August 29-30, 2023 Canon City and Longmont, Colorado

 High 90's. Perfect day to go rafting. 

Katy, Katie and I drove to Canon City for our raft trip. We ate our gourmet lunch prepared by Katie's husband Bill at our favorite picnic table at the Abby in Canon City. At Raft Masters the air temp is 95, the water temp is 64 and the Arkansas river is running at 890 csf. 

Our good friend Dennis will be taking us down the river. Katy keeping cool. The river was muddy, like a chocolate milk shake. It must have rained higher up on the river and this is run off. 

We rafted in Bighorn Canyon and had many big horn sheep sightings.  Beautiful day on the river. 

Turtle Rock. Beautiful scenery. 

Our handsome, hunky  guide kept us entertained. Katy and Katie having fun. 

Wildflowers on shore. Coming into a rapid.

The professional photographer photos of us . 

More professional photos of us blasting down the river.

We made it back. A good time was had by all.  Happy Dance.

Dennis charming Katy. We took Dennis out to dinner at the Yummy Thai restaurant. Food was good and the company even better. What fun. 

The almost full blue Salmon moon rising in the setting sun on the way back. The next day I went to the annual HHA luncheon. We all worked together at HHA in the 80's/90's.  Great to see Carol, Nancy and Kay. 

August 20-27, 2023 Fort Collins, Colorado

 High of 88 and mostly sunny.

We went to lunch at the Rainbow Restaurant today. Beautiful day to eat on the patio and the food was fabulous as usual. A few things I have been making. Scarab pendants, some cool pendants made from scraps of a bigger piece and some beveled polished pieces to wire wrap later. 

I also made theses centers for future baskets. Saturday  was the Tour Du Fat. It is put on by new Belgium brewing. It starts with a parade of people on bicycles in costume, or the bikes in costume. Here are a few of the riders. After the parade there is a big event at the brewery with  bands on two stages, fashion show, food  and of course beer.

More Tour du Fat riders.

Yet more Tour de Fat riders

And more riders. 

August 19, 2023

 We had wonderful weather for the Jerry's Celebration of Life. Sunny, then wild rain, thunder and rainbows.

Joan, Ray, Judy and John enjoying a wonderful dinner John prepared the night before. Our big brother Ray welcoming the crowd. Followed by sharing of memories by friends and family.

Our big brother Ray welcoming the crowd. Followed by sharing of memories by friends and family. Photos of Jerry. 

Nice spread of food. Watching the slide show.

 Nibbling on food. Deep conversation!

Watching the Jerry slide show. Good crowd, about 25 friends and family. Lots of socializing.

 The three siblings. Sue, Ray and Judy. The Jerry Palmer memorial garden. The residents put  up a very nice plaque in the garden. 

Morgan, Tammy and Justin. Katy, Katie and I.

 Peeping tom toads watched the celebration outside the window.  Family-siblings, in laws and cousins.

 Rainbow on the way home. Sunset on the way home.

August 5-18, 2023 Fort Collins, Colorado

 Low 90's, high 80's. Still raining every day.

Rainbow under a huge storm just south of us. Thunder was almost continuous. One of north Shields lakes. 

Cool clouds over storm. Sunset.

Sunset. I finished another masterpiece. It is about 11 x 11 x 1 inches. I made the center part in a class last year and put a border on it this year. I like how it came out. 

The masterpiece with the sun behind it. I injured my back lifting a box and have been laying low.  John hurt his knee walking. We went out tonight for a walk around town. Free music in Old Town Square. 

We think this is a new mural downtown. A new thing for us--The Barnacle. It is attached onto the windshield of this car by suction. They have to pay the parking ticket to get it off. I think it is the new boot. 

Sunset tonight. Not sure if this looks more like a shark or an airplane. And another wild cloud. 

I finished these two bears bowls. Wildflowers and a deer in the aspen.

Judy took us out to dinner tonight. We closed on the condo today. Hopefully seeing the light at the end of the tunnel with the estate! The official high was 99 degrees, but the car said 105 and the thermometer in our back yard said 107. Good day to stay inside. 

Scotcheroos. My brothers favorite childhood dessert. I made a gigantic batch for his celebration of life this weekend. The tray is about 2 feet long. Sunset.

Judy and I set up the microphone and speakers for the Celebration of life in the garage to make sure we could do it at the actual celebration. We are a little technically challenged with AV equipment. We labeled all the inputs and outputs with color coded tape. And  made a chart.  Sunset.