Seen On My Walk

We are so happy for some lasting sunshine! The Garden Treasures peony opened in celebration yesterday.

You can see it on the far left in the image below, but I wanted to show you the whole peony bed, which is heavy with big pompom flowers now. Too bad Rosy Prospects, second from the right, can't get with the program. I'm feeling more optimistic about it this year though. Several of its buds have opened with at least some flower petals. It has earned itself at least a year's reprieve after being sentenced to the burn pile.

On the slope above the peonies, there are cherries on the tree. They are way behind from last year, and I noticed yesterday that a lot of them are shriveling. It's an indication they weren't pollinated, which isn't at all surprising. We don't have a single plum on our tree either. It bloomed on days when it poured rain.

It was such a nice day. I didn't want to do my walking on the treadmill, and so I set out for a walk. It's hay fever season for me. These blooming grasses and weeds are my sneezy worst offenders.
 

Here's some more.

And here's even more. They are pretty when the sun glints off their seed heads.

Of course, I took pictures of every blooming thing, and so much is blooming right now. I came across these wild roses. These are larger than the ones I usually see. These are approximately the diameter of a tennis ball. The bumble bees were interested.

The white ones are very fragrant.

These yellow ones are smaller...maybe a little larger than a quarter.

Gazing through the trees, I could see our neighbor's horses grazing in the sun. When I walked back, I noticed one was rolling in the grass and making a grunting sound like a dog's growling.

Here's one close-up. That red grass beside him is called Timothy grass...very bad for hay fever sufferers. Fortunately, I'd taken some Allegra early in the morning, and so I was tolerating this walk just fine.

Now there's a horse's a$$ if I've ever seen one. But that's not why I took this picture. I took it for the bird sitting on his back. Just before I pressed the shutter, there were three more sitting there.

Here's one of my alpaca neighbors. He seems not too happy to see me taking his picture. I mean, he hasn't even finished his breakfast nor combed his hair! He also looks as if he's been sheared recently.

Getting back to the wildflowers, this one has tiny white flowers. It's a heavy ground cover, and it was growing thick along the roadside. My phone tells me this is Bearberry Cotoneaster.

There was another red one growing to its right.

I asked my phone to identify this next one, but the answers it gave were obviously incorrect. I needed to get closer for a better picture, but there was a muddy ditch there.

I saw this in several places along the way. This is Crimson Columbine.

California poppies with vetch growing to the left side of the image.

I tried only taking pictures of things I hadn't seen on my last walk, but some are too much my favorites to ignore. This one is the Hesperis. It's the one new name I've learned in this year's travels.

And, of course, I can't ignore the corn flowers. I just love them.

Here's a pink one.

And a purple one.

This is a scene from the top of our hill. This area was all wooded last year, but the owner logged it all off. The story is that he's facing a terminal illness and logged it off to sell the timber. It sure left an eyesore. We can't see this from our property, but we live just on the other side of the far tree line. It means less habitat for coyotes, but also for other small animals and birds.

On a more positive note, this is how it looks just across the road, and looking down into the Willamette Valley.

So my walk ended up taking more time than I'd planned. If I didn't stop to take so many pictures, I could walk farther and faster. But, oh well. I was enjoying the warm weather.

Back home, I barely got started on quilting Grandma's Thimbles. Each block will have a spool of thread...

followed by a meandering looping thread line...

and a needle. I'm also outlining the thimbles and filling in some of the lines in the middle. It needed a little more quilting from a functional standpoint.

There are six cornerstones. I made a little free-hand thimble in three of the six.

Sadie was my quilting assistant, but she was keeping a close eye on Smitty who was on the floor below her.

My heart really wasn't into the quilting yesterday, but I filled four blocks and three cornerstones.

It's hard to see the white thread on a white background.

You can barely make it out on the back.

When I came upstairs and looked outside, I noticed this squirrel was eating one of the poppy buds. (Shakes fist!) Where's a cat when you need one?

And then, adding insult to injury, this is what I saw when I came downstairs first thing this morning. (Shakes fist and bangs on the window!)

I'd just been pointing out to Mike yesterday how we have lots of flowers on this cherry tomato, but never any tomatoes. Now I know why. I'm surprised he'd come right up onto the patio like that.

Okay, so it's a grocery shopping day. We have a long list, unfortunately. Nevertheless, I expect to get back to my quilting this afternoon. Probably, I could finish it today, but my goal is to do another row of blocks and cornerstones. It's been warm and dry enough to water too. In anticipation of a now-postponed trip to Alaska this year, Mike has his watering all worked out with timers and blue tooth controls for his phone. It's all very complicated, and I can't explain it, but it saves him from dragging hoses around the yard. Also, he can control what gets watered and when from his phone. As for me, I'll be watering the pots the old fashioned way...by dragging hoses around the yard.

Oh yes...I almost forgot. I saw this notification on Facebook yesterday. Anyone can join in, so I'm giving you the information. I'm going to participate, and I've already seen the instructions. I can assure you that it's a very simple project, even for someone who doesn't regularly do embroidery. Join us, if you like.

Sign up thru the https://huntersdesignstudio.com/collaborative-embroidery.../ (and confirm your subscription) to receive the instructions. ​​​​​​​​Here's a little bit about the project:

Want to stitch something cool?​​​​​​​​

Want to be part of a collaborative project?​​​​​​​​

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Check this out! ​​​​​​​​

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I designed a project that I hope will illustrate, thru the use of stitch and fabric, how there are myriad interpretations of communication - or in simpler terms, how we can all read the same thing and come to different conclusions.​​​​​​​​

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I'd be thrilled if you join in! ​​​​​​​​

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I invite you to stitch a block, following some very simple instructions. The project is to interpret the instructions the way YOU think fit; there is no right or wrong. ​​​​​​​​

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Once I put the collective collaboration together into one piece of fiber art, my hope is that it will illustrate the concept.​​​​​​​​

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Once all the blocks arrive, I plan to assemble them into a quilt, and submit the quilt to various quilt and fiber art shows, starting with QuiltCon 2023. Depending on the response, I might send out different sets of instructions for other quilts at a later time to create a series.​​​​​​​​