Thanksgiving Sale @ Zunispirits.com

Just in time for browsing this happy week of Thanksgiving .. we've reduced to ROCK BOTTOM 10 items and added 13 more items to the sale section of Zuni Spirits. Now is the perfect time to add to your own collection or buy for gift-giving this holiday season. Email your orders to Darlene and remember that we accept online payments via paypal.com/check or MO. If you have any questions, we're an email away! All images are "clickable" or you can see all available Zuni fetishes at www.zunispirits.com.

FINAL REDUCTION!!!!!
ONLY THESE ARE LEFT!!!! - - - ROCK BOTTOM PRICES!!!!

We're still planning another posting of new Zuni fetishes before the end of November so stay tuned for that.

Remember that we are happy to wrap and enclose a gift card and ship directly to your holiday recipient at no extra charge. Last day for priority shipping to arrive before Christmas is December 17th. After that we can't be sure that it will arrive in time for Christmas so express shipping may be necessary.

The nature shot this week is really special! Dave and I were returning from the post office Friday evening and we spotted a rare sight! A bald eagle was on the ground in a pasture usually filled with Santa Gertrudis cattle. We don't often see bald eagles here though on our area lakes there are permanent residents. Certainly you don't expect to see them on the ground! We observed this guy for about 10 - 15 minutes debating whether or not he might be hurt and what we should do. After snapping these photos I started to exit the truck and that was all it took for this beautiful fellow to take flight. He was HUGE! And we finally decided he'd been fishing in a large lake on this ranch and was just FULL and digesting his meal. Seeing him was an incredible gift for us both!

Dave and I have much to be thankful for this Thanksgiving. It's easy to get discouraged by the sheer volume of bad news we are fed on a daily basis but it's important to keep in mind that each of us has much to be grateful for. If you have your health, the love of your family and are able to find joy in your daily surroundings .. you are among the lucky ones in life. And we certainly are ... All our best to you and yours this holiday season.

24 New guys @ Zunispirits.com

Greetings from Dave and Darlene!

We've added 24 new fetishes to the website and we hope you'll take a look. The variety in this showing is excellent. There are carvings by 19 different artisans and prices range from $45.00 to $175.00. Stones include turquoise, gold-lipped Mother of Pearl, antler, lepidolite, Petosky stone, Afghan lapis, Belgian marble, Zuni rock, travertine, labradorite, honey onyx, onyx, white marble, Picasso marble, serpentine and some strange creature called "tiglite". Hm. Okay .. you heard it here first. TIGLITE.

We should get another showing posted before the end of November. Don't forget that Christmas is coming (sooner than any of us would like to think about) and we are happy to gift wrap your selection at no charge. We can also ship to your recipient if you so desire. Dave looks really cute in his elf-hat .. so let us be your Christmas helpers!

We've received another shipment of our books and our publisher has upgraded our paper to premium. We are now in four countries and fourteen states! Keep those orders coming, please!

Fall has come to our woods but it's not just our leaves that are turning orange ..
our butterflies are too!

Take the time ..

Today I learned of the sudden passing of a friend of mine. This was someone I'd yet to meet in person but we became acquainted via the website and for the past 15 mos., she has emailed me several times a month, wrote the most gloriously descriptive emails about her latest acquisitions from Zuni Spirits and even mailed a baby gift when Ashley's baby boy was born last April.

We talked (via email) about our families, our pets, our likes and dislikes, our political opinions, work life, gardening, cooking, and of course, Zuni fetishes. I immediately trusted her. She was clearly an exceptionally strong (former parole officer!) and honest person. She was opinionated but so am I and since we usually agreed, that was a plus! So, knowing her degree of ethics, coupled with her appreciation for Zuni fetishes, Dave and I asked her to proofread our book before we went to final press knowing she would be as meticulous as we needed her to be.

When the book arrived a couple of weeks ago, she immediately placed an order though we had already planned to gift her with a copy in gratitude for her sharp eye and attention to detail. Then, once the book was mailed on 10/18, we happily awaited her assessment. When a few days went by and an email didn't come -- I emailed her to check that she had, in fact, received it and to make sure she was okay. Still no response. Hmmm. I started to write a note ... in fact I did write a note, enclosed a picture of Ashley and Baby Trey, addressed the envelope and sealed it. But before I put a stamp on it something made me check the obituaries at Legacy.com. I don't know why -- I have never done that before! Imagine my shock and sadness when her name suddenly appeared!

I very much regret not calling now when I first thought something might be amiss. But my hearing and lack of an unreliable cell signal (since "Ike") usually prevents telephone conversations. Still .. I wish I had tried. Too often I think we get "messages" - that nagging feeling to call a friend, send a card, make a spontaneous visit. And sadly, I think most people ignore them and when we do we usually realize - when it's too late - that we've missed an opportunity that will not come along again in this lifetime.

Remember to tell the people in your lives what they mean to you. Don't count on there being a next week or even a tomorrow. There are no guarantees. Show your love and appreciation NOW, people, life is SHORT!

I'm grateful for all of you, friends!

Some pics from yesterday afternoon ...

Dear Deer .....

Nothing about Zuni fetishes today. Just some thoughts on deer hunting since this beautiful fall day is the first day of deer season. Though my beloved dad was a true Texas sportsman, Dave hunts occasionally, and I have enjoyed my fair share of venison, I am crossing my fingers that all "my" deer will stay safe. I know it's an unrealistic expectation and the truth is that too many of them is not good for the deer or for those of us who live with them.

My handsome Dad at the deer camp

Still, I sincerely hope that the majority of the hunters who go into the woods this weekend and come out with meat for their family recognize and appreciate the animal's sacrifice. I wonder how many of them will carry a Zuni fetish in their pocket? And I wonder how many of them enjoyed watching the sunrise while they sat in their favorite tree stand and considered their good fortune to just be in the woods.

Darlene (right) & her friend Belinda, Deer camp, 1961.

(The dog being strangled is named Cindy. And just for the record,
the only reason I tolerated that goofy hat my mother made we wear was because I was also wearing my cowboy boots and ANYTHING
looks better with cowboy boots!)

Deer hunting, for my family when I was growing up, was not just the thrill of the hunt (though my father told more than one story of having rampant "buck fever!") It was late summer nights spent in Daddy's workshop building and painting his deer blind or making tin reflectors that were hung on trees to note the direction (by jeep headlight) to a particular stand. It was Labor Day weekend with all the other families dove hunting and rebuilding or installing new stands and when we were all too hot, it was swimming in the Pedernales river. Deer season was the culmination of a year long get-together with other families that we'd known for years. It was meal planning, bunk beds, fires in the woodstoves, checking your shoes for scorpions, too many people for one (indoor!) bathroom and filling up the hand warmers with fuel before we all went to bed. Does anyone even use those things any more? I have so many fond memories of the deer camp so I can't begrudge the idea of deer hunting. Just be careful and considerate out there, remember to say thank you and please don't be wasteful!