Ladies Day Out 08-29-08

Mary and I drove over to Pacific Grove this morning, it is about a 45min trip. First we visited Back Porch Fabrics to feel the fabric and admire the quilts on the walls and, of course, to buy just a few pieces to add to our fabric libraries. I found two red fabric on the sale table and purchased some of each for the BCQG philanthropic project. When I took several boxes of fabric to Judy Vlahos last week she said they needed some reds - hope they like them.

The entrance to Back Porch is from an open-to-the-street foyer so it is difficult to take a good picture of the street side. This is what you see when you open the door to walk in. Gail Abeloe has a fabulous selection of fabric and all her employees are quilters so they have the answers to all your questions! Well, maybe MOST of your questions. As I have said before this is my favorite place to look for quilt fabric, and it is also Mary's favorite.

On the left is Marge Abel, a customer. In the center is Jean Dunn one of the outstanding employees and teachers. On the right is Jeanne Mills, another outstanding employee and also the person who sets up the exhibits in the gallery. She has another job as the organizer of quilters tours to France.

Our next stop was the Red House for lunch. They have such delicious food and the atmosphere of the converted house is so relaxed and happy, just the perfect cafe for a beach town, I think. Mary's hamburger and my grilled chicken sandwich were great and so filling, but we were forced to have dessert because they had olallieberry pie and their special homemade vanilla ice cream. We shared one serving, but we should have just started out with two pieces of pie w/ice cream and just skipped the healthy stuff. We waddled out to the van and drove over to Monterey Aquarium - I was determined to see the Jellies before they move on to another venue. Jellies are so fascinating with their strange shapes and undulations. I particularly like the tiny ones that are transparent. How can they survive in the vast oceans? They look so delicate.

We also visited the main tank that houses many different fish that live in the open ocean, including a new white shark they put in yesterday. We don't think we saw that shark but there are several different kinds in the tank. We saw the penguin exhibit (not pelican as I erroneously typed yesterday), but had already eaten so they just stood around sleeping or preening. I wanted to see them walk and swim. Another visit, I guess. I always have to visit the bird display. Most of the birds have been rescued and cannot be released in the wild. There is no barrier between the people and the birds, but the birds have become inured to being stared at - no choice, they cannot fly away. There is a black necked stilt that has been in the display for years and years, much longer than it would have lived in the wild. And there is the curlew above, who has only one wing. He took a bath for us and went on for over ten minutes, it was quite humorous. He would dunk and jump up, swish his bottom in the water, flap his wing and sprinkle anyone who was too close. Then he turned sideways a bit and did it all over again - I wonder if he was showing us his best profile.

I took quite a few bird pictures and will try to post them. However, my computer is ailing and I cannot use it, so Mary is letting me use hers. Figuring out how to do things takes me a long time ; therefore I will try to just do necessary e-mail and post my blog every day. I'll have a lot of catching up to do when I get home.