bell street journal

On My Way

2012-01-18T03:16:00.000-08:00

I'm writing this from my hotel room in Jamacia, New York, near JFK International Airport. I leave for Nairobi, Kenya in about 4 hours and I can't sleep. Nonie is curled up, hidden under her blankets in the other bed. I know she was awake most of the night, so it's good she's getting a few winks in now. We are both as excited as small little children waiting for Christmas! I want to go NOW!I probably won't have Internet where I'm going, so please check back after February 6th. I'll be posting photos and all about my adventures in East Africa.TTFN!

"Into Africa"

2012-01-14T22:02:00.000-08:00

photo circa 1928--found on http://www.karenblixen.com/

I have been reading up on Karen Blixen, the author of Out of Africa. I have enjoyed her books greatly over the years and I understand that one of the places I'll visit while in Nairobi will be her house and museum.

"If I know a song of Africa, of the giraffe and the African new moon lying on her back, of the plows in the fields and the sweaty faces of the coffee pickers, does Africa know a song of me" Will the air over the plain quiver with the color that I have had on, or the children invent a game in which my name is, or the full moon throw a shadow over the gravel of the drive that was like me, or will the eagles of the Ngong Hills look out for me?" Out of Africa

I will be spending a very long time in airplanes, getting to Kenya and Tanzania. A very long time. Really, the only downside to travel, for me, is getting there and coming home. The rest of it is bliss.
You just have to tough it out, but the older I get the harder it is to achieve that Zen-like state of suspended animation that is the best way to get from Point A to Point B.

"One does not travel by plane. One is merely sent, like a parcel." Karen Blixen

I found a collection of Karen Blixen quotes. I was surprised to discover that one of my favorite quotes was hers. I'd forgotten.

"The cure for anything is salt water --- sweat, tears, or the salt sea."

I am so excited about this upcoming adventure that I am practically vibrating. I am packed (yes, the 33 pound limit has been met) and I am ready. It seems like it'll be a month before Tuesday morning arrives. Patience is not my strong suit.

"You know you are truly alive when you are living among lions." Out of Africa

Oh, how I yearn to be "truly alive" by Ms. Blixen's terms! I "only" have to wait another 53 hours fifty minutes for the van to arrive to take me to the airport.

Thirty-three Pounds

2012-01-12T19:51:00.000-08:00

I am leaving on a dream holiday to Africa next week. (I can't believe I can just say that and it's true---next week!) I'm off to Kenya and Tanzania for three weeks, to look at lions and elephants and zebras and gazelles and giraffes and who-knows-what-else!

The only problem is the luggage weight restriction....thirty-three pounds. I understand why---small planes, luggage traveling by truck from one game area to another.....soft sided, easily 'cramable' and not too much stuff. I get it. I completely understand. I just don't know how I'm going to manage!

My camera weighs 4.4 pounds, all by itself with the long lens on it. That's not counting the battery charger, the extra batteries or the extra memory cards. 4.4 pounds. Big, heavy but wonderful camera. And then I have to factor in the back up camera.....you don't go on safari without a back up camera. I know about this. I went on a big trip once with only one camera. And yes, you guessed it. Camera died. Dead, dead, dead and no possibility of replacing it where I was. Taking travel photos is one of my biggest joys so I don't want to be without back up!

I have cut down on shampoo, toiletries, band aids, tissue, all that sort of thing. Bare minimum. I have a big ol' bag of medications that I have to take. I have my journal and a teeny tiny bag of journaling supplies.

I don't have very many clothes or undies, nothing much.

I am using a my day sack as my "purse" for this trip. It has just the basics, those things you have to take on your person---the duffel I'll check. My iPad (and yes, I do need to take my iPad as it takes the place of my phone and my Kindle and my computer) and the travel documents, my wallet, just what I have to have for the plane or because I truly can't get by on the trip without the item.

I've been brutal. I've cut out ALL the extras. I have that pesky 33 pound limit, after all.

And it all weights 33.4 pounds.

Sigh.

A New Beginning

2012-01-09T15:53:00.000-08:00

I have a love/hate relationship with sewing machines. I'm not proud of it, exactly, but it is something I have felt for most of my life. I like to make things and while I have used a sewing machine in the past, it usually was a painful and difficult project. I guess this is why hand stitching appeals to me so much.

I have a wonderful collection of Japanese indigo fabrics. I've been squirreling it away as I come across new pieces for years. And for years the idea of doing something in a Boro style has been growing and hand stitching it. (Boro textiles are a sort of Japanese indigo fabric patchwork done by frugal people to use, reuse and re-purpose textile scraps.)

I believe that Boro style came about when something useful was damaged, it was patched with some available scrap. In the process these textiles became a sort of "story" and many are multi-generational textiles. These fabrics have become quite collectible and I have been fascinated with them ever since I first stumbled upon a futon cover about ten years ago at an auction. I love how the tiniest piece of hand-woven indigo might be used to "fix" a hole in a useful fabric, from a futon cover to a workman's coat. Many fisher men's clothing was made in this style as it becomes thick and "padded" with the addition of layers and quilting to hold it all together, and so warm clothing to be worn while fishing
.

woven square of various fabrics, basted onto tea-dyed backing of light weight cotton

I have begun to create a boro-style cloth of my own, to use and reuse some of my collected Japanese indigo fabrics as well as other fabrics I have collected and/or purchased for use in this project. I expect at some far-in-the-future date it might become a duvet cover or quilt for my bed. What I love about it is that I am working on small pieces that will be joined together later on to form a whole, larger cloth. So far it is all hand sewn. (Thus avoiding the dreaded sewing machine!) In the future I may well use a machine to connect all the parts, but this remains to be seen. I am just working on small bits as they speak to me and I'm having a lot of fun doing so.

a woven moon, 6 inches square, hand quilted

This is my new project for 2012. Who knows how far I'll get or how it might develop? I don't! I am having fun and enjoying the process, so it's all good.

close up of a woven moon

HAPPY 2012!!!

2011-12-31T21:33:00.000-08:00

I've been away on a short three day holiday to Victoria, British Columbia. This afternoon I spotted this festive hat, chalked to perfection, on Government Street just near Murchie's. It sort of says it all, don't you think?

May 2012 be a year of adventure, creativity, health, insight, joy, growth and peace for each of us. Amen.

A Little Holiday Treat for You, Dear Reader

2011-12-24T15:06:00.000-08:00

Click here for a special treat!

And a most happy Holiday Season to one and all.
May Peace be our universal gift this year.

They're Here, They're Here!!!

2011-12-22T10:54:00.000-08:00

All my family has arrived home for Christmas. My eldest and her husband brought the newest little grandbaby, known affectionately as Bumbus. The older cousins are quite enthralled with the baby, the one they don't get to see very often.

Grandpa is happy to show off Bumbus for the camera....

....and Alex is delighted that she got to hold her, all by herself!

This is Olivia. She wasn't all that taken with the new cousin. She wanted to read Mommy's Tote
and play with the dry erase pen and notebook....

.....and this is Abby, Olivia's twin sister, who was very upset that Olivia grabbed Mommy's Tote first and that she wasn't getting to play with the dry erase pen and the notebook. She, like all of us, really, doesn't enjoy taking turns. But she did a good job waiting anyway, even though is was hard.

And this is Emma, big sister to Olivia and Abby. She is very, very happy right now because she gets to play with her cousin Alex. They LOVE to play together and really enjoy the few visits they share each year. Emma looks more and more like her beautiful mommy, Kellie, every day!

This is Ian. He is not all that taken with babies. He is not all that taken with girl cousins, either. He IS very taken with the car and trailer the Bunny Family have that lives at Gramma Gramma's house. He spends most of his time on the floor, driving the car and trailer or playing with the wooden train. Girls? Um, not so much.

Gramma Gramma is a very happy, very lucky lady.

Merry Christmas, one and all!

Snowmen Spotted!

2011-12-19T12:43:00.000-08:00

Snowmen have been spotted! Christmas must be fast approaching.....

Several years ago there was an article in Cloth, Paper, Scissors detailing how to make these little snow people out of bottles and paper clay. Sue Pelletier is the creative genius behind these cute little people. I, of course, do not have the time to be making such a mixed media project. I am getting ready for my family, who arrive tomorrow.....

....but then the clever people at Joggles not only had a video on their website about making the snowpeople, but they went so far as to collect all the materials needed to create them and put it in a kit....

And I was sunk. I ordered. The box came. I spent two days over the weekend making a huge mess and having a great, grand time. I now have a selection of snowpeople, all in quite amazing hats, to place here and there around the house. I am guessing these will be a big hit with the grands!

They certainly are a hit with me. I had the best time. I was up to my elbows in Diamond Dust and eyelash trim and paper clay....not to mention acrylic paint, brads, copper sheeting....

Totally useless. Totally time consuming. Totally darling (to my eye). And fun. Lots and lots of fun.

Here's to you and your Holiday! May it be filled with surprises, family and friends and most of all, fun!

I hope we are all smiling such a big ol' smile during the upcoming festivities. (And I wouldn't mind a festive, over-the-top chapeau, either!

Nonie's Birthday "Season"

2011-12-13T07:56:00.000-08:00

When Nonie's birthday arrived last week I was still in California hanging out with my little Bumbus, so I owed Nonie a birthday dinner. In our family we like to celebrate a birthday for more than just one day and we call this having a birthday season. If you are interested in this concept you can read about it here. Anyway, I owed her a dinner and Sunday we got together to share some seafood, a libation (or two) and a good catching up session.

I had picked Anthony's Home Port restaurant, here in my little town, and they did not disappoint. Besides good vino and excellent seafood, the view out the windows was wonderful. It turns out that many of the boats from the local yacht club are all decked out in Christmas splendor. From our table we had a fine view.

I should have remembered that this unusual Christmas display happens each year, but I didn't. I am always surprised to see boats all decked out with Christmas lights run up the masts and inflatable Santas and snowmen manning the decks.

It really is a festive and cheerful display and adds a happy seasonal note to the marina at the darkest time of the year. We braved the cold and took a stroll down to the edge of the pier after dinner to get a better look.

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like......

2011-12-10T08:35:00.000-08:00

There is a wrapping frenzy going on at my house these days. I have gotten all of the gifts that need to be posted wrapped and sent on their way, except for this last one, above. It's going to my friend in Douglas, Alaska, and I'll be mailing it today. Can you guess what it might be, Sandy? I found it for you in Fort Collins last August.

And then, I have only a few more gifts to wrap and thank goodness that pesky wrapping is (mostly) done! Does anyone else find the job of wrapping all the gifts about the least fun thing about the holidays? I was chatting about this very subject with the checker at the grocery store the other day and she reported that she pays her children to wrap their siblings' gifts. I couldn't have done that with mine....they would have paid each other major bribe money to find out if "Santa" had followed orders and gotten them their hearts' desire....

My little Tata truck is full of seasonal greenery....

....and the tree is decked from top to bottom with favorite ornaments. This blown glass swan with the impossible neck is a new find this year. Who could resist such a long necked beauty? Certainly not me!

Many of the ornaments I've acquired over the years remind me of travels. This one reminds me of my time in Shigaraki, Japan, studying ceramics.

And, of course, many of the ornaments are Santas. I love Santa and am drawn to his image in a variety of ornaments.

This weathered Santa is a real favorite of mine. We share a hair style.....it's called Bed Head and while I do have the wrinkles, I do not have the beard.

I'm not much of a glitter girl, but at Christmas time I do love the way a little silver glitter sparkles under the Christmas tree lights....

I have been lucky enough to inherit some wonderful vintage glass balls and I've found a few more to add to the collection at yard sales and Goodwill over the years. I love them piled in my painted wooden bowl. Of course, when the grandchildren arrive, I'll have to put them up in a safe place!

The wonderful Santa-in-his-sleigh cookie jar that my darling mother-in-law gave to me many years ago always has pride of place on the credenza in the dining room. It's empty still, but soon......

Late last night, long after my DH had gone on to bed, as I was tidying up and turning off lights, I found mousie watching TV. A Christmas movie on the Hallmark channel, no less. Kind of mousie to use the earphones so as not to disturb DH, wasn't it? (My DH is always putting that silly mousie somewhere odd. When I returned from California I found him on the dining room table, surrounded by a "house" made of packages that had arrived in my absence!)

Bumbus asleep in her crib

And soon, babies will be sleeping, all snug in their beds.....HERE, with ME! For Christmas!

A Short Message from Bumbus

2011-12-06T13:00:00.000-08:00

My Gramma Gramma is staying with me for a few days. My mommy had to go to Tennessee for a conference and my Daddy is very busy studying for law school exams. I promised to keep Gramma Gramma busy and entertained. I have been doing all my tricks for her. She seemed somewhat surprised that I can pull my feet all the way to my mouth....

...the look on her face made me laugh.

She surprised me, too, by giving me a wonderful food. It's call peas. Do you know peas? They are delicious.

Ah. Peas.....you really ought to try them. So splendidly green and toothsome. (If only I had teeth.)

The Last Friday in November

2011-12-03T20:39:00.000-08:00

Fred B. Mullett aka Fredly, FishBoy, da Fish and/or his Fishness

I had the best surprise for Thanksgiving weekend....my dear friend Fred was in town for a few days and he most kindly carved out a chunk of time where we were able to meet at a coffee shop in Ballard (Cafe Fiore), sit down and chat, catch up and make a postcard to send to another friend who was far far away. The postcard was 99% Fred and about 1% my feeble input---mostly "painting" with my finger dipped in my latte.

Besides being a multi-faceted talent, Fred is one of the funniest, nicest people I have ever been privileged to know. He's informed, well read, quick and a compendium of esoteric information. He knows music and can quote lines from some of my favorite movies. He's a gifted mimic and he does voices that make me laugh hysterically. He makes me smile. He has a huge heart and a generous spirit and he'd kill me if he knew I was writing this, but it's the truth. Nice man. Gentle man, in the truest meaning of the word. And my DH thinks the same about him.

We share a friend, one who lives 3000 miles from Seattle. She was not there, that lovely Friday after Thanksgiving, and she was missed. She knows who she is....Fred brought along his watercolors and his creativity and he proposed that we create a postcard to send to this missing friend, to let her know she was missed. Fred drew it. Fred did the watercolors. I did the latte painting. (Yep, that's me, always helpful!) It's all Fred but he kindly let me pretend I was "helping."

I think he created a charming postcard and I know our friend will be happy to receive it and to know how much we missed her that day, that lovely Friday in November.

You might want to check out Fred's website and see the new mask/stencil/viewing window thingie he's dreamed up. It's very cool, as are all his products (many of which I am proud to own).

Yep, Looks Like Thanksgiving to Me

2011-11-23T22:49:00.000-08:00

The view from my cabin looking down onto a farm, river in foreground.

Ah, November. November in the Pacific Northwest.....What would Thanksgiving be without flood warnings?

View of the North Fork of the Stillaguamish from my cabin

I went up to my cabin today to check on the water damage repairs. I wasn't sure I was going to be able to get there as the cabin is on the north fork of the Stillaguamish River, and boy howdy, was she running high today.

looking east from Highway 530 at the Ciscero Bridge over the North Fork of the Stillaguamish

We've had three days of heavy rain---the sort of rain the NW is famous for but really rarely gets. Everything is soggy and damp and soaked. We were lucky that there was not more, or more serious, flooding. The Stilly has crested and the waters are receding as I write this.

There is usually a storm like this in late November, so this is not unusual or unexpected. It's just wet. And damp. And sort of gloomy.

It's only November and already I'm sick of the rain. It's going to be a long winter.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! May your turkey be delicious, your day filled with friends, family and if you like that sort of thing, football. Stay dry.

Spiced Cranberries, a family tradition

Twas the Beginning of the Season

2011-11-21T16:53:00.000-08:00

I attended a fun fund-raising event the other night at Molbak's, a local nursery, justifiably famous for their Christmas displays. The monies raised went to the local YWCA and I enjoyed myself immensely.

I think this was the most perplexing item of the night....is there something other than "real plastic snow" that I don't know about? I mean, plastic snow is, er, plastic, right? Is there such a thing as fake plastic snow?

I am now officially old enough to geez, "Why, I remember when poinsettias came only in red."

My two buddies, Joanie and Susie, joined me for the evening. We started it out by having a fine dinner at the Mongolian Grill.

You know that you are in the Pacific Northwest when you can buy ferry boat and Space Needle ornaments....

I thought this little felt birdhouse was adorable. It is the sort of ornament that makes me think, "I could do that."

But I won't.

I thought this display with all greens and silver was very pretty. The glittery holly leaf tree was something that appealed to me, but NO!!! I don't NEED it. I have no idea where I'm going to put all the PEOPLE who will be with me at Christmas, let alone decorations that I really, truly-o do not need.

As my family will attest, I am a real sucker for Christmas ornaments. I have a Christmas ornament problem. Every year I have to buy more, and every year I buy more for my family. Each member of the family gets an ornament each year. I started doing this when my first child was born and I've continued it for many years. (I won't tell you how many as my eldest might not want the world to know how many ornaments her mother has given her.)

I thought my grandson might like this engine, but I have already purchased a fine ornament for him and I restrained myself.

I could have gotten this lovely sign for my middle child, the one who attended Stanford (whose mascot is a cardinal)....but I didn't.

All in all, I was very restrained. I did buy two orchids for myself, but that was about it. (Lovely orchids that have multiple stems with many, many blooms! Wonderful orchids.) Have I mentioned my orchid problem? Noooo?

Oh.

I was so inspired I spent the weekend making, address, stuffing, sealing, stamping and addressing my Christmas cards. And then, I cleaned up my mess!!! I have never had them ready to mail before Thanksgiving before.

It sort of scares me, actually.

Talkin' Turkey

2011-11-16T00:28:00.000-08:00

L to R: Daddy to the little ones, Em, Granty and the Birthday Boy (Grandpa)

Once upon a November evening, a family gathered together to celebrate the Grandpa's birthday. There was a meal of comfort food, the family gathered around the table, passing bowls and butter and hogging the mashed potatoes. This family will, unfortunately, not all be together on Thanksgiving this year, so the birthday celebration was a sort of Thanksgiving celebration, too. As is the tradition of this family, chocolate turkeys were at the places of the three youngest family members present (there are younger family members who, alas, were not present for this dinner). Chocolate turkeys are the best part of any Thanksgiving celebration, in the opinion of the children at the table (and may well be an opinion held by some who are not, um, exactly young anymore....but I digress).

Emma is demonstrating how you can make a much grander tail for the foil-wraplped turkey by the addition of a sandal wood fan to said turkey's posterior

The most amazing thing about this particular family tradition is that, as the chocolate turkeys are unwrapped and then eaten by the children, the chocolate turkey speaks! It says things like, "Noooo, don't take off my lovely foil feathers! It's cold!" and "Why are you licking me??!?" in a high, squeaky voice.

This year for the first time, the Twins really participated in the turkey torture. They loved the talking turkey. They, pardon the pun, ate it up.

"Not my feet! No, don't eat my feet!"

"No! NO! No, don't eat my head! I can't gobble if you eat my head!"

"Nooooo! Not you, too! Not my beautiful feathered tail!"

Sometimes it is difficult to understand that the turkey really is complaining so bitterly, especially if you are only three....

"It's really dark down here! Where am I! It sort of feels like I'm inside a tummy!!!"

....but it becomes funnier and funnier as the chocolate turkeys are devoured and the talking turkey makes more and more outrageous (and outraged) squawks.

The turkey continues to complain, and the girls continue to gnaw off pieces of their chocolate, with relish.

Em has loved the talking turkey for many (well at least four) years now. She loves to torture the poor bird. She looks forward to Thanksgiving each year so she can slowly dismantle the chocolate turkey and ignore it's pleas.

Ah, the young can be cruel to a poor chocolate turkey.

And this year we managed to get a picture of the crabby turkey, the turkey who complains and whines and begs not to be eaten. Remarkably, it bears a striking resemblance to Granty Nonie. Who knew?

Finish Stocking....Check!

2011-11-14T10:36:00.000-08:00

I know that I have written about making this stocking for my newest grandchild before, the child her mother calls "Bumbus." I actually finished it the other night. In November! Not on the late afternoon of December 24th! Finished it completely----clipped all the threads, hand-sewed it together with tiny little stitches where it had to be hand finished, used the scary sewing machine for the big seams, ironed it, patted it, praised it and then I cleaned up my mess!

I really like the mouse. Actually I love the mouse.

The bird is okay but the mouse rocks!

It was a lot of work but I enjoyed almost all of it....I did mention the scary sewing machine, didn't I? I have an ongoing love/hate relationship with sewing machines. I love the speed of zipping through a long seam and the strength of that seam, but they never ever do what I want the first time and often, when they do comply it is with a sort of sullen, grumpy, "oh, all right, if you insist" attitude. (Rather like a teenager....ever try to get one to take out the trash without a dump truck load of attitude?)

But the stocking is finished. I am happy with it. I sure hope my granddaughter, little Bumbus, loves it, too. What if she doesn't?

Oh, dear.....

San Miguel Travel Journal -- Part Two

2011-11-12T05:59:00.000-08:00

Here is the second half of my travel journal from my September visit to San Miguel de Allende. It was a fantastic trip and I enjoyed reliving my experiences there by photographing the pages of my journal.

The most frequent questions people ask is, "Isn't it hard to do all this while you are traveling?" and the answer is YES! It is!...sometimes. I try to do something for each day, even if it is just a list of things I want to write about later, or the ephemera that I collect being sorted and culled. I am too tired, some nights, to work on the journal, but I try very, very hard to keep pretty current with it as I have found that when I try and write it up after returning home the immediacy is lost---it seems flat. I am always, always glad that I have taken the time to do a good job journaling when I get home.

Yes, I do reread my journals and I find it is a great way to be able to find the name of that restaurant or of that nice man who was such a good guide/painter/shop owner/whatever.

I often incorporate purchased postcards into the travel journals. I can use them to add writing space, if needed, and sometimes a postcard will have that perfect photo (that I didn't manage to take) or some historical figure or place that I want to be sure to remember. They are very inexpensive mementos.
The self portrait of Diego Rivera on the page above was purchased at the Diego Rivera museum in Guanajuato. The museum is located in the house in which he grew up. I like having that memento from my visit to the museum.

(Does anyone else wonder at what sort of personal charisma Diego Rivera must have had? I mean, frankly, he's not my idea of a "hottie" but he was truly a real ladies man and was certainly a hot item in his time. Go figure.)

I covered the back cover of the journal with milagros I purchased while on the trip after I returned home.

San Miguel Travel Journal -- Part One

2011-11-09T17:59:00.000-08:00

I have been asked to post photos of my travel journal from my recent holiday in San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato, Mexico. I can't imagine that it is that interesting to others, but since you asked, Dear Reader, here it is...in two parts.

Feel free to skip this post and the next and go do something useful!

PIzza Frenzy

2011-11-07T23:20:00.000-08:00

Pear, Gorgonzola and pine nut pizza

My good friend, Auntie Pumpkin (a long story and one she would much prefer I did not share publicly, alas) and I attended a cooking demonstration at the Kirkland branch of Sur la Table. The instructors that night were Chef Zoe Francois and Jeff Hertzberg, MD. They have a wonderful new cookbook just published, Artisan Pizza and Flatbread in 5 Minutes a Day. Auntie Pumpkin and I sat in amazement when they took the ingredients for the pizza dough and literally dumped and stirred and called it done (except for a 2 hour rise on the counter and at least 3 hours in the refrigerator to make the dough easier to handle). Then they started making pizzas for us to taste with some prepared and risen dough.

I can sum that experience up in one word---and that word is YUM!

Image taken from the website www.artisanbreadinfive.com

So far I have made three pizzas with the dough I "threw" together, following their directions. (It took maybe 90 seconds.) I've made a tomato sauce, onion and olive pizza twice and the pear, Gorgonzola and pine nut one once. All three were delicious and just about perfect. (Of course, these are favored pizzas of mine---you might have other combos that you favor.)

You know that crunch a perfect pizza has when you cut into it? That sharp, crisp crunch that almost crackles? Well, these pizzas all had that sound and the chewiness and "tooth feel" of the dough is wonderful, as is the taste. I am so impressed! (Do use a well preheated pizza stone to bake the pies. It is part of the process.)

Tomato sauce, sliced black olives and onion pizza

I am not (usually) a big pizza fan, but that has all been changed in the last week. I am already dreaming of my next pie. And then, maybe I'll make the pita bread recipe in the book. Or the naan recipe. Or both. I will have to be very careful that I don't blow up like a beach ball, but I will be trying more of the recipes in this fun cookbook.

If you are a pizza aficionado, go to their website and be sure to try their method. I think you'll be amazed.

Glorious November 1st

2011-11-02T06:16:00.000-07:00

I went for a walk around my neighborhood on a perfect sunny, crisp November first and enjoyed the riot of color of the leaves.

This is one of the prettiest autumns I can remember for a long while.

New England fall color? Bah! It's here, here in the beautiful Pacific Northwest!

Everywhere gold, orange, red and brown leaves are painting glowing, glorious colors against the blue of the November sky, and that's a treat unto itself. Usually November starts out with rain and we have rain all through the middle of the month and then it ends with rain. It probably will be rainy and cold and wet, but November started off beautifully.

Everywhere I look, color!

I hope you are enjoying some fine weather and the beauty of nature, too.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

2011-10-31T08:24:00.000-07:00

May the witches not find you.....(even the cute little mousie ones)

May your treat bag be full....

And just to be safe, eat something reeking of garlic!

Happy Halloween to one and all!

Bah --- Viewer Discretion Advised

2011-10-26T16:23:00.000-07:00

I got up to my cabin last weekend to discover that I have had a leak under my sink (probably the reverse osmosis unit going bad, but I guess the plumber will tell me for sure) and that I now have extensive water damage. I have been traveling a lot and had not been up to stay for about thee weekends and lo! I discover this....

The plumber will be there tomorrow. The insurance adjuster arrives at 9 AM on Friday morning. I fear that this may not be covered by my insurance, judging from the dire things that were said to me on the phone today. I would have, ordinarily, been on the phone to the claims people on Sunday except that we had a little family medical emergency....Nonie had to have her gallbladder removed on Monday morning. She just got sicker and in more and more pain on Sunday and finally she called me at 11 PM to come and take her to the ER. They kept her overnight, running this test and that scan, and they ascertained that she was, indeed, having a gall bladder attack and that the bad ol' thing had to come out. Now.

And so, as she said, She is now "not all there." Hey, her words, not mine!

I can not believe the wonders of laparoscopic surgery. She went into the operating room in great, horrible pain and came out about 2 1/2 hours later (after her recovery room stay, too) laughing and chatting and acting like she was totally ready to start doing the Hokey Poky. The day and night difference was amazing and her recovery is continuing to be fast and wondrous. I am so very, very glad she is feeling so well and making such a speedy recovery. What a relief!

She looks pretty darn good for someone who'd been so very sick just 24 hours before.

And least you find all the horrible moldy photos too icky for words, I leave you with a recent photo of my smallest grandbaby. She is not icky!

PS There is also the happy fact that the All Blacks (New Zealand's National team) won the Rugby World Cup, which is wonderful news to me. Guess I'm letting my little "rugby problem" out to the world in general, but it was a knuckle-biter of a game (against France, who played very well). But, hey, my favorite team won! Yippee!!!

My New Ride

2011-10-21T07:54:00.000-07:00

I've been looking at bicycles for a while now. I had pretty much settled on getting myself a Public bicycle when lo! And behold! I found the very one I had decided upon on sale!

It was exactly the right color.

One of the things I most admired about the Public bikes is that you have the option of having it shipped 99% assembled. Not being a bicycle mechanic the thought of trying to put one of these babies together made me blanch, but only having to put on the handle bars, the pedals and the seat? That's within my skill range!

It has a back rack and I have the front rack for it, too, I just haven't gotten it on the bike yet. There is a nifty basket, with spring-loaded clips, that snaps onto the rack so I can go get those few items I ran out of or forgot to buy at the grocery store without having to fire of The Blue Beast. (I love my car but I don't need to use it all the time....)

I took my new ride for a short spin yesterday afternoon after the twenty minutes or so it took me to get it totally assembled, and it is a dream to ride. I'm going to be having some fun on this thing. Just keep your fingers crossed that I don't crash and burn! It's been quite a while since I did any serious bike riding and I think I'm going to need a little time to get back in the habit.

Song for Autumn

2011-10-15T11:57:00.000-07:00

I am not ready for winter. I am, to be honest, not yet ready for autumn and it is my favorite season. I am not ready for Halloween. I still feel like there is not enough sun warmth soaked into my bones. Is this because I am getting old(er)? Or is it because it was a crummy weather summer in the NW? Probably both.

The only real way to handle this growing cold weather apprehension is to meet it face on. I need to remind myself all the things I love about autumn and the slow slide into winter. I need to remind myself that I get a lovely gift in January and look forward to that time. (I'm going to Africa again.) So, here are a few of my favorite things about the autumn.

Leaves turning beautiful golden, red and russet colors and....

....really foggy days for walking ad thinking and breathing deeply....

....and making spiced cranberries for Thanksgiving and for gifting at Christmas.

I love finding abandoned bird's nests and adding them to my expanding collection. They are so much easier to see once the leaves fall and I know the inhabitants have left for warmer climes further south.

All the autumn colors are especially wonderful at the cabin, where there are so many cedars and other evergreens to act as a foil for making the bright, fleeting hues pop. It makes weekends spent there, cozy and snug, so beautiful and gives me something to look forward to all week long.

I love clear, frosty coooooold days. They just pull me outside and make me want to explore.

I love the countdown to Christmas, especially lovely this autumn as all my children, their spouses and all the grands will be home with DH and me this special, special year.

And I love that my favorite poet, Mary Oliver, always has words that lift my heart and help me see things in a better light.

Song for Autumn

In the deep fall
    don't you imagine the leaves think how
comfortable it will be to touch
    the earth instead of the
nothingness of air and the endless
    freshets of wind? And don't you think
the trees themselves, especially those with mossy,
warm caves, begin to think
of the birds that will come — six, a dozen — to sleep
    inside their bodies? And don't you hear
the goldenrod whispering goodbye,
    the everlasting being crowned with the first
tuffets of snow? The pond
    vanishes, and the white field over which
the fox runs so quickly brings out
    its blue shadows. And the wind pumps its
bellows. And at evening especially,
    the piled firewood shifts a little,
longing to be on its way.

Succulents

2011-10-13T13:45:00.000-07:00

Everywhere I go, everywhere I look, here in North San Diego county, there are succulents. More and more succulents and the are all...well....very succulent.

I have become quite fond of them over the last few years. Some of them, like the agave above, have the most elegant lines.

I love these 'lettuce-y' ones, although I do not know the name of them. The red edges against the sage green of the body of the leaf is unexpected and lovely.

These little green balls are my daughter's (Ungrateful Wretch) favorites. We bought a lot of different succulents and replanted her boxes in the front of her house. The old plantings had run their course over the summer and were looking drab and, well, dead. So now the boxes are stuffed full of a wide variety of succulents, and some remaining and thriving, herbs.

I have a few succulents at home, but they often drown over the winter, given the vast amounts of water that insists on falling from the sky in the Pacific Northwest. Since I return home tomorrow I am stocking up on sunshine and viewing healthy and hale succulents.

Must be 90 degrees here today. I'm going to freeze to death when I return home. I am not ready for winter!

LegoLand Halloween Party Night

2011-10-09T10:51:00.000-07:00

Yesterday my daughter, grandchildren #2 and #3 went to LegoLand to experience their Halloween Party Night. It was sort of creepy. There were spiders in palm trees....

....and children rode on rides. The #2 granddaughter was excited to take this "flight" but #3 grandchild (and #1 grandson) seemed somewhat apprehensive. Gramma Gramma had to hold the backpack and extra clothes and was, therefore, denied the flight.

My daughter (Ungrateful Wretch) was being somewhat cavalier with her mother. Always picks on me, that one.

There were actual dancing skeletons. They were pretty darn good tap dancers, too, those skeletons.

And there were these enormous spiders----everywhere! Beware!!!

We were all very impressed with this fellow, who could balance on an enormous rubber ball, roll around wherever he wanted to go, and NOT. Fall. Off.

How do they do that?

Magic light sabers were purchased.

Good thing, too, as they were desperately needed to protect us all from icky spiders......

I was especially delighted with this very tall, very glowing blue ghoulish ghostly thingie.

And there was a giant Halloween pumpkin-moon shining through the trees.

We found an old, gray-haired Lego lady and so we posed with her. (The Ungrateful Wretch insisted. Something about bonding with "my kind, my people". See, I told you she was an Ungrateful Wretch.)

None of us had ever been to Mini Land in the dark. It was different and fun and I loved to see it with all the shadows.

The cemetery in the Old New Orleans (St. Louis cemetery, if memory serves.) section was my favorite part of Mini Land---so seasonally appropriate.

And as if we really needed any more gilding the lily, FIREWORKS!!!!!

Double Double

2011-10-07T20:21:00.000-07:00

Today was a good day, a very good day. I am in Southern California visiting with my daughter and her family. It's always a treat to be able to spend time with the grandchildren, but if I were to be totally honest, there is one over-riding, completely compelling reason to travel from the Pacific Northwest to Southern California. And that reason is simple. We do not have In-N-Out restaurants where I live. It is very sad but we do not.

There are TWO HUNDRED AND FIVE In-N-Out outlets in California and NOT ONE in Washington state. Is this fair, I ask you? NO, it is NOT.

We went to In-N-Out for dinner this evening. My grandchildren both have their favorite meals, which they got. Their mommy has her favorite, also. And Gramma Gramma (that's me) has hers, too, and they fixed it exactly the way I love it. Lots of "fresh" onions, not raw onions, but "fresh." You can have your onions "grilled" or "fresh", or not at all, if that's your choice. You can only order a hamburger, or a cheeseburger, fries and drinks at In-N-Out. That's it. Believe me, you have to understand that they have got that limited menu down.

The burgers are so good that if you even look like you might be thinking about taking a tiny little nibble of your granddaughter's hamburger (ketchup only), you will get a very suspicious look and she will turn away so you can't lunge at her and grab her food away.

My very own daughter (Ungrateful Wretch) will taunt you with the last french fry......

.....and my grandson will gobble up his cheeseburger, from safely across the table, where I couldn't reach it.

I understand they open at 10:30. Anyone want to meet me there for breakfast?

Guanajuato - Part 11/Last Day

2011-10-03T08:55:00.000-07:00

On our last day, we had to be out of Casa Feliz at noon. Since our flight to Los Angeles did not leave Leon until about 10:30 that evening, we decided that we'd spend our free time that day on a tour of Guanajuato, the large city near to San Miguel.

I loved seeing all the wild flowers along the way. It is a remarkably pretty place.

Our tour guide for this trip was Daniel, an exceedingly nice young man. In fact, he is the same nice young man who picked us up at the Leon airport when we arrived. Daniel took us to the funicular so we could ride down into the Centro Historico, taking in the wonderful view of the Basilica of Our Lady of Guanajuato.

Guanajuato is a vibrant, colorful city with a very young energy. I think that comes from the university students, who are everywhere.

This restaurant is right in the center of it all, across from the Juarez Theater . We enjoyed a very delicious lunch here of enchiladas and grilled chicken.

The main aisle of the Basilica of Our Lady of Guanajuato

The University of Guanajuato's main building in housed in what used to be a convent. It's a very grand, imposing building. If you ran up and down those stairs several times a day, you'd never have to go to the gym. Trust me. It's a climb! The view from the top of those imposing stairs is lovely.

One of the most interesting things about Guanajuato is that many of the streets actually run through tunnels, rather than on the surface.

The streets twist and turn, leading you along from one pretty little plaza to another.

I loved these pigs, which were painted on the outside of a restaurant. I think they must have specialized in carnitas!

This is the entrance to Kiss Alley. There is a legend that star-crossed lovers shared their last kiss at this place, before he father killed her and the young man killed himself in grief. The story in the link is totally different from the one that we were told, but you get the idea. Proud papa, daughter in love with someone Papa does not approve and tragedy is the ending of the tale. The two balconies at the far end of the alley are only 29 inches apart.

The ruins of the old Garrapata and Guadalupe mines.

Guanajuato is surrounded by mines. The richest of these mines was the Valenciana mine, which was started in 1774 and is reputed to have provided two thirds of all the silver mined in Guanajuato. That is an astounding figure as this is one of the main the areas that provided the Spanish with so much of their (ill-gotten) wealth.

The mines were all built to be fortresses, to protect the workers and the product from thieves.

Here is a photo of the friendly and charming Daniel, our excellent guide. I had to take this photo because he told me that he'd had his photo taken at this very spot when he was one year old, in his mother's arms. I said that he'd have to give this photo to his mother, as she would like. I was sure that I emailed it to him as soon as I got home and got the photos edited. This is the Monument to Christ the King on top of Cubilete Mountain. It was begun in 1923 and is very impressive. As you might imagine, this is a pilgrimage place for devout Catholics.

The statue is 66 feet high.

The view over the Bajio valley was lovely. As the light faded, it was time for us to prepare to take our flight home and say good bye to Mexico. It was a wonderful, fun, exciting and fulfilling trip from start to finish and one of the best I've ever taken.

I can't wait to go back!

San Miguel - Part 10

2011-09-29T17:20:00.000-07:00

Both Nonie and I love to paint ceramics. David and Jessica, of Galeria Quinta Irma, invited us to come and enjoy a little interlude, painting our own piece of their pottery with them.

Nonie opted for a couple of tiles. She used Mexican designs from the Dover publication Design Motifs of Ancient Mexico by Jorge Enciso. We have both been fascinated with this little book that is chock-full of wonderful, graphic designs from all over Mexico.

I did a fish platter. I have this "thing" about painting fish on ceramics and have been doing so for quite some time now. I will admit that the design that emerged for this piece is utterly different from my usual weird-o fish (as one of my daughter's once described my work). I wan't at all sure about this process, using the glaze that David prepared with cobalt and water. They paint onto ware that they throw, that is then glazed with a white glaze in the majolica style. The color is applied over a milky white glaze and bakes in when the piece is fired. So, with this technique, with a heavier application of the cobalt, which is one of only six colors that are "allowed" with the traditional Talavera ware, you get a darker blue. You start light and work towards your dark values.

Here are the colors we were using. Nonie's tiles are vibrant with many colors, mine just various shades of cobalt.

Here are some of the pieces that were painted yesterday and fired over night. Nola's two tiles are on the bottom left, David's two mermaid tiles (with which he gifted Nonie!) are on the right. The fish platter is mine and the colorful cat pitchers to the right are Jessica's wonderful, whimsical pieces.

Not a great result, but I am happy with my first attempt at this traditional way of painting ceramics. It was a real pleasure to sit there in companionable silence with the three of them, working away for a little while. David and Jessica are so generous with both their knowledge and their art, and have shown us every kindness imaginable. I am truly honored to have met them.

This is a memory of San Miguel I will treasure!

San Miguel - Part 9 Cooking Class

2011-09-27T17:41:00.000-07:00

Nonie and I took a cooking class today from Sazon Cooking School, which is affiliated with Casa de Sierra Nevada Hotel, here in San Miguel. The Casa de Sierra Nevada is an Orient Express property, so you know it's quite the thing. I can say that their cooking school is quite the thing, too!

Our experience started with a visit to the local market. We bought some carnitas....

....and our chef, Emanuel Cervantes, showed us many ingredients that we needed to buy to take back to the very well-equiped kitchen.

We got some flors de calabaza, squash blossoms, for our quesadillas.

And since this is the season for pomegranates, we sampled a cup of the seeds. I love pomegranates.

We shared an ear of roasted corn with chili and lime juice. Both Nonie and I think lime juice on roasted corn is delicious and we plan to eat our corn that way from now on.

We stopped at a tortilla factory to buy masa so we could make our own tortillas and sopecitos "baskets."

Now, this may not look like much of a photograph, but it is very important to me. I was gawking when I should have been walking and managed to sort of fall/stumble/collapse to one knee on the way back to the cooking school from the market. I was fine, no problem, but my camera took quite a hit on the sidewalk. GULP! The above photo shows that all was well and Nikon does build a very sturdy product. (Thank you, Nikon, for saving me once again!)

Here we have a plate of corn smut(huitlacoche), ready to be cooked.

The Chef had several pans going at any one time and we had fun watching him keep all things properly stirred. Nonie said he was rather like a Chinese acrobat who could keep may plates spinning on sticks at one time. The pan in the foreground is full of cactus paddles, nopales.

The Chef preparing the squash blossoms.

Nonie making tortillas. Hers were pronounced "perfect." She always has been a show off.....

Here we have a mochajete (a basalt stone bowl used for grinding spices, making salsas and guacamole) full of the local salsa, Salsa Ranchero. It's spicy and delicious, and surprisingly easy to make. I am going to have to invest in my own mochajete when I return home. (Frankly I would love to have one from here but I hesitate to pay the price of shipping home something so heavy.)

The huitlacoche quesadilla heating through....

....and the Chef putting the little sopecitos baskets on to heat up.

Here's the guacamole I made (with a lot of direction!).

The chorizo is cooked and ready to be added to the sopecitos.

Behold this full-to-the-brim plate of good eats, as Alton Brown would proclaim, that we had for lunch. From the top, moving around the plate clockwise, guacamole with tortilla chips and pork skins, sopecitos with refried beans, carnitas or chorizo, lettuce, creme fraiche and lettuce, then two kinds of quesadillas (with the huitlacoche and squash blossoms), the green vegetable is nopales (cactus paddles cooked with garlic, onions and tomatoes) and finally some pollo in the center from the little shop that sells delicious roasted chicken. It was a meal fit for a Queen. Surprisingly easy and quick to prepare, this traditional Mexican meal stresses fresh, local ingredients quickly and simply prepared to let the flavors of the ingredients shine through. You don't need a lot of fancy flourishes when the food is so good to begin with. Chef Cervantes knows his ingredients and how to showcase them.

Chef Emanuel Cervantes

Photo by Nola Unger

And here is the Chef's somewhat clumsy assistant....

San Miguel - Part 9

2011-09-27T07:08:00.000-07:00

We took a day trip to Mineral de Pozos. It was a very interesting visit to what used to be a very productive mining area and now is called a ghost town. There were many mines in the area-----gold, silver, mercury-----and while they have been played out since about 1945, there are still fascinating ruins to view.

Each of the mines had very high and thick walls, for protection from the local Indians or banditos. After all, these were rich mines with gold and silver, just the sort of attraction someone looking for an easy paycheck would be drawn to. In their day they must have been very grand and substantial looking.

This mine was the Cico Senores.

There are lovely views everywhere you look and since this is the end of the rainy season, wild flowers abound.

This shaft is veeeeerrrrrrrrryyy deep. Ef dropped a stone and it took a long time to reach the water in the bottom of the shaft, echoing back up to us with an eerie splash.

We had lunch at Posada de las Minas. What a charming, pretty place! They not only have a wonderful restaurant but lovely rooms to rent. Mineral de Pozos is a very quiet little town, totally sleepy and deserted-looking in the middle of a hot day. We were told that artists are moving in and beginning to work here as the rents are inexpensive and foreigners, mainly Americans and Canadians, are buying real estate in the area.

Pozos really does look like a movie set when you drive through the streets.....the camera fades to the swinging wooden doors of the only bar and the sudden crack of a single gun shot....

Okay. Cut!

These are the chimneys of the smelter built by Jesuits in the 1600s. You can see them from a long way off. This is the area of the Sta. Brigida mine, which was mostly a mercury mine.

The mine collapsed at some point as this area flooded. There are shafts that just open up at your feet, unexpectedly, and it would not be my first choice for an area in which to hike!

This structure pictured above is just part of an elaborate oven for smelting the ore. Each of those openings was an opening into the throat, or chimney, of the oven. You could control the blast of air rushing down the chimney by opening or closing those openings, according to the wind on a given day. At least, that is my (admittedly superficial) understanding of the process.

On our way back Efrain stopped for us to get photos of beautiful San Miguel de Allende, laid out at our feet. La Parroquia looks like a giant cake to me. I wonder if it ever snows here? A dusting of snow on La Parroquia would look just like icing!

San Miguel - Part 8

2011-09-26T06:57:00.000-07:00

Every Sunday in San Miguel the Biblioteca Publica sponsors a Home and Garden tour. All the monies raised are used for education and support of the children (and some adult programs) in the local area here. That's a great cause and the Biblioteca does great work and had done so for something like 50 years.

This particular Sunday, Tuna Normalista, a local band, was playing and singing for the entertainment of the people waiting to take the tour. They were GREAT. Nonie and I just loved 'em.

At one point, these three young men began to do a chicken dance. I did not understand the lyrics of the song (but it was festive and a real toe-tapper) but I certainly did understand their chicken imitation. It was fun and they were delightful.

We went to two homes on the tour this week. The first one was not to my taste, but the second was quite lovely, in my humble opinion. Both of the homes had wonderful views---the first a territorial view looking out to the mountains, and the second a stunning view over San Miguel.

This stairway in the second home was so graceful and simple. It just drew you up!

We had not spent any time searching the streets near the second home for more great doorways and door knockers, so we "bagged" a few more for our "collection" on our way to lunch.

San Miguel - Part 7

2011-09-25T07:41:00.000-07:00

Pigeons by Richard Kell

They paddle with staccato feet
In powder-pools of sunlight,
Small blue busybodies
Strutting like fat gentlemen
With hands clasped
Under their swallowtail coats;
And, as they stump about,
Their heads like tiny hammers
Tap at imaginary nails
In non-existent walls.
Elusive ghosts of sunshine
Slither down the green gloss
Of their necks in an instant, and are gone.

Summer hangs drugged from sky to earth
In limpid fathoms of silence:
Only warm dark dimples of sound
Slide like slow bubbles
From the contented throats.

Raise a casual hand -
With one quick gust
They fountain into air.

San Miguel - Part 6a

2011-09-24T17:24:00.000-07:00

A lazy Saturday late afternoon in San Miguel found me on the roof with my watercolor crayons. I spent a pleasant while doing this little sketch, while fireworks exploded in the sky over my head and a marching band circled the neighborhood, playing something festive and bouncy. Birds called and swooped, the sun was warm on my shoulders and it was a lovely way to to be quiet----and listen.

SanMiguel - Part 6/23 Sillas

2011-09-24T08:01:00.000-07:00

Nonie noticed. She noticed and she counted. Twenty-three chairs in this house. Twenty-three! That's a lot of chairs.

Nonie noticed and she has plans to sit in every one. Me? Nah, I won't sit in each one, but I did take a photo including each and every one. Guess what I am subjecting you to today? Yep. All twenty-three of 'em.

These nice green ones are on the terrace, the lovely one off my bedroom----my own private terrace that I adore. I like to sit out here at night and listen to the music wafting from all around, and in the early mornings the bird chatter is sublime. Lots of bells ring, too. LOTS of church bells ring. One rang this morning 24 times and then, long after I thought the pealing was finished....ONE....TWO....more peals.

These two are in my bedroom and are handy for holding stuff that I have strewn around. I strew a lot. Too much.

These green ones are on the rooftop patio. The rooftop patio is amazing. We have an incredible view of Centro and church spires, birds and tree tops and we are surrounded by a multitude of potted, flowering plants. It is a special place.

Notice the cheerful yellow cushions. It's an inviting place to sit and have a cold drink and read a book.

This is a little seating area tucked by the foot of the stairs. Just two comfy chairs, a table with a few books and great light from the windows high above. It would be a good spot to read....but then, there are so many good spots to read! I haven't gotten to this one yet.

Besides chairs (silla, my new word for this morning), we have couches and love seats and benches. Lots of those, too, but I forget how many.....

Then there are the dining room chairs.....there are a plethora of them, too. We could have quite the dinner party, if we wished to have a dinner party, which we do not.

More dining room chairs....

And more.....

....and the very last one. (Whew!) I am especially fond of these blue, hand-painted ones.

Now we move into the Salon. We have occasional chairs.....

and two couches, laden with comfy pillows....

....and then these exceptionally festive leopard spotted ones by the front window, next to the fireplace!

Yes, these are different ones from the photo above....really. They are. I wouldn't lie to you.

And now, here's Nonie's favorite chair, the one she sits in to read when she reads downstairs.

And here is my favorite downstairs reading chair, which I do not read in much because I am usually on my computer. IF I were (ever) going to get around to working on Rawlings' Christmas stocking, this is the chair I would sit in. The stocking is there, in a bag with all the beads and floss that I need to embellish it and make it wonderful, but I have only used a needle and thread to sew some milagros on the spine of my Mexico journal. I am a lazy grandma, I am.

This if the chair at the desk that Nonie uses.

This lovely, inviting chaise/chair/seating-thing is in the corner of the room where we do our journaling and computing. (There is a TV in here, but we do not watch TV. We read. Or surf the internet. Or journal.)

And this is the chair in which I am now sitting. This is the chair where I sit to journal or work on my computer. Of all the chairs in Casa Feliz, this is the one I sit in the most. It is very comfortable and makes gentle, soft creaking noises when I shift my weight, but it is very sturdy.

And another occasional chair in another corner.....

.....and this chair is just here, at my table and matches the one in which I sit. It holds big plastic bags full of cords for recharging cameras and phones and such and a big bag of journal supplies. Handy yet sort of hidden, so I don't have to look at the mess.

This final chair is in the corner of Nonie's bedroom. It looks very comfortable. I wonder if she ever sits in it and rocks?

And I didn't even mention all the stools......

San Miguel - Part 5/A Visit to Dolores Hidalgo

2011-09-22T20:02:00.000-07:00

We had a wonderful tour of Santuario Atotonilco and Dolores Hidalgo today. Our excellent tour guide was Efrain Mendez Lopez from Bestur. The first stop was Santuario Atotonilco. Atotonilco means hot water and the Santuario is located just seven miles from San Miguel, right next to a hot spring. In fact, the whole area around San Miguel is laced with hot springs.

The church is now a UNESCO Heritage Site, which is wonderful, as it is a lovely church and a huge retreat center. Apparently up to 2500 people a week come to the complex attached to the church for a week-long spiritual retreat. We only visited the church.

The church was built by a priest, Luis Filpa Neri de Alfara. He not only built the church but cleaned out the area around the hot springs of banditos (!!!) and helped the indigenous people in various useful ways. (The church, and San Miguel also, were on the Silver Road, the road from the mines in the north to Mexico City in the south, hence all the banditos in the area.)

I believe this was the Chapel of Our Lady of the Rosary, but don't hold me to it. Not being a Catholic it all gets jumbled up in my mind.

After our visit to Santuario Atotonilco we headed northwest to Dolores Hidalgo. It is a smaller town than San Miguel de Allende. Delores (as it's referred to locally) is a pottery town and I felt immediately at home there. The pottery workshops and salesrooms begin to appear on the outskirts of town, just as they do in Shigaraki, where I studied pottery for six weeks back in 2004. There is even a roundabout as you come into Delores that has three very large pottery Talavera jars in the center, just as there is an artistic rendition of three anagama kilns at the entry to Shigaraki.

We visited several showrooms and Nonie found two sinks for her bathrooms back in Edmonds. One is being done especially for her and the subject matter is mermaids---which is no surprise to anyone who knows her! I found a wonderful birthday or Christmas gift for my DH and on the off chance that he might ever read my blog, I will not tell you about it and spoil the surprise. We both bought some little serving dishes and a planter or two. It was fun to see how the designs varied and the emphasis on what sort of ware each of the shops featured. Talavera is such happy pottery.

After we'd exhausted the shopping opportunities (and worn out poor Efrain who was such a help in toting it all to the car), we ventured to the Plaza Principal---the main plaza in Dolores. Besides ice cream vendors at each corner, all vying to be able to supply the oddest flavor of ice cream (shrimp, anyone?) there is the church of Our Lady of Sorrows. It was on the steps of this church, in 1810, that Don Miguel Hidalgo gave "El Grito" or the Shout for Independence. Contrary to what many Americans believe, myself included until arriving in San Miguel and being set straight, Cinco de Mayo is not Mexican Independence Day, it's September 16th. It was quite special to see this historic place for Mexico.

In the plaza, El Jardin I would hazard a guess is the name, is a statue to honor Don Hidalgo.

The photo below shows the City Hall of the town of Dolores Hidalgo, still decorated with banners for the festivities on the September 16th. It looked very festive.

Efrain took us to have lunch at a very famous carnitas restaurant, Vicente. The gentleman who owns these restaurants (we were told there are six in total) named them after his friend, a very famous ranchero singer Vicente Fernandez. The carnitas were deservedly famous. We also had quesadillas, a gorditos (a sort of fat corn tortilla filled with shredded pork) and a sort of soup called Cowboy Beans that my DH would adore. (I liked them fine but I am not the bean lover my DH is.)

Nonie and Eftain at Vicente Carnitas Restaurant, enjoying the food (and the music).

I have to show off the Talavera I have fallen in love with. Nonie and I stumbled onto the Galeria Quinta Irma (owned and run by David and Jessica Vazquez and his parents) on our first outing here in San Miguel. We both found many items that really appealed. I have purchased several items, including the two platters pictured above, and also a beautiful, vivid red spoon rest. The quality of their Talavera is the very best I have seen, either here in San Miguel or in Dolores Hidalgo. David's father (sorry, I didn't catch his name the other afternoon) told me that they are licensed to be genuine Talavera producers by the Mexican government and there are stringent rules to follow to be able to say your product is true and original Talavera. Besides the ceramics, there are some wonderful paintings done by various members of the family in the gallery. Nonie is really thinking of buying one by David, called Sirena. More about that later, if she submits to the Siren's song.

Disclaimer: If I have gotten any of the history of Mexico wrong, the fault is completely mine, and mine alone, and I sincerely apologize.

San Miguel - Part 4

2011-09-21T07:28:00.000-07:00

We used a little booklet that is available all over town for free, called San Miguel Walking and Shopping Guide, for our "structure" for our wanderings today. Nola really wants a spa day on this trip and I must honestly say she didn't exactly twist my arm to get me to agree that this sounded like a fine, fine idea. We decided on the Sense spa at the Rosewood Resort and so it seemed prudent to figure out just exactly where the Rosewood Resort was located and walk #3 in our guide showed us.

You start Walk #3 at El Jardin and head passed La Parroquia and down Aldama to Juarez Park. The streets are narrow and cobblestone lined, the facades of the buildings painted in warm, earthy colors and all the doors are dressed with amazing latches and door knockers. It's a wanderers dream walk!

I really liked this modern interpretation of the traditional doorway.

Juarez Park is a lovely, cool place to sit or stroll. There is a large children's play area with lots of things for the young ones to climb on or slide down.

On our return we walked back up Recreo, passed the bull ring. I have no intention of going to a bull fight, but I did want to see where the ring was located. The gate to the entry was open and I took this photo, but that's as far as we went.

This door knocker might just be my favorite (so far).....

We had a delicious lunch at El Pegaso. I opted for the Especial del Dia, a spicy crab salad stuffed into avocado halves and was not disappointed! We haven't had a bad meal, or even a so-so meal the whole time we've been here. The food in San Miguel is as good as the guide books say, and the vast and varied number of restaurants and cafes offering a staggering variety of cuisines is amazing. There is something delicious everywhere you go.

San Miguel - Part 3

2011-09-20T07:37:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we continued our explorations of San Miguel de Allende. We decided it would be fun to go to Fabrica La Aurora, which is a group of art galleries, artist studios, shops and restaurants all housed in what used to be a fabric mill. It's a great space, with huge soaring ceilings and polished concrete floors. There are big bits of machinery still in place, as a reminder of the building's original use, but the art and antiques just flow around them. There were lots of interior design shops with great furniture and design services (should you have a house here that needed decorating). We had a lot of fun checking it all out.

We had lunch at Barushi, a Japanese restaurant at Fabrica La Aurora. The avocado soup was wonderful and Nonie loved her sirloin and rice noodle soup. We shared some cheese skewers that had been dredged in panko and deep fried---they were the perfect accompaniment to our entrees.

We stumbled into a gallery that featured woodblock prints by Artemio Rodriguez. His work is energetic, compelling and varied. I loved it! I bought the piece you see above. It's called Never More.
I definitely have this 'thing' about crows and this piece will be a fantastic addition to my bird wall at home and a lovely reminder of my trip to Mexico.

After we had exhausted all the shopping in Fabrica La Aurora we went exploring on our way to the bank to exchange some funds. We saw so many great doors and door "jewelry."

Every where you look there is a photo waiting to be taken.

The pigeons were enjoying the fountain at El Jardin.

La Parroquia looked festive with the banners strung across the plaza out front.

This building is very near our Casa Feliz on Hernandez Macias. It absolutely glows in the late afternoon sun.

And as if San Miguel wasn't perfect enough, we discovered Starbucks. Sorry to say, but I do love the iced green tea at Starbucks. Now I am in total heaven!

Sunday in San Miguel

2011-09-18T17:04:00.000-07:00

We had a very, very slow start today, after a great night's sleep. I must say, however, that the locals here in San Miguel like to enjoy their Saturday nights....until almost dawn. None of this kept me awake, but I did rouse enough to look blearily at the clock at 4:30 as the soft sounds of music and happy laughter wafted in through my open bedroom window, along with a much appreciated cool breeze.

We decided that we should go to the Arts & Crafts show at the Instituto Allende. I'd read it was going on for two days this weekend and it sounded like fun. This very old building was on the way to the Instituto and it is all decked out with patriotic flair.

There were lots of vendors, some locals others ex-pats, selling a variety of things. There were paintings, jewelry, needlework, purses, rugs, couches, geegaws and pottery. A guitarist was preforming and the music lent a very festive flair to the gathering. We spent a happy hour browsing. Nonie found a Day of the Dead mermaid bowl to add to her mermaid collection.

You can't keep walking down any of these streets without seeing some amazing door "jewelry." There are so many beautiful doorknockers and handles that I had to start photographing my favorites.

All these people were lined up for ice cream, just at the Jardin, the gathering place in Centro Historico---
I was sorely tempted to try some, as it was getting hot and I was hungry.

This is Parroquia noturna de San Miguel de Allende, the parish church of San Miguel. It is the biggest, most important church in town. It is right next to the Jardin and truly, it looks like a giant confection that should be dusted with powdered sugar!

All the streets in the Centro Historico are beautiful. Mexican flags are everywhere as September is fiesta time here. Mexican Independence is celebrated as well as a local festival.

Nonie read that many of the San Miguel streets in Centro were used in the movie Once Upon a Time in Mexico, which probably explains why it all looks so vaguely familiar to me.

And yet more and more wonderful door knockers....

Embroidered clothing and tile work just add to the fun.

By this point it was well after 2 PM and we were starving, so we stopped at the Cafe San Francisco, near the Jardin. The menu offered many tempting items, but this one caught my eye.

And it was so good!

San Miguel de Allende

2011-09-17T14:08:00.000-07:00

The Salon

Nonie and I arrived in San Miguel de Allende this morning, about 6:30 AM our time (it's two hours later here). We were driven from the airpot in Leon by a very nice young man named Daniel. He brought us directly to the house we've rented for the next two weeks, Casa Feliz.

As you probably can tell from Nonie's smiling face, Casa Feliz is truly a happy house! It huge, for one thing. It is rather silly for two ladies to be rambling around in a 4 bedroom, three story house, but we are and it is turning out to be a lot of fun.

What we cal the Family Room

It's a very cozy place despite the size. I love the details in the architecture and all the nice little touches.

Master bedroom

The terrace off the master bedroom is wonderful. The views are good, not as great as from the rooftop terrace, but lovely all the same. There is furniture for lounging and covered area in case it's too hot or there is a shower.

Patio off the master bedroom--fantastic views!

Another bedroom with a beautiful carved headboard and views onto the street in front of the house

This bedroom, I think you'd call it the guest room, has it's own full bath, as does the master. No one is "making do" here! Everything is spotless and tidy and whatever you think you might need, it is probably here already, right at hand
.

The roof terrace

I love the views from the rooftop terrace. I can hardly wait for tomorrow. I hope to be awake at dawn so I can shoot some photos of the sunrise.

There are church spires in every direction. Lots and lots of places for us to explore!

The kitchen

Our housekeeper, Magdalena, did some simple shopping for foodstuffs for us, bless her heart, and now we have napped and are ready to go out and do a little exploring.

San Miguel seems to be a wonderful place. It's 6000 feet above sea level so we are taking today pretty easy and letting out bodies adjust to the thin air.

detail of tile used as risers on the way to the kitchen

Tomorrow we hope to find a arts and crafts show that is happening this weekend.

And on a totally unrelated note, I just realized that my mother was born on September 17th, 95 years ago today. I wish she were still here to celebrate with me.

Orcie

2011-09-15T12:14:00.000-07:00

Ocie (aka The Great & Terrible Uncle Orcie)

1998-2011

My heart is broken.

Car Show

2011-09-12T07:33:00.000-07:00

Downtown Edmonds was transformed yesterday. Streets in the CBD were blocked off and a huge collection of antique and vintage cars replaced the usual vehicles you would see parked. There were Model Ts and old Volkswagon Beetles, Chevy two-tones that were the rage when I was a girl and little red (or black) sports cars that looked sleek and fast.

Some of them looked like you should expect a gang of nattily suited bank robbers to pile out of them, machine guns in hand and snappy-brimmed fedoras firmly set onto heads, hair parted in the middle and slicked down with Brylcreem. Or have I seen too many bad movies?

The grills were chromed.....

....and wing window glass was etched.

The wheels had spokes and were painted.

There were a lot of men my age walking around, some with families in tow, others in "packs" of two or three. The common denominator was a steaming cup of coffee in many hands, it being fairly early on a
Sunday morning.

My particular favorites, for this year at least, were the Morris cars. The Minis and the panel trucks and the sedans. I do love a Morris!

This sleek black panel came all the way from Montana, where it is a resort vehicle.

This wagon with all the beautiful wood was a big hit with the crowds. One little boy kept asking his Grandpa if they could get one, too? I think Grandpa would have liked that, himself.

This Chevy was set up for a meal at the drive-in. I can think of only one local place that still brings your take-out meal to your car on a tray. I took my granddaughter there once and she thought it was "weird."
I used to think it was "cool." Times change.

I don't know how many cars were in this show, but they went on for blocks.

It was quite an amazing collection of motor vehicles. There was even one old tow truck!

September 11

2011-09-11T20:37:00.000-07:00

I don't think there is an American anywhere who doesn't feel deeply about the date September 11th. That day, ten years ago now, changed our world forever. I have been thinking about all the families impacted by the horrific events of that day and sending them thoughts of love and peace.

Indian Summer

2011-09-10T23:58:00.000-07:00

Finally, summer has arrived in the Pacific Northwest. We've had a run, maybe ten in a row, of days over 80 degrees. The sun is shining, the skies are a beautiful clear blue, the late summer flowers are beautiful and abundant and life is good.

I spent a little time at the Edmonds Summer Market this morning. It's the last market I'll be able to attend this year as I am off to Mexico for two weeks next Friday and will miss the remaining two markets of the 2011 season. I'm sure there will be wonderful produce and flowers in San Miguel, but I am feeling a little sad at not being home for the last of our local markets.

Everything is lush and beautiful. Everything makes me hungry! I made pickled beets a week ago with wonderful golden beets. I am still enjoying them, so I passed on the beets today. I did get some onions to pickle and use in salads for the next few days.

And I bought two half flats of blackberries and strawberries and made a dozen jars of sugar-free mixed berry jam. I have never made sugar-free jam before and while it is not as over-the-top-yummy as the full sugar variety, the sugar-free kind is allowed in my diet. And it sure is better than no jam at all! Truthfully, is isn't bad---especially when smeared on a slice of deep, dark pumpernickel, that I also picked up at the market.

Beading a Stocking

2011-09-07T21:59:00.000-07:00

My newest grand-daughter, Rawlings, needs a Christmas stocking. I have made them for most of my grands (one daughter wanted to make her children's herself, which seemed quite reasonable). With her mommy's permission, I am at work on a stocking for Rawlings.

All the other stockings I have made are felt with sequins, in the classic Christmas designs (reindeer, Santas, snowmen, etc). Frankly, the thought of doing another felt stocking just left me bored stiff, so when I spotted a panel of printed stockings in a fabric shop a couple of weeks ago, the idea took hold to use the printed stocking as my starting point and embellish and add to the panel to make something different, and unique, for Rawlings.

I decided that I liked the mouse stocking best so I started "gooping" the little guy up. I did embroidery on the mouse and a little beading on his ear. The I got carried away with the beading of the floral design surrounding the mouse, and just kept going.

I have almost finished beading the floral band and will soon be able to start on the body of the stocking. I am not sure what I'll do....maybe some more embroidery, more beading for sure. I am totally surprised at how much I am enjoying the project. I'll update when I have more to share.

Anyone else "addicted" to beading? Who knew I'd enjoy this process so much!

Magic Feather Project

2011-09-05T22:28:00.000-07:00

There is an amazing blog, Spirit Cloth, that I have been reading for a while. The woman who writes it, Jude Hill, is an needle worker of great talent. She does things with fabric that I find beautiful and very comforting. Jude's design aesthetic is simple and very personal, and I love seeing what she has achieved with dye, needle and thread. I wish I had the skill to do some of the things she does, but alas, yet another area where my abilities are lacking.

Jude has an on-going project, called the Magic Feather Project and I decided to take part. Feathers have always been a personal symbol for Jude and they have also been for me. Since she will be using the hand sewn feathers that she and others contribute in a way that will benefit children, I think it is well worth passing on the information. I claim no great skill, but I did a little tea dyed 5-inch square of cotton with my attempt at a feather in just a few hours hours time. What really surprised me was how much I enjoyed the project and how relaxing it turned out to be!

Jude even has a very informative video on her blog that shows exactly how she goes about embroidering one of her feathers. If you are interested, take a look. Maybe you, too, Dear Reader, will try your hand at making a little feather for Jude's project.

Almost Autumn (at the cabin)

2011-08-31T23:07:00.000-07:00

The Labor Day weekend is fast approaching, but not as quickly as the 1st of September. I can not get my mind wrapped around the idea that it is almost autumn. In the early mornings I can smell it coming, that special smell that speaks of pumpkins and orange and golden leaves falling, of crisp nights and (hopefully) Indian Summer days. But for right now, at the cabin, it is still summer. It's green and sunny and warm.

The view from the front windows, down onto the dairy farm just across the river, is of wide green meadows and busy farmers making hay (while the sun shines!).

The daisies are in full, glorious bloom in wide swaths around the house....

....and the hollyhocks are taller than I am and bursting with blossoms.

But, soon, much too soon, the leaves will start to turn. The maples will go all gold and orange, the larches will turn bright yellow and then all their needles will fall and the views from every window will be beautiful, but autumnal. I am not ready for autumn. I still feel like we didn't, really, get much of a summer and I am not ready for the long, gray days of November, December, January and on and on and on....

Even though the sunsets through the bare limbs of the stand of trees that marks the beginning of the road to the cabin are a wonder to behold....

....and the cabin will be all snugged in, with the maples turning spectacular colors all around.....

....and every weekend there will be many fishermen trying their skills in the river below the cabin, I am not ready.

And then much, much too soon, the frosts will come and the leaves will be gone. The rains of November will be upon us.

Just how soon will we have snow this year? And how much will we have? Will I be unable to get to the cabin for months at a time, like that miserable winter a few years back?

I have to admit that as I get older, I yearn more for the sun than ever before. I want it to warm my skin and seep down into my bones. I want flowers and birdsong and blue skies. I will just have to be grateful to be surrounded with a bounty of quiet beauty, even if it is of a colder, more subtle variety.

I will look forward to Christmas and having ALL my family home, gathered together, and it will be a fine first Christmas for Rawlings---a fine Christmas for all of us.

But, really, isn't it much too soon for it to be autumn?

My Own Personal Poetry Sunday

2011-08-28T22:22:00.000-07:00

I have spent a quiet couple of hours rereading a lot of Mary Oliver's wonderfully insightful and observant poetry. She fills me up with true things. In case you might be in the mood for something inspiring, I will share only this one poem with you tonight, Dear Reader, and wish you a happy and fulfilling week to come.

The Journey by Mary Oliver

One day you finally knew
what you had to do, and began,
though the voices around you
kept shouting
their bad advice—
though the whole house
began to tremble
and you felt the old tug
at your ankles.
"Mend my life!"
each voice cried.
But you didn't stop.
You knew what you had to do,
though the wind pried
with its stiff fingers
at the very foundations,
though their melancholy
was terrible.
It was already late
enough, and a wild night,
and the road full of fallen
branches and stones.
But little by little,
as you left their voices behind,
the stars began to burn
through the sheets of clouds,
and there was a new voice
which you slowly
recognized as your own,
that kept you company
as you strode deeper and deeper
into the world,
determined to do
the only thing you could do—
determined to save
the only life you could save.

Black & White Collaborative Color Journal Pages

2011-08-26T22:01:00.000-07:00

I belong to a Color Collaborative Journal group. We have done several journals in the last two years. I love my collection of these color journals, all of which feature pages by individual members and all are original artwork. The members of this group are an amazingly talented group of woman and I have felt honored to be included. This is, alas, our last journal. I thought long and hard about how I wanted to express my feelings on black and white and finally decided that prints were the best way to go.

Each page in the journal will be 9 inches tall and 6 inches wide. There is a back page as well as a front, so my pages, 9 inches by 12 inches, fold in half to make the proper size. I have used my recently carved woodblock from the NPS workshop in Colorado as the featured artwork for the front of my page in the journal. I added some washi tape to jazz it up a little.

I did a foilographic feather print on the back. I didn't get a great image, but it was first time using this technique. I enjoyed the learning process, and the outcome was acceptable. (I should have read and reread the very clear and concise instructions that are available on Charles Morgan's website. Charles is a long time member of the Nature Printing Society and is a master at nature printing. I will retry foilography soon, using Charles' directions. I expect I'll have a much better result. But, I digress....again!)

I had promised myself that I would get these pages done without counting down to the last second before the deadline of August 31st. Well, I guess I met that goal, but barely. They are in the mail, at any rate, and the lovely Mary Mouat will be receiving them in good time. Mary is a member of the Color Collaborative Journal group and has volunteered to do the binding this time around. Thanks, Mary!

And finally, on a silly note, here is a photo my friend Bee created on her iphone with some app she has. (You might surmise that she had some free time on her hands while we were in Colorado. Free time + iphone + app = silliness.) My poor cat, Orcie, was one of the subjects she altered. I will spare you the ones she did of me. They are, ahem, not fit for a family blog being just too scary. My Orcie is odd to start with, of course, being a cat, but he usually doesn't wear sunglasses. I think he might like to wear them, but I, being a rotten and horrible person, refuse to purchase them for him. The mustache, though, is just too much, don't you think? He sort of reminds me of Tom Selleck. (My apologies, Mr. Selleck.)

Summer 2011 Travel Journals

2011-08-21T23:36:00.000-07:00

I have been on two great trips this summer and I am happy with the journals I did for each. I thought I'd share a few pages from each of the journals. They are not precisely visual journals but they are not "diaries," just my sort of conglomeration style of journaling.

This is the journal I did for the Nature Printing Society workshop in Fort Collins, Colorado. Besides the usual inclusions (for me!) I have also written down the instructions I received for each of my classes at the workshop. In the future, if I misplace the print-outs of the instructions I will always be able to go back to my journal to find my notes and the instructor's tips.

The red fish print, to the left, is my first attempt at a direct gyotaku print. Not great, but it is nice to have my first ever attempt. I do like the eye I did on the top fish.

Here, too, is one of my first attempts at printing an octopus.

The fabric for the covers of the journal were solar printed.

Here you have the front and back covers of my Nantucket journal for this summer. The front image of the weather vane is from the Nantucket Historical Association. I love the whale! The image on the back cover is from a painting I did of the red boat in the harbor in Nantucket harbor.

The pottery featured on the above page is R. Geering Pottery, from Cape Cod. I love Ron's work and think his redware is fun and unique.

The fish image is from a gyotaku used on the 2011 NPS calendar and is taken from Chris Dewees' beautiful print of a rock fish. I used Chris' image as the basis for a weather vane I made in a class at the 1800 House in July. Thanks for the use of your beautiful gyotaku, Chris. It made a wonderful weather vane.

The photo of the woman holding the cake is of Madaket Millie Jewett. Millie was an extremely interesting woman who lived a life of service. The more I learn of her, the more I admire her giving heart and generous spirit, hidden beneath her gruff exterior. She was not what most of us think of when we think of someone with great community service volunteering, but she did so much for her neighbors and mariners of Nantucket.

Each day I was on Nantucket I did a tiny little painting. These were very quick little watercolors to capture for my memory some aspect of Nantucket. It was something I tried in this journal for the first time and I think I will use it in the future. Each little painting reminds me of a moment of my trip and brings back a whole flood of memories. Easy to do, quick to execute and something that has lasting meaning for me. I'm glad I stumbled on the idea!

NPS 2011 Workshop

2011-08-16T23:02:00.000-07:00

Ah. You are wondering, Dear Reader, the meaning of the large cooler of fish?

Well, they were all used for printing. Fish printing. Gyotaku, to be exact. Gyotaku just means fish printing in Japanese. I did a lot of fish printing while at the NPS workshop in beautiful Fort Collins, Colorado. The Nature Printing Society has a workshop each year and many of the very talented members teach classes in their areas of expertise. Since this was my first workshop and since there are so many members with great skill at gyotaku, that was my chosen area to explore at the workshop.

I must admit that I am fairly new to printing in general and until the start of the workshop, had never printed a fish in my life! I had three great fish printing instructors and learned three different methods of printing.

My first class was in direct fish printing---where you ink the fish directly and then put a sheet of paper (gently!) over the inked surface. Jack Schwartz was the instructor and he was a very good teacher.

Jack showed up how to clean our fish to remove any bacteria that would, in years hence, come to eat into our print and/or cause stains to the finished art. You have to clean the fish with soap and water, then alcohol and more alcohol. It was much more rigorous a procedure than I had imagined.

Once the fish is clean and dry and you have sealed it's various openings with crazy glue (!!!!), you need to cut and position supports for the fins and tail, so you will have a steady, flat surface to work on.

We used foam core and T-pins to elevate the fins and hold them in position. Once the fins and tail have dried the way you position them, they stay in that shape and the pins are no longer necessary.

I chose a rock fish. It was quite a lovely specimen and a fish for which I have a great fondness. When I was a girl, my father and I used to take weekend fishing trips to Puget Sound or Hoods Canal. Our favorite eating fish for these trips was rock cod. Anything that reminds me of my father and those happy memories is okay by me.

Here are a couple of my fish direct fish prints, before I got the eyes painted in. There is a lot of room for improvement, but Jack made the class a lot of fun and I had a really nice day printing my rock cod. Once I was done, I cleaned the fish of ink and returned him to the ice chest so it was available for others to print as the week went on.

Here is my fish for the indirect fish printing class, taught by Lori Ann Loftus. Lori taught the beginning indirect class. I was amazed at all the steps involved with the indirect method, many more so than with the direct method.

As in the direct method of fish printing, the printer must first get their fish properly cleaned, dried and the openings sealed. You must then dig out a spot for your fish to sit into on a piece of insulation board, trying to get the fish as flat as possible. The fins and tail must be supported for them to print properly. You need to make stencils for the edges of the fish and the pectoral fin. Once you've done all this, then you cover the entire fish with paste and gently ease a piece of silk onto the fish, working out the wrinkles, until the entire fish is covered. Then you dry the silk-covered fish with a hair dryer or sit it out in the sun. (Yes, the room did get to be rather pungent with the smell of warm fish!)

Once the silk is dried onto the fish, you are ready to start using tampos (a sort of pouncer made with a toothpick, silk batting and fine silk covering it all) to apply colored inks to the silk. Because you are printing onto silk with the fish underneath, the process is indirect, but amazing detail is achieved with careful inking. A well-done gyotaku of the indirect method will show every scale and every ridge of the fins of the subject fish.

In theory, it should take 30 pounces on one spot with an inked tampo before any color begins to show on the silk covering the fish. To my mind this is just craziness! I am not a patient person and all the masking and pouncing and tampo-ing and fussing required of the indirect method were not well suited to my impatient, get-on-with-it temperament! Needless to say, my fish is lacking in finesse, but I surely do have a great deal of respect now for a well executed indirect fish print. I will, however, not be using that method again!

Sharron Huffman led my third "fish" printing class. What were were actually printing were octopuses. That actually leads me to the question of just what, exactly, is the plural of octopus? Well, I just happen to have a little video to answer that burning question......

Sharron Huffman turns out to be delightfully funny, terribly talented and an all-around lovely human being. I just adored her class on printing the little critters and had more fun than I could have reasonably expected.

As in any method of gyotaku, you must first get your octopus dry, dry, dry. (And you have to seal up those pesky eyes and get the silt left by cleaning the octopus really dried out, too.) We then used bits of paper towel to stuff the "heads" into a more normal shape. (These octopuses come in 5 pound frozen blocks and are usually from Thailand or Vietnam.)

Once you get your specimen ready to print, you need to mask the area under the legs with paper and then ink the little guy with ink. Sharron uses a foam brush in a pat and dab sort of movement. She is careful not to leave brush strokes.

Once you get the body and legs nicely inked, you need to remove the masking paper and clean up any ink "glitches" with paper towel, baby wipes or Q-Tips. You can see me cleaning up the background of my octopus in the above photo, taken by my friend Bee Shay.

My last class was with Maria Arango Diener. Maria is a woodblock artist of great talent. I love her work and learned so much from her. Unlike all the fish printing I did earlier in the week, carving a relief printing block was something I had done before, so it was not a totally new art form for me. I really enjoyed the class, partly because I was back in my comfort zone, but mostly because it was so much fun and I got so much useful information from Maria.

I used a piece of wood that I found on the sidewalk one day on my way to lunch and a ginko leaf as my design elements and did a simplified sketch for my woodblock.

Each of the participants in the class was to pull 17 prints so we could exchange a print with each person in the group. We all came away with a little portfolio of prints. I was so impressed with the work done by the other artists and I was so happy to have a piece of their art to take away with me.

I was lucky enough to be in the same class with Bee, my buddy and roomie for this workshop. She did a wonderful print of seahorses that she took from a relief print of a seahorse she had in her portfolio.

One of the nicest things about my time in Fort Collins turned out to be Fort Collins. It's a lovely little city, home of Colorado State University (where we had our meeting and class rooms). We all found that there were shops there for every taste. I was especially thrilled to discover that Fort Collins had two bead shops! Two! And Jerry's Artarama, too. I mean, for what more can one ask? Oh, you want more? Well, there's Screen Door Studios, a wonderful place to buy art, beads, baskets, one-of-a-kind sweaters and all sorts of amazing jewelry and I found way too many things there that had came home with me. (Try packing three baskets from Ghana in your suitcase sometime!) Fort Collins is pretty, interesting, restaurant-filled, friendly and a great place to spend some time. I especially enjoyed Old Town and I was sorry to leave.

"Painting is just another way of keeping a diary." Pablo Picasso

Leaving Nantucket

2011-07-27T18:22:00.000-07:00

My friend Polly left yesterday. It was great fun to take her class at the 1800 House and to hang out and share a meal or two. If I'm lucky I'll catch up with her again in Oregon in November.

I leave for Colorado in the morning. It's going to be so hard to leave here. Not just because of all the
beautiful flowers and pretty houses and the beaches. It's hard to leave because somehow I feel so at home here.

I feel very "me" here, if you follow my thought. It's not a deja vu thing, it's a recognition of a place that fills me up rather than sucks me dry. It's a tonic being here. I can hear myself think while I'm on Nantucket. I breathe a little deeper, I sleep a little sounder and I definitely laugh louder and longer.....oh, that part may be Bee's fault, not Nantucket, now that I think of it.

I see things more clearly. I couldn't take my eyes off these trees yesterday. Bee and I had a late lunch outside at The Brotherhood of Thieves (isn't that just the best name for a restaurant?) and I looked up and was mesmerized by the late afternoon sun slanting through the leaves way above my head.

For one thing, I noticed that we are definitely in the midst of summer, maybe even heading into the last innings. The colors are changing from the pinks, purples and whites of early summer to orange, red and bright, bright yellow. Louder colors. Full on high summer colors.

The rose hips are coloring up and this year they are huge.

And yet, that gorgeous afternoon light, coming through the leaves, ever changing as the soft breeze ruffles the leaves and changes the light patterns----endlessly, quietly. Beautiful.

Good bye, Nantucket. Thanks for filling me up with such good things. Thanks for the fun and the rest and the laughs. Thanks for everything.

I am so grateful for my time here.

"Just a sandy wind-swept island!"
What more would you have it be,
With a turquoise sky above it,
Around it a sapphire sea?
Mary Starbuck

Beautiful Blooming Nantucket

2011-07-25T19:13:00.000-07:00

Nantucket is the prettiest place I think I have ever been. All the gray shingled houses, most with white trim and the beautifully manicured gardens make for wonderful walks. Everywhere you look there is another gorgeous hydrangea in full bloom or a window box with eye-popping combinations I would never have thought to use together.

So many of the houses (and many of the shops, too) have window boxes. They all look so wonderful it makes me wonder why more of us don't use them?

Even at your feet on the sidewalks, things are growing and blooming----and beautiful.

If you look closely into the center of the white Rose of Sharon in the picture above you'll see a fat and pollen-covered bumble bee.

I love the shape of the window above. The lush, over flowing window box just adds to the charm.

How's this for curb appeal?

I am definitely going to be planting more hydrangeas when I get home!!!

Keeping Busy on Nantucket

2011-07-23T19:12:00.000-07:00

On Tuesday and Wednesday, I took a class at the 1800 House on Nantucket from Don Carpentier, who is not only an internationally renowned preservationist, a master potter and an all around can do sort of fellow. The six or seven students in the class all made a very personal weather vane.

My fish was borrowed from a gyotaku print by Chris Dewees, a member of the Nature Printing Society. The rock fish image I used was on the NPS calendar for 2011.

Don helped me figure out how to make a very dimensional eye for this 'vane, and Don did all the soldering on the piece. He also made the arrow pointer on the crossbar. The rest is my work.

I love the color of this old copper. I decided to let my weather vane age and patina naturally rather than give it a head start with an aging product. I think my local weather ought to be able to add more than enough patina in a fairly short time period.

This fish looks deceptively small. The cross bar is actually about 24 inches in length. That makes for a very nice sized 'vane, I think.

My friend Bee and I spend a very happy (and somewhat messy) evening in her studio doing discharge prints on black fabric. It's not complicated....you use bleach! We had the best luck with Soft Scrub. Paint it on an object (leaf, shell, etc.) and then print it. You let the bleach product completely dry, then rise it off. We then washed the fabric and the next day we ironed it.

I'm not sure just exactly what I'm going to do with my fabric, but the technique was fun and easy to do and I think I will be experimenting with it further. I can see you could make some very interesting fabrics to use in quilting and other crafts.

On Friday I took a rug hooking class from Polly Minick at the 1800 House. Polly has a wonderful book, available on Amazon, called I met Polly last year when I took a two day class in hooking a bag from her. The little evening bag design for this year is much smaller than the big tote from last year, and hence, much easier to get completed. I will only hook the front of this little bag and will use the same dark blue as in the canton (the stars area on the flag) as the backing. It's really cute! I think I was truly her remedial student as i was, by far, the slowest at hooking, but I was finally getting the hang of it towards the end of the four-hour class. (Slow learner!) I can see that once you are really comfortable with the process it could be extremely relaxing and a fun way to do something while sitting and "watching" a movie.

I am having the best time trying new things. I really can't believe I made a weather vane!

Dead Whale at Smith's Point

2011-07-17T17:21:00.000-07:00

July 20, 2011 update: There is more specific information on this whale at the WDCS blog.

The big news on Nantucket this weekend is that a humpback whale washed up on Smith's Point.

Lowie, my friend Bee's husband, saw it yesterday from the air when he flew to Hyannis to run an errand.

The whale is on it's back, so the view you have is of it's underside.

Just a few feet away is a big chuck of baleen. I've never seen a piece of baleen this large before. I remember buying a little piece in Alaska for a friend and it was (as they would say here in Massachusetts) "wicked pricey." I can't imagine what a chunk like this would go for on the retail market.

This close-up of the fiber that makes up baleen will give you an idea of how it's used for filter feeding. (The krill and caught in the fibers and the water passes through.)

Great white sharks have been feeding on the whale while it is afloat. (No, no Jaws sightings this afternoon on the beach.....thank God!) I wonder if the missing hunk near the tail was the work of a shark.

Here's a close-up of the underside. Isn't it interesting?

There are some seriously large barnacles attached to this whale's carcass.

Bee and I had a grand time getting a million shots of the seagulls. The wind was blowing strongly and the gulls, of course, were there to scavenge. They were much more interested in the possibility of a free meal than in the humans pointing cameras at them. We were able to get pretty close and had time to get our shots in focus.

found this whale sighting fascinating, but smelly....I enjoyed it much more when I was up wind!