Corky Terror 04-02-10

I've spent the evening with Corky at his house whilst his parents go to a musical play - they will be home about 11:45pm. He is such a dear little guy and I do love being with him. However, he still has one puppy habit that we have given up trying to break - he seems to enjoy it so much and can really get going in his enthusiasm. Picking up one shredded paper towel isn't too much work! He prefers to do it when I am not looking, although I can certain hear the tearing and tossing from almost any downstairs room. He is doing very well with his meds and his acupuncture, but still can't run up and down stairs. .

I've picked all of this up before his parents come home!

I haven't blogged for a few days because I'm still suffering with the cold and hoping it doesn't turn in to bronchitis. Dr. Debin gave me a prescription for antibiotics and also some pills to 'boost my immune system'. We hope. I was ready to post last night but when I went into Picasa it pulled up a blank page and said, "No Pictures". After I gasped and got dizzy I decided I felt too lousy to deal with it and turned off the computer. This morning I thought I might be able to face it, but everything is working just fine and all my picture files seem to be intact.

I'm still needing to rest a lot and had a nap after the Poodle Parents left this afternoon. Guess I will be spending a lot of time resting still - at least through the weekend. I hope I can be alert enough to prepare the papers for my taxes - time is wasting. I have not even looked at anything I did at Asilomar.

What a difference a day makes... 03-30-10

After three days of clear skies and the temp around 85F today was overcast and only about 63F with rain expected tomorrow night and Thursday. Perhaps our last little rain of the season (which ends July 1st, I believe). The Department of Water and Power (DWP) in Los Angeles is considering financial rewards for people who tear out their grass lawns and put in something that is less thirsty. It is something I have thought about doing since we moved into this house in 1986. I sometimes drive around looking at front yards and thinking what could be done to ours.

The dark clouds above and the light ones below that block the view of the hills are rather colorful. This is basically the view from my kitchen window and the slider where I sew, but I went outside for the pictures so there is more foreground than I usually see. Where you can see a flat end to the road in the distance is a major north/south four- lane road. When the trees are bare I can see, just to the left, the hospital where I had my "procedure" last Friday. Of course, I have to go around by the roads which amounts to about seven blocks - so close and yet so far. On the right in the foreground of the picture is the little park where Corky and I sometimes walk.

Every evening when it is not raining these three ladies bring their dogs to run and play. They each have two dogs and they are very careful to pick up after them.

While I was standing there taking pictures there were several lesser goldfinches feeding on the sow thistles gone to seed just over the short wall at the back of the patio. I do love to watch them, but I suppose the neighbors hate me for letting the thistles go to seed - they replant themselves everywhere. This is the best image I could capture and it makes me determine to get out the book on my new Canon camera to see how I can improve my pictures.

If my head wasn't so soggy I might do it this evening, but this head cold has my brain dulled down to almost stop, so it will have to wait for another day. I finished the Surfside QGuild newsletter last evening and Nancy Ota posted it today. http://tinyurl.com/y96unyy With three pages of templates for the Block-A-Month it comes to 19 pages. Isn't it wonderful that we can post in online instead of mailing it - with the cover page it would be ten double sided pages and that would cost a lot to mail to our members since we are not large enough to apply for bulk mail. When I trained on computers in the late 60s I didn't dream that they would become a very large and important part of my everyday life. Life is change. Whether we like it or not!! I like it - I like it!

A Slice of Fullerton 03-29-10

Does anyone use Microsoft Publisher? On Saturday when I was deep into finishing the Surfside QGuild newsletter I pulled up the program and the header had changed from what it has been since I started using it last April. I tried everything I could think of, including going back to March 1st, but nothing worked. So, I drove over to the Notebook Shop to see if they could help. The tech tried all the things I had tried and finally we reloaded the program from the original disc. Still no luck. Finally, he brought up his program on his computer and he had the same 'problem'. Everything is still there on the program, but since it looks different I have to stop and think and search, taking longer to do almost everything. Then I drove home and stopped in Fullerton at the cheapest Arco station around. While my sixteen gallons were pumping I looked around at the trees and the sky and the moon.

It was rather late in the day and sun cast a pink shadow on the white building in the background. The wind was still agitating the palms and the almost full moon was floating in a very blue sky.

On the top of the station building is this odd looking 'smokestack' which greatly resembles the smudge pots they once used in the citrus orchards. Guess it isn't very stable since it has guy wires to support it against the Santana winds which blow from just that direction.

Looking over the hood of my car and across busy Orangethorpe Blvd, I could see the snow topped peaks only fifty or so miles away. Wonder how Harry Sidhu placed his sign so high on the pole. And did he have permission? To me the worst thing about elections is the plastering of signs on every possible spot - ugly to the extreme.

Too bad it isn't a video showing the wind shaken fronds. It was a lovely evening.

A new quilt in the TCQC - Susan Else 03-28-10

I know, I keep saying I'm not going to keep buying quilts, but I deceive myself and you! While I was at Empty Spools there was an exhibit of Susan Else's work at Back Porch Fabric shop in Pacific Grove. I first saw her pieces at the Pajaro Valley Quilt Shows, I don't know how many years ago - 15, maybe. They are fascinating and I covet many of them. However, they are three dimensional and would require storage in a crate or carton and I just don't have the room. So, I was really excited when I saw this great 'quilt' hanging at BPorch. I thought it would fit in the large acid-free box that I have for several quilts that cannot be rolled for storage. And it does. But, is it REALLY a quilt? It has some characteristics that would qualify it, but what about those that don't fit that category - stiffness, holes between the poles, just the fact that it cannot be folded or rolled. I don't know the answer and don't really care. I love this work of art and it is now a part of the Thomas Contemporary Quilt Collection.

"Coyote Fence" Susan Else 2001 26"W x 24"L

Cotton, velvet and unknown fabric. Machine quilted (base).

A few years ago my neighbor and I had a tall wrought iron fence put up across the back of our yards and up one side of my slope and also the other side of his slope. For a few months we still found hair on the fence, but I have not seen a coyote, or its hair, in my backyard for several years. However, I will not let Corky stay outside in the fenced yard unless I am also out there. The coyotes can get over just about any fence, no matter how tall. There is a product now called "coyote rollers" that one places along the top rails of fences - the coyotes jump for the top of the fence to crawl their way over, but the rollers keep them from getting a grip and they fall backward to the ground. If I ever see another of the critters in my yard I may try some rollers.

But, back to Susan. She has created many unusual and fascinating pieces, including a fabric skeleton which was part of Quilt National 2009. I especially like her "Dreaming of Rivers" with wonderful reverse and regular applique all over the body of the 'dreamer'. But it is about 4 feet long X 3 feet deep X 2 feet high. Not something I could handle. Do go to her website to see some of her work - she has invented many original techniques to construct her 3-D pieces.

http://www.susanelse.com/

Update on the Corky, Poodle Prince 03-26-10

I was REALLY missing Corky after I was gone for almost three weeks. So, on Sunday evening, after driving from Mary's in San Juan Bautista, I drove to LBeach to see him.

Although he was initially happy to see me he finally came around to punishing me for neglecting him and refused to look at the camera. Usually he is such a ham.

He was still wearing his St. Patrick's Day green.

Eventually he went to lay in front of the garage door - waiting for his parents to return and ignoring me. .

Isn't this a pitiful sight? His dad sent me this picture on Monday evening after Corky had spent the day on his mommy's desk in his boat bed. He was recovering from having his teeth cleaned that morning. We always worry when he has to be anesthetized because he is almost 14 years old and we all know that it is harder for our bodies to recover from that as we mature. It took him the entire day to be his own self again. I'll have him quite a bit in April as it is a very busy month for his parents' business. Of course, I am looking forward to having him at "Camp Del".

Actually, I am recovering from anesthesia tonight. I had a routine colonoscopy this morning - what torture! But all is well and I don't have to do it again for five years. This has been a doctoring week with appointments with the eye doctor and the periodontist. Next week I will have to have a tooth pulled and start the process of an implant, which takes months. My friend Carol tells me it isn't so bad and I'm going to hold her to that!

"Morning Sniff" 03-25-10

In many SCalifornia quilt guilds there is a "Monthly Mini" quilt, made and donated by a member, to raise funds for the guild treasury. Tickets are sold, only at the meeting, and one is pulled for the winner. Over the years I have done this for several of the guilds I belong to and March was the month I volunteered to create a quilt for Surfside Quilters Guild. The member with the winning ticket was Hiroko Moriwaki.

"Morning Sniff" Del Thomas 2010 Approx 12"W X 15"L
The idea came from a childhood cat "Baby" who was a blue/grey color and lived to a ripe old age. She would go out in the garden with my stepfather and follow him around as he worked. She is the only cat I have ever seen who would sniff flowers as she walked along.

Fused applique w/straight stitched edges, machine quilted.

Talking about food 03-23-10

These handsome immature seagulls (they turn from grey to white as they mature) were waiting for me to feed him/her something as I sat on a bench admiring the awesomeness of Monterey Bay. It was a lovely breather after the two weeks of Empty Spools and before driving to Mary's to get packed up to leave on Sunday for the drive home. One is not supposed to feed any wild animals or wild birds and I didn't have anything to feed them anyway.

Regardless of what my fellow students thought, I thought the food at Asilomar was dreadful. They served pork for either lunch or dinner almost every day and I can't eat it. Bacon and ham don't bother me, but pork is definitely off my diet. They also listed Red Snapper as the fish for dinner one night in both weeks, but it turned out to be Tilapia. Cheaper, I'm sure. The one thing they always do well are salads - greens so fresh they might have been picked the minute before we ate them. I think, however, I will in the future bring my own light oil/vinegar dressing. They make a very heavy dressing that kills the fresh greens. I used to rely on choosing the vegetarian entree if I couldn't eat the meat, but one night I tried it and it turned out to be a baked onion stuffed with a concoction containing some sort of grain, dried cranberries (I think), maybe some veggies and served with cooked red cabbage. Yuck. I went hungry. I managed to eat the eggs in whatever form they served for breakfast.There is now a do-it-yourself toast bar using their six slice toaster - which would be fine if there were not another 100+ people trying to use the same toaster. I ate out most evenings - Pepper's, Tillie Gortz, The Red House, TJoe's salad and I tried An Choi (Asian Contemporary Cuisine) http://www.anchoirestaurant.com/

This is their "prawns in tamarind sauce" which is served on a bed of noodles, mushrooms and onions. There were four prawns and the meal was good if not spectacular.

The chairs don't look comfortable, but they were, and the view was typical Pacific Grove.

Since I am talking about food, here is a look at 9 foods that reportedly make one's skin stay fresh/young:http://tinyurl.com/yzf5x8c

I have made some changes, regarding Caryl Bryer Fallert, to yesterday's post about Empty Spools.