A Full Day

We had a wonderful and tiring day yesterday. It was wonderful because of all the things we saw and new friends we met. It was tiring for all the same reasons. Also...traffic. We country folk are worn out by city traffic, even when the traffic isn't even that bad. But it was worth it to have such a nice day from start to finish.

We met up with blogging friend Darlene, who blogs at Creative Latitude. Darlene and I felt as if we'd known one another a long time...and we have. I think we met up as bloggers right from the Cat Patches get-go. It was very nice to get a chance to meet up in person at Rosie's Calico Cupboard Quilt Shop in San Diego. I visited Rosie's way back in 2011, and wrote a blog post about it then. I didn't write a new post from yesterday, but it was just as I remembered it. It's a huge shop with lots of fabric. The rooms and the fabric seem to go on forever. Just when you think you've seen it all, you turn and find yet another room full of bolt after bolt of beautiful fabrics. You can read about Rosie's right here, and see for yourself what I'm talking about. I took only one picture of these beautiful buttons yesterday.

Darlene was kind enough to act as my "pack mule." It's hard for me to carry around heavy bolts of fabric with my broken shoulder, and so Darlene tended to both her fabric and my fabric. Honestly, thank you, Darlene. And wow...I found some stuff I really loved. They had the most beautiful batiks.

When we got back to the RV toward the end of the afternoon, I laid it out for a "fashion" show. Sadie wanted to help.

This one really needed to be opened up so you can see all the pretty colors and quilt blocks.

This next one was pretty much the first one I laid eyes on. It was kind of unusual, and so it appealed to me.

Since Rosie's isn't featured in either of my Shop Hop quilts, I picked up this regional fabric, and I'll include it in the one I'm working on now. It contains a number of San Diego icons. I'm not sure which image I'll choose for my quilt block.

This one might work in my next challenge quilt. I can't tell you about it, but you can see this fabric.

I was laying my finger out for scale, but then Smitty said, "Let me help." This one will make a pretty binding.

Here's another one that could be a pretty binding.

So I hit the fabric jackpot. There were coupons and gifts for Quilt Shop Appreciation week, and I still have coupons for some other local quilt shops too.

After leaving the quilt shop, our next stop was Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery to visit my parents' final resting place. We stopped off first and purchased some flowers and some sandwiches for lunch. We've been to the cemetery before when just my mother was here, and so we were able to drive right to it. My parents are cremated and their ashes are contained in this...what? I don't really know what to call these individual sections of a columbarium, but that's where they are. Just now, I looked it up. It's known as a columbarium "niche." 

Their "headstone" requires a little explanation. "Clarice E" was my mother. She passed away in 1997. Shortly after that, my dad met up with a woman he'd dated before my mother. (My parents were married 52 years when she died.) It was a planned but chance meeting at a reunion he attended, and he and Vera married shortly after my mother's death. They were both in their 70's by then, and so I never begrudged them their marriage. It's not as if they had years to wait around for a better time.  Without getting into too much family drama, I'll just say she tried and succeeded to drive a wedge between me and my father. I blame her for being such an awful and spiteful woman. I blame him for letting it happen. I accept responsibility for whatever part I played in that whole unfortunate situation.  Vera passed away in 2016 at the age of 97. My father passed away in January of 2020, at the age of 96. At the time of his death, we had not spoken in nearly 25 years. 

The cemetery provides little vases that can be stuck into the ground for flowers. It's a nice touch, and so I left these flowers. To be clear, the flowers are for my mother, and nobody else. Even after so much time, I still miss her.

Turning around from where they are, this is the view.

It's really lovely there. We sat on a concrete bench and ate our lunch.

I love the humble simplicity of a military cemetery like this one.

From there, and just about a mile down the road is Cabrillo National Monument. The monument itself is really just a marking place...sort of an outdoor museum, if you will. It honors Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo who was the first European to set foot on the west coast in 1542.

As we parked and walked toward the visitor center, we passed by this lizard. These lizards are ubiquitous in Southern California, and we've seen hundreds already. This was the first guy who would stand still for his picture. I'm thinking it's the "Hollywood" effect.

The biggest reason to visit this monument is for it's stunning views of San Diego Harbor. Oh my gosh. It's absolutely breath-taking.

While we were standing there, we watched a couple of navy boats come in. I only caught one in the image below, but there was another one right on its heels.

Looking to our left, we could see the cemetery.

Looking to our right, we could see the Old Point Loma Lighthouse.

Here's a little information about the lighthouses. There are two here. This old one is no longer in service, but you'll see its replacement in a few pictures below.

We had a little walk to get up to the lighthouse. Along the way, we passed these torrey pines.

Because of the pandemic, the lightkeeper's house was closed, but you can see pictures of the interior at this old blog post right here. (There are quilts!)

And here's the information I promised you about the new lighthouse. I believe I said it was operated by the Coast Guard in my last post about the area. Actually, this is Navy.

There's a short trail that takes you to the outermost point of Point Loma. There, one can pick up Mexican cell service, so make sure your "roaming" is turned off or you'll get a surprise international calling rate from Mexico...only if you make a call, of course. Along the way, there are signs acknowledging this as a great place to see the grey whale migration.

And there is an art piece, featuring the actual vertabrae from a grey whale.

Also, there is a whale embedded in the sidewalk here.

Here's a map showing their migratory path from the Arctic Ocean all the way down the western coast of North America.

Also embedded in the sidewalk was some kelp.

The coastline of California features a giant kelp forest. I'd always hoped to dive here one day, but I'm afraid our scuba diving days have passed.

Looking out, those slick areas out in the ocean are probably where the kelp forests lie.

Heading back toward the lighthouse, we noticed this Rain Catchment Basin for the lighthouse keeper's house. You can read more about its form and function in the sign below the image.

There was also a small garden, tended by some unknown person. They seem to be growing herbs here, but I noticed some red chard in the mix too.

As we walked back to our truck, I took pictures of every blooming thing. I don't know the names of any of these.

I think this next one grows along the Oregon coast as well. The flowers are tiny.

And that was our day. We drove back to the RV and collapsed into our naps. When we woke up, I spent some time reading email. When I looked behind me, Smitty was reading over my shoulder.

Today we're having lunch with our friends Deb and Tom again. Deb says she has something for me. Hmmmmm...I love a good surprise. Aside from that, there's nothing planned. We're supposed to meet up with some other friends tomorrow, but there's now a half inch of rain in the forecast. We might have to change our plans.