I first met Sandy Binion when spending a long weekend with my friend, Carol. Carol lives on a lake in northern New Jersey and we were up early one morning, sitting on the dock in our pajamas and drinking coffee. We also had a pair of binoculars because Carol was showing me her neighbor’s houses some of the natural wildlife in the surrounding environment.
“Oh look – Sandy’s out landscaping again…” said Carol as she handed me the binoculars.
Sure ’nuff. I saw a woman in her overalls and boots, picking up rocks and moving bags of sand around her front garden. When she saw Carol and me out on the dock, she jumped in her little rowboat and rowed over to us. And so I was introduced to Sandy. We spent the morning chatting – Carol and I in our pajamas and Sandy in her work clothes with her feet propped up on the side of the boat.
Sandy is an artist. She wears many hats and wears all of them very well. She is in theatre, can sing beautifully, and has energy from I-don’t-know-where. She works in the costume department for various Broadway productions and helps put the wardrobes together for Broadway shows. As noted above, Sandy also landscapes her own garden and has a gorgeous, gorgeous home on the lake that she has carefully decorated with that artists’ eye. I fell in love with her home when I first saw it.
And let me tell you something.
It wasn’t her house that made me jealous. It wasn’t the fact that she has worked with some very high profile Broadway stars that really got to me. There was a twinge of jealousy when she met and had her photo taken with Bruce Springsteen. Oh yes. That stung.
But what really got to me was when she decided to learn silver smithing and then unveiled her beautifully crafted silver and stone jewelry. I wanted to stand up, close the macbook, walk out to my shed with my automatic fire lighter and set my whole workshop on fire. But I didn’t.
And I love ya, Sandy. We’ll have to catch up the next time I’m at the lake and you can give me some tips on bezel forming and stone setting.
Dragonlane Artisan Jewellery 
Sounds like an awesome, awesome morning and meeting. My husband has a relative in NJ and when I studied the map after Sandy tore through I discovered something amusing … Cheesequake State Park. For real?
Sorry … I meant the Hurricane, not the artist! Yikes!
🙂 I knew what you meant. And I was going to research Cheesequake State Park before replying. I can only say that one never knows what one will find in the great state of NJ.
Love this. Betting Sandy will love it, too. And, yes, you must come soon for a visit! I don’t think you saw Sandy’s workshop last time, so we’ll be sure to schedule that in. xo