Spring

The trip to Kansas was very good. We had a great visit with relatives and even Malen & Jamie enjoyed themselves. We were able to stop in Trinidad on the way home & spend an hour or so with alpaca friends (he also graduated from Center High, just a few years before I did).

Now we are back to the "usual", which has become Spring workings. I'm working on the flower beds, getting weeds cleaned out & everything done as best I can. I'm truly missing Dennis more each day...........he worked so hard on his garden. I still need to start on that. That will be next. Anyway between Willie & I we have gotten a good start on the flower beds and on the garden. I actually mowed two days ago and finally started watering the yard.

It is so wonderful that Spring has finally arrived.

Rings

I took Dennis & my wedding rings to a local jeweler to be worked on, so to speak. We have been working on these for about 4 weeks with ideas, etc. This is what I came up with ---- with a lot of help from the jeweler. The vertical part is Dennis' ring. With diamond chips on the top & the bottom. The horzonital part is my ring with the diamonds in the middle.



This is the back view & you can kind of see how Dennis' rings overlap on the back.

This is the side view & you can see how the ends on my ring are curled under (between the two pictures).

Once again, the final product. I absolutely love it. The jeweler did a wonderful job & I'm extremely pleased by the necklace that I can wear forever. It is beautiful.

Urns 2

Well, the one on the right is Johns. It shows a man in a boat fishing. That was one thing we both really enjoyed. The one of the left is Dennis, in front of the flag I received since he was in the Navy. I'll have to post a close up of his to really show it better. It shows a cabin on a lake. Something we had planned on having built this year. The middle is Elizabeth's. It is 3 blocks on a wood base. The 3 blocks have a letter on each block, EGC for her name. The two are done in natural wood without any staining. They are really beautiful. They are also memory urns in that the top opens & there is a small area to put items in. The name is engraved on the top with the dates.

Urns

After much indecision---- thought & prayer I decided to get an urn for Dennis. As I thought more and more about it, I decided I should also get one for my daugher, Elizabeth & my first husband John. I know, it all sounds strange, carrying ashes around for 20+ years, but that is what I have been doing. For now though, they all finally have a "home". Sooner or later Dennis' ashes will go to Washington. I'm not sure about the others. I found some beautiful urns that I felt were very appropriate for each one of them. I hope they can be seen when I download the picture.

Spring finally

Well, I've been busy, just lots of little things going on. We had probably over 15 people at the fiber art guild this past Saturday. Wonderful time. In the meantime I've received the urns that I ordered & the rings that I have been working on getting put together have been done beautifully.
I will post all of that next. Tomorrow we are off to Kansas for a family reunion ----- my father's side of the family. Willie & I are going. It will be a fun time. But I wanted to post these before we take off.

Easter Sunday

Well, this was Easter Sunday morning here in the sunny San Luis Valley!! We decided not to go to the sunrise (?) service. Today, Monday, it is suppose to get up to 60 degrees, we'll see.

Working Hard

Doug, Warren & Willie working hard. I'm not sure who won this game of Acquire. But Willie sure enjoyed his time with Doug and enjoyed playing with both of them.

Friends

More friends from CA arrived this week. Warren & his son Doug appeared Tuesday evening. They left today just before noon. We had a great visit with them, although it was a little short!! There were promises made that next time they would stay longer!! Warren helped me with the rabbit cages & they are extremely clean now............I actually feel like shearing the rabbits. I worked on one rabbit, but needed more scissors that were sharp rather than the ones I was using. Hopefully if it warms up AND the wind stops blowing I'll be able to finish shearing.

Warren also helped with the wood shed & items I needed done there and did a number of other handyman items. Doug enjoyed being around Willie and they helped with the hay & the alpaca feeding & watering. Doug is running around in his summer shorts & I'm still in my flannel blue jeans!! : )

I took my rings back in to the jeweler yesterday and we discussed options. He's going to work on something that he thinks will look good following my ideas & suggestions. We'll see what happens. It will take about 3 weeks to get it done.

Pictures of how hard the guys worked coming up next.

I realize these are not the best pictures, but I tried!!!

Rings

I've been working on getting something special done with my engagement/wedding rings & Dennis' ring. I'm not about half way through my plan. I took them in to a jeweler & discussed options. Dennis' ring had two rows of diamond chips (3 chips in each row) & the rows were at an angle across the ring. My ring had a diamond with 3 diamond chips on each side going out at an angle. After much thought & discussion the jeweler cut the area between the rows on Dennis' ring & inserted my ring. I plan on having more work done soon to make it much more of a necklace that I can wear. I'll put pictures in the next blog so you can see the ring thus far. I do think it looks extremely nice now & will be very pretty when finally done with it.

Busy times

Seems like forever since I've posted. I was at the Art Walk in Alamosa a week ago. That was a fun time & I've always enjoyed the Art Walk. All the spinners, weavers, knitters, & crocheters get together to do demos, etc. We managed to find 2 other weavers who potentially will join one of our groups and a lot of other interested people.

Then on Monday the 30th we had company show up from CA. We had a fun week. It was Willie's 26th birthday & we went to antique stores in Del Norte. We went to a movie & did a lot of visiting. It was fun. It's always fun to see friends you haven't seen for a while.

In the meantime I'm working on knitting a pair of socks, finishing a sweater that I started ages ago, plus the lace scarf that I started ages & ages ago (that means before the sweater). More company will be arriving this coming week & it will also be a busy week!!