Long Overdue Updates

 Hello everyone, 

Coyote here. It's been way too long since I posted anything on this blog. Crow and I had a major upheaval in August 2020. There was a devastating fire in our area, which wiped out thousands of acres of forest and populated areas. It took a toll on us as well - we lost everything except two carloads full of items and our two cats. We put the cats in the cars first! It's one thing to lose items, but losing creatures that you love is a different matter entirely. We did; however, have to leave our two fish tanks behind. 

As far as stuff goes, we lost all our art supplies, the raw leather, the clay, the tools, all the found objects, the vast majority of our sale inventory. That loss isn't something that's easy to come back from because there's so much to find or purchase again. We spent years building our inventory and supplies. We also lost every piece of furniture some which included possessions we'd had since junior high school or before, items that my grandparents made, jewelry, clothing, costumes, theatrical set pieces, books, figurines, and you know, everything. Including the fish from the aforementioned fish tank. 

In all fairness, I should have contacted you all sooner by writing something here. My last post was in 2017, and after that our sales went downhill enough that we as a company were barely hanging on. That certainly made a difference in our creative juice flow. That's the thing with artists, we need to have positive reinforcement (I think the vast majority of people like positive reinforcement). 

Forgiving the three years that I didn't write leading up to the 2020 fire, after the fire, it took us a while to figure out how to redefine ourselves as artists, and we're still figuring it out. Still, seven years is far too long to allow my once active blog to languish in the virtual graveyard. I'll do my best to update this blog, and in a few months will probably rebrand it to something else. Or maybe not. 

Thanks for reading. I hope you'll join us for the next artistic stage in our creative journey. We both have active streams on Twitch.tv, and I'm posting on my Patreon account at least three times a month. 

Coyote - 
Patreon - https://www.patreon.com/c/KEMilrona
Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/enigmathecat

Crow - 
Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/sunlit_scalla 

-Coyote

Events Update and Snat Encyclopedia

Hello!

Long time  no write. I know, I keep saying I’ll update this more often. 

We’ve a lot of good things coming up in the near future. First of all, on 15th July is the Pescadero Barn Sale. If you’re anywhere near the coast along the Bay Area in California, consider taking the scenic Highway 1 drive into Pescadero. This amazing “hidden gem” of the coast is located approximately halfway between Half Moon Bay and Santa Cruz. Don’t worry, Google maps can find it. (And for you Pokemon fans, there are several gyms and Pokestops too). 

The Barn Sale will run from 9am to 4pm, so you’ll have plenty of time to shop around. Consider stopping into Arcangeli's for their famous artichoke bread. The bread is made in-house and the artichokes are grown either right there in Pescadero or somewhere else locally. There is a nice restaurant there too - Duarte's Tavern. This family owned place has been in the Duarte family since its founding. The Duartes live almost across the street from their restaurant and grow quite a bit of the vegetables for the food they serve. 

As for Coyote’s Blessings - we’ll be at the Barn Sale all day with some new products, including the fresh-off-the-press Snat Encyclopedia! A book detailing anything and everything you’ve wanted to know about snats. It’s the first in our Encyclopedia Series - an anthology of encyclopedias for K.E. Milrona’s Andromeda Galaxy. Cultures, planets, creatures, etc.  There are more volumes to come in the near future!

Up Coming Events

Luna Park is coming up too! Mark it on your calendars for the 16th of September (a Saturday). Still being held in Barstow Park in San Jose, Luna Park Chalk Art Festival is a great place for everyone to go. The event is free, and there are food trucks available for snacking plus some nice small restaurants scattered around the area. I’m not as familiar with them since we tend to bring food so we don’t have to leave our booth. There should be plenty of parking around the park; however it is close enough to a Light Rail station that my mom has walked to the park from the station. Have I mentioned the live music? We’ll be close to the stage this year (but not too close), so consider coming to visit us. 

February 14th

Today is an auspicious and hectic day for many people as they scramble to gather the ingredients to the recipe of 'impress my lover'.

Of course, the cards, candy, flowers, gifts, etc. are not all nowadays, focused on those who are romantically involved with someone. There are gifts given meant to celebrate this day with friends, co-workers, and even animal companions. No one is excluded during present time.

There is great speculation for the origins of this celebration, and what it means to different people. Among those who worship the ancient Roman deities, this day may be remembered as the day of Lupercalia. Celebrated between the 13th and the 15th.

For some of those who are monotheistic, it is was on the 14th day of this month that Valentine (possibly one of many) was executed for his belief in the positive influence of marriage.

Still others see this as a day for those who are single to unite. This is celebrated on the Ideas of February too.

Many people and countries see it as an over commercialized day wrought with flagrant immodesty and meant only for the profit of the companies. Or just as a bad day.

Some people find their understanding of the history in books of various sorts. Others

Whatever your version of this day, consider it a day for kindness and positive feelings toward others. That should be enough to cover all the above.




Interesting name origins:

Valentine - Derived from the ancient Latin, this rather popular name originally meant 'strength' or 'valour'. So, perhaps asking someone to be 'be my Valentine' means you are asking them to be your strength?

Peace.

New Year

Welcome to 2017! For some the year started on the Winter Solstice, for some yesterday, and for others it has yet to come.

Consider the possibilities of this new chapter in your life.

Store Updates, New Snats and Bigger Workspace

It has been quite a journey since the last time I wrote an entry. Coyote's Blessings is no longer selling at the Mountain View General Store. The MVGS closed permanently earlier this year. Everyone is moving on...

Crow named our house The Pinecone House because the roof and shape remind her of a pine cone. What do you think?

Including us! We moved to a new house in July. We're still unpacking but the weather is great and we have an amazing view from our kitchen window. Our workshop doubled in size, which means more space for bigger projects.

I am working on this year's writing projects. I started 'The Sun', a Found Art piece, and am working on 'The Keys to Success' too. I expect them to be done sometime in 2017. Crow wrote a comic piece in her Yuki's Life about our move. She has a Patreon site too. She has been creating more, bigger snats, including Mega Snat!

MEGA snat

Our store has been renovated! We've cleaned it up, and retired some products. Check out our new Snat Gallery! Most of the snats in the gallery belong to the Snat Lady.

September was event madness. We had an event almost every weekend in September., including Luna Park 2016 (post and pictures coming soon). 

Speaking of shows - we have another official regular show! On the first Saturday of every month we'll be at the De Anza Flea Market, if you happen to be in the Cupertino (California) area. You can view all our up-coming events on our new Events Calendar.

Business as Usual

We always put a quote on the back of our business cards. It is a positive quote so that whoever receives the card can contemplate or enjoy the words on the backside. Coming up with quotes is always difficult because nine out of ten of the cards have unique quotes. One of my current favorite quotes is from Helen Keller: "If you keep your face to the light, you cannot see the shadow."

Last night I wrote in my journal: I'm lost. I need a ray of light so I can see the brightness and ignore the shadow. 

I've spent quite a bit of this day reading articles about project management, leadership, how to improve your social presence, how to generate more Twitter followers and several other topics relating to positively increasing business output on social media. That, and welcoming more than thirty new followers to our Twitter followers.

I am pleased we have so many new Twitter followers. It will also be interesting to see how many of them remain our followers, or -more likely- wait a week and then unfollow our establishment. For those who read this that don't use Twitter, following someone and then unfollowing them to add to your total 'Followers' count is "a thing". Despite this, I am grateful Coyote's Blessings has over two hundred followers!

All this increased interest in our Twitter following, the Universe telling me to pay attention to management and organizing skills, and concern about where we're going come on the heels of Crow and I working on a new business strategy. We're going to revamp the business, which will include shutting down the site next week to work on breathing new life into it. As mentioned in previous posts, we're going to discontinue products that aren't working for us - and focus more on products and topics concerning K.E. Milrona's Andromeda Galaxy (like snats!).

That does not mean we're going to completely revamp our inventory, just bring more focus to it. Items that are currently available won't be available on-line after this point and will only be available if you come to one of our fairs.

Thanks for your continued reading. Please leave a comment or a question or anything if you have something to say!

Store Update

We are gearing up for Halloween time. Interested in some pumpkins for your table or party gift bag? What about a ghost-and-gravestone salt and pepper shaker? These and more in our store. Be sure to order soon so we have time to ship your ornaments and decorations before the season is truly upon us!

Quite a bit is happening in the store. All of the inventory should have the same font format and size now. If you see any items that are different, please email me (coyote@coyotesblessings.com), send a form through the Contact Us page, add a message below, send a direct from Twitter or... well, you get the idea, there are a lot of ways to get in contact with us!

An astute observer, or just someone who has been reading this since the beginning, might note there are several less pages of inventory in our store than there were a few weeks ago. I've also removed some empty entries, not that anyone except me can see them, but at least they're not cluttering the behind the scenes area anymore. We've discontinued some products (like the beaded flags) due to being unpopular and, in addition, made some show-only (like the window clings).

That means you'll have to come to a show to buy them! Well, not completely true. They're still available for sale, just not on the site. You can order them via. email if you really want them or just come to one of our shows and you won't have to worry about paying shipping.

The show-only items are generally either too fragile to ship or don't have the same impact on the web as they do 'in person'. Window Clings, for example, are truly a must-see type of item if you want to buy them. Besides, it is more fun to show off a Window Cling by sticking it to something. The type of 'don't take my word for it, watch this instead!' attitude.




















I considered making a Window Cling youtube video for demonstration purposes. What do you think?

Sally the Titmouse, Luna Park 2015 and more!

NEW AT COYOTE'S BLESSINGS

K.E. Milrona's "Nightmare Through Memory Lane", the third volume in the Bookworld Series, is available in our store. An addition, the inspirational children's book "Sally the Titmouse" is available.

We have a gorgeous figurine of Sally too. We released her last week, and we only have one left in stock. She's quite popular, rivaling Spots as our most popular Clay Critter. Unique to our critters, Sally has a removable hat.


In other news, the website is being updated. The pictures will be fluctuating for the next week, upgraded to better quality and to reflect Crow's ever increasing skill with the clay.

LUNA PARK 

Luna Park was wonderful, again, this year! Our booth was located much closer to the food trucks, and it was nice to have increased traffic. We featured the latest (and last) installment of the Moon Cat Series, New Moon Cat. (picture, top left). Prints of the rest of the Moon Cat Series and other prints, such as Tree (picture, bottom right) are available in our "Paintings and Wall Art" category.

COMING SOON

This year we participated in the chalk art too, and Crow created a piece that is a sneak-peak to our up-coming graphic novel "Dusk of Dawns". Look for more information about it coming soon!

Cover to Dusk of Dawns: Brothers' War

We Live!

Just in time for Halloween we rise from the dead (metaphorically, speaking, honest). With 3 weeks to go for Luna Park and we left you hanging! What happened at Luna Park? How was the FabMo event? What's going on for the holidays? New products? New triumphs?

All is finally revealed.

A computer virus caught us off guard. It went straight through our apparently meager protection and the consequent pop up ads drown me every time I attempted to update a site or so much as log on to the internet to check my email. While Andromeda (my laptop) kept me apprised of in-coming messages and orders, our pictures are stored on the tower computer, CASS. Fortunately Crow swooped in to save us and after four days of wrestling with the Ad Monsters, she secured clear surfing and gave CASS a clean bill of health.

Luna Park Chalk Festival was fantastic. We were in a different position in the park, surrounded on all sides by vendors too. A wonderful array of customers came to visit us. Despite having a few hitches with our display (both tables broke!), this year was just as marvelous as last year. Pictures and a more thorough entry forth-coming in an up-coming post.

FabMo was interesting. The event was inside, held at the Elks' Lodge in Palo Alto. The majority of the vendors were selling fabric goods such as pillows, quilts and small tapestries / wall hangings. Due to the restrictions placed on what the vendors can sell there, none of our products featured on the site were on our table! Crow tried her hand at stuffed animal creation and Mr. Snuffles the Alligator was born. I'll write up more on this event too, though we only have limited pictures (forgot my camera in the mad dash out the door the morning of). 

Luna Park Chalk Festival / FabMo

3 weeks to go! We're working every day to create a plethora of exciting things to take to the festival. If you're in the San Jose area on 20 September, I hope you'll come by and see our booth. This year we have a wide selection of new items, including Luna Park exclusive gnomes and pot clingers. Pot clingers are creatures that grasp on to the edges of a flower/plant pot for some added decoration.

In addition this year we'll be participating in FabMo! It is a local gathering of crafters who sell their wares on 25 October, 2014. The FabMo organization gathers all the scraps of the high-end retailers, decorators and other places. These scraps, usually in the form of cloth but often tiles or other objects (like leather pieces!) are then sold or given away to artists eager to turn them into blankets, stuffed animals, card holders or whatever-they-want. Six years running now the FabMo Textile Art Boutique (or FabTab) gathers all the artisans who have benefited from FabMo's findings, to sell the wares they have created from these donations. The only requirement is that at least 30% of the materials used must have been found at FabMo.

Coyote's Blessings will be there this year with never-before-seen items. They will be featured exclusively at the FabMo Boutique. We have already gathered some amazing glass pieces, leather and tiles. Crow has an idea for a stuffed alligator. It is our second vendor event and we're excited, as you can imagine.

And, of course, we are stocking up the store with the anticipated holiday madness (the busiest time of year!). Be sure to order your cornucopias early and miss the rush.

Stay tuned for up-coming photos of our products and the introduction of a new butterfly style!

2014 Luna Park Chalk Festival

Its back!

I just registered us for the Luna Park Chalk Festival for this September. We had such a great time in the rain last year, we're hoping this year will be just as fantastic. If you happen to be in the San Jose area on 20th of September, come and check out the festival (and of course our booth). There will be live music, amazing chalk art on the sidewalk and a plethora of fantastic vendors with hand-made goodies to delight the young and old. I think there was some face painters last year too.

We registered much earlier this year, so hopefully our booth will be more in the center of the hub-bub and closer to the music. They had great bands last year. Even better, we have more time to prepare! If you've forgotten the details of the festival, and how awesome it is, here's a link to my original blog post about it: 2013 Luna Park Festival.

Mushroom Series!

For the Spring Collection we created gnomes and mushrooms (since they seem to go together so well). Though the first few started as random mushrooms, when I started to create a mushroom from the remaining yellow clay, I decided to look on line for inspiration. There I found Egg Yolk Fungus. Also known as the Egg Yolk Fieldcap, it is the first in our mushroom series. Click on the name for more information about this bright, but inedible fungus.

Egg Yolk Fieldcap. Thanks goes to the Flickr photo.

Our version

Our series includes the classic Fly Agaric that red-and-white mushroom easily identified and oft associated with gnomes or fairies.As beautiful and interesting as these mushrooms are, like most red things in nature, they are inedible. Though not fatal to adults, they can cause severe stomach cramps and nausea. Best leave them to the Fey! Check out the Fly Agaric Review and Information for all your Fly Agaric needs.

Thanks to the Fly Agaric Org for this picture.

Our version

I chose the Indigo Milk cap due to the semi-deceptive nature. While the top / cap presents a pale "milky" color with a few blue splotches here and there, the underside / gills prove to have the most color.  The Indigo Milk is in the same family as the Fly Agaric.

Thanks goes to natureatcloserange.com for the picture.

Thanks goes to http://wildography.co.uk for the picture.

Our version - cap.

Our version - gills.

The fourth in our current Mushroom Series is the Clitocybe Nuda. This one is just cool because, who knew there were actual purple mushrooms? All right, all you knowledgeable mushroom fans out there might best me in your known information about these interesting fungi, but there are some of us who were amazed.

Thanks goes to www.asturnatura.com for the image.

Thanks goes to Natfoto for the image.

Our version

You will find these mushrooms (and gnomes) in our Garden Goodies category. They are on sale now - at "reasonable" prices (according to one gnome lover). Check them out! Feedback is always welcomed.


A couple of interesting pages about mushrooms in general:

• Tom Volk's Fungus
• Myco Tek Org
• Mushroom Info
• Mushroom Expert
• And... Reishi Mushrooms

Spring Collection Update

A short update on "the haps" around our store. Last time I told of the fantastic new set up for Coyote's Blessings in the form of a shelf at Philz Coffee Shop in Cupertino. Due to some internal issues, Phil  has put adding new art to their store on hold. What that means for us is over thirty homeless pieces! Fortunately Tina (from MVGS) is more than happy to feature our Spring Collection in her store. The collection should be installed tomorrow.

In other news, the store will be updated with items from the spring collection available for sale. Not all the collection will be on our site, so it will pay for locals to visit MVGS. Stay tuned for a store update tomorrow with chocolate coins, chocolate bunnies, prize winning rabbits and more!

Easter / Spring and a new display place

Spring has sprung, and Coyote's Blessings refuses to be left behind! Our Easter and Spring collection is just around the corner. Among those new items to appear in our shop will be four different types of snats, all good company for Love Snat (have you seen her yet? She's a beauty!). Crow is working on designs for pygmy-drase too. The Mountain View General Store will also be seeing new arrivals soon. 

Snats are not the only new arrivals in the store. We have two beautiful prints of amazing paintings. 

Tree

One of them was created by Crow- entitled 'Tree', this abstract calls to mind the roots and lower trunk of a huge tree. Or perhaps it suggests the swirls of an on-coming storm?

Blue Times

The second print is available for a limited time only - the deep reds and blacks of this print come from the painting 'Blue Times', a vintage painting created by my mom.

In addition to filling our inventory with the blossoms of our efforts and new flowers of the seasons, we have secured a new place to display (and sell) our goodies. Philz Coffee Shop in Cupertino has generously given us an entire shelf to work with. So, we're working on a wonderful Spring tableau for Corey and his team there. It will include some chocolate bunnies, gnomes, a chocolate-loving snat and all kind of new surprises. Be sure to check it out.

Not "in the know" about Philz Coffee? Check out their website: Philz . If you happen to be in the Cupertino area in the next few weeks, go to the Philz on Stevens' Creek, located at: 20686 Stevens Creek Blvd, Cupertino, CA ... and you'll get a chance to see our spring tableau, as well as some lovely wall art by Lynx and me.

Last Night Update - Post Avenger Marathon

Fear not good citizens! Coyote and Crow have not abandoned you. Forces beyond our control have kept us from those who read these words. We have but this day subdued the vicious and most insidious creature - our garage!

The garage safely vanquished, I now resume the important task appointed me - writing humorous but information blog updates.

I blame the Avengers movie and cartoon series, and too much exposure to Captain America.

Verily, for shame that the Valentines' season passed already without a single sentence written by Coyote's Blessings. January slipped away in a flash. We did not update the store in time to reveal our new hearts and stars window clings, heart pendants, and Crow's newest snat - Love Snat!

Pictures are forth-coming. Expect them soon! Pictures of the new additions to Coyote's Blessings - not our garage. Too horrible a sight for the eyes of our gentle readers. I will update this post and create a new one formally introducing our new friends.

Mable The Monarch

While working on descriptions for our new critters, I discovered the story behind the monarch's inspiration.

Crow's story:

High school. P.E. class, it was out on the tennis courts.

While we were in the middle of practicing our serves, I saw this monarch butterfly float by. I had to stop the ball from being served to not hit the butterfly. About thirty seconds after, I saw two more float by. I heard a commotion to my left, and turned. There was a cloud of monarchs going through the tennis courts. A lot of the people were ducking and running so the butterflies wouldn’t hit them but I just stood there going ‘wow, there is a cloud of monarchs going by’. There were about a hundred in the courts. It took a few minutes for them to pass, so we could start up our tennis lesson again. They did this for five days in a row, so either they were flying in circles or there were five different groups.

I felt like I was standing in a black and orange fog bank. They were so dense I had trouble seeing the sunlight. Only a few of us were brave enough to stand there. I expected that many wings to make noise, but it was silent. Well, they were silent at least.

It was an oh-shiny moment. It was amazing and exciting.

Making Good on a Promise

As a concerned businessman, I want to ensure my customers are happy. As a nice guy (and a concerned businessman), I am willing to go that 'extra mile' for customer satisfaction. I decided to include a case study of a returned item from someone who used our return and repair policy to their benefit.

One of our featured Guest Artists, Russell Boone created two gorgeous glass sculptures for us. They sold rather quickly. When you see the pictures (below) you will probably understand why. They were also featured in a blog post introducing him a few months ago. Kat Phipps bought both of them for herself, and waited with excitement for them to arrive. Only to discover they "melted" in the shipping process. I directed her to our return / repair policy and reminded her she only needed to pay the shipping / handling for their return. We pay for the out-going mail.

We received the melted items in the mail a few days into December. Thankfully, Kat is patient. She graciously allowed us to wait until after the holiday madness to fix them. This is what we received in the mail.

In the foreground, you can see the melted glue well.

Holiday season over, I repaired the broken pieces. Here is one of the items that Kat received in the mail yesterday:

If it is broken, we will fix it! Or replace it, at our discretion. You pay the shipping here and we'll pay the shipping back.

Welcome to 2014!

A good friend of mine said "Let this new year be yours!" We should take that message to heart and embrace the freshness of 2014 with all the wonder and curiosity of a child. Onward to the fascinating! Allow the mundane to be just as interesting as the unusual. Consider the snowflake or the leaf, view the butterflies and robins with new respect. Imagine the life you wish to lead, and lead it.

Though spring is still a few months away, the mention of butterflies is an excellent way to introduce our two newest Clay Critters. Please welcome Mable the Monarch and Ophelia the Owl. Mable is based on a female monarch butterfly.

Ophelia is designed using models from our local burrowing owl residents. Though Crow considered Owlowiscious; however his name is likely copywritten by Hasbro.

Another butterfly - based on the Red Lace Wing - is coming soon! Anyone have suggestions for a name?

Other new items in our store include a card holder, two snats, Sylvan the sea turtle updated, two new painted pots to add more variety to your garden and several more caterpillars. We have so many varieties of caterpillars it is hard to show them all in the inventory. I think I might start a caterpillar database to show case the ones we currently have!

The Seasons go 'round and 'round

Christmas time is here by golly, disapproval would be folly!

Our Christmas collection is on our virtual shelves. We have a vast variety of stock-stuffer sized goodies to choose from: from new window clings to Clay Critters, from a leather pouch to our newest item - brooches!

Snake Brooch

Mooncat and the Phoenix are now available as prints. Originally created in acrylic and watercolor, these two paintings are the first of many up-coming prints! The original paintings are pictured below.

Phoenix Original - Not for sale. Prints available in our store!

Phoenix is the symbol of rebirth and power, as well as a bird of fire. A perfect gift for the New Year or any celebration involving creating a new life (weddings, births, etc).

Tree Original - Prints available for sale!

 Have an impressionist lover in the family? This painting is a perfect gift for them! An abstract painting created by Crow. She has dubbed it 'Tree'. Please email us for prints at the moment.

Mooncat Original - prints available in the store!

Mooncat is the first in a series of three. This black cat is set on a waning moon. Crow plans on creating a full moon and a waxing moon complete with cats to accompany their ebony sister.

Our Fall Collection

Thanksgiving is just over the horizon. Are you ready? What is your centerpiece going to look like? I have a suggestion.

Presenting our newest item! A tradition that dates back to at least the fifth century, Keras amaltheias is the ancient Greek term for the Horn of Plenty: “Horn of Amalthea.” This name directly relates to the Greeks' tale on how this tradition of gratitude came to be.

Cornucopias!

The cornucopia was originally made from the horn of a goat, thus the shape and name, today cornucopias are made from woven baskets, wood or (in this case) clay.

These gorgeous Cornucopia create the feeling of gratitude for all that we have. You will find apples, carrots, corn, eggplant, grapes, pea pods, potatoes, red bell peppers and a myriad of other foodstuffs (some not shown) in these horns. Last Sunday Crow, my mom and I had a good time working on Crow's latest commission. My mom and I worked on the base forms of a lot of smaller pieces while Crow worked on the horns.

A red leaf of fall and some tasty grapes.

Other interesting facts about the cornucopia: 

• The "waffle cone" was named the St. Louis World's Fair's Cornucopia back in 1904 for its conical/horn-like shape.
• There is a mushroom named for its "Horn of Plenty" shape called Craterellus Cornucopiodes, otherwise known as the Black Trumpet. 
• The cornucopia is used today as a symbol on the Peru, Wisconsin and Idaho flags.
• "Cornu" means horn in Latin and "Copia" plenty.

Check out the kernels on the corn!

The details on these horns are some of the best Crow has created to-date.  We've done our best to use foods that are "in-season" or would be traditional in a Grecian cornucopia.

Carrots: My mom made these.

A potato!

For those who are interested in knowing more about the cornucopia, I recommend this site or this one.  If you <insert your favorite search engine here> 'cornucopia' or 'horn of plenty' you will find an over-whelming number of sites with information about this tradition. However, these are the two websites I used for my research.

Keep checking back to see fall / Thanksgiving themed window clings, magnets, clay creations and much more!