Signing Off

Packing will start in earnest today as we start loading the fifth wheel for our journey. I'll start with my sewing items and then move on to food and clothing. With three days ahead, I'm expecting full days, but also plenty of time to do a good job of organizing. It'll hardly be blog-worthy, and so I'm going to sign off for a few days until after we get on the road. Our first stop is Spokane, and then on to Butte, Montana. I'll blog again as soon as I have something interesting to talk about or until my head gets full of words, whichever comes first. I'm betting on the latter.

The fire in the Columbia Gorge is still burning, and Interstate-84...the main road east out of town...will remain closed through the weekend. We will be able to move east using SR-14 on the Washington side, but it will add about an hour to an already-long day of driving. Firefighters can do little more than control the flames since containment has been next to impossible. Smoke and high winds have prevented any kind of air support and the steep terrain makes much of area impenetrable for that sort of work. I've seen some very sad images coming out of the fire. This is a screenshot I grabbed from a video showing the devastation at the popular Angel's Rest Trail.

It's hard to see through the smoke, but it's pretty much scorched earth in that area. As for Multnomah Falls and the historic Multnomah Falls Lodge, there's plenty to celebrate. Here is a picture of the firefighters who risked their lives to save the lodge and control the blaze around the falls. You can see there is still plenty of green.

The area has been described as a mosaic from the pattern of the blaze. Some areas are barely touched, while others have been completely denuded. When I heard last, the blaze had grown to 33,000 acres, but it has probably grown larger since then.

Yesterday, I made good on my promise to use up some leftovers in the refrigerator to make some Lemon Cheesecake Mousse. I neglected to take a picture of it, and so I'm recycling an old image from the blog.

When I make this for Mike and me, I only make half a recipe, and so I end up with unused whipping cream, cream cheese, and lemon curd. By making this up yesterday, I was able to get all of those things out of the fridge. And besides, it makes the most delicious light dessert. By "light," I am not implying that this is diet food. It most definitely is not. You can find the recipe for these right here. They're easy to make, but you'll use a lot of bowls in the process.

Also, I had half a watermelon to use up, and so I pureed that to be turned into watermelon sorbet this morning. I'll pack that into the trailer in the freezer and we'll take it along. Watermelon sorbet is one of my favorites.

On the sewing front, I finished the last of Mathilda this morning.

The next time I work on the bag ladies, I'll be stitching Abigail. She's looking hale and hearty with her fishing gear there. It looks like she's planning on doing some sewing while she waits for a bite.

If you're stitching along with us, you should stitch whichever bag lady you like.

And now...it's the moment I've been waiting for. Tomorrow morning I'll take the first stitches on the Sundress quilt.

I've already traced out and hooped the largest center block.

When I purchased the pattern...years ago, I think...I also purchased the floss kit. I'm loving these bright colors, but I question whether there's enough here to stitch the whole quilt.

Time will tell. It's easy to overestimate how much floss will be needed, which explains the big box of extra floss currently residing in my sewing room.

Smitty is not feeling good about the goings on here at the Three Cats Ranch. When our routine is altered, it is never good for cats. Here, he is demonstrating how a cat becomes "small." The idea is that if one can scrunch oneself into a small enough profile, then one will go unnoticed and not be packed up with the rest of the travel gear.

Sadie was being her usual helpful self. Here, she's preparing to knock my "sharps" container off onto the floor. I keep broken and bent needles and pins in an empty medicine bottle for safe disposal.

And yes, she's perilously close to the magnetic pin cushion, but pins do not interest her. I had to be more careful when Smitty was a kitten. He liked to pick them up in his teeth. Yikes!

When the kitties are a little too helpful, a dose of catnip always distracts them. I put a little in a custard cup. It used to be all for Smitty, but now Sadie has taken a liking to it. She's very rude and noses him out of it while he imbibes. Now, he gets his own private seating area off in the distance there.

So, that's all I have to tell you for now. I'll be spending the next several days packing, packing, and more packing. As for blogging on the road, it always depends on whether I have internet access. Daily blogging is important to me because of all the pesky words that crowd out my ability to think rationally. (Some might say "rational thinking" never happens.) Blogging sometimes isn't possible because of lack of internet access or cell phone coverage. Usually I have an idea ahead of time when we'll be out of touch, but not always. If days go by without word from me, you can guess it's because I can't get online.

It's always wonderful when you, my dear blogging friends, travel along with us. Any advice about things we should see (especially quilt shops!) in your local area are always appreciated. Also, we sometimes see mysterious geographic/geologic formations, and we've learned a lot from you locals when we're in those areas. So please chime in if you have something to say!

Finally, for those of you in the path of the hurricane(s), you are constantly in my thoughts. Please be safe, and I'm keeping my fingers crossed that you come out the other side unscathed by predicted destruction. Take good care, my dear friends. I'll tell you what I always tell my kids: Don't take any unnecessary risks, and by all means, fasten your seatbelts and/or wear your helmets.

See you on the other side.