At left: Sherry moving a Male Torso at the Las Olas Blvd. Art Show.

Cold, cold, cold...freezing cold. This morning in the high 30's. Lucky for us (and all of our plantings) no freeze last night. This due largely to the fact that I took the time (over and hour) to bring in all potted starts, and covered all established plantings. Had I not, the temperature would have dropped well below freezing! The Citrus Industry owes me a great debt of thanks!

We closed out the Las Olas Blvd. show this morning, opened the books on 2010, and opened two commission files (010210-160 & 010210-161). Not a great show, but as my best Exfriend used to say, "Happiness is Positive Cash Flow"! Sherry is flirting with the idea of doing some mid-week shows, where one of us works a booth, while the other works the studio. I am not sure that it would not be better to concentrate on closing out commissions, as we have so many. It is not as if we have a ton of inventory to replace. The discussion continues!

If you like the human zoo, Ft. Lauderdale is a nice park to visit. You see some of the strangest things here. People with birds. People with lizards. People with snakes. Snakes with people. Really bizarre stuff! We ended the day with acceptable sales, but no really big panels left the booth. A lot of this was due to the weather, which was just plain cold, and some of it was due to a general lack of enthusiasm. Break down went pretty well, and we were on the road by 7:30PM. We stopped by the 84 Diner for dinner, and than headed across US27 for Palmdale. When we arrived I began laying down lights and covering up the garden. I brought in all of the potted veggies (tomatoes, peppers, pole beans, etc) that were just about ready to go into the ground. They say this is going to last for 10 days! We are sure to lose the Papaya's, just when they are ready to produce, as well as many of the other plants. I don't think the Mango can take this again. We will certainly lose the pomegranate and bananas, and possibly some of the citrus. It is impossible to protect all of the plantings (both food & ornamental) from these types of freezes. Oh well. We will see what Mother Nature, and her occasional lover, Old Man Winter, will bring to us over the next 10 days.

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Brisk day in Ft.Lauderdale, with highs only in the mid 60'sF. Crowds started off light, but picked up as the day progressed. We were able to secure two commissions, and have one custom interior partition in dichroic pending. Sales were about average, but we were unable to sell any large panels. We have one couple very interested in Starry Night in Blue Ice, and promised to return on Sunday (we shall see). The Husband is really pushing to purchase (which is odd), while the wife is reticent. This is the first panel for 2010. We changed the design along the interior, adding accent bevels and a center dicro diamond. Even though this resulted in a more labor intensive project, the results were impressive. We did not raise the costs, so we can't negotiate price of this panel. It is very nice, and I know it will sell, if not this week, possibly in Tampa/Dunedin next week, or the week after in Delray Beach. This is certain, they do not stay long in inventory. I really think that this is the best of the 11 built to date.

...the blues go to gold! This is the nature of the dichroic glass that is utilized in the construction of this panel. As the light changes throughout the day, even with the change of season, the panel changes color and complexion. This is one reason why we so much enjoy working with this particular type of glass. 200+ pieces, with a Spectrum SI100V iridized surround glass, 25 X37, this glass is priced at $780.00.

After washing and cleaning the panel, wax is added, and the panel is allowed to air dry. Once the drying is complete, the panel is cleaned with towels, scrubbers, and Q-Tips. All 240 pieces of this panel and cleaned and buffed front and back. Here is the panel in full sunlight taken from inside the (lighted) studio, looking out through the window. Notice how dynamic the blues are in this photo. When the light changes, and the panel is photograph with a black background........

This is the Starry Night in Blue Ice panel. In the photo below, the panel is laid out after Sherry has finished soldering it. In the next step, I will add the black patina (photo at right).

Happy New Year! Let us see just what 2010 will bring...All we can hope for...Good Health, Happiness, Prosperity, and Love. Lots and Lots of Love. We know that we will have some tragedy, for every year brings some of that. Let's pray the good will out weight the bad. Mostly, let's hope no one gets hurt.

Today we pack for our trip over to Ft.Lauderdale for the Las Olas Blvd. Art Festival. We have completed a goodly amount of inventory, finished all of the cutting, grinding and fitting of the Merrick panel, and closed the books on three months this week. We really need to do some selling, as we have been off for two weeks. We have a week free at the end of the month, but I think we may need to fill it, as we are currently playing "catch-up" on inventory, sales, and commissions (10 on the board, plus repairs damaged during shipping). It seems sometimes, as if we are just chasing our tail(s).

We awoke to a tropical rain this morning. It is warm and coming in from the west, off of the Gulf. The plants are really loving it! At times it is torrential. This makes it difficult to load the truck, but somehow, it has to be done. We have a cold front coming in behind the rain. It will go into the low 40's tonight, with highs this weekend in the mid to upper 60's. We hope this keeps people off of the beaches and the water, and on Los Olas Blvd.!