Actual beadwork being done

I've been working on some loomed strips for fancy dog collars, and should have some pics in a few days. Love using the versa loom! No pesky warp threads to contend with. Also acclimating myself to a new laptop, an apple macbook pro, my first apple and it's a bit of a transition, but so far very, very nice. Luckily BeadTool is available for macs, so I'll be buying that after the sting of the cost of the mac recedes a bit. Also working on a commissioned piece, beaded bead necklace-little tube beads in olivine and yellow 15's, with Swarovski and bali bead accents. I just finished a bracelet in the same style and sold it before I thought to take a pic. Will get a snap of the necklace before it leaves the house. Summer is in full swing here and I've been doing yardwork, trying to clear out some of the overgrowth in the back yard and am planning to trim some of the massive shrubbery in the front yard. Off to Santa Fe today for an oil change and some grocery shopping, and then home for more looming and maybe trimming. Ah, the excitement!

One Million Can Drive

This sounds like a wonderfully positive thing to do to celebrate the 4th this year. It's an unruly disorganized sort of thing and everyone (liberals, conservatives and others) can play. Let's all work together to get the food banks filled! Yes we Can!

Yellowstone and home

FAITHFUL DOG FRIEND, ROSA



FUMEROLES



CLOUDS REFLECTED ON ICY WATER



AS ABOVE, SO BELOW



BUFFALO



BOILING SULFER SPRING




MINERAL FORMATION


We woke at 6 in Bozeman, and hit the road before 7. Made it to Yellowstone around 9AM and made our way through the Park, stopping to gawk at beautiful sights, animals, fumeroles and boiling sulfer springs. Someday I'd love to go and spend several days exploring Yellowstone, so I'm considering this just a scouting trip. We decided to try and make it home and grabbed a sandwich for the road in Thermopolis, then headed for Casper. At Casper we just hopped onto I-25 and headed for home. We were both tired, and I wasn't sure we'd make it, but I grabbed a couple of bottles of Dr. Pepper and some snacks and we did the long drive, making it home around 2AM. Got the pup from the vet's shortly after they opened this morning and now I'm trying to unwind and relax a bit. What a wonderful journey. The mother/son bonding has been fantastic. I highly recommend travel with a grown child.

Bozeman, MT

We drove out of Washington state this morning and into Idaho. First thing we noticed was billboards. Not a one to be seen in Washington, and blam, 20 yards over the state line in Idaho, there they were again. The roadways are quite pretty in Washington, without the billboards, but we also noticed it was harder to find resources and services without them, but by the time we got through Washington we were quite used to the new way of looking for things. The second thing we noticed was an almost instant change in terrain, from the rolling hills and plains of Eastern Washington to trees and little hills. Across the narrow part of Idaho on US90, we entered Montana's foothill country and then on up, up and up to the Continental divide, then down, down, down again. Fun watching the battery gauge on the Prius gong up and down, emptying and filling. Mileage went from a steady low 50's to mid to high 40's. No pics today, even though the scenery was gorgeous and awe inspiring. I kept saying "this is exactly what I expected Montana to look like". We were mostly interested in making the miles today. We're planning on getting an early start tomorrow and going through Yellowstone, then on towards home. My goal is to make it home before noon on Saturday so I can pick up my dog from the vets. Otherwise I'll have to wait til Monday to get her, and I miss her, so we're going to make the attempt to get home on time to spring her from the kennel.

The Cascades to Spokane

Well, I don't think I shut my mouth once on the way through the Cascades on the North Cascades Highway, either ooohing and aahing, or just plain open mouthed in amazement. It was pure enchantment almost the entire way. I did catch a couple of pictures of old clear cutting on mountain sides, but nothing as horrid as the Western part of the state with acres of tree rubble that looked like it had either been chained or chomped by tree harvesters. The Cascades appear pristine and gorgeous, and oh, so much water! There was still snow at the higher points of the pass, and even some blue glacier snow that I hadn't seen since I was in Alaska. After the Cascades, we lunched in Chelan and then headed due east on state road 2 across apple producing country and then miles and miles of rolling hills that looked like they were being farmed for wheat and hay. We're overnighting outside of Spokane and plan to make a big push for Livingston, Montana tomorrow, Yellostone the next day and then dash for home Saturday.

Oregon Coast, Washington

On Monday, we headed out from Coos Bay and traveled up the Oregon Coast, stopping now and then to appreciate the gorgeous views. Into Washington state, I was struck by the bare hilltops created by the clear cutting and the tree pulp plantations that are apparently mostly Weyerhaeuser lands. Ugliness abounded from Arlington to not far outside of Olympia. I know in my that the paper business is necessary, heck, I was a migrant tree planter for a season and got to see the plantations in the south firsthand. I wish I had gotten some pictures of the bare hills, but we were busy looking for a place to stop and traveled on farther than we'd planned. We slept late in Olympia and got an oil change and caught a movie in Olympia and hit the road this afternoon, ending up in Everett Washington. Our plan is to wend our way through the Southern part of the Baker National Forest tomorrow, heading towards Wenatchee and beyond. I'm trying to learn not to be so structured on this trip, but I find that I really like to know where I am, and where I'm headed. Can't wait to see what sights tomorrow brings. We got glimpses of the high mountains today, and I'm sure we'll be seeng a lot more tomorrow. Meanwhile, I'm wondering why we're not seeing all the rain that's supposed to be a given in the Pacific NW. So far all I've seen is some scattered cloudiness and some drizzles of rain. The Weather Underground says it's been raining almost every day at home...something unheard of.

Northern California, Oregon Coast, Redwoods!

From Willits, we headed on out highway 101 through rolling California hills and up through the Humboldt Redwood State Park. Amazing giant trees that I had only seen in pictures before. Absolutely breathtaking scenery! Lunched in Fortuna and hit the road again, up through the Redwood National Forest and along the Avenue of Giants. Hugging the coast most of the way. Tonight we're in Coos Bay, which seems to be a logging town for the most part. Onward and upward tomorrow!