Monday, February 12, 2024

New Works, Coast Chimes Wind Chimes

Cobalt blue sea glass with beach stones wind chime
Cobalt Blue Glass, Natural Beach Stone Chime
$95 US incl. shipping, Coast Chimes

Detail, Blue Glass Beach Stones Wind Chime

Handcrafted Copper Hook

Managing to find some time to create new works these days. I find that very refreshing, energizing. It's so much fun to select nice glass pieces, natural beach combed materials, and to see what I come up with. It's still after all these years most often a big surprise how these simple materials come together to create stunning beauty.

You may visit my website to see all my wind chimes, from small antiqued brass chimes to very large natural driftwood beach stone works: Coast Chimes. Satisfaction is always guaranteed, along with free shipping to the USA or Canada.



 

Wednesday, February 07, 2024

Mexico, Junk Food Labels - A Great Approach

 

Beach Tados Santos

Short Break on a Long Beach

Todos Santos Mexico


Grocery shopper making healthy choices

Healthy Choices! Could this be at least partially the result of the Newish junk food labeling requirements in Mexico? I suspect the answer is yes.

Food warning label, Mexico

Too many calories, too much saturated fat, too much salt. Yeah, hard pass.

Food warning labels, Mexico

Oh look! This won 5 stickers. Hard pass.


Food warning labels, junk food, Mexico

Too many calories, sugar, saturated fat. Maybe I'll snack on some carrots instead.

Just back from a short visit to San José del Cabo and Todos Santos in Baja California, Mexico. The towns were lovely, the people warm and welcoming, the beaches awe inspiring.

Visiting local grocery stores, I was struck by the junk food warning labels. To help fight obesity and a number of health problems known to be caused or made worse by poor diet choices, the Mexican government implemented this labeling requirement in October of 2021. I was struck by the labels, and I also noted what people had in their carts. Wow! No Coke, no chips, no cookies-- a lot of fruit, some bottles of water, fish...

I have to wonder why in the world Canada (my country) has not noted this exceptional legislation and copied it. It's simple, and does not cost the population anything (unlike taxing junk food), leaving the choice to the consumer (and to the manufacture in that they are free to improve their ingredients to get some, or all, of the black stop signs off their product). I think it takes some boldness (read low intelligence, ha) to grab something on the shelf with 4, 5, or, gasp, 6 black stop signs. This is a good thing. The health issues caused by poor diet cause not just misery for the individual, but society as a whole (we all pay for sick, disabled people).

Come on Canada! Get with this.

Crashing surf, Todos Santos Mexico

Tuesday, February 06, 2024

Wind Chimes, Coast Chimes, New Works

Natural driftwood and beach stone zen copper wind chime.
Natural Driftwood and Beach Stone Zen Copper Wind Chime
$295 US at Coast Chimes, including shipping to the USA or Canada

February and early March are traditionally the slow period for wind chime sales, which is actually excellent. This provides a window or time for me to switch from packing and shipping to producing. So I am now able to devote a larger chunk of time each day to creating new works, and to photograph and place said works on my website. So any day you visit Coast Chimes, you will likely see some new amazing wind chimes, such as the stunning beachcomber's wind chime featuring driftwood, beach stones, and seven copper chimes pictured above. Or the charming beach stone cobalt blue chime pictured below.

Natural Beach Stones with Cobalt Blue Glass Chime

$87 US at Coast Chimes, including shipping to the USA or Canada

Beach stone cobalt blue glass chime.