Back from Idyllwild

Well, I cheated death once again.  I managed to get on two airplanes in three days and didn't crash to Earth even once.  I'm not sure if this is dumb luck or perhaps a challenge to my belief that air travel was not meant for anyone without feathers.  In any case, I am home again and about to blather on about my trip.  You knew I would, didn't you?  I have a ton of pictures to show you, so grab a cuppa cuppa if you're in the mood to look.

First off, I want to say that my trip was terrific.  It's been a couple of years since I've seen my friend Lisa, and we managed to pack a lot into three short days.  Lisa and her husband Ron have a new little camper trailer . . . so cute . . . and Lisa had it all set up for me so nicely.  She had given me bottled water, tea, cheese, nuts, and juice to eat and drink.  She also left me some nice smelly lotion and body spritz and a little vase of wildflowers.  She thought of everything, and therefore wins the title of the Hostess with the Mostess. And let me just say that the food at her little B&B was great!

This is Lisa's exuberant dog, Chisel.

He and I had several conversations about dog spit and wet tongues.

After she picked me up from the airport, she took me to the Busy Bee Quilt Shop, which she knew I would love.  Uh Oh.  Guess who bought some fabric?  I'll tell you more about the quilt shop in a separate post.  After that, she gave me a whirlwind tour of her little mountain community of Idyllwild (here's a little sliver of Idyllwild)

and then we went home and relaxed for a few hours.  For dinner the first night, Lisa made a delicious quiche.

It was so tasty served with some very sweet corn on the cob . . . my favorite vegetable.  She also had some apples from her sister's apple tree.  While she made the quiche, I made an apple crisp, and we had that for dessert along with some vanilla ice cream.  I'm not sure a dessert of apple crisp and ice cream can be improved upon.

The next day, we girded up our loins for a high energy day with Lisa's five granddaughters.  The biggest reason for the trip was for me to give each of the girls the doll quilt I made for them and to talk about the whys and hows of the fabrics and stitching.  Lisa gave me an idea of each girl's likes and interests and each doll quilt was designed especially for them.  If you want to read more about the doll quilts, you can read my review of the finished quilts here.

Of course, we started the day with me practicing up to be a grandmother by holding Lisa's newest grandson, Ezra.  Ezra was a sweety all day.

I gave Lisa her quilt the previous day, but we brought it along to show the rest of the family.

The pictures of the girls and their quilts pretty much tell the story, so I'll just let you look and add some comments to tell you who's who.  This first little sweety is the youngest of the girls.  This is Allison, who could say "butterfly" like a champ!  Allison is two.

This is Irish with her quilt.  She's five months older than Allison.  To the right is Lisa's husband, Ron.

Ron was very tender and sweet with his granddaughters.

 We gave the quilts to the girls in order of their ages from youngest to oldest.  The next quilt was for pretty Camlyn, and everybody gathered close to see the paper-pieced castle.

Here's Camlyn with her quilt . . . oh yes, and Irish with her quilt.

Kylee was next, and she sat stroking the Laurel Burch fabric while I told her about the challenges Laurel Burch faced in her life.  I'm hoping some of her spirit will be rub off on Kylee, who is quite an artist herself.

The trip would have been complete just to see this smile.

At ten, Elyce is the oldest and quite a young lady.  She was pensive most of the afternoon, but she loved her quilt. 

Here are all the girls with their quilts.  Allison was adamant that we not try to turn her quilt to the front.  I like a woman who knows her own mind.  And since she's two, you can be sure Allison knows her own mind.

Whew!  After that, we went home and fell over from exhaustion.

The next day was my last day in Idyllwild.  After breakfast, Lisa went in hunt of some petroglyphs she had been told existed close by.  You can read about them here.  It's worth clicking on the link because there is an interesting story behind them.  After a couple of false starts, we were able to find them.

These were surprisingly well preserved given that they are not protected by anything other than their natural surroundings and their somewhat tricky-to-find location.  As we walked down under the huge boulders in search of the petroglyphs, we saw this lizard watching our every move.

We can only assume they are so well preserved because they are in the shade pretty much all of the day, and a rock overhang protects them from moisture.

From the road, the path is difficult to see, but there is a stone stairway with a railing that takes you down between a couple of large boulders.  Walk around that boulder you see on the right, and you're there.

After that, Lisa took me to see the playground that the members of the Idyllwild community all chipped in to build.  What a wonderful place for children!

There were pickets everywhere with slogans (I liked Plato's advice in particular)

and the names of the volunteers who built this wonderful place.  Here is Ron and Lisa's picket.

The many play structures had something for everybody.  Anyone who gets bored at this playground would have to be working at it.  I loved the saddled bear at the sandbox.

This fire truck structure was built in memory of the members of Engine 57 who died in a wildfire some years back.

Everyone had a "hand" in the building and decorating of their playground, including the kids.

Part of Lisa's job was to cut these leaves using a woodworking tool she'd never used before.

Even the local quilt guild got in on the act by designing this tile quilt for one of the picnic tables.

Other picnic tables were decorated with tiles made by the volunteers.  This is Lisa's tile.  Lisa teaches 4th grade.

I don't know who Zachary is, but I liked his tile.

Lisa's husband Ron is an Army veteran, and this is his tile.

After that, we met Ron at this restaurant for lunch before heading for the airport.  

Smarty pants Lisa had--to my utter surprise and complete delight--arranged for two of our high school classmates to meet us there.  I haven't seen these two dear friends in years, and it was a joy to see them looking and doing so well.  This is Tom and Debby.  Lisa, Tom, Debby, and I were all in the band together in high school.  Our band was an extremely close knit group and they are like brothers and sisters to me.  We all look exactly the same as we did 40 years ago!  It's amazing!  (Not.)

There was a gallery at the restaurant, and I saw this little quilt hanging on the doorknob.  Cute, huh?

When I spied this sign, I had to take a picture of it.  Goodness knows you wouldn't want to hit this guy with your car.

And then we headed to the airport and home.  Where I am now.  Still in my pajamas at noon.  I think it's against the law to change out of your pajamas before noon when you've been traveling.  (Checking the rulebook now.  Yep.  Right where I thought it would be.  Definitely against the law.)  

I threw little Smitty out while I wrote this post so that he wouldn't walk on my keyboard and defeat my efforts.  He's breaking down the door now, so I'd better go.  Oh yes, and I suppose I'll get dressed too.  And I hear the snotty unpacked suitcase yelling neh, neh, neh from the other room too.  I'll just bet Smitty will help me unpack it.  Whaddaya think?