Whoohoo Spring Break!

Not so many years ago, my little daughter led a Spring Break backpacking group through some trecherous canyon out West. About 20 kids from her college in New York stopped off at our house on the way home. Twenty, stinky college kids. They just set up their tents in our front yard for one night, long enough to rotate through our hot water supply a few times. Our stuffy neighbors have probably logged it into their memories of us along with the insane tree climbing my husband did every Christmas to decorate the White Pine in our yard that grew to be about 50 feet high despite the textbooks never gave it a chance in our climate.

While it was heartbreaking Erin went off to college at least she called home enough to not make it sound like the only time she called was to ask about money. She was pretty astute that way, and sometimes I think she was even lonesome.

The summer after she graduated, Erin poked around the house a month or two aimlessly sending out her resume, but she had big city lights reflecting in her hazel irises. She soon packed up the little tin can car we had bought her, in her last year of college, and along with a few scruffy boys she had known since junior high, headed for the West Coast. Sadly, she loves it there. And while she makes considerably more money than she could in our neck of the woods, she has no parking space attached to her leased apartment that she has to share with several others in order to afford the costly just-above-slum located flat.

It was on one of those Spring Breaks that Erin coined the phrase Whoohoo Spring Break! You just can't type the phrase and expect it to come off the way it sounds, but I know you can use your imagination.

Now, as a busy executive who travels a lot, Erin has a new saying, "I don't have time to talk." Some people get in that groove and never come out of it, but she is young, and working hard, and we're very proud of her. Besides she's the girl that coined Whoohoo Spring Break! And I'm sure that in the not too distant future she'll get back to her core values.

She's getting married in a few weeks. The good news is that we love her bethrothed, Alex Koll, a budding comedian, with many other creative talents as well.

As I paddled through the glassy water on my lunch break today, the yellow pollen that lies on the surface of the lake right now like oil on water, skirted the kayak, and I thought to myself Whoohoo Spring Break! The trees on the mountain are all shades of green and I should have felt joy. But the little squeeky Whoohoo that came out was a little pathetic and weak.

This is not the first time I have been the mother-of-the bride, but it is perhaps the hardest as it is my last. There will be nothing traditional about this wedding, but thankfully the saying my husband quoted years ago, when Erin was a teen, "If Erin ever gets married, we'll probably have to learn another language," won't be a prophesy after all. And while we do consider California another country, they do speak English! And yes, she's having the wedding there of course.

So Whoohoo comes out a little less than enthusiastic this week, but soon the wedding will be behind us and we'll go on to other milestones. Spring however, won't be around very long. In just a few short weeks the leaves bud out on the trees so fast you can almost watch their growth, and the beautiful fragrant blooms of Spring are so short lived. The Dogwoods are currently blooming here, and the birds are migrating. I just spotted a bird I've never seen before, a Black Poll Warbler. I've been watching birds since the early '80s and have kept a log in my well-worn Peterson's Guide to Birds.

So in the tradition of perserverence, I'm working on a positive attitude. The kind of attitude I see in the inspiring art we sell everyday. The kind of inspiring attitude that got Andrew Pollack back to New Orleans after the travails of Katrina, with a grant from the CERF Foundation, the kind of attitude that got Ildikó Kalapács honored with the Puffin Award twice.

View this piece of art by George Wittenberg and see if you don't get in a Spring Break mood.--Ruth Mitchell

Acropolis From Hotel Terrace

Why Revitalization?

Why would a cyber retailer such as myself be interested in revitalizing downtown districts? Well I guess it goes back to the old quality of life and "if you prosper, I prosper."

This morning while working on a fundraising solicitation letter to use in my community to revitalize our small downtown district, I came up with a rather lengthy explanation about why merchants and property owners should be interested in revitalizing their downtown district. As hard as it is to believe, many people don't get it, and I am constantly asked, "but what is that going to do for me?


I wanted to share it with buyoutsidethebox.com readers because basically I think you are the kind of people that would get this, because you understand quality of life issues, and you have a hometown, or urban neighborhood somewhere yourself. And while being an online business allows you geographic freedom, you have to locate your office somewhere right? Our main office is located literally in the Old City Hall in our small town of Heber Springs. Like many small towns in America we struggle with issues about how to keep the city center prosperous.

* * * * * *

If you have a beautiful piece of furniture, you have to maintain it to keep it in pristine condition. You have to polish it, and clean it and occasionally repair it. If you do so, its value as a beautiful and useful object will increase not decrease.

Town centers are much the same way. In the United States our culture has been influenced by our relative youth and abundance of land. The pioneers used to move on to more fertile ground when they felt crowded, or had used up the resources of the land. Since that time we have learned how to replenish soil, as well as replenish the urban areas. This is called revitalization.

If you take a building and keep it up, your repairs won’t be nearly as costly as if you let it go for decades and come back to “catch” up with maintenance, or sometimes we lose beautiful, historic buildings to neglect that should have been a part of our heritage for future generations.

The same goes for town centers. Town centers are more complex, because each building is owned by a different individual or corporation with different goals and values. One thing these property owners have in common though is they want to see the value of their property go up, not down. The city, county and state governments are involved in town centers as well, because of infrastructure, including streets, drainage, power, etc.

Everyone who has ever visited an urban area knows there is a good part of town and a bad part of town. One area is enjoying prosperity, and another is not. It doesn’t matter if the buildings are shiny and new, or old and maintained. Something is taking place in the good part of town. This secret to prosperity is a simple thing called organization. People have simply agreed to cooperate to maintain and upgrade the quality of their urban space, including buildings, streets and other aesthetic amenities. They see the value of their possession.

Consumers have parallel goals that feed into all of this. They are the lifeblood of a community. There are different kinds of consumers. Two identifiable types of consumers are those that live in the town, and those that visit the town. Both want to be able to have an enjoyable purchasing experience. Some are motivated by prices, others are motivated by aesthetics. Customer service, atmosphere, price and value all come into play into this complicated mix.

If you let the town center wither away, it affects the whole community. Consumers are scattered, confused and eventually get chased away to more organized shopping experiences, often far away whether they prefer them or not. Everyone suffers under this scenario: shop keepers, property owners, consumers, bankers, municipal governments, EVERYBODY.

By pledging your time or your money, you can help turn things around in your home town. Visit this site for more information: http://www.mainstreet.org/

And lest I forget to mention art in my blog, heaven forbid click here for your enjoyment. Buy a piece of art today and really live large.

(c) 2006 - Ruth Mitchell - all rights reserved

What's it going to take to get you to push the button?

Artist kEith kimmel shares his You Tube video with us. Check it out.

Dare To Be An Artist
(preview to a journey)
a Film by kEith™ in collaboration with R.A.L. Productions

(c) 2006 - Ruth Mitchell - all rights reserved

The Ancient Craft of Feltmaking

Felt is the oldest form of fabric known to humankind, predating weaving and knitting. According to Wikipedia felt is a non-woven cloth that is produced by matting, condensing and pressing fibers to form the structure of the fabric. Some types of felt are very soft, but some are tough enough to form construction materials.

Scholars believe feltmaking probably originated with nomadic peoples in Central Asia and spread from there west toward Hungary, then north through Europe and into Scandinavia. The best fossil evidence indicates that wild sheep evolved between 10 and 20 million years ago in the mountains of Central Asia. These sheep had hairy outer coats and softer, woolly undercoats, which molted every spring. Their coats were black, brown, gray, or reddish, depending on what color best camouflaged them in a particular environment. Sheep were first domesticated around 12,000 years ago, and it could not have taken long for herders to discover wool’s felting properties. But even before then, primitive people may have found that the wool wild sheep had molted could be felted, spun and woven.

The oldest evidence for the use of felt is in Turkey, and dates from the Neolithic period, around 8,000 years ago. There are also examples of well-preserved ancient felt from China and Siberia. In northwest China, 3,000-year-old Caucasian mummies wearing felt hats and boots have been found. In the first decades of the 20th century, on a high plateau in the Altai Mountains in Siberia, archeologists found graves from a group of nomadic people called the Pazyryk that contained a wealth of felt articles incorporating sophisticated animal motifs in a variety of colors, shapes and sizes.

Historically, feltmaking diminished in importance as societies became more industrialized, and as manufactured alternatives to felt became available. Even in recent history the craft was lost in parts of Mongolia as the population moved from the steppes and plains, which supported their nomadic lifestyle, into towns and cities. Felt clothing may have gone out of style in the Middle Ages because woven cloth seemed more comfortable and fashionable. However, one felt article that never went out of style is the felt hat, which has always been very much in fashion in industrialized societies.

Feltmaking in North America has enjoyed a renaissance in the mid-1980s with many more craftspeople and fiber artists discovering this ancient craft.

In 2003, artist Susan Kenna was introduced to needlefelting by her friend, Sue Young, a potter in the Adirondacks. She immediately fell in love with this ancient craft, eventually turning it into a business.

"Fall for It" - Susan Kenna

"To make a necklace, I begin with a small tuft of wool and felt it on a foam pad with a wooden handled needle," she explains. "I poke the felt until a bead is formed. To make the bead dense takes about 15-20 minutes, depending on the size of the bead. When the bead is finished, a design is then felted into the bead with more wool. Each bead is individually made and then designed.

"My necklaces have as many as 11 beads, but I also make necklaces with a single wool bead. Sterling silver or leather is used to string the necklaces. I make earrings to match my necklaces. Purses and handbags are done the same way except with large amounts of wool layered 4/5 times to make the piece sturdy. Large felting punches are used for larger items. After the piece is finished, I then needlefelt a design into the purse/handbag.

(c) 2006 - Ruth Mitchell - all rights reserved

Wishful Thinking

Everyone is likely to indulge in a little wishful thinking every once in awhile. I know that it is hard for me to see all the wonderful works of art, jewelry, fashions and other handmade items on our site day after day, and not wish I could purchase everything myself. Most of you have had a job at one time or another where you wanted to spend all your earnings, especially if you got a great employee discount, whether it was goods, services or travel.

At buyoutsidethebox.com we provide you with a "wish list" service that is basically a gift registry. All you do is click the wish list button on the item page and in just a breeze you're all signed up.

Not only is it fun to indulge in a little "wishful thinking" your are helping your compadres out. I know at our house, we are always fighting the surprise vs. getting something the giftee really wants. A gift registry or wish list dispels this conundrum. You can have your cake and eat it to, which is of course what we all want right?

I've got a few things on my wish list, and I've sent them to interested parties in hopes they will be really cool and get me what I want. What's on your wish list?

"Taboo" - Ildikó Kalapács

Did you see today's quotation? I thought it was great. Scroll down to the bottom of the page.

(c) 2006 - Ruth Mitchell - all rights reserved

12 Step Program for Bloggers

Okay, at first I thought blogging was for people who "needed to get a life" remember that saying? If you do it dates you. Then after reading a business article about how social networking was the darling of corporate America, I decided to get into it. When we first developed buyoutsidethebox.com, we had intended to start with the art, and then progress to more of an online magazine. Then we went the route of blogging, which is ultimately more fascinating because of its connectivity and interactiveness.

Like I recently read on Technorati this morning, "there are 55 million blogs, and some of them have to be good"--Matt. Yikes. I found one yesterday that I am particularly fond of Second City Style.

But with all there is to read out there, it is no wonder we have an epidemic of Alhzeimers patients. If you are on the internet, your mind can get overstimulated rather quickly, and your brain, no matter what age, can become addled.

No need for drugs, feel helpless and out of control just by going online. There is even a site where you can blog about your blog. What's worse from the standpoint of a reader, free to access all this info/babble depending on who you read, is if you are a writer.--I'd say 99 percent of the population fancies themselves a writer of sorts. This is based on my lifetime of interaction with the public. I especially love those people who think they have a story, but want you to write it for them because it is so wonderful. Yikes again!

But my point being, as I wander around in my addled brain, is if you are a writer, and I mean addicted enough to the written word that you have spent decades under the delusion that you might make a living at writing, then the blog world becomes your bottle and you will quickly find you need a 12 step program if you are to return to normal life.

Ah, I've never been normal before, why should I start now, and as far as I know I'm not harming anyone but myself. Isn't that a classic alcoholic line?

Anyway, I'm opening my eyes to the world of blogging, and I'm delightfully surprised. I finally had the nerve to syndicate our blog to my Yahoo home page. My gosh it was actually easy.

Years ago, my architect husband taught himself to draw on the computer with Autocad, one of the most complicated of software programs I personally have ever seen. If he can do that, I probably can get up to snuff with RSS without having a techno melt down. So for now, I'm not seeking help, I'm just enjoying my addiction to blogging.

The good new is art. Art is here to stay despite our fascination with technological Ad-vancement. Today I share with you this beautiful piece of jewelry by designer Leanne Soden. Are you reading this honey, we have an anniversary coming up.--Ruth Mitchell

"Romanov" - Leanne Soden

(c) 2006 - Ruth Mitchell - all rights reserved

Which Are You? Work or Play First?

Playful Art by Ron Serfass - "WAVE"

Being a chronic workaholic, work is play for me. But we all need balance right? It is of course the play that provokes the spontaneous and creative side of our brain, so why do I insist on working first, then playing? Heck sometimes I'm having so much fun working, I neve get around to playing, much less taking a lunch break.

Back to the whole assumption that the work is play for me. It hasn't always been that way, I've had a nine to five job before, but even then I loved my work. I was just more appreciative of the whole TGIF concept than I am now.

I have no way of knowing for sure. But I think if I played first, then I might just not ever get around to the work. It's happened to me I think once, on a fine spring day such as this one. I guess I've just gotten disciplined, for instance I struggled with getting the "greenbean" (that's my kayak) into the water by myself this morning and had a fantastic little paddle before hitting the computer keys. I live at the base of a beautiful mountain, and I take great joy in watching the undulating hillside change in color in both Spring and Fall. But I had to make myself make that my priority this morning. How dumb is that?

It has never been my experience that good fortune just falls into my lap. I know there are people out there who live the life of Riley, but I'm obviously not in that category. I think they are probably "play first" people. I've always been one to work hard, taking pride in the process with not so much concern about the outcome.

A successful artist spends many hours honing their craft. Supposedly creative people struggle more with depression than others too. I think creatives also tend to be more passionate about everything, and this spills over into the work.

So which are you? Work or play first? I'd love to hear from you on this topic: service@buyoutsidethebox.com. --Ruth Mitchell

(c) 2006 - Ruth Mitchell - all rights reserved

Unique Gift Ideas

Everybody needs a little help sometimes. One of our busiest search strings at buyoutsidethebox is "unique gift ideas." Hello, we have tons of unique gift ideas. In fact I am often the first one to buy myself a unique gift from time to time. One of my dearest friends is about to have a birthday, and she loves purses. Guess what we have a gorgeous collection of designer purses by Deanna Peterson at incredible prices. Her current collection features authentic kimono silks that are do die for. I'm having a hard time picking out just which one to choose.

There are worse problems. For instance I have wedding to attend next week, and I'm torn between the amazing cutting boards from Kentucky Cutting Boards, or one of Allan Buitekant's exquisite hand thrown pottery "bakers." What a dilemma.


Then of course Easter is coming up. None of us need more chocolate eggs, but what about original art? At our web site we have dozens of original works of art for under $200. Can you believe it?

And what about Nick Childs' beautiful handturned pens and have you seen our collection of earrings? All under $100 of course.

Well guys, if you can't find something for someone at buyoutsidthebox, then we'll just have to try harder. We have new art coming in all the time, so keep coming back!--Ruth Mitchell

What about these Shopping Ops?

Don't forget to shop our affiliates. Below in the sidebar, we bring you some wonderful affiliate shopping opportunities. From the finest baby products to garden fountains, to rugs and even custom puzzles. Check it out and save today.

(c) 2006 - Ruth Mitchell - all rights reserved

Welcome to the art of kEith

kEith writes us..

Well let's see after a whirlwind 3 (or so) months on tour in South Florida, I've, returned home to Fort Collins for a bit of peaceful rest. The weather right now is perfect, crisp, clean, slow and easy!

I was in Santa Fe, NM last week. My friend Zachary lives down there and we spent some time playing music and painting. Seems like there is an art gallery on every corner.

Driving through New Mexico always offers some fabulous photos. Here's one that particularly defines it for me.

"end of da road"- photo digital, 2007

To view more of kEith's work click here.

(c) 2006 - Ruth Mitchell - all rights reserved

Jump Right In!

Every once in a while you get the opportunity to do something good. You might hesitate wondering if you are up to the task. I write today to urge you to jump right in! We recently had the opportunity to host a Chamber Music Fund Raiser for our local Gem Theatre. Preparing a sit down dinner for 50 people seems daunting to me, the queen of the weenie roast. But my support group said yes, and we jumped right in.

Wow! The music was superb, and the reward of listening to our three performers for an hour far outweighed our meager efforts to provide the festivities that went with it. We listened to compositions by Teleman, Boccherini, Couperin and Tartini. Classical musicians hide out in universities, not really seeking artificial promotion. Yes, they love to perform to live audiences, they love encores and applause, but they seem to me to be more about perfection, and passing that perfection along to a select few that are up to the task.

At Buyoutsidethebox.com we are still considering offering CDs of unique and independently produced music, but as yet have not ventured into that arena. Below are the bios on our wonderful performers. Remember, jump right in when asked to help! Ruth Mitchell



Photo by Bruce Stockbridge

Felice, Stephen and Rossitza

Rossitza Jekova-Goza heads the String Area of the Music Department of the University of Arkansas, where she teaches violin, viola and chamber music. She attended Louisiana State University and holds a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in violin performance from the Cleveland Institute of Music. Dr. Goza has been concertmaster of the Baton Rouge Symphony orchestra and the Verbier Festival Orchestra in Switzerland, and currently serves as concert master of the Tulsa Symphony Orchestra. She has made numerous solo appearances in several countries. She is both an engaging soloist and a perceptive and inspiring teacher. Dr. Goza serves on the faculty of ENCORE School for Strings and is a member of the Fulbright Trio. this fall she will be joining the string faculty at the University of Oklahoma School of Music.Rossitza is an avid student of all the arts, a voracious reader of the great Russian, Bulgarian and American novelists and poets, and is married to conductor David Goza.

Felice Magendanz Farrell, received her early musical training on the piano, violin and cello with her parents in Utica, New York. She continued her musical studies in Rome, Italy with her older sister, Donna Magendanz Guarino. She received her Bachelor and Master Degrees of Music with the Performers Certificate at Indiana University. Her first major appointment was with the Minnesota Orchestra as assistant principal ch=cellist. Later, she was solo cellist for the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra. She was later accepted into the Affiliate Artist Management of New York City and was on the faculty of the Eastman School of Music. There in New York, Mrs. Farrell met her Husband and moved to Little Rock, Arkansas.Mrs. Farrell began a chamber music series at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, taught at the University of Central Arkansas, and continues teaching privately, as well as performing locally with colleagues. Recently she has conducted master classes at Louisiana State University, the Chautaqua Music Festival in New York, Indiana University, and the Minnesota Northern Lights Chamber Festival.She has been instrumental in t he Formation of the Bechstein Hall Concert Series in Little Rock, a series that features chamber music as well as jazz and vocal music.

Stephen Gates is a native of Boston, where he began his study of the cello at age seven. His education includes the Bachelor of Arts degree from Harvard College, the Master of Music degree from Yale School of Music and the Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of Texas at Austin. Dr. Gates has played with the Boston Opera company and the Boston Pops Orchestra as well as serving as Associate Principal cellist with the New Haven, Connecticut, and Austin, Texas, Symphony Orchestras, and was principal cellist of the North Arkansas Symphony for 22 years.
Dr. Gates has been a guest soloist with three of “Arkansas’s orchestras and with the Music Festival of Arkansas and has been heard numerous times on AETN. Other engagements have included recitals in Boston. Birmingham, and Little Rock, and a concerto appearance with the Grand Junction, Colorado, Symphony. Professor Gates was appointed Department Chair, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, in 1998.

(c) 2006 - Ruth Mitchell - all rights reserved

Seeking the Light

Lucky Man & Chili Pepper

Okay, I didn't really want to share my personal tragedy with you, but I am a writer, and by definition we like to spill our guts. It's not that we like to spill our guts, really, it's that in communicating through the written word, we process our world. And while I like to stick to art and culture in this blog, let's just explore the antitheses of those concepts for a moment. What are the opposites of art, culture and the light. They would be, among other things, war, violence, rape and animal cruelty.

I'm here to share my story of Lucky Man. If you're a regular to this blog, you know that I'm goofy enough to have a portrait of two of my dogs in my living room. It is a beautiful painting created by artist April Shurgar.

Well, some jackass,(there are not enough nasty expletives to throw out here) shot Lucky Man with a .22 caliber. You know one of those toy guns that are only light enough for children or cowards to shoot dogs and small game with, or maim larger animals.

The good news is that while the killer was aiming for Lucky Man's heart, he missed and shattered his elbow. Lucky Man is in extreme pain, and I know because I too have a titanium pin in my elbow. Lucky Man has several.

Now let me explain, Lucky Man is a complete gentleman that was quite mortified by this whole incident. Mostly he likes to lay in the sun, and occasionally scout around our tree-filled neighborhood for deer that need a good run. We call him a Cleburne County Hound Dog because we found him as a puppy lost in the woods, barely big enough to be away from his mother. He was infested with mites and fleas. He most resembles the Walker Hound breed. Lucky Man carries himself with great dignity, and when I walk him on the leash we are always getting comments about what a beautiful dog he is. Until now, we always said we would like to return in another life as Lucky Man because he sleeps on a king-sized bed with us (or used to he may never be able to be allowed up again because of his fragile joint.)

We have the best neighbors in the whole world, after canvassing them, as I suspected they hadn't seen Lucky Man and Chili Pepper, because the dogs aren't a nuisance. This was a total act of violence by a person who was filled with the dark.

I am told by our vet, that there are people out there that carry loaded guns in their trucks and shoot at anything that moves like cattle, horses, dogs and cats. I guess its some sort of entertainment for them. This was no accident, Lucky Man was not mistaken for wild game because there was no hunting season open when it happened.

We followed the blood trail to try to piece together the struggle he had on his journey back to the house. He was so fortunate to make it home to us where we could rush him to the hospital. He could have easily died in the woods bleeding to death.

Okay, enough of the darkness. Like Ildikó Kalapács one of our most provocative artists at Buyoutsidethebox.com, I do often use my craft to inform and address topics that might not otherwise be given the light of day. If one gun is taken from a child or adult who does not know what they are doing with it, then my work is good.

I share with you this thought today. Fight the darkness, create, play or anything to follow the light. Live this day like it was your last, for it is in this way that we stave off the dark.
--Ruth Mitchell

(c) 2006 - Ruth Mitchell - all rights reserved

Why the Puffin?

Ildikó Kalapács

Visit the Puffin Foundation’s website and you will find the answer to that question. This Non-profit organization seeks to assist artists and art organizations who are excluded from mainstream opportunities due to their race, gender or social philosophy. Buyoutsidethebox.com artist Ildikó Kalapács of Spokane, Wash. has recently been awarded her second grant from this foundation for her work in topics of interest that are typically shunned or censored due to politics or their sensitive nature.

Kalapács' first grant for $1,000 was awarded in 1999 for her creation of a bronze/wood sculpture called "Dialogue." It includes two nude figures standing on a horizontal wood/bronze cross, at the cross-roads, facing one another, going opposite directions. Between them is a rotting tree. One female figure stands alone in a cross-position, holding her arms out.

Kalapács' latest award of $750 is for a sculpture called "Bearing." It shows a nude barefoot woman walking on stones. On her head there is huge basket which contains a man puffing on a cigar and holding an AK-47 gun. "It's very simple. I think it is very timely to create this piece considering the international political climate," says Kalapács.

“The criteria [for the prize] are that I show the sculpture in a non-gallery setting so a bigger population is exposed to political art,” says the artist. Her sculpture will be shown at the Spokane Unitarian Church. For details click here.

(c) 2006 - Ruth Mitchell - all rights reserved

CERF - Craft Emergency Relief Fund

I first found out about CERF a number of years ago when I did a small piece on them for Art and Antiques magazine. It'a wonderful organization that helps artists out such as our own Andrew Pollack who was displaced by hurricane Katrina. We recently heard back from them concerning the article we featured on Andy below, and thought we'd share with you the note from Les Snow Operations and Financial Services Manager

Hi Ruth,

Thank you very much for sharing the article and for spreading the word about CERF. Andy is a fine craft artist who has a wonderful attitude. It looks like he is finding his way to recovery, and beyond. Thank you for your part in getting his artwork to those who appreciate it.

Thanks again,
Les

Craft Emergency Relief Fund (CERF)
PO Box 838
Montpelier, VT 05601


Just thought you all would like to know about this great organization and what it can do. Click here to visit their site.--Ruth Mitchell

(c) 2006 - Ruth Mitchell - all rights reserved