In the sunlight....

After I had soldered all the pieces in each window pane I went back later with a small paintbrush and painted a black patina on ever single solder line on every single glass piece.

Morning sun coming through from the south......

The pattern of the plaid curtains in the customer's home ran horizontal and the thick white blinds in all her windows ran horizontal so I created a horizontal design that would flow with everything else in that living area.


It looks different at every angle as the sun reflects through the glass. In the direct sunlight the colors of teal, green and turquoise boldly light the room. At night with the living room lights reflecting off of the glass enable the clear glass pieces to glisten. The clear glass I chose for this design had a texture of ripples throughout. I made sure when I cut the glass that the ripple pattern in the glass went horizontal, like everything else.

California Christmas......2010

What a wonderful Christmas I had this year. I picked some photos that highlighted some of my favorite things on the trip. I hope you will enjoy them too. This is a view of the Sacramento River from a bridge on the River Trail. The river runs throughout the area where my parents live. It is a beautiful site. If you ever need a break from the hustle and bustle of Redding, there are lots of places nearby to get a break within nature.

Whiskeytown Lake, California

A fifteen minute drive from Redding, California. A gorgeous lake hidden in the mountains. Camping, sailing, boating, fishing, hiking. It can all be done here. Again, this is a short trip from the city.

French Gulch, California

We could not believe how big this tree was. What would be it like to live inside a tiny little house underneath one big gigantic tree?

Peace Labyrinth on the River Trail

Painted sign on a big pine tree near the labyrinth.

Each person who enters the Labyrinth can say a prayer as they walk within the circled path and then put something at the end of the circle as they exit out to keep the circles growing wider and wider. The people and prayers grow the Labyrinth. I want to start one at my home this next year.

Someone added this. The first time I added a small rock, the second time I added a big pine cone. It was a beautiful and peaceful place.

Fly Fishing on the Sacramento River, California

What a beautiful site. I was standing on a bridge when I took the photo. It was interesting to see how these men worked their fly rods as their boat floated a long with the current in the river. Like a dance they would walk up and down the boat switching sides and bending their knees to get/give balance when the boat began to rock. All this while never dropping the focus on what they

were doing - which was fishing!

Taking a break, soaking in the unique scenery. I loved being out there in nature.

What beauty!

The Tahachape Mountains, California

Snow dusted the mountains and windmills span.
Peeking over the top.

A few on a top ridge photographed from behind.

Windmills at dusk.

We drove through these mountains soon after we left Bakersfield, California. What a site to see these windmills all over the mountains, spinning to create energy. They weren't placed just anywhere but on selected ridges and curves to catch the current of the winds. I liked to look at the different ways they were placed in the mountains in relation to what directions the wind blew. Some were large windmills placed high up on mountaintops and smaller windmills were placed down deeper in the ridges.

Fields of green with orchards and grape vines in the distance....

This image was difficult to capture. As we were entering onto the freeway you could see the green lush grass, then further beyond there were orchards and grape vines that went for miles and miles and miles. Near Stockton, Bakersfield, and Modesto you could see rows and rows of almond trees, orange trees, mandarin trees and lemon trees.

First signs of snow...and more to come.

Do you see the train tunnel?
Train track wedged into the side of the mountain.

Another train tunnel.
As we came out of the Tehachape Mountains there was a snow dusting that just covered the ground. I thought of the movie, "Polar Express" when I saw the snowy train tracks in the sides of the mountains and the dark tunnels where they passed through.

Convenience Store in Tehachape, California

Someone likes to hunt. When we got out of the Tehachape Mountains we stopped in the town of Tehachape to fill up with gas. The town is small and located right near the bottom as we exited out on the east side of the mountain pass. This store was filled with trophies like this. They were all over the store. I had not seen this before in a convenience store. Interesting and different.

Driving through Flagstaff, AZ. Getting colder and colder.

Just click on the arrow located on the bottom left hand side of the image.

I took this video of us driving through Flagstaff. It was getting colder and colder. It was beautiful though and the snow made me think of Christmas, the holidays, and how I did not want them to end.

More snowy scenes on the way home...

Snow is so pretty and quite.

Just had to take this photo and add it to my blog. Jim seemed like he was in a trance, but he safely drove twelve hours on the second day. Our goal was to get to Albuquerque, New Mexico and we did.

Pongo, a tribute to the little old man.

Pongo is sixteen years old and turn seventeen in May. What a hearty little dog he is with such a strong will to live. Look at the little orange velour jacket I bought for him in California. He is probably thinking - "WHEN can I get out of this thing"?

Pongo like to look outside the whole time. He can't see well out of one eye and everything moved so fast as we drove, so I wasn't sure what he was looking at, but I let him sit on my lap to see outside.
Still looking and watching.

Ahhhhh.

What a little cutie - getting sleepy now!

Christmas Tree and gifts for my Mother.

My Mother wanted me to make her a Christmas Tree for her gift this year and that is what I did. I made three red glass gift boxes. I decided to make them all the same color with red glass, black patina, and crystal & silver decorations. The decorations were made with a clear glass gem, a vintage rhinestone pin and a silver cross that says, "Jesus Christ is Lord".

I had been hanging onto this little Schnauzer for several years and finally found a place for it....right at the bottom of my Mother's tree. The little dog is soldered to the bottom. My Mom has had several Schnauzers over the years. She has one now that is named, Moxy. I thought my Mom might like this special touch.

Ohhhhh pretty....

The Star...

The star up close....
Lit up inside.

Christmas Tree without the lights on and in the daytime light. I made the star myself out of glass. I soldered it to the top of the tree (around the neck of the wine bottle). Green lights are threaded up through the center of the tree.

Magical!