Street Signs 12-11-14

I drove down to Oceanside today for a committee meeting for Surfside Quilters Guild.  As is my habit when I saw an interesting little residential side street I made a turn and discovered these distinctive curbside addresses.  Although house numbers on the curbs are common, I have not seen decorative ones.  Most were like the top one, but the bottom one was more personalized - there was no Woodie in the driveway!  But I did have to explain to the lady who came out of the house - I just said "I'm a blogger." and she laughed and waved.  

We are waiting for the massive storm to hit sometime around midnight.  But there are the naysayers who remember past warnings when the storms did not materialize.  I just hope it is over by the time I drive to San Diego tomorrow morning about 9am.  But for tonight high winds and heavy rain are predicted.  Hope it isn't as bad as what hit San Francisco. 

#   #   #

Signs and Flowrs 12-05-13

As many of you know, I really do hate to shop.  But the time comes when I must do it.  Today I bought two handbags at TJMaxx and a new pair of black pants at the Dress Barn.  I was exhausted!


Since I haven't been shopping in a long time this may be something that many stores do.  I went out of the dressing room to look for another size and when I returned there was my name on the door!  Gosh, I felt like a movie star!  What a great thing to do.  Congrats to Dress Barn.

Just cool!

I met my friends Carol and Dick at our favorite restaurant "Fish in a Bottle".  I know I have visited the ladies room before, but this interesting fresh flower bouquet was never there.

It is very striking against the "marble" wall and at first I thought they were artificial flowers.

But, on closer look I saw they were real, and lovely, flowers.

The secret is this heavy vinyl "vase".  I don't know how it is put together, but it is not sewn (of course).  There are three tapering, skinny compartments and the water goes up to about an inch below the top of the vinyl.  Cute, eh?   After I looked at these pictures I realized I should have checked behind the vase to see how it is fastened to the wall.   Sigh!  Guess I'll have to go back for dinner again, just to check out the vase in the bathroom. 

More Road Trip - 09-24-13

I guess I have my days backward.  These pictures are from the trip up to San Luis Obispo on Friday.  And I already posted images from the trip home.  Sorry.

 
I've noticed many more cars carrying advertising, such as this one that I didn't get the side view so I would know what the ad is.  I wonder if it is economic or just a fad.  As I look at the photo I notice something I didn't notice at the time.  Look at the "Curve 35mph" signs - three of them.  Are they making a point?  Guess they are needed, because I didn't see them when I pointed my camera.
 

This one is new to me.  It is different than the Merge signs I have seen in the past.
 

WOW!  Pretty fancy shoulders on this highway.  The only other place I have noticed this type of work is in Albuquerque, NM. 
 

I was on the road earlier than I usually am.  The mist over the ocean was somewhat heavy, but I could still see the numerous oil platforms off the coast.
 

Still celebrating my birthday with my fancy birthday dice hanging on the rearview mirror.  This barn is still functioning, though it is a little battered.  Maybe my dice could be one of those traveling items that are shown in various places in the world - like the stolen gnomes. 

A Bruxie Sandwich 05-16-13

Bruxie is a sort of food stand with outdoor seating near Chapman College in Orange.  They serve sandwiches and desserts made with waffles instead of bread.  I'm sure the food is full of fat and salt and other things that are not good for me.  But, every now and then, I get a craving for the Green Eggs and Ham sandwich.  I was down in that area for an appointment on Wednesday and decided to indulge. 


Inside the waffle are eggs, pesto sauce, ham and a little mayo - hot, of course.
 

This shows the inside as best I can.  Once it is flipped closed I cannot pry it open to show the contents without tearing the whole thing apart.  It is a delicious brunch with coffee.
 

There is very little parking around, but several spots behind the building; if I am lucky the handicapped spot is open.   They have a new ice dispensing machine back there now with this silly sign on the front. 

What's for Dinner? 12-04-10

Corky's special treats are little carrots which come in one pound bags - enough carrots to last for a couple months! Obviously, a Poodle Prince can't eat ageing carrots, so... what to do? I keep trying different carrot recipes since I like cooked carrots. This time I had about one and a half pounds of both ageing and fresh carrots, so I tried one of Molly Wizenberg's recipes, posted in November. http://orangette.blogspot.com/2010/11/she-got-out-skillet.html

Molly cuts her carrots into 1/4" rounds, but I just cut the fatter ones vertically in half. Other than that I followed her recipe exactly. The carrots are delicious. Of course, there are waaaay too many for me, so when I return Corky to his parents on Monday I will take them a container. And maybe Carol and Dick Bednar will enjoy trying them. I'll cut the recipe in half (or more) in the future. And I'll still have enough for a week of meals! I suppose they will freeze okay.

This is my 10-inch cast iron skillet, but I think I should have used the 11.25-incher. Definitely if I every have to cook a full two pounds of carrots.

Delicious!

When I stopped for gas I noticed this billboard. I didn't immediately see that the large word is PLAN and then it took me some minutes to translate the Spanish to English. I only have English, but can figure out some Spanish, French and Italian if I really work at it. The sign says, "Prepare[ing] now reduces the effects of a disaster tomorrow." We all live with the threat of a major earthquake, no matter what language we speak/read.

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.

BMW ad + What is it? answer

A reader sent me this URL for another comment about the mysterious billboard ad I saw on Friday. When I drove past yesterday I looked closer and saw the BMW web address in the lower left corner. But I still don't understand what it means! Of course, I will never buy a BMW, so I guess I don't really care.

http://ktzpage.blogspot.com/2008/04/beemer-specific.html

What were the pictures in my blog for 07-20-08? They show marks of tires on the center barrier of the San Diego Fwy south of Orange County. They do look like snowdrifts w/sand or the sky with wildfire smoke, but also like desert dunes. Last year I was driving back and forth to San Diego to be a gallery guide at the exhibit "Quilts from the Thomas Contemporary Quilt Collection". I spent a lot of time in very slow, stop and go traffic, so it was easy to snap the pictures as I burned up gasoline while sitting idle. The trip could be anything from 2 hours to 3-1/2 hours depending on freeway conditions.

Conflicting views 06-28-08

A few more of those things that strike me as odd.

I've seen a lot of the fish logos on vehicles and find that the people who display them to indicate their Christian faith aren't any more polite than those that don't. And some of them even know and use the one finger salute. When I saw this fish on the truck in front of me I crept up a little closer to be sure I was seeing what I thought I was seeing. I don't understand what he is trying to say. We were waiting at a level RR crossing so I had plenty of time to whip out my camera and click away. The driver probably wondered what I was doing, but he didn't jump out and shoot me - nice guy. Click to enlarge.

I've always been able to read words upside down pretty well and it can get me in trouble. When I read this sign on the street I quickly turned into a parking lot because I thought I was going the wrong way! I should have paid attention to the arrow, not the sign.

This shop is in Fullerton, but I can't figure out if it is a chain or one of a kind. I'd never seen this name before and it somewhat bothers me. Babies are not plants, though I guess they do basically come from seeds of a sort, and I find this a little offensive. Of course, you have to consider that I will be seventy this year and still carry some of the lessons I learned as a girl. One didn't even speak of pregnancy in public, much less have signs showing a womb with a little plant in it. Mothers-to-be wore clothes that camouflaged their condition - no longer. www.bellysprout.com

I must confess, I enjoy seeing that little computer response, "No misspellings found."