Art @ The Hermitage

Etta James 1938 - 2012

2012-01-22T15:43:00.000-08:00

A beautiful, strong, brave woman who overcame some pretty heavy stuff in her life. Every time she sang you could practically see her soul. The choir in the next dimension is richer for her presence.

The many faces of Etta...

Johnny Otis 1921 - 2012

2012-01-21T12:40:00.000-08:00

We all have heroes. Some of us have lots of them. In my 70 years, I've had a boatload of heroes, but a few truly stand out... in a class by themselves... my "Super Heroes." Johnny Otis is one of those stand-outs.

He burst into my life on my eleventh birthday. My mother and father had gifted me that day with my very own radio for my bedroom. I'd had a rambunctious party that afternoon, and was feeling really tired, so had decided to go to bed early, and allow my new radio to lull me to sleep. After some dial twiddling, I found the local classical station - the station most often played in our house. Alas, they were playing Rimsky-Korsakov's "Sheherazade", one of my least favorite works in the entire classical repertoire. So I twiddled the dial further and came upon some music unlike any I'd ever heard before. A woman with a Theresa Brewer-like voice was singing about how badly her boyfriend was treating her. It definitely wasn't Theresa Brewer, though... this singer was gutsy and grinding, and her backup music was banging out a raunchy beat that made me want to get up out of the bed and dance, in spite of how tired I was. It sounded wonderful, and I loved it instantly. After a few minutes, a very up-tempo man's voice informed me I'd just heard Ruth Brown singing, "Mama, He Treats Your Daughter Mean." The excitable man then launched us into another song that was just as strange and wonderful as Ms Brown's song had been. This incredible music continued for over an hour, until 9:00, when the man finally identified himself as Johnny Otis, and invited me to come back tomorrow night at 6:00, and we'd "do it all over again." I was so excited about what I'd heard, I could barely calm down enough to go to sleep. At school the next day, I asked around to see if anyone knew who Johnny Otis was. Most kids had never heard of him, but one boy looked at me disdainfully and said, "Oh, he's the guy that plays that 'colored' music." In my lilly-white environment, I'd had almost no exposure to "colored" people, or their music, so, of course... my fuse was lit.

Long story short... I started listening to The Johnny Otis Show every night. I quickly discovered after The J.O show was over, The Sleepy Stein Show came on, and Sleepy played jazz until midnight... but that's another story.

Over the years, I followed Johnny's shows, both live and on-air, and was delighted as his kind of music finally gained acceptance in the greater sphere of things. My professional life has always been as a classical musician, but I feel my musical personality has been well-balanced thanks to my appreciation of Rhythm and Blues and Jazz. Ultimately, I probably would have discovered both genres through other channels, but I've always given Johnny Otis credit for doing the deed. Johnny was instrumental in introducing a phenomenal number of musicians to the R & B scene, as well as being a singer, bandleader, composer and entrepreneur. He was truly a force to be reckoned with.

This is my favorite picture of Johnny... sitting in the broadcast booth, doing what he did best... spreading the good news of R & B.

With his band in the '50s...
The woman in the back in the red dress is Etta James... another legend lost to us this week.

One of my favorite CDs, with clips from broadcasts of his shows...

In later years... still going strong!!

While Johnny didn't "discover" B.B. King, my all-time favorite Blues Man, he did an excellent job of exposing the world to him... MUCH to my delight!!!

Many are unaware that Johnny was a very talented artist... his work is bold, colorful, very "Black", and, to me, reminiscent of the work of Diego Riviera. This book tells it all...

Thanks for everything, Johnny!

I'm so happy...!!!!!

2012-01-12T18:53:00.001-08:00

I FINALLY had my second cataract surgery yesterday, and I am one very happy lady!! After two years of dealing with totally unbalanced eyes - the right one working at close ups and the left one working at distances - I can finally walk around without glasses and not fear falling on my keester and breaking my butt. Now, I can work at the computer, read a book, sew, play Solitare on my iPhone, climb stairs, read labels in the grocery store, watch television, order food from a menu, and, best of all, read music on the music desk of the piano and organ or on my flute music stand... ALL without needing glasses! I cannot begin to tell you how liberated I feel!

Distances will still require glasses, but I can totally live with that. It was just SUCH a drag (and an expensive one, at that) to have to wear one pair of glasses for normal day-to-day activities, and also keep reading glasses all over the place... in my purse, on the organ, on the piano, in my studio, by the computer... I feel as though I've been freed from a kind of bondage!

I'm thinking this wonderful change of events is going to make me far less crabby, too. Won't THAT make everyone happy!!!

Something New for the New Year

2012-01-02T15:39:00.000-08:00

This book was recommend to me by my late friend Angus Crocker. In the last years of his life, Angus developed prostate cancer, and by the time it was discovered, it was already at "stage 4." Like anyone would, Angus wanted to fight the disease and live as long as he possibly could. Unlike just anyone would, Angus completely changed his diet and, with the help of this book managed to live several years beyond the time originally predicted for him. I visited him twice during this period of his life, and both times he prepared a lunch of recipes from this book. He declared it, "one of the best discoveries he'd ever made."

After spending much of last year dealing with injuries, major dental issues, and sundry health problems, I spent some time over the holidays really getting into this book. I've decided I'm going to "do an Angus", and see if, by changing my diet, I can turn my health around. Fortunately, I'm not dealing with any form of cancer (to my knowledge), but asthma, high blood pressure, and being seriously overweight are major issues I face every day. I've been trying (and failing) to eat a vegetarian diet for many years, and already have on hand in my pantry, many of the foods used to prepare the recipes in this book. It's high time to start using both the goods and the book!

As I approach my 70th birthday in February, I've set a goal to lose 70 pounds. It'll probably take me a couple of years, but, dagnabbit... I'm going to do it!

There! I've said it for all the world to hear!

Doo Wop White Christmas

2011-12-25T15:34:00.000-08:00

Frankly, I think people who yearn for a white Christmas are nuts, and I've always thought the sentiments expressed in Mr. Berlin's famous song are drivel, but this arrangement is one I can truly wrap my head around. I think Birdie (a fellow blogger who has some very emphatic ideas about everything connected with the concept of a white Christmas) might even like this.
Enjoy!!

Holiday Care Package

2011-12-23T19:22:00.000-08:00

Here's our annual holiday gift from Us to Us, from the good Camaldolese monks of New Camaldoli Hermitage in Big Sur.

The main attraction is a 3-pound fruitcake, so drenched in brandy it makes your eyes water every time you open the package. It's coated with honey, and sticks to everything - the foil it came in, your plate, your fork, your fingers, the roof of your mouth... it's heaven!! So rich, a half-inch slice is entirely sufficient for one serving! Now, I know there's no middle of the road regarding fruitcake - you either love it or (like most people) hate it. I happen to totally love the stuff, and don't care how many other folks don't... the more people who hate it means the more there is for me!!

Truffles should be one of the five major food groups as far as I'm concerned. Here, we have a box of six truffles that weighs almost half a pound! Dark chocolate on the outside, and dark chocolate, or milk chocolate, or maple, or cherry, or raspberry or amaretto on the inside! There are no words in my vocabulary, or, for all I know, in the English language, to adequately describe these lumps of chocolate gold!

Fudge... Imagine the creamiest, richest, most buttery, most chocolaty, most decadent fudge you can think of... that's what this stuff is. Sigh...

And the Holy Granola... so crunchy, chewy and spicy... sprinkle some over your Greek yogurt, add a couple of spritzes of honey, and listen to that yogurt sing the Hallellujah Chorus!!

Willie

2011-12-09T17:55:00.000-08:00

Here's the newest addition to our family... Willie. Named after the rough and tumble Willie Nelson, our Willie was a scruffy street boy before our neighbor, Sandy, managed to connect with him. He spent about a year on her enormous back patio, always happy to accept her food offerings, but always wary and hiding when any of us tried to approach him. Finally, the cold weather got to him, and we were able to get him into a carrier and took him to the vet for a physical and a fixin'. After a week or so of adjusting the routine at our house, we were able to bring him here to his "forever" home. After a few more weeks, he's socializing quite well, with only a few hisses and scuffles from some of the more cantankerous, older members of the family. For our part, we adore him... he quickly learned his name, and has turned out to be the world's biggest snuggle bug, and will give you as much lap time as you want, whenever you want. Though he enjoys sitting on window sills and looking outside, he runs away whenever a door opens, so I'm pretty sure he's quite happy being an indoor boy! We're happy too!

With Alessandro...

Open Studios 2011

2011-11-29T15:36:00.000-08:00

Ack! I almost forgot to post about this! The Vallejo Artists Open Studios Tour took place over the weekend of November 12-13. (See my post of November 8th for a look at the incredible array of work from the many talented artists in Vallejo.) This is the second year I've participated in this phase of the event. In previous years, the tours were produced by the now defunct Vallejo Artists' Guild. When the Guild died a few years back, Open Studios died with it. Now, thanks to a few ambitious and dedicated souls, who simply don't have enough on their plates (NOT), Open Studios Vallejo lives again. YAY!!

This year I was asked by my friend, Renaissance woman, Nell Blackwell, to share her studio for the weekend. I leapt at the opportunity, because Nell's studio is located downtown in one of the hot spots of the arts community. Besides, Nell is cool beyond words, and hanging out with her for the weekend seemed like a totally fun idea. And it was! We had lots of visitors, lots of food and wine, and the weather was absolutely perfect... full sun... no wind... it felt like early summer.

Here's Nell's side of the studio:

And my side:

Plenty of food to keep us and our guests going...

A couple of our guests:
Luna Gilligan and Tuolumne...

John Ebersole, one of my favorite artists on the planet...

And the stars of this studio: Nell (r) and Me...

Alas, sales were anything but brisk, but it was a wonderful weekend anyway, and we'll be doing it together again next year.

Beauty To Soothe the Soul...

2011-11-19T22:00:00.000-08:00

I love orchids! Surprise!! How could I not?? I grew up surrounded by them... football field-sized greenhouses full of them, a library of books, and an army of gardeners who lived and breathed every aspect of orchid culture. While I've never been interested in competing with my grandfather in growing the exotic varieties, I can truly exercise my love of them thanks to the incredible supermarket where I shop! Apparently, they've hooked up with a local Phalaenopsis breeder, and are constantly featuring new and exciting hybrids... few of which I can resist! While I'm a member of the American Orchid Society, and read their monthly publication from cover to cover, I'm more interested in the eye candy factor than the nuts and bolts end of things. I just adore their beauty, and orchids supply beauty in spades!!

Here's my newest "baby"... when I bought it, it was only a stalk, with one open bloom, and about a dozen tightly closed buds. I've been patient and loving... talking to it every day, and playing only the mellowest of Jazz while I work in my studio, where it resides on my desk. It's rewarded me beyond my wildest expectations by opening a new bud every few days or so, and now, it's so heavy with beautiful blooms I've had to add extra clips to hold it to its stake! It still has a couple of buds that haven't opened, but I can't wait any longer to share its beauty!

We Be Feeling Purely Punk...

2011-11-17T23:18:00.000-08:00

I went to the doctor on Tuesday for my annual physical. Blood work mostly okay... glucose okay, electrolytes fine, liver enzymes amazingly okay in spite of the quantities of Jack Daniel's I've imbibed this past year, cholesterol still up a little, but getting better, blood pressure normal - now to try to make that happen without drug assists. Inoculations... way out of date and, well, that's the crux of the issue...

For years I've fought inoculations because I recall being made deathly ill back in my (very) younger years by some kind of "flu shot". Besides, my asthma notwithstanding (and my asthma doctor is constantly howling at me to get a flu and pneumonia shot), I haven't had a sick day in quite a few years... not from the flu, and certainly nothing resembling pneumonia. My PC (primary care) doctor assured me that nasty reaction was from years ago, and that current inoculations are all made of synthetic stuff and don't contain any "bad critters" any more, and, thus I shouldn't be concerned about any weirdness. Gullible me... I caved, and allowed myself to be subjected to her suggested barrage of "preventative aids"...

As a result, I've spent the past two days in the throes of flu symptoms that would lay any normal person low. I, being far from normal, have been set on my ear, and feel like I've been shot at and missed, and shit at and hit. Perhaps it was all due to the fact that, in addition to the flu shot, I also received a pneumonia shot, a tetanus/whooping cough shot, and a shingles vaccine. It all happened so fast... the cute, chipper little nurse breezed into the exam room and poked me with flu and pneumonia in the right arm, and shingles and tetanus/whooping cough in the left before I knew what hit me. Had I not been reeling from a rather painful breast exam, and gritting my teeth behind that horribly invasive, but necessary, exam and pap smear only a woman would understand, I might have decided to protest such a bombardment of needles coming my way.

A good friend told me my experience sounded like what was done to him the day he joined the Army. That's a comment I've heard many times in the past from a lot of guys, so, in addition to my endless thanks and appreciation for anyone who served in any way in The Military... I feel for you guys!

Vallejo Artists Open Studios - 2011

2011-11-08T13:09:00.000-08:00

This weekend, November 12-13, from 11:00 am to 5:00 pm both days, many of the awesome and talented artists in Vallejo will be opening their studios, or, as in my case, hitching up with other artists in their studios, to dazzle the public with their incredible art! This event will be amazing, interesting, colorful, mind-boggling, stunning, exciting, and many other things, to everyone who attends. Perhaps the most important thing it will be is Eye-Opening. Sadly, there are many folks in the Bay Area, and, indeed, in Vallejo itself, who are totally unaware of the wealth of talent that exists in their midst. Over 50 artists will be displaying their work in this weekend-long parade of flair and genius!

Where to begin??? It's best to first visit the McCree-Goudeau Gallery, 930 Marin Street at Florida, and pick up one of the colorful calendars, which contains a list of artists, their media, a picture of their work, and a map, to enable you to proceed on your self-guided tour.

Last Saturday, there was a preview reception at the Gallery, and here are pictures of some of the art which was on display... listed alphabetically by artist.

Nell Blackwell
Acrylics, Calligraphy, Photography

Xavier Bon
Acrylic on Canvas

Wendyn Cadden
Printmaking

Geraldine Ensminger
Stained Glass, Clay Whimsies & Ceramic Botanicals

Mary Jane Etchegaray-Szalan
Mixed Media

Sarah Anne Evans
Watercolor, Landscapes, Mixed Media, Acrylics, Pen & Ink

Karen Feagins
Ceramic Masks, Mugs, Bowls, Vases, Mushrooms, & Shoes

Matthew Gerring
Mixed Media

Francie Gross
Fabric

Laura Hering
Mixed Media, Gilding

Belinda Lang
Jewelry, Ceramics, Painting

Bernard Lipari
Mixed Media

Michael Marino
Ceramics & Wood

Mark Martin
Mixed Media

Adam Musto
Ceramics & Metalwork

Matt Neubauer
Sculpture

Susan Noll
Oil, Acrylic, Pen & Ink

Orna Pascal
Painting, Textiles, Basketry, Collage

Rick Pasterchik
Eucalyptus Bark Sculpture

LaVonne Sallee
Recycled Altered Barbie Art

Kemper C. Stone
Gourd Drums, Carved & Pyro-engraved Gourds

Carl Theodorski
Mixed Media

Gretchen Zimmerman
Soft Sculpture & Mixed Media

And, if you can believe it, Many More!!!

PIQF - The World's Greatest Money Sinkhole!!

2011-11-03T15:21:00.001-07:00

Q: What'dya buy at PIQF????
A: FABRIC!!!!

African Prints

African "Solids"

African "Crackle" Fabric

Mud Cloth

Mud Cloth Squares

I decided to buy every piece of Australian fabric I saw that I was (reasonably) sure I didn't already own...

Leaf prints by Sue Dennis

Monoprints by Sue Dennis

From my favorite Hand-Dyed fabric artist on the planet: Judy Robertson

Couldn't walk away without a few books...

And some cool rubber stamps...

There's a bit more... later...

A Baker's Dozen From PIQF...

2011-10-22T20:07:00.000-07:00

'All Roads Lead To Jerusalem' by Shani Leser

'Grass Valley' by Jan Reed

'Dancing Circles 2' by Lyn Gonzaga

'Beauty of Life 2' by Julie Haddrick

'Mistaken Identity' by Susan Wessels

'Dreaming of the Northern Lights' by Helen Granville

'Shattered' by Betty Busby

'The Tsar's Decree' by Megan Farkas

'Calamari Time' by Karlyn Bue Lohrenz

'Garden Whimsies' by Jan Hirth

'Portals / 7' by Mimi Wohlberg

'Hear the Color See the Sound' by Helen Kusnitz

'Free Fall' by Ann Rhode

More PIQF

2011-10-20T20:22:00.000-07:00

When I first started photographing the quilts at PIQF, I was very good and took photos of the info sheet for each quilt so I'd know what the title of the work was and who created it. That lasted for two days, then I just started snapping the quilts without the info sheets. How rude!!! I'd certainly want to have my efforts acknowledged if someone posted a picture of one of my quilts on their blog. So now I'm busy doing research, and am finding the information for some of the works I missed. Thanks to Sue Dennis, whose tastes must echo mine, because she had photos of many of the quilts I'd photographed! I'm going to be adding titles and artists as I find them, so if you really, really liked one of the quilts I've posted, please be patient - I'm doing my best to identify them all!

'Magic In Times Square' by Janet Fogg

'Picked By Hand' by B. Lynn Tubbe

And some details of Lynn's fabulous applique...

'Towards Infinity' by Sally Scott

'Nature - Please Don't Let Them Disappear' by Sandy Turner & June Hollister

'Maranantha' by Sue Anthony

The silk ribbon wedding bouquet...

'Dawn Prayers on the Ganges' by Meri Henriques Vahl

Again, thanks to Sue, here are a few more pictures from "Opal Fever", the fun class I enjoyed with her on Saturday...

Here's Dorothy...

and Ginny...

and Hjilda's piece...

and Cyndy's...

and mine, with the Angelina added, and Bronwyn Wolfsong, who attends all of my classes with me...

... and the whole class...

Home again, and back to work!

2011-10-17T21:24:00.000-07:00

The Vallejo Artists' Open Studios weekend (November 12-13) is in my face big time, and I still have a lot of work to do on my main piece for the exhibit. It was very warm today, and the last thing I wanted to do was sit under a heavy quilt and a hot sewing machine lamp. I would have much preferred to be back at the hotel in Santa Clara... in the pool, or, at the very least, sitting on the edge of the pool, with my feet in the water, sipping a Jack & Coke. But, alas, that wasn't an option, so I turned on all of the fans and set to work here in my studio at The Hermitage. Every time I sit down to machine quilt these days, I thank The Goddess for my new Pfaff Expression with it's 11-inch arm and huge extension table. It makes my life so much easier, even in hot weather. At this point I'm about 40% finished with the quilting, and will probably finish that phase by the weekend. At that point I can make the hanging sleeve and bind it and be done with the grunt work. Then THE FUN starts... embellishment! I'm going to embellish this quilt to within an inch of its life, and if I'm not finished to my satisfaction by Open Studios weekend, I'll just keep working on it over the weekend, and let studio visitors see "The Artist at Work!"

Another thing for which I'm hugely thankful is The Pomegranate Seed, Vallejo's fabulous bead store located in the art district downtown. Let's take a moment for a plug here... this is a wonderful shop, with a wonderful array of beads, friendly, knowledgeable staff, and lots of classes. I'm particularly excited by their small, but high-quality selection of African beads, which is what I need for this quilt in progress, as well as the quilts in my head. So... PLEASE... if you're a beader in the Vallejo area, check them out and support them. I want to see them SURVIVE!!!

Lastly, I'm thankful for the new M&Ms peanut butter pieces. Not only are they beautiful, but they're melt-in-your-mouth creamy and delicious! I couldn't get through my quilting day without them!!

For those of you who want to see more quilts from the PIQF show, I have lots more photos to post, and will do so over the next few days. They all need editing, so it's going to take me a while to process them. For you critter fans, to my delight, I found a few critters I'd missed, so I'll share those as well.

PIQF - Day 4

2011-10-15T21:50:00.000-07:00

Today was the last day of classes for me, and it ended on a very high, almost coloratura, note! After two very stimulating and challenging classes, today was a relax-and-totally-enjoy-yourself class with one of my favorite teachers ever... Sue Dennis. I took three classes from Sue at last year's festival, and had buckets of fun... mostly behaving like a kid and making colossal messes with paint! In today's class we transformed batik fabrics, already beautiful in their own right, into something extra special through the use of paint sticks. We then cut and pasted pieces of our "new" fabric onto a dark background and added a touch of some totally cool stuff called "Angelina", which has to be seen to be believed. Here are pictures of Sue's class samples...

The shiny stuff going across the quilts is the Angelina... sort of a brightly colored, iridescent angel-hair wannabe. It sticks to itself when ironed, and then is stitched to the quilt after everything else is completed, including the quilting. When the iridescent Angelina is added to the iridescent paint sticks, you have Bling of impressive proportions!! Everything we did today was so cool, I can hardly wait to play around with it all again. Lani and Dale were in the class with me, and we had too much fun. I'm looking forward to seeing their finished work. Here's my piece - just the top and without the Angelina...

... and here's a few pictures of some works in progress in the classroom...

After class, I did another two-hour stint of walking around the show looking at quilts. For whatever reason, I'm enjoying the show more than ever this year. There are some incredible quilts to see - over 800 - and a great many of them are contemporary, or inovative, which is my preferred style. However, having taken Didi's classes this year, I now have a far greater appreciation than ever for the traditional, hand quilted and hand apliqued quilts, though I know I'll never make one, nor do I want to.

I had dinner with Jan, and then we went to "Show and Tell", where all of the teachers were presented and showed a bit of their own work, and invited their students to come forward and show off the work they did in their classes. In honor of the festival's 20th anniversary, the Mancuso Brothers, who have been at the helm of this event since the beginning, presented a slide show featuring highlights of the last 20 years. Since this is my 15th year, it was fun to see a lot of quilts and teachers I remembered. This was followed by an incredible ice-cream buffet out in the lobby. What a spread it was, and a great way to wind down the week. I'll be heading home tomorrow afternoon after I take just one more trip through the show and take pictures of the quilts I missed today when my camera batteries went south.

Here's today's quilt show...

'African Idiom 7' by Jenny Hearn

'Pismo Beach' by Denise Killingsworth

'Dreaming of the Northern Lights' by Helen Granville

'Celtic Persian' by Suzette Ehlers

I think this may be "it" for the critter quilts...

'Desert Life' by Hilda Koning-Bastiaan

'It Came From Beneath the Sea' by Roberta De Luz

Silicon Valley sunset from my hotel window...

PIQF - Day 3

2011-10-14T22:43:00.000-07:00

As expected, after a day in Dierdra's applique class, I feel I really know how to applique... as in, I've learned the techniques for a whole bunch of procedures, and have managed to perform them, with varying degrees of efficiency. The basics are there, but the skills have a ways to go! But, as it's ever been with my life as a musician, the requirement is practice! practice! practice! I'm truly excited to have learned so much theory, and to have finally "gotten it" in some areas that had henceforth been pretty fuzzy. Hopefully, I'll be able to retain much of what I've learned over the past two days until such time as I can seriously get back to it. As soon as I return home, all of my energy is going to have to go into completing my major new quilt for the Vallejo Open Studios, which is coming up way too soon (November 12-13).

In the meantime, while still here at PIQF, hours of fun remain to take my mind off such pressures! After class, I met up with Dale, Lani and Rosalie, for a fabulous dinner at the hotel restaurant. The place was jammed, and since there were a bunch of us from various aspects of the show - teachers, vendors, students, and spouses, standing around waiting for tables, we were all seated together at a giant round table in a special nook, and we had a great time getting acquainted and re-acquainted, swapping stories, passing out cards and fliers, etc. After dinner, most of us went to the Fashion Show. This is always a much anticipated event of the week, and tonight, in celebration of the Festival's 20th anniversary, the show co-ordinator and good buddie of mine, Karen Boutte, really outdid herself. There were five featured artists... Sandra Wagner, Nick Coman, Cathy Hoover, Lorraine Torrence, and Noelle Tamborini-Olson. Amazingly, in a show featuring over 70 outfits, I only found 3-4 of them to be in the ho-hum category. The rest were drop-dead wonderful! Kopius Kudos to Karen!!

After a brief stop at the bar for a keoke coffee and an affogato, I've crashed in my room - staying up long enough to post the day's activities, and then it's crash time for me. Tomorrow's class is with Sue Dennis, and I've been waiting for this class for a year! After taking three classes with her last year, I definitely wanted more. I wanted to take her class yesterday, but I've been waiting three years for Dierdra's quilting class to come back, so opted for that instead. Hopefully, Sue will be back again next year and I can get caught up on her great classes.

Here's the eye-candy for today...

This one ties with Jack Nicholson as my favorite so far...

'Swan Lake de los Muertos' by Nancy Arseneault

Three totally awesome pieces from the South African quilters of the World Quilt Competition XV tour...

'My Country Adorned' by Roy Starke

'Informal Settlement' by Roy Starke

'Grounded Spheres' by Enid Viljoen

A whole cloth quilt that just knocked my socks off...

And a detail of the above...

This is what I hope to accomplish one day, after perfecting what Dierdra taught me today (!)...

'Pineapple' by Mary Ann Andrews

More amazing stuff...

'Celtic Cranes' by Lesley Davies

'Grass Trees' by Gloria Loughman

And the usual crop of critters...

'Halloween Cats' by Mickey Beebee & Mary Lundberg

'Coral Sea' by Betty Busby

'The Island of Romance' by Louise Allyn Beckman

'Fish Kabobs' by Mickey Depre

PIQF - Day 2

2011-10-13T19:49:00.000-07:00

I had one of the most fabulous classes of my life today, learning all about hand quilting with Dierdra McElroy. Didi is one of the best teachers I've ever experienced - she approaches the skill of hand quilting from a scientific perspective (she has a degree in Veterinary Medicine) and has done incredible amounts of research into the elements of hand quilting regarding ergonomics, and has come up with some remarkable techniques to make it a totally enjoyable procedure. The entire 3-hour morning segment of class was a riveting lecture on basting, fabric, batting, thread, hoops and frames, thimbles, needles and quilting design. Whoa!! You just don't sit down and stab a needle through a quilt sandwich and wind up with a quilting masterpiece! So much to consider... it's downright, damn awesome, and Didi presented it in an exciting, learned and totally professional manner.

The afternoon session was the "lab" portion of the class, and did, indeed, feature a lot of stabbing of needles through quilt sandwiches, but, armed with the massive amount of knowledge we'd been fed in the morning, it was a pretty exciting experience. It was a little hard to get a grip on it at first, but after a few frustrating fits and starts, most of us grasped the concept with varying degrees of competence. I actually managed to rack up a count of 10 stitches/inch - pretty good for a beginner. The fact that the stitches went like /\/\\///\/ didn't seem to be important... we were promised this defect would clear up with practice. I've done a bit more since returning to my room this evening, and am beginning to think I'm actually getting the hang of it. Now I just need to toughen up the index finger of my left hand so that it can deal with a bunch of needle pokes until I REALLY learn how to do it properly.

Okay, as promised, here's some more quilts...

The winner for "Best Use of Color"...

'Ice Poppies' by Grace J. Errea

One of the Judges' Choice winners, and, unfortunately, this photo doesn't do it any justice... this piece was quilted to within an inch of its life... it was simply drop-dead amazing!

'Montana Tigers' by Karlyn Bue Lohrenz

Another Judges' Choice award, this one for exceptional hand work, which, alas, isn't visible in the picture, but it was incredible!

'Georgia On My Mind' by Nancy S. Brown

Yet more cool pieces...

'Rain Dance" by Ann Horton

'Just Doodling' by Loretta Armstrong, Pat Dicker & Sandra Harrington

'The Tsar's Decree' by Megan Farkas

'Begonia Picotee Lace' by Pat Durbin

Are you ready for this???

'Jack' by Sandy Curran

Last, but not least, a few more critters...

'Dogs' Day Out' by Barbara Confer

'The Squirrel's Speech' by Barbara Barrick McKie

'Ringo' by Helen M. Bruke

'First Kisses' by Kathy McNei

'A Simple Touch' by Pat Rollie

Tonight's dinner plans went to hell in a hand basket, so I spent a quiet evening in my room, editing photos and whacking out a few more hand quilting stitches. My "under-the-quilt-finger" is pretty banged up from being repeatedly stabbed by my untrained needle hand, so I've soaked it a couple of times and it's feeling marginally better. Didi says the best thing for this problem isn't Bag Balm, or Vitamin E, or any of a bunch of other healing ointments, but... dig this... Preparation H!!! Hmmm...

Rosalie will be arriving any minute, and I expect we'll be up most of the rest of the night laughing and scratching.

Tomorrow is another day with Dierdra, this time for Hand Applique... another skill I've been dying to learn how to do RIGHT!

PIQF - Day 1

2011-10-13T07:45:00.000-07:00

It's that time of year again - my escape from Kansas to Oz... four days of creativity and of being surround by people who are as passionate about quilts as I. I arrived yesterday afternoon at the Santa Clara Hyatt Hotel, checked into my large, comfortable room with its view for days, set up my internet connection, poured a nice, stiff Jack Daniel's, and crashed.

At 7:00 I headed downstairs to the convention center for the show's preview. Open only to those who have registered for classes. it's always the best time to see the show, because the rampaging hordes of people one encounters throughout the rest of the week haven't arrived yet, and it's possible to take pictures of quilts without spoiling the images with floating heads.

As usual, there were some absolutely wonderful quilts, and I noticed people took a special interest in "critters" this year...

'I Spy' by Ruth Bloomfield

'Lucy' by Alexandra Tsubota

'Raptor II' by Betty Busby

'Siesta' by Tanya Brown

More pictures later... I have to go down to the Starbuck's for my latte, and then head for class... Hand Quilting with Dierdra McElroy.

American Canyon Open Studios

2011-09-03T15:55:00.000-07:00

I recently participated in The American Canyon Arts Foundation open studios weekend. I had a wonderful time, met some fantastic people and saw some very excellent art. I've really missed being part of an Artists' Group ever since the Vallejo Artists' Guild went up in flames several years ago. I'd dearly love to see the group rise, phoenix-like out of the ashes, but I'm not the person to make it happen... it's a job for a younger, more patient, flexible, and tolerant individual than this old fart. But, I digress...
I was delighted with my experience with the ACAF, and immediately joined the group so I can be a part of future events put on by this talented, energetic group.
There were four locations throughout town where art was displayed. I was fortunate to be in the Palby's Junction building, which was recently remodeled from the ground up, and converted into a pleasant, spacious, airy and light space, from the once tacky, run-down restaurant. Here are a few of the artists who exhibited in this space...

Incredibly beautiful wool capes, vests and jackets by Jae Song:

Exquisite silk scarves and elegantly painted duck eggs by Maridee Hayes:

Ceramics by Brendah DeBow, Acrylics by Cleven "Goodie" Goudeau, and one of Jae Song's beautiful capes:

Fountains by Brendah DeBow:

Jewelry by Linda Staib:

Whimsical ceramics by Renata Allen:

Faces by Renata:

Pit-fired ceramics by an artist whose name I don't know, unfortunately. They were beautiful, though... I love this art form.

My favorite piece - a Napa Valley picnic, by Gary Stutler. Some friends of my parents had a car like this when I was a kid waaaaaay back in the '40s... alas, theirs was nothing like this fabulous color!!

My quilts:

Food...

...and drink... along with another painting by Goodie and a quilt by me:

I'm really looking forward to the 2012 show!!

Dye, Dying, Dyed...

2011-08-29T19:31:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago, I, along with a bunch of my fellow Vallejo Piecemakers, had a fabulous fabric dying experience with Marjan Kluepfel.

We spent a lovely day outside at the Solano County Fairgrounds, under the trees, in front of McCormack Hall, experimenting with all kinds of dying techniques and letting the creativity run amok.

Jan fixed her famous Taco Salad for 100 (or is it 1,000???), and we stuff-faced midway through the day, and then got back to work.

We did a six-stage "gradation" project using two colors of our choice - I picked magenta and turquoise. First, put a couple of cups of the soda ash concoction in each of six separate baggies, then add varying combinations of the two dyes, add fabric, let it sit in the sun for a couple of hours...

Rinse it out, throw it in the washer and dryer, iron, and, Voila! Look what you get...

Soak another piece of fabric in the soda ash solution, spread it out on a piece of plastic on top of a table and, using 2, 3, or however many squirt or spray bottles of different colors, create your design on the fabric, use a paint sponge to spread the color around, then roll the fabric up in the plastic and let it sit for 3 hours, rinse/wash/dry/iron, and get something like this:

Do the soda ash treatment with another piece of fabric, wrap it around a 15" long tube of 4" pipe, scrunch it tightly towards the center, secure with rubber bands, squirt two or more colors alternately around the circumference of the tubed fabric, wrap in plastic, let sit, rinse/wash/ etc...

More soda ash mix on another piece, stuff into a generous plastic bag and squirt the dye directly from the squirt bottle into the baggie, moosh it around a little, then do the finishing routine again...

I also did a bleach resist procedure, but, alas, I didn't use a strong enough bleach solution, so it didn't come out well. Dang! It would have been so cool! Oh, well, that's one for the future, when I get my dyeing studio set up in the garage.

Speaking of the dyeing studio, I've talked about it long enough, so I've quit talking and gotten to work getting crap out of the garage to make room for it. I got rid of the old organ the other day... sent it off to Mike Kendall, an incredible Benicia artist, who will, hopefully turn it into a sculpture of mind-blowing proportions!

Decisions, Decisions...

2011-08-11T15:23:00.000-07:00

Here's the next area of the yard that needs to be addressed, but so far, I have no idea what to do with it. I don't want to deal with any more labor-intensive veggies... it gets way too much sun for me to plant the Hosta garden of my dreams... it has to be attractive because I want to start using this patio more. It would be nice to have a fountain and some trees, though I don't know if I can convince my neighbor that trees are a good idea, since they'd have to be on the upper level, and would be so close to his house. Maybe some fruit trees, so Chris can take advantage of the fruit-hanging-over-the-fence rule! If anyone has any suggestions, I'm open to any and all!

Succulent Garden

2011-08-09T19:59:00.000-07:00

I love succulents! Well, in all honesty, I love just about everything I plant, but, succulents are my second favorite plants, after roses. Last week I finished preparing the third of the raised beds in the front yard, and have planted it with succulents. This endeavor is a test of my faith that I'm going to live for quite a few more years! These plants are very slow growing, so I have a goodly few years to wait for most of them to come into maturity. For now, I get to molly-coddle them, and, like children, watch them grow microscopically. I'll give you two views of what I've planted so far - the first picture is what the plant currently looks like in my garden, and the second is how I can expect it to look in a few years...

Aloe plicatilas - "Fan Aloe"

Agave cornelius

Echeveria 'afterglow'

Beaucarnea stricta

Graptoveria 'Crested Form"

Aeonium hierrense

Aeonium nobile

I'll be adding a few more in the next month, but they'll be small, spreading ground-huggers to fill in the wide open spaces. Stay tuned...

The Garden Continues to Evolve...

2011-07-18T20:35:00.000-07:00

I've spent a lot of time the past two weeks preparing one of the planter beds in the front yard of the studio house, shopping at Annie's Annuals & Perennials, then planting all of my treasures. I've turned this:

into this:

Taking my lead from a fabulous new book, Ivette Soler's, "The Edible Front Yard",

I planted a mix of succulents, tall flowers and grasses in the front half of the bed (in order to form a screen of sorts), then filled up the back half with kale, spinach, eggplants, tomatoes and peppers, and some more flowers and succulents. I'm really happy with the results, and can hardly wait for it to fill out and not look so "new".

I'm about to get started on preparing the third of the four planters, as well as cleaning up the pathways that surround the planters. Lots of work still to go, but I'm having a wonderful time!

Happy Birthday!

2011-07-07T20:22:00.000-07:00

Today is my husband's birthday. We didn't do anything special... just hung out at home; he did Sudako puzzles and I puttered in the garden. I fixed his favorite dinner: Curried Eggs... cheesy, buttery, eggy, spicy, rich, rich, rich... yummy! You can practically feel your arteries hardening as you dine!

I also steamed up a mess of green beans from our garden, and tossed a green salad with tomato and cucumber, also from our garden. Dessert was a decadent chunk of lemon cream pie. All was accompanied by Korbel Champagne.

After dinner Martin took a nap and I zoned out in front of the computer and decided to see who else shares his birthday, and came up with quite a list of talented folk...

Gustav Mahler...

Marc Chagall...

Harry von Zell (100 points if you remember this guy!)...

Gian-Carlo Menotti...

Satchel Paige...

Pierre Cardin...

Hank Mobley...

Ringo Starr...

Jig-Saw Puzzle Quilt

2011-07-04T21:53:00.000-07:00

A few years ago, ten of us in the Vallejo Piecemakers Quilt Guild made a jig-saw puzzle quilt. Annette, the most artistic among us, designed a 12-piece puzzle on paper (about 8 feet square), then cut out the individual pieces and passed them out among us. The object was for each of us to make a quiltlet in the shape of our puzzle piece, and then "assemble" the puzzle. We put the completed puzzle on display at our 4-Guild luncheon, and it was a big hit. This afternoon, I was hiding out in my dark computer room, cruising through some old files while trying to stay cool, and I found a picture of the completed puzzle, as well as some pics of my puzzle piece. Here's the completed puzzle:

This is my piece:

And some details of my piece:

I'm going to plow through some more photo files and see if I can find close-ups of the other pieces, and will post them when/if I do...

How does my garden grow?

2011-06-26T16:16:00.000-07:00

Very well, thank you! Have a look...

Roma Tomatoes...

Strawberries going bananas, complete with green bean volunteer...

The zucchini plants are getting pretty ugly...!

The fruits look nice, though.

The potato greens are withering - that means they'll be ready soon...

Chocolate Mint for me on the right, and Catnip for the cats on the left. Everybody's gonna be happy!

Baby Yellow Pear Tomatoes...

Three kinds of Cucumbers...

Beans!

Are you hungry yet??!

Annie's Annuals & Perennials

2011-06-25T20:41:00.000-07:00

This is THE most fantastic nursery on the planet - two and a half acres of paradise-on-earth for gardeners! It's been said, "A trip to Annie's Annuals nursery in Richmond is for true plant fanatics what a religious pilgrimage is to the devout believer." So true!! I've never seen such an array of plants anywhere, and, not only that, they're all so healthy and beautifully presented. If you're a gardener and haven't seen this place, you've missed something simply unbelievable! Feast your eyes on this - "as far as the eye can see" is only a marginal exaggeration!

The first thing you see upon entering this Eden, is a group of large beds, planted with samples to give you an idea of how things look together:

Special displays are everywhere - here's some poppies...

One of the most helpful things to me is an information card that appears with every plant that tells you more than you ever wanted to know before you buy...

My main reason for today's visit was to hear a presentation by Ivette Soler. She's a gardener from Los Angeles who advocates getting rid of your front lawn, which doesn't reward you remotely in proportion to the amount of attention and devotion you give it, and replacing it with edibles and interesting "support" plants. She's recently published this book:

Several years ago we got rid of the pathetic lawn in front of the studio house, and installed some raised beds surrounded by pathways. My dream was to plant a garden of herbs, edibles and roses. To date, the results have been as pathetic as the lawn once was, but I promised myself this would be the "Year of the Yard", and I've been taking baby steps and inching my way towards the garden of my dreams. Today's presentation by Ivette, together with her book which I purchased earlier this week, has given me a world of inspiration, and I definitely feel propelled in the direction of gardening Nirvana!

Front Patio

2011-06-22T18:50:00.000-07:00

I think I've done enough with the front patio for now - time to start concentrating on other areas! This is such a pleasant space - protected from the wind, nice and shady in the afternoon, and smells divine!!! I love spending time here...

Down On The Farm

2011-06-19T11:02:00.000-07:00

Last week, Martin and I visited Loma Vista Farm, a local, real live farm, right here in Vallejo. It's a venture between the Vallejo School District and Friends of the Farm, a non-profit, community based organization. The day we were there, we arrived as a field trip of over 100 kids was just leaving. It was obvious, from the general din and commotion, they'd all had an exhilarating morning, and, after our visit, their excitement was easy to understand. It was probably the first time most of the children had seen 90% of the things they'd just experienced.

Since my main purpose in visiting was to see the greenhouse, that's where we began...

I was absolutely blown away at its size, and the amount and variety of things growing therein. And, (Oh, rapture!) much of it was for sale!!! I bought a gorgeous bromeliad, a cactus and a succulent, a varigated-leaf nasturtium, and a catnip plant, which has already nearly doubled in size! I can hardly wait to harvest and dry the catnip and make some toys for our fur kids.

Of course, every greenhouse needs a resident cat - here's "Spirit" (so named because he and his camera-shy sister, Pumpkin, first showed up on Halloween.)

All around the grounds are various vegetable patches and orchards...
Here's a gourd garden...

And here's the "Pizza Garden"... full of tomatoes, garlic, onions, basil, oregano, etc... Yum!

A wonderful assortment of animals lives on the farm...

I kept my distance from these guys, since one of the worst beatings I ever received in my life was from my grandmother's gander, Cicero...

The din in the poultry yards was almost as deafening as the children, including from this guy, who gave us a wonderful gobbledigook serenade every minute or so!

Martin had never heard the song of the Bovine before, so was absolutely delighted when this guy repeatedly bellowed for us!

And here's Rita, the head farmer, who keeps everything running smoothly. Rita got her degree in Horticultural Therapy, then came to the farm as an intern years ago, and never left. What a happy accident leading to a rewarding and wonderful life! Thanks, Rita, for a fun afternoon!

New Project...

2011-06-01T23:18:00.000-07:00

I found this cool fabric at e-Quilter.com and, in my typical knee-jerk reaction over cool fabric, I bought a couple of yards, even though I had no idea what I was going to do with it. When it arrived I put it on my work table so I could look at it and think about how to use it. Yesterday I was looking through some patterns and found one using this fun shape in varying sizes. The pattern suggests doing it in raw-edge machine applique, but I decided to do it by hand and brush up on my applique skills, which are pretty slim. The lower arrow points to where I started stitching this evening, and the upper arrow is where I finished over an hour later. Obviously, this is going to take a very long time to finish, but I'm in no hurry. I find hand applique very relaxing, and the more relaxation I can get in my life, the happier I am!

Ugly..

2011-05-31T03:30:00.000-07:00

It's beyond me how anything so ugly, smelly, mangy, rat-tailed, and hair-challenged can be so cute! Go figure. What good are these beasts anyway? What's their purpose in life on this planet? (Especially in my back yard?) I'm sure the Blue Jays, for whom the peanuts are intended, could do without these critters... especially when we consider the intelligence of Blue Jays, in that they know when someone's been messing with their food, and can recognize repeat offenders. (Blue Jays are pretty sharp.) Perhaps these ugly, smelly, mangy, rat-tailed, hair-challenged rodents are here just to remind us arrogant humans that we don't have the answers to much of anything regarding The Creator's plan.

Long live The Creator... Who keeps us from taking ourselves too seriously.

Taming the Infernal Bamboo...

2011-05-23T01:19:00.001-07:00

We have four bamboo plants in barrel planters in the front yard of the studio house. In theory, the barrels are to contain the bamboo, which is notorious for it's unpleasant penchant to spread and take over. The barrels don't always work, though. Every few months, one of the plants gets pushy and pokes through the bottom of its barrel, tunnels over a few feet and then shoots up an ugly sprout in an attempt to assert its independence. Recently, a particularly assertive plant sent up two new shoots...

When that happens it's time to assess the situation...

And take action.

Mighty bamboo slayer triumphs again!

Veggie Garden

2011-05-13T20:56:00.000-07:00

Everything's planted and now we wait...

Front to back...

Back to front...

Zukes, cukes and tomahtoes...

'Taters...

Italian parsley, and bush & pole beans...

Strawberries - the most difficult wait of all...

Gardens are shaping up...

2011-05-09T18:53:00.002-07:00

After a cold and very wet winter, and nearly four months of non-activity thanks to my broken hip, my gardens were all a total wreck. I have way too many gardens to care for in the first place, but when they're ignored for so long and get rampantly out of control, they scare me to death... oy...where to start??? where to start???

To put it into perspective - we technically have seven garden areas - a back yard and steep hill at each house, a side yard, container veggie garden, and front patio/yard at the main house; and a front yard of raised beds and rose garden at the studio house. Martin has been spending a huge amount of time whacking down the big weeds in the back yards (has filled ten 90-gallon waste wheelers and has barely scratched the surface), our gardener has been clearing out the raised beds and cleaning up the front patio space (five waste wheelers for him), and I've been dealing with the containers (a paltry two wheelers for me... and those mostly dead dirt!)

I have the container veggies all wrapped up, and am happy to say they're all growing well and making some serious progress. I've planted pole & bush beans, roma tomatoes, yellow pear tomatoes, Japanese and regular cucumbers, zucchini, strawberries, parsley, sage, chocolate mint, and lemon thyme. I'll take some pictures out there tomorrow and post them in a few days.

The front patio is about 50% done - a dozen containers have been "revived", and several others have been cleaned out, had their dirt "refreshed" and are awaiting plants, and several more are still waiting to be cleaned and refreshed. I bought some beautiful shade plants at Mid-City Nursery on Friday and requested their delivery today, hoping to spend the weekend getting a barrel planter ready for them. As it happened, this past weekend was one of the windiest in recent memory, and no way was I going to subject my asthmatic self to that environment, so nothing got done. As promised, everything showed up on my doorstep this morning, and now I'm scurrying about trying to get planters ready. As it further turns out, Monday is our go-out-to-lunch-and-do-the-weekly-shopping day, so I didn't get started with anything until an couple of hours ago. There's nothing on the schedule tomorrow, so everything's going to have to wait until then.

In the meantime, I took some pictures of some of the flowering plants on the front patio just to have something to post for all of my ardent readers!

Lily of the Incas...

Italian Heather...

Columbine...

A Hosta named "Francee" - a gift from good friend John Eater a few years ago...

An Amaryllis I found living in a paper bag in the garage for goddess knows how long... I decided to go ahead and plant it and see what happened, and THIS, amazingly enough, is what happened...

Petunia, the Patio Pig, sporting a lovely new royal and gold variety I've never seen before...

Stay tuned... lots more to come!

Latest quilt top completed!

2011-04-21T20:11:00.000-07:00

I experienced an enormous surge of energy over the last couple of weeks, and got the new quilt top finished. I put a sizable dent in my stash of African fabrics, but there's still way too much left. Click on the picture to enlarge it and see how many different fabrics I used!

There's still a huge amount of work to be done before it's truly finished... making the backing, doing the quilting, binding it, and, lastly, embellishing it. I have some great ideas for embellishment, and can hardly wait to start playing around with some of my wonderful African beads!

Sarah

2011-04-13T21:21:00.000-07:00

I've had several people ask me if I've run out of cats, since my Cat of the Week project fizzled out a few months ago. The answer is, "Far from it". So, I'm launching it again, but it'll more likely be a less ambitions Cat of the Month event from now on.

One day, at least a half dozen years ago, my Sistah, donnio, was sitting at a table outside of Mel's Roast, our favorite coffee house in downtown Vallejo, when a tiny little tortoise shell kitten ran up to her out of nowhere, and jumped into her lap. Like everyone else on the planet, my dear sistah "just couldn't have another cat," and so, like so many others before her, she called me to see if I could handle "just one more." Since I didn't have any Torties at the time, I said I'd give it a go. So she boxed the baby up in a wine box from the restaurant next door to Mel's, and brought her "home". As expected, she was totally adorable, and Martin and I were both hooked after one look at her. It became obvious from the start that this little girl had some serious personality, and when I mentioned that fact to the nurse at the vet's office, she claimed that tortoise shell cats definitely had what she called "Torti-tude", which put them very high on the list of "interesting" pets.

Things have gone splendidly ever since Sarah joined us - she fit in well, but soon let everyone know who was now in charge, and the others seemed to accept Her Bossy-ness without a fuss. The only problem over the years has been with her weight. Once we had her spayed... she splayed... and she's turned into a lard-bucket of massive proportions. We've made many attempts to "trim" her down, but she's resisted all of them, and remains our Queen of Bulk. Amazingly enough, she's very agile and performs maneuvers that belie her bulk, and, often, make us gasp in amazement. Still, she's a bit of an embarrassment to us. Of course, all we have to do is look in the mirror to realize from whence comes her predilection for pulchritude!

No way could she fit in this box ever again...

One last look at "Svelte Sarah"...

Starting to "bulk out"...

She still tries to cram her bulk into unseemly small spaces...

She's a serious sun-worshiper...

She seems to delight in this pose, which never fails to alarm us...

This is the ultimate "Sarah as Blob" presentation:

The End.
Hope you enjoyed meeting Sarah!

Aeonium atropurpureum 'Schwartzkopf'

2011-04-12T00:29:00.000-07:00

Also known as "Black Rose" or "Black Tree" this plant is native to the Canary Islands, Cape Verde Isles and Morocco. I'd had it for well over three years and it sat in its pot and grew 3-4" each year - didn't bloom or do anything interesting, but was merely content to sit in the back row of my succulent garden on the back patio and look benign and relatively pretty.

Then, one day, about five months ago, I noticed the stalk was suddenly many inches longer and a small protrusion was poking its way out of the center of the rosette, and starting to look like a tiny radar dish:

Within a week it had gotten larger and started sporting little nodules:

Which looked like this, up close:

And like this, head on:

The stalk continued to grow until it was over three feet long and the head was beginning to bow under the weight, when one day in late February, it looked like this:

It continued to offer this beautiful display for almost six weeks, until it finally started to fade a few days ago. I'm not a very conscientious gardener, but I have the greatest admiration for nature, and how She manages to work her way around me and produce such wonderful exhibitions in spite of me!

The Best Thing That Ever Happened To Me!

2011-04-10T00:01:00.000-07:00

The Love of My Life... makes me wish I were a cat so I could have nine lives with this man!

Welcome, Winston Sanford!

2011-04-08T00:36:00.000-07:00

There's a new baby in our lives... grand-nephew Winston Sanford, born yesterday at 1:17 pm. He was a few days late, and mom Kristen was totally ready for him to arrive. Kris and baby are doing great, though I imagine both of them are sleeping solidly at this point. Dad Alan and Gramma Hilary, who was in town for the event, are probably enjoying some down time as well. Today was Gramma Hilary and Grandpa Robert's 43rd wedding anniversary, so W. was a pretty cool anniversary present, I'd say! Winston will soon join his beautiful big sister, Zoe Alana, and super-dog Einstein, and the house will rock with new baby excitement and perhaps a taste of chaos as well. I've got to get my butt in gear this weekend and get a quilt made for the new arrival. The fabric is washed and ready to cut and sew, if I can just tear myself away from my current quilt in progress. I never got Zoe's quilt made when she was born, so I'll have to knock that one out as well... Hopefully, the baby shower won't be for at least a couple of weeks...!

Here's the man of the day... just a few minutes old... kicking, screaming and flailing his fists in rage at having been evicted from his nice, cozy "nest" inside mom... (can you blame him?)

And here's the formal, "all cleaned up" presentation photo!

Halfway there...

2011-04-05T21:36:00.000-07:00

Nothing very exciting has been happening lately. Best thing... the rain has finally calmed down - none for almost a week now. The days have been warm and delicious! My one-man weed management squad showed up today and started digging the front yard of the studio house out from under a carpet of three-foot high weeds. I'm surprised we haven't had any complaints from the homeowners' association - perhaps they're still trying to dry out too. Thanks to my injury, absolutely no work has been done in the yards since the beginning of December, and everything's just an unbelievable mess. Speaking of my injury... I'm now walking without any assistance from walker, crutches or cane. I'm kind of stiff most of the time, and I walk very slowly and deliberately, but it'll get better with more practice. I'm driving again, and that's just soooooooo fine!!!

I've been spending a lot of time in the studio working on the strip quilt. Today I completed segment four of seven, and got a good running start on segment five... should be able to post a photo of that in a day or two.

Spicing up the good life...

2011-03-23T16:16:00.000-07:00

Thanks, Cheryl, for your comment yesterday about red wine in a "healthy" diet. She's right, of course - there are a number of "sinful" foods which, when partaken in moderation, have healthy benefits...

Red Wine...

Among wine’s recently discovered benefits are: improved heart health, less plaque accumulation in arteries, better bone health, cataract prevention, decreased risk of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, possibly cancer prevention and more. Remember, though, more isn’t necessarily better... one 5-ounce glass of wine per day for women, and two for men is quite sufficient.

Chocolate...

For my money, the discovery that chocolate has health benefits is one of science's greatest miracles! While this lady is eating chocolate like most of us dream of eating chocolate, she's not doing it right. The key word is MODERATION! Also, dark chocolate is mo' betta than milk chocolate - the higher the percentage of cocoa, the better - 60 or 70% is my idea of perfection. Make sure it's good quality chocolate... Godiva, anyone?

Coffee...

Coffee is the number one source of antioxidants in the American diet. While we SHOULD be getting the good stuff primarily from produce, the good news is that coffee isn’t bad for you. As little as one to two cups per day may protect against certain types of cancer and diabetes, and could reduce the risk of Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s diseases. Go easy on the sugar and cream, though...

Popcorn...

I've always felt that popcorn is proof that God has a sense of humor!
Fewer than 10 percent of Americans get the recommended three servings of whole-grain foods per day. People who eat popcorn (a whole-grain food) have a 250 percent higher intake of whole grains and 22 percent higher intake of fiber than people who don’t pop. One serving of plain popcorn (six cups!!) has only 100 calories and provides two servings of whole grains. Go easy on the butter, though - there are plenty of other ways to season popcorn... spray the popped corn with a little buttery cooking spray, then sprinkle on cinnamon, or red pepper, or curry powder, or taco seasoning, or another herb or spice you like. Saute some crushed garlic in a little olive oil and mix it in, then top with a little parmesan cheese. Try sprinkling on a little hot sauce or soy sauce... Remember... moderation, moderation, moderation!

Peanut Butter...

It tastes so good it must be bad for you, right? Eat the whole jar and it will be, but stick to one serving (about 2 tablespoons) and you’ll load up on heart-healthy monounsaturated fats, which can lower cholesterol and help keep heart disease at bay. Choose “natural” peanut butters, since they contain no added artificially hydrogenated oils (trans fats) like many of the standard versions. Check the ingredient list: The only two things on the list should be ground peanuts and maybe a little salt. Spread some on whole wheat toast and you’ll also be sneaking in some vitamin E, folic acid, potassium, protein, zinc, fiber and magnesium. What could be better?

The good life...

2011-03-22T20:42:00.000-07:00

Here are some rock-bottom basic tips from Dr. Oz for living a healthy life... a good start for people who want to start, but don't know where to start. Do these five simple things every day...

Walk for 30 minutes...

Drink two cups of green tea (yummy with a little honey!)...

Take Vitamin D and calcium, and a little magnesium doesn't hurt...

Get 7-8 hours of sleep...

Meditate for 5 minutes...

Further work on the new quilt...

2011-03-13T23:04:00.000-07:00

It was a dreary, damp, dark day today - perfect for hanging out in my studio and working on my latest quilt. I mostly played around and experimented today, and managed to put two blocks together, as well as starting work on the quilt back. I'm pleased with the way everything turned out, and really enjoyed the extra hour of light thanks to the time change. Andre Previn, Erroll Garner, Bill Evans and Mike Greensill supplied mellow piano jazz in the background, further blissing me out. Both of these blocks, along with some other chunks of strips will find their way into the fourth and center segment of the quilt.

I took a couple of breaks along the way, and sat at my desk, alternately staring out the window and reading my new issue of "Where Women Create". In spite of the rain, the view was calm and relaxing, as always!

Progress report...

2011-03-07T01:27:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I finished the third segment (of seven) of my current work in progress. It's been slow going on this piece - while my mind races ahead, the actual work moves very slowly as I struggle to return to "creative" mode - both spiritually and physically. I spent much of today working on the fourth segment of the piece, and should have it completed in a couple of days. I'm excited by this piece, which is totally improvisatory and is constantly surprising me with it's color and construction. Hopefully, I can keep moving ahead and have the bulk of the design and construction done by the end of next week.

Going back in time...

2011-03-05T22:48:00.000-08:00

I recently discovered a website for the now defunct Saint Louis Institute of Music, from which I graduated in 1963. Lots of fun information and some pictures that really "took me back..." The school was housed in an interesting building in Clayton, a 'burb of St. Louis. The building was old, un-air-conditioned, freezing in winter, broiling in summer, but was home to me for a couple of the best years of my life. I experienced a host of exceptional teachers (except for one, who shall remain nameless, because many people thought he was an excellent teacher/person/musician... maybe he was all of that, but from the start he took an almost paranoid dislike of me, and gave me quite a bit of grief until I, mercifully, didn't need his classes any longer.)

Here's the school in summer:

And in winter (brrrrrrr...!):

Mr. Lyndon Croxford, my elegant, gentlemanly, no-nonsense, excellent piano professor:

Ed Petsch, the polar opposite of Mr. Croxford - flamboyant, fun to a fault, and equally excellent piano professor:

I couldn't find a picture of my beloved organ professor, Manus Sasonkin, but he will always be my favorite!

This is "The Bunker", a building I hated with a passion. It was located behind the main building, and was a hideous hole - dark, dingy, suffocating and depressing - and contained the practice rooms, which were full of the most dreadful collection of pathetic pianos on the planet. I have no idea what eventually happened to the main building at the Institute after it closed, but I have lovely fantasies of The Bunker being reduced to rubble during military exercises!

Finally... some progress!!

2011-02-20T22:43:00.000-08:00

I've finally recovered enough from my hip injury to get back into my studio on a regular basis. It's been exhausting, but exhilarating. I have over two months of catching up to do, and I'm quite literally, foaming at the mouth! I've managed to get back into the groove, and, after several days of work, I've completed the second section of my strip quilt. This one was a fun challenge - trying to do diagonal strips around solid colored triangles. I'm happy with the results, but am going to try a different technique for the next one (which will be strip #6) and see where that leads me. That's the fun thing about this quilt - even though the sections will sort of echo each other, they won't be exact, and if they look a bit uneven and wonky, that's okay.

Since I started this quilt, my palate has enlarged considerably...

The strip collection is threatening to take over my work table... (but think of the scraps I'll have for future projects!)

YAY!!! Something new!

2011-01-27T15:14:00.000-08:00

My friend, Ricë Freeman-Zachary, has been working her fingers and brain to the bone these last many months, helping to organize and edit a new website for us creative types, and today was the BIG LAUNCH!

TA DA...... Create Mixed Media

In a word... it's stupendous, and I know it's only going to get better as time passes, and kinks are ironed out and people really get into it. It's full of videos, podcasts, book reviews, artist interviews, techniques, a shop loaded with books, magazines, supplies and materials, and, most of all, inspiration! Expand your horizons, climb out of your box, jump in and try something new! Check it out, and get busy making art!

Things are looking up...

2011-01-20T20:33:00.000-08:00

My visit to the orthopedic specialist mentioned in my last post propelled me into an entirely new phase of this hip injury saga. As predicted, when the ortho doctor looked at my x-rays taken on December 21 at the Vallejo ER, he declared several of them looked "suspect", and sent me off to his own radiology department for more pictures. A short time later he came into my exam room with the fateful words, "Well, no wonder it hurts..." My heart hit my shoes, and, knowing full well what the answer would be, I still asked, "Why?" "It's broken." Thud. He explained that, while the fracture itself wasn't too severe, the condition itself was quite serious. As I'd been stumbling around for three weeks with the fracture, the neck and the head of the femur were misaligned, and the possibility that the blood supply to the head of the femur had been diminished loomed large. He told me he'd called the ER at his hospital, about a mile away, and they were waiting for me, and I needed to have surgery as soon as possible to re-align everything and insert some screws to hold everything together. He was thinking surgery early the following morning, but when I got to the ER and they found out I hadn't eaten or drunk anything all day, they shot me up to the operating room so fast it made my head spin. I was quickly prepped, spoke briefly with the anesthesiologist, then was whisked away, and the next thing I remember was waking up in the recovery room, trying to crawl out of my skin from the pain. Fortunately, they immediately began pumping me up with morphine and calm, reassuring words, and, ultimately I woke up in a room on the ortho ward, doped beyond pain, but feeling hungrier than I can ever remember. Of course, ice chips were the only thing on my menu, but, at that point, even they tasted good.

I remained in the hospital for five days, and, thankfully, things got better every day - I got fed real, but simple, food, I got my hair washed (first time in almost four weeks), I worked with physical therapists twice a day and learned how to walk again... slowly and painfully, but the pain now is different. I know it's a healing pain instead of the dull, burning, aching pain of an injury, and I can deal with it much more patiently. Upon my release, I was offered the opportunity to go to a rehab center, but chose to come home instead, and Medicare has supplied me with physical and occupational therapists who are helping me cope with daily tasks that need to be handled in brand new ways! The sutures will be removed in ten days, and my recovery is expected to be nearly complete in a couple of months. The physical therapists at the hospital were pleased with my progress, and say it's doubtful I'll walk with a limp or experience any extended pain.

Life will go on as before, with only a few changes... I've always been pretty good in the "slow and easy" category, but now things will be slower and easier and I will call the shots. I now consider myself to be a genuine "Little Old Lady", having fallen and broken a hip. I'm one of the lucky ones, though, in that my recovery will be easy and nearly complete. "Back in the day", when I worked at Rancho Los Amigos Hospital in Los Angeles, a broken hip was often a death sentence for someone my age, and a substantial number of the patients for whom I cared never left their beds again after sustaining such an injury. In another visit or two, my physical therapist will help me to walk next door to my studio, and, once I can get there under my own power, I expect to get back to work, albeit at a slower pace, and life will be wonderful once again!

The Bah, Humbug continues...

2011-01-11T01:26:00.000-08:00

Regrettably, life has pretty much ground to a halt around here as I attempt to recover from the unpleasant hip injury I sustained on December 21. When I was released from the emergency room that day, I was told I would most likely be back on my feet within three weeks. Well, today marks the beginning of week four, and not only am I not "back on my feet", my condition appears to be worsening. The dull, constant, nagging, never-ending pain never seems to go away, and I simply can't put any weight at all on my injured leg without going through the ceiling. On Thursday I have an appointment with an orthopedic specialist who has treated me for two previous knee injuries, and I'm hoping he can shed some light on my damningly slow recovery. He is expected to take another round of x-rays to determine if something was missed on the initial x-rays the night of the ER visit, or to see if something new has transpired in the meantime.

In 1991, during a nasty bout of bronchitis, I cracked a rib during a particularly violent coughing spell. I KNEW I had cracked a rib because it FELT like I'd cracked a rib, but x-rays taken at the time showed nothing amiss, and I was sent home with a pat on the head and some pain pills, and spent the next few weeks in an absolute hell of pain because the bronchitis took that long to run its course, and every cough was like a fresh bullet in my side. A year later, during the course of a regular physical exam, which included a chest x-ray, previously unrecorded scar tissue was found on a rib in the area where I'd suffered the pain a year earlier. So, obviously, fresh cracks or breaks don't always show up on an initial x-ray, and I'm fearing the worst at this time in suspecting I may have cracked my femur or pelvic bone in the this recent escapade.

We'll see...

New Quilt Update

2010-12-29T17:27:00.000-08:00

I've done no work on the new quilt since my "accident" last week, but had managed to get off to a good running start before things went amok...

This is the main "super-structure" of the piece - vertical rows that will be filled in with piecing between the rows.

Here, the rightmost two verticals have been attached to their horizontal "filling" strips...

One section down and six to go, and I'm practically out of my mind wanting to get back to work! Likely won't happen for at least another week, as this process involves endless amounts of cut/audition/sew/press/repeat... up and down and up and down between the cutting board, design wall, ironing board, sewing machine, and back to the design wall - movements that are almost impossible for me to execute at this point. At least I can hobble over to the studio, sit down at my work table and fondle fabric and design in my head! Believe me... I'll never take my good health and mobility for granted again.

Bah! Humbug!!

2010-12-26T20:20:00.000-08:00

This has been THE WORST holiday season ever! Flat on my back in bed, in more pain that I could have ever imagined, and nothing to listen to but foghorns and cat fights, instead of sleigh bells and carols! Not to mention rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, etc.

A couple of weeks ago, I thought I'd be slick and schedule some major dental work for last Monday... you know, get it over with before the holidays... make my smile beautiful for happy holiday photos, yada, yada. That was the first disaster. Midway through the five root canal/four filling/peridontal treatment procedures, the work was aborted because the dentist found more than he'd bargained for. Since I'd been under anesthesia for almost five hours, he did a quick patch up and set me up to come back in two days to finish everything. Home I went, under the influence of loopy-making pain killers, and, sometime in the middle of the night, on my way to the loo, I fell down and smashed my hip. I spent the next twelve hours in the emergency room, in and out of a purple haze of pain and morphine. Four x-rays and a CT scan later, it was, thankfully, determined there were no fractures. I had, however, sustained a massive contusion, and bruising and swelling were roiling up by the minute. And PAIN! Ach! It was indescribable! Since there were no fractures, I was, of course, deemed "fit for release" and sent home, whereupon the real fun began.

Let me tell you, if I didn't know it before (actually I did), at this point I can totally verify I'm married to a Saint. My DH gets squeemish when I sustain a cat scratch that draws a little blood, so he was totally unprepared for what lay ahead this time. To his immense credit, he's weathered it all beyond any expectations I could have had. I'll leave it to you to imagine the details of caring for someone who couldn't move without screaming, couldn't carry on a rational conversation, and pleaded for another pain pill every ten minutes. He lovingly prepared soups for me, applied ice packs every two hours, propped me up with pillows, endured my howls and cries, cared for nineteen cats, fed the outdoor birds, did laundry, washed dishes, went shopping, picked up my prescriptions, and on, and on.

I'm happy to report, I'm feeling better today. I'm a long way from walking, but can now navigate my crutches with a decent amount of grace, can put about 2% of my weight on my injured leg, and can go for over 8 hours between pain pills. I was able to get to the computer for the first time since last Monday, to be greeted by nearly 300 e-mails! A daunting lot, but I plowed through all of them. I received lots of good wishes from FaceBook friends, for which I'm very grateful, along with the usual array of tasteless jokes from my crazy chiropractor - all of which made me feel even better... proving how important laughter is in the healing process.

I'm beginning to feel the effects of being vertical, so I'm back to my cozy bed now, made even cozier by a large assortment of furry rocks snuggling all around me.

I hope deliciously happy holidays were enjoyed by all!

Sold!!!

2010-12-11T22:12:00.000-08:00

I'm participating in the Vallejo city-wide Open Studios event this weekend, and today I sold one of my quilts! I'm over the top!!!

I made this quilt in 2001 to honor Lee Hackmann, a teacher with whom I studied at PIQF in 2000. "Ladies of Senegal" will now be hanging in a doctor's office in Novato, where it will, hopefully, bring much pleasure to patients and staff alike.

Strip Quilt, my way...

2010-12-09T21:48:00.000-08:00

I've been spending many hours over the past few days doing the quilting on one of my quilts, and, frankly, my dear, I'm bloody sick of it. So today I said to myself, "Self... let's do something quick and put the quilting on hold for a few days." Since I can't seem to stop buying African fabrics, in spite of the fact that I have more than I'll ever use, I decided to rip through that section of my stash and blow a few away. Some of my quilting friends have lately been having fun doing Strip Quilts... it's a great way to put a hole in your stash, but I'm not too crazy about the "traditional" kind of strip quilt. Sooooo, I'm going to do my own version using some of my overstock of African fabrics. I pulled these out of the mix today, but will probably use many more before I'm done. I just love African fabrics... all that color... it makes me happy!

Back in 1993 I bought some African fabrics at a quilt show, then didn't have a clue about how to use them. Enter Roberta Horton, who had just returned from a fabulous fabric safari to Africa, and was all revved up to teach a class on making quilts with African Fabrics. I took the class - four days of pure bliss - and have been in love with African fabrics ever since. In 2000 I got a further super-charge at PIQF from Lee Hackman, African Quilter Extraordinaire, who changed my life and quilting style and I've never looked back.

I absolutely LOVE this fabric, so much so that many years ago I bought five yards of it and have used it in practically every quilt I've made since then. This piece is all I have left... about fifteen inches square, I'm going to use it up in this new quilt. It'll have a place of honor, and I've even left the printed selvedge label on.

I spent several enjoyable hours working on this new piece today, but my $%#@*&?!! sewing machine crapped out on me again so I had to stop. I guess I'm in for another trip to the machine shop on Monday. Probably another 200 bucks as well. Feh!

Remembering a Legend...

2010-12-08T13:14:00.000-08:00

John Lennon
9 October 1940 - 8 December 1980

Musician
Song Writer
Artist
Peace Activist

Timely and timeless quotes:

"Time you enjoy wasting was not wasted."

"I don't believe in killing whatever the reason!"

"If everyone demanded peace instead of another television set, then there'd be peace."

"If being an egomaniac means I believe in what I do and in my art or music, then in that respect you can call me that... I believe in what I do, and I'll say it."

"Reality leaves a lot to the imagination. "

"You don't need anybody to tell you who you are or what you are. You are what you are!"

"Yeah we all shine on, like the moon, and the stars, and the sun."

Open Studios Preview Reception

2010-12-05T19:07:00.000-08:00

Next weekend, December 11-12, will be Vallejo's first city-wide Open Studios. Vallejo is fortunate in that a wealth of very fine Bay Area artists live here. Over 50 artists in 20 locations throughout the city will be participating in this year's event, and studios will be open Noon - 7:00 p.m. both days. Last night, the preview reception was held at the McCree Goudeau Gallery, and was enjoyed by a great turnout of enthusiastic guests.
Here's a sampling of wonderful stuff from last night's show...

Through the front window of the gallery...
A whimsical teapot by Vanessa Gentry...
A thingy on wheels by Matt Neubauer...
A fanciful giraffe by mixed media artist MaryJane Etchegaray-Szalan...
An oil by Ro Lopez...
Sculpture by Aaron Pearce, a drum by Kemper Stone, and a painting by Sarah Nichols...
A chainsaw wood carving by Earl Stevens...
An art quilt by Me...
Jewelery, stained glass, pottery, and clay sculpture...
Some of our wonderful friends and supporters...

Party Time!

2010-12-04T16:12:00.001-08:00

Today was the annual holiday party for my quilt guild - lots of food, way too much sugar, and plenty o' laughin' and scratchin' and good times. Here's my group of friends who always hang out together at meetings - we decorated our table with in a "Chocolate" theme (what goes better with quilters than chocolate?!)

On the right, front to back, Sandy, Nancy, Dale K, me, Lani. On the left, Phyllis, Dale W. and Annette.

Here's Sandy with a couple of her food-inspired decorations... styro tree forms covered with chocolate frosting and candy kisses, and choco frosting and choco chips. Silly fun!

Hannukah - My favorite season!

2010-12-02T10:45:00.000-08:00

Anyone not familiar with the story and traditions of Hannukah can read this for a rather good overview. But miracles and dedication aside, one of the best things about Hannukah is this: for eight days it's not only totally legal, but we're actually encouraged to EAT! And eat not just any foods, but especially sweets and fried foods - all of that delectable stuff we have to avoid for the rest of the year.

Yummy stuff like:

Latkes (potato pancakes)...

...and, better yet, Sweet Potato Latkes...

Deep-fried Artichokes...

Apple Fritters...

Chocolate Hazelnut Tart...

Gelt (chocolate money!!)...

Rugelach...

And my favorite... Sufganiyot (jelly donuts)!!...

You're not really done until you can feel your arteries hardening...
L'chaim!

Sunday

2010-11-30T15:56:00.000-08:00

I had an interesting day on Sunday - subbed as pianist/organist at my former church job. I found, to my embarrassment that I'm pretty out of shape musically... not a surprising discovery considering my dislike of practicing. I play the piano a fair amount at home - nothing serious... mostly just improvising and playing around with jazz harmonies. The organ has been pretty much ignored for the past year, thanks to taking care of a string of sick cats, and the organ itself being on the fritz for several months. The organ was recently repaired, and the cats are less demanding these days, so I really should get my butt back on the bench and back in shape, so as to not embarrass myself further!

After church I went out to lunch with some fun ladies I hadn't seen if far too long. We spent a couple of hours at Applebee's, gabbing and giggling, and having too much fun. I fell off my respective wagons and 1) ate some baby back ribs and curly fries, and 2) slammed back a couple of Long Island Ice Teas. I paid for my sins by feeling like crap all day yesterday, so today I'm back to the vegetarian fare and plain ole' ice tea, and, have to admit, am feeling a lot better! There's definitely a lesson to be learned (or re-learned) here.

Here's my wonderful "Auntie Betty"...

And Betty P. and Super-Fran...

Thanks Ladies... it was grand!

Mystery Quilt

2010-11-25T14:35:00.000-08:00

I LOVE doing Mystery Quilts! Trudy, in my quilt guild, does a mystery quilt class every year, and they are totally fun! Here's my finished top from the class last Saturday. I'm working on the back right now, and hope to get it to the quilter in a couple of days. I like the pattern a lot, and it was super easy. I love these colors, but I had a terrible time making up my mind between these and some beautiful green hand-dyed fabrics I have in my stash, so, I'll probably make another quilt soon... maybe two...

Jenny

2010-11-23T21:24:00.000-08:00

Our beloved little Jenny, the 20-year old Matriarch of our cat family, left us today. Out of nowhere, she went into convulsions last night, and never recovered. We rushed her up to the after-hours pet emergency clinic at 3:00 a.m., and they worked with her for several hours and got her stabilized, but were unable to bring her back. When the clinic closed at 8:00 this morning, we brought her back to our established caregivers at Redwood Vet Hospital here in Vallejo, where their fabulous staff of caring vets and techs spent the day monitoring and caring for her. Alas, the damage was done - both cerebral and cardiovascular - and there was no hope of ever getting her back. At 6:30 this evening, we made the impossibly difficult decision of euthanasia, and released her to cross the Rainbow Bridge and join her brothers, Boris, Michael and Josef, sister, Crystal, and special mother, Cuddles. Our grief is overwhelming, but she was our wonderful, fun and special little girl... and will live with us always.

Late Harvest

2010-11-19T14:14:00.000-08:00

Thanks to the incredibly fabulous weather we've been having recently, the garden is still going strong, though it's beginning to look a little shabby, as well it might a week before Thanksgiving.

Yesterday was probably the swan song for the nice weather, though. Even as I type, the temperature is dropping and the winds are rising. The sky is completely clouded over and is turning darker by the minute. I just revved up the fireplace, and a crowd of cats is already gathering in front of it. I intend to join them with a book and another cup of coffee as soon as I finish here!

This morning I picked most of the veggies so they wouldn't get pounded by the rain that's been promised. For dinner, I'll fix the beans, along with some salmon, and grab a hunk of basil from the herb garden and mix it up with the tomatoes, some fresh mozzarella and spinach.

Last night's sunset was truly spectacular, and, if you can believe it, got even better after I took this picture!

Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!

2010-11-18T12:46:00.000-08:00

YAY! After far too many years, and Goddess knows how much haggling and negotiating, the Beatles have finally arrived at iTunes! Just in time for the Holidays! (imagine that...) Now you can buy Beatles singles for $1.29, entire albums for $12.99, or, if you want to totally blow your mind, you can get everything in the iTunes Beatles library for $149.00! I may have to restrain my husband in that last category, but I guess even I wouldn't mind that kind of splurge. I used to think the FabFour were a waste of time, but thanks to DH, I've learned to appreciate them over the years, and, after watching Sir Paul in a special broadcast on the tube the other night, I'm quickly approaching fanhood. While, in their early days, I thought they were the dorkiest looking bunch of dudes on the planet, I have to admit, they got better looking as the years passed and I began my own journey into OldFart-dom.

Ready to dive in...

2010-11-09T17:16:00.000-08:00

Today I finished the fusing phase of one of the pieces I started at PIQF... now to get going on the stitching/quilting. I haven't done a piece like this before, and I'll be trying out my free-motion stitching chops for the first time on a Serious, Real, Live Piece! Don't have a clue what I'm going to do... to quote the Queen of Hearts, I guess I'll just "begin at the beginning and proceed until I get to the end, and then stop."

My Studio

2010-11-06T19:01:00.000-07:00

I spent some time last week cleaning up my studio, and thought I'd take some pictures of it while it's still presentable!

Looking in from the hallway door...

Diagonal view from the loo...

My "inspiration" wall - photos, cards, ribbons, pictures, patterns - anything that grabs my eye that could become a quilt...

Some of my stash hides behind the inspiration wall...

The "entertainment center" - can't work without music! My favorites are Renaissance choral music, ambient, and jazz...

One of the design walls, holding small UFOs (unfinished objects) awaiting their fate...

Looking across the desk and into the Greenhouse In the Loo...

The Greenhouse In the Loo... the perfect atrium, and it didn't cost a penny in expensive additions!

Hope you enjoyed the tour!

Is it REALLY November???

2010-11-04T19:31:00.000-07:00

It was in the mid 70s today, sunny, warm, balmy, beautiful clouds in the sky - an altogether lovely day. It still feels almost too warm to be true... I was just outside in shorts and a tee, and it was entirely pleasant. This can't last... so I'm glad I was able to enjoy it today - out and about running errands and even goofing off a little!

I haven't seen clouds like these in ages - they changed every few seconds... it was quite a show!

I made a jug of sun tea...

The sunset about knocked my socks off...!
Some peppers and strawberries are arriving late on the scene, and probably won't make it to maturity... but they're trying!

Messiah Sing Along

2010-11-03T13:16:00.000-07:00

What a great way to kick off the Holiday Season! This festive event features a professional orchestra and soloists, conducted by Vallejo's own fabulous Kristy Juliano, and YOU (and scores of other Messiah-lovers) singing in the chorus! Due to problems with the former sponsor, the event didn't happen last year, but it's been resurrected by Norman Ortiz, Music Director at First Presbyterian Church of Vallejo, and is now poised to fill your soul with glorious music and propel you into the Holidays!

It's all happening on Sunday, December 5, 2010, at 6:00 p.m. (doors open at 5:00) at First Presbyterian Church of Vallejo, 1350 Amador Street at the corner of Nebraska (across from Vallejo Junior and Senior High Schools). Tickets are $15, and can be purchased in advance from the church, 707-644-4414, or at the door on the night of the event.

Elvis - Cat of the Week

2010-10-31T16:48:00.000-07:00

He was only three weeks old, barely able to walk, scared out of his wits, cold, hungry, filthy dirty, crying pathetically, stranded in the enormous parking lot of a local Safeway... no place for a tiny little furball to be on his own. Fortunately, the vet hospital was right across the street, and one of the techs on her way to a coffee break found him. We showed up the next day with one of our cats, heard his story, took one look at him, and said, "We'll take him...!" We brought him home, bottle fed him for a couple of weeks, held him nearly constantly for several days before he finally stopped trembling, and more days later, finally heard him purr. He grew up and out, got real fluffy, learned that fingers make great chew-toys, and, somewhere along the line, developed a fun, if somewhat irascible personality. He loves attention, having his head scratched, sleeping in our laps and being underfoot. He does fun, silly stuff, is constantly on the wrong side of a closed door, eats everything put in front of him, then tries to steal everyone else's food and treats, and windmills, screams bloody murder, hisses, bites and scratches if you try to pick him up when he doesn't want to be picked up. He ambushes and chases Sarah from one end of the house to the other, then beats the crap out of her when he catches her (or she allows him to catch her), whereupon they pummel each other, screeching and growling and sending fur flying in all directions. Five minutes later they curl up on the futon in a tight kitty embrace and sleep for hours. He's been with us for almost eight years and we never know what to expect from him. All in all, a very interesting and challenging kid, and we love him to bits!

He can be very laid back...

Inelegant...

Silly...

Intense...

An opportunist...

And all cat...

Ready for class...NOT!

2010-10-29T13:15:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow is my Chicken Quilt class, and, as usual (alas), I'm totally unprepared. Well, maybe not totally... I DID get the fabric washed. There's a shitload of pre-cutting, though, and it's just not gonna get done before 9:00 tomorrow morning! Fortunately, this is a Guild class, and didn't cost an arm and a leg, and, additionally, is being taught by two excellent teachers who always prepare copious and crystal clear notes, and whom I can call, e-mail, or otherwise bug, if I need help. So I should be able to figure things out, even if it IS a "traditional" quilt! (Hey... I haven't made one of those in at least three years.) Look for chickens in my future...!

Lukachukai

2010-10-24T12:05:00.000-07:00

My NeoWORX counter informed me this morning I'd had a visitor from Lukachukai USA. For whatever reason, the counter only supplies city and country names, but not state names, so I'm always diving onto Google to try to figure out where a US town is. I thought this one sounded Hawaiian, but was surprised to learn it's over 7000 feet high in NE Arizona, in the heart of the Navajo Nation. There were plenty of pictures available, so I thought I'd include a few here. It's a beautiful area, though I'm sure the weather extremes are nothing I'd care to experience. Here are the Lukachukai Mountains to the east of town...

And here is what is politely referred to as "Mid-town" Lukachukai...

I must say the population density appeals to my isolationist/hermit predilections - the population of the area is less than 2,000 - that's roughly 70 souls per square mile, as opposed to the over 3700 bodies per square mile here in Vallejo! The beautiful scenery would definitely inspire me to make a few landscape quilts, and maybe even take up fabric painting...

Two more from the SAQA auction...

2010-10-22T19:02:00.001-07:00

These two quilts were purchased during the third and last week of this year's auction. They arrived while I was at PIQF, so I'm only just now getting around to showing them off. I absolutely love their colors!

This piece is by Carol Churchill, an art quilter who lives in Signal Hill, CA, an enclave, or "city within a city", in that it's completely surrounded by the city of Long Beach, which happens to be my hometown. In addition to it's eye-popping colors, it's encrusted with beads, glitz and dense quilting, and I love it!!

By Diane Carver, this is a whole cloth work that's been painted and quilted. I was unable to find any websites that linked me directly to Diane, so her life and work are a mystery to me. At least I have this little piece of her with it's vibrant colors... it sings!

Goodbye, Yoda

2010-10-19T15:51:00.001-07:00

Unfortunately, while I was away last week, it fell upon my husband to take Yoda to the vet for his final visit. I'm so sorry I was unable to be with him on his last journey, but he took a sudden turn for the worse, and Martin and I agreed it would be heartless to make him wait until I got home. So, he's gone, and the house is a little emptier now. I miss him very much... no more bed time snuggling, and waking up to find him purring in my ear, and receiving that blast of kitty morning-mouth in my face as he greeted me. He was so loving and seemed so appreciative of our attention. I'm grateful we were able to rescue him when we did, and make his senior years a little easier than the early ones. Thanks for everything, Old Man...

More favorites from PIQF...

2010-10-18T14:51:00.000-07:00

I wanted to post a few more pictures of quilts from the show. I wish I had a better camera, as well as the time and software to publish many more photos. In fact... I'd love to shoot the entire show and put it all on a CD, with information about each quilt and artist, but, if I did that, I wouldn't have time to make any quilts of my own. So, here are a dozen more to give you another shot of eye candy before I wrap up my PIQF report. As should be obvious, my preference is for art quilts and pictorial pieces. To give credit where it's due, there were some absolutely astounding traditional quilts in the show, but, while I admire the time and workmanship that goes into them, they just don't do much for me, so I seldom photograph them.

Wonderful quilting in this one, but it's quite invisible here. ~8>(

Interesting 3-D effect.

More adorable animals.

Gorgeous Japanese fabrics.

Look at the embellishments!!

Detail of above.

Good example of thinking outside the box (or border).

Beautiful colors, fabulous curves!

Detail of above.

I LOVE black and white pieces! (Though I can't believe this got hung on a black background...)

More great color.

IMO, the piece de resistance of the show. This one has everything... color, black & white, curves, and bling, bling, bling, with embellishment in the form of a mind-boggling 55,000, that's fifty-five THOUSAND Swarovski crystals. It was drop-dead beautiul... just ALIVE with light and color. Fortunately, it was one of the last quilts I viewed... what could follow this???!!!

Home Again

2010-10-18T01:23:00.000-07:00

I slept in until 9:30 this morning and still felt like I'd been hit by a truck. I dragged my butt out of bed and showered and packed up my stuff. As usual, I bought too much, and finding space for everything was a major task. An even more major task was cramming everything into the car. I'd taken the Thunderbird for this trip because I didn't trust either of the other cars to, politely put, serve me well. Fortunately, hotel Bellmen know their business, and after a few false starts, "Nick" made everything fit. Unfortunately, The Heavens chose this day to open themselves wide, and the Bay Area experienced its first rain of the season. Everything, including my poor tired body, got soaked. I sat in the car for a while, arguing with myself as to whether or not to drive directly home, or go in and eat some lunch, then, hopefully revived, tackle seeing the quilt show. After all, the show was the second most important reason I made this trip in the first place. Lunch and show won, and I really did enjoy myself once I got the lead out.

The drive home was another matter... it was totally unenjoyable. Two major accidents turned what should have been a 75 minute drive into over three hours. Thanks to the above mentioned first rain of the year, the highway was covered with a rainless summer's worth of crud, and even I experienced a few slippery moments along the way. Both accidents were dreadful, and, sadly, I'm sure one of them must have been fatal... I don't see how anyone could have gotten out of that truck alive.

At home, I awakened Martin from his afternoon nap and we schlepped my stuff into the house. I made a half-hearted stab at putting a few things away, before I collapsed on the futon, allowed myself to be covered by cats, and hit Lights Out for three hours. Upon awakening, we fed the cats, then I zoned out in front of the tube to watch a couple of CSI episodes Martin had recorded while I was gone.

While I had a fantastic time over the past few days, I behaved like a brainless fool... I ate meat, drank alcohol, had so many lattes I lost count, and scarffed desserts like there was no tomorrow... ricotta cheesecake, double chocolate fudge cake, and a marvelous concoction called affogato, which was a totally new experience for me... vanilla gelato "drowned" in espresso with a dash of chocolate. (Ack!!! I want another one right now!!) In an attempt to return to sanity, I prepared myself a green smoothie for dinner... pineapple, banana, watermelon, orange juice and spinach.

It tasted healthy and wholesome, though nothing remotely resembling an affogato, but it made me feel virtuous, and I guess it worked... here I am blogging at almost 2:00 a.m., and I feel pretty good. I probably won't feel pretty good in the morning, so I'm off to give the cats their bedtime treats, and rack up some honest sack time for myself. I'll wrap up the PIQF news and post some more pictures tomorrow.

PIQF - Day 3

2010-10-16T22:41:00.000-07:00

Today's class with Sue was the most fun ever! I'm serious! I, along with a whole bunch of women who, like myself, were many years past school age, spent the entire day behaving like first-graders, as we discovered the joy of sloshing paint about and making a grand mess. We put on our aprons, some donned latex gloves, while others, like myself, let the paint fly where it would, getting it all over our hands and under our fingernails and on our aprons and generally not giving a rat's ass where it went. Before class, some clipped leaves from plants in their front yards, others sniped leaves from trees and plants in gas stations and rest stops along the way, while others (who will remain nameless) crept out early in the morning, and clipped leaves from the lush gardens surrounding the hotel. We then brought those leaves to class, where we painted them and rolled them, and created beautiful salutes to nature. It was total and absolute fun, and I can hardly wait to get home to some of the beautiful plants in my own yard, and start making magic with them. Here are two of the pieces I created today:

And here are some created by my classmates...

Only half of us stayed on our feet to the end of the class - too much fun just wears one out! Here we are... the diehard hold-outs!

Here are some more of my favorites from the show...

The "Judges Choice" Award

Yosemite

Woodland Critters

Pandora about to open the fateful box

Tomorrow (Sunday) is my day to see the show. Up until now, I've only been able to enjoy snippets of it, due to the fact that my classes have taken up most of my time. I'll probably take hundreds of pictures tomorrow, and will then try to figure out a way to make them available for viewing.

I want to thank Sue from my heart, for one of my best PIQF experiences ever. I feel as though I've elevated my Surface Design education to a new level, and am very excited as I anticipate a new rush of creativity on my immediate horizon. In the meantime, it's way after midnight at the end of three days of exhilarating creativity. I'm totally bushwhacked and have never in my life been more ready to hit the sack!

PIQF - Day 2

2010-10-16T08:01:00.000-07:00

Today's class was called "Divide & Conquer", and was focused on design and fusing. I've done lots of fusing in the past, thanks to my job as liturgical artist at a local church, but nearly all of it has been based on designing and creating church banners. I've never done a fused quilt or quiltlet, so today was new in that respect, and was, most definitely fun and different. The morning half of the class was given over to a discussion of design elements - line, shape, color, value, texture, pattern, proportion, balance, unity, variety, perspective, etc. All quite interesting and logical... and stuff about which I've never given much thought. So now, I have lots to think about! Whether that's good or bad, only time will tell. During the afternoon we all worked on putting that wealth of information into action. Here's the raw beginnings of my piece - it's about 45x20 inches, and will have lots more stuff on it by the time I'm finished... more leaves and flowers, stitching, and plenty of embellishments.

The class was blessedly smaller than Day 1, so we were able to get lots of personal attention from Sue. Here we are, tired, but proud!

Here's another quilt from the show... Sorry, I only have time for one... gotta get to class. More later.

First Runner-Up:

Look at some of the detail... awesome, eh?

PIQF 2010

2010-10-14T22:02:00.000-07:00

I'm in Santa Clara this week at the Pacific International Quilt Festival, and am enjoying myself immensely, as usual. I arrived yesterday afternoon, checked into my room with it's fantastic view of the Santa Clara Valley (smog and all), spent the evening at the private preview of the show and vendors, open only to registered participants, and was able to view the show at a leisurely pace without the usual mob scene of the rest of the week. The show is quite impressive this year, with over 800 quilts and pieces of wearable art on exhibit, along with more vendors than I've ever seen before. As usual, the quilts were impressive, with the Best of Show being, in my opinion, one of the most stunning quilts I've ever seen. This picture doesn't remotely do it justice... while the design, colors and workmanship were fabulous, the quilting was absolutely breathtaking. It must be seen up close and personal to be truly appreciated.

This is the winner of the Judges' Choice award, which I particularly like. Again, the workmanship is exceptional, and this style of quilt appeals to me more than the traditional pieces.

This year my classes are with Australian quilter Sue Dennis. Today we spent the entire day working with Paint Sticks, exploring the wealth of possibilities for producing interesting, fun, and wonderful work. Here's a shot of us all hard at work...

...and here we are at day's end, tired, but filled with good mojo from a wonderful experience.

Here are three of the pieces I created using some of the incredible array of techniques Sue explained to us...

These are a few of the quilts in the show that have caught my attention so far...

Latino glitz and bling. I love this stuff!!

Bugs!!

More fun stuff...

Fur Kids...

Domenico - Cat of the Week

2010-10-10T10:36:00.000-07:00

Twenty+ pounds of feline pulchritude - that's our Domenico. I love orange cats, especially BIG orange cats, and when this guy showed up on my radar, I just had to have him. Joyce, a serious cat rescuer here in town, had retrieved his mother from the side of an I-80 onramp, and, a week later, Mama Cat rewarded Joyce's efforts by presenting her with six kittens. I ran into Joyce at the vet six weeks later, and she told me she had a cat for me. When I went to pick him up, I discovered he had an orange and white brother. Wow! A two-fer! I happily packed the two of them into the carrier and was on my way, when I noticed a tiny little tortie sitting in the corner of the cage. A long time ago, I made a horrible mistake in adopting two kittens, and leaving a little sister behind. I learned later she'd been dumped at the pound because no one adopted her. I've never forgiven myself for that. So, this time, I scooped up baby sister, and off we went. DH, expecting one new kitten when he arrived home from work that evening, was flummoxed to find three, but he got over it when he heard my story, as he'd never forgiven my earlier mistake, either. Now, five years later, they're our most familial unit - hanging out together and scrapping like true siblings. Brother Alessandro has maintained at a sensible thirteen pounds, while sister Lucia is practically a miniature cat at only six pounds. You might think, considering his bulk, that Domenico would be somewhat of a hazard around the house, but he's as lithe and agile as a cheetah as he barrels over, under, around, and through the house and garage, usually with Lucia in hot pursuit, presenting a ludicrous picture. He's playful, loving, intensely curious, and a wonderful lap cat, though he's been known to cut off the circulation in one's legs when lapping it up. The only thing about him that doesn't "fit" is his voice - a high-pitched chirpy squeak that makes us howl with laughter every time we hear it.

At six months - already over ten pounds...

Hanging with his buddy, Ralph...

Helping fold the laundry...

Every cat's favorite plaything...

Just being cozy...

Setting myself a challenge...

2010-10-05T16:43:00.000-07:00

This winter I'm determined to enter the art exhibit at the annual San Francisco Bay Flyway Festival, held on beautiful, wild Mare Island in Vallejo. I've been threatening to enter this show for a decade, and always flake out before I get started, but, this year I think I have plenty of time to get my act together. To that end, I went for a walk on the Benicia waterfront this weekend and took a few pictures for inspiration. I think this one will be my subject of choice - it'll give me plenty of opportunity to work with my newly acquired machine quilting chops, and make use of all of the fusing techniques I'm going to learn from Sue Dennis at PIQF next week...

While I love these beautiful rocks, I think there's too much water here - maybe for another time...

Definitely too much water in this one, but I love the expansiveness. It makes the channel look so vast. True, enormous oil tankers and auto carriers chug through here on a daily basis, but they always dwarf everything in sight, including the hills on either side, and the Carquinez bridges in the distance... not to mention looking somewhat obscene to me... invading this pristine beauty with their huge, ugly, smoke-belching bulk.

SAQA Auction Revisited...

2010-10-02T16:33:00.000-07:00

Alison Schwabe - "Timetracks 20"

I first saw Alison's work in one of my books for the Quilt National Show. I'm in the process of trying to buy all of the books from previous QN shows, because the quilts selected for their exhibit are absolutely fabulous. Much of the work is wonderfully innovative and exciting and really talks to me. In the intro of one of the books, it mentious receiving 1,151 entries which had to be narrowed down to 83. In my book, that's pretty treacherous odds! Over the years, Alison has been juried into four QN shows (as well as dozens of other prestigious shows), so when I saw her quilt in the auction, I watched it like a hawk, and, when it finally got into my price range, I nabbed it at one minute into the bidding time. It'll be here on Monday, and I can hardly wait!

Carol Watkins - "Bloomin'"

I was unfamiliar with Carol's work until I saw her piece in the auction. I was impressed by the wonderful free-motion stitching on the piece, and wasn't surprised, when I visited her website, to discover she's quite an expert at thread work. She blends digital art with the stitching and, most definitely, gives us the best of both worlds. This quilt will certainly brighten up my SAQA auction quilt wall!

The 2010 SAQA Auction is on!

2010-09-23T17:17:00.000-07:00

"Neopolitan" by Rose Rushbrooke

I await the SAQA auction each year with enormous excitement. Even if I never bought a single piece, I'd get immense pleasure just out of seeing so much wonderful art work on one website. It's pure eye candy - better than a 100 pound box of See's! Of course, I never don't buy something, and this year is no exception. I love Rose's work - it's imaginative, free spirited, and totally beautiful. Based on fractals, her work draws me into it as though I were being led into a magic cavern! I can look at it for hours, and never get my fill. I discovered Rose and her work earlier this year, and find myself visiting her gallery pages again and again. Each time, my spirit is lifted and my heart soars. The music of Johann Sebastian Bach, William Byrd, and Ralph Vaughn Williams affect me in the same manner. It's something I'll never be able to explain, but I don't really desire an explanation. Let's just leave it at, "It sends me!"

Martina - Cat of the Week

2010-09-19T18:07:00.000-07:00

Martina is a fun cat - she's tiny, cute, affectionate, incredibly curious, has an impish personality, does cool cat stuff with every move, is a great lap cat, and has a beautiful, chirping voice - most of the time. When pissed off or frightened, she can utter a gawd-awful shriek that's enough to raise the dead. I guess she can be called a "rescue" of sorts... one day my gardener drove up with Martina in her truck, and pleaded with me to take her because she (the cat) had been hanging out in the back yard, and she (the gardner) was afraid her husband was going to damage the cat. Now, my unfortunate gardener happens to be married to the world's biggest jerk, and whether or not the cat was in danger, I'll never know, but I was unwilling to take the chance, knowing some of the capabilities of said jerk. On that day, I happened to be ghastly sick with the flu, so I asked the gardener to take the cat directly to the vet and leave her in their hands. I called and explained the situation to the vet, and requested they clean the poor baby up, test her for FIV, give her the necessary shots, and "fix" her, and my husband would pick her up when she was ready to come home.

Several days later, with me still sick out of my skull and nursing the most gruesome fever-induced headache I've ever experienced, she came home and we got our first taste of her vocal capabilities. At the sight of 20-some other cats, she propelled herself, shrieking, out of the cat carrier, did a complete over, under, around, and through circuit of the house, then rocketed up onto the top of the highest kitchen cabinet, whencefrom she proceeded to issue that blood-curdling noise for a solid fifteen minutes, until she got hoarse and her voice gave out and she finally stopped. She then stayed on top of the cabinet for the next 24 hours, refusing to come down to eat or pee, steadily glowering over the edge and starting up with the screaming again any time one of the resident inmates came over to check her out. All of the others were, of course, extremely curious, and filed past her at regular intervals, day and night, and caused one and all a totally strung-out earth orbit.

Finally, the next day, she came down and we immediately grabbed her and shut her up in a bathroom with a couple of litter boxes and a bowl of food. Several hours later, when we opened the door, she walked calmly out as though nothing had happened. Whenever she saw another cat, though, she gave a loud, calculated scream, accompanied by a vicious swipe of the paw, and the other cat backed off. She headed for the top of the cabinet again, and stayed up there for a week or so, coming down only to eat and use the litter box.

After what seemed like forever, she finally adapted, and things are much more pleasant around here these days.

Favorite place to snooze...

Nosy, snoopy, always into something...

Loves to pose for the camera...

Yom Kippur 5771 / 2010

2010-09-17T17:42:00.001-07:00

May your fast be easy...

Beading 101

2010-09-16T13:32:00.000-07:00

I love big, bold pieces of jewelry, especially necklaces, so it's not surprising I adore Iris Apfel and her stupendous jewelry (see my post of July 17, 2010). I've always dreamed of creating such pieces, so when a new beading store appeared on the Downtown Vallejo horizon (see August 6 post), I decided the time had come for me to learn. I've been buying beads for years, and, like a lot of my fabric, I spend a great deal of time admiring and playing with my beads, but have never been brave enough to jump in and make something. Silly, because it's a lot "safer" to play with beads than with fabric - if you don't like what you've done with your beads, you can just snip the beading cord and start stringing all over again. On the other hand, just TRY "uncutting" fabric!

Anyway, last night I took my first beading class, and this is what I made...

Its' big, bulky, and weighs a ton, which is exactly how I like my necklaces to be! The first friend who saw it offered to buy it on the spot. Hmmmm... this is something to think about...!

29 Years...WOW!!!

2010-09-13T13:45:00.000-07:00

In spite of misgivings from more than a few family members and friends, WE knew this marriage would last... and it has! It's been exciting, fun, wondrous, silly, wild, mostly smooth, definitely interesting, and, each year, we're more and more glad we did it!

Ralph - Cat of the Week

2010-09-12T17:50:00.001-07:00

Am I permitted to have a "Favorite" child? I think most parents do, whether or not they wish to admit it. Though I try to love and treat all of my kids equally, This One stands out on personality alone! Smart, entertaining, outgoing, sociable, elegant, good-natured... this guy has it all! Actually, the word that applies best to him is "Neat". In fact, he's a Medically Certified Neat Cat. Every time we take him to the vet, whichever vet or tech handles him, always returns him to us with the words, "This is a really neat cat!"

He got off to a rough start in life, and pure chance led me to him. I was on my way home from a crushingly boring board meeting late one night (the one night the vet happened to be open until 10:00 pm) when I realized I'd forgotten to pick up some meds for one of the other cats. I was tired and pissed and totally fed up with Boards, and had a brief argument with myself as to whether to drive over to the vet hospital before hitting the freeway, or waiting until the next day to make the trip. "Do It Now" won the argument and I headed for the vet. In the lobby I saw two young women crying as they hugged one another and peered anxiously into a shoe box that held a limp little grey furball, almost too small to be believed. They said their kitten was sick and they couldn't afford to take care of him, and the vet had said he would have to be put to sleep. Those words always send a red flag up in my brain, so I asked if I could speak with the vet. Turns out, the young ladies had just gotten their first jobs, first apartment and first car, and, of course, wanted their first kitten to go along with everything else. At four weeks old, he was way too young to be taken away from mom, to which was added the problem that these well-meaning ladies had no idea what to do with a kitten. They pretty much expected him to be a self-functioning, maintenance-free unit, so they didn't feed him right, didn't clean up after him right, didn't know how to deal with the fleas, didn't keep him warm enough, and on and on. He was literally hanging on by a thread of life. I told the vet I'd intervene, but, if I did, he would become my cat. Long story short... I won custody, he stayed at the vet hospital for a week while they repaired him, and then came home to join our family. He truly is a Neat Cat - there's just no other way to describe him. I've never known such a personable creature, and will be eternally grateful to whatever made me turn around and drive to the vet's that night!

First day home, fearlessly exploring his new life...

Up close and personal...

Always into something...

Knows how to relax...

Displays just the right amount of "attitude" about what's his vs what's ours...

Very well read...

You Go, Ralpher!!

Wind!

2010-09-07T19:26:00.000-07:00

Our home is on a hill above the north end of San Francisco Bay, and it's one of the windiest areas I've ever lived in. Usually, I enjoy the wind because it keeps things cool... but I do have my limits! Last night the wind was fierce and non-stop, and rattled the windows until they made the most unearthly whining noise... it was spooky and chilling, and totally unnerved both me and the cats. True to form, DH slept through it (my guess is, he would have slept through Katrina.) This morning I found my bean tower doing a Tower of Pisa imitation:

The hummingbirds were having a terrible time zeroing in on the feeders, and had to hang on for dear life once they did land as the feeders were buffeted about. Several other birds (lower left) got blown into the fence. They finally stopped trying to fly and just sat and ate, no doubt in an attempt to gain more ballast...

The following is a dicy picture thanks to my cheesy camera, but the whole thing was so amazing to me, I had to try to capture it...

The flat area in the center of the picture is the southernmost tip of Mare Island. Directly behind it, there's a short breakwater extending out into the bay, and it's a popular place for people to fish. If anyone had been fishing today, they would have gone to visit Davy Jones. Here, the breakwater is almost totally submerged, with a couple of giant waves crashing over it near the shore.
Everything finally calmed down a couple of hours ago, but I'm sure things will get rough again soon...

Yoda - Cat of the Week

2010-09-05T19:09:00.000-07:00

It's difficult to write this week's "bio" because there's a very strong possibility Yoda won't be with us much longer. He was recently discovered to have substantial cancer growing in his liver and kidneys, and it's quite obvious to us he's going downhill quickly. In the meantime, he's acting his usual self, and doesn't show much evidence of being sick, except that he's lost a frightening amount of weight. These pictures are from his more "beefy" days.

For years, Yoda was the neighborhood thug, as in, this was HIS neighborhood. He was mean, fearless and BIG. He pounded every male cat that crossed his path, and impregnated every female. People tried to trap him, a few shot at him (he still carries around a BB in his chest), and just about everyone hated the sight of him. At the time he wasn't our cat - supposedly he belonged to the neighbors next door (though I seriously doubt he ever "belonged" to anyone.) Said neighbors fed him (occasionally) and their dysfunctional/psychotic son claimed ownership and carried him around like a sack of potatoes. He was always getting injured in fights, or picking up some upper-respiratory crud, whereupon we'd scoop him up and patch him up, only to have him return a few weeks later with something else wrong with him. Finally, he showed up on our doorstep late one night, staggering, bleeding from the nose and groaning with each breath. Enough! We took him to the vet and left him there until they got him completely repaired, including shots, dental work and neutering. In the meantime the neighbors had been evicted (no surprise there) and spent the week Yoda was in hospital moving out of their house. When they asked, we denied any knowledge of his whereabouts, so they left without him. After nearly two weeks in the hospital, we brought him home and explained to him that he was going to be an indoor cat from now on. He quickly decided he'd landed in Cat Heaven, and settled in easily to regular meals of good food, cushy cat beds all over the place, zillions of cat toys, lots of windowsills in the sun, plenty of bathroom sinks (his favorite place in which to lounge), and regular petting and brushing. He's become a wonderful pet over the years - affectionate, playful, mellow, and always, but always, eats everything put in front of him. He's still a bit of a bully, but old habits die hard, and the other cats have accepted him, for the most part, with only an occasional swat or hiss when he tries to push them around.

Here he is a few days into the "indoor" life - still looking every bit the thug he was...

If you happen to be where Yoda wants to be, you can either move, or he'll sit on top of you...

It's a good thing there are plenty of sinks in this house!

Over the years, we've determined the only bad thing about having pets is that you always outlive them. We'll miss Yoda terribly when he's gone, but, in the meantime, we'll give him the best of everything we can, and promise to help him transition with dignity when the time comes.