Sophia's visit

Sophia has been here for 16 days as of today, Sunday, and will be going back home Tuesday.  I wanted to record her visit a little so that when things quiet down, I can go back and enjoy looking at the pictures again.  We seemed to stay busy but I'm not always sure how - things just kept moving. :)  So I'll just be recording two of our outings and other tidbits as they occur to me.  This first picture is a nice one of Sophia on our visit to the Blenko Glass Company, one of the few remaining glass companies of the many that once were located in West Virginia.  We went to see the glass blowers at work and then enjoyed the pretty grounds around the showroom/gallery/factory.  They're located in Milton, WV.

Went to Blenko Glass today so my 10-year old granddaughter could see them at work. I didn't really think she'd be all that thrilled with it but I was wrong. She was glued to the observation rail! Told me she wanted to learn how to do it (after telling me she was going to go to college to become a vet). :) It's nothing dramatic because they are not making individual artisan pieces (although I wonder if they are ever allowed to break loose and "create"). They are manufacturing glass vases, bowls, goblets, carafes, etc., for retail sale starting with their own gallery/shop and extending to shops across the country. They have an interesting gallery on the upper level (with access to the observation deck) and you can sit down to watch a video where they show the glass blowing and speak with one of the blowers. They may be manufacturing the same piece over and over for the whole work day, but nevertheless, they are artisans of a dying process. To watch them at work is almost mesmerizing. There are 5 to a group I think and they move like a well-choreographed troupe, each with their own part in the process. Really quite fascinating. 

Here are the photos showing various stages of the work.

The man above was very laid back but he's the final finisher on the fluted bowls his group was making.  He also was the blower featured in the video we watched so I imagine he is a long-time employee.

This blower and his group were making a square based tall vase.

And some pictures of the grounds...A fairly large pond with many different breeds of ducks, geese, even a rooster today and what I think was a blue heron that flew across.

And I only remembered to take pictures one other time during our various activities and I will post them in a second post.