A Finished Top

Good morning, my friends. It was a good day for sewing yesterday. Mike was out bike-riding, and I had the place to myself. I could spread out at will. Mike has no problem with me taking over virtually every surface in the RV, but I'm more comfortable when I can tell myself I'm not inconveniencing anyone. So...wanna see what I did?

I started here with these sections of the stars from my previous day of sewing. The first step was to lay them out as they would be sewn together.

Then I sewed them together. There are 16 of these. They'll be the corners of the stars.

And then I laid them out with the remaining pieces of the stars.

And sewed those together. So, I'm making a table runner, but I like the secondary pattern created when they're laid out like this. It would make a pretty bed quilt.

The only thing I needed to do then was to sew the sashings and borders, and I had myself a finished quilt top.

I'll use that same red for the binding. I have another fabric at home I'll use on the back. For now, I'm finished with this. I'll put it away for sandwiching and quilting when we're home again. My thanks go to the Crafty Quilter for providing this free pattern.

And I couldn't have done this without the help of my two trusty sewing companions.

As I was putting it all away, Mike returned from his bike ride. I'd already decided to go for a walk, and he was tired out from his bike ride. No worries. He took a nap while I went for a walk.

Approaching the first lake, I noticed a small playground area across the way. We walked right past it a few days ago, but I didn't see it then. Also, there are benches placed randomly around both lakes. It's a nice meditative place to sit.

The same collection of birds were there to greet me along the way. Here's our friend the Great Egret.

I spent some time watching this cormorant. They swim completely submerged in the water...catching fish or other delicious morsels, one presumes. I kept thinking how much they reminded me of the Anhingas we met when we were traveling in Florida.

The Anhingas will spread their wings to dry like this too.

Here's another cormorant.

Compare it with this photo of an Anhinga I took in Florida several years ago.

Okay, well, this caused me to inquire of The Google. Are Anhingas and Cormorants related? Here's what The Google tells me:

Yes, cormorants and anhingas are closely related aquatic birds, both belonging to the order Pelecaniformes, which also includes pelicans, tropicbirds, and frigatebirds, sharing features like webbed feet and diving for fish, though anhingas (darters) have slender, pointed bills for stabbing, while cormorants have hooked bills for scooping, and anhingas have longer necks, often appearing snake-like above water. 

So there you go. Have I said lately how much I 💕the internet?

Moving on...what kind of duck is this? Looking at pictures, I think it's a tufted duck, but its little tuft can't be seen in this image.

There's some kind of excavation going on outside the park. Not sure what's going on here.

The horse seems none too pleased.

Here's our friend the Blue Heron.

Here are some mallards...

This is probably his girlfriend.

Here's one sleeping, keeping one eye open as I approach.

Here's another shot of the cormorants, but I really liked the "V" formed behind the swimming duck.

Please don't embarrass me, okay? There's a restroom right over there.

Here's another shot of the heron from across the pond.

This looks as if it's already bloomed or else it's getting ready to bloom. My phone tells me this is "Sugar Sumac."

Inquiring again of The Google...I'll go with that. Here's how it looks when it blooms.

I'll keep an eye on it. Maybe we'll see it bloom while we're here. A little farther on...this:

My phone tells me this is a "Portugal Laurel." We have English Laurel at home, and I was thinking the foliage looks the same.

Walking on, this is a little deli and mini-mart, permanently closed, unfortunately. However, anyone who's done any RVing will recognize this structure as a typical KOA office. We believe this park was once a KOA, but this structure is far back in the park. Apparently, more was added after it was no longer a KOA.

This is the little creek running behind our rig. We hear froggies at night.

Okay, so I'm sorry to say one of our friends has landed herself in the hospital. I won't go into the details, but she underwent an emergency surgery. Via text, she told me this morning she was doing okay. We were planning to visit her, but she says she's not up to visitors just yet. No worries. Instead, we're going to make a trip out to Anza Borrego State Park. With the recent rains, there are wildflowers in bloom, and there are also some good hikes out there. We'll also stop off at our favorite farm stand and pick up some avocados. We're also lime-deficient. One cannot make margaritas without limes. They'll have limes too, and so it'll be a double delight.

Speaking of delights, it's time to make some Sunday morning blueberry pancakes. I wanted to make them last week, but then realized I had no baking powder or baking soda with me. Now we've been to the grocery store and restocked the pantry with leaveners. Pancakes are coming right up. 

Lace up your hiking boots, my friends. I expect we're going to do some hiking today. The weather looks good. A hat might be a good idea too.

Birdwatching

Good morning, my friends. Now that our slide is working properly, it feels as if we've really entered vacation mode. Of course, when you're retired, you never really get a vacation. Retirement is a full time job. Sometimes, though, it's more worry free than other times. With the slide giving us problems starting on the second day, we were finally able to relax yesterday and enjoy some peace of mind along with our peaceful surroundings.

It was a lovely morning. We wore light jackets, but ended up tying them around our waists for the second half of our walk. Here are some things we saw along the way. There are two "lakes" (more like ponds) here. There's also a creek running behind our own rig. The first lake is just a few steps from our door. And although this place is called "Champagne Lakes RV Resort," I can assure you these lakes are not filled with champagne.

As we walked along, I noticed this Great Blue Heron standing straight and tall. I stood back from him and zoomed in for this picture. I worried I'd scare him away if I got too close.

And then, I kept snapping pictures of him as I approached.

Until I was right beside him. I like how the sun is shining through the tip of his beak in the image below.

Off to his left were these little white ducks. 

They immediately put me in mind of a song my dad used to sing to me when I was a little girl. 

There's a little white duck

Sitting in the water

A little white duck

Doing what he oughter

And if that song is new to you, you can hear Burl Ives sing it right here. (Please tell me you're old enough to remember Burl Ives.)

Okay, and walking on, we came to this gang of cormorants. My friend Judy tells me these are Double-breasted Cormorants.

This was another one where I kept my distance and kept shooting as I got closer.

Hey look, you guys...it's the paparazzi!

Just be cool. Maybe she'll go away. 

Also, a Great Egret.

As we walked back, we were sure to read all the signs. They left out the "No Having Fun" sign. And, maybe it's just me, but doesn't $12 per day for "catch and release" fishing seem exorbitant? You could take your $12 to the grocery store and get yourself something good to eat.

Here's a look at the second lake. 

There's another cormorant.

I was waiting for the duck armada to swim out from behind the tree.

My friend, Judy, tells me these are "Ring-necked Ducks."

Walking on, I noticed whatever this is growing, seemingly, from solid rock.

Here's some ice plant. This is ubiquitous in Southern California. 

There are many RV's here that are clearly permanent residences. Some of the folks living here have set up nice potted gardens for themselves. One of our nearer neighbors has some blooming things. I noticed this blooming geranium.

My phone tells me this next one is "Rock Purslane."

And now that the slide is repaired and the rain has stopped, we hung up our bird feeders yesterday. So far, we haven't seen any visiting birds; however, we did see a hummingbird a few days ago before we'd hung the feeders. I'm hoping they'll find the feeders before we leave here in a few weeks.

Before we headed out on our walk yesterday, I stitched Raggedy Anne's hair. A girl can't go out with her hair half done, can she?

When we got back, I helped her put on her face.

There's still much to do on this one, and that's where I'll start next.

Mike is meeting up with a friend for a bike ride today, and so I'll have the place to myself for a while. It's a perfect time to set up my sewing machine and get back to my sewing. I'm hoping to make good progress on my Nordic Star table runner today. I have the parts of the stars sewn together, and now I can start sewing them into stars. There will be four stars in this runner.

Probably, I'll get out for another walk. As I'm sitting here, I can see birds hippy-hopping all around the ground outside. Smitty has his eye on them. Seeing something like that makes him flatten his ears.

Probably I'll get him out for a walk too. It's going to be a good day. I'm going to do only what I want to do and not a single thing more. How about you? I hope you have an unencumbered day ahead of you too.