The eagles are all over the river this morning.
and the Johnny Cranes are huddled against the cool temperatures.

A very cool and clear day on the river this morning. Our Sunrise came at 6:52AM with a brisk temperature of 50F., the coolest so far this season. With the autumnal equinox just a day away, it is no doubt time for the hot temperatures of Summer to leave us for awhile. Our High today is predicted to be 79F. with a 0% chance of rain. The Relative Humidity is 94% and the Dew Point is at 48F, so there is little doubt it will not rain today. Our Barometer stands at 30.24 and is steady. The winds are calm. Our Sunset will come this evening at 7:05PM. We are back to the 12 hour day / 12 hour night.

I get to paint today! I am so pleased. I am not pleased that my Accountant contacted me via email to tell me that I have heavy book work to do...again! I am sick to death of the load that I have, and so much work to do. I think maybe it is time to rethink my accounting.

Well, I will paint now while I can, and wait for Sherry to collect the necessary paperwork on her trip out this morning.

Coming back from Ann Marie Gardens, I snapped this shot from the top of the Lower Patuxent River Bridge (The Gov.Thomas Johnson Bridge). From early 1974 until March 21, 1975 this was my view nearly every (work) day of the week.
Looking east over Patuxent River Naval Air Station (far distance) and Solomons Island. Notice the nearly full moon.
Looking west up river past Seven Gables. The mouth of Kingston Creek is on the left, just past the Seven Gables pier. We would crab at this creek on summer days when I was a young boy.
Point Patience is on the right of this shot. The Manor House (circa 1700's) was burned to the ground by the British during the War of 1812.


A beautiful sunrise on St.Clements Bay!

Today we are to have abundant sunshine, with a High of 79F and a Low of 53F. 

The Relative Humidity is 68% and the Barometer is standing steady at 30.06. 

The winds are calm out of the East/Southeast at 10 to 20 mph. Our chance of rain is 0%. 

We had a sunrise this morning at 6:51 AM and our sunset will come this evening at 7:06PM.

I am counting the hours to the Autumnal Equinox on September 22 2010 at 11:09 PM EDT.

 This is one of my favorite equinoxes of the year. 

My very favorite is the winter solstice, because it is our wedding anniversary. 

Spring is great because it marks the end of winter and planting time, but it also means our time in Florida is getting short. 

Summer is my least favorite, because it is summer and hot. 

But Fall, cool temperatures, and that much closer to heading off to Florida. 

Sad to say ArtFest was the worst since I began keeping records in 2003. We were so far off it is questionable

if going back is feasible. There are plenty of good shows this time of year, and it seems a bad business decision

to continue if sales are going to be this abysmal. This may be the writing on the wall for Unique Boutique. 

If the Boutique is off, then we know we have saturated the market. Time to move on. 

I am going to continue commission work. Sherry is going to work on inventory replacement (which will not be much).

Still and all, it is a beautiful late summer day, which feels a lot like early fall. I get to do some painting on glass.

One of the nice things about having a bad show is a light week of replacement work. 

Here I go.....

Deiter & Delores loading in on Friday
Jess & The Kids on Saturday...

Jess & The Girls on Saturday
A Big Blue coming in for a landing on Saturday nightHappy Sunday Morning!

Today we will have plenty of sunshine with a 10% chance for rain. The High is going to be 83F and the Low will be 61F. The barometric pressure is steady at 30.19 with calm winds. Our sunrise came at 6:51 and will set at 7:08.

Yesterday was not what we expected. However, we did see lots of old friends, and expect to do better today. We got some commissions, and did a little in sales. The spot we got was perfect, and the weather was the best ever. Sales were really off though. Maybe today!

Up before the chickens this morning, getting ready for the big day at Ann Marie Gardens. I had to polish up and pack the VanWlk commission, open some emails and respond to some commission requests. For the first time ever I declined a commission due to time constraints, and work load. I never thought I would have to decline work, but there you have it.

Today we will have a 7:09 Sunrise and a 6:50 sunset. We are getting very close to the autumnal equinox as the sunup/sundown times are almost equal.

We will have a High today in the upper 70;sF and Lows in the upper 50'sF. There is 0% chance of rain, and no wind what-so-ever. The barometer is steady at 30.20. I looks as if it is going to turn off to be a beautiful day!

We were set up and home by 3PM. Deiter and Delores, and Ann Marie and Jason arrived in the afternoon, as did Jess & John and the kids (minus Madison). Sherry cooked a wonderful dinner and the affair went off without a hitch. A good time was had by all. We were cleaned up and ready for bed by 9PM. as everyone has a big day today.

For my part, I am foiling the next panel. It never stops, thank goodness. I love my job, the wife, and my life. The Good Lord has given me many many blessings to be thankful for.

Now, off to work!

Right Now

8:19

AM

EDT

• 70 °

• Mostly Sunny

Feels Like

70°

Relative Humidity

73%

Barometer

29.96

Dew Point

61

°

Visibility

10.00 Miles

UV Index

0 Low

Wind Speed

W 7 mph

Big Day! Set up at Ann Marie Gardens....I'm off!

Today

A mix of clouds and sun. High 84F. Winds WNW at 5 to 10 mph.

84 High

59 Low

10 %

Sunrise Sunset

6:49 AM

7:11 PM

A splendid morning on the river, with a 6:48 AM sunrise under partly cloudy skies. The temperature this morning was in the lower 60'sF with a slight breeze out of the South at 10MPH. Our High today will reach into the upper 80'sF. The relative humidity stands at 83% with a dew point hovering at 68F. The barometric pressure is holding steady at 30.07 millibars. Our sunset will come at 7:13PM this evening.

I was up at 7AM., and missed the sunrise. I was pretty beat, and did not get as good a nights sleep as I needed. But the day has dawned bright, and we will finish the push to complete the work we have on deck. Tag and Bag today, as tomorrow is an early morning set up.

Ms. Emmy came by this morning to help Sherry clean up and prep. for our company. How sweet of her to come over and help. She knows we are in the throws of it. Even though she has much to do to prepare for their trip to Georgia tomorrow, she has set aside time for her daughter. What a wonderful woman she is. Tomorrow, Billy & Kelly will be taking Capt.Bill and Ms. Emmy to Atlanta, Ga. for Leah & Joey's Wedding. We hate to miss it, but ArtFest is our biggest show of the season. We all wish them a wonderful trip. Judy, Ruth and the Georgia crew are all very excited about everyone coming into town for the happy nuptials. Sorry to miss this, but we must work.

Company is coming in tomorrow, Delores, Dieter, Jason & Ann Marie. This will be fun!

Time to get to work!

I don't need a whole lots of money,
I don't need a big fine car.
I got everything that a man could want,
I got more than I could ask for....

Finished out to be a very good, and productive day. We completed 9 transoms, one Elegant Egret, 5 masks, 5-60 mm diamond cut crystals, and two custom side lights. Additionally we removed three large panels from wood frames, re-ringed them and got them into inventory. Everything tagged-n-bagged the truck loaded and all packed up and ready for set-up tomorrow. In addition, I got another glue chip circles & arrows silvered stained and loaded into the kiln. Tomorrow when I get back from Ann Marie Gardens I will be ready to begin foiling this next panel. I am excited about this project as it is something I wanted to do for a long time now.

John stopped by today, after his visit to Capt.Bills & Ms. Emmy's. He was checking up on me, and wanted to see if we needed any help setting up tomorrow. What a great son-in-law. We are so lucky to have him in our lives.

I finished up the day with a wonderful meal prepared by Sherry. Baked pork chops, peas and brown rice. She is so good, stopping what she is doing in Studio, to prepare a healthy meal for us all. I am so in love with that girl!

Well, tomorrow is the big set up day, and this weekend is the really BIG ArtFest weekend. It looks as if we are going to get really good weather. I hope the crowds show up for the art! I am pushing hard to make my numbers, so we really have to turn it on for this last push.

Transoms in layout. I have four laid out in my studio while Sherry is working on five on her side. I am using dichroic rondels just fired and removed from the kiln. One made it through to a perfect disk. The other not so much. I split the one into quarters, and the other I have made into a "Circles & Arrows". Time to start foiling!

I had to put this up! Jess sent this to me. She told me the story and it goes something like this. Killian spoke up from the hall and says to Jess,"...Mama, do you want to see Steve?". Jess thought he had his "pocket Steve", but when she looked up.....well, here is "Mini Steve" complete with hat, hard shoes, and glasses hung from his polo shirt. Boy, this kid has got a great sense of humor!

Another beautiful sunrise on the river this morning.Our little cottage on the river. The trees are beginning to get some yellow.

Today we will have abundant sunshine, with Highs in the lower 80'sF. Lows tonight will be in the 50's with winds from the West/Northwest at 5 to 10 mph. The chance of rain is 0% and the barometer is holding steady at 30.11. We had a sunrise this morning at 6:47AM and our sunset will com at 7:14

Another stellar sunrise this morning. Sherry is up at 6AM and off for her day's chores. She has to run some tax papers over to our accountant, and than collect her vitals for our pending company.

I am off to the studio to continue work on the four transoms I have laid out.

It looks as if the Hummers have left. Good luck on your long run south!

Well, we had a little bump in the road this afternoon. A material delivery came in from our New Jersey supplier. In the process of putting the materials into our storage area, I laid a box on the floor, adjacent to our sheet glass storage crates. This was a very stupid move. After unloading one box, I turn, abruptly tripped over the box, and landed with my right arm in a crate of sheet glass. I had nicked an artery in the process, and had a squirter on my hands (well, hand singular actually, as my hand got a pretty good slice also). I clamped down on the wound, and called out to Sherry. I instructed her to get a compress, which she did, along with a Ace Bandage. We wrapped it as best we could, and headed off the the ER. Jess showed up 20 minutes, dressed to the "9s'" in a black evening dress, looking ravishing, as always. I got my 16 stitches in the arm, a butterfly on the hand and we were off . Leaving the ER and the Hospital, every man (and some women) we passes stopped what they were doing, to watch Jess walk by. I do not think she even knows what effect she has on men. It is funny to watch. Sherry got me to the pharmacy for meds, took me home, made me dinner, and generally has pampered me since I was hurt. She is a really great mate, partner, wife, and part time nurse. I am a very luck man to have a woman such as she!