Petrogliphs

This morning we packed our cooler with provisions for lunch and went off to our adventure at Valley of Fire State Park - we actually did not even see it all (but spent hours there along the trails and climbing rocks) and it is not that big. There were petrified logs, yes entire logs. Rocks of every hue - reds, yellows, and all sorts of shades between. There were amazing panoramas everywhere and sunset was indescribably beautiful. Some looked like beehives (from centuries of wind, sand and water), an elephant and 7 sisters. Then there was Mouse's Tank that you got to by walking down Petroglyph canyon trail - oh my it was amazing to actually see up close and be able to touch such vivid petroglyphs. I do have a lot of pictures to bring back. This trail was loose, rather than packed sand and my feet and blue socks are now a lovely pinkish terracotta color. We saw jackrabbits, desert squirrels, little lizards. The ranger said the burros and mountain goats were out but we did not see them.

Hope you have time to check out those links. Going to attempt to get all that red sand off me so I can start off clean for tomorrows trip to Red Rock Canyon (I wonder how challenging those rocks will be to climb) and if we have time we are going to try to go to the Brothel Museum in Crystal.

Vegas, Death Valley and Date Milkshakes!

The furniture market was good -always fun to see the outrages things that are made. Haziza makes some really wild furniture and accessories using acrylic - take a look. I really wanted something for me but it is so expensive that you need a trunk full of spending money to get.We stayed at Treasure Island and they gave me a bottle of champagne for my birthday. When they found out Ger's was around the corner they brought up another.We left on the 18th and drove to Pahrump a really small town a little over an hour away. Their one and only yarn store is....Walmart. It is a friendly little place and a great base to see a lot of things, Death Valley being my favorite. Today, since it is Gerald's birthday he got to decide what he would like to do. We went to China Date Ranch and had a date milk shake then travelled a back road that we had never taken through Death Valley - really pretty vistas. I don't think we will ever see the entire park..but will certainly keep trying. We saw a baby coyote and some rabbits. At sunset we were almost at Badwater so we decided to stop and eat dinner at Furnace Creek Ranch (they have one of the borax 20 mule team wagons out front - a real one not a replica and it is so much bigger in real life than I expected them to be)... we shared a "Cowboy gyro"! It was a great day but now I need a shower and shuteye since we are up early again tomorrow for more adventures

Views From Hawaii

These shots are from Nancy and Bo's room! If it weren't for luggage weight limits I would have stowed away in a suitcase.

Playing with Matches!

Playing with matches used to get me in trouble when I was a little girl - you should have seen my mom when I lit up an entire book at once to see what would happen. Look what happened now that I am all grown up! Oh - I still burned my finger a little.

Nancy will be arriving in Hawaii in a couple of hours - I do hope she has good weather. I am so happy that she is getting to spend her 30th anniversary there. Bo planned it all - way to go!

Halloween is only a couple of months away and I already have two witches out in the living room! It is the only holiday that I decorate early for. Halloween glass was a bit more of a challenge but here is the black cat that my friend Barbara adopted the very first time it left the house - that's ok since I'm allergic to cats!

Weekend Craft Fair

It was a great weekend - first of all my sister Nancy was here which always guarantees fun.

My knitting guild, the River City Knitters , had a Craft and Art Fair for this months meeting. It's always great to see people enthusiastic about what we do and since these customers are our friends we'll have the opporutnity of seeing them wear our creations.

We really appreciate all the hard work our friend Cathy did of putting this show together - she did an amazing job.

My sister is a winner!

Nancy's apple windchime placed third in the artglass group challenge this month(read more about that here). The challenge was to use RED as the focus of the object. Way to go little sister!

Everythings All White!

Well, quite a bit is anyway. Here is a pictoral update on some of what is done - still have a lot to paint. First my "studio" which has wonderful light most of the day and the reason I work downstairs instead of using the spare room upstairs where my mess would be hidden.

I took the next two looking at an angle that captured a bit of the kitchen and hall. The bifold doors hide the laundry room - Gerald suggested we make glass knobs for the doors. You can see how much brighter the white is than the old Navajo White still in the living room awaiting my paintbrush.

One pillar and front door still needs paint. Wish you could have seen the surprised look when Gerald came home to the blue pantry!

Bo grows the absolute best tomatos - I picked them last night. I went up to one of my favorite glass shops to get more glass for Christmas tree pins, and drop off a "crop of trees" for Nancy to decorate when she gets home from Orlando. While I was there I saw these ripe tomatos so helped myself!