June 13-17, 2015 Fort Collins, Colorado

Sunset on big storm clouds.  We went to the Taste of Fort Collins at 8pm, and found out it closes at 8pm. It looked fun.

Sunday I drove down to Denver to the Glass Artist Fellowship meeting. This one was our annual picnic and hot glass play day. Above Deb is demonstrating making a glass bead with a torch.  And then our picnic. Lots of yummy Qdoba food.

After the picnic we got to try making glass beads and blowing glass. I am holding  a glass bead I made. Roxanne behind me taught me how to do it. Miya is blowing glass with Mike instructing.

 

Mandy and I want to see Les Sunde’s house in Bellevue, which is just up the road from Fort Collins.  It is called Swampgas and Gossamer. He calls it an art installation he has been working on for 19 years. He lives in a bus behind it that he customized into a cool house. His shower is a phone booth.  The house  was awesome.  Much too big and intricate to get good photos that show it. Mandy is looking in one of the windows  that is a seating area and he can open up a huge door and has a rain maker. You can sit in a chair and look inside and see rain.

These circular structures will be a walk way when they are done. The side of the house. It has lots of big windows all around.

   

You enter through the glass room and a rotating door, with a rotating piece in the middle.  As we were talking he pushed a button and this came up out of the floor, it is his elevator to his wine cellar in the basement.  The side of the  metal woman opens up and is lit up inside and has a sink in it.  The piano in the background is on hydraulics and can rise up out of the floor, or drop back down. He opened a cupboard in the wall , lights and music came on , inside was wine glasses and a bottle.

The inside of the elevator, it has controls from an old elevator from the Northern Hotel downtown. The actual elevator is a shower in the bathroom.  The kitchen. One of the sinks is in the foreground with the curly faucet next to it, the gas burners for the stove are on the wall behind along with a gas lamp in the port hole. The wall is under a spiral staircase .

Another view of the kitchen. Three sinks, with old soda fountain taps for the water. The refrigerator is lit up behind them. The next shot is of a sunken area with a fireplace.  The heat from the fireplace is vented behind the chairs in front of it.  

 

The spiral staircase goes to the second story here and out on the deck. On the deck is this round table and chair that rotates. Foot powered or wind powered with the cups on top, it is topped with tuba.

   

On top of the second story is this sculpture with a mirrored lightening bolt on top. The second photo is part of the dance hall, it is too big to get in a photo.

   

The fence beside the driveway. The place is enchanting. Way to many details for photos, you need to go see it. Mandy and Les at the rotating table. We sat in the sun and he told us about his house.

Here is my little garden. None of this year has gone as planned, so I planted basil, peppers and tomatoes  just in case we happen to still be here to harvest. The oregano and sage are perennials John planted.  It is loving  the sun and heat. It is growing inches a day. There are also two basil plants in pots that will go with us on the bus.