New Snow, Fall Farm and Trade Beads

Mt. Hood has been looking naked for a few months as the snow melted in late summer.. so when I saw that it was white again with the first snow I decided I needed a photo.  Dayle and I ran some errands yesterday, had an early dinner and then drove up to Jonsrud Point to get a photo.. thanks to heavy traffic and a few excruciatingly slow traffic lights we got there just after the sun tipped over the horizon and missed the pink alpenglow.  But here is what I captured.

I walked the dog yesterday and snapped a few photos of the farm garden, it has turned cool but the sun is lovely.

There are fewer cars parked here now.. :-)

Seeing the Papyrus and bamboo so happy is bittersweet.. I know it will be too cold for them soon.

If you've never grown Papyrus, you should get a pot of it, it's so pretty.  I have 3 varieties/sizes, King Tut, Prince Tut and Baby Tut.  :-)  That is the small version you see behind this fluffy head of the biggest one.

The last bloom on the Calla Lily.  It will soon shrivel up but this came back from last year so I can hope it will again next Summer.

I'm loving the lime green in this Coleus.. I am going to try to winter this over, too.

After I shared with you the Chief Lalooska long house I remembered that I bought a pendant made by his sister, Patty Fawn, so I brought it out to show you.  It's a bone carved in the shape of a canoe paddle with designs she made and a bit of abalone shell.  I believe the carving depicts an orca.

And a closer look at the Russian Blue beads I wore to visit the long house.  These are very old Indian trade beads from the Northwest strung on braided leather.  I found these in an antique shop in Sellwood, Oregon.

Russian explorers traded blue beads to the Native Americans in Alaska and Canada starting in the 1700s. Their appeal lies in their Cobalt Blue color and their faceted appearance. Blue Russian Beads likely originated in Czechoslovakia. Russian traders may have purchased them directly from traders in Europe, or possibly from the Hudson Bay Company.

When I bought the beads above, there was also a very long strand of Russian Blues, so I called my friend Sally and asked if she wanted half of them and she said yes.  I strung this necklace myself with some special long Russian Blues and 4 white Russians and the old coin I got at a bead show.  They were found in a trunk in an old miner's cabin in the gold rush area of California.

The California Gold Rush began on January 24, 1848, when gold was found by James W. Marshall at Sutter's Mill in Coloma, California. The news of gold brought approximately 300,000 people to California from the rest of the United States and abroad.

With the white beads found in the trunk was this 1861 silver dime which was drilled likely by Indians who liked to wear the coins as jewelry.  You can tell these beads were well-loved and worn a LOT as they started their life in Czechoslovakia and were shiny and sharp edged.

 

I also traded my web design skills to some Indian goods traders for these beads that were actually purchased from a museum who were selling some of their collection off.  You can see how different the old trade beads were.. you can see several different colors of Russian blues in this strand - clear, milky white, black and blue.  The carved canoe paddle was given to me at an event at Multnomah Falls by a local Indian woman at which point I gave her some Russian blues for her to make some earrings.. she had no authentic trade beads until I gave them to her.   

Another mixed strand of trade beads I strung, the yellow ones are called "Greasy yellows".  Did you know that Lewis & Clark brought 33 lbs. of small trade beads and use them to barter for food from the Indians along the trail to the Pacific Ocean?  I like to think even a few of mine were with those early trailblazers.

Trade Bead History

I have lots more trade beads but these are the ones with Russian Blues on them.  :-)

I also found another pretty color of the cotton thread and plan to make more pouches.  

I made an emoticon for Dayle and learned there were more options so I went back and edited mine and added glasses and earrings.  Here are the both of them.  :-)

I am swimming today.. and tomorrow is the first meeting of the Portland Women's Forum for the year - Oct to June.  It will be good to see everyone but I will miss seeing my sister Roberta there.  

I hope you have a wonderful week ahead.  ((hugs)), Teresa :-)