Taos Fall Arts Festival

This is a big weekend in Taos. The annual Fall Arts Festival kicks off with more festivities than Christmas. Tonight is the Taos Open and Taos Invites Taos. There's a craft fair in the park all weekend, gallery events all over town, the Quick Draw on Sunday, and a truckload of other things all around the area. I guess I won't get a lot of work done for a few days. I have to go see all this!
I'm not participating as an Artist/Beadist because I'm not represented by any of the local galleries. I just love going out there to see all that art and all my friends. Maybe next year I'll be more involved. My friend Nancy Racine is a killer jewelry designer, who also happens to love my beads. She's going to start using them in some of her pieces for Art Divas Gallery. This is fun for me because I was one of the original Divas when the gallery opened, shortly after we moved here. I left when my website started keeping me too busy to keep up, so now it will be nice to have some of my work out there again. I live in a town full of artists, but nobody here ever heard of me... actually, that kind of invisibility can be a good thing!
Over and out for now. Beads on Monday, but maybe not very many... you understand! I need to refuel!

My New Website!!!

I did it! My new website is live and in person at kimmiles.com. It turned out to be a lot more work than I'd anticipated, but now that it's done, it was a piece 'o cake. I like cake. Think I'll go have some to celebrate... won't you join me? While you're at it, have a look around the site, and please let me know if you spot any typos or problems with links and things. It's a mighty tangled web behind the scenes... My next project is to come up with a Hidden Treasure someplace on the site next week. You'll only know about it if you read my blog, so check back before Monday. I know... I said I wanted a more grown-up format... maybe I lied... Maybe I just wanted to shake things up. We all need a little more fun, don't we?
Carry on!

hearts everywhere...

It seems to have started a few weeks ago, when I needed to make heart beads. I still need to make them. I still love to make them. Next, the heart became an important part of the Beadist Emblem... And now the heart theme is showing up in the oddest places. Look at this picture! Doesn't it look like the Beadist Emblem??? My friend Karena sent this to me. A bird flew down her chimney the other day, and was trapped in the woodstove. The only way to set it free was to open the door and let it into the house. It slammed into her big living room windows several times before finding the front door and flying outside. And because it was covered with ash, it left this beautiful bird print on the window. Amazing! And just yesterday I was sorting out some things on my website, and came across this picture of a handful of beads. I hadn't noticed before that my hands form the shape of a heart... Now I'm really going to be watching for these things. The more we pay attention to the little notes sent by the universe, the more it sends them!One other thing for you this morning. It seems unrelated at the moment, but I could be wrong...
I've really been enjoying listening to Pandora Internet Radio while I'm here in the office. Try it out! It's free, and it's very smart. You tell it the name of an artist or song you like, and it creates a personal radio station just for you. You listen to it right through your computer. You can create as many stations as you want, with different types of music for all your musical moods. You can even tell it if you love or hate any particular song it plays, and it will pay attention! I love this because it plays music I'd never even know about otherwise. It's expanding my musical world!
Carry on!

the Official Beadist Emblem

I thought you might like to know what's going on behind the scenes. So much secrecy! Well, here's part of what I've been working on. At first I thought it was going to be my personal logo, but as it went along, it became more and more something to share. As the word Beadist clarified itself to me, it became apparent that this was indeed the Beadist Emblem! It started with a photo of a lotus bead, which I traced and simplified and placed in the center of the heart. Notice how your eyes can make it look like either a bead on the heart, or a little fire within the heart? Totally accidental. I wanted wings that weren't too "biker". These seem strong enough to carry the heart, while still being gentle and sweet and playful. And then there's the flame/hand at the top. It's borrowed from the Sacred Heart we see so much of here in New Mexico, (I have a collection of them on my kitchen wall!) but is, of course, more creative and artistic than religious. To be clear... Beadism is NOT a religion. Oh no. For me it's a way of life, but for most folks, it's really just about beads, beads, beautiful beads! I have plans for some wonderful Beadist Gear in the near future... buttons, stickers, t-shirts, mugs..... the possibilities are endless!
I'm posting beads on my streamlined website today. The new site will be up in a few days!

I'm wondering...

...why is it that most people do not sign their names in emails? Hmmm??? I know this is true because today I sorted through 310 emails to update my mailing list, and most didn't have a name anywhere on them. How bizarre. Would we send a letter to someone and leave it unsigned? I think not. I'd like to gently suggest to the entire world that we be sure our full names are somehow included in every email we send. It could be in the "from" line of the address, or as a nice signature at the end of the note. I'm on a mission. Help me out here.
Sincerely,
Kim Miles

first day of autumn...

I guess summer really is over... not only is today the equinox, there's snow on Taos Mountain, and it's cold and poopy down here in the valley.
Of course, living at an elevation of 7,000 feet, I guess we have to expect extremes. Still.... what happened to summer this year? I'm pretty sure I missed it. OK, OK... no more whining. I'll just go make some beads.

I'm also making a lot of progress on my website changes. It's going to be fun. You'll see!

Stay warm. I'll be back.

Beads Of Courage

One of my customers sent me the following article today. I'm new to Beads Of Courage, and now I'm even more inspired to make these beads and send them off. The first thing I do each day in the studio is make two beads for Beads Of Courage, and two for the HOPE Bracelet Project. They add up quickly! Time to send some in! This is a good example of Beads For A Better World!!
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CINDY ELLEN RUSSELL / CRUSSELL@STARBULLETIN.COM Alyssa Miller's Beads of Courage, awarded after each procedure or accomplishment in her cancer treatment, are threaded on a strand nearly 30 feet long. Alyssa's parents, Marv and Maude, say her beads are precious to her.

Little bits of bravery

"Beads of Courage" recognize the painful battles fought by the youngest cancer patients

By Katherine Nichols
knichols@starbulletin.com

Seven-year-old Alyssa Miller already has endured more than most people do in a lifetime. Diagnosed with a Wilms' tumor in 2004, she has survived 12 surgeries -- including the removal of both kidneys, a liver resection and open heart surgery -- three rounds of chemotherapy and dialysis three times a week. Medications have caused a hearing impairment, and there's an incision that still hasn't healed five months after surgery. Following her latest health crisis, which included 11 weeks in intensive care, she lacks the strength and energy to walk, and allows her parents to transport her to and from the hospital in an oversize stroller.

Editor's note Alyssa Miller died on Thursday, just after this article was completed. Her parents asked that it run in its original form, to recognize the courage she showed in her short life and to acknowledge the hope that Beads of Courage can offer to other children with cancer.

"We've taken a very active part in her treatment," said her father, Marv Miller. "Part of that is because you feel so helpless. You try to find ways to bring a smile to her face, but some days, you just can't."

What always seems to bring a smile to Alyssa's face, however, is her bead collection. When the nurse presents a variety of beads for her to choose from, Alyssa's shoulders straighten, a grin emerges, her eyes sparkle and she breaks her silence with questions about how many she has earned this time.

Alyssa's mother, Maude Miller, said that Alyssa normally lays out all of the beads and narrows her selection to eight or 10. The process can take up to an hour, with mother and daughter conferring along the way.

It's all part of a program at Kapiolani Medical Center for Women & Children called Beads of Courage, started in May for pediatric oncology patients, "to acknowledge and honor what they're going through," said nurse Pam Carey-Goo, the pediatric clinical coordinator. The 50 to 60 participants range from babies to age 22. Initiated by Jean Baruch, a nurse in Arizona, Beads of Courage is used in 10 hospitals nationwide, but Kapiolani is the first in Hawaii.

The first thing young patients do is spell out their names with lettered beads. Then they choose a small, round glass bead for each procedure, special accomplishment or event. If they receive chemotherapy, they earn a certain color bead. For radiation they get a glow-in-the-dark bead. There's a different one for staying in the hospital, and especially difficult events, such as losing one's hair, call for a custom-crafted bead in the shape of a head -- with hair.

On the last day of therapy, they select a handmade purple heart of courage bead. To accommodate youngsters who had begun their regimen before the program started, nurses sat down with parents and added up the procedures, so each patient could create a strand that accurately depicted his or her course of treatment.

"This is something that has helped Alyssa," said Carey-Goo. "It's important to her."

Kids string their beads on a black silk cord, to use as a necklace if they wish. But for most the collections are far too long to wear. Some teenage boys have glued theirs to a basketball or a train set, or placed them on wire to create a sculpture. No matter how they are exhibited, the beads become tangible displays of their owners' harrowing journeys.

CINDY ELLEN RUSSELL / CRUSSELL@STARBULLETIN.COM Cheye Mokuhalii, 11, holds two beads he earned after undergoing treatment for Stage 4 Ewing's carcinoma. Cheye has collected more than 200 beads through the Beads of Courage program and says he will keep them even after he gets well.

Kapiolani hopes to start a pilot project with siblings, giving them beads to "symbolize how they're helping and what they're going through," said Carey-Goo. Brothers and sisters would collect their own, plus get an additional bead to give to the sibling with cancer, so they have matching sets. A red heart bead starts the set for people who do not have cancer but are involved. This includes professionals at the hospital.

"Nurses and other staff members are going through a lot, also," said Carey-Goo. "They fall in love with these kids. And I feel they need to be acknowledged for what they do and what they're feeling."

Beads of Courage was a success from the start. "Usually we present staff with new things, like computerized charting," said Carey-Goo. "But this program they embraced right away, and they're very busy." Physical therapists -- whose sessions can be especially difficult for kids suffering from serious illness -- have found the beads to be an extremely helpful source of motivation.

"I was thinking, 'This is kind of nice for the kids, and they'll have fun with it,'" recalled Larry Taff, who donated funds to start Beads of Courage with his wife, physician Kheng See Ang. "But it was so touching. We were all choked up. It's much more significant than we thought it would be in terms of how the kids and the nurses feel about it."

Carey-Goo agreed. "It's like, 'Look what I've been through.' It's very visual."

One glance at Alyssa's strand, which stretches nearly 30 feet, makes that clear. Actually, it should be longer because she has more than 2,600 beads for dialysis (depicted with 26 beads representing 100 each). "Her strand is beautiful, and it really symbolizes her fight against cancer," her mother wrote in an e-mail. "The great thing about this program is that every child who takes on this fight is able to see a physical representation of all that they have been through."

CINDY ELLEN RUSSELL / CRUSSELL@STARBULLETIN.COM Pam Carey-Goo, pediatric clinical coordinator at Kapiolani Medical Center for Women & Children, says the beads symbolize what each child has gone through during treatment.

Cheye Mokuhalii, 11, lives on the Big Island but travels to Oahu regularly with his grandmother June Kropfelder to treat a Stage 4 Ewing's carcinoma that began in his lower back.

"I used to be in a lot of pain, but chemo has been helping," he said from the lounge in Kapiolani's Pediatric Ambulatory Unit. "I couldn't sit down. I had to stand up all day at school, and I couldn't go in the car."

Most of his beads remained at home on the Big Island with his family, but he was happy to share details. Mokuhalii said he'd earned one for losing his hair and eyebrows. And tube insertions? "I got a lot of those," he said. "(The strand) helps me remember the hard times. It helps me be proud of myself because I did something I never wanted to do."

On a particularly difficult occasion -- when doctors told him the chemotherapy wasn't working after his first round -- he earned a bead with bumps on it, representing an unusually bumpy time.

"We try not to use it as a reward system, but rather as a recognition system," said Brenda Maglasang, a nurse who has worked with pediatric oncology patients for 12 years. "But the beads are more than a diversion. It's also a way for kids to really communicate what they've been through," especially to those who don't understand why patients can't come to school, play outside or be around anyone with a cold.

Did he plan to keep the strand of beads forever? "Yeah," said Mokuhalii. "In the future, I can look back and say, 'Wow, look what I've done.' It means a lot."

"You can actually see that you were brave," his grandmother added.

Maude Miller concurred. One day, she said, this strand "is going to mean a lot to Alyssa." To her parents, it already does.

© Honolulu Star-Bulletin -- http://starbulletin.com

big changes...

First, I want to thank all of you who so generously donated to Laura Brito's community workshop! Together we raised over $1000! She's just thrilled, and sends her thanks and hugs to all of you! If you'd like to make a donation, I'll continue the "10% off your beads" offer until the end of the month. Every dollar helps!

Now for my news...
October will mark my 10 year anniversary as a beadmaker. Amazing. And I think it's time for some changes in my website to commemorate the landmark, and to reflect more who I am and what I'm doing NOW. I'm changing the look, paring down the clutter, and even designing a new logo with the help of a couple Design Goddess friends. It's going to be cool!

And... the Secret Bead Club is going to close up the clubhouse. It's been wonderful fun, but I think we've outgrown it as a group. We need something that's still fun, but a little more grown up. Just a little! SBC will soon stand for "Southwest Beadist Colony"! Basically, a Beadist is anyone who loves beads. No guilt, no rules, no public nudity, no dogma, no ritual, no weird food. Just beads and whatever else makes your heart sing. For me it's even more than that, because beads are my life. I make my living with them. They're part of almost everything I do. While it's not a religion, it sure is a lifestyle! You can start to ponder what beadism means to you, and feel free to add your thoughts here.

I'll be sending out an email soon, explaining what we're up to, and asking you to simply reply to the email if you want to stay on my mailing list. With almost 1,000 names on my current list, it's a good idea to find out who really wants to be there. Everyone is welcome, but no one is held hostage!

There you go. I'll keep you posted as I get things sorted out. The new website will be ready in October. Stay tuned!

skunked

We have a major skunk problem in the neighborhood this year. Every night they come into the yard and stink us out. Last night Lucy (our dog) got sprayed in the face at bedtime. Hideous! Poor girl had to sleep in the studio, which really annoyed the cats. Rick went out first thing this morning for tomato juice. I mixed it with hydrogen peroxide, baking soda, and shampoo. Then we both suited up in old clothes and gave her a bath. She hates baths. It was not pleasant for anyone involved... The good news - there was ice on the bird bath this morning, which means that the little stinkers will go into hibernation soon... hopefully not under our porch...

I'm quite sure we deserve some delicious vodka cream pasta for dinner tonight. It's a Rachel Ray recipe. I saw her make it on Oprah the other day, and have been dreaming of it ever since.
Maybe you need some too. If you can't come over, here's the recipe:

"You Won't Be Single for Long" Vodka Cream Pasta

Recipe courtesy of Rachael Ray

From The Best Burger in America Discovered!

Serves 4

Printer-Friendly Version Review This Recipe

It's Rachael Ray's most romantic dish!

INGREDIENTS

• 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil, once around the pan in a slow stream
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 shallots, minced
• 1 cup vodka
• 1 cup chicken stock
• 1 can crushed tomatoes (32 ounces)
• Coarse salt and pepper
• 16 ounces pasta, such as penne rigate
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 20 leaves fresh basil, shredded or torn

Serve with:

• Crusty bread, for passing

Heat a large skillet over moderate heat. Add oil, butter, garlic and shallots. Gently sauté shallots for 3 to 5 minutes to develop their sweetness. Add vodka to the pan (3 turns around the pan in a steady stream will equal about 1 cup). Reduce vodka by half, this will take 2 or 3 minutes. Add chicken stock, tomatoes. Bring sauce to a bubble and reduce heat to simmer. Season with salt and pepper.

While sauce simmers, cook pasta in salted boiling water until cooked to al dente (with a bite to it). While pasta cooks, prepare your salad or other side dishes.

Stir cream into sauce. When sauce returns to a bubble, remove it from heat. Drain pasta. Toss hot pasta with sauce and basil leaves. Pass pasta with crusty bread.

* For more information about Rachael Ray, visit www.rachaelrayshow.com.