Superbowl cats

Mr Mo and Miss Nimbus are getting ready for the Superbowl, when the Seattle Seahawks face the Denver Broncos.  They heard the cheering last Sunday when the team left for New Jersey.  Seattle is pretty excited, along with the entire Northwest, as there are many fans in Alaska and other neighboring states.

Miss Nimbus favors Marshawn Lynch and Mr Mo is a fan of Doug Baldwin, but there are so many great athletes on the team it is hard to choose!

Here they are showing team colors!

mo dreaming of a win

super stretch nimbus

Feline beast mode!

Go Hawks!

Sunshine rules

Summer continues with Seattle’s fabulous weather, warm enough to enjoy without becoming uncomfortable.  While the rest of the country is battling heat waves, we are in the 70’s and 80’s.  Life is good.

Many flowers are in bloom this year in the garden, they are now numbering some two dozen different species.  The old fashioned day lily is a garden staple in many areas of the country.

Day lily twins

The cats are enjoying the summer and have me well trained to pet them just the way they like it, and groom all that shedding hair off them.  Mo likes having his chin scratched and Miss Nimbus likes me scratching the top of her head.

I have found time for a few side trips to Eastern Washington and Oregon, enjoying garden inspiration and great scenery along the way.  Here are some shots from Tucquala Lake north of Roslyn, WA.  It is the headwaters of the Cle Elum River, heading down to the lake of the same name, which was recently stocked with salmon.

Looking north at Tucquala Lake

Tucquala Lake

Playing with fire

Bead making season is underway at last.  The optimum temperature range for  lamp working glass is between 65 and 80 degrees F, below that range and the glass is too chilled to melt properly, and above that range the artist tends to melt.

Spring and warmer weather arrived long ago but playing in the garden won out, the lawn needed mowing and the vegetable garden had to be planted.  Now with summer here I can finally make time for playing with fire.

Below are a few photos of bead making in progress:  you wrap an initial core of glass onto the steel rod and marver that into a cylinder, then add additional colors on top.  Here I am using a technique to capture a small bubble of air by making a dent in the glass with a sharp steel tool, and then covering the dent with clear glass.

Seattle has a new glass museum, the Chihuly Glasshouse and garden will be an inspiring place to visit.

adding molten glass to the bead

poking dents into the glass

cooling the bead away from the flame