Santa and Gingers on a USPS mail truck

Polymer clay Santa sculpture created on a ceramic USPS mail truck.

Sharing a Beautiful Sunset - October 7, 2009

While downloading the photos from my California trip I came across these few photos taken of a fall sunset off my deck. This is why I love Seattle, our sunsets are so beautiful.

California trip photos

As you can see from the photos below, this trip was all work and no play. We traveled down I-5 instead of the coast. In addition, the photos were taken from the truck and we didn't take time to stop for the photo opts. This wasn't nearly as enjoyable as our last trip. Our next trip will include scenic stops. If we are going to travel by auto down to California, we may as well see the country and make it worth it. All of these photos were taken October 16 and 17th.

I believe this is the Sacramento River, but I could be wrong.

This photo and the one below were take of a lake near the grapevine, but again, I could be wrong. It has been nearly a month since I took these and they are undocumented.

No photos until I get home...computer broke.

Mini Trip to California

Brian and I are on our way to Indio, California. We left this late morning and plan to stay approximately two weeks getting our little home away from home ready to rent. Our first night is in Ashland, Oregon. Who knows how far we will get tomorrow. No pictures to show you tonight, but tomorrow I'll be sure to snap a few.

The Great Clay Escape 2009

Last weekend was "The Great Clay Escape." My girlfriends and I had so much fun. Cathy Johnston was our special guest, teaching us a couple of classes, her necklace purse and mini book. This was the one of the best classes I've had in a while. Cathy showed us book making and an easy transfer technique. The necklace purse has compartments inside to hold credit cards, drivers license and a couple of folded dollar bills. This is going to be really handy, imagine shopping without a large purse. Check out my finished projects below. All of us had a wonderful weekend. The weather was perfect, allowing us to have lunch on the deck both days. If you want to see more pictures of our weekend, they are located here: http://picasaweb.google.com/HelenMHughes/TheGreatClayEscape2009#

Turtle Necklace Purse

Miniature Book

The memories of last weekend are not far from my mind as I sit here creating sculptures for my upcoming shows. I have several shows coming in the next months. The first of which is next week. Pumpkins and halloween sculptures are all around me. Those little pumpkins do get to me and so enjoyable to make.

Halloween is coming!

Lately these are my only friends because I've been working so hard for my upcoming shows. They make me smile, especially those pumpkins.

Necklace

It has been a while since I've posted, but for good reason. I've been busy helping my daughter remodel her house.

Here is my latest completed project. The focal was made while at clay camp in May. I like the use of metal with polymer.

Road Trip - The Last Hours

Thursday, April 23rd

Snoqualmie Pass

While Brian was pumping gas and I was cleaning the bugs off the windshield and still wearing the summer clothes, we were shivering. We had packed up our winter clothes early in our trip, pushing them to the deep crevices in the back of the truck not knowing they would be needed again. After we left the redwoods we didn't need them. Yesterday I wished I had them on. It was down right cold. There was a part of me hoping that when we returned home it would be spring, not winter still.

Snoqualmie pass still has tons of snow. There wasn't any snow on the road but it was snowing as we crossed over.

It is good to be home so that we can see our girls again. I'm looking forward to seeing my local relatives and friends. I missed everyone but I must say that I didn't miss the cold.

**Note**

I'm going to fill in with additional photos on some of the previous days posts. The internet connection was slow on some days making it difficult if not impossible to upload photos.

Road Trip - Day 33

Thursday, April 23rd

Outside of Yellowstone National Park in MontanaLook closely at the photo above to see the long horn sheep speckled in the hillside. Looking up hillside we saw maybe ten long horn sheep camouflaged into the landscape. Seven in the photo above and three more nearby.

If the first three long horn sheep were not on the roadside we never would of noticed the ones on the hillside.

We are about four hours outside of Seattle, so this will most likely be my last post about our road trip. It definately was a trip that I'll never forget. Brian asked me yesterday which part was my favorite. I thought for a few minutes and I couldn't reply. There were too many, I couldn't choose just one or a couple. But I must say that visiting with all of our relatives and friends were great. Some of those people we hadn't seen in 15 years. Thank you to all our friends and relatives for their hospitality and when you make it to the Pacific Northwest we will try to make your trip as wonderful as you've made ours.

Road Trip - Day 32

Wednesday, April 22nd

Happy Birthday to my Mother-in-Law, Ellie

The Tetons

Road Trip - Day 31 (continued)

Tuesday, April 21st

(continued)

Yellowstone National ParkOld Faithful

Elk grazing

An up close and personal view with a Bison.
Check out the reflection in the hood of Brian's truck. It was definately too close for me, and Brian was on cloud 9.


An archway at the north entrance to the park:
Yellowstone National Park
For the Benefit and Enjoyment of the People
Created by Act of Congress

March 1, 1872

This morning we intended to enter Yellowstone via the south entrance, however after driving up there, we found out the south entrance to the park was closed. We had to turn around and go in the west entrance. Boy that put a damper on the day, however we were able to see fantastic views of the Tetons. There wasn't a cloud in the sky at the time. Maybe it wasn't such a bad thing after all. Immediately after entering Yellowstone we encountered some elk near the rivers edge, just a few feet from the road. Not far up the road there were bison in the road. There were approximately a dozen of them trotting down the middle of the road. We were blown away. I was frightened and Brian was excited. Wildlife sightings included swans, deer, geese, elk, bison, coyote or wolf, and moose. Mostly we saw Bison and Elk.

Road Trip - Day 31

Tuesday, April 21st

Jackson Hole, WyomingJust a few elk horns

Ski slope in Jackson Hole


Another view of the slopes in Jackson Hole. We saw several skiers and snowboarders making their way down the hills. Some with their dogs running behind. They must have hiked up in order to ski down since the lifts were not running. Now that is exercise.

I'll try to take a few more photos of the town today before we leave for Yellowstone. It is a beautiful community with an old western flair.

Road Trip - Day 30

Monday, April 20th

Scenic View of the mountains in Wyoming Hundreds of elk feeding off the side of the highway. This photo only shows a few of the many that were there. At first I thought they were sheep, but with a closer examination and with Brian yelling at me ( I mean "telling"), I was mistaken, they were ELK.

What a privilege to see this off the side of the road.

Afton, Wyoming
Elk horn Archway over the roadway in town.

We traveled north towards Jackson, weaving in and out of states. Starting out in Nephi, Utah, then crossing over into Wyoming, then back to Utah, back to Wyoming, then into Idaho and finally back into Wyoming. It was quite an interesting drive north towards Yellowstone.

See we did go over into Idaho.

Unfortunately Utah doesn't welcome its travelers with a sign. At first I thought that I had missed the sign when we first came over the state line from the Grand Canyon yesterday. However after traveling in and out of Utah today, there weren't any signs. So Brian and I decided to take photos of the Wyoming and Idaho welcome signs.

Mountain views, I think these mountains were outside of Provo, Utah. I could be wrong. As you know we had a long day and with all of those crossings over state lines, who knows what mountains they are.

Tomorrow we plan to go north and into Yellowstone National Park. Hopefully we'll be able to see some things. Our lunch waitress informed us that much of Yellowstone is still closed for winter. Old Faithful is suppose to be open, so at least we'll see that.

Road Trip - Day 29

Sunday, April 19th

Glen Canyon Dam and Bryce Canyon

A marina off in the distance and up river from the dam.

Glen Canyon Dam

Bryce Canyon

This morning we visited the Glen Canyon Dam. It is constructed in much the same manner as Hoover Dam. At the visitors center we purchased a Utah map so we could figure out our path for the day. We went north to Bryce Canyon. On our way into the park we saw a peek of the HooDoo’s They are rock columns and suppose to look like people. Some of the photos above show my favorite sights for the day. After going to Bryce Canyon we hit the highway again and ended our day in Nephi, Utah, just outside of Provo, Utah.