Home Again

California did not disappoint.  We got to see lots of nature! There is a desert area in Palm Canyon with this tree that appears to be bowing in welcome.


This tree is in the midst of an oasis down in the canyon.

We hiked past the oasis and up the other side of the canyon where we found this guy hiding in the rocks. There were a few smaller lizards near the oasis, but I only saw this one larger one.

Turning from his little perch you get this view.

On another day trip we took the aerial tram up Mount San Jacinto.  8,400 feet up was more hiking than I wanted that day.  The highest I've ever done was Mount Marcy at about 5,400 feet which took me all day to get up and back.  You can hike San Jacinto one way and take the tram the other, though, which I might try sometime.

Of course, I built a cairn.  Two actually.

From hot desert and cool mountains, we moved on to the nice warm California coast to see sea lions on the beach in La Jolla,

Sea lions go for the family bed concept, too.

I love these guys!  They were so playful.

They are like the dogs of the ocean.  I don't know if they were playing, fighting, or mating actually, but those in the water were energetic, noisy, and seemed quite happy.

Some people were swimming with them. 

 Seals are the cats of the ocean--the vast majority were sleeping in the sun when we were there.

This guy posed for me, though.

Is that not the sweetest face?  Good thing they're so fat or people would be stealing they away to take home.

Birds! Lots of birds.  Nesting cormorants were all over the cliffs.

There were gulls, of course, and a few pelicans like this guy who was mid-stretch.  It was possibly a yoga stetch that I would guess might be called "open gullet and hope a fish drops in" pose.

Some birds were apparently tourists as well.  We wanted to go in this store, but it was crowded with these guys.

Kiefer said I should have waited to get a photo of them in their new shades.

Then the flowers.  Way too many to show, so just this one. 

I'll share some pics of the Los Angeles part soon.  You will not believe some of the stars on the Walk of Fame.

Wondering How to Paint the House?

Just in case someone looking for ideas for the outside of the house, I thought I'd share this one from Venice Beach in California.

Here's a closer look for those who need more inspiration.  I am particularly taken with the little creatures holding umbrellas with their trunks.  The multi-legged "eye" creatures are a very close second, though. 

Love that there is a color-coordinated one way sign in front!  This is definitely one way to do house painting.

My house has vinyl siding, but my shed is painted.  I think I might have to get a little artsy this summer.

Cairns Happen

I can't leave anything alone.

If you put people and rocks together, cairns happen. 

There's a cool extension on the Zim Smith Trail that leads to Route 9.  For some reason, this part of the trail has great rocks that the rest of the trail is sorely lacking.  I take it as a personal responsibility to build a mini cairn on every visit.  Yes, the best part about this cairn is the big, gorgeous rock on the bottom for which I can take no credit, but I like to think that I have improved upon it.  It's what crafters do, right?

What is Art?

While wandering around Washington, D. C. last week, we came upon a sculpture garden.  I can't remember which of the major institutions owned it.  Smithsonian maybe??  In any case it was a lovely respite of green amidst all the buildings and roads.  I loved some of the pieces such as this full-sized tree made of some kind of silver metal.  It's about the only kind of tree I want--no shedding leaves, won't grow too big.

 I also LOVED this one called "Thinker on a Rock." 

Some pieces I just wanted to rename.  The artist called this one "Four-Sided Pyramid." 

 I'd like to call it "I Probably Should Have Been An Architect."

Before looking to see what the artist titled this one, I chose to call it "I Thought They Said These Were Stacking Chairs."

The artist entitled it "Chair Transformation Number 20B.

The artist called this next one Stele II.

I saw it more as "The Emperor Has No Clothes" in honor on another time when people agreed they saw something great when there was nothing there.

This one is quaint and whimsical to me.

 I called it "No One Understands Me" and I hadn't even been to the museum that had old typewriters and heard all the little kids says, "But what is it?" to their parents.  I am so freakin' old that the typewriters I learned on are displayed in a museum. Who remembers these erasers with the brush to clear away all the eraser crumbs?  Yes, for all you people under retirement age, it is an eraser.  The artist quite appropriately titled this one "Typewriter Eraser."

Advice for those going to D.C.  Go in the winter during the week if you prefer a less crowded visit.  There were so many people, so many families, so many children's groups this time of year.  The museums do handle everything really well.  There were no long waits.  I'm just not a big crowd person.   If you do go this time of year, go earlier in the day.  The number of people on the streets and in the museums grows larger and larger throughout the day. Also, consider staying outside the city at a place near a Metro station. We stayed in Silver Spring, MD just a few blocks from a station.  The Metro is easy to use, brightly lit, runs on time, and is very clean.  The people in the area were polite and helpful.  We had three full days for seeing the sights and probably didn't even see half of what is there. It's back on our list as a day trip whenever we take a driving trip south.

The Jewelry Roll is Finally Finished

I could not find a jewelry roll pattern that I liked completely.  As a result I chose pieces from different designs to come up with my own pattern.  I used leftover fabric from Agnes' quilt.

The top strip that holds necklaces and bracelets is sewn down in a few places across the top so that it won't sag when the jewelry is on there.  The necklaces obviously get hooked onto the strip.  The center stuffed strip is for rings.  It snaps at the right side for access.

I reinforced the snap area with interfacing.

In addition to the rings, I put some of my circular earrings on here which works well, too.

I saw one design that had the pockets at the bottom.  In addition to providing a place for things like solid bracelets, long necklaces can be tucked in.  That made a lot of sense to me, and it was something missing from most jewelry roll patterns.  Without it I think things would possibly be sliding out the sides.

There are the pockets, sewn down the center to create two...

long necklaces out....

and long necklaces neatly tucked in.

I thought about putting in something to hold stud-type earrings, but decided to just push them through the pocket top.  

The studs and wires are not much more than a large needle and don't damage the fabric.

One mistake that just happened to work out was the placement of the ribbon at the center back.  I should have placed it at the bottom end.  Were my roll longer or shorter the ribbon tie may have gotten rolled up making it rather useless.  Luck was with me, though!  It works perfectly.

I did like cruisin' with Norwegian in the Carribean

Finally got my Photoshop Elements to work well enough to get photos for blogging, so I thought I'd share a few of the fun or unusual thing we loved on this trip aboard the Gem.

Best place in my not so humble opinion:  The Baths at Virgin Gorda. You can go though a massive collection of toppled boulders to get to a fantastic beach area.

There are some slippery areas and a few places that are a bit tight or require care when traversing, but it's not difficult to get through.

You do have to walk though some water, but this is as deep as it gets

Almost to the beach!

We made it!

I collect rocks from places I visit, but these had to stay.

Now for some of the unusual.  This family strolled onto the beach while we were there.

I'm pretty sure Mom was telling her chick to just ignore the rude tourists snapping photos here.

I'm also pretty sure that was not their blanket, but what do I know about chickens!

The islands seem to have a thing for letting their chickens roam freely.

Just hanging by the side of the road.

 Then there were the feral cats at Puerto Rico--not so many that it's annoying, but they were plentiful.

One blue eye and one green!  How cool is that!

Nothing wrong with him.  He was just stretching after a nap.

Iguanas!  I love them.  I wish we had them here.  Maybe I should move there. Yeah, I wanna live here, too.

Last, my favorite place and activity on the ship:

Sun, sea, comfy lounge chair, and my Kindle.  Perfect.

It's only been a month, and I'm ready for another cruise.

And Another Graduation!

Yes, I am going to bore you with photos of my son Kyle's graduation with a master of divinity degree from Union Theological Seminary in New York City.

Precommencement picnic at Riverside Park.  That would be me, Jordan, Kiefer, Kyle, Brian, and Keegan with my sister taking the photo.

Kyle ready for his big day. Good to be a sewer who carries a needle and thread to fix that broken snap on the collar.

Union is as old as dirt apparently, 177th commencement!

Graduation was in a beautiful courtyard.

Kyle's room is in the center overlooking the courtyard.  Oh, how these students suffer living in a beautiful building in one of the most beautiful areas of NYC.

It's real when the diploma is in hand.

Back up again for the Julius Thomas Hansen Memorial Award.  They aren't told beforehand that they've won which makes it a fun surprise.

Al Gore won an award, too, but it pales in comparison to Kyle's for some reason...

Oh, yeah!  Now that is a real Kyle smile.

Future father-in-law Rick was able to come.  (Melissa, hope you get online to see this.  We will soon be welcoming you home from Mongolia for a nice vacation.

End of the day view taken as we were heading home.  I wanna live here.