A Very Nice Day

It was a nice day to walk the Fanno Creek Trail with Sue yesterday. Also, it was good to get some exercise before our anniversary celebration dinner last night. The sky was overcast for our walk, and it was a little muggy. Still, it was so pretty. Tualatin Hills Parks & Recreation was charged some years ago with restoring the wetlands surrounding Fanno Creek, and they've done a beautiful job. Having not seen it for several months, it was obvious their hard work is paying off. The trail was lush and green, and there were beautiful wildflowers blooming everywhere.

Sue, with her sharp eyes, spotted this guy crossing our path. He was about two inches long and moving fast. The image doesn't do his color justice. He was practically iridescent. It wouldn't surprise me at all if he glowed in the dark.

This next flower was about the size of a silver dollar. It also had an interesting seed pod, which wasn't captured in my image. I had a hard time getting this one in focus.

Also, we saw several cats along the way. We saw this one some distance off at the beginning of our walk. Try as I might, I couldn't get him to open his eyes, although he seemed to follow us as we went. Possibly, he's using the if-I-can't-see-you-you-don't-exist approach to moving us along from his domain. Our walk is about five miles, which takes us a little over an hour. When we came back this way, he was still sitting in the same place, still with eyes closed.

At the extreme end of our in-and-out path, we met this guy. He was so friendly, we actually had to walk away before I could get an in-focus picture. He rubbed in and out of our legs, and then took a nice dust bath there on the sidewalk. This was a small cat, I suspect a teenager.

Oh yes...and this one.

Back at the Three Cats Ranch, this one was stalking some prey in the lavender bush. Could be a mouse...could be a bumblebee.

After icing my knee and eating some lunch, I forced myself back into the quilting room. Thanks to all of you who offered encouragement in yesterday's post. It helped, and I felt better when I walked away from it yesterday. I quilted another section of the crossbeam in the gazebo. I varied the direction of my stitching a little, although I could not explain this if I tried. It came out a little better, I think.

Then it was just the same motifs again and again. I'm staying consistent for the repetitive portions of the quilt. Also, I think quilting the same motifs again and again is part of what discourages me about this. I've been working on it for such a long time, and it's beginning to bore me.

Here's how yesterday's efforts look from the back. Look at the center and toward the southwest a little, and you can see the quilted butterfly.

But I'm feeling better about this. Check it out.

The portions below the red line are finished. The portions above the red line still need quilting. I know just what I'm going to do in these last sections, and that's half the battle. That said, the end is in sight.

We celebrated our anniversary at the Portland City Grill. It's located in the US Bank Tower in downtown Portland, and it has the best view of the city. We waited a little longer for a table next to the window. When we were seated, our table was decorated with "Happy Anniversary" confetti.

Here is the view from our table. Below, you can see the Willamette River and the Burnside Bridge.

Looking to the right, you can see the shadow cast by our building. To the right is the Morrison Bridge and just to the right of that, the Hawthorne Bridge.

Looking farther down the river, I took this picture and marked where we've spent our 4th of July celebrations for the last 12 years, or so. There's a red structure there that helped me identify the spot. Beyond the arrow, you can see the Marquam Bridge, which is where Interstate 5 crosses the river.

It's a beautiful city, and we're still happy to live here even after having driven around the perimeter of the United States this past year.

Last night's dinner finished up with this little dessert compliments of the restaurant. It was a mocha chocolate mousse. Those little chocolate "beads" are chocolate covered rice crispies. Pretty darned good.

And that was the end of a really good day.

Today I need to fill the bird feeders and water the flower pots. There are a couple of housekeeping chores, and then I'll spend some time on the quilting. Depending on how I feel about it, I might spend all my sewing time there, or I might head into the sewing room and work on something else. Time will tell.