Weekly Wrap UP 5/28/21 -- couples trip away

 This has been the first trip for my husband and I in over a year!  For Mother's day my husband promised me a trip to Kokomo Glass studio and we went last weekend.  We also stopped by Indianapolis on the way home.  We were only gone for two and half days and it was wonderful to get away just the two of us.

First stop was to Kokomo.  We spent about 3 hours inside as I looked for glass.  My husband was very patient and encouraged me to buy whatever glass I wanted.  I stuck mainly to my list for my summer project for the most part;)

Some of my glass haul which cost nearly $400! I found everything I wanted for my future projects!  

I just realize I didn't take any pictures inside the warehouse, because I was so busy hunting for glass.  There are over five large rooms filled with glass of all colors.  It was a bit overwhelming.

The next day we drove down to Indianapolis and spent the day there.  We visited our 12th president's house, Benjamin Harrison.  He served only one term.

They had lovely peony's in the garden.  

His home office which was surrounded by the many gifts he received as president.  At this time period presidents were allowed to keep all the gifts they were given 

His very large bookcase which still houses several first edition prints.

Harrison's dinnerware.  the outer portion is corn and wheat  which represents the state of Indiana 

The front of his home.  The home remained in the Harrison's family until the 1930's and then purchased by a school which turned it into a girls dorm.  However the school was very good about protecting the interior of the home so not much had changed.  A lot of the furniture from Harrison's lifetime was stored in the attic so it was is fairly decent shape.  It was a beautiful home.

In the afternoon we drove down to the canal which we had been told was beautiful.  It was!

We found the Indianapolis memorial

The shipped was torpedo after delivering the 'bomb' and sunk leaving about 900 sailor in the water where they were attack by shark.  only 300 men were rescued about 5 days later.  It is quite a story!

It was so peaceful sitting by the canal and there is a lovely paved path around the entire canal with bridges that crosses over at varying sections. 

We walked a small section of the canal

Then found some chairs in the grass and sat down to just enjoy the outdoors and people watch.  

At one point we saw a gondola on the canal!  

It was such a lovely afternoon.  The next day we headed back home feeling relaxed and like the world had returned to normal once again for us!  Can't wait to get home and start cutting my new glass!

Weekly Wrap UP 5/21/21-- Stain glass hobby

 Since school is wrapping up and I am starting to get a little bit more time to myself I am beginning to tackle some larger projects for my stain glass hobby.  I have several projects lined up for this summer

I am working on my second Tiffany style Dogwood lamp. This one will be going on my husband bedside table.

I have just the background to do, looking forward to seeing light b behind it.

I have also pulled out a couple of patterns I bought a years ago and plan to complete it this summer. 

 The Live Oak tree, but it reminds my husband of the Tree of Life in viking mythology

Dream catcher window 

I will be working on another panel for my husband for his new office downstairs.  

A once again asked Randy from my stain glass group to help me with the pattern.  He is amazing with these types of panel pieces and he helped me with 2 other panels that my husband wanted done  Neil Peart, and Jimi Hendrix.  Can you identify who this is?

Lastly I finally ordered a few molds to do some stepping stones for my garden.  I am looking forward to making these with some of my scrap glass:)

I bought two sizes 12 inch and 8 inch.  

For a late Mother's Day gift, my husband is taking me to Kokomo Glass studio and shop this weekend so I can pick out some glass for my new summer projects.  I am very excited to be going there as I have never been before and have heard wonderful things about this location!

Weekly Wrap UP 5/14/21-- 11th grade nearing the end

 We are down to just 4 subjects to complete with the plan for all to be completed by the first week of June.

MarioFan completed his Grammar program this week, leaving him with just Chemistry online class, Algebra 2,  electronics and Literature.  

He is working on his last soldering kit of the school year.  

This one came with excellent directions so we are hoping it goes better then the last one

For Literature we are reading our last assigned book for the year.  

We might do a couple of Shakespeare sonnets to finish off the month of May but then we are finished!

MarioFan only has about 15 lesson for math to finish up and has decided to do Math 6 days a week in order to hurry up and get it done by the first week of June!

The only "school" being done over the summer will be Spanish and piano lesson but with private tutors.

Believe it or not I am already planning next years courses and beginning to do some lesson planning.  We are hoping to get together once a week with a friend and do 3 courses together since we have all been vaccinated.  I will post about MarioFan's 12th grade curriculum in a few weeks as I am still purchasing material and narrowing down our class choices. 

Weekly Wrap UP 5/7/21-- Family news odds and ends

 It is official the entire family has had two doses of the Vaccine!!!  No one had any side effects from the vaccines. Two people had Pfizer and Three had Moderna (I am counting my Mother in here). We have all reached the necessary 2 weeks after the vaccine so we are over 90% protected.  I have to say it was such a relief to us to be protected and now that summer is just around the corner we hope to be able to get out of the house and possibly travel.

This past weekend we pick up Firedrake from college!  We are so happy to have her back home for a while.  My how she has grown up and become more independent than ever before. One thing remains the same however, her dorm room was a mess just like her bedroom at home, lol. 

Cleaning up her dorm before heading out

We had two cars so we easily fit in everything in the cars with room to spare.  There were a few things never even opened so we can pared down next year:)

Lots of parents were helping their kid move out and we even saw a moving truck in front of the dorm!  that did make us laugh but maybe the family had twins or picking up several students to take home.  We never saw the people using the van so we don't know the whole story:)

My mother has sold her home this week and is moving in with a friend who is also a widow.  They are looking forward to having some companionship.  Both ladies are very independent and enjoy similar hobbies so it should be a great match up.  Since I live so far away I will be happy to know she has someone near by who can assist her until I can reach her if it is ever needed.  I wasn't able to help her pack out of her house and say good bye to the house where my Mom and Dad spent their last 15-16 years and that was very sad for me.  I will be traveling up soon to help her move into her new place as soon as it is ready.  It has been too long since I last saw her.  We do talk nearly every day but it just isn't the same. 

We had a little bit of a scare with our old cat, Elvis.  He had been throwing up his food and dry heaving quite a bit.  We took him to the vet to have some blood work done and try to figure out what is going on.

We found out he has a mouth infection (he is allergic to his own salvia, which the vet said was not uncommon in older cats) and shows the beginning of kidney disease.  He is now on steroids and antibiotics.  The vet also recommends that Elvis gets fluids every other week, so I went in this week to learn how to do it at home as it is much cheaper to do it ourselves then pay the vet to do it every other week.  According to the vet he is not in any pain and once we get the infection under control should bounce back quickly.  Since Elvis is older we don't want to prolong his life if he is in distressed.  So we are going to be closely monitoring him with the vet.  

oh my that was a bigger needle than I thought it would be.  you can barely see in his shoulder  blades.

He needs 200ml every other week.  It has only been a couple days and we can already see a difference in his eating:)

Elvis was super calm at the vet, hope it is that way at home but I doubt it.

I made two Cthulhu sun catchers and just got them finished up this week.  One is patina black and the other one is silver which I think shows the wings off much better.