"Fish in a Bottle" 07-12-08

A couple days ago Carol Bednar and I went to dinner at "Fish in a Bottle" which is currently our favorite restaurant. It is a combination of sushi house and American dinner grill. They have sushi, both raw and cooked, but also American steak, chicken, or fish dishes. We have been working our way through the sushi menu with an occasional dip into the appetizers, Everything has been delicious, even the sushi with blueberry jam - we couldn't imagine it, so we tried it and liked it!

Carol and I started out with edamame, followed by the organic greens salad, which we order every time just to taste the fantastic dressing. I haven't figured out what is in it yet. By our request our appetizer, fresh asparagus wrapped in Filet Mignon (outstanding combo), was served with our main dish, Baha roll (avocado, tuna, cooked shrimp, sushi rice, seaweed wrap, chili pepper (very mild) sauce and a sprinkle of black sesame seeds. Every time I eat at this restaurant I think that meal has to be the very best, but with each return trip I find another meal that I think is the very best.

I thought they had their own website, but I can't find it. If you Google "Fish in a Bottle", Placentia, CA you will find a number of reviews.

A Birthday and Organizing 07-11-08

Liz's birthday is July 11th and I bought her a birthday cake from one of my favorite bakeries, "Creative Cakes" in Long Beach. This one is carrot cake and is decorated in their usual flamboyant style. Unfortunately, Liz could not come today, so we will celebrate one day late - tomorrow.

Liz Williams in the mustard fields off I-5 at Lost Hills - April 2006

I think this is a great picture of Liz - she is always ready for an 'adventure', so one year we were coming home from Asilomar and the wild mustard was glorious. We decided we needed a closer look, exited I-5 and found a road that wandered off through the fields. We just walked around taking pictures and looking at the different plants. Nice memory.

Here are the extra shelves and another shelving unit strapped down in the back of the van. I picked them up yesterday, but haven't taken them out yet because there is no place to put them right now. I had to move some things around for the termite guy and he moved even more things. I hope this takes care of the termites for a long time. Liz and I will unload and, it is to be hoped, assemble everything tomorrow.

Corky is here until Sunday night. Right now he is disgusted because I am not in bed. He doesn't sleep in/on the bed, but I think he wants me in it so that he can keep an eye on me.

A hard day 07-10-08

The "tree murderers" started in at 7:30 this morning. The sound I dislike more than any other is that of a chainsaw. It isn't just the shrill whine, but also the knowledge that another forty year old tree is going to disappear. One of the features that attracted us to this house was its location in a neighborhood with a great many tall trees - pine, jacaranda, liquid amber, several different kinds of palms. But as soon as a house is resold and new neighbors move in, the trees start coming down. If they would only have the trees trimmed properly so that they weren't top heavy or didn't have unbalanced limbs. But without trimming, the trees become a hazard in our heavy Santana winds. Palms, of course, can be pruned to remove the thatch of dried fronds hanging down, which are an enormous fire hazard. But there is no way to keep them from growing very, very tall. They don't have much of a root ball - when the soil is saturated the wind blows the palms blow down on houses, cars and sometimes people.

When I went out at 7:45 the cutter had already removed all the fronds.

He then started cutting off sections of the trunk about 2 - 2-1/2 feet long and pushing them off to fall with a THUD to the ground. Then he would move his safety harness down 2-1/2 feet and start another horizontal cut.

And down and down....

A young man below kept a sharp eye upward as he watched for and collected all the pieces to place on the curb for the mobile shredder which turned everything into little bits.

It was nice of the neighbor to have his street tree, a crape myrtle trimmed. The city has not trimmed the street trees since I moved here in 1986, but I have mine trimmed when I have the few large trees pruned.

When I turned to go in the house I saw one of our new neighbors huddled down in a depression in the lawn (where the people before us cut down a tree and didn't properly remove the roots). In all the years I have been here I never saw a bunny until about four months ago. Needless to say there are now at least a dozen. Maybe this means the coyotes have moved back to the wilder parts of the county.

I had to get inside and get busy because a termite company was coming to look at the subterranean termite damage Liz and I discovered yesterday when we were moving furniture. They are a big problem in this area. I'm told it is because this was once all orange, lemon and walnut orchards. This house has been spot treated twice before and there are two new areas that must be treated. And I'm having the perimeter treated also. Total $1200 that I hadn't planned to dish out right now. Such are the joys of home ownership - right?

My friend Carol and I went to the delicious "Fish in a Bottle" restaurant this evening. The food was fantastic. Every time I go there I am going to photograph the presentation of the food, but always forget. This evening I remembered, but I had left my camera home when I downloaded the tree trimming photos. Woe is I. But Carol had her camera and we took a few pictures - she'll send them along in the morning. And then I will post them.

One shelf unit up 07-09-08

Liz came this morning at 8:30 and we worked flat out until 4pm. We did stop for pastrami sandwiches with the meat left from the sandwich I bought at The Hat yesterday. They put so much meat in each portion that I can get four meals out of one sandwich. And it is such GOOD pastrami.

Two people are definitely needed to erect the shelf unit - three would probably be better. We managed six shelves, but only four come with each unit, so I need to go back and buy four more shelves. And I might buy another unit - three will fit across the wall. And I THINK the three will hold all the boxes except a few very special project boxes I will keep under a table. I even did some 'culling' and you see an empty box on the top shelf next to the batting box. Of course, the sorting table I showed in a previous post is still covered with piles of fabric divided by color. And there are several other large piles of fabric here and there. But I have vowed to not buy more boxes, so I will be doing serious culling.

My brain is not functioning this evening, it is striped raw by all the decision making I had to do today. That Liz, she is a big help, but she refuses to make decisions for me. Not nice, eh? And my body is weary. So, off to bed, only to face another marathon tomorrow. But without Liz, so I might be able to have a little sitting down time.

Inventive, anyway. 07-08-08

Someone sent this to me over the weekend and it made me laugh. In fact, everytime I think about it, I laugh again. There are people in this world who still live by the Depression era motto: Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without.

The caption below came with it.

Check out this summer top. No sewing, just a few cuts! It is was taken in front of the Gardendale, Alabama, Wal-Mart while she was going to the Flea market. Look at it closely. Now I ask you...Who sits and looks at a pair of men's briefs and says hmmmm..."I can make a nice summer top from these?" On the other hand...$9 for a three-pack is a good price! Hope she got the tri-color variety pack!

Bad Habits 07-07-08

Sometimes I think I have more bad habits than the average person! Especially now when I am faced with all the junk I keep - forever! One REALLY bad habit is pinning things to walls. I have three in the dining room, which is where I sew, and one in the front hall next to the door. I can't remember when I last cleared them off - probably a decade. After all, nobody comes in my house except the plumber once every year or so. But now I must take everything down and make some decisions about keeping or disposing. And where shall I put what I keep?

This wall is home to half a dozen small quilts waiting to be quilted and also lots of 'special fabric'. Like the piece in the top middle - red and white striped fish with blue tails on a black ground. I love this fabric, but I haven't found the perfect place for it. In the lower left corner are a few San Blas Indian patches someone gave to me - wonderful birds.

On another narrow wall are these orange fabrics. I love orange and keep thinking I will make an orange quilt. I've shared cuts of different oranges with fellow guild members, but they actually MAKE the quilts.

This is truly a junk wall. There are a couple ribbons from shows, a postcard from the "Put A Roof Over Our Heads" (the Alliance fund raiser last year) and below it a great fabric I got in a grab bag somewhere, higher up is a funky angel I made a few years ago with waxed thread hair that fans out beautifully and, at the very top, a photo of a quilted car cover that was displayed at a number of quilting events some years ago.

This is a narrow wall behind the front door with mostly gifts that people have given me. And a few things that I purchased - the exotic lady on the left made by doll maker extraordinary Judy Hasselkus of Mission Viejo, CA, and the three little lapel dolls by Debra Lunn. The flamingo is actually a coin purse - a sort of "in" joke from a friend.

I know I need to set aside an entire day to de-pin my walls - an awful lot of decisions. Corky has gone home and Liz with be here on Wednesday, so things should get moving again - rapidly, not at a snail's pace as they have been this past week.

Discoveries 07-06-08

I have experienced this before and I know that many of you have also. When cleaning out for any reason after a long period of collecting stuff, I run across things I don't remember. Usually the brain sorts it out and I remember what, when , why... etc. But sometimes not.

A few weeks ago I talked a little about fabrics that fade and here is another good example. This fabric is a commercially patched Indian Madras plaid. I don't remember where I bought it, but I have had this problem with Madras before. I made this vest (my favorite one - ever) in early 1996. I knew it had faded, but I didn't realize how much. Today I was consolidating some bags of scraps and came across the piece on the right. Although I have been wearing the vest for twelve years I didn't immediately recognize the scrap - it did look familiar. The vest has had a lot of sun and many washings, so I shouldn't be surprised, but I am.

Here is the vest and the scrap in a closeup. Wow! I guess I need to retire the vest which I have patched many times, but never with the original fabric.

I haven't completely identified this piece with thread painting on a batik print. I do vaguely remember doing this, but not why I did it or what I intended it for. I believe the idea was looking up at the sky through winter bare branches. After looking carefully at the location of the safety pin, I can see that I missed a double back on one of the branches and guess I marked it so I could redo it.

In the folder there was a strip from another quilt that I finished in 2002. So, I suppose I did this that same year. I have improved my control, but I'll never be an expert at thread painting. I've put this with my unfinished projects.... Box 3, I believe. That I should live so long!