Every morning this little fella has been paying us a visit. He's about two and :a half inches long.

Chris's beard has grown a bit since we left home.

For a second time we headed straight for Bill's place for make the most of the Mini-Shindig.

The morning was spent learning about lost wax casting, Bill introduced us the steps involed in making rubber molds from objects, making and spruing wax masters, putting them in an investment, burning out the wax and pouring the metal.

Chris was particularly interested in the smelting kiln Bill had made from a beer keg.

With aluminium which melts at a relatively low temperature, it is very easy to make a furnace to achieve the required temperature. Apparently a propane weed burner is sufficiently hot. With all the scrap aluminium car parts Chris has back home, he is starting to get all sorts of ideas...

We sat out under a shady tree for lunch.

Wanda spent more time in the afternoon honing her new glassmaking skills, and having fun selecting some of Bill's glass work to buy -except Bill refused payment..

This is the marble she made yesterday with a flower inside it: It's a fun process.

Later in the day we slowed down, opened some beers and chatted about all sorts of things, looked at images of Bill's works including an amazing 14 foot long forged steel table (you can see it here: http://www.customdesignmetalarts.com/tables.7.html) Check out the rest of his website, too - he is a very talented and energetic artist/blacksmith. He enjoys giving extra detail to his work to improve the aesthetic quality.

 As the sun sank lower we headed off to dinner at Outback, a franchised restaurant with an Aussie theme. Bill was worried we would not like it, but it was great! Chris had a Tasmanian beer - his first in 4 months, and was pleasantly surprised that it cost no more in the US than Australia.

Chris was intrigued that they have "Kookaburra Wings" on the menu. Apparently they are not a protected species over here...

Bill dropped us back at our motel. It was so hard saying farewell to such a hospitable and friendly person who is always cheerful and good natured. We've been getting a lot of practice at farewelling all the friends we have visited and it's not getting any easier.