July 20-27, 2022 Denver to Fort Collins, Colorado

 100 degrees again today. I am recovering from the cataract surgery. My eyelid is twitching, a strained muscle they say and it will go away. But in the meantime it is kind of like a strobe light effect. My brain has not wrapped itself around the changes in my eye, so I am kind of dizzy and nauseous. But I am told it will all resolve.  My eye was 20/400 before surgery and is now 20/60 and will get better. 

Sunset over the La Quinta we stayed in Weds night. Driving through downtown Denver the next day on the way home. 

The three bears still need some more work, then they will be slumped into the bear bowl mold. Home made tamales I made for dinner tonight. Really good. 

I shaped and polished the edges of the two bears today on my flat lap. Did most of it with the 12 inch flat discs   I have  magnetic discs from 100 grit diamond down to the felt you see here for the final polish. It is water fed from the center. I finished the inside curved part of the neck with my new cone set. It is also water fed and I have 5 different grits. I got a cone and dome set at the glass expo this spring. First time I have used them. I love all my fun equipment in my glass studio. I only get to visit with it a couple month out of the year. 

Sunset the last two nights. 

A closer up of last nights. I cut up a piece I made at the expo and made these pendants.

My garden is amazing. I planted it the end of June and it has about tripled in height and both tomatoes have blooms and the cherry on the right has lots of green tomatoes and one red one. The cherry was big when I bought it. Two of the basils we were growing in pots on the bus. They were in pretty sad shape when I planted them outside, but they have recovered. The scrawny marigold is the only thing not doing that well. Sunset night dancing across the sky. 

My cones and domes grinding heads for my flat lap grinder. They are water fed in the center. I took these photos to send to the company and ask which one has the coarsest grit. It is easier to tell in these photos, but still sending it. They didn't label them. The diamonds are really sparkly in the sunlight.  This tiny bunny hopped out of my tomatoes and basil. 

John had his last medical procedure for this trip, a coloscopy. Her he is in recovery at Rock Creek Medical Center in Lafayette. Lilies I planted years ago are blooming. 

Sunset last night. The bears are finally done. They are 9 x 7 x 1 3/8 inches. These are pictured in the sun.

These guys are pictured in the shade. I am starting another river piece. 

July 13-20, 2022 Fort Collins to Denver , Colorado

 90's the last two days. The next two will be in the high 90's. A bit of rain today that was nice. 

A load of glass in to slump. A wavy pattern bar piece. 10 x 4inches  before waving. 

A blue 8 inch pattern bar bowl and a colorful 10 x 3 inch pattern bar bowl. 

Lilies I planted in the front. This is a screen melt, lots of colorful glass turned pretty muddy when melted. The bottom of the photo are the bottom of the screen, the muddy brown piece. The back of it was covered with kiln wash, when I sandblasted it off it was a little more colorful. 

Two bears that are in their way in to be fired. They will be slumped in a bear bowl mold when done. The center strip is pattern bars.  It was 104 today! Good day to stay inside. Sunset tonight.

I cut a bear out of the screen melt and am sandwiching it between a piece of black and clear glass. It was not big enough by itself. If it fuses in it's present shape the bear has an eye. Will see how it comes out. I am adding two strips of dichroic glass with bear paw prints to one of the bears from the previous batch I made. After these fuse I will slump them into a bear bowl mold. 

The kiln loaded for bear, ha ha. It is firing now. There are some pattern bars fusing together on the left,  the screen melt bear and the bear getting the paw strips. 

100 degrees today. We drove to Denver in the rain. in the second photo you can see in the center a few if the tall buildings in downtown Denver. 

Our room at La Quinta. I am having cataract surgery tomorrow. We wanted to get to the appointment on time without fighting rush hour traffic from Fort Collins. And I have a recheck of my eye the next day here in Denver, so we decided to stay. We had a wonderful dinner in Cherry Creek at North Italian. We ate outside in the pleasant 67 degree weather. The rain really cooled it off. 

Our rental car. The Subaru is in the shop getting fixed  after the deer  ran into.  The insurance is paying for it. The repair and the rental, I had my first cataract surgery today  They had me dilate my eye before going in. The right preop eye. Below is the post op eye. The surgery was just as easy as everyone said. My eye will be blurry for a few days they say. 

We had dinner at the Bull and Bush brewery tonight. It has been here for 51 years. I remember coming here in the 80's. John and I at our table.

It was burger night, if you buy a burger you get a free beer. This is John drinking the free one that came with my burger. They said no alcohol tonight after surgery. Their IPA is called Man Beer. Probably would not have been good for me being a woman and all. 

July 11-12, 2022 Canon City, Colorado

 87 degrees. 

I spent the night at my friend Katy's house so we could leave early the next day to go to Canon City. This is the sunset from Katy's backyard. We went on our annual trip to 

Canon City to Raft Masters- the best rafting company in town, to visit  our friend friend Dennis who owns the company and raft the Arkansas river. ,

We have been doing this trip so many years now we are all really good friends. Dennis jokingly said he would dress as a Chippendale dancer if we dressed at naughty nurses. So we show up in our nurse outfits over our bathing suits. . We brought  Dennis a bow tie to wear.  What a fun day we had with those. These dark clouds were hovering over the put in. 

The nurses and Dennis at the put in. We put our hats on our helmets. We figured we could just say were were the medic boat.  Of course it poured rain. We took shelter under these scrub oak. Our outfits were soaked and our hats limp. Dennis being the gentleman  he is walked back and got the van so we could warm up in it till the rain passed. The rest of the day was sunny and warm.

Wildlife we saw. Canada geese and a mountain sheep. The views on the river were beautiful. 

Arkansas River from our raft. Katy, Dennis and Katie enjoying the sunshine.

We put our dresses on over our lifejackets for the professional photo they always take of the raft trips. Of course there was no photographer when we got there. Oh well don't we looked idiotic with the life jackets under, the photographer missed a chance for the best photo. Katie sun bathing while we wait for our ride back to town. 

We had a wonderful meal at the Owl Cafe in Canon City. It was originally a cigar store and pool hall in the 1950's. . Now it is a retro diner  and pool haul. We had double bubble cheese burgers, fries and malts. What a fun day! This spatula was in use from 1950 to 2000 when it was retired. Over seven million  flipped!

Last light on the cliffs on the way home.