June 7-12, 2020 Fort Collins, Colorado

91 and sunny today.

I rode my bike to Mandy and John's for dinner. John drove over. He has spent the day kayaking some fast water and had had enough exercise. These are photos on the bike path. It is sooo green. Even if I didn't just come from the desert. Beautiful day.  

Dinner with Mandy and John in the back yard. It was a yummy dinner and it was good to see them. The temps dropped into the low 80's and John was freezing. Mandy lent him a coat to keep warm. After being in the desert with temps in the 100's, low 80's are cool.  

I took the masterpiece out of the kiln this evening, it was a long firing. But it was worth it, the new bubble squeeze firing schedule actually did squeeze them out. Usually air get trapped between all the little piece of glass in this technique, and I have to break them, refire and then paint over them.  Now I just need to paint some gold paint on this and slump it into a plate mold and it will be done. I am pleased with it. And the finished product, slumped into a plate with gold paint on it. 

I got the last of the garden in. Hauled compost, dug it in, planted the plants and spread mulch. Looks good, will look better when the plants are bigger. I got the garden in just in time for the hail storm last night. But the plants are little and they survived. 

My friend Judy painted this of the view of sunset from Shoshone. I love it. I just got it framed. I need to decide where to hang it. Right now it is just in a stand. A view from the bike path. It was a gorgeous day.

Another bike path shot. I like to sleep in, since I stay up way late working on glass. The sun wakes me up, so I had a variety of sleeping bags, liner, blankets and towels over the windows. It did the trick, but was kind of tacky. I got these  black out drapes at Costco and the fabric on sale at hobby lobby and voila! It is not the most stylish, but it is a lot better than what was there. 

The white water park was busy tonight. The bike path goes right by it. Sunset tonight. 

I made this little spring fairy for my garden. She will help it grow. I already dropped her and had to fix her. I also fused some butterflies. One in my poor little garden.  

Green on the bike path. Sunset from the bike path. 

Horse in sunset light and another sunset over a lake.  

I got my new Ipad today. I have an Amazon Fire, but it does not do much. I wanted it edit photos when I go on trips so I don't have to haul my whole laptop around. It won't even let me hook the camera up to it. The Ipad is supposed to do that. But first I have to learn how to use it. 

June 4-6, 2020 Fort Collins, Colorado

Busy day. In the 90's and sunny.

Working in my glass studio! Feels great. I am making a special order of a similar one to a previous piece. The previous one is pictured on the TV screen above my workbench. John and I went to McMurry Pond so he could practice rolls and I paddled around the lake. It was beautiful. 

Great Blue Heron in flight. Flowers of an aquatic plant on the lake with cloud reflections.  

Canada goose with one goslings. John rolling. He makes it look easy, I have never mastered it.  

Reflection on the pond. We also checked out the new whitewater park.  

A kayaker surfing a wave in the whitewater park. The full strawberry moon over downtown.

The masterpiece in progress. White aquatic flowers, a metal sculpture made by Craftsman Builders inc, common mallow, golden corydalis, a sign at the water park. It says to stay 6 feet away, making the kayak look 6 feet long. Mine is around 9 feet long, T-rex sculpture in olde town square.

All of the baskets I have made during covid stay at home. Now I am switching to glass.  My glass masterpiece after it's first firing. It is a miracle, there are no bubbles! I always have big bubbles when I make these. I painted some gold on it and it is cooling from it's second firing. 

We had a thunderstorm this afternoon. It was the first time I have seen heavy rain in months. It was wonderful. The special order piece is done. It looks a lot like the photo I posted yesterday, but this one has some gold painted on it.  

Today was the 14th anniversary of our first date. The date is very close to our spiritual wedding 9 years ago. John can only remember one date , 06/06/06, We celebrate both on the 6th. John made these fusion appetizer of bean nachos with pesto on them. I made homemade pizza for dinner. I didn't get a photo of the pizza. Nice celebratory dinner with a bottle of wine. These are some cool galardia flowers I saw on my bike ride this evening.  

I am now working on this piece. I took the photo on the right in Lava national monument. It is on the TV screen above my workbench. It is on a flash drive. It is so much easier than printing the photo and working from it. On the left is the piece in the kiln ready for it's first firing. 

May 30- June 3, 2020 Carbondale to Fort Collins, Colorado

The pool at the Base Camp RV park we just left. We were too busy to take advantage of it yesterday, of course they were filling it yesterday and we probably would not have been allowed in.  We are now parked in front of Jimjim and Martha house in Carbondale.   

We played tag with this freight mania truck on the way to Carbondale. We were not sure if it meant the drivers were crazy or the freight. Lily flowers, milkweed and yellow orchid.  John BBQ'ed pork for dinner. Martha cooked the rest and we had a yummy dinner on the deck. It was in the low 70's, so we had coats on. 

 John and Martha with their pro leisure tour bling.  

Sunset on Sopris peak tonight. 

Martha and John with a couple dogs on a walk by the Crystal river. The first post covid dinner get together. Widely spaced and outdoors. Jimjim smoked some yummy ribs.

As we were getting ready to leave Carbondale the people across the street were having a huge 50 foot evergreen removed from their yard. Nothing like watching a huge piece of tree swinging on a cable right next to the bus. They took the tree out in three pieces. They then stripped the branches off and feed the whole thing into a chipper. Took less than an hour. Awesome. On our way back we passed this truck. College Hunks Hauling Junk, Stress free moving and junk removal. Didn't get a look at the hunks tho.  

Sunset tonight during dinner from our deck at our house in Fort Collins. I didn't do the best job merging the different exposures of the sunset and dinner, but you get the idea.  

The cloudy moon under a crane in downtown Fort Collins. Pulled most of the weeds in the vegetable garden. Turned in compost and planted the tomatoes. Next I will turn in compost in the center section and plant the two basil plants that are sitting there. I wanted some marigolds and a couple other flowers too, but Home Depot only had pansies. When the garden is ready will have to locate the flowers. 

Sunset tonight from dinner on our deck tonight. I finished this basket today. It is 7 1/4 x 6 1/2 x 2 inches. It is made from pine needles and stitched with polyester cord. The center is a stained glass earring I made years ago and the beads are glass beads.  

I got a little more done on the garden. I hauled compost, dug it in to the center section. Mulched and planted 2 basil plants.  Sunset tonight.

I also made these. 3 x 2 inches, made from dyed pine needles, stitched with polyester cord, gemstone chips, blue magnetite turtle, agate bear.  Very cute.