Last day in Pacific Grove, CA 10-16-21

And it was a busy day.  

 

Had this hearty breakfast at Toastie's - 2 eggs over easy, five enormous strips of excellent bacon, six 3" pancakes with syrup, 3 cups of coffee and lots of people watching.  Something I have certainly missed during the pandemic.  I do love to observe people and make up stories about them.

I saved half the bacon and ate it for dinner tonight with my left over broccoli and a hard boiled egg from home.  Tasty!

Then another browse at Back Porch.  It is the BEST quilt shop ever.  And the ladies are so friendly and helpful.  I was specifically looking for a background for the Canyon Quilters Challenge and bought a piece of greenish-greyish Scrunge.  Thought I might get going on that 14" quilt today, but ran out of time. 

As you see, a fabulous day and there were people all along the road that follows Monterey Bay to the end of Hwy 68 at the entrance to Asilomar.  There were people setting up their spots to relax.

 

And people watching the birds, like this long line of brown pelicans flying along. 

And people running.  This one gave me a pang as he resembles my late husband was a daily runner, a habit he formed in college and he ran wherever we were in the world. 

 

And some people hauled their home in and parked, apparently for the day since they have their bump-out set up.  I thought there was a limit to how large a vehicle one could park and how long one could stay.  

There were also walkers, dog walkers, baby strollers, electric bikes, non-electric bikes,couples, families, singles, hand-holders.   It seemed that everyone was out and about in the sunshine.  I just drove along at 15-20 mph enjoying the sights.  Wonder when I will be back here again.  Hopefully before Empty Spools in the spring.  

Back in my motel room I set up for the ZOOM workshop with Brenda Gael Smith in Australia.  It was her three hour circles/curves and was an excellent little class.  I had all the materials and equipment with me and found her to be a good teacher.  It would be better to have her in person, but under the circumstances it was great.  The last time I saw Brenda was at PIQF  few years ago.  Hope she will be able to come to the States again one day.  

And here is a little quiz for you.  Which side is up?  The very light color is actually a pale yellow on yellow print, not quite as pale as in the images.  I'll try for better color when I decide which is the top and which is the bottom. 

Back to PIQF in the morning to look at the quilts until they close and I can pick up our six quilts and head home.  I'll stay some place along I-5 and finish the drive on Monday.  Don't expect I will get very far tomorrow evening.  

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Hurrah - On The Road Again! 10-12-21

But I have forgotten what a hassle it is to get online at a new motel.  And "they" want me to put a lock on my phone so that everytime I use it I will have to unlock it.  Things get more complicated every day.  I hope I can figure out a way to just sign in while I am here without having to change my password or unlock something every time.  Groan.   To top it off, this room has no desk or table.  I have my laptop on a little round side table and the mouse on a chair and I am sitting sideways on soft upholstered chair - my neck already hurts.  So, this may be short. 

My cell phone camera did not take all the pictures I thought I took.  When I take them my mind writes a sort of story line and those images are all missing.  Don't know what this one is, but it is soft and sweet!

Instead of going north on I-5 to Santa Nella and taking 152/156 over Pacheco Pass and then having to go south on 101 and 01, I decided to take 198 from Harris Ranch to 101.  It is a slow road, but very little traffic.  Lots of curves, posted speeds down to 20mph, but I did enjoy the scenery. 

Unfortunately, these are all the pictures that came out. 

The only living things I saw were ravens, crows and a few black cows.

Hwy 101 goes through the Salinas Valley where much of the vegetable crops are grown to feed the entire country.  Interesting to see how many more huge wind turbines have gone up in the past two years when I haven't driven this way.  And, unfortunately, also more houses that take up farm land.

By the time I got to Salinas it was dark, so I didn't see anything but headlights and taillights from 101 to Pacific Grove.  I stopped at Il Vecchio, my favorite Italian restaurant, and had pumpkin soup and broccoli and bread - delicious.  I poured the olive oil/balsamic vinegar that came with the bread over the broccoli and will have it for salad tomorrow.  Yum. 

I am at the Rosedale Inn, across the street from Asilomar.  I've never stayed here before, but wanted to stay somewhere familiar since I will spend the week sewing in my room, if I can get a table to put my machine on.  I take the quilts to PIQF tomorrow and pick them up on Sunday, so I have lots of time to just rest, sew, walk, visit Back Porch Fabrics, and see some friends.  KoKo is with a KoKo Keeper in Yorba Linda - Laura Bell has taken care of him before, but not for several years.  She says he is being good.  

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The long drive home 10-15-18

I don't mind the drive down I-5, but it does seem to get longer each time I do it!  The weather was lovely, there wasn't much traffic until I was over the mountains into the LA basin, and everything went smoothly.   There has been a Santa Ana wind blowing since last night and there is a lot of debris from trees on the local streets, but no problems in my neighborhood.  I picked up KoKo from the KoKo keeper about 4:30pm.  I'm sure he has been indulged while I was gone and he put his nose in the air when I gave him his dinner.  Eventually he ate it, we took a little nap and at 7:30p we went for our walk.  Back to everyday life.

I'm always showing pictures of orchards and blossoms and vineyards along I-5, but most of it is very desolate and dry and rather boring.  Tonight here are some images of the dull truth of I-5!

These first two pictures are poor quality, but just above Kettleman City there has been a very large grass fire on the west side of the highway.  I didn't put down the window and got a lot more reflection of my "seat basket" than I thought I would.  But through the images of my "stuff" you can see that the fire burned right to the horizon

Since it appeared to have started at the edge of the pavement, I suppose someone threw a cigarette butt out their window and drove off leaving devastation behind. 

This is a typical view... for miles and miles.  

Lots of electric towers to carry power through the central valley. 

And endless lines of trucks carrying goods everywhere. 

The farmers plead their case with signs all along the miles.  The most common one asks the question, "Is growing food wasting water?"

Approaching Buttonwillow truck stop where there is both a Starbuck's and an ARCO station.  But I didn't stop today.  

Further south, past the gas station and motel at Grapevine, the road goes up through the section of road known as the grapevine.  It isn't as curvy as it was sixty years ago when I first drove it, but with the slow trucks and the hotshot car drivers one must keep alert.  The trucks are going about 25mph and the hotshots are trying for 90mph.  Note that all the tree growth is on the right side, or the west side of the canyon which gets less sun than the east.

 High on the top of the hills on the right there are pine trees growing.

Long lines of trucks going north and the blue sky, cleared by the high winds so there is no smog today. 

It was a seven hour drive with three potty stops.  Not bad. 

I'll work on the  PIQF photos tomorrow and hope to post tomorrow night.  

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PIQF (Pacific Int'l Quilt Festival) 10-04-18

PIQF is October 11 - 14 at the Convention Center in Santa Clara.  I haven't been in several years due to time conflicts, so I am eager to see what they have hanging.  I'm not much on vendors, but I'm sure I will be investigating some.  San Jose Museum of Quilts and Textiles has a pop-up booth showing log cabin variations.  And the small group I belong to has an exhibit of eight quilts with the theme "Urban Elements".   I'll be hanging them on Wednesday morning  and picking them up on Sunday after the show closes.  If you see me, say hello. 

As a teaser, here is my 24"W x 36"L quilt "Birds in the City".  It wasn't all quilted when I took this picture.  It is fused using mostly scraps and bound in the style of Sue Benner with several layers of zig-zag stitching.  I've used a lot of different threads for the quilting, including some #8 Perle cotton, which works okay in my non-computerized Pfaff. 

And I have utilized double needles along with regular needles.  In the park section there are five birds, a pool, a stream, tree trunks, and lots of bushes and plants.  And there is danger lurking among the leaves.  

The eight quilts will be shown next year in an exhibit at Visions Art Museum along with a companion piece to each one.  Mine will be "Birds in the City #2". 

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