Something New

Good morning, my friends. It was another lovely day here at the Three Cats Ranch. Mike and I gratefully took the opportunity to get outside and spruce up the yard a little bit. There was a gangly three-quarters-dead azalea that needed to be taken out. We’ve talked about it for at least two years. Finally, I was inclined to cut out the dead stuff and see how it would do. As we discussed what should be cut and what shouldn’t, Mike went and got his tools and dug the thing up. (There’s more than one way to get a beast to his burden…or something like that.) While he was working on the dead azalea, I pulled weeds all around him. He’d sprayed most of them, but there were some that could not be sprayed because of their proximity to other things.

When all the sit-on-the-ground work was done, I took a walk around to see what’s up. I’d totally missed that the purple Clematis Roguchi is blooming. This was planted by the original owner of our home, and it’s been a reliable bloomer every year. I’m surprised it has survived the cold and ice all these years, but it just keeps coming back.

Also, I noticed some of the rhododendrons are showing their colors. This one is at one end of the herb garden..

And this one is at the other end of the herb garden.

Out front, the apple tree is in bloom.

And you might recall I’m trying begonias in this mostly-shady area. The begonias seem to like it here, and have produced more flowers since I planted them. It’s good to know since I have two pots in shady areas that have been hard to plant successfully.

The kitties joined us, and let me just say that kitties feel no compunction about helping out when we’re working outdoors. However, they are very good at warding off any marauding mice, squirrels, gophers, moles, voles, shrews…the list goes on.

Smitty meowed out orders as I weeded the peony bed. He sat on the wall above me where he had a good view of things.

Our work outside complete, it was time for some sewing. My first task was to make a back and cut binding strips for the Land & Sea quilt. As of now, I have 17 quilts for sandwiching. I’m hoping to get those tables set up tomorrow.

And then it was time to go to work on those head rests for the RV. We measured the space. They’ll end up 23 inches long and 18 inches wide. So I gave myself two extra inches in both dimensions and then cut four pieces…a front and back for each of the two head rests.

Next, I dug through all my batting scraps to find strips wide enough to piece together. I cut those about 1/2-inch smaller all around, and spray basted them to the top.

That’s as far as I got with that. My plan is to quilt them with just the top and the batting before adding the back. There will also be a tab at the top end where I’ll sew some velcro. The velcro will stick to the back of the chair, and then we can add the head rests that way. They’ll be machine washable that way. (Frankly, I can’t think of any other way to attach them.) I’ll get busy with the quilting today. I know what I’m going to do. I was inspired by an image I saw on Pinterest…this one…

I’m going to do something like that. I need a good circle template. I’m thinking the lid from my oatmeal carton will probably be the right size.

Okay, and the only other sewing I did yesterday was to make some progress on October’s block for A Year in the garden. Possibly, I’ll finish this up today.

Knowing that, I traced Block 7 for Le Jardin. Some of these blocks are supposed to have applique, but I’m doing them all in embroidery.

These are the blocks I have so far. I’m going to have to redo a couple of these borders. I was supposed to add more of the red cornerstones, and I didn’t do that. It won’t be hard to change them.

Okay, and so that’s about all I have to tell you about yesterday and today. I’ll get busy with the head rest quilting, and I’ll do some slow-stitching. I want to get in my PT exercises today, and I have a couple of easy housekeeping chores to do. Mainly, it’s going to be a sewing day. I’d like to get well-along on those head rests before I start the arduous task of sandwiching 17 quilts for quilting. Yeesh. It makes me tired just thinking about it. My plan is to do 4 each day. I work from the largest to the smallest, and so on Day 4, I should be able to finish five small ones. 

It’s my least favorite part of quilting, but I’m going to love having all those quilts for quilting. It’s like having a full gas tank. And I’m old enough to remember when gasoline was rationed in the mid-70’s. Remember those odd-even days? If not, then be thankful you missed out on the fun back then. 

Another Bridge

Good morning, my friends. Saturday turned out to be another lovely day to get out and enjoy the weather. We had some errands to run in town, and we wanted to cross over the pedestrian bridge in Sherwood again. And we did a few other things not on the day's agenda. First...the bridge. We crossed it more mindfully this time. Mike, engineer and handyman that he is, was good company for this mindful excursion. He was appreciative of the materials and workmanship. So let's have another more mindful journey, shall we? Or don't. You don't have to come if you don't want to, but you'll miss out.

Of course I took pictures of the few blooming things we saw along the way. These are ubiquitous in this part of the world. They're wild asters...about the size of a dime.

Also, some purple clover.

Approaching the bridge, one first walks up this long ramp. You can see some bicycle skid marks. One assumes these were folks slowing on the downhill as they approached the end of the ramp.

As I mentioned in a previous post, the bridge allows pedestrians, bicyclists, and the like, to cross busy State Hwy 99W. It's one of the main drags leading to the Oregon coast, and so it's a very busy road. On one side is the Sherwood YMCA.

On the other side, Sherwood's brand new high school. Sherwood is a community of about 20,000 people, and so a new high school in such a small community is kind of a big deal. That's an Astroturf practice field in the foreground. There's another football field outside the frame and to the left.

And here is that busy intersection. With such heavy traffic, forcing pedestrians to cross the road here is dangerous, and it also holds up traffic unnecessarily. All those cars idling...lots of pollution too.

Okay, so let's pay attention as we walk across this time. And behave yourselves.

Okay here we go.

Looking up, it looks like this. Where it crosses the roadway there is fencing.

Mike was impressed with all this hardware. The portions that weren't painted were all stainless steel. It will not rust, and it will stay beautifully shiny for years. Despite the cost involved, this project came in below budget and ahead of schedule. Good on you, Sherwood.

And there was artwork every ten yards or so. I'm sorry about the shadows in these images. They couldn't be avoided. This first one is a goldfinch.

This is a scene from the historic part of Sherwood.

Hydrangeas.

This appears to be a country road, and I'm thinking those are cherry trees.

This is a trillium...my favorite wildflower.

Just some unidentified pastoral scene.

I almost missed these next two.

Okay, so that was fun. We turned around and walked back to the car. From there, we decided to stop off at a local nursery. It's time for me to choose my petunia baskets. This is usually a task we save for my birthday (in ten days) and/or Mother's Day. Since we were right there, we decided to stop in. They have hundreds to choose from and it’s hard to decide.

We selected this one. I like those bright red petunias, and I like the speckled ones too.

Mike likes the purple ones. They have a nice fragrance.

Now we're back home, and they're hanging on either side of the greenhouse window. The far ones attract hummingbirds, and it nearly drives the kitties crazy when they're in their catio.

It seemed like a good time to take a little walk around. Now that we were home, we let the kitties out. I caught Sadie taking a luxurious dust bath.

So let's see what's blooming, shall we? The lilac is making more flowers.

The Andromeda is putting on its best show of the season.

The azaleas are starting to open.

This is lithodora. I really need to weed around this. It has weeds growing up from beneath.

Here's another azalea.

The blueberries are starting to bloom. We're expecting sunshine all week next week, so it's a good time for them to bloom.

Check out this peony. I'm thinking another week, and we might have a real flower here.

These are wild strawberries. I dug some up with the heel of my hiking boot some years back. Now, they make a nice ground cover. They produce a small strawberry. The squirrels and the birds love them.

Also, we transplanted these potted marguerite daisies we bought when we went grocery shopping. I've tried different things in this particular barrel. I've had no luck getting any perennials started here, so I've decided to treat it as an annual.

In the greenhouse, the lettuce is sprouting. There is more than I'm showing here, but it's hard to see in these images. I planted five seeds in each container, and there are at least four in each one.

So, it was another day of almost no sewing. The only sewing I did was to make a little more progress on October's block for A Year in the Garden.

Today, I'm going to get outside and do some weeding. After that, I should have plenty of time for sewing. I want to get a start on my head rests. Mike and I have discussed how long and how wide they should be, and I have a plan in my head about how to do this. I'll take pictures as I go, and I'll report back on my progress.

I'm hopeful y'all are getting some nice spring weather wherever you are. That sunshine is good for the soul.

Two Marvelous Days

Good morning, my friends. It's been an action-packed couple of days. I have so much to tell you, so let's get started right away. I'll start with the sewing. After that, I'll tell you about my walk with Matthew along the Willamette River waterfront...that was yesterday. And then, I'll tell you about our dinner Thursday night. Okay? Okay. Here we go.

In the sewing room, I managed to find enough time to finish the top-stitching on the latest two blocks for the Northern Wilderness project. Here's Block #9, the Outhouse.

And here's Block #10, the Loon.

There are 16 blocks in this quilt. Here are the 10 I've done so far.

Turning our attention to yesterday's walk...I met up with Matthew on the east bank of the Willamette River. Matthew lives on the east side. We live on the west side, although we live in a Portland suburb, while Matthew lives in what would be considered the city of Portland. We'd planned to walk the Vera Katz Eastbank Esplanade. I recall when the esplanade was built, but I've never been here before.  Like any city, Portland has its share of graffiti artists. 

Here's a bronze statue of Vera Katz. Sadly, the graffiti artists got to dear Vera too. She was a beloved figure in Portland. You can read a little more about her right here.

This little plaque accompanies the statue.

While I waited for Matthew, I took a couple of pictures from where I was standing. To my left is the Hawthorne Bridge.

Top my right was the Morrison Bridge. Most of the bridges are named for the streets that cross over.

There was a collection of lovelocks. This is just a small sampling of all the ones there.

Broadening my view, this is the west bank skyline.

Turning a little to the right, you can see more of it. Mike and I had dinner in that tall pinkish building on the right side of the image. (I worked in that building about three lives ago.)

Of course, I took pictures of every blooming thing. These white guys were very fragrant. (I haven't tried to identify any of these.)

You'll recognize those California poppies in the image below.

Meeting up with Matthew, we began our trek to the north. That's the Burnside Bridge in the image below.

We took this ramp...

And that led us even closer to the water.

Continuing on, this is the Steel Bridge. The lower deck is for trains. The upper deck is for cars. All the bridges I've shown you so far are drawbridges.

We crossed over the Steel Bridge walkway.

From there, we could look farther north. The red bridge you see there is the Broadway Bridge. Beyond that is the Fremont Bridge. I-405 crosses the Fremont Bridge.

Then we walked along the west bank of the river. This paddle wheeler has a sign indicating it is the Portland Maritime Museum. There doesn't seem to be much activity here, and so I'm not sure this is actually open. I remember when this boat was moved to the waterfront. Originally, I thought it was supposed to be turned into some kind of hotel. Whatever.

Here's another picture from the other side.

As we walked along, I was reminded of the walkways surrounding the St. Louis Gateway Arch. The trees here are cherry trees, and they are spectacular when they bloom in the spring.

There was the usual contingent of Canada geese.

This next one appears to be the HGIC (Head Goose in Charge).

There were a few ducks too.

We came to this...something I've never seen before.

The walkway leads right to the water's edge. You can barely see someone lying on the rock there sunning herself.

Here are a few of the poems we read.

The one above refers to this bridge...it's a pedestrian bridge...no cars, but public transportation does cross over here.

This is the Tilikum Crossing bridge. "Bridge of the People."

From there, we had a good view of the Marquam Bridge. This is where I-5 crosses over.

Looking east, we had a pretty view of Mt. Hood.

From there, we headed back to my car. Matthew was riding his electric skateboard. I loaded him up with a loaf of bread, and we went our separate ways. It was wonderful spending time with him, and the weather could not have been better. 

On my way home, I crossed over the Hawthorne Bridge, just as it was lifting to allow a boat to pass under. Of course, I did. I was delayed here for about 15 minutes.

From there, I headed for home. The rest of my pictures will be of the wine pairing and tasting dinner we attended Thursday night. If you're not into food photos, then feel free to stop reading here. As I mentioned, our dinner was in the building known affectionately by Portlanders as "Big Pink."

And yes...we were going to taste some wine. 

The room was a little crowded, and we were seated at a round table of about ten people...all complete strangers. It wasn't exactly what we were expecting, but it was an enjoyable evening. While it's a little awkward at first, the folks we were seated with were all about our age, and they'd been traveling recently, so everyone had good stories to tell.

So, I'll just post the little blurb from the menu ahead of the food, and you can see what was served.

At the bottom of the image below, it looks like an oyster, but those were actually mushrooms.

I took a bite of this one before I thought to take a picture, so I cut off that bottom spot. The round object at the back is the "potato fondant."

When I saw this on the menu, I worried a little about raspberry seeds for Mike, but the only seeds were in the loose berries around the cake. It was fine, and it was delicious.

Okay, so that was a wonderful and tiring way to spend a couple of days. We're expecting a week of good weather coming up. Today, Mike and I need to run a couple of errands in town. We're going to take a second walk across that pedestrian bridge in Sherwood. When Sue and I walked a few weeks ago, we were yacking so much, I wasn't very mindful of the bridge. We were halfway across when I realized I wasn't paying attention. So, Mike and I will go back again today and pay better attention as we go. We're planning to get lunch while we're out too.

There's been no time for doing my PT exercises the past couple of days, and so I'm going to do those right away this morning. Probably I'll spend some time in the garden today too. Mike has sprayed all the weeds that he can, but I need to get out and pull a few in areas that can't be sprayed. I'm realizing that with better weather, comes more time spent gardening and less time spent sewing. Also, I have some new blooming things to show you, so I'll take some pictures today. Also, with a string of good weather coming up, I'm looking at Tuesday to set up my sawhorse and plywood tables so that I can sandwich some quilts.

Finally, I have a new sewing project on my list for when I get time for that. You might remember when I mentioned how the headrests on our RV recliners have deteriorated. At the recommendation of one of you, we covered this area with some brown duct tape to prevent it from getting any worse.

While we were in Henderson, Nevada last year, I purchased some of this fabric. For my next trick, I'm going to make some head rests to cover that area. (It's cheaper than replacing furniture, right?) 

I've given this project weeks of thought, and I'm pretty sure I have a handle on how to accomplish it. I'll show you every step of the way. Don't you worry. 

And with that...I'm motivated to get on with my PT exercises. There's much to do today. Time to get going.