The INSTANT I coiled up the hose and stuck it in its storage pot after watering the deck flower pots this morning, it started to rain. It looked like it could, but it did yesterday, too, but didn’t. And it’s when it’s cloudy (but not rainy) that I tend to slide on watering. When it’s sunny and hot, it’s foremost on my mind. Not so much when it’s cloudy and cool! That can bite me in the butt because there can be stretches of cloudy days without rain, and the flowers still get thirsty! They got a bit of a double dose today, but I don’t think they’ll mind.
It rained off and on today, pretty hard later this afternoon for a brief time after we returned home from grocery-getting. The air smells fresh! It’s the first rain we’ve had since June 2nd. I don’t know if it was enough everywhere to help with the fire danger. Probably “help,” but not “ease.” The birds liked it (the feeder was a busy place), and I saw Mojo drinking from a puddle on a deck board. (Cats…)
Speaking of which, John rescued another chipmunk that Mojo hauled inside the house, which then got free and hid in the pantry. Both Mojo and Bailey knew it was still in there, and Bailey was staring at a bottom shelf of miscellaneous pantry goods, wagging her tail. This resulted in removing said cat and dog from the pantry, wedging open the pet door, clearing the bottom shelf to expose the critter, and then coaxing the critter toward the pet door—where it zoomed away! Jeesh. It’s a freaking zoo here.
My week? Somewhat productive! I finally went through a big stack of boxes that were obstructing my route to the cupboards and sink in the glass studio. I’d procrastinated long enough—boxes of leftover paperwork from when I was on our high school’s TENTH class reunion committee (tossed!); more framed art/pictures that would cover many times the walls that we have in this house (argh); more photos to store but not necessarily organize; AND a large bin of early fused glass items that I’d brought to the Harstine Farmers Market a couple (3?!) years ago. Many made me eyeroll, but there were a few things that made me go “OH!”
Been working in the glass studio, too. Several years ago, I made this in stained glass:
It used to hang by the entrance to the camping trailer, often tangled in the grape foliage. I’ve always really liked it, but it had become quite grungy, so I cleaned it up and re-siliconed it into the frame. Then I thought: “How can I adapt this into fused glass?”
They are two different animals. For the structure to hold, stained glass has to be cut in connecting segments (and then copper-foiled and soldered). Fused glass is more freeing with the design, but also doesn’t have the solder to define the design segments, plus there isn’t the variety of glass colors and textures available as stained glass. So this is what I came up with for the fused glass design:
Different glass types and colors, but the same basic pattern. I have more ideas to experiment with this, too! The problem is, I can’t find those wrought iron round framer hangers anymore. ANYWHERE. I have a few left, and then…that’s it! (Such a bummer, because I’ve really enjoyed making them).
I can see some different designs hanging along the entry deck. And Wiener Deck. Or whatever. (Add a little color on cloudy days?)
