January 23 -27, 2026 Shoshone, California

 66 and sunny.

Got these two grouted. The honey is for the honey date tree. Medjool and khadrawy date trees. 

I worked on this one for the halaway date tree. It needs grout. Late afternoon light on the city park in Shoshone. 

Raven on a wire. Last light. 

Sunset. New masterpiece. It is made from dyed pine needles, polyester thread, glass beads, pearls, a metal disc and the center is a piece of dichroic glass I fused. 6 x 3 1/2 inches. 

Another masterpiece. It is made with dyed pine needles, polyester thread, abalone and jade beads, embellished with a silver feather pendant and the center is a piece of glass I fused. It is 6 x 3 1/2 inches.  I grouted the piece for the halaway date palm tree.

Mary and Nancy came to visit from Independence, California. John prepared us a yummy dinner.

Smoked pork roast,  homemade BBQ sauce , farrow and whipped cauliflower. Judy made a big salad. Yum yum. I put part of the new walkway in front of the house together. Still needs a couple more rocks and a few mosaics and it will be done. The palm tree at the very top has a mosaic that says honey, that is what kind of date palm it is.

The remodel of the pool in town is looking good. It has cement poured around it now. It will need a fence before it will be open. Can't wait. John cut down 4 huge branches that reached out over the Blue trail, you used to have to crawl under them, Thank you darling!

Water trails on the Aqua trail.  Cool rock formation, two shots of mustard blooms, cryptpanthia, and brown eyed evening primroses. 

Black mountain and white butte on the Aqua trail. Salt deposits in a coyote track, a branch and on mud. Cool water worked mud in the river, backlit grass seeds, desert gold and brittle bush. 

The Amargosa river crossing on the Aqua trail with cool mud patterns.

Backlit phragmites. The bridge through the phragmites that Judy built on the Red trail.

The top photo is the White trail looking west and the second one is looking east. Brittle bush on the white trail.

January 20-22, 2026 Shoshone

 69 and sunny.

Grouted most of these. The bottom right is another raven I attempted, looks like a duck to me. Will tweek it before grouting, but not sure I can save it. But will keep trying. There are three with the types of palm trees we have, working on one for each one so we will remember what they are. The wild male was a volunteer at the date farm. A cute little one for one of the honey date trees/ I am getting more creative. It still needs grouting.

We drove the Harry Wade road into southern Death Valley. The two normal routes, south of Badwater or over Jubilee pass are still closed from flood damage. The only way into the southern valley is on this long dirt road. Harry Wade Road.

The end of the Harry Wade road and the closed section of the Badwater road. Snow on Telescope peak. One of the reasons we came here is because when there is a big bloom it starts here.  Small  bird, portulaca, desert gold, desert gold buds, brown eyed primrose, cryptanthia, yellow primrose and desert sand verbena. 

Our trucks on the Harry Wade road. Look how green it is. More green.

There were fields of these white primroses. Judy and I were going to bike on the closed road (the rangers said we could bike it or hike it), but it has not been cleared since the rains, so a lot of it was covered with sand and we had to walk much of it.

Uncleared southern Bad Water road. There were lots of big desert verbena plants. They usually bloom in this area. 

Desert sand verbena and white primroses. Cool clouds.

Cool drying mud patterns. Our trucks on the way back. 

A nice lady from Wisconsin took our photo with the Harry Wade road sign. John and I did not dress alike on purpose. Cool clouds and light. 

Sunset. 

January 14-18, 2027 Shoshone, California

 High of 79 and sunny. Unseasonably warm. It was lovely.

The masterpiece is grouted and done. I slumped and painted the Lady of the Woods in the center. The rest are parts of broken crockery. 12 x 12 inches. It will be part of Judy's front walk with flat rocks and the rest of the mosaics. Toni and I hiked parts of the white trail today. Beautiful day. 

Blooming brittle bush. Other blooming flowers pink monkey flowers and yellow mohavae, phacelia, poppy and evening primrose. 

The latest masterpiece. It is made from dyed pine needles, polyester thread, glass and metallic beads and the center is a dichroic frog I cast. It is 10 x 10 x 2 1/2 inches. John climbing out of the wash on the white trail.

Judy climbing out of the wash on the white trail. John and Judy headed back to town.

Evening light on beautiful, historic, downtown Shoshone.  I am making mosaics with the name of all the date palm trees planted in my sisters yard so we can tell them apart. Khadrawy. The name is too long for just one rock. 

Tried to make a raven. Got his tail too short. Will try again. This still needs grout. Toni at the beginning of the hike. 

Petroglyphs along the trail.  Lots of flowers. Fremont phacelia, filiree, evening prime roses, rock daisy's, cryptanthia, yellow tack stem, mallow and paint brush. 

Cam with petroglyphs on the trail. Mike serenading us with his digeridoo. 

John taping up Toni's sprained ankle. View of cool rocks 

Yet more flowers. Yellow wooly daisy, pincushion, buckwheat, nicotiana. John and Toni on the trail.

Cam, Eliza and Mike on the trail. Petroglyphs along the trail. 

Sunset. Sunset with ravens. It is so quiet here you can hear their wings flap.

Sunset closeup