More fun in Madison

When I visited Madison last week, Keith and Rachel took me out for Sunday brunch at one of their favorite places: Monty's Blue Plate Diner. I had stuffed French toast with caramelized apples and it was delicious. Those are Keith's walnut and banana vegan pancakes.

Since it was going to be another hot (in the 90s) and humid day, we decided to get out on the lake where it was breezier and cooler. It was pure bliss! Keith and I rented one of the boats that you power by pedaling your feet because with my bum shoulder I couldn't paddle or row anything.

Rachel rented a stand-up paddle board, and here she is with the state capitol peeking out above the trees. The water felt sooooo good.

On my first day, when it was cooler and Rachel was still at work, Keith and I walked along a creek corridor trail in Middleton, where my Airbnb was located. It's so leafy and watery compared to Tucson.

A big event was meeting a branch of the family on the in-laws side who had flown in from Michigan, Virginia and South Carolina. My sister-in-law had a family reunion for them in Rockford, IL, on Saturday, but since they were staying in Madison I got together with them a few more times. Here we are at a neighborhood festival that we walked to after dinner at a Thai restaurant. Always some kind of festival going on in Madison!

They gave Rachel and me beautiful flower bouquets, and mine brightened my rental.

Another night we gathered at the Great Dane brew pub for dinner before they left the next morning. They're such a nice -- and fun -- family! I hope we get to see them again.

When I was in Rockford for the reunion I also visited my dear friend Susan, who has the most beautiful cottage gardens and goldfish pond.

There was also a lot of relaxing at home with the pets. Ozzie, the little one, and Phoebe look identical except for their size. Both are rescues who hit the jackpot with Keith and Rachel as parents.

Spud the tortoise is the latest member of the family. He's also very pampered, with a long  enclosure open on the top that Keith built for him plus regular outings in the backyard. Here is Keith relaxing with Ozzie in front of Spud's place.

All too soon it was time to leave. I always book a window seat when I fly so I can see the ground from above. I'm one of those people who watches the flight map instead of a movie so that I can monitor our altitude, speed and what we're flying over. We were mostly just under 40,000 feet and going about 500 miles an hour. Here we are heading into New Mexico just west of Santa Fe.

(I can't understand why people would spend hundreds of dollars for a flight and then close their window shades and watch a movie that they could view at home.)

I'm intrigued by patterns of civilization, like roads and crop circles.

But mostly I like clouds. You can see the shadows from these puffy New Mexico clouds on the ground. And a solid cloud cover is bright and white when viewed from above, like a snowy field punctuated by mountains.

I've looked at clouds from both sides now!

Have a colorful day

Colors of Madison

I just got back from a really fun trip visiting my son and his wife, Keith and Rachel, in Madison, WI. They have a huge vegetable and flower garden bursting with tomatoes, pumpkins, sunflowers, herbs and vegetables. The sunflowers are 14 feet tall and seeded themselves from last year!

The pumpkins are starting to bring in fall and the last of the tomatoes are kissing summer good-bye.

We had delicious sandwiches with thick slabs of homegrown tomatoes, basil and mozzarella, with one of Keith's crispy homemade dill pickles on the side. Later, mint from the garden went into mojitos.

And the chickens tried their best to get into the garden.

My first full day there we hiked along the Ice Age National Scenic Trail, but that was the last hike because the rest of the visit was unusually hot and humid. The trail winds for more than 1,000 miles throughout the state, following the edge of the last continental glacier in Wisconsin.

 

It took us through woods and along the edges of prairies, past colorful wildflowers and leafy green trees.

When it was too hot to hike, I went to my favorite quilt shop in the area, Blue Bar Quilts.

Here's my haul. I almost bought the "Boro & Sashiko" book but talked myself out of it because I already have two books on that subject.

There were wonderfully colorful prints ...

... felted wool and hand-dyes.

The store has a rotating gallery of quilts. The current exhibit honors the late Nancy Zieman of the "Sewing With Nancy" television show.

In the same shopping strip as Blue Bar is a store whose name I forget, but it had a great card selection where I bought this postcard:

The sunset painted the sky in swathes of orange. The morning I left the prairie was blanketed with low fog at the beginning of another hot and steamy day. 

Have a colorful day

Flagstaff Open Studios, stitching and gelato

 

If you're in the Flagstaff area, check out my friend Judy's fabulous dyed clothing and rope bowls at the Open Studios Tour this weekend! Every time I wear her beautiful hand-dyed dresses and tops I get compliments. She'll be in Studio 11 with a group of other great artists. I can't go because I'll be visiting my son and his wife in Madison, WI. Info: www.flagstaff-arts.org

I'm getting some stitching ready to take on my trip to work on during down time. I stamped some petroglyph figures, above, and I'll embroider them like the one below that I made ages ago. I made the stamp by using a pen to indent the lines on a styrofoam food tray, then I sponged on gold paint.

I've also been going through the pieces I made this summer and adding more touches ...

.

... some beads

... a stick that I painted gold

... more mesh and big stitches.

 

And I'm pulling out more fabric from my painted stash for the next pieces. I'm on a roll!

And then there's the gelato! Barb and I went to a Frida Kahlo themed art opening last weekend (it was too crowded to get pictures), and afterward we went to Frost for gelato. Half the fun there is looking at how beautifully the gelato is displayed. I got hazelnut chocolate and peanut crunch, and that was dinner. 

Have a colorful day