This miner, inside a calcite geode, is loading calcite crystals into an ore cart.

We cut the geode into three pieces.  Then, Sherry added a few pieces of pewter to each, making a mining diorama of sorts.

The Salsa Festival goes on until 7 P.M. tonight.  Fun and exhausting.  We always enjoy meeting people from the community and from afar.

This butterfly would love to fly into your garden.  It can hang in the air or sit atop a metal rod.  Sherry has a collection of glass insects I like to call “fairy bugs.”

Today we are in Oxnard for their annual Salsa Festival.  Attendance numbers over 100,000 and we expect a good crowd.  No doubt, some of Sherry’s bugs will fly away to new homes.

I made this piece for Sherry.  The pendant measures 1 1/2 x 3/4 inches.  The ruby chip in this stone is more violet than red.  The green mineral is a metamorphic silicate, including calcium and aluminum and is found in Africa.  Zoisite is considered by some to be an energy amplification stone for healing.  Ruby, the birthstone for July, is popular and we are asked for it often.

Today we are off to Oxnard for the Salsa Festival, touching off a two week trip that will also give us a break from the heat and a trip to Pismo Beach:  clam chowder at the Splash Café – yum.