Thanksgiving 2008 11-27-08

I've spent a number of Thanksgivings in Lake Havasu City with Corky, his parents and grandparents. Corky's parents have an elegant second home on the lake which is a pleasure to visit for the weekend. These pictures were taken there on Thanksgiving Day. Corky loves his grandmother, but will never give her 'kisses' - ever! He did this trip, but she says it was an accident. The only thing I can think of is that he doesn't like the taste of her makeup! But there is no love lacking between these two - he makes a beeline for her and she will carry him all day if he wants.

As tradition dictates in most of the country, here are the ladies in the kitchen 'slaving over a hot stove' - they seem to enjoy it.
Sherry Loos and her mother Annabelle Shine

Here are the guys in the TV room, slaving over a hot football game (or some such) for which they show great enthusiasm.
Jim Loos and father-in-law Larry Shine.

Meanwhile Corky is staying out of every one's way while keeping an eye on everything that is going on.

Dinner is served - turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, gelatin salad, rolls, olives and water to drink. Followed by pumpkin and pecan pies and yellow cake w/chocolate frosting. Somehow we missed the green beans this year -we'll have double servings next year. Annabelle Shine, Larry Shine, Jim Loos w/back to camera and Sherry Loos serving her plate on the far right.

Dinner is over - it is time to rest. And watch more TV sports or a loud, violent 'guy' movie.

Corky squeezes into his favorite place - tight up against his mommy.

It was a lovely day with just a few sprinkles in the morning before clearing. The night was crystal clear with Jupiter above Venus very bright in the western sky.

Somehow I managed to show a quilt in all but two of the pictures. Behind Corky and Annabelle in the top picture is Ruth Powers' "Early Birds",

in the third picture the guys are sitting on a Xmas quilt that Annabelle made for Sherry (fortunately it is face down on the leather sofa),

in the fourth picture Ruth McDowell's "Summer Lily" is hanging behind Corky's chair,

in the fifth picture Terry Grant's " Judith's Garden" is on the wall,

and in the sixth picture Annabelle's "Smoothing Iron" is in the foreground.

Water for Wildflowers 11-26-08

The day before Thanksgiving gave us a gift we hope we can claim in February when the desert starts to bloom. If there is further rain during December there will be a spectacular wildflower display.

Here is a cropped version of the image in my 11-25-08 blog. MUCH nicer without the dirt road, fence and dumpy backyards.

This shot was taken from the same spot yesterday morning as soon as it was light enough for my camera to stop nagging about there not being enough light. Soon there was more rain which continued periodically throughout the day.

There is good reason to take the pictures straight out in the lake. If the camera is pointed right to the north you have this view.

And it isn't a great view if if I turn it the other way, looking to the left/south. I don't know if the homeowners knew they would have ugly wooden utility poles and a crisscross of wires interfering with the expensive view. Incidental information: Some people have trouble spelling desert/dessert, but I, and all my classmates, have it down pat. Our fifth grade teacher taught us that "desert" has one 's' which stands for sand. But "dessert" has two 's' which indicates sweet sugar. It is a little trick that has saved me from embarrassment any number of times.

Driving to LHC 11-25-08

I drove from Placentia to Lake Havasu City on Tuesday, it is about a 4-1/2 hour drive for me. Rain had been predicted and I did drive through some showers. When I arrived in LHC there was heavy rain for a few minutes, then light rain and alternating during the night. The rain is always welcome (as long as it isn't a cloud burst) since the entire Southwest is experiencing years of drought

I-15 is the highway to Las Vegas and before the price of gas escalated there was almost always heavy traffic, but I left my house at 11:30am and had light traffic the entire way. After going over Cajon Pass into the high desert the highway goes through several small towns all elbow to elbow, but after Apple Valley the terrain changes to high desert. The "dividing line" is the Mojave River which rarely has much water in it anymore as it is all drained off up stream for agriculture and people. Black willows growing thickly in the riverbed send their roots down deep for the underground water and this time of year they are turning to autumn colors. I had already turned east toward Arizona when I actually pulled off the road and stopped to take some pictures of the sunlight streaming through the broken clouds. But by the time I was ready to click, the clouds had moved and the view wasn't as impressive. Also, the camera doesn't have a polarizing filter, therefore the clouds sort of just smush together. When I looked at all the images on the computer I noticed how much trash there is everywhere. I suppose I am so accustomed to seeing it that I don't usually notice. There are teams that pick up along the shoulders, but then the wind blows, making everything fly along until hitting some barrier.

Since I travel alone so much there aren't many people in my pictures. So, every now and then, when I stop along the way, I take picture of the van showing the license plate just to prove I was really there. For those people who worry about me stopping along the road I'll point out that I was at the intersection of I-10 and Kelbaker Road, rather a well traveled desert road that provides access to the Mojave National Preserve. There are also some people who take a nostalgic trip following the old Highway 66 which winds along the same route as I-40 in this area and can be accessed from Kelbaker Rd.

In between broken clouds came great baggy grey clouds moving east, just collecting themselves to dump their load - possibly on LHC during the night on Tuesday. Beyond the mountains is California where they had an abundance of rain Tuesday night through Wednesday night. When I talked to a friend earlier today there was currently no rain in Riverside where they are visiting, but during the night their motor home was an island between an instant lake and a flowing river. All drained off quickly when the rain stopped.

I stopped again at a rest stop and noticed this naked cottonwood tree decorated with mourning doves. I counted a dozen, with a few more usually in the air - I can't figure out how many there are in the tree. Am I looking at the end of a branch or is that another dove? And there are those saggy, baggy grey clouds.

This is the view from the backyard of Corky's LHC house. It was quite a nice sunset, but, again, I needed a polarizing filter. When the house was built and for over ten years the property below the dirt utility road was BLM property - never to be developed - with the expectation it would eventually become part of the wildlife preserve along the lake. Unbeknownst to anyone that lives in this neighborhood, a building plan was submitted to the Planning Commission - multi-storied houses, retirement residence and a 'neighborhood' shopping corner. The BLM had traded the property for another somewhere else and the new owner was a developer. Needless to say there were a lot of upset property owners, especially those who had paid a premium for the lake view lots. Someone organized a committee of residents to fight the proposal. They couldn't block the building plans, but they were able to restrict the height of the houses which also did away with the retirement residence. Anyway the retirement place would have been directly across the street from the cemetery - that didn't appeal to many retirement age folks. In this picture everything you can see down to the lake has been built in the last few years. I guess it is a good compromise, but I miss the open land and the critters that dwelt there.

Deserted in the Desert 11-25-08

I drove out to Lake Havasu City, AZ, where Corky's parents have a wonderful second home with great views of the lake. Easy drive out I-15 to I-40 to just over the Arizona border where I turned south on US95 to arrive about 4-1/2 hours later. So, of course, I have been up and down all night. But I have gotten good sleep when I was asleep and I intend to try for another hour or so. Once when I got up I heard this "..tapping, tapping at my chamber door." (do you remember Poe's "The Raven'?). Actually, it wasn't my chamber door but all the skylights in the house. When I first heard rain out here I thought it sounded like corn popping. Same sound this time. So, it has been sprinkling off and on most of the night. Not very much, I don't think, but right now it is coming down like gangbusters.

My computer has refused to 'fire up', so there will probably not be any pictures until I get home and do something about it. Meanwhile I will use this 'resident' computer in the extra bedroom/office to do whatever I can. I didn't bring a card reader because with my laptop I just insert the card in the side of the laptop and I can't do that now.

Arizona is plus one hour from California time because they don't observe the changes of daylight savings time (one of three states who don't). So, it is 6:45am here - even with complete cloud cover I can see a faint lightening of the sky in the east. Corky is usually up by 6am and his parents said they would leave whenever he was up and ready to go. So, they might be leaving in an hour or so and arrive sometime shortly after noon.

No post! 11-24-08

Sorry, no post for today. I will be off for Thanksgiving and back on Friday. Hope you have a great holiday. Love, Del

Corky at Lake Havasu City, AZ house.

Thanksgiving 2004

Corky's mommy Sherry and his G'ma Annabelle

at Lake Havasu City, AZ house. Thanksgiving 2004

Quilts from TCQC 11-23-08

Auctions have been very good to the Thomas Contemporary Quilt Collection. Some are for causes or organizations that I support and I do sometimes pay more than a retail cost for something I like very much. These two quilts are examples, they were purchased in two different years from the "One Foot Square" auctions for the Studio Art Quilt Associates.

"Grand Tour 2" Linda Colsh 2007 One Foot Square
This quilt is mysterious and provocative, as are all of Linda's current work. It draws me in to look at the details and find new patterns. Some artists don't like to give their quilts a title because they want the viewer to see what they see, rather than what the title tells them to see. Most of the quilts in the TCQC retain their titles in my mind, but a few don't. I don't see this quilt as "Grand Tour 2", but as "Old Lady with a Blue Chicken". I don't know that Linda intend the blue shape to be a chicken, it just resembles that in my mind.

"Gentle Reminder" Linda Colsh 2008 One Foot Square

Another mystery from Linda that makes me look again and again. Those wonderful twisted trees (or are they dried seed pods?), the two old stooped ladies passing each other in silence, the "icicles that droop down over a gridded window and the upside down lamb on the left border. Do these tell a story? Or is it the shapes that draw them together.

The monochromatic color of these quilts appeals to me, I wonder if it is my childhood in Portland, OR, that makes the rather dreary values feel comfortable? Or do they give me the feel of twilight, my favorite time of day?

Linda creates her own fabric with dyes and stencils and screens and printing and.... and.... and... I don't know some of the methods she uses, but I admire her proficiency with all of them.

http://www.quiltart.org.uk/lindacolsh.html

Any Port in a Storm 11-22-08

I'm really going to have to do something about my computer. Last evening it hung up again, just as I was going to post for Saturday. If I don't post for a couple days don't worry, I'll get back to you.

I dumped last evening's blog, I'll get back to it one day, and give you this odd picture. Since I am known as an animal lover, people all over send me pictures of animals - cute, serious, cartoons, whatever. Sometimes I cannot figure out the circumstances - this one is an example. I keep coming across it in my photo files and set off on a mental journey thinking of what circumstances could place these guys/gals in this situation. Maybe......?