Madronas are wacko trees because June/July is their October/November. (Maybe they think they live in the southern hemisphere?) Their leaves turn crispy and gold/brown and drop onto the deck (and everywhere else) and wedge themselves between the deck boards.
They did this on the trailer deck, too. It’s like they exist to wedge themselves between deck boards—which makes them really difficult to sweep or blow off with the leaf blower. And of course, the instant you DO remove them, more drop down to take their place. Like shoveling snow while it’s snowing.
Then, once they’re done dropping leaves, they switch over to shedding their BARK. Big ol’ strips of crispy bark…everywhere.
Messy damned things.
It’s time to buckle down and get serious about Dad’s 80th birthday party on the 20th. I have the preliminary stuff at least thought out, and I really can’t shop or prepare foods until later next week, but I need to square away the “preliminary” into “final.” Detailed shopping lists (including Costco) and a schedule for food prep. It’ll be fine, except that I’ll be hankering to make stuff ahead of time and I really can’t (looking forward to having our spare fridge down here). Plus, I want things to be fresh. Thursday and Friday will be a flurry of activity, that’s for sure.
So, in anticipation of all that, I’ve been spending some hours in my glass studio. I currently have things cooking in the kiln and several items lined up. So far I’ve completed four of those tea lite trays (click to embiggen):
They all differ somewhat, which makes them fun to do. Here are some close-ups:
I’ve ordered some glass so I can also incorporate some “tangerine” and more reds and yellows. But you can probably tell what my favorite color palette is! (Well, it’s beachy, right?)
