October 22-24, 2022 Bluff, Utah

 65 sunny and very windy.

We drove to Blanding to pick up a few groceries. The view heading toward Blanding. Beautiful downtown Blanding.

We visited the Edge of the Cedars State Park in Blanding. A ghost in a tutu at the grocery store. Sculptures in front of Edge of the Cedars, an interesting display showing the artifacts found in the different layers of the soil, pottery sherds, tools, bones, rocks and then the layer of our generation with plastic bottles and aluminum cans, a mural as you enter Bluff. 

I liked this display that showed which types of pottery came from which part of the southwest. This room was amazing. It had all these beautiful pieces of potter and a computer so you could look any of the details of a piece you may be interested in. 

Artifacts including ropes made from dog hair and a scarlet macaw sash. Behind the museum is part of the reconstructed Edge of Cedars Ruin. 

 You could go down the ladder into one of the kivas. The Sun Maker sculpture by Joe Pachek replicates prehistoric archeoastronomy sites found in the southwest.  Archeoastronomy is the study of prehistoric cultural connections with the sun, moon and stars. It is a calendar of sorts, on the summer solstice a a sliver of light pierce the spiral shown on the right - like  the one found in Chaco Canyon. They believe that the ancients used light shining on certain petroglyphs to know when to plant or harvest their crops and other significant events. 

We drove through the Ute Mountain reservation at White Mesa. There was a march going on to protest the uranium mining in the area. Sunset last night.

 Today was cloudy, 53, rainy and windy. We hung out inside. This cabinet used to have a washer/dryer combo in it. It quit working, and we didn't use it much so we had it taken out and John put in shelves. It was wet inside, and John found a rotten gasket on one of the faucets for the washer, which he replaced. Had to totally unload the cabinet, which is most of my basket making supplies and dry it out. Had to throw out the carpet on the bottom of it, it had mold under it. And disinfect the cabinet. Unplanned fun for a rainy day. 

This is as close as we got to a sunset tonight with the cloud cover. I finished this masterpiece. It is 6 1/4 x 1 3/4 inches. It is made with dyed pine needles, polyester thread and glass beads. The center is a piece of dichroic glass that I beveled and polished. There is a Hawaiian petroglyph of a figure holding a one bladed padded over head. 

Also finished this one  It is 11 1/2 x 3 1/2 inches. It is made from natural and dyed pine needles, polyester thread and glass beads. The center is a piece of glass I fused and slumped. It was supposed to be round, but I did not put enough glass in the mold, so I decided to slump it into a small bowl, and it slipped in the mold is kind of sideways. I love the piece of glass, so now it is a basket. 

I made this basket maybe 10 plus years ago in my early days of making baskets.. We use it for mostly recycles. It is in the front of the bus, first thing you see when you come in. The stitching on the top was wearing out and it was starting to rip down in the front. So I added another row of needles on top and we can continue to use it. It is 12 x 11 1/2 x 7 inches. It took 3 months to make and has pieces of things I picked up as we traveled in it.