Borrego Springs and Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving potluck with Bud Brown singing to us.

Chicken drumsticks and veggies cooking.

The three groaning tables of food at Borrego Springs, CA where the Boondockers gathered for Thanksgiving soon had us all groaning from eating too much! I think we had about 40 people for our potluck. It was a great turnout and it was fun to meet some new people. It was very hot that day (88 or 90) and we were all looking to get into the shade. Just to the right of center you can see Bud playing his guitar for us as we ate. He's very good and we really enjoyed it.  We had so much food, we decided to meet again the next day for leftovers. There was plenty to eat!.
    I found out there were others coming that were eating gluten and dairy free, so I contributed gluten-free brownies and pumpkin muffins cooked in my Sun Oven the day before. I also made a dried apple pie made from my own apples with blueberries and a date & nut crust. It was nice to have others to appreciate my way of cooking! On Thanksgiving day I cooked 4 turkey thighs in my Sun Oven and then made some mashed cauliflower to go with it. I wanted to make sure there was plenty of dark meat!
   We were at Borrego Springs for about 2 weeks. We took hikes, went into town and visited the grocery store, the library, and a thrift store. The library always has great books for their Friends of the Library sale and we stocked up! We're ready to read and trade. With the internet so pathetic, we had plenty of time to read those books! We got plenty of bars for both phone and hotspot, but the bandwidth was seriously overloaded. It got slightly better when the holiday crowd left, but not by much. I wasn't able to do anything with my blog, and for phone calls I had to walk or drive up the road a bit to be able to talk without the call dropping.

Wire basket I made at Borrego Springs

   During Happy Hour when we all gather to catch up on things, I was busy working on a new project. I like to keep my hands busy while we all talk. I didn't count how many days I worked on it, but it kept me busy through several Happy Hours and I'm pleased with the results. This wire basket is only about 4" across and about 6" high to the top of the hummingbird. It's now holding our collection of small flashlights near the door. It was great fun to do. Already my busy brain is thinking of how I would do it differently next time. I was reading an article about people who can't visualize pictures in their minds. That's very different from my mind which is popping up with pictures all the time! I get flashes of ideas and if I grab them, I can design things in my head before I even start. But usually I just have a general idea and then I'm off and running to see where it takes me. I'm not really a production type of person. I like the challenge of figuring out how to do things. We had at least one day where we all got together and worked on our projects, beading or jewelry or whatever. I love getting together with other creative people because it really inspires me. It also helps me figure out something if I get stuck. I love learning from others. This is such a fun life to live!
 

Rock snake up on the hill made by someone years ago, the head is a triangular rock and it's pretty long!

Hiking buddies with the snake in the background and the beautiful hills in the background.

Julie, Pauline, Karen and Rod on our hike. Some of these guys can walk fast!

Amazing Sculptures

Let me check your teeth.....

El Zorro!

When we were in Borrego Springs a couple of years ago, we went around to look at all the amazing sculptures that are around town. These sculptures are the work of artist Ricardo Breceda. We were delighted to find that he has his place just a little ways down the road from Jojoba Hills in Aguanga, CA. Even though we weren't going to be around for his open house on the weekend, we stopped by to look at the row upon row of amazing metal sculptures. It was fun to be able to meet him in person and I got a picture with him, too! There is such a fun element of whimsy to them and it was fun to wander around and look at them. He is not only the sculptor, but the designer and as he told me, he has help making all of them. I was glad to hear that since I was astonished at how many there were. If one horse takes 3 weeks to make, the amount of time represented was a bit mind boggling!

Selfie in front of the Stagecoach that's near the road. There are even passengers!

Panning for gold, he's managed to collect a number of different coins.

This Mariachi trio is quite brilliant.

I was tempted by several of these smaller wall sculptures. Everything here is for sale, but no price tags!

Boondocking near Bouse

On a walk at dusk near Bouse. Love the different moods of the desert!

What fun it was to finally meet up with the Boondockers BOF group and get out into the desert! It's a great group of people that we met last year. Cowboy coffee at the fire in the morning (which we seldom got up early enough to do), 3pm Happy Hour to meet up and see what's happening the next day, and if weather permits, an evening fire to sit around and chat.

   I was fighting a cold, so I wasn't out doing as much as I would have liked, but I did get to join the "Beading" ladies a couple of times, although I don't really bead. But it's inspiring to have all that creative energy around me. I worked on wire things and taught the Viking Wire Weaving technique to a few ladies. That's always fun to do. I also finished a wire dragon I had started last year and one of the ladies decided he needed to live in her RV, so I sold him. That was fun! 

Something I've been wanting to do and finally got around to doing was making some ear cuffs. 

We had a 'yard sale' and I sold a few of my ear cuffs, enough to buy some fun things from others (boot toppers, greeting cards, scrubby). I even have some left to wear myself. And more ideas, always more ideas! And finally time to do something with those ideas. I also got a chance to get together with a guy who likes to sing Gospel songs. He brought the music books and I got out my keyboard and we had a lovely evening of singing. This is my first year to bring my keyboard and I'm so glad I did. I wasn't able to do it again because of the cold. Having one of those in the dry of the desert is not my favorite thing!

Black wire ear cuffs displayed on cloth with a pencil underneath.

Moonrise over the hill with the campfire going on the left.

Silver and blue wire ear cuffs on black fabric.

The small town of Bouse has a lot going on in the winter. There is a very active Community Center that puts on a Craft Show, Bingo, Breakfast, Spaghetti Dinners and so on. They also have a great little library. I didn't make it to the library since I was creating stuff with the ladies. There is also a guy who brings a large panel truck with produce on Friday and Saturday into Bouse, so I was able to stock up on some fresh veggies and eggs. Out in the more remote areas, it's a fun challenge to figure out where to get some fresh food. Although I prefer organic, I settle for fresh since the choices are slim. But it's worth it to be out here in the desert. 

A little art project

the design

   While at Jojoba, Diana inspired me with her stained glass painting on her rig's door window. I remarked that I would like to do that, and she generously gave me her paints and all the extras that she had picked up at a garage sale to play with. She said she'd get them from me at Quartzsite, so I had a deadline!
  I had plenty of time to work on my project while we were at Ehrenberg and worked on it a little every day. First I did some research on stained glass designs as well as techniques for using these Gallery Glass paints. Jerry really wanted a hummingbird, so I looked at a lot over pictures over a couple of days and finally came up with the design elements I most wanted and set to work. He was very pleased with the final design, so I did a trial run using a part of the design to get a feel for the paints. When dry it makes a kind of window sticky and can be carefully pealed off.  I was very pleased with the results and started in on the 'real thing'!
   Once nice feature is that you can do your leading paint line on the 'leading sheet' and then fill in the colored areas and let it dry, then peel it off and put it on the window. That's how I did my test one. For the large window, I did large portions of the design on the leading sheet, then when it came time to put it on the window, I removed the window and finished the design on the table. A cardboard piece had to be put in the window since it took all night to dry. But when I got it put back in, I was really happy with the results! Unfortunately, I ran out of paint, so I will have to get more and finish it, but it is at a stage where I can finish the window in place. Although it's a bit awkward to balance on the top step, holding the door with my foot and trying not to lean on the screen door!



making the test design

my test window sticky!

the leading for the final project

Mostly done. The white areas are now dried to clear and it is still on the table do dry.