A momentos day 09-01-23

Today was my 85th birthday.  How did I live so long?  I am now older than my mother and both  my grandmothers when they died. I find I am a little obsessed with this birthday and I just don't know why.  Anyway it has been a good day and cooler than the last few weeks. I had lunch with friend Carol Bednar at  our favorite lunch spot, Fitness Grill in Yorba Linda.  It was quite comfortable in the patio and it wasn't crazy full.  Pictures below.   I have a beautiful mixed flower bouquet which is  so tall I could only photograph it on the kitchen floor!  Lovely soft colors and no lilies which are beautiful, but the fragrance is too much.  Also picture below.

Grilled salmon sandwich with a sort of  mixed salad with thumb sized tomatoes.  It  is no longer on the menu, however I like it so much they are willing to make it  for me.   These days I cannot eat the entire thing, so I have half left for tomorrow's breakfast.

Chicken grilled on skewers and roasted veggies on a bed of rice.  Carol felt it was a perfect lunch. 

Since it was a birthday event we shared a dessert. An almond, raspberry bar with  fresh fruit and whipped cream. 

And to top off the day, Dave, the mail carrier, sang 'Flying me to the moon'!!  He has a very nice voice.

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Happy Birthday #9 to KoKo 05-20-23

Here is KoKo ignoring his new toy - Lambchop.  The clerk at Petsmart removed the tags so KoKo could enjoy it immediately.  So, by the time we arrived home he had killed the squeaker.  Guess I will be doing Lambchop  surgery tomorrow!    Organ replacement seems to be very popular lately.  

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Surfside Quilters Guild meeting 09-14-21

This morning I drove down to San Clemente for the second in person meeting of the Surfside Quilters Guild since the pandemic started - in our second new meeting place.  Our speaker today was the witty, talented David Walker.  His appliqued pieces are amazing.   If you click on his name in the sidebar you can see the hummingbird quilt I purchased from him back in 2013.

Our president kept reminding the members to wear their masks, but not everyone did.  I hope there were no Covid molecules in the group.  I wore my mask and tried not stand too close to anyone, but it was  almost a full house, so who knows.  I am the official photographer so needed to be all around taking pictures.  Below are pictures of two president's quilts - one for Mary Arter, our current president who is serving a second term, and one for Monica Shafer who is the previous president and received her quilt at home since Covid had shut down our meetings.  This is the first time the guild members had seen these quilts in-the-fabric.  For those of you are are not familiar with this custom...   Every year the past president organizes the membership to make 6" blocks with a theme of the president's choice and a committee puts the blocks together so that it can be hand quilted at various members' homes.  The banner is always the same and the back has great back art including the names of everyone who helped to make it.  

Mary Arter had requested all stars and bright color batiks. 

The previous year Monica had asked for beachy things and we all used a blue background. 

Here is my hat block that I piece for most of the quilts.  And the blocks around it - there are several of the clever folded Hawaiian shirts in the quilt and quite a few machine embroidered flowers and sea critters. 

After the meeting four of us went out for an old lady's lunch for my 83rd birthday, Nancy's 80th birthday, and Charlotte's 90th birthday.  Mary's birthday is in mid October and I don't know how old she is, maybe early 80s.  Cedar Creek in San Juan Capistrano has a large patio, which was packed, so we ate inside and we were the only diners there.  It was a little eerie, but very quiet and nice.  The food is always tasty and the service excellent.  

When I got home I needed a nap!

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A Birthday Day 09-01-21

Thank you all for your birthday wishes.  I was surprised by how many I had on Facebook.  The common saying "Getting old ain't easy." certainly applies, but kind words from friends all over certainly make it more pleasant.   And I did have a pleasant day.  It was quite cool this morning at 7am when we went for our walk, almost like autumn, but I keep telling myself that September is here and Septembers are usually very hot.  We'll see.  

Even before we went for our walk we took pictures of those nice boys in the cul de sac. Julian is in 2nd grade and Emmanuel is in 6th grade.  He has grown so tall over the summer, I think he must be five feet.  They both gave KoKo some loving and he was busy licking their legs.  He does like to lick people and I find it irritating most of the time.  I have not been effective in training him not to do it. 

Mid morning I went to PTherapy and felt slightly better afterward.  My Medicare coverage has run out, so I will take a break and try very hard to do the exercises every day.  And try to arrange another spinal injection.  Hope it will help. 

This gorgeous bouquet came from Carol and Dick.  The delivery driver was a little mixed up and first brought me a vase of pink roses for "your anniversary".  I said no, birthday.  Then I looked at the card and they were from Rudy, but I don't know any Rudys.  The driver took them back to the truck and returned to the shop.  Forty minutes or so later he was back with this huge vase and told me he thought they were prettier than the pink roses!  I agree.

Dick and Carol treated me to dinner at Ruth's Chris near Disneyland.  I think the last time I had a steak was two years ago when they treated me.  It is an elegant place and the service is very good. 

They do serve about the best Caesar salad I have ever eaten. 

Even though I don't drink I had a Champagne Cocktail, one of Carol's favorites.  It was very tasty and not enough to give me a headache. 

We all had the petite filet and shared sides of mushrooms, creamed spinach, and sweet potato casserole, all of which I recommend, but especially the sweet potato.  I may try to find the recipe for that.   

They serve a free dessert for birthdays - a small bread pudding which is just bread pudding.  That single candle and the chocolate writing make it festive.  But I think the chocolate writer might need to practice their penmnship.  Looks like Buterboyz!  

All together a lovely day.  Thanks to Carol and Dick and all my online friends.  

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Miscellaneous 08-31-21

I seem to be spending a lot of time looking back through my photo files and rediscovering things I vaguely remember or completely forgot.   For tonight's post I looked to see where I was ten years ago on August 31st, it seems much longer somehow.  I had been up to Washington State to see my friends Mabel and Mac, went to a quilt show, and visited friends along the way.  

On Sep 1st, my 73rd birthday, I was in San Juan Bautista, CA, enjoying Mary's lovely yard with flower boxes overflowing.  

Instead of cake we had a marionberry pie, which we all preferred. 

Of course, one day we drove over to Pacific Grove and had lunch at the Red House.  My favorite there is the Portobello sandwich.  

Followed by a visit to Back Porch Fabrics where Wendy cut lots of fabric for us.  

I drove home on September 3rd and stopped along I-5 to photograph in a cotton field covered with the lovely white flowers. 

Now, ten years later I will turn 83.  Amazing.  Who could have expected what those ten years would bring with the politics and the pandemic and my ageing body!  Hope the next ten will find us in a better situation.  

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A Finished Project - Hurrah! 02-03-21

 But it is very small - only 8" X 7".  And it is a Mug Mat.  But it is actually complete and it makes me feel that I may start being creative again.  If you look back at my post for 01-19-21 you will read the beginning of this story.  I wasn't pleased by the light green fabric so I over-fused it.  The color in this picture is all screwed up, it is much brighter than this, and greener.  I will try to "fix" it, but I have discovered that what I see on my screen is not necessarily what you see on yours!  

Commercial cotton fabrics, hand-dyed fabric, cotton thread and batting.  Fused, machine quilted, hand embroidered, overcast binding.

It needed some details and also some lightness in the bottom 1/4, so I hand embroidered some leaves using #8 perle.  The white on the bird is also hand embroidery, but using #12 perle.  

I hope the lady I am sending this to will enjoy it.  She celebrated her 87th birthday in January, but I didn't finish this in time.  I do think at our age we should celebrate for at least a week and maybe even a whole month.  Especially this year when we have been so repressed for the past eleven months.  

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A tiny bit of sewing 11-08-20

I have not been able to sew while I have been confined to home.  Don't really know why this should be so, as I have millions of unfinished projects and imagined projects.  I guess pain is truly a deterrent to doing most anything.  

"Happy Birthday"  Del Thomas - CA  2020  9(" X 6"

Cotton fabric, fusing, machine pieced, appliqued, quilted.

 

My sister's birthday is the 12th of November and I haven't been driving and didn't buy her a card before all this happened.  So, I decided I could handle a very small project and I made her this card.  It isn't a great original idea, but I have always enjoyed making these cards with candles.  In this case I dug around in my button box and couldn't find eight "flames" alike, so I just used two odd ones.  She might not even notice!   We will just ignore the further five years she will attain on Thursday - one candle = ten years.  No half candles. 

The back and the base are scrounged from the scrap bag of a friend who never saves scraps.  I love taking a workshop she is in so that I can rescue her discards for later use.  She had already quilted this "sandwich", so I didn't even need to do that.  As I was making it I hadn't thought of how to get it in the mail!  I'm so used to having wheels, so my friend Carol braved the PO on a Saturday to send it on its way. 

A small result.  But a big accomplishment for me right now. 

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Birthday flowers 09-02-20

Thank you to all the kind, thoughtful people who sent Birthday Greetings to this old lady.   I can't express how much it means to me.  It makes me think about the "Cheers" intro song about "....everybody knows my name."   Thank you. 

One friend send this beautiful fragrant bouquet to cheer my days for awhile.  Daisies and carnations, what a great combination.  

Those interesting loops around the flowers look like ribbons, but are actually leaves.   I should know what kind they are, but I can't think of it now.  They have made a small hole in the middle of the leaf and folded it back to insert the stem through the hole.  These loops are placed with the stems in the water around the edge of the vase.  Clever.

Today I had lunch with my isolated friends at their home with take out from Cedar Creek Inn in Brea.   I had fish tacos that were street version with three small tortillas and a filling of flaked fish (cod or halibut?) and chopped veggies.  I ate them before I even thought of a picture!  

It has been a lovely birthday.  Thank you all again. 

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It is the night before.... 08-31-20

I sit here amazed at the arrival of my 82nd birthday.  How did that happen?  There are a lot of people older than I am, some of them decades older.  But, as so many of them say, I don't FEEL that old.  Inside I guess I am still twenty-four or so.  Enjoying pretty good health and happy living alone with KoKo, the 12 pound Yorkshire Terrier, the years just slip away.  I do find myself thinking about things that happened in the past and sometimes suddenly understanding what I didn't understand at the time.  Sort of like reading a book with footnotes. 

It is depressing and somewhat debilitating to be living in the time of Covid-19, but that may be overwhelmed by living in the time of Trump.  Since he started his political career I have thought of him as the 21st Century Hitler and I fear that he will end our democracy.  I hope that people who aren't inclined to vote will do so this November.  Not voting is a vote for Trump.  

Not a happy birthday post, but these things are heavy on my mind.   Love, Del and KoKo

Quilts in the Thomas Contemporary Quilt Collection - Freddy Moran 07-12-20

This post is from  September 24, 2008, and I am reposting it today because it is Freddy's birthday.  As far as I know she does not have a website or do e-mail or Facebook, so the only way to wish her Happy Birthday is to send a card or call her.  

This quilt is very bright as are most of Freddy's work.  Sorry I don't have a better image. 

"Orange Peel Surprise" Freddy Moran 1997 

62" square  Cotton fabrics. 

I saw Freddy sewing the binding on this quilt in the hotel lobby at PIQF in Santa Clara. It was instant love! I didn't even ask the price when I told her I would buy it. Several months later I received the quilt and the bill. I was surprised at the price, but, as you see, I paid up and added the quilt to the TCQC. The moral is, I suppose, that one should ask first and then decide. But don't wait too long, a really great quilt will be gone in a flash - I have missed several by waiting too long to decide.

This quilt was sewn with Karen Stone papers in Freddy's unique choice of fabrics and colors. The 'surprise' is on the back - a wonderful bright fabric with cupcakes and hats and noisemakers. I always tell viewers that there is a birthday party on the back.

Freddy does not have a website.

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KoKo's 6th Birthday 05-20-20

I spent a lot of time selecting twenty pictures for an album of KoKo's first six years.  But now I cannot get it transferred to my blog!  I'll keep trying, but here are a few from over the years.  

A tiny puppy at Nancy Ota's house   08-12-14

KoKo and his best friend Froggy 

KoKo's favorite bad thing to do - tear up tissues. 

Gathered in my chair with four of his friends - Froggy, Snake, Monkey and Duckie. 

KoKo and Froggy help me sew. 

Happy Birthday little guy.

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Monday Browsing 09-30-19

Another September gone.  Guess I need to stop celebrating my birthday until next September 1st.  It'll be here in a flash, I'm sure.   I am still not doing much browsing online, just have other things going on and have gotten out of the habit.  These days I am sewing on a few items for the Surfside Quilters Guild November Fest and I need to finish them up to turn in next Tuesday  - oh, no!  Guess I need to sew faster. 

Someone sent this on Facebook, suggesting it might be a good exercise for the elderly.  I'm not sure I could do it, but it would surely help my coordination. 

https://vimeo.com/195326481

And here is a site with the winners of the Northwest Quilt Festival last weekend in Portland, OR.  Some great quilts. 

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10157585642932232&type=3&sfnsn=mo

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Another birthday? 08-09-19

It is a little early, my birthday isn't until September 1st.  Today my small art quilt group met and as is our tradition for each member to supply their own cake, I took a small chocolate cake with candles.  Hard to believe those numbers, but they are correct.  How did I get so old?  Guess that deserves a celebration, so I will celebrate until the end of September.  Party anyone?

The cake, by the way, was only about 7" square and came from Ralph's market bakery.  We have had this cake before and it is just delicious - rich, moist, and gooey!

Having nice people in one's life is a big boost.  Before KoKo and I went on our Road Trip I came home one day and discovered that a neighbor's dog had accidentally been left outside when the whole family went away for a pool party.  The little white dog was not happy and barking a lot, but stayed close to home, mostly in her own yard.  It was very hot, so I took a container of water over and left it for her on the porch, but she wouldn't let me get close.  Fortunately when the family returned the dog was still sticking close to home and was happily reunited with the parents and kids.   Today my doorbell rang and it was the little girl, Jessica, with a pot of these little lavender flowers to say thank you for taking care of her dog.  I was surprised and touched.  How thoughtful of them to wait until we returned and surprise me.  Nice neighbors.  

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Friday Food 06-28-19

Still struggling with my pictures.  I wish I had been more specific when titling them in Picasa.  Then I could just type in a search for Birthday and come up with dozens of birthday dessert images.  As it is, I can only find these three.  

And it isn't my birthday.  I just seem to have quite a few birthdays in the past week and coming week that I was exploring birthday cakes.  Not that these can be considered "cakes".  

I think this one is from Solare in San Diego near VAM.  The nuts and chocolate on top deliberately look like dirt.  

This is a 7" chocolate cake from Ralph's market, just enough for four.  This group I belong to is only four members and our tradition is that everyone brings their own birthday dessert in their month.  Of course, it must serve four!  

An individual birthday dessert from one of my favorite sushi restaurants. 

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KoKo turns five years old 05-20-19

I have some pictures of him in his first year, but can't figure out how to post them here.  I am still working on it -  check later.  11:49pm

No luck and it is almost 1am.  I'll try again tomorrow night. 

He has had a Happy Birthday and he is tired.  

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Viewing the Thomas Contemporary Quilt Collection 09-30-18

I am frequently asked what I do with the quilts in the Collection.  Mostly they are rolled or stored flat, covered to keep out the dust, and labeled so I can find them - mostly with the help of my dear friend Liz Williams.  I couldn't do it without her!   But I do display the quilts in my house so that I can enjoy them.  There is always one at the end of the hall that I walk down dozens of times a day (and night) and usually that is where I hang the latest addition.  A few are always on display - like Terry Grant's "Yellow Bowl"  and "Blue Threads" by Elizabeth Busch.   Both of which are on stretcher bars, not something I usually buy, but sometimes cannot resist.  

I have a couple walls that are changing galleries, usually every three or four months.  With age I find it more difficult to hang the larger quilts by myself, so frequently hang groups of smaller quilts.  They might be grouped by subject, artist, color, design elements, whatever occurs to me at the time.   Tonight I am posting a "wall of red quilts", chosen just because I wanted to look at them for a while and they read RED.  Two are 80th birthday quilts from two friends, the others are rather recent additions to the Collection.    

  Petite Jungle - Jane Sassaman 2016, Round the Bend - Catherine Kleeman 2014, 
Pomegranates - Rosie Caudillo 2017, Hummingbird - Lenore Crawford 2016, 
Spring Chicken - Bonnie Damron 2018,  Birthday Bird - Patti Brooks  2018 

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Friday Food 09-21-18

More birthday!   Yes, I am really stretching it out this year.  The art quilt group in San Diego met on Sunday and we celebrated my birthday and that of Ellen Spellman.  With another wonderful cake from Twig.   

Andrea orders the cakes in our group and showed the group's logo on this one, along with our names. 

Ellen and Del before we all attacked the cake.  It was fabulous - so rich and moist and fattening.  Thanks to all. 

The remains went home with me, but I shared them with friends and neighbors because I had enough chocolate for the day!   It is a very rich cake and icing.  And it isn't a cake that you hold over to eat another day.

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Friday Food - Birthday 09-07-18

Birthdays require dessert, don't they?  And I, having a large sweet tooth, indulge that requirement.   Every meal out the last few weeks has ended with dessert.  Those below were at Fish in a Bottle here in Placentia, one of my most favorite places to eat.  Japanese food isn't heavy on dessert, other than green tea ice cream with chocolate drizzle, but FiaB has several special offerings.  

Since it has been my 80th birthday I have been telling most everyone I meet how old I really am!   I eat at Fish in a Bottle regularly, at least two or three times a month and know some of the waiters and waitresses, so had to share my news with them.  The result was a complimentary dessert (above) with a burning candle.  But the picture without the candle is better, so here it is.  I always want to lick the rim of the plate when they decorate it like this.   But I resist that temptation.   There is vanilla ice cream, a strawberry, and a small "cookie" of fried  tempura dough.  All sprinkled with powdered sugar.  

We ordered two desserts to share.  This one is ice cream with tempura and, again, the strawberry.   

This is tempura coated fried banana which is delicious, we have shared it before.  I had my doubts about fried banana, but it isn't completely soggy and the tempura is crisp.  This strawberry is more than sad and not ripe, but I don't eat strawberries so didn't have to suffer it.  The red under the bananas is raspberry coulis.  

I'll probably not have dessert here again until next year.  It is almost too much after a good helping of sushi rolls or sashimi.    But it is special on one's birthday.  

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A birthday break from my blog! 09-01-18

It was a lovely day with some unexpected wishes, but no nap.  I am too tired to do even one more thing tonight and must go to bed.  More tomorrow.  Thanks for the birthday wishes.

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Friday Food 08-31-18

My birthday is September 1st and this year I will turn 80 (in just an hour and 15 mins, in fact).  EIGHTY!  I can't believe it, inside I still think I am 24.  But my body and my mind tell me the truth.  It seems that this year I am going to spread out the "celebration" by eating out with friends all month.   Last Friday was the monthly meeting of a small quilting group I belong to - there are only four of us, with one member unable to attend.  We seem to do birthdays very well and this time we went out to Black Marlin, a seafood place in Tustin on El Camino Real.  It has been around for quite a while, but I had never  been there - it is a place for "guys who lunch", rather than "ladies who lunch". Although there were three tables of ladies, all the rest were guys.  

Bonnie always provides the birthday hat and I was quite comfortable wearing it the entire time.  Guess others noticed because as we left about a half a dozen different people wished me a Happy Birthday.  I resisted bragging about how old I am.

Of course we ate fish, since that is the specialty of the house.  Bonnie and Patti each had the shrimp Cobb salad.  It also had a piece of grilled salmon and I had a nibble of that. 

But, surprising everyone, I didn't order salmon, but had the Baja style fish tacos.  Very good, but not as good as the shrimp tacos at Chronic Taco restaurants.  It is surprising how filling these little guys can be and three really filled me up.  However, there was dessert to face.  

 In this group we each bring our own birthday "cake", something we really like; we have had cake, cupcakes, bread pudding, and now pie.  I never eat pie at home, what would I do with a whole pie?  So, I had been thinking about a peach pie from Polly's Pies.  Imagine my disappointment when I stopped at Polly's and they had NO peach pie!  I settled for boysenberry.  Bonnie added the candles, but we couldn't get the matches to light, so I pretended to blow out the candles and made a wish.  

Patti did the honors and gave us each a slice.  She has such pretty hands. 

The restaurant kindly provided plates and utensils.  It was one of the best pies I have ever eaten and I was thankful that Polly's didn't have peach.  Yummy stuff.  Patti took home an extra piece and I later gave a huge piece to my bachelor neighbor.  And, of course, I had the last piece with vanilla ice cream.  Sooo good.  We won't have another birthday in this group until next summer, but there are several other birthday lunches for me coming up in September.  

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