July 10-26, Fort Collins, Colorado

We are still waiting for the delivery of a new microwave convection oven for the bus. Our old one died right before we came home. It was supposed to be in late June, then early July, then the 12th, now the 21st. Ok, I can still work on glass.

My brother Jerry came up and had dinner with us, it was fun to see him. We had the carpets cleaned. John says they have not been cleaned since before he met me 11 years ago. We moved all the stuff off the floor and John vacuumed before. The carpets look great now.

Still working on jewels too. Some one requested cat pendants and some one else thought pot leaf jewels might sell. We will see. A fisherman at McMurray ponds on my bike ride.

Backlit grasses on my bike ride. I am working on another desert to go with this cactus stand. Spend the last three days, hopefully get it to a point I can put it in the kiln soon. 

I saw this  swallow nest inside a tunnel on the bike path, it is full of baby birds. Below is a purple flower I don't know what is. We had a yummy dinner at Mandy and John's house of ribs John smoked. Mandy, John, Dave, Christine and John.

I have been busy making jewels-these have horses on them, someone requested horses. The Sonoran 

 Fire is done. Of course it looks terrible with the cactus stand I was making it for. I am exploring other stand options. I changed the clouds to match the rest of it better. 

I went kayaking on Long Lake in Fort Collins with my friend Jane. it was lovely. It has been very hot, in the 90's so the water felt very nice.

My newest project is a redo of a peacock I did years ago. I was not happy with the first version so I started another one, then the glass store was out of the green dichroic glass I used in it. I bought the glass the next year but did not get motivated to finish it. This year I am finishing it.  Jerry came back up for dinner with us and brought a highschool friend Cecil we both knew in Cody and his son Charles and girlfriend Grace. We ate at the same restaurant. It was fun to see them all.

Our microwave did come in on the 21st and John had it installed on the 24th. He wants to clean the only carpet left in the bus, a strip in front of the closet. It is filthy. He got an estimate of $85 to have it cleaned, and it costs $60 to rent a carpet cleaner, so he bought a small carpet spot cleaner for $90 and started cleaning it. Soon the bus will be ready to go. 

I finished the peacock. It came out very nice. It is pictured here on the left, next to the previous one I made. The last one had way too many mistakes in it, took about twice as long as it should have to make and I did not like the border. I am happier with the second one.  John meanwhile is fixing some water damage on the side of our sticks and bricks house. He set up shop in the garage, which used to be his workshop. Now a good portion is my studio. I can't park or work on my glass while he is sawing and hammering.  He reminded me it was his workshop first and now he can't even find his tools. . .