Oh, the silence! 07-19-19

"We are going where?"

I don't think KoKo has ever been on a Road Trip and he is not sure he ever wants to go again.  After all the days of getting ready we were finally ready to go and he gives me this look.  Instead of leaving on Monday as originally planned we left on Tuesday since I couldn't get ready to go.  And then we hit the road and stopped on the 210 east of Pasadena to crawl along for two hours in an enormous traffic jam - a true SigAlert.  Some poor motorcyclist lost his life at Lake Street and all the lanes were closed for a while.  It was blocked for miles.  Our about 6 hour drive turned into more like 9 hours.  NOT a good start. 

We spent the night with friend Mary in San Juan Bautista and Wednesday morning we joined the millions of other people driving north on I-5.  The traffic was very heavy most of the way to the Oregon border with lots of construction to slow us all down.  That night in Ashland, Oregon, at a HIE that accommodates dogs, but it was another nine hours driving and I was too tired to blog.  

Last night were in Vancouver, WA, at a La Quinta, that always takes dogs.  However, it was another nine hour day due to horrendous traffic north on I-5, and an absolute crawl around Portland on the 205.  I even called a friend in Portland and invited her to come over and walk along the car so we could have a visit.  It wouldn't be too much exercise because we were stopped more than we were crawling.   But when at last we were in our motel room I thought I should just post some sort of short note so  you all wouldn't be worrying, not hearing from me all those days.  Then I discovered that I had left my mousie behind in Placentia.  Can't switch back to the keypad without a mouse, too late at night to go out and buy one.  Besides, I was soooooo tired.  

Up and out this morning and slogged through the traffic from Vancouver, WA,, through the Seattle creep and arrive at my friends' house about 2pm, I think.  KoKo was so thrilled to be out of the car and in a real house, he ran through every room and jumped on every one's lap and was "over the moon".  He just made himself at home.  Such a good dog.  

I will be here until Sunday afternoon when I drive to Coupeville on Whidby Island where I have a cabin reservation and then start Sue Benner's dyeing class on Monday.  Meanwhile, KoKo will stay with Mabel and Mac and I'm sure he will be happy and comfortable.  After the class ends on Friday KoKo and I will stay a few days with Mabel and Mac and then head home with sincere hopes that southbound traffic will be easier.  Dream on, I could see the heavy traffic on that side of the highway.  

I will try to blog over the next few days and every night after class.  But no promises, I am feeling my age on this trip and will probably need to go to bed early every night.  I am excited to be in the class and hope I have all the material and equipment I need.  Naturally, as is my ilk, I brought too much of everything, but it is better to bring it than to need it and not have it with me.  Right? 

KoKo sleep with Froggie's support - half in his carrier and half out.  He mostly just sleeps and doesn't give a bean about what is going on outside.  

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Road Trip to WA - Tonight in Yreka, CA 05-27-18

I met my friends June Underwood and Terry Grant for breakfast this morning at a restaurant in June's neighborhood in NE Portland.  Although I mostly grew up in Portland I didn't see much of NW, but the main street names are familiar and I didn't get lost.   I got on I-5 about noon and traffic was heavy, but no stop/go.  After Eugene the traffic was light and I only saw one police car the whole time I was in Oregon.  Guess they were patrolling somewhere besides I-5.  Not much picture taking today and it is 11:30pm and I am very tired.  So, just a few pictures to share.   Tomorrow I will drive to San Juan Bautista for two nights with Mary/Joe and then I'll drive to Placentia on Wednesday.  I've driven that stretch so often there will probably not be any new pictures along the way. 

June Underwood and Del Thomas

Terry Grant

June's giant Allium

And a close up - a million tiny flowers gathered in a globe. 

Not a good picture, but something I have never seen before.  This is a dogwood tree wearing a sweater - see the zipper up the front?  Place this around the little newly planted tree and zip it up, then water from the top for several years until the tree is thriving and then remove.  Clever. 

Just over the line into California there is a vista point dedicated to viewing Mt. Shasta.   I always stop, it is such a gorgeous mountain.  Not as much snow as some years. 

I went out looking for some place for dinner and found this local very popular spot.  

The Jefferson refers to the "State of Jefferson" which takes some explaining.  Check it out at:  

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jefferson_%28proposed_Pacific_state%29

They have a beautiful pond with elegant landscaping in their parking lot. 

The point of this picture is to show the flag on the right.  Guess I messed up.

You can see it on the Wikipedia site. 

Almost a full moon tonight.

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Inspiration 07-03-14

I grew up with lilacs just outside of Portland, OR., and, admittedly, miss their fragrance more than any other odor, even fir trees.   Photo: May 2011

 

The blooms were all faded on this lilac bush in Philomath, OR., but the leaves were lovely

As was the trunk of the bush.

These blooms were stolen from a back alley in Butte, Mt.

Photo: June 2012

 

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Road Trip - Eugene - Coupeville, WA 04-21-13

I have arrived in Coupeville, WA, on Whidby Island.   I didn't keep track of the driving time, but the mileage was 1377 miles - almost all of it on I-5.  I did have to get off to get gas, food, ladies rooms, and motels.  Today started about 8:30am and ended around 5pm, but that included some waiting time for the ferry and the 20 minute ferry ride followed by 45minutes driving north on the island to Coupeville.   Class setup tomorrow starts at 8:30am, so I HAVE to go to bed.  Here are a few pictures taken today.


Trees, wonderful trees, they raise my spirits and comfort me.  The dark trees in the background are Douglas Firs - so tall, so shaggy, so much a part of "home" after a childhood in Oregon.   I took this image as I was leaving the motel parking lot in Eugene.
 

Right down the street I almost stopped right in the roadway when I saw these gorgeous blue rhododendrons as part of Carl's Jr.'s landscape.  They have been "invented" since I was a child and I always find them startling.  The white rhodies in the back ground really set them off, as do the yellow pansies right next to the walk.
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It doesn't seem like a color Nature would invent  - just gorgeous.
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For years California farmers along I-5 have hung signs on the fences identifying what is growing in the fields and orchards - rice, peaches, almonds, etc..  But this is the first time I have noticed them in other states. 

"Perennial Ryegrass"

I cannot read the sign in the image, but this must be rapeseed.
 

Here is the sign where I am staying in my own little cottage (I'll take pictures).  Several people have told me to go over to the mainland to see the flowers fields which they claim are in full flower.

The cottage on the left is "Beachcomber Cottage II" - my own little "hideaway. 

There was a lot of this today, big baggy grey/black clouds.  There was rain periodically, but the automatic wipers just start and stop as needed, so I don't even know how many periods of rain there were.  Maybe 10, but none very heavy. 

Wordless Wednesday 12-09-09

Bonnie Jean Thornton quilt from TCQC 08-16-09

I don't know why I had such a hard time cropping these images. What I think is perfect doesn't come out the same when I 'file' the image. So, I am showing an un-cropped and a cropped image of this quilt.

[NOTE: Yachats, a charming beach village, is pronounced "YAH - HOTS"]

"Tall Trees" Bonnie Jean Thornton - Yachats, OR 1995 21"W x 72"L

[NOTE: Yachats, a chrming beach village, is pronounced "YAH - HOTS"]

"Tall Trees" Bonnie Jean Thornton - Yachats, OR 1995 21"W x 72"L

In the summer of 1996 I drove down Hwy 1 from Seaside, OR, to Mendocino, CA. Before this drive my uncle and aunt had driven me down I-5 at night to see the "Electric Horses". These temporary neon sculptures were located on private land (in the style of Christos fabric works) and lit only at night. It was enchanting and now one of my favorite memories of these loving relatives. A few days later as I drove south I had just a glance of a horse by the same artist outside the (now defunct) Triad Gallery in Seal Rock, OR., and I quickly found a place to turn around so I could more closely see the horse. It happened that the gallery was having their annual textile show - did they know I would be coming? This depiction of tall trees along the Oregon Coast is described by its maker,

"A found piece of fabric printed with forest giants, coupled with cottons and cyanotype prints compose this piece. It is hand and machine quilted and has an embellishment of hand couched yarn. Being a child of the [Pacific] Northwest, I have always been awe struck by the majesty of the huge old trees. This quilt honors them."

I also am an Oregonian and I could not resist this interesting quilt. The first thing is that she used one of what I always thought of as the ugliest prints ever made that came out sometime in the 60s. There were a number of different images and I suppose the trees were the least offensive. Several friends had these fabrics on stretcher bars over their sofas - I always sat on the sofa!

Bonnie Jean combined an assortment of fabrics including some of her own cynotypes, hand-dyes and shibori, along with the Nancy Crow fern print. I like the subtle additions of texture and color with the couched rusty hued yarns.

And her hand stitches to depict the rain. Hand stitching of this type was not so common in 1995.

The khaki and white shibori fabric creates additional trees and shadows - very cleverly used.

An integrated border of muted color seems to show the cratered bark of the Douglas fir trees that are native to the Oregon coast.

I have not seen any work by Bonnie Jean since about 2005, I don't know if she is still making quilts. Prior to her 1980 venture into fabric she was a watercolor artist and sold her work in galleries along the coast. One of her quilts was in Quilt National -1987.

I-5 to Corvallis/Philomath 06-06-09

Beyond the mountains I-5 drops down into the Willamette (Will-AM-it) Valley where there are many streams and small rivers that flow into the Willamette River. It will go north until it dumps into the Columbia River near Portland, OR. So, this view is typical of the many river crossings the roads make. Too bad about the cable - I'm not tall enough to shoot over it!

I stopped in Roseburg hoping that the info I had was wrong and the Art Center wold be open in the weekend. It wasn't. There is a quilt exhibit there from the High Fiber Diet group called "Line Dance". I tried peeking in the windows, but the lights were off inside and I couldn't see a thing. When I left I was trying to get out of the parking lot and was confronted with these signs. I just stopped and laughed out loud - one of those 'you can't get there from here' occasions. I did go straight and finally found a place to make a U-turn and get back on the highway.

I turned off I-5 at Corvallis and continued west to Philomath (which I always thought was
FILL'-o-math, but the tourist center lady says it is Fill-OM'-ath). I felt very welcome when I saw this sign close to the edge of town. Probably a Delbert, but any Del will do.

Karen Miller is a fiber artist who does Katazome dye work in the traditional Japanese manner using authentic materials and tools and methods. I have long admired her work and see her at different large quilt shows vending her panels and squares for quilters to incorporate in their own work. This solo exhibit at the Benton County Historical Society and Museum showed her completed quilts, panels, noren, garments and hangings. I was there alone for some minutes and then I turned to see that these two ladies had joined me. At first I was startled because from the back the lady in the black pants resembled Terry Grant of Portland. But I quickly realized that Terry is taller and her hair is a more silvery color. Too bad, I'd like to meet Terry some day.

Among the quilts depicting fish in the previous picture is "California Golden Trout" which is part of the TCQC. There are so few of these fish still in existence I thought it would be nice to have a lovely katazome depiction of them.

This gorgeous wall quilt is two layers printed with jellies, the top layer is sheer and moves with the air currents. I tried to take a sideways image, but it doesn't look like anything.

Here is a DETAIL of the largest jelly on the sheer layer. The bubbles (or are they strings of conch eggs?) are machine embroidered on the sheer layer only.

"Winter Sunset" is a set of three noren (six panels) so it is quite wide - maybe 90".
Noren are not quilted, just one layer of beautifully printed cloth.
Unfortunately Karen's exhibit ends this weekend, but you can see her work on her website:
www.nautilus-fiberarts.com

Karen teaches classes in Katazome techniques or you can visit when she has an open studio.