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

Hike #39, on Mt. Lemmon!

I finally got in another hike this week, but I had to go up the mountain to 9,000 feet to escape the 108 temperature down below in Tucson. The views were breathtaking! Those red flowers are penstemon.

 

I was invited by a friend to join the Sun City Hikers Club for their outing, and I'm very grateful. There were seven of them and all were super welcoming and friendly. It was my 39th hike on my way to 70 before my 71st birthday.

There were a lot of wildflowers.

Going from the desert up to the top of Mt. Lemmon takes you from the Sonoran Desert to alpine forests. The steep drive with breath-taking lookouts takes you through these bio zones:

1. Sonoran Desert, 2,500-4,000 feet

2. Desert grassland, 4,000-5,000 feet

3. Oak woodland/chaparral, 5,000-6,000 feet

4. Pine-oak forest, 6,000-7,000 feet

5. Ponderosa pine forest, 7,000-8,000 feet

6. Mixed conifer and Canadian zone, 8,000 to the peak at 9,157 feet

It was in the 70s and sunny for our hike, which was slightly heart pounding (at least for me) because of the elevation. But we only went a little over two miles, on the Meadow Loop near the top of the mountain.

Afterward we had a picnic lunch in a very pleasant shady area -- but I forgot to get a picture! Then it was down, down, down the mountain into the inferno that's Tucson in the summer. 

Have a colorful day