August 13, 2024 Arapahoe Basin Ski Area, Colorado

 The high was in the 60's and partly cloudy.

I drove down to Denver on Monday night, spent the night then Katy and I drove up to A Basin and met Rosie for a hike and visit. It was supposed to rain and possibly thunderstorm later, so we took the lift up half way and hiked on the upper mountain. Katy, Rosie and I.

The summer map with the hiking and mountain biking trails. Stream.

Chiming bells, queens crown, paintbrush, blue gentian, artic gentian- the last flower to bloom before winter, senecio, asters and paint brush. Rosie on the trail.

Field of flowers. Katy and Rosie on the trail in a field of flowers. 

Looking uphill at more flowers. Looking down hill at Black Mountain Lodge and Loveland pass.

Lots of wild flowers. 

Katy and Rosie ahead on the trail. This is the new mountain bike trail they just put in. Paint brush.

 

East wall. Rosie on the new mountain bike trail, excellent trail work.

Looking uphill at the lift and ridge. Katy and Rosie on the bridge on the new mountain bike trail. It went over a field of flowers and a stream.

Aster, star gentian, Orange sulfur butterfly, bistort, pink paint brush, fireweed and yarrow. Katy and Rosie on the way down. 

Chiming bells. No hiking, downhill bikes only. There are a few trails that are only for downhill bikers. 

We downloaded on the lift back to the bottom, The sign says this way to go down. I always hate downloading, I feel like I will fall out of the chair. 

Sue, Katy and Rosie. We had a great hike and got down before the thunderstorms. Saxifrage, columbines- the Colorado state flower, senecio, kings crown, thistle, and a mix. 

August 9-12, 2024 Fort Collins, Colorado

 Yesterday was 72, cloudy and rainy. Today was 72 and mostly sunny with some rain.

Looks like it is time to eat this squash before it goes feral. John shoveling mulch on to the garden in the alley.

I have started dying pine needles for baskets this winter. The orange at the top came out awesome, below are cocoa brown, black and dark green.  The tree piece finished! It is 10 inches in diameter. The front has the full moon rising with the dichroic tree. The back is a textured tree with the full moon rising. 

We walked to New Belgium brewing for the Poudre River Festival. We wandered around and looked at the booths in the beautiful sunshine. I have started dying pine needles for baskets this winter. The orange at the top came out awesome, below are cocoa brown, black and dark green. 

I missed sunset, looks like it was a good one. I made these with texture tiles I fired the glass on.

I had dinner with Jim and Katy in Denver at Las Delicious. Great to see them and dinner was yummy. 

 I missed sunset, looks like it was a good one. 

 

Auguset 4-8 2024 Fort Collins, Colorado

 Highs in the 90's. Fortunately it has clouded up in the afternoons and cooled it down a bit.

A squirrel feeding station  complete with a chair, table , street light and fence,  seen in a front yard. Historic buildings near the newly renovated art museum. 

Usually I don't like to see hammers by my glass work, but I needed one to break up the big bubble in this piece. Stay tuned to the fix or it. This second piece had a bubble in it the first time I fired it, so I filled it in and refired it and now it has 4 bubbles. I put dichro in them and refired and so more bubbles. It is now in the kiln slumping into a bowl mold. I hope it will be ok and done, I am done with it. . .

Sunset on some rain and a rainbow Sunday evening. Sunset Sunday evening. 

I fired this glass on some texture tiles. The Lady of the forest and the green man. I started playing with painting the lady. Sunset tonight looking east. 

Sunset tonight looking west. My bike ride today started out waiting with some younger bike riders while a very slow train went by.

Sunset. A cool owl flew up and landed in this tree right by me.

This giant cloud was flashing with lightening in it. Glad it is not over us. I put a full moon into the hole made by the big bubble in this piece. Will see how it turns out

This piece came out really nice after all the bubbles and hassle it was. 12 inches in diameter and slumped into a fluted bowl mold. I put dichroic glass in the bubble holes, will have to get a photo with the sun on it so the dichro shows up. I went into Hobby Lobby and this huge thunderstorm blew up. Heavy rain, wind, hail. I waited in the store for awhile, but it did not let up. I went out  to the car. Got soaked. The water was really deep. But I escaped ok. Much needed rain.

Sunset. The new moon setting in sunset. 

Got my kiln cement yesterday. So today I repaired the new kiln. It has to dry for 24 hours, then I can sand it down and then use it again. woo hoo.