Moonglow and Quilt Guild meeting 07-13-22

The full moon is so lovely tonight.  Wish my photo did it justice.  

Yesterday I went to the meeting of Surfside Quilters Guild in San Clemente.  It is a daytime guild and is doing well despite the pandemic.  In the past two years we have added about 35 new members and our membership is about 180.  About half the members attend the meetings.  We no longer do ZOOM. 

This month's speaker was Cindy Myers, a certified Judy Neimeyer instructor who updated us on paper piecing quilting techniques among other things.  Her quilts are quite colorful and, in the Neimeyer tradition, have lots of spikes.  

This quilt is brighter than the picture, can't seem to improve the color. 

Most of the quilts Cindy showed were very large.  I think this is a queen. 

Many of the quilts had this serpentine flying geese 'border'.

I like this pattern very much.  Cindy showed half a dozen variations, I like the subtle color in this one with the white sashing. 

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Still Improving! 10-09-21

It was a busy day and I hardly needed my cane!  Seems like the injection is working - hope it will last for months and months.  My leg/hip/spine still hurt, but not as bad and I can step up on a curb without that stabbing pain.  

We both had our hair cut, the car washed, money from bank, See's for gifts, and, of course, our two walks.  I finished the sleeve on the "Welcome Home" quilt that is going to PIQF, but still have the label to sew on.  Stupid arthritis in my hands keeps me from hand stitching for more than about half an hour, so things go slowly.  

I am struggling with remembering what to take when I travel!  The pandemic seems to have erased my mind in places.  I know I have a list in my laptop somewhere, but wonder if it would still apply since I made it at least a decade ago.  I did get out the daily pill bottles I fill when I travel and have them set out to fill tomorrow.  Since the TIA I now take so many pills that I need an AM and a PM bottle for every day.  How did this happen to me?  I also need to take sewing to do during the days I am up in the Santa Clara area.  And my friend Liz reminded me today that I need warmer clothing for that area since a storm is coming that will close the passes over the Sierra due to snow!  I am not going over, but there may be cold rain from the coast to the mountains.    I do have KoKo's things organized.  I can't imagine what it would be like to pack for a family!  Just for KoKo there is food, treats, bed, Froggy, quilt, poop bags, carrier, paperwork, brush/comb, and...  I hope that is everything. 

I tried again to capture that "parchment curl of California gold...." and Venus, but even bracing the camera against a tree couldn't prevent the camera jiggle.  

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Moon and Stars (planets, actually) 09-09-21

Somehow "Moon and Stars" sounds better than Moon and Planet!  The planet is Venus ("Goddess of Love that you are" for those who were teenagers in the 50s). which has been hiding all summer, but now stays up until after the sun goes down.  

 

This is not the best picture because I couldn't find anything to stabilize my phone and the moon and  Venus both appear fatter from the jiggling.  Maybe I will try again tomorrow night.   When I was a teenager and into poetry I wrote a poem about the California night.  The only line I remember is "A parchment curl of California gold laid on the warm shoulder of the night."   Of course, I have no proof that those are my original words, but I was so taken with my poetic ability that I have never forgotten when I wrote them - and where!   

I have an appointment to see the orthopedist in the morning - or maybe just his PA who is much nicer!  Maybe I will have another spinal injection and it will help with the sciatica pain. Pain is very tiring, isn't it?  I have never experienced prolonged pain and now I know what it is like.  Tiring! 

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Sewing - Full Moon 06-23-21

A busy day!   I drove down to Anaheim with some books for the 2nd hand book shop - Bookman on Katella.  I already had five small boxes of books in the car and I added two more.  There are many more left in various rooms.  He only gave me credit for about half of them and said he could keep the others for his "dollar shelves", so I said "sure", because I didn't want to take them home and don't know if the library volunteer book shop is taking books now.  Trouble is, I already miss all those books I have already read, some of them twice.

Quite near the Bookman is the one remaining quilt shop in Orange County, that I know of anyway, - Orange Quilting Bee.  So, I stopped there for some batting.  I am about to quilt the little houses quilt I made last spring/summer and thought I had all the dimensions worked out.  WRONG!  The yardage for the backing is 42" and the quilt top is 45"!  I hadn't thought that I would need to add to the back, which is a directional pattern.  The best thing to do would be to construct some more house blocks and put them in a vertical row on the back.  Do I want to spend the time doing that?  Don't know.  

Also the Quilter's Dream batting I had set aside is neither long enough or wide enough!  Hence the stop at OQBee today.  They don't carry Quilter's Dream but JoAnn's does.  However, I want to support the quilt shop so I will use Warm and Natural. 

I was pleasantly surprised that the clerk put in a piece of the label - thoughtful. 

On our walk this evening about 8pm the almost full moon was so bright I had to take a picture.  It doesn't look bright here, however.  Can you even see it on the right side about a third of the way from the top?   Tomorrow night is the full moon, maybe I will try for a better image. 

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Big Moon and another mask 05-06-20

Tonight is the Flower Moon, ostensively the last "big moon" until April 2021,  It looks brighter to me, if not bigger, and really lights up the sky.  Since our weather is so hot we wait until the temperature drops below 80F to go for our evening walk and it is quite dark out by then.  Tonight it was 81F at 8:50pm and we headed out.  Not a breath of a breeze - HOT,  But the moon was up, low in the east, so we had a good look. My cell phone camera is not adequate for night pictures, but you get the idea, I'm sure.  

               

                                             

                                                                                                                                             

Here it is caught in the branches of a coral tree that is just setting the red blossoms. 

Earlier today I spotted this bush wearing a mask to protect it from the Virus.  It made me laugh.  The residents at this house have a nice sense of humor and do funny things for various holidays. 

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Heatwave 04-25-20

We are having a very warm end of April.  The high today was 90F, but yesterday we were up to 91F and Thursday was 101F.  Even with the A/C I am flushed and sweaty and don't feel like even moving.  KoKo and I are walking early in the day and waiting until the temp gets down to 80F in the evening, the last few days this has been about 9pm.

This gives us a chance to admire the crescent moon and the brightest light in the sky, the planet Venus.  Even though I held the camera against a car I still shake too much.  The crescent moon is in the tree and Venus is high above - both are blurred.  I'm always amazed at the lightness of the sky in the pictures, as it is quite dark in reality.  

I did takeout sushi for lunch from our favorite local place, Fish in a Bottle, and it was very good.  I bought two rolls, but was more than full with one, so it is sushi for breakfast tomorrow.  Yum! 

In today's mail I had a lovely package from Carol Esch of New Jersey who I met in an Empty Spools class at Asilomar several years ago.  She had come across some Ruth B. McDowell postcards and sent them to me because she knows that I collect Ruth quilts.  AND she included one of the masks she has been making.  The quarter inch elastic goes through the channels on either side and fits behind the neck and over the head, so it fits very snugly against the face.  it is sort like a halter top only on the face!  Much better than what I have made with ties on all four corners.   I am looking up because I think it shows the fit better to have my saggy chin stretched up!!  

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I'm sturggling like almost everyone is. 03-28-20

One saving grace for me is taking KoKo for his walks twice a day.  We go in the morning sometime between 7 and 9 and in the evening at 7pm.  These evenings while we are out, the sun goes down and sometimes there is a glowing sunset.  But then the sky darkens and there is the moon and Venus in the western sky.  

I can't hold the camera perfectly still and leaned it against a car to take this shot.  But it still distorts the glowing planets.  

Tomorrow we will walk again and I will try to discipline myself to actually accomplish something.   The Black Beast looms and I must get myself in a different mood.  I try to not read anything about the Orange One or much about the Virus.  And I have sought out some funny videos.  Wish I had a solution for myself.  And everyone else who is in trouble over this crisis.  I'll keep working on it. 

Here is some helpful information on the neighborhood sidewalk. 

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New "Worm" Moon 03-09-20

The Worm moon is the last full moon before the winter equinox, so called because the ground is thawing and the worms are starting to dig around in the soil.  There are a number of different nicknames for this moon, including the Crust Moon because the snow becomes crusty from daytime thawing and night time freezing, the Sap Moon because it is time to tap maple trees for sap, the Lenten Moon because it appears right around the Christian season of Lent, and the Crow Moon in connection with Native American folklore.  It is a supermoon which appears to be larger and brighter than just an every night old moon!

Hiding in the clouds.  7:30pm PDT

This was taken with the "night" setting on my cell phone camera.  It made an interesting shape out of the round moon. The  temperature at 7:30pm tonight was 70F.  The predicted rain did not fall, maybe tomorrow. 

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The Wolf Moon 01-10-20

A lovely full moon tonight while we were out for our walk about 7pm.

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The last full moon of the decade 12-13-19

I don't understand why some sources made such a big deal about this last full moon of the decade.  Isn't there always a last full moon in every decade?  Odd.  Anyway, I like the picture. 

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Wordless Wednesday 07-03-19

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On the Road Again 02-03-15

I haven't been to see my friends Mary and Joe in San Juan Bautista since August - what with one thing or the other.  Joe is in a rehab facility for the next two weeks, so I might not see him.  But Mary and I are chattering away.  Funny we talk on the phone and via e-mail, but there is always so much to say when one sees a friend face-to-face.

 

I drove up this afternoon and thought I might arrive before dark (the road up the mountain to Mary's is winding, and very, very dark), but as I drove over the Grapevine I developed a nose bleed!  I thought it was just a passing thing, but I soaked several hands full of tissues and had to get off the road.  The Pyramid Lake exit was next, so I used their lovely, clean bathroom facilities to clean up a bit.  I did the usual things, squeeze the nose, lay back in the seat and hold the nose, apply ice (although a block of blue ice was probably not  terribly effective), and finally packed the nostril with a tissue plug.  It seemed to stop bleeding so I ventured back out  on the highway.  The plug on top of all my other efforts worked and it didn't bleed but a little bit after that.  It is one of those "what would you do?" things.  The first requirement is to get off the road because you can't stanch a nosebleed and pay attention to driving at the same time, much less keep the blood off your clothes.   The problem is caused by a deviated septum, so I guess  it is time to have my nose cauterized again.  It's been a dozen years at least since the last time I had this problem.   

 

It was terribly hazy all the way up I-5 so I couldn't take any pictures, I tried a few, but they were mostly just white.  But as the sun set it cleared a bit, so here are some sundown shots.

Just after the sun dropped below the mountains to the west.

 

As it dropped lower it lit up the clouds.

 

Even to the east of the highway there were pink clouds.

 

And then a hazy full moon with a star to the right and highway lights below.

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Moon in the morning 01-18-14

I am not a morning person, so I rarely see the wonders of dawn.  These pictures are not quite dawn, but it was fast approaching.

 

 Moon and the long needle pines.

Moon in the Melaleuca tree.

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Tomorrow (actually today) the exhibit of quilts from the Thomas Contemporary Quilt Collection will close at the Visions Art Museum in San Diego.  I'll take one more trip down with a friend and then go back on Tuesday to bring the quilts home. 

Wordless Wednesday 04-03-13

 

A Slice of Fullerton 03-29-10

Does anyone use Microsoft Publisher? On Saturday when I was deep into finishing the Surfside QGuild newsletter I pulled up the program and the header had changed from what it has been since I started using it last April. I tried everything I could think of, including going back to March 1st, but nothing worked. So, I drove over to the Notebook Shop to see if they could help. The tech tried all the things I had tried and finally we reloaded the program from the original disc. Still no luck. Finally, he brought up his program on his computer and he had the same 'problem'. Everything is still there on the program, but since it looks different I have to stop and think and search, taking longer to do almost everything. Then I drove home and stopped in Fullerton at the cheapest Arco station around. While my sixteen gallons were pumping I looked around at the trees and the sky and the moon.

It was rather late in the day and sun cast a pink shadow on the white building in the background. The wind was still agitating the palms and the almost full moon was floating in a very blue sky.

On the top of the station building is this odd looking 'smokestack' which greatly resembles the smudge pots they once used in the citrus orchards. Guess it isn't very stable since it has guy wires to support it against the Santana winds which blow from just that direction.

Looking over the hood of my car and across busy Orangethorpe Blvd, I could see the snow topped peaks only fifty or so miles away. Wonder how Harry Sidhu placed his sign so high on the pole. And did he have permission? To me the worst thing about elections is the plastering of signs on every possible spot - ugly to the extreme.

Too bad it isn't a video showing the wind shaken fronds. It was a lovely evening.

The biggest moon 01-12-09

Here is the moon on January 8th, just past sundown. I read a report that this moon would be larger than any other this year - it has to do with the way the earth and moon and sun relate at different times in their phases. Of course, in this picture it just looks like any old moon! Click to enlarge

The Chinaberry trees are in full 'berry' right now. This one is in a backyard that belongs to someone I don't know, so no closeups.

I'm sure I had seen hundreds (at least) of Chinaberry trees before I knew what they were. They are originally from northern India, China and the Himalayas, and were brought to the Americas in the mid-1800s. I learned their name in SCarolina where they are grown as shade trees and reportedly bring good luck to the home. The leaves are a shiny dark green and very dense, the trunk twists as it grows. And then there are the thousands of tan berries that last well into winter, after every leaf has fallen. Unfortunately, every part of the tree is highly poisonous. It reseeds rapidly and is considered an agricultural and wildlife hazard in a number of states. I've long thought of doing a Chinaberry quilt, but haven't found a way to make the berries satisfactorily. One of these days.

http://www.floridata.com/ref/M/meli_aze.cfm

Enchanted w/the moon 09-11-08

It is cooler at night now and the Sycamore leaves are turning brown, seems like autumn is on its way. There were very white broken clouds at 8pm when I left the BCQG meeting in San Juan Capistrano. The moon is waxing gibbous and the moonlight lit up the clouds to make them even whiter. Impossible to take a picture without some glow from the parking lot lights - the green hazy at bottom right. I'd love to have a nice Canon digital w/changeable lens, but I have too many house expenses right now. Maybe in January.

9/11 brings memories to everyone. I couldn't watch much of it on TV, it was too disturbing - I think if I never see another picture of the planes going into the towers I would be happy. The thing I remember most is that the Poodle Parents were on a business trip and were supposed to return on Tuesday evening. Of course, they couldn't fly and couldn't find a car to rent, so they didn't return until Saturday. Meanwhile Corky continued to stayed with me, but I had a responsibility at the BCQG meeting on Thursday night, so I just took him with me! He was so good, he sat on a chair next to me or in his soft bed on the floor. I think it cheered everyone up a bit to have this happy fuzzy white poodle at the meeting. I've taken him three times since then and he is always a good dog. Admittedly, it isn't his favorite thing to do, but he tolerates it.