Soldering has begun and continues as I type this missive. The big brown onion is beautiful with its grouting. Sorry no pictures, but the guys had it wrapped up in bubble wrap and painters tape before I could get there with a camera. The bubble wrap is an attempt to protect the glass tiles from scratches or coming dislodged as the soldering goes on and probably for the move. (although the grout has made the thing pretty sturdy! I keep reminding myself that there are mosaics from the ancient days of Greece and Rome that are in pretty good shape today.)

Once it was bubble wrapped Ron started removing tiles from the top so the soldering would look as if it comes out of the tiles, a wonderful design concept. So, much picking and scraping was done! Then the immense, unwieldy onion was tipped on its side for soldering. Can't solder on it upright, as the solder is liquid when applied and would just run off, right into the bubble wrap. . .imagine how that would smell!

Photos show you Floyd holding the top, sorta flat, Ron wielding the hot soldering iron to apply the first of the solder. Then the top is rested on the back of a chair with rollers (Yep, rollers! I keep leaving the studio room with anxiety attacks!). Ron does detail work on the top while Floyd holds the chair in place and I presume is prepared to snatch the top if it heads toward the floor. A lot of good that will do!

I have Bible study tonight with a friend and dinner, so I am vacating the premises whilst the fellows continue bouncing the onion around and applying solder. At one point both of them were using irons, and Floyd was holding it up with his other hand. Good thing I have my hair colored. . .or it would be gray from worrying.

The soldering process is likely to take a few more hours before we see any real results. More pictures and narrative as soon as it seems prudent. We are arranging the "move" tomorrow or the next day, as the onion festival starts on Friday. It will be somewhere in the downtown area of Walla Walla for a few weeks and its likely home will be the Walla Walla Airport Terminal building. A lovely new building and much safer than on public streets. We are most happy to have new people to Walla Walla be greeted by our onion. . .not ours for much longer! Like getting ready to lose an old friend.