A walk in the park...and more

I want to share one of Periera's finest traditions. Every Sunday morning they close down one half of the main four lane thoroughfare through the city for about six miles.  This gives the families a very safe option for walking, running, biking or rollerblading together along with their pet dogs. There are actually 3 lanes but one is a dedicated bus lane that does stay open.  It's hard to guess how many people come out for this but it is easily thousands. The city has people stationed at the intersections to keep the lane clear of cars and assist at the few places where they allow traffic to cross.
Lots of vendors along the route. Many of the businesses are closed because no cars can access them. One is a big mall that can be reached but only via a side road so it is limited. They still support this though as I saw an aerobics class being held on the front steps.
About in the middle is a park where there are hundreds of kids doing activities and playing games. Lots of booths to help and even a stage with music.
All said it is a great way for the city to invest in the well being of the families here.

View off to the south

Kids learning traffic rules

The lane on the right is the Mega Bus lane

A machine that squeezes the juice from sugar cane stalks for juice

My love, mi artista

You have spoken and I have heard. Enough about me, time to see what Gloria has been up to. 

Her artistic talent goes way back. In school she had done paintings that we now have displayed in the apartment. Her sewing skills supported her for many years as she could gather ideas from a magazine or store display allowing her to create unique designs for many friends and prospective buyers. She also decorated and painted her house very creatively to keep it looking very nice.

So after we met and then when she met my kids she loved what they did with the beautiful stones and wire wrapping to display them so well. She got some supplies and advice from them and started her new journey. Now in our apartment she has a room dedicated to sewing and jewelry, in full disclosure I did claim a corner for a faceting machine which I will discuss later. We customized it with a sewing cabinet I made and some shelves. But she has all her supplies and tools well organized and loves to create. She has sold items in the USA and here in Colombia and has increased her personal collection substantially. 

She has a Facebook page called "The Beautiful Treasures of Colombia" where she displays many of the things she makes. In the beginning she started with rough emeralds from Colombia. We went to Bogota and found a seller who has kept her in supply. Colombian emeralds are well respected around the world for being of the highest quality. Of course with the beauty of so many other stones that nature provides she has now worked with so many others as well. So please check out her page but I will post a number of examples of her work here:

This is a stitching exercise she did as a kid 

Sanding down a rock to rough shape for a cabachon

The necklace we found in Mexico but she made the lapis pendant

One of her latest from titanium quartz

A couple years ago on a dig with the kids in Iowa, she used the quartz pieces in many projects

The ring she had but added an emerald

Childhood paintings

With material bought in Mexico she made a warm sarape for those occasional cool Wisconsin nights 

Her display in her project room

Emerald projects

This is what she was sanding, some lapis sent up from her friend in Chili

One more painting from her youth

 

Wood! Love that smell!

Greetings! It's been about a year and a half. Lots has happened. We continue to split the year between Colombia and the USA. Gloria sold her house here and we bought an apartment together. Nice and peaceful area not far from where her house was. We have set it up to meet our needs very well. Gloria has claimed one bedroom for her sewing and jewelry making. I turned another into a workshop for woodworking and also took a corner of Gloria's room for a faceting machine I brought back last fall. We did some remodeling last fall changing a small bath and storage room off the kitchen into a master bath with Jacuzzi. Awesome!

In the workshop I have enjoyed getting to know the local wood species used down here. A great option is the guadua (looks like bamboo to me). Grows fast and is all over and very cheap. It is very strong and used for building materials all over here. The other wood I have started to use is coffee wood. These short and stout trees are cut down every two years to encourage good production. A hard and beautiful wood is fun to work with. Trunks are maybe 3" in diameter at the base and quickly taper down but have lots of branches giving it a lot of character. One more interesting specie is Saman, these must be huge trees as there are roadside shops that sell these and furniture they make from them. Rough sawn planks 10' x 4' at 4 inches thick or bigger are transformed into tables, chairs and beds. We recently found someone selling a table set on Facebook in a nearby town and bought it. It is a saman crosscut of the trunk roughly 5" thick and about 4' in diameter. Came with chairs made from guadua and also a buffet. Very rustic and beautiful.

Last summer kept me in practice helping Patricia with finishing her attic bedroom and Austin redoing the front porch.

This is the first winter I have stayed in Colombia over Christmas. So you can imagine I am looking forward to a fun summer with the kids. It is amazing though how fast the time goes. I am hearing that another April snow storm is brewing for Wisconsin, can't say I am missing that. It is nice to be able to be barefoot all year.

Looking forward to seeing many of you this summer. Stay warm.

A bird feeder made from guadua, makes for happy birds

Hanging out our window just below the hummingbird feeder

A photo frame made from coffee wood, no it does not smell like coffee

Wall hooks made from coffee wood for candle sconces, also makes a good hat rack

One of the drawers for Gloria's sewing cabinet

The game Cathedral. 

Lots of pieces. Made three games for Austin, Patricia and here

First version of the bird feeder

Mallet for the workshop made from Algorrobo

Tea candle holders from Algorrobo

The game Kubb. Awesome yard game. At about 30 pounds each this was a challenge to bring two of these back for the kids.

Also made two more for here in Colombia.

The Kubb pieces

The game Settlers of Cataan. Possibly one of the most time consuming projects but hey, that's what retirement is for.

Made two games, one for each of the kids. These are just the pieces for one game

Settlers of Cataan ready to go. Hex pieces all photo transferred onto the wood. asometimes Carly even lets somebody else win!

The box to keep all the game together. If you know the game it also includes one expansion set and purple game pieces just specially for Carly.

Napkin holder from guadua

Guadua lamp. Gloria sewed up the white fabric that is the shade.

One of my first projects here, a working wood whistle

Ring from coffee wood with faceted emerald

The photo frame. Has three strings that you clothespin the photos to. For Gloria's son and wife

The new (to us) table set. Insanely heavy.

Total set with buffet