More flowers 06-15-19

The flower that is so common here that we don't even see it anymore.  

This is a dark pink hibiscus, such bloomers they are. 

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Reading 06-14-19

As some of you are, so am I!  A reader, through and through.  I usually have at least one book going, but as I have aged I have been forced to read one at a time as my brain can't jump from one book to the other and back again.  Sad.  Lately I seem hooked on biographies and specifically about women authors of children's books.  

The one I finished today is "Prairie Fire: The American Dreams of Laura Ingalls Wilder" by Caroline Fraser.  It is a very scholarly book of 626 pages, including extensive footnotes, many acknowledgements, and a long index.   I was disheartened to read some of it, especially the relationship between Laura and her adult daughter, Rose Wilder Lane, also a writer, but one with not much conscience and inclined to glorify herself and put down her mother.  She really was a rather despicable person.  Since it is more than 500 pages, not counting the footnotes and index, I feel like I have been reading it forever.  But I read all of the series as a child and again when I was in my 30s, so it was interesting to read about Laura's actual life and the background of the publishing.  

Prior to that I read two books about Margaret Wise Brown the author of one of the best selling children's books of all time, "Goodnight Moon" and also the lovely "Runaway Bunny". She wrote over a hundred books before her untimely death at age 42.  The first biography I read was "The Great Green Room" by Amy Gary.  But I felt that it wasn't complete enough, so I followed up with "Margaret Wise Brown: Awakened by the Moon".  It is more extensive with fifty or so pages of notes, footnotes, index, etc.  Both books have pictures of Margaret, her friends and houses.  She was not perfect, but someone it is easy to admire.  For our July meeting my Book Group members are to read a "classic".  So, I am reading "Goodnight Moon", what could possibly be more classic?

Now I have moved on to a Dana Stabenow "procedural" (I guess that is what it might be called).  I have devoured all of her Kate Shugack mysteries and am eagerly waiting for the next in that series.  But this one is a stand alone titled "Blindfold Game".  Of course, it still is sited in the North Pacific (seems like between Alaska and Russia) and she is such a talented story teller, I'm sure I will have to set the timer, lest I read all night...  or all day.  

I have also recently enjoyed "Where the Crawdads Sing" by Delia Owens (reminded me of "Girl of the Limberlost" which I read decades ago.  And the two newest Anne Hellerman continuation of her late father's tales: "Cave of Bones" and "Song of the Lion" which take place in the Navajo and Hopi lands of New Mexico and Arizona.  And an old John Lescroart thriller "VIG" which I picked up at the used bookstore, Bookman in Anaheim. 

Yes, I will read just about anything, except Fantasy and Science Fiction.

  

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Bathroom report 06-13-19

I am one of those ladies who visits bathrooms wherever she goes.  It is a necessity rather than a choice.  Recently I had lunch at Rutabegorz restaurant in Orange, CA.  There are two other locations, one in Tustin and the original in Fullerton.  They are what I think of as hippie restaurants with lots of healthy food and drinks and their food is very good.  And there is a lot of it.  The Orange location is in an old house just down the street from Chapman College and it does a good business.  They have a lovely patio which at this time of year is a bower of bright flowers.  But the patio is between the house and the busy street (Glassell) so I always choose to sit inside.  And, of course, the bathroom is inside!!  It is original to the house and is decorated in a style very familiar from my childhood.  Although they have rather over done it - on purpose.  All these wall pieces are like those I remember and, in addition, they have painted the toilet seat as some people did in the 50s. Also the window, but I don't remember seeing that before.   It is all very original but also "old fashioned". 

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Wordless Wednesday 06-12-19

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Setting aside another WIP 06-10-19

I am going to have to add this to my UFOs for now.  Does WIP (Work in Progress) sound more "professional" than UFO?  Since I am not going to be working on the quilt for a while, I don't want to claim it is "in progress".  

After looking through piles of fabric for something to use for a border I decided that the best border would be made from some of the same fabrics.  So, I sent off to the Nimble Thimble Quilt Shop in Gilroy, CA, where I bought the first jelly roll, asking her to send me another.  It came today.  But, like I said, I have to set it aside and try to make a few deadlines that are looming.  Who knows when I will be able to get back to it?  And the hundreds (probably) of other UFOs lurking in my house.  

One of the things I found difficult in sewing the strips together was the shredding.  I think next time I would buy a jelly roll with pinked edges .  And I will do some trimming on this one before I unroll it.  Might help. 

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KoKo and Froggie again 06-09-19

Oh, NO!  Guess who didn't jump in time. 

A worried KoKo.  What is my Froggie doing in there?

Kisses don't help.  Mom, get him out of there. 

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