August 17, 2019 Fort Collins, Colorado

96 degrees today and sunny.

We had breakfast at the Silver Grill with Karen, Martha and Jimjim. Chili dog is chillin. 

Martha and Jimjim's coach Nookie in front of our house. I dyed some pine needles for baskets. From the bottom up- untreated needles which will eventually turn brown, kelly green, darker kelly green and teal. They will stay those colors.The top ones are cocoa brown.  

Made some more jewels, need to get them mounted up and take better photos. Sunset last night.

15 packed cups of basil made tons of pesto. The garden is kicking. Sunset. 

I had lunch with some friends from my old job and Humana, many moons ago. It was great to see them as always. Sue, Kay, Carol and Nancy. John cooked served dinner on the deck again tonight.  

Sunset and moonrise tonight on my bike ride. 

Some new pieces. Belt Buckles and faceted jewels.  

Backlit sunflowers on the bike path and a cool looking farm. 

Backlit grains and my shadow in the tunnel on the bike path. 

We had dinner tonight at the Rio with John and Mandy. On the way home we saw this dog chasing the fountain bursts. 

August 8-11, 2019 New West Fest, Fort Collins, Colorado

Westfest is this weekend. 3 days of free music on 5 stages. sales and food booths and  kiddy rides. It is in Old  Town and the main stage is in our front yard.

John cooked up a huge rib dinner and invited friends over. Here he is in his outdoor kitchen. Martha and Jimjim helping shuck corn. 

We are dressed in blue. We are rocking in my garden. Martha, Suep, Sylvia and Mandy 

Dinner from above. John G, Sylvia, Jimjom, Mandy, John, Martha and Arnie.  Mandy, Martha and Sylvia viewing land Mandy and John are considering buying. Smile! 

Some of the neighbors chickens came over for the party with Mandy and Martha. The chickens are so sweet,cute and cuddly. Music started at noon. This is Poco, a band from our youth.

Vendors and food court at New West Fest.  Snow White and a kids climbing wall.

Simmering pots, huge wok and bubble machine. The Little Shop of Physics was put on by the Museum of Discovery and had the wrench windchimes. The Rio, a popular restaurant in town had a big booth with a garden and fountain and their famous margaritas.  

Kids rides and John bought me a new wedding ring! At the kids stage I saw a really good karate demo and some cute kids from the cheer leading school.  

I saw my niece from another life, Heidi at the Fest-we had a good visit and we had another meal in our backyard with friends. John, Jimjim, Martha, Jennifer and her son Ben.  

Martha thought I need a photo at the artist check in since I am an artist. Smoke from the smoke machine at twilight.  

John and Martha dancing to the Subdudes. Sylvia and I were trying to clap but kept missing hands. Sunset during the concert. 

Shel at the main stage, right behind it is our house,  Subdudes and the headliner Bonnie Raitt, we watched Bonnie on the simulcast. I also saw John Cleary play and he was a guest with Bonnie. At the end of the West Fest activities our friends Colin and Lydia had an engagement party. A very fun couple and a great reception. 

The reception at the ballroom above the Rio. Yummy Rio food and lethal Rio Margaritas. There was a movie camera set up and we were all trying to squeeze together into the photo frame. John, Jennifer, Bruce, Martha and Barry.  

John, Jennifer, Bruce, Martha, Jimjim , Sylvia and Bill.

August 1-8, 2019 Fort Collins, Colorado

Hot and supposed to rain, but it didn't just was cloudy and humid.

I finished the mermaid bowl. She came out cute. I also made some more faceted jewels with my new flat lap. So far these jewels take between 30-60 minutes to facet and polish. That is after I cut and either glue  or fuse the 4-5 layers of glass. The real hard part is trying to decide what combination of the dichroic glass to use. I am getting better at all stages. The  grinding and polishing is making my back and arms hurt. I want to keep making more, but have to stop so my body can rest some. 

This one came out cool. Sunset tonight had minimal color again, too many rain clouds, not enough rain.

Sunset the next night from our deck. I sized and mounted up the new faceted jewels. 

My sister collected 3 lbs of pine needles for my baskets.  I have been dying them. The light bundle on top is what they look like before.They eventually turn brown. The darker kelly green needles  are the dyed ones.  More colors to come. These each 5 layers of glass before firing. I am fusing them to make more faceted jewels. 

Sunset in beautiful, historic downtown Fort Collins. My brother Jerry bought us dinner for my birthday. John, Sue, Cecil (a friend of ours from Cody, Wy) and Jerry. Thank you Jerry. 

Cool looking RV that drove by. I think it is one of the bands that will be playing at Westfest this weekend. A three day free music festival here in Fort Collins. Katy and Katie at our picnic before our raft trip in Canon City with Raftmasters in Canon City. 

Our guide was our friend Dennis. I  have known him since the mid 80's.We used to ski together. In 1989 he started Raftmasters. We have been rafting with him ever since. Sue, Katy, Katie and Dennis photobombing at the bottom. The bus dropped off the other paying customers and then we went higher up the river and had a private trip with Dennis and a couple extra rapids. Heading down the Arkansas river. 

We had a rocking and rolling great time. Katie and Katy paddling in the front, Dennis paddling in the middle and me hanging on for dear life in the back, having a wild ride. The back of the raft is referred to as the ejection seat, where you almost get ejected each time the raft flies down between waves. I would have paddled, but there were not enough seats. The front seats are the ones who get all the waves in their face. Dennis is very adept at placing the raft so we all got drenched. 

Crashing through the rapids. Dennis and I in the back. 

Katie and Katy in the front. After we rafted Dennis picked us up in his trolley car. He says he got it because he didn't have one yet. 

Dennis is such a great guy he bought us dinner at the free chamber of commerce dinner.  We had unlimited amounts of food, drink and good company. Katy won a door prize of a wine basket. It was a fabulous day. It is always fun to see these guys. Katy with her door prize, Katie and Dennis at dinner. It was late when we got back to Denver. I went to Katie's house to see their newly remodeled kitchen. This is Bill and Katie showing it off. 

The pantry door at Katie's house is an antique one that was in the rafters of the garage of my house when I bought it. I made the stained glass window for a cabinet in my greenhouse. When I sold the house I took the waterlogged cabinet out of the greenhouse and gave Katie the window and she had the door refinished and the window installed. It is backlit. Years ago I also made Katie this stained glass window for over the tub when she remodeled the bathroom. I also made the 9 copper colored glass tiles she had put in over the sink with iridescent tiles.