Smoky Quartz and relaxing with the family

Well, we seem to be well into 2008 now and I have had a wonderful, family oriented time! We have visitors - relatives and friends, some outings and lots of time together as a family. I don't tend to realise (until we get the opportunity to spend such time together) that my husband works so much and rarely gets time to do things with us. Living on a farm is like that - always something to do if it is light (and sometimes even when its dark!). But it seems acceptable at Christmas/New Year to take a step back and provided there is not something that badly needs fixing, to realise that it will still be there to do tomorrow and that family time is indeed precious. I found this lovely quote on the Modern Goddess Blog - “As far as living a healthy, happy life goes, I hold loving and being loved right up there with fresh air and water.” Oprah Winfrey. How true!

So, what have you been up to over the early part of the new year? I have been doing relaxing things like reading and watching the odd DVD when the children are off playing contentedly, or asleep. You may recall my almost breathless praise of the recent BBC production Jane Eyre when I managed to catch the first episode on TV in late November. I ended up missing the second episode and so bought the DVD so I could see it in its entirety!

I finally got to watch it just prior to Christmas and was so taken with it - the wonderful cinematography, the incredible acting by the two main characters of Mr Rochester (Toby Stephens) and Jane (Ruth Wilson) who really made you feel as if you were evesdropping on their lives, that I decided to the read the original Bronte story. I thoroughly enjoyed reading it and if anything it enabled me to enjoy the BBC adaptation even more. I can highly recommend watching the BBC production should you like historical dramas with a touch of romance (eg. if you liked the BBC's Pride & Prejudice - well you will LOVE Jane Eyre!)

On the jewellery front, things have been a lot more relaxed with orders the only new things being made, although having shown my rather extensive stash of gems to visitors lately, I can feel their pull and may have to indulge in my gemmie addiction shortly!

Today's picture is of the most divine smoky quartz. Huge lozenges of almost inclusion-free smoky quartz are so striking that they needed little in the way of extra adornment. So I linked each stone simply with some large linked gold-fill chain to create a timeless necklace suitable for every age.