Picture of the Day - My Diana March Wish List

For several months now the idea of acquiring a Diana March original piece has grown in my mind as a higher and higher priority in life. She is my favorite wire-wrap jewelry artist and until the past year or so, I have not really been a jewelry-wearing kind of guy. A few years ago I commissioned her to create a custom wire-wrap around a stone I provided which finished product you can  see HERE. However, that is not the same as a Diana March original wherein she selects the stone or fossil or artifact and creates custom jewelry around it with her amazing eye for design and respect for the stone or fossil or artifact. Her motto is "Always honor the stone" which she does with religious conviction and faithfulness.

After missing a few Cayucos/Cambria shows, she and Max were back this past weekend for 2nd Annual Spring Cambria Gem, Mineral, & Jewelry Show. Nobody was happier to see them than me. In my next post HERE I will show you what I acquired today. For now, here in the photos above and below is the short list from which I desire to acquire (God-willing) one such piece (and yes, those are meteorites) when she comes back into town at the end of next October. All photos by Kim Patrick Noyes (all rights reserved).

Picture of the Day - Flood Line 1995

Today as I helped one of our dealers load up their vehicles following the end of Day Two of the 2nd Annual Spring Cambria Gem, Mineral, & Jewelry Show, I noticed for the first time this sign on the side of the western exterior wall of the Cambria Vets Hall referring to the historic flooding in Cambria's West Village in March, 1995. Photo by Kim Patrick Noyes (all rights reserved).

Picture of the Day - Beacon of Light at Dusk

Tonight shortly before I left the Cambria Vets Hall to head home after helping break down the show at the end of the weekend, I spotted the potential for a cool photograph in this scene which indeed turned out well. This is the first-order Fresnel lens on display in a protective glass display structure in Cambria, CA, next door to the Vets Hall. It was originally located at Point Piedras Blancas Light Station but was moved from there to protect it from vandalism and such. Photo by Kim Patrick Noyes (all rights reserved).

Two-Day Show In Two Pics

This weekend was the 1st Annual Autumn Cambria Gem, Mineral, & Jewelry Show. As previously mentioned in this space, we had to move our Cayucos rock show due to our former facility being condemned until structural weaknesses are repaired. The club elected to move up the highway to the Vets Hall in Cambria, CA. Immediately below was an image shot yesterday (Saturday).

As beautiful a location as Cayucos, CA, was for our show and as charming a venue as the Cayucos Vets Hall was for our show, the new home for the San Luis Obispo Gem & Mineral Club's Cambria, CA, reincarnation of the former Cayucos Gem, Mineral, Jewelry Show is even better in both practical and aesthetic terms. It has more square footage, more electrical capacity, easier ingress and egress from the structure, fewer restrictions on how we use the space,especially the external space, and the baseline income level of resident and tourist alike is higher.

This image I captured with my iPhone4 whose camera is not as good as that in more recent models, thus the lack of sharper focus in this image. However, it nonetheless conveys the great beauty in variety of colors and shapes and patterns of the stones in this Art of Stones display case at our show. Both photos by Kim Patrick Noyes (all rights reserved).

Inaugural Cambria Gem, Mineral, & Jewelry Show

This weekend the San Luis Obispo Gem & Mineral Club hosted its inaugural Cambria Gem, Mineral, & Jewelry Show at the Cambria Vets Hall. This was the former Cayucos Gem, Mineral, & Jewelry Show relocated to Cambria due to the Cayucos Vets Hall being condemned a little over a month ago following an inspection by state engineers. A small, rag-tag segment of our already small club made the magic happen in Cambria, exceeding all expectations given the short amount of time to reorganize the relocated show in a new community 14 miles up the highway. What follows is my photo account of how the show floor looked today and an image of each our our beloved and mostly long-term vendors.

Club member Leslie managing the welcome counter.

View looking south towards the stage.

Another view of the show floor looking south.

View looking north from the stage.

The stage area occupied by Richard Sittinger who helped get us into this venue.

Another view looking north from the stage.

View from the southwest looking northeast.

View looking east into the side room which is much larger than the one at the Cayucos Vets' Hall.

View looking west from the side room back at the main hall.

Show Chairman Mike Lyons at left with one of his jade people.

Pam Spears with Sister Stones.

My friends Keith and Marcella Olivas.

Andy Delong and his lovely wife Sonia I keep trying to seduce away. (joke)

Kirk Brock in his Rock Solid Jade booth.

Jen toiling away in the Rocks & Relics booth.

Santos Sarabia in his I Luv Rocks booth.

Aaron Miller of Ancient Earth Trading Post.

Scary Gary from Tulare and his better half Janice... two of my dearest friends in the rock world.

Mary Mary (Rafferty) whose gaze at the moment this photo was snapped was quite contrary.

J. Michael Santos and Charlotte Stewart of StarStruck Meteorites were in our show!

Esteemed clubmember Leslie Nelson and her daughter.

Jessie & Josie brought the Gaoiran family barbecue operation (Morro Bay Catering) and took care of business as always.

Richard Sittinger and his Wonderworks ladies. Without Richard we would have been up a creek without a paddle. All photos by Kim Patrick Noyes (all rights reserved).

Picture of the Day - Mystery Men's Room Delights

This afternoon I was in Cambria canvassing the commercial district promoting the upcoming gem and mineral show there this weekend. When I walked into a public men's room in East Village I was confronted with this unexpected and curious sight. I'm assuming this was intended as an innuendo-loaded joke. Photo by Kim Patrick Noyes (all rights reserved).

Cambria Christmas Carnival #2

Tonight I visited the 2nd Annual Cambria Christmas Marketplace at Cambria Pines Lodge. This was my first time visiting this event and I did so with my buddy Marybeth Shears. It was well-worth the drive from Paso Robles where I live to see this as I found it enchanting. The marketplace itself didn't really do anything for me tonight but perhaps I simply wasn't in the mood having already blown some money on Christmas shopping for mom in the lovely Moonstones store on Burton Drive in East Village Cambria.

The rainbow tunnel as entrance.

This made for a rather eye-catching introduction to the course.

I was tempted to take too many pictures of this structure.

Looking back at the rainbow tunnel.

I find most Nativity scenes rather annoyingly religious but for some reason I liked this one.

The Blue Forest of Cambria Pines Lodge...

...which reminded me for some reason of the Blue Forest in Wyoming.

There was a bit of The Nutcracker at the far end of the course.

I couldn't not take more images of the Blue Forest on the way back through.

This was my second favorite feature after the Rainbow Tunnel.

This image turned out sharper than the first one but I like both so I included them both here, one going and one coming.

My buddy Marybeth.

I realize I'm a dork but this feature made me think of the tunnel in that episode of the The Six Million Dollar Man television series which featured the robotic Big Foot and that rotating tunnel that incapacitated Steve Austin.

This has an incredibly eye-pleasing effect.

All photos by Kim Patrick Noyes (all rights reserved).