Bear Family

Good morning, my friends. It's the last day of April. All along I've been thinking something along the lines of "When May arrives, then we'll have to get serious about..." And here it is. Time to get serious about our trip. As I'm writing, Mike is downstairs working with a small Canon printer I used when we made our trip around the USA Perimeter in 2017. I'm trying to think of a good comparison for size, but nothing is coming to me. Let's just say it's about the size of the average hardback book.

For that trip, I was participating in "The Sketchbook Project." The project began in 2006 in Atlanta, Georgia, and moved to New York City in 2009. A small organization grew into a worldwide community of more than 70,000 artists. For my part, I registered my book at The Sketchbook Project website. My sketchbook was entitled, "One Word Wonders." It included photographs of natural and man-made wonders that we saw on our trip around the Perimeter of the USA in 2017-18. I chose one word to describe each image, which turned out to be more difficult than you might think. The website and the project are shut down now, but, if you're on Facebook, you can see my sketchbook right here. (If you have any interest in backing up and following that trip as we went, the first post starts right here. Just keep hitting newer post, and you can follow the whole 7 months of it, if you dare.) 

And all of that to say it's kind of an ingenious and nifty device. It'll print a 4 x 6 picture. I was using it to print pictures for my sketchbook, but I could also use it to print picture postcards from my own photos. I purchased a whole roll of "forever" postcard stamps, and I still have a good part of the roll of stamps left. So, last night I told Mike I was going to send more picture postcards on this trip, if for no other reason than to use up those stamps. He reminded me of the printer, and so we got it out this morning to see if it still worked...and if we needed paper...or toner...or anything. We plugged it in, and that baby printed out a test page first try with no problems at all. So, that's another waypoint. The printer is ready, but we're not.

Backing up to yesterday morning, I had some time for slow-stitching before we needed to do our grocery shopping. I'm nearing the end of the most densely-stitched portion.

It's about 2/3 of the way finished.

Now, I've moved my hoop to encompass the last of it. I expect there's about three more days of stitching to finish it off.

When we got home from the grocery store and had everything put away, I ventured out to fill the bird feeders. Smitty kept me company while simultaneously harassing the squirrels. (He's very talented that way.)

I noticed some small flowers appearing on the lithodora. These are tiny flowers...no bigger than a dime. Eventually, this will be a carpet of bright blue.

Walking past the poppy, I checked again for signs of any buds. And lookie there! I found one!

Oooh! And look! Here's another one! We'll probably miss them when they bloom. I'm just happy to see buds for now. 

Speaking of buds, this peony is teasing me. Look at all those buds just waiting to burst open. It's going to warm up today and tomorrow. Maybe the warmer temperatures will put it over the top.

While we were out yesterday, we bought some small tomato cages to prop up the dahlias. I intentionally chose varieties that wouldn't get too tall, but they still get tall enough to require staking. We've learned the hard way, however, that just staking them isn't enough. They grow heavy with foliage, flower, and water, and then fall over, pulling the stake over with them. So for this year's crop, we're trying tomato cages, barely visible in the image below. 

The pots also have wire fencing over the tops to keep the squirrels from digging. There is new growth on all four plants now, but the left-most one and the one third from the left are just barely getting started, and those GD squirrels got into both pots through the small opening that allows for plant growth and dug around anyway. So now I've place some wire baskets there just until the plants can grow a little larger and block their own entrance from the squirrels. (I hope that makes sense.) The baskets are just sitting there. When the plants grow a little taller, I'll remove them.

Okay so with that done, I could spend some time in the sewing room. Sadie was shocked...shocked, I tell you...to see that bears had moved into the sewing room.

I tried to convince her they were harmless, but she fled the room anyway. She wants nothing to do with any bears. So, I continued on my way with this bear family. I gave them ears.

And then snouts, noses, and paws. Cute, huh?

If there's time for sewing today, I'll do all the top-stitching. I'll also be stitching in details for the closed eyelids and the noses. Fusing the applique took the whole of my afternoon yesterday. I expect the top-stitching will take a while too.

But before there's time for anything else, I'm going to do a little planting and weeding. While we were picking out tomato cages, I purchased some thyme (mine is nearly dead), some rosemary (which is an annual in these parts), and some catnip (obvi). With the catnip, I'm going to re-establish the Gracie Memorial Catnip Garden. We also have some wild catnip returning from last year, and so the kitties will be well stocked with nip.

Okay, so enjoy what's left of April. Tomorrow we'll be on the downhill side of our preparations, and I'm afraid the time will begin to move faster and faster from here. Oh yes, and tomorrow is the reveal for the "Circus" quilt. I can't wait to show it. 

Oglesby, Illinois

It was a relatively short day of driving yesterday. We hated to have to move Sadie who was enjoying a morning nap on her window hammock.

But move her we did. We were just about 20 miles from the state line, and so we passed into Illinois just shortly after getting on the road.

Until the final few miles of our journey, we were traveling the interstates, and so there wasn’t a lot to see beyond zillions of trucks. We were near Chicago here, and there was lots of industry in the area, meaning lots of trucks too. 

Of interest was the span across the Thornton Quarry. I wasn’t able to photograph it as we drove over, but I found this image in the public domain:

(Image credit: https://www.flickr.com/photos/kenlund/7993014132/)

You can see where the interstate crosses over the deep pit running diagonally through the middle of the image above. Well. Don't you know something like that required that I consult with my friend, The Google. Wikipedia tells us that:

Thornton Quarry is one of the largest aggregate quarries in the world, located in Thornton, Illinois just south of Chicago. The quarry is 1.5 miles (2.5 km) long, 0.5 miles (1 km) wide, and 450 feet (137.16 m) deep at its deepest point. Gallagher Asphalt Corporation has been operating on the grounds of the quarry since 1928. A dryland dike carries Interstate 80/Interstate 294/Tri-State Tollway over the quarry.

As part of the Chicago Deep Tunnel project, both Thornton Quarry and McCook Quarry will serve as reservoirs to reduce the backflow of storm water and sewage from Chicago area rivers into Lake Michigan. It is estimated that the reservoir will help protect 500,000 people who live in the surrounding 14 suburbs it serves, and will save the city around $40 million worth of damages each year. 

The quarry contains Silurian reefs which formed when the Michigan Basin was covered in sea water more than 400 million years ago. 

Have I said lately how much I 💗 the internet?

So, there wasn't a lot to see at the beginning of the trip, but as we moved into the more rural areas, we started seeing more barns and fields of corn. The barns tended to be way far off the road, and so it was hard to get very good pictures of them.

At the very end of our journey, we left the interstate and crossed over the Illinois River.

We saw just a few more barns...

before reaching our final destination of Starved Rock State Park.

The signage here could use a little work. There was nothing indicating where the campground was, and so when we came to this sign, we turned in. We never saw a sign for the campground, but we did suck in our breath when we came to a sign indicating a low clearance bridge ahead. 13'1" was the limit, and we are at 13'5". Yikes! And oops. We turned around and came back out the way we came in. When we reached the t-intersection of the main road, we could see the sign indicating the campground directly across from us. No way anyone could see that sign without first doing exactly what we did. As it turns out, the campground was just down the road. And it's a nice campground, with lots of space between rigs. Mike and Smitty wasted no time getting our for a walk.

Smitty was champing at the bit to get some of that Illinois grass...even though he was concerned about "Illinois." Would it make him "ill" and "annoyed"? We couldn't be sure without giving it a try.

Sadie enjoyed Smitty's walk from the sunny comfort of her catio.

There was just a little left to do on Block 5 of my project, and so I finished that off. We're in an electric-only site, which means I don't have enough water to run it through the wash yet. The picture below still includes the Sticky-Fabri-Solvy. I'll show you another picture when it's rinsed and pressed.

With that finished, it was time to make up the next one. I thought I'd taken a picture before I hooped it up, but apparently not. You'll have to wait until it's stitched to see the whole thing.

And with October 1st nearly upon us, I'm going to make this my goal for October's

 

I'll link up there when the party starts tomorrow. We'll be back home again for the finishing party.

There was just one more vitally important task to complete for the day. We added Illinois to the map on the side of the RV.

Ta-Da! It's the last new state we'll be adding this trip. That's 45 states down, 5 to go.

Okay, so I'm dealing with very slow internet again. I managed to get this post up and running, but I don't know if I'll be able to tomorrow. We're doing some sight-seeing here at Starved Rock State Park today, and that usually means lots of pictures. Our next stop is an actual RV park, and so we should have better internet there. And all of that to say that I'll post tomorrow if I can, and if not...we'll take another trip in the time traveling machine.

And, Florida...I'm so, so sorry for what you're going through right now. We were sad to read about the bridge out to Sanibel Island. It was one of the places we visited on our USA Perimeter tour. One of the pictures I took there went into my One Word Wonders Sketchbook project...this one, labeled "Plentiful":

You can read the post I wrote about Sanibel Island from December, 2017, right here. If you're in one of the affected areas, Sanibel Island's woes may be the least of your worries. Best wishes for an easy clean up for you, but I'm afraid you're in for a long slog, and you have my sympathy.

As for my South Carolina friends, please stay safe.

Blythe, California

As we were hitching up the RV yesterday morning, I noticed the wildflowers beginning to bloom next to the RV. There has been quite a bit of rain in the desert recently, and it shows.

I tried again to get a better picture of the desert sunflower. They are on long thin stems, and they are hard to capture if there is even the slightest bit of wind.

There was rain in the forecast, and storm clouds were gathering as we were driving out of the park.

Most of our driving day was spent in the desert of Arizona. Just at the end of the day we crossed the Colorado River and the California state line.

It was disheartening to see the inspection station just on the other side of the river. Everyone goes through here. We had an avocado and some tomatoes as well as a few other items of fresh produce. I was sure our avocado and tomatoes would be confiscated, but they just waved us on through. Huh? Not worried about invasive bugs on this particular day, I guess.

Before heading to our overnight stop, we went to the post office. There, I mailed my completed Sketchbook back to the Brooklyn Art Library for inclusion in its permanent collection.

At least some of the sketchbooks will be digitized and available online eventually. I think one has to pay extra for that, and so I'm not sure mine will ever appear online. Because of that, I created an album on my Facebook page and it can be seen there. Even if you don't have a Facebook page, my album is public, and I think you can see all the photos by clicking on this link. Before finishing it off, I added a cover photo:

It's the solar eclipse as seen from Rickreall, Oregon, last summer. My one word for the eclipse: "Extraordinary."

With that task completed, we headed to our spot for the night. Blythe is situated just on the west bank of the Colorado River. It is desert all around with the exception of some green farm fields. We believe alfalfa is the crop grown here. Just as we made our last turn, we noticed the crop duster out doing its work.

After we were situated, we sat outside in the warm sunshine and this fellow paid us a visit. It's a vermillion flycatcher. It's our first time seeing one.

He was far away, and so I had my point and shoot zoomed in as close as I could. There was no time for setting up a tripod, and so this next image is a little blurred.

After relaxing for a bit, we took a short walk to the river. It's a pretty place, despite being a rather barren landscape. Looking east, we saw this:

To the west, we saw this:

Across the way, this lone duck. His friends were mostly upriver from where he was.

We had a nice telephone conversation with our son Matthew yesterday evening. While we were talking with him, I was able to put the finishing touches on the final block for the Wine Country quilt.

These blocks were started in May of 2016, and so it's good to have them finished. I'll be sewing them into a quilt, but not until we get home. I've already purchased fabric to finish them off, but I don't have it with me. In my head, I'm still considering how to set them, and I haven't pulled the design together yet.

After that, I was kind of excited to get started on a new project. This one is called Friendship's Garden from Robin Kingsley at Bird Brain Designs. It can be stitched as redwork, but I'm using colored floss.

My block background fabric was all cut to size before we left home, but when I laid it out on the lightbox to trace it, I realized that it was too busy a tone on tone pattern, and I can't see the design well enough to trace it. It's another stamped fabric, and obviously, I haven't learned my lesson about those. I'm going to have to choose a different background. I can use the blocks I've already cut for something else, but it will have to be something other than embroidery. Either way, it's all good. It just means another trip to a quilt shop...and soon. I have one all picked out already. For now, I'll get to work tracing out the next block for the Snow Globes quilt. Those stitch up pretty quickly, and so I won't have to delay my new project gratification for very long.

Today we'll head off to Hemet, California. I have some things to say about Hemet, but I'll save that for another post. For now, we weary travelers are looking forward to staying put for the next month before heading back to Oregon on April Fool's Day. It seems appropriate, doesn't it?

Picacho Peak State Park, Arizona

Before we left to go eat breakfast in Lordsburg yesterday morning, I snapped this picture of Mr. Smitty enjoying a morning sunbath. It was cold there during the night, and so we were all happy to see the warm morning sun.

Since I told you about our run-in with the law here in Lordsburg in the 1970's, I thought you'd be interested to know that the constabulary of Lordsburg was well represented in the restaurant. There were three waiting to pay at the cash register when we left. Then, when we filled up our gas tank, who should be at the pump next to ours but...

Robert DeNiro comes to mind. Apparently our reputation for lawlessness precedes us.

After breakfast, we headed on down the road. We were aware of the frequency of dust storms in New Mexico. In fact, my father was a career marine. Albuquerque was the one duty station from which he had to request a medical transfer because the dust so exacerbated my mother's rather severe asthma.

Just after leaving Lordsburg, we were confronted by a ten mile stretch of road in which a series of signs had been erected, instructing drivers what to do if visibility were reduced to zero because of dust.

We had no problems, but it's easy to see how dust could be a problem in this barren landscape.

We only drove about 20-30 miles when we crossed the state line into Arizona.

We barreled past Tucson, a place we've visited many times, in favor of a new state park: Picacho Peak State Park. As we drove northwest out of Tucson, it came into view.

It's a very nice park, about a mile off the interstate. There's also a train passing by on the far side of the road. Both are far enough away that we hear just a low hum.

Our campsite is at the edge of the campground. This is the view from our dining room window.

Turning directly around from there, we see this:

Of course, Smitty's shadow self was itching to get out, and so we took the cat along.

He wanted me to be sure and show you his terra cotta toes. He wears them as something of a badge of honor.

I was thrilled to see saguaro cactus growing here in the park, thick as hair on a dog's back, as my dear father-in-law used to say. The saguaro cactus are some of my favorite living things.

Here are some fun facts about them: The saguaro blooms in late spring and only after dark. They are pollinated by bats during the night, and then the blossoms close and wilt by the following afternoon. Despite the pollination by the bats, one saguaro cactus will produce approximately 40 million seeds each year. Many of the cactus live some 200 years, but in their lifetime only a few seeds will even so much as germinate.

After they drop their seeds, they require 1 ½ inches of rain within the next day. Not enough, and the animals will eat the seeds. Too much and they will wash away. If they get the amount of rain necessary, they still have a difficult ride if they germinate. After one year, they are only ¼-inch tall. After five years they are one inch tall. And after 15 years, they will be only one foot tall. It’s amazing any of them exist at all. Only after sixty or seventy years does the first side branch appear. Kind of makes you want to treat them with more respect, doesn't it?

And here's something else: Many people are under the impression that if they were lost in the desert, they could cut off the top of a large cactus and drink the water. Apparently that only happens in Hollywood. The moisture stored in most cacti has a toxic level of oxalic acid, and only a few creatures of the desert can neutralize the poison.

So, you might be aware that I have just one page left in my Sketchbook. I've been holding out for a good picture of a saguaro cactus to finish out our trip. It's kind of poetic when you realize that this is the last "destination" on our agenda. After this, we'll be heading to the spot we would have wintered over even if we hadn't taken the long route by first driving around the perimeter of the United States.

So anyway...I've had in mind a sunset silhouette of a saguaro, but is there a better shot? I thought I'd try something else. Perhaps its ridges of needles.

Or perhaps standing under them and letting them tower over me. By the way, be sure to notice the hole in the cactus on the left in the image below. Some bird has taken up residence there at some point in time.

Or possibly I could bag the whole saguaro idea altogether and end with some other kind of cactus. Perhaps the prickly cholla cactus below.

Or this little fellow:

So we sat outside in the setting sunlight last night. Sadie was enjoying it from the comfort of her catio. The people aren't the only ones happy for some warmth.

We were drinking margaritas and waiting for the light to change. While we sat there, we noticed a green sheen on the desert floor. It must have rained here recently because there is some grass growing.

The mountain on the other side of the interstate turned a pretty red.

As the light started to change, I ran around taking practice shots. I was looking for a classic saguaro shape. This one isn't bad, but a few too many arms.

I kind of like the mountains in the background of this next one, but really, I wanted just one solitary cactus.

I could try cutting off the right-most one, but then, I needed to get up higher so that I didn't lose the bottom of the cactus in the background.

The mountains are nice in this next one, but I was still losing the bottom of the cactus.

Pretty sky in this next one, but not enough cactus.

Okay...now this one here, I think this might be the money shot. I'm going to keep trying for the next couple of nights, but this might be it.

My one word for this one word wonder: "Sentinel."

Day is done.

On the embroidery front, I've finished the 11th block of the Wine Country quilt.

Since we were without electricity at our last stop, I wasn't able to plug in my light box to trace the next Snow Globes block. The Wine Country blocks were all made from iron-on transfers before we left home, and so it seemed a good reason to finish off the 12th of twelve blocks. I got started on that one before we left Lordsburg.

We're expecting a nice warm day, and so we'll get out and do some hiking in the park. We've been yearning for some warmer weather, and perhaps we've found it here in the Sonora Desert, even if just for today.