Loma Rica, California

With a few friends, I took a lovely road trip into central Northern California.  Most of the travelers were interested in shopping for a fleece or two for hand spinning.

Well, when I look again at the map I see it's  rather on the eastern central part.  Here's a map of  the state.

There are just a few photos and they don't really show how beautiful it is in California in the springtime.  You had to be there.  I hope you like what you see.

Looking south.  The others are in the shed admiring the gorgeous fleeces that are stored there.

 

The gal in the center wearing the hat, is Terry Mendenhall the farmer and fleece producer extraordinaire  The fleeces are wrapped in blue. Two of our fiber guild's longtime members are perusing the book of locks.  They are making informed decisions.

There is a very affectionate sheep dog and a more reserved barn cat.

 Some of the sheep relaxing in the shade.  It was so lovely there.

This is looking back to the road. We had come over that drive to get to the fleeces.   I just had to take a photo of this tree.  And isn't the propane tank a marvel?

There is a little story about this final photograph.  It is the last one I took.
This one looks east (to the right from above) across a field.

I stood near the fence and using my phone I framed and snapped this picture.  Then I lowered the phone and my hand onto the top of the electric fence.  ELECTRIC FENCE?  Oh, yes.  Oucheeee!  While holding my hand in my other hand, I oohed.  My phone had fallen on the other side of the fence.

Never fear, all is well,  I had ice and acupressure for the pain which rapidly subsided,  I retrieved my phone.  There were no after effects.  No burn or pain.  It's like it never happened.  But I remember how much it hurt.   So for all my readers out there:  you can survive an encounter with an electric fence.

After we left the farm, we had a nice lunch at the Loma Rica Pizza and Deli.

To celebrate Jesus' resurrection, here is the chorus to my favorite Easter hymn.

Up from the grave, he arose

With a mighty triumph o'er His foes.

He arose a victor from the dark domain and

He lives forever with His saints to reign.

He arose.

He arose.

Hallelujah, Christ arose.

More soon.

Some Beautiful

All of the following photos, I collected from the Internet.  They are from a folder of mine called Beautiful.  That, of course, is my personal opinion.

 

Cayucos, California

A hammered dulcimer

I like this one because it is evocative.  A misty morning, a country lane, peaceful.

Well,, that's all for today.   I was just thinking about my photos and remembering I had a few that people might enjoy.  There may be more.

I Needed a Journal

Hands up those of you who keep a journal, a diary, or just keep the occasional note on your life.  When I was about 10 or so, I received a gift of a 5-year diary.  This was a small book and each page was marked off into 5 sections.  Each section being 2 inches of the page.  I was supposed to write my thoughts downs in those tiny spaces.  Oh, I tried. Some days it was easy enough to write " got up, went to school, kicked Billy for pushing me, had fried chicken for dinner."  but most of the time I needed more space.   I kind of gave up on that, but I loved the tiny key I could lock it with.

Years fly by and soon I am sixteen going on seventeen.   My mother decides she wants to take a trip around the United States.  Before we go, she suggests I take notes about all the places we visit.   I decided a plain school notebook would be find.  Lots of room to write and I didn't really need a key.

Upon returning from my wonderful, exciting, stupendous trip around the land that I love,  I continued writing.  There were things I didn't want my mom to read, but I still didn't need a key.  She told me she would never read my diary and I trusted her.

However, when I got married, I didn't want my husband to  read it so I burned it.  What a complete nut I was.   It would have been interesting reading to recall my thoughts from ages 16 to 21.  Some times I think of it with regret, but mostly I just get on with it.

Forward to many years later.  It's 1986.  I have my husband and three wonderful children, I've turned 40 and I am not writing much of anything.  I even gave up writing letters.  The occasional greeting card, maybe.  I'm working in a pre-school teaching 4 year olds to get ready for Kindergarten.  Carolyn, one of my students gives me the gift of a "blank book".  Consequently, I took up journaling again.  In 1992 I started nursing school.  One semester we were required to keep a clinical journal and turn it in to the teacher. She commented and then turned it back to us.

As I wrote more and years happened, I got other "blank books" and filled them up.

L-R

From Carolyn, clinical journal, a not-so-blank book.

So now. Present day.  I have one page left in my current journal.  I said, "I need to go shopping for a new journal."  My rational self said, " You can just make one, you have everything you need. You don't have to spend money."   I'm thankful for my rational voice.

First I took thirty-six pieces of printer paper, some bright ones. I folded them all in half, then stacked them in groups of 4, making a group of 8 pages.  (One folded page is called a folio, a group of folios is a signature)

 

Signatures.

I stacked the signatures up and put a heavy book on top to flatten them.  I don't have step by step photos as this isn't really a lesson.  I made the covers from a cereal box

This is a replica of the box I used.  I cut the front and back a bit bigger than the folded pages.  Then I covered them with some nice paper I had. Using other paper I covered the inside of each.

 Inside back cover.

Back cover.

Inside front cover

Front cover.








Then holes must be poked.  I used an ice pick over a phone book.  There are no photos of that process.

This is the book unsewn.

 Sewing.  A curved needle.  One must be careful.  It's easier to stab oneself with a curved needle than it is with a straight needle.

Sewing back into the center of one of the colored pages.

At last, sewing on the back cover.  My palm was a bit tired of getting poked.  I've made a book using a straight needle, but it's harder to sew through the signatures. Note the curved needle just making it look easy.

Finished sewing.  The back of book.

From the front.  Yay!

Inside the front cover.

This page is really a nice bright green.  Not a good representation of color.  You can see the stitching.

 

All finished and ready for daily jottings or the occasional poem.   Did she say poem?

The grass in my yard is up to here.

It's still a lovely shade of green
Presently  the green will  go
So I must find someone to mow. 

Oh, sorry.  I only have to look out the windows to see the truth of these  poetic lines.

May the Lord bless you today and every day.

A Falconing We Shall Go

In December last,  I was thinking about gift giving.   You know how much fun it is to find and purchase or make something for your family and friends.  While reading through my emails one day, I had one from Travelzoo.  I have been subscribing to their top twenty weekly travel deals for several years.  In between those, they send short, local deals for my perusal.  There it was a voucher offer for a falcon experience!  It was half price so I bought two so my daughter, Elizabeth and I could go.  I was sure she would find it fun and different.

History lesson:  People first started hunting with falcons and other birds of prey more than 7000 years ago. Maybe you thought it was a medieval or renaissance thing. No indeed.   It started, we think, in Asia.

These fellows are in India, but not
7000 years ago.

I'm not sure where this is, but isn't that a beautiful bird?







There were surely medieval falconers.

And many times they went on horseback.

This sport seems to be more popular in Europe and Asia and on the East Coast than here in California.  See this famous Brit.

I'm sure Prince William knows what he's doing, but we were told to hold our arm high for the bird to land on and then draw our arm close to rest before releasing.

West Coast Falconry is where my daughter and I went for our experience and it was wonderful.  We learned so much and worked with nice people and a lovely Harris Hawk named Tikka.

We stood near and the speakers asked questions and told us the history of falconry.  Tikka was there as well.

This Tikka up close.













We were too busy having our falcon experience so we didn't get any photos of the birds landing on our glove or taking off.  But after we got to do that, Elizabeth got to toss a bit of meat up in the air for Tikka to catch.

It's only 17 seconds, but it's cool.  We had a very good time.  See below.



A portrait with Tikka

What a smile!

Come back another day.

Birdie Sling Done

 

The bag is straight it's the house that's crooked.

So there it is.  It's not a good representation of the color. The last post shows the color better.  Also some photos below do. This pattern calls for  interfacing on nearly every one of the pieces.  It doesn't say what weight so I used what I had which is very light.  It also calls for fusible fleece.  It doesn't  mention a weight either (perhaps there is only one weight) so I again used what I had which seemed very stiff for a tote.  The bag does stand up buy itself. See, it's standing on my loom. 

 Interfacing on the main bag piece.

 Fusible fleece on the main lining piece.

 Four band pieces all with interfacing.

Pockets on the lining pieces. ( Yes there was interfacing) Pleats in the main bag pieces.   (I felt rather pleased at the pleats.)

The edge pieces sewn on to main bag and lining.

The main bag together.

   Ahhh, interfacing on the strap piece.  Grrrrrr.               

All done.  So happy!

Looking inside.

I made a little label.

"Something's coming. Don't know when,

But it's soon, catch the moon,

One-handed catch."

From West Side Story.

That's a sentiment I love.  Bye.

I chose this one

So I started on this one yesterday.  I read through all the instructions as per the advice of the pattern and then cut out all the pieces.  There are 3 fabrics, orange print, citrus stripe and a  solid orange.  The pink fabric in the lover right corner is not any part of it.

Have you ever heard of woven fusible interfacing?  I hadn't.  Only non-woven and I had plenty of it.  Oh, no!  This pattern called for 'woven' fusible interfacing. I was all set to order some, Joann's has $1 shipping today (No Fooling), but today I also looked at my bills for this month.  Extra payments due for car and home insurance, tax prep fees and taxes, so even $1 cannot induce me to shop.  Therefore I'm going to use what I have.  I am, indeed, a minor rebel with a cause.

Onward.  I've cut out all the fabric and now must cut out the interfacing and fusible fleece.  It should sew up fairly quickly once the cutting out is done.  Let's vote for how much fun "cutting out a pattern" is.  One to ten with 10 being the most fun ever.  * TWO.*  I gave it a 2 because the challenge of making the most of the fabric is sometimes fun, otherwise it would be a 1. (A little rhyme there.)

Pictures of sewing the Birdie Sling by Amy Butler  and the finished product will follow.

Poem for today.

Oh, I used a hammer with several nails
I cut up some wood and filled up some pails
The dishes are washed and maybe the car
I guess now it's time to belly up to the bar.

Written by me, but not today.  I apologize if I have already given you this one.  I really like it.  If you are wondering, I seldom, if ever, belly up to the bar.    Cheerio.