Itching to Stitch

Good morning, my friends. We getting into the relaxation groove here at the Traveling Three Cats Ranch. Sadie spent her yesterday morning snoozing on her window hammock.

Later she decided to chase the sunshine across the back of the couch.

Having missed a couple of days of slow-stitching when we were driving south, I as in the mood for some slow-stitching. I spent some extra time on it and filled what remained in my hoop.

Smitty kept watch over my shoulder, making certain my needle didn't stray outside the lines.

When I moved my hoop to encompass the last of it, I could see that I had an impending stitching emergency. I had more to stitch than I had floss to stitch with.

Happily, we found an oasis in the desert...

And I was able to refill my stitching coffers. I really only needed one skein, but one can never be too careful when it comes to matters of stitching. Wouldn't you agree?

Our drive pretty well demonstrated the state of the weather since we arrived in Escondido. Periods of blue sky and puffy white clouds, overshadowed by dark gray and threatening ones.

As we drove back to the RV, we decided to drive a little farther north and check on the status of our favorite farm stand. HALLELUJAH! THEY'RE OPEN!!!

We spent some time chatting with them about our concerns. They weren't worried about ICE for themselves, but they said it had hurt their business some. They explained that many people here are afraid to leave their homes. It's very sad. They didn't have any of the Hass avocados, and that was the reason for the closure. As you might have noticed in a picture I posted a few days ago about the avocado groves, many of them are grown on the hillsides. With the recent rains, it's been too slippery to pick.

That was okay. We had the beautiful Fuertes at the RV, and we were motivated to make lunch of one of them. This is our easiest way to consume avocados. Remove the pit, add some Catalina (or Russian, or French) dressing, scoop it out with a spoon. Dee-lish.

Freshly flush with embroidery floss, I sat and stitched, and stitched, and stitched, until I'd finished it.

As I'm writing, I'm rinsing the Sticky-Fabri-Solvy out of it, and I should have a pressed and finished piece to show you in tomorrow's post. Here's the wrinkly version.

We had leftovers for dinner last night, but we also imbibed in our favorite way to eat avocados. Hear me out, now. This is canned grapefruit, chunked up avocado, and Catalina dressing. Mmm, mmm, mmm.

I learned this from Mike's mom. When Mike's dad was still alive, he used to send us avocados from his own trees. I'd make my workday brown bag lunch from a can of grapefruit, an avocado, and some dressing. The grapefruit kept the avocado from turning brown before I could have it for my lunch. Canned grapefruit is best. I once tried to make this with fresh grapefruit when we couldn't find canned in the grocery store. It wasn't the same. And, for this trip, I bought three cans of grapefruit before we left home. We won't be denied this time.

Okay, so next up on the embroidery front will be the two designs for Block 10 of Raggedy & Friends.

It's kind of hard to see in that picture. You can see it better in this image from the pattern.

And I've nearly forgotten, but it's time to link up for January's

My goal will be to finish these two embroidery designs before month's end.

On today's agenda, we need to make a quick trip to the grocery store. Friends invited us for dinner on Thursday, but then texted to ask if we could do it tonight instead. Fine and dandy, and the sooner we see them the better. But that means an emergency run to the grocery store because I want to bring a salad to share. I need me some ingredients if I'm going to do that.

So, off I go...not a second to waste. And if you've enjoyed this post, you can thank Sadie for her careful editing and input.

 

Have a good day, Everybody!

A Little Sewing

Good morning, my friends. Well...the rain continues. We get periods of sunshine and blue skies, but it doesn't last. And then, we can get a long deluge. It makes planning anything outside impossible. But you know how it is. When the going gets tough, the tough get sewing. That's exactly what I did yesterday. I'm still working out some sort of efficient work flow set up for myself, but here's what I have so far.

The sewing machine is set up at the table, obviously. It's a good spot because I have windows to my left, and a window behind me. There's also light above the table, and so it's a nice bright spot.

This small ironing board is set up across our cook top. No cooking, please. It's a good stable spot there. Also, I have a wool mat I can use as an ironing board. It works when I just lay it on the wooden cutting board. This set up was a little clumsy yesterday. I kept hitting the iron on the bottom of the microwave above it. I might switch to the wool mat today.

I didn't take a picture of it, but my cutting mat is just behind me on the kitchen island. When I kitted up the pieces for this project, I labeled them with their size and whatever letter was used to identify them in the pattern. That turned out to be a good idea, and so I gave myself two attagirls for that effort. And then I went to work making HST's. I needed 16 in each color for a total of 48.

They were trimmed to 3-1/4 inch, and that took positively forever.

When those were finished, I sewed together a strip set, and then cross-cut it into sections 1-3/4 inches wide.

Then I added those to a 2 x 3-1/4 inch rectangle. I made the first one just to check my measurement. The sewn-together piece was to measure 3-1/4 inches square, and it did. (Always a happy thing.)

I needed 16 of these. 

It might not look like much, but I practically wore out my patience trimming all those HST's. I'd been at it for about two hours by then. With the pieces I have, I can start sewing the quilt blocks together, but it seemed like more than I wanted to start by this point yesterday. I put everything away, and I'll get it all out and do some more sewing today.

We're expecting this rain to begin to taper off by tomorrow. By Wednesday, we should be looking at drier weather, and by Thursday, I think it will have moved along. And good riddance. I know California needs this water, but we could have stayed home if we just wanted to be cooped up inside. There's serious sight-seeing to be done, and we're itching to get out there.

So, I have a couple of updates. After chatting with my friend, Darlene, this morning, I was motivated to do a little more investigation about this closed farm stand issue. Here's the picture I took a few days ago.

Here's one I took in March of 2024. You can see the sign there, although it was outside the frame in the image above. When we stopped a few days ago, I didn't notice if the sign was still there. Using the image below, I could determine the name of the place, and so I inquired of The Google to see if they're still in business.

Hours are listed, and it looks as if it's still open. The last notation about it was made in December.

So, that was encouraging. Possibly, they just took some time off for the holidays. Or maybe they just don't have anything to sell just yet. I'm just relieved to know that something didn't happen to them since our last visit. I'll feel more reassured if we can find them open while we're here. We'll keep checking.

Also, we found some Mexican food last night. You'd think Mexican food would be easy to find in Southern California. We found a spot nearby that was very good. I expect we'll go back again before we leave the area at the end of the month.

Okay, so that's all I have for you today. As I've been writing, clouds are moving in, and I expect it will be raining again shortly. All I can say is it's good sewing weather. 

A Chill Day

Good morning, my friends. It seems we learn something new with each trip. Sometimes we have to re-learn things we've already known. In this case, it was driving more than three days in a row. We shortened our daily distance this trip, but driving for five days in a row was too much. We were both exhausted yesterday. We decided to take some chill lessons from our kitties. Sadie was taking on a zen position on her window hammock.

Only, here's something you need to know about traveling with cats: If you disturb the cat as it prepares to sleep, then you must be prepared to administer snuggles.

Smitty was relaxing on the reclining chairs.

He pawsed his resting to help me with my slow-stitching. 

I made a little more progress on it. It was good to get back to it, and it was hard to stop.

But we needed some groceries, and we wanted to get some of those delicious California avocados. Only...when we arrived at the farm stand we've visited for many years, we found it shuttered, locked, and appearing to be permanently closed. (Insert wailing and moaning here.) What happened? We wondered if this was an ICE-related thing. There's no way to know. I surely hope not.

From there, we made our way to the grocery store. I was feeling sickened at the idea of those nice folks being rounded up and deported. Honestly, there's no way we can know for sure the reason for their absence. I really hope it's something else. And nothing says this closure is permanent. Maybe they just took the holidays off. We're keeping our fingers crossed they'll be back.

Arriving at the grocery store, we found the parking lot planter areas filled with blooming Bird of Paradise, I felt a little bit better after seeing that.

We got our groceries and then headed back the way we came. We'd seen this farm stand on our way to the grocery store, but we couldn't really tell what they were selling because of a barrier in the roadway. We had to come back the other way, and then we could see. Yahoo!!! Avocados for $5 per bag. 

They're the smooth-skinned Fuertes variety. We prefer bumpier-skinned Hass, but they're not in season just yet.

We asked the guy there about those other folks, but he couldn't give us any information. I'm still hoping they'll return while we're here in Escondido.

Heading back to the RV, we found Sadie still showing us the ropes about relaxation. Kitties are very good at this.

It's too bad she's so tense. 

So we listened to what she told us to do, and then we studied hard on our relaxation technique for the rest of the day. We're both feeling much more rested this morning.

We'll spend the day relaxing again...nothing on our Sunday agenda. I'm probably going to get my sewing machine out and do some sewing. My first project will be this requested table runner. All the pieces are cut and kitted up. It should be a pretty quick effort to sew it into a finished top.

It's looking like it might be a nice day of weather. We'd like to get out and walk around this RV park a little bit. It's nothing fancy. Many of the RVs here appear to be permanent residences. The name of the place is the Champagne Lakes RV Resort. As so often happens, the use of the word "resort" amounts to wishful thinking. Also, "Champagne" Lakes because we're very close to where Lawrence Welk used to live. (Young people...ask your parents.) So, we probably won't return here next year, preferring the place we stayed last time we were in Escondido. Still, after saying all that, this place is very quiet. I'll give it that.

Okay, so it's Sunday morning, and that means we'll have our Sunday morning pancakes. The Sunday morning pancake tradition that follows us wherever we roam. Hopefully, I'll have a little bit of sewing to show you in tomorrow's post.

Escondido, California

Good morning, my friends. Yay! We made it! It was an absolutely hellacious day of driving, and we were mightily glad to get off the road and out of the truck. For those keeping score, we ranked this as our fourth worst driving day ever. But nobody died, and so it was still a good day.

Before we left Cachuma Lake yesterday, I took a little walk over to see the lake. We could see it from our site, but it was a short walk to get to the lakeshore. Along the way, I spied these pretties.

They produce this flower. My phone tells me this is wood sorrel.

Also these...my phone tells me this is Henbit Deadnettle. (I should have known this one. It grows in our field at home.)

Approaching the lake, I encountered these two locked gates. It was confusing because I wondered how anything could be coming up the path from the lake without first going down the path. But, you know...I'm a rebel, so I just walked around the gates and down to the lake. They're not the boss of me.

I first took the trail to the right. At the bottom, I found two boys fishing to my left. To my right...these pipes.

And remember my photo from yesterday's post? This one:

See the flume piping on the right? It looks like the same pipe, doesn't it? And since we know Cachuma Lake exists because of the California Aqueduct, then it makes sense those pipes are related somehow. But why on the far side of the lake? And what is their purpose? Well. You know I always consult The Google for these sorts of questions. I searched for "Cachuma Lake piping," and came up with this answer:

Cachuma Lake piping refers to the critical water conveyance infrastructure, particularly the recently installed emergency pipeline connecting to deeper lake waters (below the intake tower) for better water quality and drought resilience, linking to the Tecolote Tunnel to supply Santa Barbara County's drinking water, managed by the Cachuma Operation and Maintenance Board (COMB). Recent storms in late 2025 filled the lake, allowing for these deeper water access projects to improve water management. 

So, I get the feeling this is an unfinished project, and these pipes are simply lying there for now. Don't take my word for it. I really have no idea.

From there, I walked back up the hill and took the path leading to the left. At the bottom, I found some slips and a boat launch. Surf's up on this windy morning.

I was standing on the boat launch for this next image.

Looking to my right...

Turning around, there was a place to rent kayaks or small boats.

Turning all the way around, there was a restaurant.

Okay, and from there, I headed back up the hill and back to the RV. To my right were these three cabins. I had my cymbals with me and I was gearing up to make a loud cymbal crash when I noticed the sign. Bummer. No rhythm and blues for me today, I guess.

Back on the road, I was able to get a better picture of this pier(?), road(?), footbridge(?). Not sure what it is, and it leads out to that little island. So I tried doing an image search on The Google and I found a similar image on a California land use site that identified the island as Rincon Island.

Doing a search for Rincon Island, I learned this:

Rincon Island is a small, man-made island off Ventura County, California, built for oil drilling, known for its connection via the Richfield Pier and its role in oil history, now undergoing a state-led decommissioning and cleanup after past operators' issues, with potential future uses being assessed by the CA State Lands Commission (SLC) to address environmental concerns and prepare for reuse or removal. 

And that made sense because we could see about a dozen off-shore drilling rigs along this road.

Continuing on...it's always good to see something like this. We see them more and more in our travels. Sorry for the rain spatter on the windshield. It's unavoidable. Also...sorry about the Tesla Cybertruck at the lower left. They're ugly enough to burn your eyes, so don't look too long.

Regarding the wildlife crossing, The Google tells me that:

The Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing in Agoura Hills, CA, is a massive vegetated bridge over US-101, creating the nation's largest wildlife crossing to connect the Santa Monica Mountains with other ranges, allowing safe passage for mountain lions, deer, and other animals, reducing wildlife-vehicle collisions, and enabling genetic exchange, with completion expected in late 2026 as a major public-private conservation effort led by Caltrans and the National Wildlife Federation, funded partly by the Annenberg Foundation. 

Nice. We need more of this in today's world.

So, I didn't take many more pictures on our drive down. This was our view for most of the day. Sheesh.

I captured this water tower...just because I kind of like water towers, and because I was bored. As it turns out it's a faux water tower that marks the location of a public storage facility.

And when the rain stopped for a bit, I captured this rainbow. Gotta be a good sign, right?

In the last hour of our nearly five-hour drive, it was a relief to see the sign below and to know we were going to be leaving this terrible LA freeway traffic. It was tempting to jump out of the truck and kiss the ground, but I resisted the urge.

Heading on down the road, we came upon this iconic rock we associate with southern California. I've mentioned this granitic rock in previous years' blog posts. For this, I always turn the blog over to someone I met while consulting The Google. This gentleman, Bill Walker, tells me he's been "studying the earth sciences my entire life." And according to Mr. Walker,  "You’re seeing exposed granitic rock that’s undergone arid-climate weathering. 

"The granite is there because 100–120 million years ago, a tectonic plate under the Pacific Ocean was being forced (subducted) under the North American continent. As the ocean floor was forced down to depths of hundreds of miles, it melted. This molten rock rose upwards towards the surface through layers of rock. Some of it may have erupted through volcanoes, but most of it slowly cooled miles underground in huge masses called plutons, gradually turning into granitic rocks.

"Tens of millions of years later the region was uplifted many thousands of feet. This allowed erosion to gradually remove the miles of rock overhead, eventually leaving the granitic rock exposed to the elements. The various types of granitic rock, such as granite, granodiorite, etc. tend to be massive in structure. That means that cracks (“joints”) are far apart and the rock tends to split into boulders rather than small fragments. Arid-climate weathering then tends to make the boulders rounded.

I realized yesterday that when I picture certain areas of the country, a representative image comes into my head. With Arizona, it's saguaro cactus.

In Utah, it's the red rock:

In Alaska, it will always be the mountains:

When I draw a mental image of southern California, and this area in particular, it's always the granitic rock.

Where Mike grew up, there were rocks like this all around his parents' property. He liked one particular rock that had a large flat top, and he liked to lie there sunning himself like a lizard. I can remember going to his house once, and his Mom told me where he was: "He's out sunning himself like a lizard on a flat rock," and I knew right where to look.

Okay, and I remember when this iconic bridge was built over what was then the new Interstate 15. That arch was unique and a new kind of construction. When I see it now, I know we're almost to the end of our day's drive.

We had just about a mile to go when we turned off here. And hey! Who're you calling old? I remember when US Hwy 395 was just that. Nothing "old" about it. Such rudeness and lack of respect for your, um, elders.

And in just a few minutes, we were there. And here we are for the next four weeks. (Huge sigh of relief.) 

Today's agenda is pretty slow. We need to make a quick trip to the grocery store. Of course, we'll make a stop at our favorite farm stand for a pile of avocadoes. After that, we're just going to hang out for the rest of the day. I haven't had time to work on my slow-stitching for the last two mornings, and so I'm itching to get back to that. Probably we'll get out and take a walk around the park just to get the lay of the land. Hopefully, the weather will give us enough of a dry spell for that. And, if not...well, slow-stitching will save the day.