June 28-July 2, 2020 Fort Collins, Colorado

Was supposed to be 96 today, but not sure it made it out of the low 90's. It clouded up, a little but no rain.

Sunset was lovely tonight on my bike ride. 

More lovely sunset. I am working on making a piece of glass of John kayaking in the cypress trees with a cool wake behind him. Here are the trees and wake, before and after firing. The kayaker goes in next and some squiggly painted lines in the wake. Need to liven up the trees a bit. The smaller ones are basket centers. I am still playing with the suns rays coming through the trees in a mist. I like the darker one. 

I stopped by the test gardens at CSU. They are incredible. 

I added the kayaker and slumped it into a bowl mold. It is officially done. John spent the day smoking a brisket and vegetables.  

We had John and Mandy over for dinner. They brought wine and scalloped potatoes. Dinner was yummy and it was good to see them. The next day I went to Denver to drop off art for the glass show at 40 W gallery, get my eyes examined (I have cataracts) and spent the night to go rafting the next day. Really bad photos of downtown Denver. I took them through the car windows . The skyline, boarded up windows from the riots, a cyclone fence around Civic Center park, and a homeless encampment across the street from the park.  

I stayed with my friend Katy. We had vegetables from her garden for dinner. Her garden is wonderful, Mine is so puny so far. Katy is a bee keeper and after dinner I went with her on a swarm call. The bee club she is a member of collects unwanted bee swarms from peoples yard. This was a bumble bee next. They are trying to renovate their pond and the bumble bees moved into some grass right next to it. Katy in her bee suit with Mark one of the yard owners digging into the hive. The bees went into the white box which has the scent of a queen bee in it.  

The next day Katie, Katy and I went to Canon City for our annual river trip with our friend Dennis who owns Raftmasters.  We had a picnic lunch at the beautiful Abby. The Arkansas river from the raft. 

It was a beautiful day on the Arkansas river. Us going through  Spike Buck rapid. We put on our masks when we went past the photographer. Mainly so we could tell this years photos from all the previous years photos. Plus they looked hilarious in the photos. We had to wear them in the office and the bus on the way to the river, but on the river they were not required. We can tell you that trying to breath through a wet mask is pretty hard. 

Another shot of us in the rapid. Katy and I in the rapid with our masks.  

Dennis, Katie and I. At the end Dennis took his mask off so we could see his smiling face. Katie, me, Dennis and Katy at the end of the trip. We had a blast.  

Katie took us all out to dinner afterwards at Nirvana Indian restaurant. It has wonderful food. It is always good to see Dennis and the Katie/y's. Beautiful historic downtown Canon City, Colorado 

Sunset on the way home.