will not be a quick fix but we need to defund the police and fund community programs to help those whom need it. We all need to step up and help create a new system.    As an ally I try to speak up often. 

Regular readers of my blog will see me as a woman business owner,  feminist and more recently an activist. 

I joined a group before the March on Washington 1.21.17. Women's March. Please take time to read their mission and principles. 

Women's March

 #blacklivesmatter

#speakup 

 

#DefundThePolice

#DefendBlackLife

As I learned that day 4 years ago, one person can make a difference.  I was humbled by being there. 

 

 

Free the People ROC is the group in Rochester, NY.  FB page  Free the People ROC

I invite everyone to stand up, listen to others, be kind and be ready to support our sisters and brothers.  

#bekind

#blacklivesmatter 

#stopasianhate

#standup

#listen

 

 

Buy local from the Maker

My shop:  Panda Wear Website
Facebook:  PandaWire Facebook
Twitter:  Panda Wear Gems  
Instagram: Instagram

Why shop small?  For every $100 you spend at a local business,  $68 stay in the community.

 

I have earrings and pendants with 50% of the each sale going to Free the People ROC and Woman's March.  

 

 

 

 

Hello May 2021

Black Lives Matter

Free the People ROC is the group in Rochester, NY.  FB page  Free the People ROC

I invite everyone to stand up, listen to others, be kind and be ready to support our sisters and brothers.  

#bekind

#blacklivesmatter 

#stopasianhate

#standup

#listen

I keep this here as a reminder.  We need to support our fellow Americans and listen to them.  They should not have to deal with all the racism and hate aimed at them.   We can fix our society.  

Love wins.! 

Kindness matters!

 

Garden Vegetables

 Waiting for my snow peas to emerge from the dirt and become vines.  The greens are doing well.  they survived n the ground through the cold snaps we have had this spring,   even the 2 inches of snow that covered them.  We should be able to plant tomatoes, peppers, & tomatillos by the middle of the month.  need to transplant some lettuce and start new lettuce.  The lettuce is planted about every 3 weeks.  

The waterfall of my pond at right is a beautiful sound to listen to. Waterlilies are growing and should show flowers by the end of the month.

Buy Local from the Maker

My shop:  Panda Wear Website
Facebook:  PandaWire Facebook
Twitter:  Panda Wear Gems  
Instagram: Instagram

 

Why shop small?  For every $100 you spend at a local business,  $68 stay in the community.

 

 

Spring in Rochester

 This week is the end of March 2021.  the year has started off well for Panda Wear.  There will be a big announcement soon.  Follow on social media  links below. Huge project has taken most of this month to complete.  Happy to be finished with it.  

Where do I live you might ask?  In Western NY, specifically Rochester NY.  With the Climate
emergency it is very different than when I was a child.  I have daffodils with the crocus blooming in March because of fluctuations from the high of 72 last week to the low of 20 in a few days.  On the plus side, planted mustard in the garden that are ecstatic to be in the dirt. Never was able to plant this early before.  Partly because of a slight drought for this month and the unseasonable warmth which allows my garden to be dry enough to plant.

 RBG   Ruth Bader Ginsberg

To honor Women's History Month, one of my Sheros is RBG.  Who inspires you?  What women are your Sheroes?  RBG quote :

Women belong in all the places where decisions are being made.  It shouldn't be that women are the exception.   

The group Art Force 5 has a fantastic project this month honoring Sheroes.  Art Force 5

Launched on 3.8.21, this year's Women's Empowerment Draft honors 32 Sheroes of college students in the USA.  Read more here 

Womens Empowerment Draft

 Black Lives Matter

Free the People ROC is the group in my area. We must end Asian Hate and the empowerment of  white supremacy groups.  The murders in Atlanta this month as well as the Attempted Coup 1.6.21 must be stopped!  We as a nation are better that this.  the past four years have ruled the fire of this racist segment of the population.  Plain and simple White Supremacy = Domestic Terrorism 

 FB page  Free the People ROC

I invite everyone to stand up, listen to others, be kind and speak up.  

#stopasianhate

#bekind

#blacklivesmatter 

#standup

#speakup

#listen 

My shop: Panda Wear Store

Facebook:  PandaWire Facebook
Twitter:  Panda Wear Gems  
Instagram: Instagram

 

Why shop Local (small)?  

For every $100 you spend at a local business,  $68 stay in the community!  Yes Over 2/3 stays in your local community! 

Garden Sauna

My garden has turned into a virtual sauna with the rolling heat waves of the late spring & early summer.  It seems fitting to share some of my drought tolerant plants whom love the HEAT. This is an outdoor hardy cactus  called an opuntia .  We have them in both a pink as well as this yellow blooming variety. We recently gave them more sun by removing a few evergreens that were growing between them.  As these pictures show they are quite happy with the change.  

Another of our summer lovers is the Sago Palm below.  This pic is of the new fronds it is growing this season.  the plant is over 20 years old.  In out climate it come indoors in the winter.  The fellow gardener in my house collects cacti & succulents.  We have them outside in the summer and several hundred of them move indoors for the winter.

For Education  Search 
 I Can't Breathe
Black Lives Matter
and read from fact checked news sources.  As a supporter I need to speak

Sago Palm

up.  Please join me.

remember Stay home Wear A Mask Stay Safe Flatten the Curve

I am thankful for dear friends & family at this time to help keep us on track during this pandemic.  I have a weekly artist chat on zoom I host to allow a safe space for us to speak & share how we are coping.  Some weeks there is new art to look at while other weeks we are happy to have the group to discuss important topics.  Yes I am told there are FB groups but this is so remote and distant to me. this more personal and helpful to  us artists.  Keeping my schedule as regular as possible in the new world we live in has bolstered my creativity and I am now able to make some new pieces.  They will be added to my website and will be featured on Instagram first. 

Larimar in Sterling Silver

For every $100 you spend at a local business,  $68 stay in the community.  We are in this together.

       Buy Local from the Maker 

My shop:  Panda Wear Website

Facebook:  PandaWire Facebook
Twitter:  Panda Wear Gems  
Pinterest: Pinterest 
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May is Here with Warmth

 Garden

Lettuce & snowpeas

 Mother Nature is warming up this week and we will return to normal temperatures.Having been about 20 degrees below normal for about a month, it is slow growing in the garden.  My experience & knowledge has kept my plants alive.   I have small greens right now and harvested some voluntary Chard from the 2019 planting. this is an image form a warmer spring. 

 

Zinneas

Why I love gardening.... from my Grandma on my dad's side. Growing up I helped her in her gardens.  I have fond memories of her yard in the spring bursting with colors. Some of the flowers in Grandma's garden: roses, zinnias, geraniums, peonies, sweet potato vine,  pansies, petunias, snapdragons and many others.  She had a second garden at the family cottage up north of Alexandria Bay, NY in the 1000 islands. The flowers were in whiskey type barrels at the entrance to the front porch.  She was always happy to tell me the name of any flowers we saw.  My favorite up at the cottage was the wild snapdragons which were everywhere along the privet road.  An especially fun activity for me was walking up the hill with my father.  As I was coming back down with snapdragons.Grandma always put them in a glass on the kitchen table.

Gemstones

I sell rocks! Do you know a jewelry designer or small local Jewelry store?  As a lapidary,  I custom cut my own gemstones.  There are many one of a kind cabochons I sell both retail and wholesale.  Please feel free to contact me if you have a friend with a shop who uses one of a kind gemstones. .  The rocks I sell are available uncut as slabs for those who enjoy the lapidary work as I do.  Always happy to talk about rocks, gemstones and lapidary passion.  Links at the end of this post.

Challenges

As we move into the the third month of the Covid 19 pandemic here in my state I feel a bit unsettled . As an artist, I feel the isolation and the difficulty of how this is affecting so many in the USA. When will it end, I often ask myself.  The unprecedented way the federal government is handling this pandemic is appalling. I am proud to be in new York state because of the fantastic leader we have in governor Cuomo.  His leadership is an example of what we want to see in a time of crisis like this.  He has created partnerships with other states and together they are making decisions which will benefit the greater good of all those in the north eastern USA.  I am reminded of the feelings I had before & during my recovery after  my knee reconstruction 5 years ago.  The main difference is I felt the outcome was certain as long as focused on & worked my PT(physical therapy) daily.  To thrive we must focus on what we can control and the positive things we are learning daily.  We will survive this and we will be educated on what needs to be done the next time we face a crisis.  Stay strong, stay home, flatten the curve &  use your favorite video app on your phone or computer to stay connected with your family at this time.

     Buy Local from the Maker 

My shop:  Panda Wear Website

Facebook:  PandaWire Facebook
Twitter:  Panda Wear Gems  
Pinterest: Pinterest 
Instagram: Instagram


 In NY OMH Emotional Support Helpline: 1-844-863-9314

  help:https://omh.ny.gov/omhweb/covid-19-resources.html

May the spring season bring new growth and life into your world. 

Garden Visitors in my Backyard

My garden has two visitors every year.  depending on their mood we may see them infrequently or often.  The mallard & his mate stop by usually 2-4 times and eat the tadpoles in my pool cover.  I guess being their snack stop is a good thing.

As a lapidary & jewelry designer I am inspired by the visitors and look forward to seeing them. The deep green of the mallard reminds me of one of my favorite gemstones, kambaba jasper.  It is seen here in this necklace set in sterling silver, Seeds of Kambaba.  Yes there are several names for many gemstones.  This is the name I prefer for this stunning gem. Want a special Mother's Day gift,  please reach out.  I have an extensive inventory.

Before on left, action on right side

Our second visitor is more of a resident. She lives under my in ground pool.  She is a cottontail rabbit.Amazing  has had a litter each year that we have seen for the past 5 years.  We were lucky enough to see two of the babies about two weeks ago. One was bolder than the other.  The  shy baby seems to stay in the backyard and runs for cover frequently.  Because of how tiny she is, often we do not see her.   I managed to get these  pics  on the pond walkway last Friday. Rabbits blend in easily as shown here.



Remember, for every $100 you spend at a local business,  $68 stay in the community.  We are in this together..

            Buy Local from the Maker 

My shop:  Panda Wear Website

Facebook:  PandaWire Facebook
Twitter:  Panda Wear Gems  
Pinterest: Pinterest 
Instagram: Instagram

Stay strong and know there are people if you need to talk.
 In NY OMH Emotional Support Helpline: 1-844-863-9314

more help:https://omh.ny.gov/omhweb/covid-19-resources.html

stay safe, flatten the cute, stay home during this cover 19 pandemic.

International Womens Day

Yesterday was International Women's Day, how did you celebrate?  I reflected on some fantasict women I admire such as Susan B Anthony, Elizabeth Warren, & Kamala Harris.

As we move thru this month, I am beyond excited. It is almost SPRING,  10 MORE DAYS!!! This lettuce from 2017 says it best.



Elizabeth Warren quote,"Choose to fight only righteous fights, because then when things get tough - and they will - you will know that there is only option ahead of you: nevertheless, you must persist "  Her passion is resonating through out these United States of America in the hearts & minds of all of us women. She had the courage to do something some only dream of  run for President of the USA.




As this Mustard in my greenhouse shows, it wants to grow despite the fact it is winter.  The seed was planted last fall and is growing now that it is warm.  I watered it so it can become a full plant &  be large enough for a salad soon.   Followers of this blog know by heart my favorite Susan B quote, " Failure is Impossible "  I feel that here in this green. I did not expect it to have survived the winter but it persisted.

My indoor greens are only sprigs right now.  Three to six weeks  until they can be planted into the veggie garden.  Hopefully the peas can be planted by the end of March like last year.

Buy Local  from the maker

My shops:  Panda Wear Website
                   Cabochons and Beads

Facebook:  PandaWire Facebook
Twitter:  Panda Wear Gems  
Pinterest: Pinterest 
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Habitat:  My Page Women Build

Reminder order early for special occasions

Reflections of an Entrepreneur

I am a lady artist in this new century. What a fantastic journey it has been so far.


On this last day of 2019, New Year's Eve I was inspired by the quote below.

This is one of my favorite pieces to have created.  Seeds of Kambaba unites my love of gardening and lapidary with jewelry design.  Maybe it should be part of a series of garden inspired designs?  What to you think? 

The Sam Haskins quote is a fantastic example of what it feels like to be an artist.


As this decade comes to a close we are all reflecting on what this past decade has meant to us.  There have been so many laments and reflections that I have seen recently.  How do we turn off the outside noise aka our technology and enjoy the quality time with family?  Especially this time of year as a lady without a living father this time of year is never easy.









I have become an activist in the past decade as a feminist.  One major reason being  we are still not paid equal pay for equal work as females.  I have been a supporter of the ERA since last centruy.  No it has not passed or been fully ratified yet.  It will be that I am certain.

Want to help? Join NOW            ERA.org

NOW,  National Organization for Women in your area.  I was elected treasurer for my local chapter this year.   It is an honor to be part of this organization.





Want to support this Artist, feminist activist?
 Buy Local  from the maker.

My shops:  Panda Wear Website
                   Cabochons and Beads

Facebook:  PandaWire Facebook
Twitter:  Panda Wear Gems  
Pinterest: Pinterest 
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Happy to create for you in precious metals a unique piece of your very own.

Welcome to May

Welcome to May starting off cool and wet here in Rochester, NY. Busy working on a wedding order and Mother's day gifts here in the studio.


Happy to have the spring greens in the ground & they are enjoying all the rain we have had.  Rain, rain go away is often overheard around here.  We have had way too much rain recently after a sever drought last fall.  A rough start to the growing season here.

What are you plans for the upcoming Mother's Day weekend?

I am proud to be participating in the Second annual Right to Run 19K / 5K  in Seneca Falls NY Saturday.  It was fabulous last year and I know it will be amazing this year.  join us and see for yourself.

Join us  Right To Run & bring you Mom or kids.

My shops:  Panda Wear Website
                   Cabochons and Beads

Facebook:  PandaWire Facebook
Twitter:  Panda Wear Gems  
Pinterest: Pinterest 
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Enjoy the rest if this week and celebrate your family in a special way.

April Garden Installed

April is rapidly coming to a close.  The vegetable garden is installed or planted and the growing season has begun. We are happy to have a few greens harvested and enjoyed so far this month. As my regular readers know I am an avid gardener.  My inspiration for my jewelry designs come from nature.

 






Planted in the ground so far are lettuce, mesclun, kale, broccoli, parsnips, leeks, & snow peas.  We have seedlings waiting to be installed:  tomatoes, cilantro, peppers, celery, kale, broccoli, & lettuce.

These lovely garden pics were taken this morning between the rain showers. A beautiful spring day here in Rochester, NY,





With Mother's Day quickly approaching, I have
a few orders to finish and deliver. Jubilant customers and soon to be happy Mothers.

 PM with your special requests or use links
 
My shops:  Panda Wear Website
                   Cabochons and Beads

Facebook:  PandaWire Facebook
Twitter:  Panda Wear Gems  
Pinterest: Pinterest 
Instagram: Instagram