Last day in Pacific Grove, CA 10-16-21

And it was a busy day.  

 

Had this hearty breakfast at Toastie's - 2 eggs over easy, five enormous strips of excellent bacon, six 3" pancakes with syrup, 3 cups of coffee and lots of people watching.  Something I have certainly missed during the pandemic.  I do love to observe people and make up stories about them.

I saved half the bacon and ate it for dinner tonight with my left over broccoli and a hard boiled egg from home.  Tasty!

Then another browse at Back Porch.  It is the BEST quilt shop ever.  And the ladies are so friendly and helpful.  I was specifically looking for a background for the Canyon Quilters Challenge and bought a piece of greenish-greyish Scrunge.  Thought I might get going on that 14" quilt today, but ran out of time. 

As you see, a fabulous day and there were people all along the road that follows Monterey Bay to the end of Hwy 68 at the entrance to Asilomar.  There were people setting up their spots to relax.

 

And people watching the birds, like this long line of brown pelicans flying along. 

And people running.  This one gave me a pang as he resembles my late husband was a daily runner, a habit he formed in college and he ran wherever we were in the world. 

 

And some people hauled their home in and parked, apparently for the day since they have their bump-out set up.  I thought there was a limit to how large a vehicle one could park and how long one could stay.  

There were also walkers, dog walkers, baby strollers, electric bikes, non-electric bikes,couples, families, singles, hand-holders.   It seemed that everyone was out and about in the sunshine.  I just drove along at 15-20 mph enjoying the sights.  Wonder when I will be back here again.  Hopefully before Empty Spools in the spring.  

Back in my motel room I set up for the ZOOM workshop with Brenda Gael Smith in Australia.  It was her three hour circles/curves and was an excellent little class.  I had all the materials and equipment with me and found her to be a good teacher.  It would be better to have her in person, but under the circumstances it was great.  The last time I saw Brenda was at PIQF  few years ago.  Hope she will be able to come to the States again one day.  

And here is a little quiz for you.  Which side is up?  The very light color is actually a pale yellow on yellow print, not quite as pale as in the images.  I'll try for better color when I decide which is the top and which is the bottom. 

Back to PIQF in the morning to look at the quilts until they close and I can pick up our six quilts and head home.  I'll stay some place along I-5 and finish the drive on Monday.  Don't expect I will get very far tomorrow evening.  

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Still in Pacific Grove, CA 10-15-21

It is actually Saturday morning, I don't know that I have ever written a morning post!  But last night I just crashed about 9:30pm, don't think I did anything to make me so tired, but I was. 

I took pictures specifically for Friday Food post, so here they are on Saturday morning. . 

Breakfast at The Red House with a view across Lighthouse Street showing the yellow B&B that has been there forever.  You can just see the corner of the "shelter" in front of the restaurant, taking up all the parking spaces on that side of the street.  There are at least a half a dozen of these structures on the street in front of cafes.  This one was fully occupied with happy breakfast diners, but there seemed to be only one extra waiter.  Still a little chilly for me to eat outdoors.

I have always enjoyed the "homeiness" of Red House.  The hand made sign says "We love you a Latte" which amused me, although surely I have seen this expression before. 

Directly in my view was this couple who are happily expected, seemingly any moment!  They were so loving and I think I even saw the baby give a giant kick.  Babies during Covid, seems scary to me.  Anyway, I enjoyed watching them enjoying each other and their baby. 

The same waiter who served me in May 2020.  He has worked here for quite a few years I think. Nice guy.  He was a little taken aback when I just ordered coffee and a slice of Olallieberry pie with ice cream - for breakfast!!!  When it came it had whipped cream and I told him I wanted ice cream.  He said they didn't have ice cream.  "What? You always have ice cream!"   "Not today.  Sorry."  But the pie was delicious, if not a very large slice.  

And for dinner my very favorite at Il Vecchio.  Carbonara, broccoli, bread w/oil/balsamic.  I ate every bite with murmurs of love.  Asked for more oil/balsamic and pour all of it over the broccoli which I will eat for lunch today.  I wished for all of you to be there to enjoy this special place and evening.  

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Pacific Grove, CA 10-14-21

I do love the little town of Pacific Grove.  It is what is known as charming!  Lots of fancy Victorian cottages and houses, well maintained over all the intervening years.  Of course, there are more post WWII houses than the Victorians.  Since the town putts up to the north end of Monterey they just run together so I'm not sure exactly where one ends and the other begins.  Every day I am here I will drive the shore line of Monterey Bay, stopping to breath the special air, watch the birds, greet the dog walkers, remember the poem "I must go down to the sea again......" learned in grade school.  Some of these pictures are sideways to show them better.  Let me know if this is not a good idea.

Waves splashing high

Asilomar Beach with series of waves rolling in.

White and blue with birds.

This pile of rocks is completely covered wih seagulls , cormorants, and other sea birds.  They fly up in a cloud and then settle back down again.  Even with my binoculars I could not tell what species they are.  

I did some sewing work today, got gas at $4.79/gallon, and went to the Red House for a salmon dinner.  I wanted some Olallieberry pie, but was too full.  Might go back tomorrow for breakfast.   Pie for breakfast is very special.

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ArtStream quilts at PIQF 10-13-21

Here are the quilts as displayed at PIQF - in a good L-shaped spot at the end of an aisle. The title of our exhibit is "Patterns of Nature".  The quilts are approximately 36"W X 48"L.

"Sea Flora" - Ellen Spellman      "Himalayan Poppies" - Nelda McConb

"Welcome Home" - Del Thomas      "Sun Seeker"- Judy Warren-Tippets

"Kaleidoscope" -Carol Sebastian Neeley      "Tabby Variations" - Deb MacKay

They did not have all the lights turned up full blast, so the true colors don't show here.  I will do new pictures when I go up on Sunday.  

The motel manager did find a sturdy folding table that is about 32" X 48" and a chair of a good height, so tomorrow I can set up and maybe get some sewing done.   Dinner tonight of a hard boiled egg, broccoli with olive oil/balsamic, and the rest of Starbuck's lemon loaf from this A.M. A delicious dinner!

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Hurrah - On The Road Again! 10-12-21

But I have forgotten what a hassle it is to get online at a new motel.  And "they" want me to put a lock on my phone so that everytime I use it I will have to unlock it.  Things get more complicated every day.  I hope I can figure out a way to just sign in while I am here without having to change my password or unlock something every time.  Groan.   To top it off, this room has no desk or table.  I have my laptop on a little round side table and the mouse on a chair and I am sitting sideways on soft upholstered chair - my neck already hurts.  So, this may be short. 

My cell phone camera did not take all the pictures I thought I took.  When I take them my mind writes a sort of story line and those images are all missing.  Don't know what this one is, but it is soft and sweet!

Instead of going north on I-5 to Santa Nella and taking 152/156 over Pacheco Pass and then having to go south on 101 and 01, I decided to take 198 from Harris Ranch to 101.  It is a slow road, but very little traffic.  Lots of curves, posted speeds down to 20mph, but I did enjoy the scenery. 

Unfortunately, these are all the pictures that came out. 

The only living things I saw were ravens, crows and a few black cows.

Hwy 101 goes through the Salinas Valley where much of the vegetable crops are grown to feed the entire country.  Interesting to see how many more huge wind turbines have gone up in the past two years when I haven't driven this way.  And, unfortunately, also more houses that take up farm land.

By the time I got to Salinas it was dark, so I didn't see anything but headlights and taillights from 101 to Pacific Grove.  I stopped at Il Vecchio, my favorite Italian restaurant, and had pumpkin soup and broccoli and bread - delicious.  I poured the olive oil/balsamic vinegar that came with the bread over the broccoli and will have it for salad tomorrow.  Yum. 

I am at the Rosedale Inn, across the street from Asilomar.  I've never stayed here before, but wanted to stay somewhere familiar since I will spend the week sewing in my room, if I can get a table to put my machine on.  I take the quilts to PIQF tomorrow and pick them up on Sunday, so I have lots of time to just rest, sew, walk, visit Back Porch Fabrics, and see some friends.  KoKo is with a KoKo Keeper in Yorba Linda - Laura Bell has taken care of him before, but not for several years.  She says he is being good.  

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KoKo helping 10-10-21

I have been finishing the quilt I am taking to PIQF and KoKo have been "helping" as usual.  He is just determined to be close and sometimes pushes the limits. 

He likes to sleep on the stack of "soon to be quilted" projects on the sewing table. 

But most of all he wants to be as close to me as he can, including almost under the needle. 

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