A Full Day

Harvesting cochineal in the rain

 So much for a lovely relaxing last half day at the Hill Country Hyatt! The day started about 6 am with a loud thunderstorm right on top of the hotel. Dave said there was a half straight of lightning show. I mostly slept through it. Now almost four hours later it's still pouring. NOT good weather in which to harvest cochineal! But I will persevere. I just hope is stops raining before we go so I can do it. Even for a good natural dyestuff I am not going to sit out in the rain and scrape bugs off of a plant.

--------------------------------

My bench in jewelry class

Okay I lied. I stood out in the rain and collected bugs from cacti for dye. It was the experience points that made me do it. It rained all the way home and when we arrived we found the pond so full it had clearly overflowed a bit. At least I get out of watering the garden for the next couple of days. The drive was tough so when we got home I napped. I was supposed to get a kiln load in, but I was still lethargic from the weekend.

And it was a good thing I napped or I never would have made it through my first Jewelry 201 class tonight. Wow. It's billed as a four hour class, but it's really more like five and we really move through the material. The first two classes (today and Wednesday) we are to design a bezel-set piece with corners, make our own bezel wire from sheet with shears and the the rolling mill, and completely solder the bezel for the stone (in my case two stones). I made it, but I am wrung out.

Now it's time to sleep. I finally have my physical and meet my primary care physician tomorrow.