February 4, 2026 Death Valley, California

 79 degrees and sunny.

The wild flowers are really starting now. Yellow evening primrose on Jubilee pass. Fields of sand verbena and some desert gold.

Desert gold and sand  verbena. Field of desert gold with sand verbena. 

Desert gold. 

Desert gold and sand verbena. Yellow evening primrose, phacelia, white and yellow brown eyed evening primrose, blazing star, cryptanthia, phacelia, wooly daisy.

Judy and Judy hike in Death Valley every year. We are down here to see how wet the desert floor is. Water in old tire tracks on the playa looking south.

Tire tracks on the playa with water looking north. Judy and Judy on the desert playa.

Salt formations on the desert playa. Lake Manley still  has water in it. 

We had lunch at the lovely Furnace Creek Inn. Lake Manley from above from Dante's view.

Judy and I with Lake Manley. 

January 30 to February 3 , 2026 Shoshone, Ca

 Suny, high of 75.

More mosaics.  honey for the honey date palm, a pup fish and a school of fish beads I had. Judy on the Aqua trail. Most of the water from the last storms is drying up.

Waxing gibbous moon. Full tomorrow.

Cool looking clouds. Sun pillar in sunset.

Sunset. My favorite foreground for sunsets here.  

Wild looking clouds When we started out in the RV 16 years ago we said we wanted to go where it was in the 70's all the time. Chasing the thermocline John called it. It ended up to be impossible to find 70's all year around, but we hit the  jackpot this week. 

One more mosaic for one of the medjool date palms. Michael and John are in the laundry room moving the washer for Judy. James is outside giving manly advice. Then James is doing the finishing touches and John and Michael are outside giving many advice

January 23 -27, 2026 Shoshone, California

 66 and sunny.

Got these two grouted. The honey is for the honey date tree. Medjool and khadrawy date trees. 

I worked on this one for the halaway date tree. It needs grout. Late afternoon light on the city park in Shoshone. 

Raven on a wire. Last light. 

Sunset. New masterpiece. It is made from dyed pine needles, polyester thread, glass beads, pearls, a metal disc and the center is a piece of dichroic glass I fused. 6 x 3 1/2 inches. 

Another masterpiece. It is made with dyed pine needles, polyester thread, abalone and jade beads, embellished with a silver feather pendant and the center is a piece of glass I fused. It is 6 x 3 1/2 inches.  I grouted the piece for the halaway date palm tree.

Mary and Nancy came to visit from Independence, California. John prepared us a yummy dinner.

Smoked pork roast,  homemade BBQ sauce , farrow and whipped cauliflower. Judy made a big salad. Yum yum. I put part of the new walkway in front of the house together. Still needs a couple more rocks and a few mosaics and it will be done. The palm tree at the very top has a mosaic that says honey, that is what kind of date palm it is.

The remodel of the pool in town is looking good. It has cement poured around it now. It will need a fence before it will be open. Can't wait. John cut down 4 huge branches that reached out over the Blue trail, you used to have to crawl under them, Thank you darling!

Water trails on the Aqua trail.  Cool rock formation, two shots of mustard blooms, cryptpanthia, and brown eyed evening primroses. 

Black mountain and white butte on the Aqua trail. Salt deposits in a coyote track, a branch and on mud. Cool water worked mud in the river, backlit grass seeds, desert gold and brittle bush. 

The Amargosa river crossing on the Aqua trail with cool mud patterns.

Backlit phragmites. The bridge through the phragmites that Judy built on the Red trail.

The top photo is the White trail looking west and the second one is looking east. Brittle bush on the white trail.