POINTS NORTH

Last weekend, in Oakland, was the Bay Area Bead Extravaganza (BABE for short). Off to San Francisco, the trusty steed took us, for our annual trip for shopping, eating, shopping, beading, shopping, classes, shopping, and fun. We spent 5 nights and all of our money having so much fun. We drove up on Wednesday, stopping at Kiowa Rose in old town Niles (Freemont), to whet our tastes in fine bead purchasing. Then, over the San Mateo Bridge to our little motel on Lombard Street with a side visit to Japantown. Wednesday night, we had our traditional "welcome to the City" dinner at Fog City Diner. Yum! Thursday, we hit the bus and went everywhere we could get to. Dim Sum in Chinatown, Macy's, Gumps, Sur la Table, Swatch, and General Bead. Stopping only for nurishment. That night we went to the Stinking Rose for some stinking food. Friday, we got up bright and early and headed over the Bay Bridge to the Oakland Convention Center for BABE. We took a class with Gail Crossman Moore and Anne Mitchell in metal coloring/painting/and cold soldering. That was messy and fun. Saturday we headed to the Orpheum Theatre for a special behind the scenes tour of the Broadway Show "Wicked". It was called "Behind the Emerald Curtain". We were up close and personal with the costumes, props, actors, and the theatre itself. That was a great tour. Then, we jumped back on the street car (the old fashioned type, like they used to run in downtown Los Angeles) and headed to the Castro to the best hardware store ever, Cliff's. On the way back, we stopped at an art supply store and had a good look around. I forget the name of it, but could find it again. Sunday, back over to BABE for a day of shopping in the vendor's area; oh my goodness! Thank heaven payday was last week. Sunday night, we had our "farewell dinner" at Betelnut's (a yuppy and yummy Chinese restaurant on Union St.) Monday morning, packed and ready to head south, we motored out (sob) and left my homeland from a previous life behind. We tried to find a bead store in Mountain View, though the directions I wrote down were misleading and we couldn't find it. Oh, well. More $ for the SCIART show in December. Oh, yes. I did take my bead projects to work on, but they stayed in there boxes. I didn't lift a needle or plug in my Ott light.

Our next VPA events will be the sale at SCIART then our meeting at Carole's in December. I need to settle down and get some art-making done before then. Though, Thanksgiving is next week.........................