A Short Vacation!

 Last Friday my daughter, Elizabeth, and I left Kansas City and headed west to San Diego CA.
All to visit my oldest son, Steve, his wife, Candice and this girlie!  Currently, my only granddaughter, NORA! Who turned 9 just recently!  (She will be joined by another granddaughter in December-which will bring the count to 4 boys ad 2 girls)

She is a hoot and delightful! Being silly with her hot chocolate!

This is Saturday morning.  This is always a whirlwind of a trip and certain things simply MUST be done when I am there.

 We took a Gondola ride on Coronado Island after a great dinner at the Fish Market on the bay the first night. I had never been over the bridge to the island and the ride took us among the boats of the wealthy and their bayside homes.  Interesting but not my lifestyle.

After Saturday's Breakfast silliness we were off to Penzy's to pick up a free box of samples and some jars of spices--I found Fines Herbs!  Been looking everywhere for that!

Then it was off to La Jolla to see the seals at the Children's Pool.  No children are allowed to swim there now as the Seals and Sea Lions have taken it over!  It was fun to stand on the breakwater and watch the seals swimming in the Pacific! There were also lots of Pelicans, no sea lions that day.

A short drive later and we are at La Jolla Shores beach headed toward the tide pools.  Along the way we found all these

TINY sand dollars!  I even managed  to get them home without breaking them!

 

Nora found an Octopus (Very small and I never did see it for the silt) we saw lots of sea urchins and very small conches while we clambered over the rocks. 

On Sunday, Beth and I wanted to go the San Diego Zoo's Safari Park so we were up quite early and eating breakfast when Nora joined us (Steve and Candice came later) We opened the place and closed it as well!  I think Beth's step counter said 18,000 steps for that day!

I've been several times and always enjoy it-think it's the closest I'll ever get to seeing the animals in the wild.  Best parts for me: watching the keepers feed the Gorillas! Especially the one that kept begging for more by holding its arms up!  And the baby elephants-one born in August and one in September, just adorable little ones.  The Park is heavily into the breeding of endangered species and works worldwide to save wildlife.

Monday, as Steven had to work and Nora was off to school we set off for some other more Touristy sites.

First up was Old Town.  I had never been and neither had she so we walked about being tourists!

Then we headed to one of my very favorite places-THE DOG BEACH!  Of course, we got lost along the way.  I know how to find things there just well enough to get lost each and every time I go there!  But we did find it at last, thank you google maps!  Both Beth and I are serious Dog people and sitting there watching dogs have such a blast both in and out of the water is just so FUN!  The dogs love it-in fact one dog on his way home just laid down in the sand-still with his ball in his mouth while his Mom walked away.  We said "look he dosen't want to go home!"  She said-"It's a stand off every day!"  Then she said "Well, see you later" and the dog ran after her. Still makes me smile.
The last place we headed before I took her to the airport as she was leaving before me was to Seaport Village for a little shopping!

Not all my purchases but. . .  I love glass and miniatures so a little (not tiny) turtle and a tiny dolphin both of glass.

And a Harry Potter mug! 

 Mischief has been managed for this post!

(And I am home again!)

PS-This blog is kind of a mess!  But I've fought and fought with Blogster and I GIVE UP!

Another Finish!

I'm on a roll this year finishing up quilts.

I actually finished this Rail Fence

Week before last.

We've had SO much rain 10" in four days!

Then 1" more a couple of days later.

(None of this had anything to do with a hurricane!)

At any rate I couldn't get outside for a decent photo

as the back yard resembled a pond.

It's lucky I did it while there was a short blip of sunshine

as it's been mostly cloudy and cool.

All that rain 

and the temperature plummeted!

Went from Air conditioning to heat almost overnight.

Gotta love the weather in Missouri 

Where it's too far north for mild winters

 and too far south for mild summers.

I mostly hate it!

I've always said it was too bad the weather was so bad

as it's such a pretty place.

Back to the Quilt.

I tried something new on this one

Used fleece as both batting and backing.

Only one layer.

It's quite light and very warm.

(And oh so much less expensive.)

I'll be doing more of that.

I liked it.

Finished Part 1

I began an enormous project eight or ten years ago.

  I sorted and scanned a lifetime's worth of photographs.

Today, I scanned the final actual photo!

(Well, unless I open something else and it has photos in it-

that's happened a couple of time!)

I still have one roll of negatives to scan, 

and some slides.

Still, I like thinking that most of Part one of this project is finished!

Happy Dance!

Blue Grannies

Really dark aren't they?

Well, this month the color was dark blue!

I've managed to mostly stay caught up on these this year.

Amazing!

After camping

I took Ceili (my little 23' camper) Out for 4 days beginning last Thursday.

It always takes a ton of work to get ready to go.

Mostly, because I am still modifying the interior.

I have to take power tools and wood and more.

Quinn and I did enjoy the days as the weather turned cool

and gave us glorious skies!

Many walks, both short and long were taken.

On Saturday, Scott (youngest son) came out to Arrow Rock State Park for the afternoon.

We had such a good time-always enjoy time with one of my children without any one else.

We also walked from the campground into the Town of Arrow Rock.

The picture above is of Main Street in late afternoon sun.

The business district is about 1 block long!

It does have a really nice yarn shop.

I didn't bring any home!

This is the Arrow Rock Lycecum.

A small theater that produces melodramas and some musical shows.

I haven't been but it is VERY popular!

The campground is small and it can be very hard to get a space on show weekends!

I did quite a bit of work on the inside of Ceili.

Mostly finish work now.

Then I'll try my hand a posting a video!

Quinn the photo bomber!  She turned 7 on the 23rd.

I did take along some hand work.

Of course!

I finished sewing down the binding on the pink four-patch.

Also worked on a somewhat secret paper piecing project 

and did quite a bit on Ethan's Stocking.

(Without any un-sewing I might add!)

Met up with my Baylor roomie in Columbia for lunch yesterday!

Crackerbarrel all the way!

She was traveling through with her youngest daughter and hubby.

Her daughter was moving from DC to Colorado Springs for a new job.

It's always nice to see her and visit as she lives in Texas!

After that I drove Ceili to storage

and then home.

A good weekend all in all.

Even if I'm quite tired!

Finished. . . Finally!

Nora's Stocking!

I think I worked on this for 3 or 4 years!

So much blending filament, I hate that stuff!

It really makes the icing sparkle though.

It will join the others on my stairs in December.

The first stitches have been taken on this:

Ethan's stocking.

No blending filament in this one!

On the Janome I've been building red and blue rails.

All the blocks are finished and I'm putting together the rows.

I started a new English Paper Piecing project.

I think there will be several thousand 3/4" squares in this project.

The little pink four patch quilt is

under the needle being quilted.

There's something hinky I need to fix in the border first though.

It's been raining lately so there's been lots of time in the studio.

Speaking of the studio,

I'm off to work!

On Fall

This once was a pepper plant!

Fall is coming.

Thank Goodness!

The sun no longer shines in my North facing windows.

The days are shorter.

That does not mean it is much cooler.

In the 80F's instead of the 90F's 

and quite humid.

We officially had 4 1/2 inches of rain in August 

that's at the airport far north of here.

The weather changes every 20 miles or so.

South of the Missouri river is different from the north (where the airport is.)

South of I-70 the same.

I live nearly into the next county I'm so far south.

I don't think the airport is much of a match

 but it's the "official" site for measuring such things.

At any rate we are still down 3 inches for the year.

Fall is typically dry but these days

 I don't think there is such a thing a typical weather.

One of many piles of tree branches dealt with.

While there was rain the fly population went into hiding.

It has returned and I am back to being a mass murderer.

I'm also dumping the potted veggies.

They look pretty sick.

Then, I'm turning the pot upside down in the Hosta garden

to keep little miss Quinn from digging and lying in the dirt.

She had unearthed part of the roots of one plant!

 No more of that!

I have several maple trees here,

It seems that their branches grow out a long way

 and then take a sharp turn 

towards the ground.

The one in the front had gotten so bad

 that I was ducking tree branches walking to the mail box! 

 Not to mention the branches caught in the door of the truck!

So last week,

I took the little chain saw on a pole out and cut down

branches-at the tree.

(Discovered I have a couple of more that need it since.)

Then I hauled the branches to the backyard.

I've been going out for a bit each day

Clipping off the leaves and smaller branches into yard waste bags.

I finished that this morning.

I still need to cut up the bigger pieces and tie them into a bundle for pickup.

Then I will deal with those that I missed.

Soon there will be leaves to rake.

Grass to rake and overseed.

Every season has it's own chores.

Fall chores have begun.

Still,

FALL IS COMING!