August 4-16, 2026 Fort Collins, Colorado

 Near 100, smoking and still miserable. 

Still smoky. Sunsets look cool. 

Saw these deer on my bike ride. The fawns were on the bike path, the mother on the other side of the fence, the fawns could not jump it. The doe jumped back over, the fawns ran to here and nursed. Not sure if these are the same ones in the bottom, or another set of doe and fawns. The buck. 

I dyed some more needles. Peacock green, tropical teal, teal came out dark blue green, light color don't work as well on pine needles, and royal purple. Another smokey sunset. 

Thursday's free music in the square was a blue grass band. Wonderful. First Friday art walk was fun. We were on a quest to find the ones that gave away food.  We ran into my niece Heidi and James at the art walk. Their daughter Cora was showing and selling her pen and ink work. Nice to see them. 

Smoke. Sunset.

Dyed some needles orange, came out too dark. It finally rained. 1 inch in 30 minutes. I was just getting ready to bike ride right before, glad I had not left. 

The alley with rain. Sunset after the rain. 

We took a walk, the bike path is flooded. 

Dyed the last of the needles black. Finally done with them till I start making baskets when we go back to the bus.  Sunset over more rain puddles. 

My friends Billie and Jackie from high school came up for dinner.  Billie is in Denver visiting Jackie. They are perusing jewels I made here. John cooked us a scrumptious dinner of smoked pork, corn on the cob and baked beans. John, Darwin, Jackie and Billie. 

Jackie, Sue and Billie. We've been friends since junior high. Sue, John, Jackie and Darwin. It was so good to see them. 

Crescent moon and venus last night at dusk. 

July 30- August 3, 2026 Fort Collins, Colorado

 Highs near 100 and sunny, with some smoke. Miserable.

Sunset from the bike path and by the feed plant.

We finally caught the squirrel that has been eating our deck. I hope. John moved him far away. John has been weeding and putting mulch down in the gardens. Looks good!

This Jack Storms cube is from a class at the glass expo, Jack actually glued all the dichro together, but I cut the cube from a big block and beveled and polished it. It changes colors with different light and angles. Pretty cool. More dyed needles, yellow on the left- came out kind of amber and orange on the right-came out more red.

Cows from the bike path.  Party at the water park tonight. 

Smoke in the air, the sun was orange through the smoke or clouds. I finished this basket that I started on the way home. It is made from dyed pine needles, polyester thread, glass beads and the center is a dichroic glass frog I cast. It is  12 x 2 1/4 inches. 

For some reason the bees really like my dyed pine needles when they are drying in the backyard. I have to chase them off to take them in. Hopefully I won't get stung. There is a lot of smoke in the air. The colors are just weird.

Smoky sunset over town. Smoky sunset over the water park.

Smoky sunset over the bike path. The colors  in the photo just don't do it justice.

Smoky sunset. End of smoky sunset  over the lake. 

July 22- 29, 2026 Fort Collins, Colorado

 90, sunny and rainy.

Berkely Lake in Denver on my walk around it. I used to live right next to this lake.

I drove back to Denver for some Dr appointments.

Woo hoo my 30 day heart  monitor is done! Have to wait for the results now. Rain and rainbow in our backyard.

Sunset. It has been 100 + degrees the last couple days. Miserable. Here at sunset families are still swimming in the water park. 

Sunset. I participated in an Artisan Market on Sat. I got this great banner for the back of my booth. It was so hot , 100 + , the attendance was very low, I didn't make much profit after my entry expenses. I got way over heated and I had a little a fib.

Volume 37 of my blog book came today. They are a record of our travels in the bus for the last 16 years living in the RV. This one is last year. I started this stepping stone mosaic while teaching a class for some friends. I couldn't wait till they come back for follow up class to finish it, so I finished it. Came out fun. It is going in the vegetable garden. The patterns for the veges is loosely based on some from a book, but I put them all together. There are some murrine bees and a lady bug in there too. 

Sunset from the bike path. My Dr decreased the heart meds and all the sudden I am getting my energy back, can ride my bike and breath at the same time now. Woo hoo. still waiting for the results of my tests, but at least I feel normal now. Normal for me. . . Dyed some pine needles red. They came out nice. 

Sunset. John gave me these beautiful roses for my birthday. 

Then took me out to dinner at The Cache, the fancy restaurant at Ginger and Baker. We had never been before. The dining room is a triangle and we got to sit in the point of it. John and I at my birthday dinner. 

The artistic presentation of John's scallops. A school of cello students played on the stage in the square last night. 

Sunset.