Gracie's Bad Day

"When gusty winds and random tumbleweeds swiftly roll by your feet, you know it's time for a mortifying storm!" I'm sure that is what Gracie must be thinking this morning. She's having her teeth cleaned today, which means we picked up her food when we went to bed last night, and we haven't fed her this morning. She can't believe it! And anyone looking at that pink belly would know that the poor cat will be nothing but fur and bones within the next five minutes.

Speaking of fur and bones...or not...I took the first images off the bird cam yesterday. Actually, I tried taking the first images off earlier in the day but discovered, surprisingly, that there were none except the test images I had taken when I set the whole thing up. "Hm," I thought, intelligently. It was disappointing because I'd seen the Flicker several times during the day and I was sure I'd have caught him on virtual film. Upon investigation, I discovered I'd left the camera on "laser light" rather than turning it to "On". Doh!

So after my second try, I discovered that out of 78 images, I'd captured 3 with an actual bird. That isn't a very good score, but I was thrilled nonetheless. I believe this is a female goldfinch, but any ornithologists out there can feel free to correct me.

She almost looks as if she knows she's being photographed, doesn't she? While it's tempting to go outside right now and grab the memory card form the camera, I'm going to wait until around noon today. The Flicker tends to come around in the morning, and I'm determined to catch him today.

Yesterday while my bird cam was busily shining its laser light on and on and on, I was sandwiching the White Trees quilt. The quilt is 58 x 74 inches. If you recall my rule about only quilting quilts no larger than my ping pong table, then this quilt is as large as I'd want to tackle on my domestic sewing machine. The top fits with just two inches to spare, but I did have to wrap the bottom around the edges of the table during this process. Of course, this size limit has nothing to do with my sewing machine. It has to do with my willingness to get on my hands and knees to sandwich it.

A very dear friend sent me a video of Sharon Schamber sandwiching a quilt in a very smart way. Maybe I'll give this a try one day, but since I like to spray baste, I'm not sure how I could this. I have to take things outside when I use the spray baste, and then bring them back in to sandwich. Nevertheless, Sharon's method is a good method. If I were bent on quilting a quilt larger than my ping pong table, I would definitely give this a try.

For now, I sandwiched the quilt in my usual way and left it just like you see it below. It's ready for me to take the first stitch! I doubt I'll have time for that today because I'm taking Gracie to the vet, then doing my grocery shopping, then going to physical therapy. For sure I'll get started on Thursday.

Well, I had hoped the shutdown would have ended by now because I wanted my protest pictures to all be from different states. Now, I've plum run out of new states, although I haven't run out of parks. Nevertheless, I'm starting back where this all began 15 days ago (!) in Yosemite National Park in California. This image of the full moon over Half Dome was taken in October of 2007 from Glacier Point. 

There were terrible fires burning in Southern California at the time, which accounts for the pink plumes in the sky. Given the looming debt ceiling, it seemed a picture of darkness falling was appropriate today. Congress, get your act together! Vote to end the shutdown! Power to the People!!

And to you I say, have a wonderful Wednesday!