That Time I Found Sandwich Glass

I was checking out all the broken glass in the mud and was bummed out cause it looked like your regular, garden variety contemporary beer bottles. But then I spied a solid cylindrical clear piece sticking out of the mud.  I absolutely knew with a shadow of a doubt that it was Sandwich glass.  I was so stunned.  Then I took a closer look at the glass bits and realized that there was A LOT of Sandwich glass stuck in the mud.

I swooned when I picked up this cranberry piece.  It's as rare as red beach glass is and a total 'holy grail'.  This kind of stuff is better not worn down by the waves and sand.  Some pieces are slightly worn but most are in good shape considering they've been stuck in the mud since the mid 1800s.

I didn't pick up much of the clear unless it was super thick, meaning it would be old.  I couldn't believe the treasures I was finding.

I had a pocketful by the time I left.  

That's the piece that first caught my eye.  I found purple!

I have no idea what the top of this belonged to but it's very thick, heavy glass.

There's piece of slag in the back, next to some more green chunks.

One of the best hauls ever!  😍😍

This is glass slag which is also an amazing find!

The next day, I dragged Russell with me at low tide to go back and dig some more except I forgot my garden spade.  We found even more treasures!

I couldn't stop raving about this find.  Red is soooooo rare.

Russell found this one.  My friend Silvia said it looks like 2 hearts melting together.

Everyone knows I'm not a 'dig in the mud' kind of person but this was worth the filthy hands, shoes and clothes.  After we left this spot Russell showed me another one that he'll take me to dig at once we can get some decent boots and maybe hip waders.  It's very muddy and a very slippery walk out there....I wasn't about to attempt it yesterday although it was tempting to try.

There won't be any glass on this side though.

Making the Best of Yet Another Cold Day

We've gotten April off to a very cold start too!  But I took a little time to bop around downtown Sandwich one Sunday morning. 

This is outside the Glass Museum

There's a cell tower being put up on the steeple and I hope it doesn't mess up how nice the steeple looks.

Dexter's Grist Mill, looking really worse for the wear.

This whole herring run has been redone and a huge, beautiful old weeping willow was taken down.  All of the old timers are crushed that the tree is gone....I am heartbroken.  Apparently the roots were weakening the rock wall and the only way to do this project was to take the tree down.

Grist Mill & Town Hall

Newcomb's Tavern.

Town Hall

Then I drove over to Boardwalk and it was so cold and windy....too cold for my jean jacket.  People were quahogging in Mill Creek.

These are oyster cars (that's what Russell called them) and this is the first time that either of us has ever seen any kind of shellfishing in Mill Creek.  The creek featured above eventually makes it's way down here and all of the runoff and crap from town gets swept here. I would not eat shellfish from Mill Creek, no way, no how.

On the way back to town, I pulled over near the marshes to get a few low tide pics from that vantage point.  When I saw the brickwork like this, I wondered if it was part of the old Glass Factory, which meant I might have a shot at finding chunks of broken Sandwich Glass in the mud.  I figured there was no way because I was sure people have picked through it for the past 100 years or so.

So I ventured out onto the mud to get a few snappies.

I never knew there was a little dock out here.

A swing in the yard of the house that was next to me. I look forward to seeing green trees, hopefully soon.

But then.....

In Like a Lion, Out Like a Lion

Not gonna lie, March really sucked weather-wise except for a handful of precious days.  We had a hell of a howler on the last day of the month.  Roads were flooded, creeks over their banks, etc. Pretty sunsets from time to time.  

Of course we lost that hour switching over to Daylight Savings Time which I have always hated.  Standard time is real time.  People are always kvetching about how early it gets dark.  It's only a period of time of like 60 days tops.  If that.  The light already starts coming back by mid January.

So my peace embroidery has taken over the craft table.  What a mess.  

The floss situation on the other craft table got completely out of control.  I spent some time trying to get it somewhat organized and discovered that I have A LOT of duplicate skeins.  So I made this meme to remind myself to look at what I have before trotting off to the store to get more.

Now I can start stitching again and only pull out ONE skein per colour.  That will keep it under better control.

Started this diamond painting.  It's OK.  It was only $5.  It came in a very flimsy package unlike the more expensive kits.  The plastic sheet over the adhesive surface was ripped and the adhesive is so-so.  If this one is going to be displayed, it will have to be framed for sure.  The other thing is that it's only the peacock design that gets the tiles.  The background is preprinted already.  Finally, the tiles are round, not square. They fit together better than I thought, but I prefer square.  It's going fast though.  At this point I'd put in about an hour at a time over 3 days.

And of course I made my hubby's fave pineapple upside down cake for his birthday.  He loved it.  As did I.  Last year I did it as a bundt but it seems too dry that way so I went back to the 9x9 cake pan.  We don't like cherries so I don't use them.

I finally had a rainy, pajama day where all I did was do some crafts and a few chores.  Besides working on the diamond painting, I did this saturn Makit Bakit kit.  It only came with red, yellow and glow in the dark but I dipped into my stash for the other colours.  This project went sideways the first day I worked on it.  I was nearly done when my arm hit the pan and sent everything cattywampus.  I had to back away till the next day when I started over, carefully putting the crystals back practically one at a time.

I ended up having to bake this THREE times.  I had to fill in spaces with more beads and remelt it. Then I found that I skipped a dark green section and had to put it back in the oven again to fill it in.  I guess all the extra work paid off cause I love how it came out.

I got a ton filled in on the peace sign, now that I can actually locate the floss I need. 

It's really going fast now!!

I really hope we start getting some warm temps soon.