Had to be outside today

What a gorgeous day we had here today. It was like summer with all the beauty of Spring. Took a tour around the yard today just to see what was up. We've had a pair of mallards in the creek and they were back today. When I went out the male was wandering around under the bushes.

Then he joined his mate in the water.

We went to a native plant sale on Saturday and Ray has been planting our purchases. One of my favorite is this bunchberry, which we hope will spread as a ground cover along the creek bank. I love the color and shape of the leaves.

My two trilliums are blooming. These are also natives and are my favorite spring wildflowers. I hope to have more of these along the creek as time goes by.

The rhododendrons are starting to bloom.

Here's Gracie checking out the paving stone project that Ray has been working on. This will be a little paved area off the front porch, from which a nice pathway will wind down toward the creek.

Can you see that one of the bricks has popped up right in front of the fish block. There is some kind of critter that has tunneled under there we think. A couple of the blocks and a bunch of the sand was pushed upward. I will stain the cast blocks when they are all in place. I think it is looking great, don't you?

There is a lot to be done all around the yard. This birdbath (for drunk birds?) was left by the previous owners. It has to go.

I finally worked out how to get the patina on my copper-roofed bird feeder. I have been hoping for several years now that it would appear naturally, but it needed some help. This is how it looked in February. When I asked here a couple people suggested I spray it with vinegar or muriatic acid. I tried the vinegar, but it did nothing. Last week I got on the internet and looked for info about producing a green patina on copper and found instructions for spraying it with vinegar and salt. Eureka! This is what happened after only two spritzings.

Now that's what I wanted.

Glorious day. We had Sofia running through the sprinkler late in the day and this season's first dinner on the deck.

I hope you had a great day, too.

Hardware on the quilt

Like I said, I have been in a mood to follow up on some ideas I've had. Not saying they are necessarily good ideas. The little geometric piece I have been fooling with is nearly quilted and it occurred to me that it might be a candidate for some embellishment. Something simple and textural. I'm still not all the way to gobs of sparkly stuff sewn on my quilts.

This past week I have been driving 30 miles each day to training for a job. The training has been in the little town of Woodburn, south of Portland. One day when I went out to scout out some lunch I saw an old-fashioned Hardware store. I am inordinately fond of hardware stores, so I checked it out, thinking I'd take a look at brass washers for my little quilt. I found brass washers as well as copper ones, which seemed like a real find to me. And I must mention that this was a hardware store where all the nuts and bolts and screws and washers were in little drawers, not packaged up in plastic, so you could buy as many or as few of anything as you wanted. It also had the requisite skinny, wizened and quite grumpy old clerk. This place was the real deal.

So I have been playing with ways to embellish this piece. Here, washers only.

These are not sewn on. I'm still moving things around. The washers don't seem like enough, so I got out a bag of wooden beads and used a few of them, combined with washers. (The color is not good in these photos—sorry)

How about randomness over geometry?

I'm still thinking about this. I think maybe I need to be more intentional with the embellishment. Maybe I will hate it, then I can pick them all off. I dunno.

Now about the job—
Retirement has been nice these last couple of years, but dang! the economy tanked and our retirement assets took a big hit. We need to work for awhile. I applied to work for the 2010 Census, took the test and got a call that they wanted to hire me. I spent last week in training and at the end of the week about 2/3 of the training class started working. The rest of us were told we are "in the pool" and to go home and wait to be called. So I am in wait mode. I hate wait mode. I want to know what is happening and when it is happening. But I am waiting. I think it will be an interesting job and pretty flexible. I will be doing "quality control" which means I will check a sample of the work done by the first round of enumerators who are now going around and verifying all the addresses. This is in preparation for the real count that will take place next year. Has someone from the Census come to your house yet? They haven't come to mine, as far as I know.

My Mom worked for the Census one year. It must have been 1980. She found it pretty interesting. The 2010 Census is the first one that will use gps technology and be done mostly on computing devices. That was part of my training last week. I sure hope I actually get to do this and am not stuck in wait mode indefinitely.

This makes me smile—a lot

I Don't Know from ATO Records on Vimeo.

Thinking about the Galapagos

Today I was driving home from my work training (yes, I have a job that I haven't mentioned—more on that another day) and listening to NPR. They were talking about the volcano that is erupting on Fernandina Island in the Galapagos. It got me thinking about our trip to the Galapagos in 2004. We visited Fernandina Island. I think that is where I took this picture of a marine iguana that lives only there. They are the only iguanas that live in the water, though they spend the nights on land.

Ray and I are not rich, at least not in the financial sense of the word, but we have given ourselves the luxury of as much travel as we have been able to swing over the years. I think it is the best thing you can do for yourself. I don't want to die having known only my own small corner of the world. We are not fancy travelers. We have no interest in resorts, or cruises or hanging out on beaches with other Americans. We prefer to experience other cultures insofar as American tourists can. We eat the local food and stay in local hotels and inns. Our trip to the Galapagos was not on a huge cruise ship (we saw them there) but on a small, 10 passenger boat with a local guide.

The Galapagos Islands, where Darwin got his ideas for his theories and his book On the Origin of the Species, is hard to describe because it is so unique in all the world. So unspoiled, so beautiful and so rich with life. It is awesome and humbling and in some way a mystical link to that ancient, authentic order of life and creation. It is as it should be, and being there made me more aware of what we all should be and how we all fit.

Tortoise at the Darwin Research Station.

They are trying to save these incredible creatures from extinction.

Famous blue-footed booby. They really are that blue.

After long, hot days of hiking over volcanic rock, we'd arrive back at the boat to white tablecloths and beautiful dinners on the deck as the sun went down. Note the bunch of bananas ripening on deck.

The Islands were created entirely by vocanic eruptions at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean near the equator. I can only imagine how thrilling it would be to see molten lava flowing into the sea. I wish I was there.

Of all the things that this economic crisis is depriving us of, I think I miss traveling the most. But I'm happy I have memories and photos.

Page from my sketchbook. Espanola Island in the Galapagos, April 7, 2004

What the bunny brought

New hat, new shades, jazzy little car, Elmo basket and big fuzzy duckling. (Thanks, Beth! She loves it)

And . . .

Peeps. Oh yeah.

Happy Easter

Egg by Sofia

Oregon

Oregon is a beautiful place. Today I drove to Eugene, which is two hours south of Portland, to meet with the other two members of the committee that has been organizing the "Line Dance" Show that High Fiber Diet is having, starting next week.

Once out of Portland, the scenery is mostly farmland from here to Eugene and this time of year the variety of greens is breathtaking. I always think of the first time I made this drive. It was about this time of year, after we had moved from Idaho to Ashland, Oregon, which is at the south end of the Oregon section of I-5. We drove to Portland and the misty hills, beautiful barns and brilliant green were like another world to me, after Idaho's high desert sagebrush and bare hills. We passed meadows filled with sheep, just like the ones I saw today, grazing around the funny little hills that seem to pop up randomly.

I went home and started designing sheep.

I sold the pattern for quite a few years. When we moved last fall I recycled the last of the pattern sheets.

The fiber art jurying went pretty well. It was difficult, but my fellow jurors were great and we were pretty much in agreement. The group decided on a juried show and a committment to become a more polished and professional group. We took this to heart and eliminated pieces that fell short in our estimation, or simply did not work with the rest. But this is not easy, especially when you know the artists. Painful, really. It is hard to reject a piece when you know how much time and energy went into it. Or when you know what a leap it was for the maker to even enter the show. While I feel very good about the show we chose, I am feeling a little sad about the work we didn't choose.

Wednesdays don't get much better than this one

Gerrie had the STASH group for lunch today to celebrate my birthday and Linda's. Lunch was fabulous—a delicious drink, the name of which I do not remember, vegetable quiche with fresh asparagus, a yummy salad, bread and for dessert molten chocolate lava cake with ice cream and fresh strawberries. Is your mouth watering? Fun visit with everyone, except Beth who is out of town. We had a tour of Gerrie's refurbished studio and office. Gerrie gave Linda and me each a beautiful plant. I think it is a lily of some kind.

Later in the afternoon my son-in-law called to tell me that the birthday present he has been working on for me was ready. I went right over and this is what awaited me.

This is a painting of the huge indoor/outdoor market in Cuenca, Ecuador, my son-in-law Carlos' home town. Isn't it wonderful? It is not only a beautiful painting, but has special significance to me. When we spent Christmas and New Years in Ecuador in 2005/2006 Carlos' mother took me to the market to help her shop for a fabulous New Years Eve dinner. It was a memorable experience seeing all that beautiful food and beautiful people. You can see my photos of the market here, on our Ecuador blog.

Now, Ray is reheating the last of my birthday enchiladas for dinner. My birthday was actually on Sunday, but today has been a very good birthday!

This and that

This is a little peek at what I am working on right now. I seem to be in a mood to try some new ideas. Not that I am going to change my style completely, but I just have these ideas that seem to want to be tried. This is the geometry that was in my head when I started the "spring fever" piece and then the fabric just didn't want to go in this direction, but the idea stayed.

The big project for this week is finishing up the pieces for the "Line Dance" show. Last weekend I made arrangements to meet a bunch of the members at a conveniently located Starbucks to pick up their pieces for the show, which are now neatly stacked in a laundry basket in my back hallway. On Friday I am taking them to Eugene and meeting the other two members of my committee to jury the show. Now that everyone else has met the deadline, I am finally finishing up the last details of my pieces! I had the hardest time naming two of the pieces. Both were made using the 2" squares I have been making from my scraps. I didn't want to name them "scraps"—ugh! I looked up synonyms and definitions and came across "residual matter" which had a kind of ring to it, or maybe I was desperate. Anyway, meet "Residual Matter 1" and "Residual Matter 2."

Today I worked on one of my least favorite jobs, which is putting a hanging sleeve on each of these quilts. Normally I would have sewn it on by hand, so it doesn't show through to the front of the quilt, but that really is a tedious job and you really have to be sure to stitch it well, so the stitching doesn't come out. I had an idea to use my tagger gun to attach the sleeve instead.

These things were originally made for attaching price tags to clothing, but they are sold to quilters for basting quilts as well. I have found all kinds of uses for mine. The little short "tagger tails" that I use are pretty strong and it seemed like I could work each tail through the sleeve, into the back layer of the quilt and back out the sleeve to tack it along each edge. It seemed to work. The sleeve seems pretty secure and the quilt weighs almost nothing. It will have a flat rod through the sleeve. Think this is a mistake?

Tomorrow Gerrie is having lunch for the STASH group to celebrate my birthday. I love when I can keep celebrating my birthday for at least a week. My son-in-law keeps promising a birthday present is coming that he is still working on. Woo hoo—don't stop the party!

The mystery unravels

Thanks to Lynn of Mountain Vistas—she provided the first solid clue to the mystery sculptures in yesterday's post. (Although I really like Kristen's speculation that they are dessicated aliens, waiting for a good rain to rehydrate them!) Lynn said, "They look like diatoms to me. There are some interesting pictures at the bottom of this site . http://www.ucl.ac.uk/GeolSci/micropal/diatom.html "

Yes, they did look like diatoms, which is a new, but interesting, concept for me. I was rather pleased to learn that my guess that they looked like sea life or something seen through a microscope were both right! By way of more googling, I came, finally, to a page on the Tri Met website about public art along the transit routes in Portland. The section about the south transit mall near PSU says, "Fernanda D’Agostino has proposed 10 to 12 carved granite sculptures based on diatoms, microscopic organisms studied to determine the health of a water system. The over-sized “Diatoms” will be located in the infiltration strips adjacent to Portland State University in reference to TriMet’s and their shared emphasis on sustainability. " I didn't find out anymore than this, but it is, apparently a very new and ongoing installation, so there should be more information later.

I did find out that Fernanda D'Agostino is a Portland artist who has done many public art pieces and often combines scientific subjects in her artwork. Here is a site with more of her work and here is a sample. Beautiful, no?

Mystery artwork

On Friday when we went to PSU, we walked down Broadway to the PSU Urban Center. Along the way there were sculptures in the parking strips that I had never seen before.

The first one I noticed was across the street. Then all along both sides of the street for several blocks.

Are they cast concrete, or carved stone? I couldn't tell, but each was a wonderful surprise. They made me think of sea creatures or things seen through a microscope, and of course I was very drawn to the repeating patterns.

This is my son-in-law getting a closer look.

That round one on the right above—I want one just like that one!

There was no information about them, that I could see. When we got home I googled every combination I could come up with to see if I could find out more about them and found nothing. Who made them? How long have they been there? (If someone tells me they've been there for years, I'll feel like a fool!) Whatever, whoever, whenever—I loved them!

Architecture

We went downtown to Portland State University with our son-in-law. He wanted to find out about architectural programs and classes. He gathered information and talked to people. I wandered around and took pictures. It was a great old building we were in.

I love old buildings with this kind of glazed terra cotta ornamentation. This is a beautiful doorframe.

The views out the windows were great.

Now, there's a typical Portland sky for you. Drizzly, rainy day, totally white sky.

Another spectacular doorframe.

Wavery old glass in these windows. This urban campus is plopped right in the midst of the city's downtown—not like college campuses that I am used to with expansive lawns and quaint buildings with shaded walkways between them. What you see mostly are people and traffic, though many of the buildings back up to the South Park Blocks, a more bucolic setting. There is a definite energy about the place and an edgier vibe than typical campuses. As we peeked into studios and classes and observed wild-haired students scurrying about with portfolios and building models and rolled up blueprints, it made me want to be there. I have thought, from time to time, that I wish I had had the gumption in my youth to study architecture. I content myself with this instead.

New again

A week or so ago I had my little studio TV on as I sewed, watching an HGTV home makeover show out of the corner of one eye. Vern Yip was the designer and he was talking about this wonderful, classic George Nelson design light fixture that he was putting into the home.

This got my attention because this is the very light that hung over the dining room table in my parents' home when I was growing up. My mother loved Scandinavian design and when she saw this light she fell in love with it. I always thought it was very cool, and here it was again, 40+ years later, still very cool. But that was not the end. This light keeps showing up everywhere I look, it seems. The pictures below all appeared just this past week on either Design Sponge or SFGirlbyBay, two of the design blogs I read regularly.

Even though my taste in decorating is quite different from my mother's—and I think that was quite intentional on my part—I have great fondness for the things we grew up with and I remember my parents' house, which was a modest suburban '60's style house, as being quite beautiful, serene and calm. Remember the chair? Mom would have been right in style today.

"April, come she will . . .

when streams are ripe and swelled with rain."
simon and garfunkel

My birthday month. It is the month when, for me, spring really begins. It starts with that flourescent green and works its way into rhodies and azaleas and tulips and all the riot of spring flowers that makes Oregon's rain worthwhile.

Happy Birthday, today, to my friend, P. It was exactly a year ago that I stopped by her house with a pot of flowers for her birthday. I expected her to be at work and thought I would leave the flowers and a card on her front porch, but she came to the door and said she had left work, feeling really sick—flu she thought. A year later she has no memory of my being there, of her birthday or many days that followed. Within days she was in the hospital with a viral brain infection. As she recovered from the virus, one of the drugs she was being treated with caused a reaction even more painful and life-threatening than the original illness. April was a sad and frightening month. I will see her on Sunday, which is my birthday. We have been celebrating our birthdays together for nearly 50 years and her recovery makes it all the more worthy of celebration!

Today I am doing jobs that I have been procrastinating over, but I took my camera when I went out awhile ago. I hoped to see the pair of mallards that have been hanging out in our creek, but they were not around today. The earlier rain has made everything clean and shiny and oh, so green.

Even Gracie's eyes seem a little brighter green this time of year.

Window of Opportunity

This is my "windows" piece for the 12 x 12 group. You can go on over to the 12 x 12 blog and see what my thinking behind it was and check out all the other pieces.

This is our 9th of 12 planned, themed quilts. There are 12 of us. Each, in turn, suggests a theme and we all make a 12" x 12" quilt around that theme. We generally work on a theme for two months. We have three left and my theme will be the last. I haven't decided yet, what it will be.

We started this in September of 2007, so we are well into our second year together. Except, we are together only virtually. Our members are scattered around the world. Gerrie and I are the only two members residing in the same city. In terms of my own life, so much has happened in these past 18 months that it makes my head spin, but the 12 x 12 project has been a consistent thread through the good and the bad. There were times that finishing my 12 x 12 piece was the only time I spent in my sewing room for weeks at a time. It has been a focus and a commitment that has given me, at times, a refuge from stress and a source of joyful creating. And it has created friendships I would not have had. Most of us have not met face to face. I think all of us would very much like to. We jokingly talk about getting together for a 12 x 12 meetup, especially when Kristen moved to Hawaii several months ago. That seemed like a perfect setting! (Though I would be equally ready to go to Australia, or Belgium or England . . .) Perhaps it will happen—stranger things have happened.

Diane Hock's invitation to me, to be a part of this group, opened a window of opportunity for me that I didn't realize at the time would be so very, very satisfying. Thanks! "twelves" and thanks to everyone who is following our project. We love, love, love hearing from you!