Bits and pieces

I haven't accomplished much lately creatively, but yesterday I did manage to sew this simple black silk top. I bought the fabric 15-20 years ago planning to discharge it with geometric patterns and then make it into a long vest, but that never happened! So I pulled out my trusty pattern that cuts the top in one piece, with a hole in the middle for the neckline. All that's required is sewing side seams and finishing the edges. 

I've been dawdling over another project because I'm worried that it won't work. I printed the door photograph on a piece of 8x10 silk shantung, with the texture running vertically like the grain of wood in the door. I want to float it in the middle of a big piece of fabric that I'll paint and then connect it all somehow with hand stitching. But I'm not as confident in my ability to mix the right paint colors as I used to be because I'm out of practice.

So the other day, instead of working on it, I hiked into the desert and sat for a long time looking out at the scene above. It was absolutely quiet except for some birdcall. I tried to listen to the silence instead of talking to myself about our troubling political climate and the things at home that need fixed like my doorbell chime that stopped chiming and my drip irrigation system that died. 

Today it's chilly and very windy and sky is grey, which always makes me uneasy. But there's rain in the forecast and we dearly need it. Our desert is in a drought, with this fall and winter being the driest ever recorded. The prickly pear cactus pads are skinny for lack of water, and some are falling over ...

... and a lot of the chollas are drooping.

But last night's sunset was spectacular, thanks to the clouds that are moving in. Always a nice way to cap the day.

I'm linking to Nina-Marie so you can see what other quilt artists are up to: niche-notions-quilt-shops-on-off-wall.html

Have a colorful day

Meeting Marge after 40 years!

Marge in front of a saguaro cactus

Yesterday I got together with a friend who I haven't seen in 40 years, and we picked up as if we had seen each other just yesterday, yakking away nonstop as we hiked and had lunch!

Marge and I worked together on the copy desk of the Rockford Register Star in Illinois in the mid-'80s. Then I moved to San Antonio in 1985 and soon after that she moved to Connecticut, where she still lives. We kept in touch through annual Christmas letters (as good journalists do) and photos, so at least we weren't surprised by how our looks had changed over 40 years. But I think she looks pretty much like the same fun Marge I knew when we were young.

She was in town visiting relatives, so we hiked in Saguaro National Park East (whose visitor center was closed on Mondays thanks to Musk's ranger firings) and then had lunch at a Mexican restaurant. The ocotillos (above) are beginning to bloom with red flowers at the tips of their branches. Spring has arrived in the desert! 

Have a colorful day

Visiting the folks in beautiful Palos Verdes

I just got back from visiting my folks in LA because my dad was getting over being sick and they needed some extra help. They're 93, and nearly every evening they sit together like this on their couch with the lights low looking out at the stars and airplane lights.

This is beautiful Lunada Bay, a 15-minute walk downhill from their home. I went there every morning to soak in the sounds of the sea and the sunshine. The video below will take you there! It's on the Palos Verdes Peninsula.

I took photos of lush plants on the way down to the cliffs:

There's the ocean, framed by eucalyptus leaves.

It's a stunning, rugged coastline south of Redondo Beach, where the land rises up to form the Palos Verdes Peninsula.

It's a popular surfing spot.

And every night we watch the sun set over the ocean from their living room.

Have a colorful day

The desert is blooming at Tohono Chul

 

I wandered around Tohono Chul gardens yesterday in the warm desert sunshine and was amazed at how many plants are blooming! I don't know the names of all of these, but they spanned the rainbow.

Red penstemon?

Yellow brittlebrush

Mexican sunflowers

Butterfly

Tohono Chul has some wonderful water features. In the video above I was at a streamside garden where I  spent awhile in one of the chairs with a nicely reclined back. The adobe wall below features water cascading from one pot to another, making a delightful trickling sound.

Holly agaves

Not all the plants have colorful flowers, but there were plenty of shades and shapes of green. 

Cholla

Prickly pear  cactus (foreground), palo verde tree, saguaro in background and a Tucson Mountain peak on the horizon.

Art is scattered throughout the gardens.

I love this glimpse of sunlight from the palm oasis and the rocking chairs under a shade canopy. Tohono Chul is a wonderful place to relax.

Have a colorful day

"Canyon and Cosmos"

My Flagstaff friend Don Lago just sent me a publisher's copy of his new book, "Canyon and Cosmos: Searching for Human Identity In the Grand Canyon." I'm so excited for him! He's published other books about the Grand Canyon, but I didn't know him then. This one will hit the bookstores in May. If you want to preorder, here's the Amazon link: ref=sr_1_1

Here's Don, who's usually either hiking

or with his nose in a book.

From the book jacket: "A major work of literary nature writing, Canyon and Cosmos takes readers on a journey through the Grand Canyon's deep time, geological forces, and biological evolution, making them very real, personal, and meaningful. Through decades of hiking and kayaking, author Don Lago has gotten to know the canyon intimately. Ranging through world mythologies and Native American spirituality, he explores how humans have sought to understand the universe. He confronts existential questions of whether humans can find enough meaning in the scientific cosmos. Through poetic prose, symbolism, and philosophical insight, he shows how existence itself is our deepest source of life and meaning."

My most recent trip to the Grand Canyon was with Don in 2023. Here are some photos from that trip.

And from my first canyon trip, 40 years ago:

These two pictures are me on very first trip to the canyon, in 1985 when I was 29 years old. I backpacked a couple of weeks down there, immersing myself in the incredible light and bird calls and river. Tourists on the rim only see the amazing colors of the rocks, but when you're down by the river there are lush green hanging gardens and sparkling springs and the clear cascading call of the canyon wren. It's a whole different and more intimate world at the bottom.

My last canyon visit inspired this quilt, above, for the colors of the rocks.

The piece I'm working on today uses those same colors. No surprise, since orange and blue are my favorite pairing! And now it's back to reading Don's book.

Have a grand day