Sunrise and Corky w/his "Dingo" bone

Yes, it was a momentous occasion, I was up before the sun came up. It wasn't all that spectacular, just pretty.

Corky likes some chew bones called "Dingos" and carries one all around his Long Beach house. he hides it somewhere and then later goes all around looking for it. But he rarely eats it.

When he has one at Camp Del he will hide it for a couple hours and then dig it up again and proceed to eat the entire thing, unless i steal part of it and place it somewhere he cannot find it. I'll give it back to him tomorrow and he will eat the rest of the bone'. He holds it upright in his paws, just like a monkey would. Silly little guy!

Newsletter is finished and posted. 10-01-09

Not much to say tonight. I am so tired I keep going to sleep and almost falling off my chair! Corky and I did a lot of napping today - I reading a bit now and then and Corky dreaming of something exciting. There was so much to put in the N/L that I had to add two new pages - the count is now 17. That is 'fat' enough, don't you think? You can find it at:

http://tinyurl.com/yawn5h8

[I have been using tinyurl.com for years and have never had a problem. It saves time and confusion - the original URL for the newsletter was 437 characters whereas this one is 26. Don't be afraid to use it!]

It has taken me almost 50 minutes to type this little bit, due to my drifting off to sleep. Even after all those naps - I am, I guess, seriously tired.

A fabulous 'read' is "Girl with a Dragon Tattoo" by the late Stieg Larsson. I am going to have to buy the sequel "Girl Who Played with Fire", even if it is a 'nose breaker' [hardcover books can be dangerous when reading in bed]. It is really tragic that he died so young and we won't be able to read any subsequent books he might have written.

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Thinking of fountains 09-30-09

Sitting at Corner Bakery on Monday started me thinking about fountains, seems to me that a lot of really great ones are located in the West. Mary and I went to Seattle for the Assoc. of Pacific Northwest Quilt show in August 2004. When we drove north from Mary's house we stopped at all the quilt/fabric shops we could find - we seemed to have a gluttonous need for fabric. We soon discovered that we couldn't handle more than three shops in a day! And by the time we headed south for home we were surfeit and didn't stop at a single one south of Portland! I have never done that again and have no desire to, but it was sure fun while we were doing it. I don't think Mary ever wants to do that kind of trip again either - actually, she doesn't really enjoy Road Trips anymore. Anyway.....

.....the show was at the Seattle Center where the Space Needle is located. Whenever I am at a large quilt show I need to get away sometimes to sit and contemplate things and watch people. Near the center of the complex I discovered this fountain in a sort of bowl with green grass covering the berms around it. The kids were having a great time getting wet and cooling off in the water, I wished I could go in because it was very hot.

The water 'plays' to music - squirts up and falls back, does alternate squirts and then consecutively around - like a sprinkler for a lawn, but on a massive scale. The girls and boys would go up to the dome and lean against it, running wildly out of the spray when it 'shot' them in the back or buns. I wonder what was more fun, the running or the screaming!

Here the fountain is resting, or rewinding, or something while more and more children gathered. When the music and the water started it was like a damaged anthill with all the ants running out in every direction. Of course, the ants would have been quieter.

I suppose the fountain is turned off and drained in the winter, but imagine (if you will) what it would look like with undisturbed snow all around and suddenly the fountain comes on at its fullest. Magnificent.

Waiting, waiting... and watching 09-28-09

I finally made an appointment to have the oil changed in the Lexus - the first one is done at no charge. I called last week and explained the Lexus just needed the first oil change since I have owned it and that the light on the dashboard was telling me so - bugging me. I told them I would need a loaner (because I know how their "one hour" quickly turns into two or three hours. Not a problem, I was told. So I tootled in this morning at 10am armed with a list of errands I could do while they were taking care of my car. They assign me a guy (service assistant?) who proceeds to explain that they don't give loaners to people having an oil change. I explained my point of view and he said that maybe they could get me a rental, as smoke started coming out of my ears. "But," sez he, "if you would like to wait I can expedite it so you won't have to wait long." I was there and I didn't really want to have to come back some other day at 7am in the hope that it wouldn't take hours and hours - so I said, grudgingly, all right. I had my current read with me so I found a chair away from the blaring TV and settled down. To that service department "expedite" means two and a half hours. It was nice that they also gave it a quick wash, but I didn't really have the time. I will start going to my regular local garage where I can go in at 7:39am and be out before 8:30am - as long as I have an appointment. I was really steamed and needed to calm down, so I drove a few blocks to the Corner Bakery, where I sometimes meet my friend Toni for lunch. I ordered a fabulous turkey sandwich and a tall glass of iced water and found a table out on the patio.

One thing I really like about that place, besides the fact that it is colorful, is the palm trees in the patio area. There is also a large fountain that makes a calming murmur and lots of really great people watching. The six ladies + one adult boy child in his Adidas shirt, sitting at the table directly in front of me were having a great time. They were so involved in their laughing and talking and gesticulating that I could just opening stare and they didn't even notice. I never quite figured out what the kid was doing there, but he didn't have anything to say and they pretty much ignored him.

I used to know what species these palms are, but it got lost in my mushy brain somewhere. The wind came up a bit and they were murmuring right along with the fountain. Despite the noise of so many people talking, laughing, answering their phones, scrapping their chairs, etc., it was very calming and just the right temperature. Sometimes it is good to go somewhere alone and just be quiet and look out at the world. The only problem is that I did not get all my errands done and now they will have to wait until Wednesday when I go to pick up Corky for four nights at Camp Del. I wouldn't mind staying at his house where it is so much cooler and, let's face it, more beautiful, but I'm not sure about carrying him up and down the stairs all the time. "Once burned, twice cautious", as one old saying goes. I'm not entirely over the fall I took in August, another would be the end of me, I'm sure.

I have almost finished the Surfside newsletter, but it looks like I will have to add a page to get everything in. I'll worry about that tomorrow, I guess.

Darn - I wrote this earlier in the day yesterday, but forgot to post it before I went to bed. Sorry about that. Del

TCQC quilt - Another Sunset 09-27-09

"Kimberley Sunset" Beth Miller 2006 31"W x 50"L (Canberra, Australia)

Fused applique, machine quilted. On holiday in the Kimberley region Beth took many photographs and based this design on one of them. She says, "During the North Australian wet season the spectacular Kimberley sunset silhouettes the squat, bloated shape of the baobab tree which appears to guard the vast landscape like a sentinel."

I purchased this quilt at Quilt Festival - Long Beach in July 2009, so you may remember it from the pictures I posted back then. I was so impressed with the flaming sunsets when I was in Australia decades ago that I remember them well.

I didn't realize how difficult it would be to photograph this quilt with the screaming background and the dark tree.

I faded this image out a bit so the quilting could be seen.

You can see more of Beth's work on her website: http://www.bethmillerquilts.com

Beth's work can also be seen on the tACTile website: http://tactilequilts.com/