Kate McKinnon

Don’t forget that there are still spaces in my beautiful Mexico mixed media class, January 3-9, 2009. If someone you love asks you what you want for the holidays, or you feel like taking some time for yourself and enjoying a week in the sunny warm tropics, making beautiful jewelry in an unhurried, friendly group, well- come along!

Look at the class here- it’s at the Hacienda Mosaico resort, in Puerto Vallarta.

Doesn’t this look like a good idea?

For the first time in living memory, an energy scientist, Dr. Steven Chu, from UC Berkeley, is being placed in charge of the Department of Energy.

Reagan gave the job to an oral surgeon, the Bushes preferred oil men. Dr. Chu is a Nobel Prize winning physicist and biologist who is on the forefront of alternative energy studies. He has been the director of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory since 2004, where he has pushed aggressively for research into alternative energy as a way to combat global warming.

Hallefreakinlujah! I could weep at the sheer level of competence shown in Obama’s assorted cabinet-level teams. I had almost given up hope that my country would ever shine like this again.

What an excellent Secretary of Energy! The mind boggles!

At least we think we did. I can’t find any other option for a bird like it. Only the Flame-Coloured Tanager comes close, but it has white bars on its wings and our bird had solid dark grey wings, tail, and back, with a totally red head and an orange belly. Wow! What a great thing to see sitting on the fence at elementary school!

This isn’t our bird- the elementary school isn’t fenced in by barbed wire YET. But it looks just like the bird that we saw.

I have three lovely settings just waiting for photos. Why don’t you choose one, email me a favorite picture, and I’ll set it for you in time for the holidays? I can provide a chain for either piece, in any price range. 

The first one is a lovely oval box that I made in France. It’s about a half inch deep, and an inch and a half tall, with light coming in from holes along the side, and a labor-intensive brushed slip finish, patinated golden. The box has two fine silver rings for hanging, and is just a flawless piece of pretty. $100.

The second piece was also made in France, and is a long oval, about three inches, with a raised smaller oval section for a photo or stone.  Sold!

The third is a lovely little square shadowbox, also crafted in France, with applique detailing. The box is about 1 1/4 inches square, and a half inch deep, with a deep golden patina. $100.

No charge to set your photos!

60’s radical NYC DA Jack McCoy from Law and Order is one of my long term crushes. If you love him as much as I do, you might enjoy listening to him taking listener calls on NPR’s Talk of the Nation. 

Unfortunately you’ll have to listen to Neil Conan, as well- another sorry replacement for the great Ray Suarez. NPR really fell down on the job during the Bush years. They were taken over by right wing interests and kind of forgot about fair reporting. They interviewed Bill O’Reilly this morning. I don’t go to them for news anymore, not ever, but I do listen to Fresh Air, Car Talk, and Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me religiously.

It’s a shame that they’ve been able to fool people into thinking that they are some sort of “National Public” radio, an unbiased organization that is publicly owned and operated in service of the people. People still donate, thinking that they are. Unfortunately “National Public” is just the name of the place, not their service goal.