Puppy Bliss

 It's a New Puppy ("Sugar Pie" or "Pi 3.14" )for the Brusa Zappellini family!                                         Here are the first moments of puppy bliss with her new BFF Daisy Doodle Brusa Zappellini.             It looks like a great match!

lets hear it for the Nonne!

Today we went to visit with Guido's mom, who lives outside of Florence in a hillside village.
Guido grew up there, and it is where we still find his childhood friends and their mothers.

Today it was pretty mild out- not raining or too cold, so we brought Nonna Itala (Guido's mom) out to visit with her neighbor Eleanora (who just turned 92 on New Year's day). Two independent souls, growing old in Settignano. Three cheers for the Nonne (Grannies)!

Thanks

for being a friend- for the times you stopped what you were doing in order to help-
for knowing when to listen- for your sense of humor- for letting me have a bite of your cookie-
for knowing not to call before 9am- for the push I needed- for opening new worlds- for accepting my imperfections- for teaching me how to cook a turkey.....
for all this and more- I thank you, husband, son,  friend, sister, nieces, aunties, mom, dad
Have a wonderful thanksgiving
gobble gobble!
M

Vacation in Tucson

yes, I've been spending the past few weeks with my family, on vacation..

I'm eager to get back to my studio and get some of my new work started.

I have LOTS of new ideas! (hooray- my synapses are working!)

I have no new work to show you, but I thought it would be fun to

post a couple of pics of the beautiful parks I went to during my winter break...

Sabino Canyon

Jan 3, 2009

on the east side of Tucson

in the Catalina Mountain range

Me and Cosmo at Catalina State Park

Dec 25 2009

on the North side of Tucson (just outside city limits)

we love both of these parks, lots of great friendly trails (I do "nature walks" not hikes..I'm a wimp)

Have a great week everyone-

ciao for now- Maureen

home

Annie was transported back to Tucson last night by medical transport-
She was put in a Neuro unit at one of our  Tucson hospitals- They plan on moving her to
the rehabilitation hospital in 2 days, once she has rested from the trip and they are happy with her
stabilization and vitals.
I got to hear her voice on the phone when she called me this morning- she sounded tired, but
was as spunky and humorous as ever. She wanted me to bring Cosmo by to see her tonight, so I drove there after picking him up from school-
Unfortunately there is a ban on children under 13 in all hospitals in AZ until March , due to H1N1...so I called up to the room and had Wizard come down and stay with him while I went to see princess blue eyes.
She had me take this picture of her to show Cosmo that she is on her feet again (incredible, isn't it? she broke her neck in 2 places!) and we think that she resembles a Pokemon...not sure which one, but I'm sure that will be sorted out soon.
It will be many weeks until she is released from the hospital, she has a long recovery ahead of her.
I'm so thankful to all of you for your prayers and wishes-
we can count ourselves lucky to have this bright star still with us
I'll keep posting Annie's progress- and I will send your good wishes her way.

ciao- Maureen

Holiday Gratitude

Last Friday my dear friends Annie and Wizard (Jack Doyle) went on a trip driving to Pennsicola Florida from Tucson, in anticipation of a new grandchild on it's way...They were driving a rental car at night and had gotten as far as Deming NM when the car blewout and rolled. 

This is a pic I took of them during out Thanksgiving celebration this year- just a few weeks ago- (I saw a picture of Annie in the hospital today and it's just too heartbreaking to post)

Luckily, they were both wearing their seatbelts- Wizard escaped with some bumps and scratches,
but little Annie ended up in a much more serious state- with lacerations on her head
and trauma to her neck.

By chance the first person who stopped to help was an EMT and he was able to get
assistance to the crash immediately- He then stayed with them as the ambulence drove up.

to Quote Wizard "Perhaps we got our luckiest with the arrival of the ambulance about 10 minutes after the accident carrying a young Hispanic EMT known only to me by his radio call sign of "Hidalgo 24".  With no knowledge of actual severity of Annie's injuries, he felt increasingly uncomfortable during the 70-mile transport to the hospital in Deming, NM. 

He just did not want to drop her at a "level 3" hospital;  he worked his radio the entire trip and got the life flight helo inbound from Las Cruces to meet us on our arrival and immediately lift Annie to the regional trauma center in El Paso.  Then, he refused to abandon me in the middle of nowhere and somehow found me the only rental car in 2500 square miles (from a "mom & pop" operation) and got me on my way to El Paso.  

The EMT's gut feeling got Annie to the right place for the proper care hours, perhaps a full day ahead of what might have been. 

What a great call sign, "Hidalgo 24" sounds like the Jolly Green who comes and pulls you away from the bad guys behind enemy lines.  He was all that and more on Friday afternoon.  Annie and I will track him down sometime in the near future.  We've been blessed by wonderful care from wonderful professional and caring people."

As I write, she is in El Paso, with a Halo scaffolding holding her head in place, to help stabilize her neck, where she has fractures. She is  in a huge amount of pain, but is putting on a brave face, even trying to crack a joke here and there- I just got a call saying that  the doctors to gave her the OK for medical transport back to Tucson tomorrow, where she will be in the rehabilitation hospital for many weeks of therapy and healing.

Our Annie is the axis of many wonderful friends-
she is the one person besides myself that has been at Both of my weddings and I was able to be present at one (of many...lol) of hers- the one a few years ago to her devoted and wonderful Jack aka Wizard.
The one thing I will take from this is gratitude - Grateful to have such wonderful people in our lives, and grateful that they will be with us this Christmas.

Hold your loved ones close and let them know how much they mean to you-
because life does those dances that are sometimes terribly unexpected.
Wishing you all
Peace + Health- Maureen

Annual Telescope Trek

Last Saturday we went to visit the telescope that my husband works on- it is located in Safford Arizona, on the top of Mt. Graham.

The Large Binocular telescope (or LBT as it is commonly known) is just beginning to gain acclaim in the astronomy world and beyond, It was one of the featured telescopes in a recent National Geographic magazine (click here). Guido has been working on this project on and off since 1990- both for the Italian team in Florence Italy (where he grew up and went to university) and also at the University of Arizona (Tucson) where we live today.

The Annual friends and family gathering is usually held in October- just after the scorching southern Arizona oven is turned down for the fall. The drive there from Tucson is a couple of hours of desert, followed by an hour and a half of mountain road. Our son Cosmo is learning how to deal with car sickness on that road.....now, thankfully, he knows to request a short stop - so we pull over and get out of the car until his tummy stops swirling and we get a good breath of mountain air.

We reach the summit through an iron gate flanked by yellowing fall aspens- and from there it's a short drive, past the Vatican telescope, and the German SMT (Sub Millimetric Telescope) to the tippy top, where the imposing 200ft tall LBT telescope is seated.

Inside the building we go to the control room and kitchen, where everyone (and their goodies) are gathering- We then commence to pig out on all the treats that the scope folks bring. The control room is open for viewing, with a scientist there to explain each computer screen and image- Soon people start to go up to the scope chamber-
right at sunset the show begins!

sunset w pope scope
Originally uploaded by cosmosmoonjewelry

We have a chance to walk around, go to different levels (even on the top observation deck, where I took this picture) then, once we all are
inside and ready for a show, they begin...

The walls of the telescope chamber begin to open........
then...the telescope begins to move....It is breathtaking, even now after I have seen this many times, how smooth and fast the scope rotates! Well, at that point everyone is really impressed, but it's not done yet....the third and fourth walls open (along with the cieling of the chamber) and then.....the building begins to rotate!

It goes around and around, with the scope moving, and the sunset brilliant in the distance...and we see Science and Nature, Technology and Trees...the beauty of nature from the earth and heavens.
and it is a wonder to behold.

health care debate

ok- so here I go throwing my hat into the ring..

I believe strongly that we should have a public option for healthcare in the US-
and if that is considered "liberal" or...gasp.."socialist", so be it. I am proud to be someone who cares about living things- be it plants, animals, or even..humans

I would be dead today if Italy didn't have socialized health care- My appendix ruptured while I was living there (actually, right after I returned from a long trip to the US) I was operated on, and stayed in the hospital for 6 days- all without paying a penny.

OK, so, the room wasn't private, and no TV, plus you had to go down the hall for the bathroom..and things weren't super modern.. (after all it WAS the hospital that Leonardo daVinci used to do his anatomical dissections in)

But the point is that I HAD health care in Italy- no questions....

and I Still wonder if my appendix had ruptured one week earlier, while I was visiting the US...and had no insurance (because at that time I was living in Florence)
what would have happened to me? I most likely would have tried to "tough it out" and avoid the ER, because I would have been worried about being saddled with a lifetime of medical bills-

While I was in the hospital a young american girl was admitted to my room.

She had been backpacking in Europe and ended up also with appendicitis while in France..she was operated on there, and decided to join her friends in Italy after they discharged her from the French hospital..

Well, needless to say, not a good idea...she ended up in incredible pain, and came to the Florence hospital straight from the train station...

I became her interpreter- and when her father showed up from the US, he was so grateful to the doctors for helping her...

The only thing I had a hard time translating for the father was when he asked where to pay the hospital bill.. He couldn't believe that his daughter was taken care of by a team of doctors and admitted to the hospital without charge. It was profound for him..

During this time of debate over health coverage in the US, I wonder what he (the father) is thinking about socialized medicine... I'll bet that he isn't out in the packs of demonstrators waving pics of Obama as Hitler.. No-I'll bet that he goes and hugs his daughter

Museum, Family, Artists

fuller museum pond
Originally uploaded by cosmosmoonjewelry

today I hit the Trifecta.. I met my favorite Auntie Honey at the Fuller Craft Museum and then went for a visit to metalsmith Boris Bally's place-(his work is also featured at the Museum)

Funny thing is, the Fuller has been in my life for a really long time...My earliest memories include visiting my Grandparents in Brockton Mass, where the Fuller is located. In fact, one of my grandfather's favorite restaurants (the Parkway) used to be located right down the street, and until 10 years ago, my grandparents lives about 1/2 mile down the road..

My mother even confessed to "parking" with my Dad when they were teenagers in the park across the pond...(not sure if I needed to know that, but it now is etched in my mind....)

The Fuller museum was an Art Museum until a few years ago, when it transformed itself into a Craft Museum..which brings up that old question...what is art vs craft? (OK, I'll just say here that I don't want to go down that rabbit hole myself...so if you have comments about that,
feel free to post a comment..)

YES,
I'll be visiting the Fuller Museum more often now that I feel like it represents my community. I looked around while I was there and wondered if any of the other visitors were heading up to Haystack next weekend as well....

Sit On It!
By Boris Bally

Throws hands in air..

Metalsmithing, Etsy, Business, Craft, Art, Balance, Project 365..

it's all too much to juggle and have a healthy family life!

So, I'm giving up on project 365. Taking a photo a day was an interesting idea for me however it didn't take very long for me to realise I don't need another project in my life right now. 

I found that I was mostly taking images of my jewelry during the week and my kid during the weekend. Pretty much what I always do, except that there is an obligation

 behind it. ( there have been a couple of boring quick shots taken indoors at night... nobody needs to do that in my Opinion)

In the theme of simplification, I also have made the decision to delete my Artfire account. It wasn't getting many views and I don't have the time to promote it properly. This was a hard decision especially due to the fact that Artfire is located in my city (Tucson). 

I'm continuing to organize my days and business in order to find 

a good system. Meanwhile, I will continue to find time in my day to create more new designs for my galleries and etsy shop.

(Here is an image of one of my latest pieces I completed this week)