Jewelry, Baking, and News all in one post yea, I did that

During a surprise visit from my lovely sister, she chose this design from Step-by-Step Wire & Jewelry's Apr-May 2010 issue:

Okay, so the design was about half this size and had a small 8mm bead inside instead of the gold bell inserted here, but it seems that large is indeed fashionable, and since it wasn't terribly heavy, these knots worked.

We also created a flyaway necklace from a design my sister always carries with her:

front

back

I mentioned it was a surprise visit, but it was no surprise that we went over to the beach to look for tarballs (I had seen some last week and haven't reported them to you yet):

Isn't this terrible?  An ugly tarball on the sugar white beaches we call our playground:

Psych!  We ARE calling these tarball cookies though because side by side they really look similar (like chocolate pudding).

This is really ewwwwwwwwww! and then yum.  I know it's horrible to make light of a bad situation, but I can't help trying to distract myself from the gloom and doom of this devastating accident.

As I watched this helicopter fly by, my son started waving.  He wondered if "they" saw him and I assured him that they did.  "How can you tell?"  Thinking quickly I replied, "Do you see that flashing light?  That's the helicopter pilot's way of waving back.  See, he sees you."  Now every time we see a helicopter, he madly waves and screams, "he sees me, he sees me."  Thank God for quick thinking:-)

Doesn't this man look tired?  and hot?  and very businesslike?  I assure you HE IS!!!

These guys LOOK extremely busy, but I looked inside one of their doors and they were chewing the fat and laughing in the air conditioning.  I listened as a radio newsman (I don't know his name but his station is FM 1260) broadcast "from the scene" and I had to laugh.  Here this guy had been chewing the fat with a cameraman from The Weather Channel, then taking a 30 second break to broadcast, he didn't even skip a beat before he dove back into the conversation with The Weather Channel guy.  If I had to get a paying job, I would definitely consider THAT profession.  Actually,  these news crews received the news that the oil is washing ashore (I haven't seen actual oil yet, as of 9:15pm tonight June 10, but know it's close) and they all want to Get That Story.  Personally, I want the real story too.  I want to know why it been close to 60 days and oil is still spewing into the Gulf.  (Yes, I have read the reports in the news)  I want to know why I read in EVERY SINGLE ARTICLE WRITTEN that BP is paying for the cleanup.  I want to know that the changes in Legislation (and they have already begun writing the new laws) are going to actually address the real issue of responsibility and not the politically beneficial issue.  Yes, I do have questions.  I'm NOT going to BP for the answers though, unlike many others.  They really don't have a clue, so why bother wasting MY time.