Playing with Texture - Part 7

I found this texture by our front porch. What is it?

Here it is in context

Who guessed it was the seed pod of a grape hyacinth?

These are some of my favorite flowers to photograph. The very first macro photos of flowers I took were of this plant. Seeing all the flecks of pollen through my lens enraptured me.

They glow in the twilight

And sometimes whisper secrets to one another

My Kind of Competition

Competing with myself

So sayith Mary Lou Retton

Ta Da!

And then there were none.

As of this morning, I've completed all 19 of my goals for 2019!

Our giant treadmill found a new home with a woman who needs it for rehab. It couldn't have gone to nicer people. Dale and I are so happy to be able to help them. They helped us at the same time.

Now I get to go into full-on overachiever mode. Because ... let's say it all together, class ...

"Why achieve when you can over-achieve?"

I Sewed a Thing

Actually, two things.

A while back I found this tutorial online on Gabriel's Good Tidings blog. It's called Men's Dress Shirt Repurposed to Apron. That looked like fun. And it just so happened that Dale had a couple shirts he'd put in the charity box. I pulled them out ... and there they sat in my Studio for months. It appears that I often need "incubation time" before an idea becomes reality. It's my process.

Front of first apron

So this week I pulled the shirts out, and refashioned them into aprons I can wear while working in my Studio. After all, I wouldn't want to mess up that ratty t-shirt and my grey sweatpants!

Back of first apron

I followed the instructions fairly closely. It was an easy pattern. I did do some extra reinforcing of the seam around the neck.

Side of first apron

When I tried the apron on, there was quite a bit of gapiosis around the bustline. So I added in darts that allowed the apron to fit better around my chest.

The model forgot to brush her hair

The first apron was so easy last night, that I decided to go ahead and make a second apron this morning.

She's pretty proud of herself, don't you think?

After my sewing project, I tidied up my Studio in hope that I can do a painting project next. That will be an ideal excuse to use my new cover-ups.

Annie's First Pickle

The last time Annalee visited Mimi and Papa, Mimi gave her a pickle to taste.

She wasn't sure she liked it, but went in for more again and again. Papa caught her expression.

Playing with Texture - Part 6

I found this texture on my dinner plate. What is it?



This makes it obvious, right?



An orange, of course.



Or is that an "origin"?

Bubba is Back!

After months and months (and months and months and months and oh face it years), I cleaned out my bubbler and cleaned all the rocks and put it back together. Bubba the bubbler works!

He'll make a nice addition to my meditation practice.

September Goal Update

Oh, September! You brought me so close to my annual goal! 18+ of my 19 goals are complete!

Finished goal #17:  Do the finishing work on six of the needlework pieces that are stitched but not ready for display

I turned a stitch sampler from 2001 into a journal cover.

Finished (Alternate) Goal #18:  Take my little guitar to Kiwanis Park and play it by the river

I had a professional re-string my guitar. Then daughter Jeanne and I went down to the river and I played and sang for about a half hour.

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Goals in progress:

Over-achiever Goal: Blog at least 25 weeks of #throwbackthursday posts of my 1997 - 2007 projects.

Though I already completed this goal of 25 in July, I wrote two more in September, bringing my total to 32 #throwbackthursday blog posts.

Over-achiever (Alternate) Goal: 50 movies/series from my Netflix and Amazon Prime queues

Though I finished this goal last month, I watched another from my list. I also watched about 40 YouTube videos that were sitting on my "Watch Later" list.

Alternate Goal (in progress): Fix / paint front door

Half done! The outside of the door is painted. We're waiting for the temperatures to get back above 60 degrees before we take it off its hinges so we can paint the inside. 

Alternate Goal (in progress): Purge and organize storage shelves in exercise room

I made some good progress on this goal. I culled more of the holiday decorations. Three boxes worth of Spring, Summer, and St. Patrick's Day decorations all fit into one box now. Plus I found new homes for quite a number of Christmas decorations.

Alternate Goal (in progress): Treadmill … fix it or sell it or give it away

We're so close! We found someone who wants it. We're just waiting for him to pick it up.

Alternate Goal (in progress): Convert audio cassettes into digital format and/or get rid of them.

I culled the tapes, so I know which I want to convert. I bought the tool to complete the process. Stick the tape in the player. Plug the player into the computer. Copy the music into a digital format. Toss the cassettes (finally).

Whittle a Little:

I've been whittling a lot. In my Studio, I've given away:

• most of my yarn stash 
• half of my fabric stash
• two quilts
• six fabric swatch books
• two pillow forms
• many zippers and fasteners
• most of my trims and lace stash (but not the ribbon. Never the ribbon. So, so much ribbon!)
• some floral supplies
• several projects I know I'll never finish
• and more

Elsewhere we've whittled:

• about 75 hangers (we have pretty matching hangers in every room now!)
• a table and chairs set
• a decorative mirror
• elliptical trainer
• the exercise bike
• my Peugeot bike (that was better for a 30 year old than a 60 year old. Dale and I intend to buy new bikes so we can geocache in style)
• plush chairs
• not-so-plush chairs
• couch we no longer need
• some kitchen appliances and utensils we rarely use
• some journals/notes I no longer need (very rare occurrence)

And finally...

Alternate Goal (in progress): Move to Oregon

We bought a vacation home! Now we can see our daughter Jodie more often. More about this later.

Advice from a Giraffe

The low barometric pressure has me off kilter today. To distract myself, I spent a little time cruising around Pinterest. I found this.

Saturday Concert

Sitting in a darkened room, watching Carole King, Jon Baptiste and Stay Human, Kelly Clarkson, Alicia Keys, Hugh Jackman and lots of other incredible performers at the Global Citizen Festival.



This is a darn good way to spend the first snowy day of the season. We're supposed to get three inches of the cold white stuff overnight.

Where's my extra blanket?

Color Story

The first bush in our yard is changing into its fall colors.



Blue berries pop among the leaves as they morph from green to red.



The vibrancy from the rain is a bonus.

Throwback Thursday - Name That Game!

Up for another round of Name That Game?



Seriously. Anybody recognize this configuration of pieces? They all go together for a single game, but I'm not sure which one.

I like how graphic the black and white pieces are, though.

Know What This Is?

While sifting through a container of board game pieces, I came upon this little metal charm. It's less than a half inch in diameter. I don't recognize it from any game. I don't recognize the symbol, either. Can anyone clue me in?

It very well could be something I found on the ground on one of my walks around the neighborhood. I may have dropped it in the container with the board game pieces so it wouldn't get lost.

Speaking of which ... I've taken many macro photos of classic board game pieces and will create a series of blog posts featuring them. It's a walk down memory lane for those of us who grew up playing many of these games, or played them with our kids.

As they say, "Watch this space."

Aw, Peanuts!

When the Peanuts movie came out in 2015, there was an app that let you see what you might look like as a Peanuts character. Here's how I'd look:

I thought it might be fun to recreate this cartoon portrait in real life:

The result is not quite how I imagined it in my mind. Our curves aren't in the same places. This was, however, a fun exercise in self-portraiture.

What's Wrong With That?

Some people want to fill the world with silly love songs.

Felt like sharin' a little long-necked love today. 

Some days it is flowers and butterflies and hearts.

Sunrise, Sunset

Now that Autumn is officially here, the daylight hours arrive late enough that I can occasionally see the sunrise,

Click for larger image

and the sun sets early enough for me to catch it, too.

Click for larger image

I saw these magical moments when visiting Jodie in Oregon recently.

Another Grandkid Update!

Julie's family stopped by our home today for a very short visit. They came to pick up a piece of furniture and were trying out their new car-top cargo carrier.

Melody did not want to play with her grandparents today. She wanted her Ipad ... and when she wasn't allowed to have it, she decided to drive her parents' car. She also did not want to share her fruit snacks and got very, very angry that Mimi ate one anyway.

Oh, dear.

Annalee, on the other hand, was very amiable today. She had her first taste of a dill pickle as she sat on the deck table. She let me hold her for quite a while. Then she let me give her a ride in the red wagon. When Melody saw her little sister get a wagon ride, she decided it was OK to be around Mimi for a wagon ride, too.

That red spot on Annie's forehead? She got excited to see her mom and fell over from a sitting position, bonking foreheads with her mom. The tears didn't last long.

Jeff and Julie were a little worn out from the hour-and-a-half of crying on the drive up. They endured more crying on the drive home. All safe and sound, though.

Parents are warriors.

Grandkids Update

My daughter Julie gave me permission to share these two photos of Annalee and Melody.

This week Annalee had made excellent progress sitting unsupported. 

Melody decided to put a bandaid in her bangs (which we eventually got out without cutting her hair).

 

My heart is all squishy again. So love watching these to girls grow!

Kelvin-Helmholtz Clouds

Have you ever seen clouds that look like ocean waves? They're called Kelvin-Helmholtz clouds, aka billow clouds or shear-gravity clouds. They look like breaking ocean waves.

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"The atmospheric internal waves that form wave clouds are created as stable air flows over a raised land feature such as a mountain range, and can form either directly above or in the lee of the feature. ... If there is enough moisture in the atmosphere, clouds will form at the cooled crests of these waves."

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"An extremely rare phenomenon where a cloud produces a billowing wave pattern. They occur when there is a strong vertical shear between two air streams causing winds to blow faster at the upper level than at the lower levels."

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I found this photo on the interwebs by abc.net.au

Well for the first time, I saw some clouds like these! When I first spotted them, the waves looked much like the ones in the photo above. But by the time I was able to take a photo (through a window screen), the waves had deteriorated a bit. I think you can still get the idea.

Interesting!

Resting My Eyes

In the midst of a busy week

it feels awfully good to look over the dunes and ocean.



Enjoyed my time with daughter Jodie last week.

Pottery and Pine Needles

This is a neat little piece with a story behind it. A long time ago where there were chat groups on America Online, I met a gal who made pine needle baskets. I'd just taken a Parks and Rec class on how to make one.



This gal was in need of long pine needles. They didn't grow where she lived.



I was on one of my walks through the neighborhood. A full lot of pine trees was cut down to make room for a new business. There were branches left on the ground after most of the clean-up was done. So I grabbed a few branches, stripped them of pine needles (that were still green), and mailed her a large box of them.



As a thank you, she send me this pretty piece of pottery that she made. She made the pot and the beads. Left holes in the edge of the pot, and did the pine needle basketry on top.



It's pretty and unique. My daughters have seen this in our home for most of their lives, but until recently, they didn't know the story behind it.

Red Sparkle - Fan #10

With this final fan in my collection, I come full circle. This is the sister to Fan #1.



It's sequins and embroidery all over again, but this time in red.

Besides just liking the way they look, I bought these fans for my circle of women. We meet in a room that gets quite hot in the summer, even though it's in the basement of a building. I made sure I have enough fans for all attending. Because summer, plus candles, plus women experiencing hot flashes ... well ... let's just say these are a welcome addition to our gathering.