Artsy Fartsy Friday

We're taking Artsy Fartsy Friday off the canvas and into 3-D today.  No, you don't need those funky glasses :)  It's the ART that's 3-D! 

The tiny town of Virginia City, Montana is an ode to the Wild West but right smack in the middle of the main street you will find a paradoxical convergence of arts from the East, West and Europe known as Red Bear Mountain Trading Post.  (We're exercising some poetic license here, but that's how we see it :) 

The main drag in VA City where horses and horsepower co-exist

Welcome to Red Bear Mountain Trading Post - Come on in!

You will find many examples of Native American arts at Red Bear Mountain including medicine pouches and dream catchers.  The proprietress of Red Bear Mountain aka Niya is skilled in the art of lampwork (made popular in Italy).  Her lampwork beads are definitely works of art and just incredible.  So that's what we're gonna share with you today.

The beads in the middle are "Goddess" Beads - make the pic BIG and you can probably see why :) 

Have you ever tried to make lampwork beads?  Mom watched it being done up close and in person once and she has to agree when people say it's like working with honey!  We think Niya's beads are really special - so special that we had to have some of our own!   They are like miniature sculptures!  Here's our selection:

We were feeling kinda bearish that day.  Probably had something to do with seeing a real live grizzly that week :)

Niya also puts those dextrous hands to work with the healing art of Reiki (believed to originate in Tibet and rediscovered in Japan).   At the risk of you thinking we've gone crackers on you, we LIKE Reiki and have personally experienced its benefits.  In fact, Aspen was having some extraordinary hip issues while we were traveling last year (Aspen has REALLY bad hips - even for a Shepherd - and has had funky hips since we found her as a pup walking along Hwy. 610 in Virginia, not to be confused with Virginia City.)  Anyway, she got to the point where she wasn't putting any weight on one of her back legs.  (It's a long story and we won't bore you with the details.  It turned out to be some sort of bad infection in her hip and it was treated with antibiotics and she was back to her "normal" wobbly self.)  BUT, we could tell she was in pain and uncomfortable so we asked Niya to do Reiki on her.  You have to know Aspen, but until recently she COULD NOT stay still!  If she was outside and not allowed to just walk and walk, she would walk in circles incessantly like a cage tiger.  But after her Reiki session of about 20-30 minutes, she was as calm and relaxed as we've ever seen her!  No kidding! 

Here's Niya putting the touch to her own pup who gets to hang at the store and greet everyone.  (Now we're really embarrassed to tell you that we can't remember this pup's name.  We wrote it down and now can't find our writings.  If we come across it, we will let you know!) 

Wow, writing this makes us really want to get back on the road again! 

The Road Dogs