Going Downtown After All

This morning I was eating my breakfast, planning my day, thinking about how great it would be to stay home. I suppose one could say I was in the process of counting my chickens before they'd hatched.  It was about that time that I felt something in my mouth that was much too hard to be raisin bran.

It was a porcelain crown.  Crap.  Oh well.  At least I didn't swallow it.  Or break it.  It's from a dental implant, so it isn't bothering me because the only thing exposed is the prosthetic root of the implant.  I have a regular check-up scheduled with my dentist about ten days hence, but when I called the office, they told me it would be a bad idea to wait that long.  Oh joy.  I get to drive downtown today...to see the dentist.  As you might imagine, I'm thrilled beyond belief.  By "beyond belief" I mean that if you believe I am thrilled, then I'm guessing you must be a lot of fun at a party.  

It's an hour to drive downtown, then I'm guessing an hour at the dentist's office, then another hour to drive home.  So that pretty much shoots the entire afternoon.  Oh well.  If it's the worst thing that happens all day, it will be a good day.  This is one of those times when one is grateful for such a minor inconvenience.  My friend Lisa, who visited last week, is now under mandatory evacuation from her home because of a wildfire burning too close for comfort to her little town of Idyllwild.  

You can see where the fire is in relation to Idyllwild, and the wind is blowing in the direction of her home. For a while they were not in danger, although the smoke was thick and troubling. Then the wind shifted. This is the most current information I have about the fire, and I am worried about my friend.  We have communicated via email and Facebook, and she and I both agreed we are glad it didn't happen during her visit. Still, there is never a good time for a fire and there has already been significant loss of property.

So all of that to say that a trip to the dentist feels like a minor inconvenience in contrast.  I used the morning to finish quilting the blocks of the Hello Sun quilt.  I still have quite a bit of straight line quilting to do, and I'll probably do a sort of stipple that includes loopy suns in the border.  As I said, I'm making it up as I go along. I stuck with my design of adding rays to the suns except for a few of the blocks that gave me other ideas.

Of course, I added a spider web to the October block.  (I left these images intentionally shadowy and dark so that you can see the quilting.)

For the December block, I added some snowflakes over the tree...

...and I made some hoof prints in the snow for Rudolph.

Also, I added some snowflakes to the January block.

And a cloud with some rain to the March block.

And then I quit.  It's time to take a shower and get going now.  Hopefully, I'll get home early enough to do a little more sewing this afternoon, but I'm not counting on it.

How's your Thursday going?  No fires burning nearby, I hope.