A lovely day in Washington State 05-07-15

We visited friends in Bellingham and waaaay outside Bellingham - muffins with lemon curd and crème fres for morning snack, followed by viewing of lovely quilts in progress.  Ending in a tour of the house and yard which Suzanne has transformed with a year of labor.  It is so beautiful; I particularly enjoyed the birds.  Goldfinch, swallows, towhees, house finches, robins, starlings, etc.  The hummers dive bombed us because we were too close to their nesting area. 

 

These goldfinch pictures were taken through the breakfast room window. 

He posed very nicely at first....

..but I guess he didn't like being photographed and turned his back.

On the grape arbor by the front door is a hummingbird feeder, but I couldn't get close enough to catch a hummer.  They were mostly rufous.

We drove to LaConner for a late lunch at "Seeds", definitely on my list of fabulous restaurants. It occupies a building that was once a seed store and has a lovely deck built around this ancient  beech tree.

They call it a European Beech, but I wonder if it is a "Copper Beech".

Lovely with the sun shining through the rust colored leaves.

 

Then we drove over to the La Conner Quilt & Textile Museum, just a few blocks away.

This amazing tulip was blooming in the flower bed along the house.  It was pretty droopy so Reynola held it up so I could take a picture.

We attended the reception for Kitty Pippin (on the left) whose quilts are hanging in an exhibit in the downstairs gallery.  We also visited upstairs where there are contemporary quilts by Denise Oyama Miller and Nancy Ryan.

 

Views from the cupola

Views from the cupola.

Views from the cupola - "Rainbow Bridge on left in background.

 

The Quilt Birds - Reynola Pakusich, Suzanne Lucy, Mabel Huseby, -  and Del Thomas.

 

 

And a sunset over Mt Vernon, WA.

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San Juan Bautista, Pacific Grove 03-03-10

I drove up I-5 again last night, but it was dark, so no pictures of almond trees blooming!!. No rain, surprisingly. Tthere were a zillion stars shining and a gibbous moon, so everything was bathed in a pale blue light. I haven't driven this route at night for quite a while - it was very beautiful. Each trip I find it harder to 'get it together' and packing for a long trip in the Lexus is a new experience. Finally, I left some things behind - some on purpose, because there was no room, and some because I forgot them. I've already hit Mary up for thread (of the right color) and fusible. It is hard to make a list for a trip like this because each occurrence is different.

This morning we drove to Pacific Grove to meet up with some friends who have been taking classes at the Empty Spools Seminars Session II. We tracked down Franki Kohler, who had a "Tuesday Tote" package for me, and our friends from Washington state. It would have been better if I had been able to drive up on Monday and see them yesterday because today was the last day and everyone was packing to get out of the rooms and on the road. But we had a few hugs and Mary and I were able to see some of the classwork in Reynola Pakusich's class. Very nice.

Mary Leakey, Suzanne Lucy, Reynola Pakusich, Mabel Huseby when they were almost packed.

They have everything in except their design boards. They always manage to get everything in and they each have a seat! Rather amazing, but they have years of experience. That is Mabel on the right.

Suzanne and Franki were in Jeannette DeNicolis Meyer's class (along with two ladies we know from previous years who were already seated when we arrived at the Red House) and they all raved about Jeannette's class. You can check out her work at http://www.jdmeyer.com/ She is going to be on the schedule for 2011, but I suspect you'll have to be quick to get into her class.

Mary and I then went to lunch at the Red House. We had to laugh at ourselves because we never talked about where we would go. There was a parking place directly in front of the House and we automatically parked and went inside. They had Olallieberry pie! We thought about just having that, but needed something a little more substantial, so chose the soup of the day - curried cauliflower. It was very tasty, if a little salty for me.

Of course, we also ordered the pie which was, as always, spectacular. We decided we like it with whipped cream rather than ice cream (even homemade). And it was warmed to just the right temperature. A most satisfying lunch.

It had been raining off and on since we left Mary's house and it came down very hard at times. After we were back home it REALLY rained. I spoke to Mabel about 7pm and they had only gotten as far as Eureka and were going to spend the night. They had serious rain and hail that slowed them down. I hope the weather clears up before they have to drive over the Siskiyou mountain summit tomorrow. No fun.

Visiting Empty Spools 03-06-09

If I can actually get these pictures onto my blog you shouldn't expect anymore until I am home. Maybe Sunday night.

Mary and I had a great time visiting with friends we have made over the years at the Empty Spools Conferences at Asilomar in Pacific Grove, CA. We went in the late afternoon so we could meet after classes were over at 4pm - we didn't take away any one's class time. We know that every minute is precious

Sylvia Einstein http://www.sheinstein.addr.com/

Sylvia's sample for the class she was teaching: Divide and Conquer

Friends from Washington State:

Reynola Pakusich, Suzanne Lucy, Mabel Huseby

http://www.pakusich.com/

Food, again! 03-03-09

This evening I had dinner with three friends I know from Empty Spools Seminars at Asilomar in the past. Mabel Huseby, Suzanne Lucy and Reynola Pakusich all live north of Seattle in Washington State. I only see them at Asilomar and this session Reynola is teaching and Mabel and Suzanne are taking classes. If I wanted to see them before spring 2010 I had to be here during this session. Even so, we haven't seen much of each other because there is always so much going on. Therefore, the four of us went to dinner at our favorite place - The Red House! I'm sure I could dine there every night for a week and not get tired of their delicious food. No exception for dinner tonight. But we were too busy catching up with each other to take pictures of the food! However, when dessert came we had slowed down a bit. I'm sorry the pictures are not better. A nice guy even offered to take a picture of the four of us, but it is so blurry we are unrecognizable. When I put the pictures in my computer I couldn't figure out why - oh yes, at night one needs a flash! Duh! We will have to try again before we all leave for home.

Reynola and Suzanne opted for the cheesecake which is served thusly.

Mabel ordered the Apple Strudel which had the same toppings as the cheesecake. And I had the Apple Strudel, but without the toppings. We figure that we are only here one week a year so splurging is okay.