Last color splash of the year

This last week of the year has been sun-splashed and warm in Tucson, so I'll wrap up 2023 with some colorful photos. The first one is Christmas morning, when I gave Don the log cabin block made with colors from our California trip. Since he has limited wall space, I just made one block and stretched it over an 8x10 frame that can either be hung or propped on a book shelf.

He gave me these books for my birthday and Christmas. The bird book is beautiful, with quilted, embroidered and felted birds by artists from around the world. "The Secret Lives of Color" is a totally unexpected cultural treatise on color as it relates to history, fashion, politics, art and war.

Speaking of color and fashion, here's a photo of my daughter, who only has eight more days until her due date!!!

While Don was here, we ate twice at my favorite restaurant, the very colorful Guadalahara Mexican restaurant. How can you not smile when surrounded by those decorations? Last night we polished off dinner there with a big piece of chocolate cake.

We also wandered around downtown and some of the fancy resorts, soaking up color and sunshine. Here are some shots from our meanderings.

We ate lunch outdoors at Cafe a la C'Art after touring the Tucson Museum of Art. The museum had an exhibit on textiles of Andean South America, and this next piece mesmerized me and I think it will inspire my next quilt. (Ignore the window reflection in upper left.)

It's a woven tie-dyed garment made by a Wari artist in Peru in 600-1000 AD. The 64 stair-shaped pieces were each loomed separately and then dyed before being stitched together. In Andean culture, cloth was never to be cut to make clothes, so these pieces were woven to the exact desired shape.

The historic pink Arizona Inn provided more color in the desert, with its view of the mountains and its lush gardens and patios.

Last night's sunset spread a warm orange and gold blanket over the desert. 

I'll leave you with this last thought for the year by an anonymous writer. May you find endless glimmers in the coming year!

Have a colorful New Year

Birthday sweets

I had a sweet birthday on Wednesday, with sugar and spice and all things nice. Don came down from Flagstaff to help me celebrate, and we started the day at Mona's Danish Bakery with French toast for me and a waffle for him, plus some pastries to take home and this gorgeous chocolate cake that he ordered for me!

Then we wandered around late artist Ted DeGrazia's Gallery in the Sun, below.

The gallery went on forever, with room opening up upon room and all constructed of adobe and stone from the surrounding desert in the Tucson Foothills. DeGrazia built his studio, home and chapel compound in the 1950s with help from the native Indians, and a lot of his art portrays them.

The earthy colors of surrounding natural materials fill his home, including the kitchen above and living room below.

We also enjoyed the peaceful gardens.

Then we headed over to Hacienda del Sol, a Spanish Colonial style Tucson resort that was a girls boarding school from 1929-1941 and before that was a private home.

Some of the names on the school roster were Pillsbury, Vanderbilt, Kellogg, Maxwell, Westinghouse, Spalding and Campbell. It offered a college prep curriculum and a taste of western outdoor activities.

Later, as a guest ranch, it became a favorite hideaway for legends such as Spencer Tracy, Katharine Hepburn, John Wayne, Clark Gable and Howard Hughes. Now it's renowned for its restaurant, The Grill, and as a getaway for lucky travelers who can enjoy its luxury guest rooms, spa and magnificent views of the Catalina Mountains. And it's a fun place for locals like me to visit and soak up its charm.

The day ended with dinner at my favorite Mexican restaurant, Guadalahara's. I love its colorful murals and its Tres Bandidos enchiladas with three different fillings and three different sauces.

The next day we walked off some of those calories by spending hours at the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum, below.

Have a colorful day

Winter Solstice

Solstice 2012, Gig Harbor, WA

"This is the solstice, the still point of the sun, its cusp and midnight, the year's threshold and unlocking, where the past lets go of and becomes the future; the place of caught breath." -- Margaret Atwood

"I wonder if the snow loves the trees and fields that it kisses them so gently? And then it covers them up snug, you know, with a white quilt; and perhaps it says, 'Go to sleep, darlings, till the summer comes again'." -- Lewis Carroll

"We feel cold, but we don't mind it, because we will not come to harm. And if we wrapped up against the cold, we wouldn't feel other things, like the bright tingle of the stars, or the music of the aurora, or best of all the silky feeling of moonlight on our skin. It's worth being cold for that." -- Philip Pullman

"Summer is for surrendering; 

winter is for wondering."

 -- Debasish Mridha

I spent today, the solstice, outside in the desert under a cloudless blue sky. We wandered through the Arizona-Sonoran Desert Museum for hours, soaking up the warmth before tomorrow's predicted rain and cold.

And for those of you who are struggling, as are so many of my friends and family back in the Pacific Northwest where the days are very short and dark and rainy: 

"May the dawn of the Winter Solstice

chase the dark away."

Happy Solstice

December book club birthdays

Every month at book club we celebrate everyone who's having a birthday that month, and this month there were three of us, including me (December 20). Beth, on the left, isn't a birthday girl, but she made the beautiful Pavlova for us so she gets in the photo. That's me, Kristina, and Judy with the tiara.

Beth had an "I Rule" tiara for us to wear.

She's the hostess with the mostess! 

She also set up a cookie decorating station, and Meegan is taking it pretty seriously. I felt like a kid again.

Then there was the appetizer spread on her kitchen counter, where we all gather and gab and munch for about an hour until we move into the dining room for our main potluck meal.

I made something new to me, a cranberry Brie wreath made with crescent roll dough that I've been seeing all over Instagram and Facebook lately. You put a bowl in the middle of a sheet pan and arrange the dough around it like a sea star, then cover it with layers of homemade cranberry sauce, Brie, toasted hazelnuts (I used pecans) and dried cranberries. Wrap the dough around the filling, brush with an egg wash, sprinkle with pink salt and rosemary, and bake at 375 for about 20 minutes. Yummy!!!

The main meal was as bountiful as ever, with green chicken enchiladas, refried beans, chicken tortilla soup, stuffed zucchini boats, salad, a veggie platter. 

We discussed travel, food, and the book, "The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store" by James McBride," which we all loved. Highly recommend it.

Besides the Pavlova for dessert, Barb made fudge and melt-in-your-mouth crescent nut cookies.

A Pavlova is a meringue-based dessert that originated in either Australia or New Zealand and is named after Anna Pavlova, the Russian ballerina. It has a crispy meringue crust, a soft whipped cream center, and a fruit topping. It was absolutely luscious.

To top it all off, I won the Dead Sea Natural Body Mud that Beth brought back from her recent trip to Jordan and Egypt! It'll be a whole new me!

 

Have a colorful day