More photos

While we were gone, we made an impulsive decision (sometimes the best kind) to make a little detour and go to Arches National Park in Utah.  It was a beautiful day without a cloud in the sky, and the rock formations were beyond amazing!

Happy 4th of July

I hope everyone has a happy and safe 4th of July.  Perhaps today is a good day to show a few photos from the Black Hills in South Dakota.  This was one of many places we visited on our recent road trip.  I'll start with .Mt. Rushmore, with the stunning carvings of four of our presidents.  Adjectives don't adequately describe it, I don't think.  It is awe-inspiring, and a grand tribute to not only the four presidents, but to our country in general, I think.  The second photo is of DH and I.

We saw probably 20 or so of the burros standing in the road.  They would come right up to the car window looking looking for food handouts.  Pretty darn cute!

 We saw a few hundred buffalo.  They are simply massive!  It's hard to believe that people get out of their cars to take photos.  The rangers say that every year someone gets gored or otherwise injured by one of them.  The little calves are cute.  It's hard to imagine that something that small will grow so much.

The wanderer has returned

What a wonderful vacation we had!  Now before I tell how many miles we put on our car, you need to know that we love road trips.  So here it is:  5446 miles!  At some point I will share a few photos from our travels, but first, I had made arrangements with my quilting friend in Kansas, Linda from Linda Quilts to meet her and her husband at a restaurant in Holdrege, NE.  We had a great breakfast, and then we went to Quilter's Delight, which is so accurately named!  There is so much fabric and lovely samples!  The lady who owns the shop was very, very nice.  The two photos below are of Linda and I in front of the shop.  Needless to say, I parted with some cash here.  I was almost out the door when I saw something else I just had to have. It was so nice to see Linda and her husband again.  

I have long been a fan of Pearl Louise patterns, so when we went through Rapid City, SD, I just had to stop at her shop, the Thimble Cottage.  What a wonderful shop this is!  The displays are stunning, and so many beautiful quilts on display to tempt the browser.  Unfortunately, when I arrived, it was nearing closing time, but maybe it's a good thing I didn't have more browsing time.  I came away with a book that has a great snowman quilt pattern that I think I will have to make.

Not sure I'm ready for this

 We're getting ready to hit the road on Friday morning, and I'm not quite psyched up about it yet.  Mind you, I'll get there, but right now I'm thinking about all the grandkids' events that we will miss, and there are tons in June.  HOWEVER, we will be taking a lovely road trip, which we both love to do.  We'll see some beautiful scenery, and visit family in Nebraska and North Dakota.  I'll also get to see my friend  Linda from  Linda Quilts Too.  Then we will get to go together to a quilt shop she really likes.  I will try to post photos after she and I have our little reunion.

I am so glad our peonies decided to make an appearance before we leave.  The buds were so tight that I was just sure we were going to miss them entirely.  I had never seen a peony before we moved to Oregon way back when, and I just love them.  There is a peony garden not far from us where they raise what must be hundreds of different peonies.  The only disadvantages of peonies that I can see is that they are expensive to purchase,  and the blooms don't last long enough!

And then this is the last of our irises.  They are so cheerful and bright.  It makes me think maybe I should make a bright yellow and purple quilt!

And then on a total self-serving note, I'm hoping all of our blueberries don't get in any big hurry to get ripe.  If they would just hold on (doubtful) until toward the end of June, that would be grand.  :-)

Back home again

How sweet it is to be home again!  We had a wonderful trip, but home is always best.

Now, I'll post a few photos from the Washington DC portion of our trip.

This picture shows part of the WWII Memorial.  I included this photo because on the day we were there, some organization had bussed in several busloads of WWII vets and family members.  What a privilege to get to see those folks who had served at that time view the Memorial and be able to say thank you to a few of them.

And the White House!  Alas, we weren't invited in for coffee.

And here is a very somber view of a portion of the Vietnam Memorial wall.  All of the wall could not be encompassed in the photo.  The names of the casualties cover the segments of the wall and go on and on and on...  Very, very sobering - the high cost of war.

While we were gone, my good friend Linda of   http://lindaquilts-too.blogspot.com/ gave me a "Liebster Blog" award.  Thank you, Linda, I am honored.  I love following your blog and reading about you, your family and all those lovely quilting projects you create.

And now I'm off to sew down some binding on my bunny quilt.  Hopefully by tomorrow or the next day I can get a photo of it to share.  It turned out pretty darn cute if I do say so  myself.

Loving our time in New York City

What a fascinating place this "City That Never Sleeps" is.  We have done pretty well getting familiar with the subway, and we've walked miles and miles, but that is good for us.  Yesterday we walked through Greenwich Village, Chinatown, Little Italy, SoHo and other little neighborhoods I can't remember.  We really enjoyed that.  We got confused on the subway issue with that excursion, but now that it's over, we know what we should have done.

This morning our son and his family arrived, and they will be here through Sunday.  Our DGD just loves the program "Cake Boss," and was really wanting to go to Hoboken, NJ to Carlo's Bake Shop, which is featured in Cake Boss.  I did some research and figured out how we could get there, so we did that.  The lines to get in are pretty unbelievable.  I think we waited a total of about an hour and a half - part of it outside and part inside.  It's a lovely day, so it wasn't bad.  We spent more than we should have and got more sweets than we should have, but what good treats we indulged in.

This is DGD 

Whole family waiting to get in.

DGC on esplanade at Hoboken, NJ, looking across at a portion of NYC skyline.

Another portion of the skyline.

And last but not least, this is Bryant Park, which is a delightful oasis in the middle of a very, very busy metropolis.  There were many people here enjoying the sunshine, with some playing chess or pingpong, and others enjoying their lunch.

Spring? Really? travel and Quilting (of course)

Well, I hear that quite a bit of our great country is having terrific spring weather.  We have had a few little dustings of snow in the last week or so, and then on Wednesday night much bigger flakes started falling and we woke up to probably 3 or 4 inches of the white stuff on the ground.  The poor daffodils are so unhappy, and branches have broken off the flowering plum and cherry trees.  Usually I love having snow, because we generally don't get much, but this is a month or so too late, seriously!

I am pleased to report though that today is very nice and sunny and the weather folks say we are to have several spring-like days, so I think there is hope for us.

I have been doing some research and planning for our upcoming trip to New York City and then Washington, D.C.  After our time in NYC, we will rent a car and see some sights and end up our trip in D.C.  It's been quite some time since we have been to either place, and we are very excited about going again.  The last time was just about four months before the tragic events of  9/11.  One of our sons and his family will be in NYC with us most of the time, so that will make it extra special.

I was thinking of a quilt this morning that I made the latter part of last year, and I don't think I posted it.  It was a block-of-the-month from Bunny Hill Designs, called Henrietta Whiskers.  It was such fun to make.  I really love their patterns.  I'm working on another one of their patterns called The Night Before Christmas, but not very diligently, so it will be quite a while before much is done with it.

I've been slipping - again!

Well, I have let more time go by than I had planned before posting.

First, it is almost retreat time again!  I will go Friday and come home on Sunday.  I have a couple projects ready to take and am looking forward to some good solid quilting time and chatting time with my friends.  It helps also that the retreat center serves really yummy food!

DH and I spent a few days at the Oregon coast this week.  We had two rainy days and one day that was absolutely gorgeous.  We walked and walked on the beach and enjoyed every minute.

The clouds were so beautiful.

I don't imagine everyone would agree with us, but we consider

 these sea gulls to be water rats - a big, dirty nuisance.

Very pretty, large piece of driftwood.

It was a pretty calm day with not much surf.

Gotta love Yellowstone National Park!

In August DH and I made a road trip to Yellowstone.  It had been a very long time since we had been there.    What a national treasure the park is!  We had such a marvelous time and marvelled again at the geysers, wildlife and gorgeous scenery.  If you haven't gone and can - go!

 Old Faithful strutting her stuff

There were quite a few bison, one of which was ambling slowly down the road, stopping traffic in both directions.  We also saw quite a few elk.  There was one bear, but it was at a distance and we didn't get a photo.

 Didn't I say it was scenic?

 Grand Tetons - they just take your breath away!

Charity quilt and San Francisco

I finished tacking down the binding on this quilt last night, and it is my first completion of 2011. I am in a local on-line quilting group, and we have a challenge to complete at least one UFO each month. This is my January project. It will go to a charity group I occasionally work with.

DH and I got back from CA yesterday. We had gone down to spend a few days visiting his mother. On Sunday DH and I and my SIL and her husband went to San Francisco for the day. It had been a long time since we had been there. We went to Fisherman's Wharf, took a cable car ride, walked in Chinatown, and walked most of the way across the Golden Gate Bridge. It was a sunny day and we enjoyed every minute of it. At the Wharf, we had clam chowder in sour dough bread bowls, which is a requirement for us whenever we visit San Francisco. It's so yummy.

This pic is DH and I with the Golden Gate Bridge in the background.

Quick escape to Long Beach, WA

We made a spontaneous quick overnight trip to Long Beach, WA on Sunday. It's probably 2-1/2 hours from home, and we hadn't been there for a long time. Other ocean beaches are closer, so we had stayed south of the border. We had such a nice time. We were disappointed when we went through Astoria though, that our favorite little fresh tuna fish and chips shop was closed. 

The first picture is taken when we were walking along the beach, and the second is from the balcony of our room.  The day was just beautiful!

We took a drive and saw this inlet with the tide out and a gaggle of geese working on getting their dinner.

We loved this picture taken along the Bear River.  We wondered what those pilings had supported in days past.

This bridge crosses the very, very wide Columbia River from Astoria, Oregon to Washington.  It is a pretty spectacular bridge.  Toward the Oregon side, the bridge rises high above the water so that ships can go under, and then drops down again.  At this particular point, I think the river is approximately 3 miles wide.  It is a very treacherous area for ship navigation, and tugboats are hired to guide ships through what they call the Columbia Bar.  There are many large sandbars, and they have to really know the deep channels of the river to keep from going aground on the sandbars.  The tug operators are experts on the river navigation.  The Columbia rolls on out a ways from Astoria to meet the Pacific Ocean.

July happenings and fourth grandchild feature

Well, it's been a while since I've posted, so best get busy.  We got home from Alaska Monday morning at 5:00 a.m., so we kind of dragged ourselves around that day. 

First, we have one more grandchild who hasn't been featured lately, so I want to do that now.  This young man is the oldest of our four.  He is quite an athlete and enjoys football first and foremost, but also basketball and baseball.  The football picture is actually from 2009, when he made a great defensive play and sacked the quarterback for a safety.  Football practice starts in August, and he is excited about that.  His team's baseball season was disappointing, but besides football, he will be playing on a fall baseball team.  His family went camping at Diamond Lake earlier this year, and this was the prize trout he caught.  This lake sits in a most beautiful forested setting, with snow-capped mountains all around.

Now, about our trip to Alaska.  We had such a wonderful time.  To put it in a very brief nutshell, what an absolutely beautiful, spectacular, magnificent, and huge state!  We flew into Anchorage, rented a car and put about 2000 miles on the car.  We should have gotten an award for the most disgusting display of splattered bugs on the front of our car when we turned it in.  Yuk!   We went to Homer, Seward, Whittier, back to Anchorage, and then to one of the main highlights - Denali National Park.  We took a long tour into the interior of the park and saw about 10 grizzly bears, several moose, a few caribou and a fox.  As a huge bonus, Mt. McKinley poked her head out of the clouds several times for us.   From Denali, we went to Fairbanks and enjoyed our time there.  North of Fairbanks we got our first of several sightings of the Alaska pipeline.  It is an impressive sight, to say the least.  We took a different, and very scenic route back to Anchorage and from there flew home.