Home & Happy New Year...

Hi all, we are home & yes it is Persian New Year or rather NoRooz in Farsi which means New Day...fitting really since we are starting a new chapter in our lives...so its a great day to come home...Persians everywhere, (save for me, I am too jet lagged, so the photo above is from 2005) get together, celebrate, eat & are merry for about 2 weeks starting on March 20/21 the first day of spring...the tradition is all about re-birth & re-newel...and it dates back 2568 years...

What you see us sitting in front of is a table set with the Seven C's or 7 items the names of which start with the letter C in Farsi/Persian...here is a break down of what they are and why...

Sabzeh: Where you germinate seeds in a plate or container so it sprouts in to a small lawn at it wore in a plate, often from lentils or wheat, its all about rebirth & renewal

Senjed: The fruit of a Lotus tree, it is very dry and somewhat sweet, it smells good too, & some thing it makes people fall in love, so it’s all about affection & love...

Sib: A large red Apple which stands for health & beauty, kind of like the Apple of life...

Samanu: Never eat this one, ok many do, but I think it tasted well BAD, it’s a pudding of some kind made from Wheat Pudding…anything to do with wheat is a representative of fertility, all about being fruitful if you get my drift...

Serkeh: Good old white Vinegar. This stands for age, wisdom & patience. All of us could use some of that...

Somagh: Ground up dry Sumac berries. This one is all about the Spice of Life & something to with the color of sunrise, although I don’t think so, Persians traditionally sprinkle this on many of their foods, I love it on rice specially...

Seer: Last but not least Garlic. This one is for its medicinal property & a sign of good health stinky as it may be, it’s good for you...

Other items on the table are Fish & Mirror for life & reflection, perspective if you will, money/coin for good fortune, candle to wish for light in your life, Hyacinth for life, and the Good Book, which can be a Bible, The Torah, The Koran, or any other book of faith that the person believes in, since the celebration is not religious based, in our house it is a book of poems by Hafiz, a celebrated & famous Persian poet...at the end of two weeks of celebrating, eating good food, visiting family, wearing new clothes, even giving brand new bills of cash as gifts, we all go on a picnic by a body of water, bring the Wheat that we grew in the plates with us & give it back to the earth as a circular symbol of life...

we are resting, life is good, thanks for stopping by...have a great new Spring & new year...

Jelveh

Peace

Bitter Sweet...

Hi all, So by now most of you know that we are on our way back to America. California, the land of sunshine, where our home is & most of our family & friends live...the last year in England has been awesome, we have visited so many great places, we have lived in Oxford known world over for its lovely spires and prestigious schools...one of my fave is the New College which was built in 1379 ...This town is so gorgeous that during WWII Hitler told his military not to bomb it, he wanted to live here after the war...we have met some lovely people & made great friends here...going back home is always sweet, but leaving great new friends behind is the bitter part...what more can I say, our life is good indeed & we are grateful for all of it...

over the weekend we went to the British Museum & saw a couple of exhibits...I must say the one about Shah Abbas, one of the Kings of Persia who ruled about 400 years ago, was not as cool as I thought it was going to be. It seems that the new Government of Iran is trying re-write history again. They were responsible in a large part for making the exhibit happen, this was so apparent to myself & many other Expats as we noticed that the Persian part of Iran was kept out of the exhibit for the most part, all the writing & art that was displayed from the time of Shah Abbas was all in Arabic & Islam related...it was kind of deflating to see that the new Muslim Government of Iran is trying to kill off the Persian in the Persian History of Iran...After all Persia's history precedes Islam by about 1500 years or more, don't get me started...

The photo above is of the Egyptian part of the museum, its of core formed glass perfume bottles, coal eye liner bottles & fish made over 3200 years ago, I actually teach this technique of Core Forming in one of my advanced classes...as you can see contrary to what modern glass bead makers might tell us, raking designs have been around for many a millenia...

I have listed 2 new bead sets on etsy, click here to see them...

Kristen wins the bead for last week, send me your addy girl...The Pink Berry Splash bead above is this week's giveaway bead, you can enter to win it by making a comment on this blog post...

I had such a great time with Laura these past few weeks...will miss her lots...

Thanks for stopping by & for all the love...see you on the other side...

Jelveh

Peace

Casualties of Moving...

I have the best hubby ever, he practically packed this whole house and got us ready to move all on his own, the movers came today and all of our stuff is on its way to America... When I was torching last week, he was behind me in the studio (garage) helping me pack my glass, he said these wont fit in the tubes and i was not looking so I said oh yeah ASK glass they are longer than the normal rods, just use my glass cutters...I guess I should have said to cut them in half...not being a glass bead maker himself, he did not know that it would be best to cut them in half and not just at the tips...

This glass is now discontinued as many of you know, I use my stash of it sparingly, specially this color the Mediterranean Olive...he felt so bad, but what can you say, the guy is a gem and things like this happen...we laughed about it...I thought i share with you just one casualty of moving...no worries, I will melt them back in to larger working rods...

Jelveh

Peace

Queen & Yummy Beads...

Or I could say I am the queen of yummy new beads, Hi all, hope you are doing well below is a quick look at our busy life...

Packing (mostly hubby & Penny, a bit me),Walking, Hubby sick with Cold,I pamper Jelveh Sick with Cold,Hubby pampers,lymph node mad & in pain at the back of my head,Packing, walking,working on the computer(both of us),working out shipping issues.

Sammy the Hamster is going to America,Packing, giving away stuff,Making Beads,Fun,talking to family & friends on skype,Valentines Day, cards presents, sweet love,Dinner,A Night With Queen at the New Oxford Theater

Dancing in the living room,Life is Good,Hubby Birthday,Dinner & Movie,Happy,Hubby is awesome

Making Beads,clean beads,take photos,Packing,Life is Good

Got Dates & Tickets to go back to California,Will miss England,Can not wait to get home,Life is good,More Beads for later,Movie He's Just Not That Into You, Good

So I did make some yummy beads this for this week, I have listed them in the shop click here to see, or to the right of this posting...

The winner of last week's beads is Ginny...I think the girl has a secret thing going on with my hubby, since he has picked her name more than any other in the random drawings that i have had for about 6 years now, Congrats girl, here is to the power of creating our own universe...now On to the new bead above, love the way it came out, the mix of colors is amazing, a yummy landscape measures 33mmx28mmx7mm...to win it, all you need to do is make a comment on this blog, tell me about your happy busy lives...& have a thing with my hubby...lol

I am selling my Oxy Con, you bead makers out there who live here in the UK, let me know if you are interested...it wont work in the US due to power issues.

Thanks for stopping by, Life is always good...

Jelveh

Peace