Staying home

 

Stormy Tucson sky

Since my post Monday about the Spokane fires, I decided to cancel my trip there and to Gig Harbor because of the ongoing fires and toxic smoke. 

I'll take our monsoon instead. This was our sky Monday night, along with a blaring warning on my phone about dangerous blowing dust on the highways and thunderstorms.

I didn't encounter the dust, but my car was rocking and rolling as I drove home and debris was skittering across the road! The skies were beautiful and dramatic and we got a little much needed rain.

The fires are still raging in Spokane, 65,000 people are still evacuated, my daughter's neighborhood is still safe. But they've arrested someone and charged him with starting one of the fires -- unbelievable and so heart breaking to think all that loss could have been prevented.

So now I have an empty schedule for the next two weeks and will sew. I just made this year's Christmas ornament for Juniper. Her favorite color for the moment is blue.

Have a colorful day

Heartbreak in Spokane

I'm watching coverage of the devastating fires that broke out Saturday in Spokane, Washington, where my daughter lives, thinking that this is a living nightmare. My daughter's neighborhood is safe for now, but 65,000 other residents have been evacuated, 700-1,100  structures have been affected and there is still zero percent containment of the three fires.

They broke out Saturday and high winds whipped them through bone dry vegetation, across the Spokane River and into neighborhoods in northwest Spokane. (My daughter lives in the southeast.)

Entire neighborhoods have been reduced to ash, and the flames continue. 

Residents reported that it took four, five hours to evacuate because of thousands of cars trying to get out at once.

Power was turned off to parts of the city over the weekend, forcing those residents to choose between opening their windows to lessen the stifling indoor heat while temperatures outside were around 90 or keep the windows closed because outside air was filled with ash and toxic particles. I think some power is still turned off.

Thousands of firefighters have been deployed from across the country and Canada. Fighting this monster is the number one fire priority in the nation because so many neighborhoods are in the fire's path rather than it only threatening open land. It's burned more than 8,000 acres as of Monday morning. Today on the news, a fire official said it's likely to continue burning for weeks.

Somehow, this Little Free Library survived while the woman above stands before the destroyed house that had been her grandmother's. 

A small bright spot is that donations for the victims have flooded in. My daughter responded to a call for pet food, toiletries and clothing, but when she tried to drop them off at the Red Cross they turned her away because they were flooded with donations. She was able to leave them at another drop-off spot, but it too was overflowing.

I have plane reservations to visit her in less than two weeks, but I'm not sure if I'll go. The air quality across the city is dangerous and fires might still be burning. I'm also planning to stay at a rental because my daughter's bathroom is torn up for repairs, but I'd rather free up that rental for a displaced family.

More fun pouches

As our triple-digit heat continues, I'm staying inside and sewing more zipper pouches with clear vinyl fronts for gifts. I bought this Seattle fabric when I still lived up there and I have a huge amount left! I made a bunch of masks out of it during Covid. The white and blue dotted zipper borders are the Seattle rain.

I bought this sweet bird fabric even longer ago -- probably before 2010. I've been using small pieces of it over the years for various projects.

I screwed up the way I applied the bottom zipper border of the bird pouches, so I covered up my mistake with some animal trim. As you can see, I have no shortage of trims to choose from. lol

I've been using some of these in my travels for charger cords and meds and they're much more fun to look at than the Ziploc bags I usually use.

And I certainly have no shortage of fabric! I should probably start making bigger pouches next. 

Have a colorful day

The Texas Rangers are blooming!

 

Every summer since I moved to Tucson I wait for that magical moment when the Texas Rangers detect just the right amount of moisture in the air to make all the plants in the same area burst into bloom. In my yard it happened a few days ago.

Here are some from the last few years, all in July when the monsoon usually kicks into gear.

Texas Rangers, also known as Texas Sage (Leucophyllum frutescens), thrive on our summer heat. They bloom during our summer monsoon season, which runs from mid-June through the end of September, but most of the blooming I've seen is in July.

You can find these big purple bushes all over town, in parking lots and yards. They can grow from 3-8 feet high and 4-6 feet wide, but some of the one's I've seen are wider.

The one above is in a Walgreen's parking lot and the one below is in my front yard. They're so spectacular that sometimes I pull my car off the road to get a picture.

Finally, I came across this fancy beverage in a purple glass in my photos while I was looking for the Rangers. It goes well with them!

Have a colorful day

Book club goes to the beach!

I just got back from a five-day trip to the beach in Oceanside, CA, with my book club. It was sunny, warm but still cooler than Tucson, and wonderful! 

We originally planned to go to Flagstaff, but the forest fires and resulting smoke and ash all over town made us switch to the beach. It was a six-hour drive mostly on I-8 plus stops for lunch and gas, so not bad at all.

We rented a four-bedroom condo that was right on the beach. Here's the view from our ground-floor patio. It was incredibly relaxing to hear the waves and feel the ocean breeze all day and to have a respite from the sizzling heat in Tucson.

In the morning after breakfast and again after lunch we walked almost a mile to the pier and sometimes beyond. Here we are just leaving ...

... getting closer ...

... and now we're up on the pier looking down at the beach scene. 

There were surf lessons, people fishing, dogs being walked, cars cruising with music blasting, Navy recruits doing some harsh training exercises, kids on the playground, adults doing yoga. It was a busy summer week!

Here some of us are up on the pier.

I called us the big hat ladies.

What could be better for little kids than a playground right on the beach!

Every evening, people lined the pier and the shore watching the sun sink down into the ocean.

The sunsets were beautiful!

We also saw interesting plants on our walks.

Every evening we walked another mile and back along Mission Avenue to eat at one of the numerous open-air restaurants in town. The first night was at Odie's Pizza, near the mural. Then it was the Mission Avenue Bar, the Biergarten, and the Flying Pig (my favorite, where I got shrimp and grits).

Here we are at the Flying Pig toasting to our last night in Oceanside.

I loved the inside of the Flying Pig. And Sandy loved her mussels and homemade linguine!

After we left the Flying Pig on our last night, we wandered through a street fair that was packed with people eating all kinds of ethnic foods.

My mission was to find chocolate cake, which I did, but we also shared some baklava. I forgot to get a picture of my cake, but it was amazing!

I had some excellent sweet potato fries another night. 

We were surprised by how many Oceanside restaurants featured Cajun dishes. And when we stopped in Yuma for lunch at a gastropub we discovered it also had a Cajun-New Orleans theme!

Besides going to the beach and eating, we played Mahjong. And of course I visited my mom, who was only 20 minutes away. Here she is with Sandy, Beth and me. She's doing really well. In fact, the only time we drove anywhere was to visit her. Otherwise we walked many miles every day.

Every evening after we got back to the condo from dinner, Kristina led us in a special toast. Since I can't drink alcohol my shot was, sadly, water.

It was a great trip with great friends and great memories!!!

Have a colorful day