Hiking and gardening

I spotted this sticker on a car yesterday at the parking lot for the Wild Burro Trail, which was my latest hike with Beth and Barb. It's in the Tortolita Mountains north of Tucson.

We hiked four miles on the Wild Burro and Lower Javelina trails -- first up up up then down down down the mountain on one side of the dry wash, then the same thing on the other side. It was a good workout that was challenging but not exhausting. We were tired but in a good way!

You can see, above, how rocky much of the trail is. It's not like walking four miles on a paved park path! 

Take a look at that twisted saguaro with many arms towering over Barb and Beth! That part of the trail was down by the wash, so it wasn't so steep and rocky.

The next two pictures show us taking some breaks.

Tonight I took a Zoom class on hot weather vegetable gardening in Tucson. I'm thinking of planting some tomatoes and basil together in a big pot or a half barrel. The time to plant tomato starts is now, with the aim of harvesting by June before it gets too hot. Or maybe I'll save a bunch of money (those big pots are expensive) and just buy tomatoes at the farmers market.

Here's my little spot of color in the front courtyard. It gets full sun in the afternoon, but in the morning it's pleasant to sit there in the shade with a cup of coffee. I have no idea how long the flowers will last once the sizzling summer hits, but I hope I have at least a few months to enjoy them.

Have a colorful day

Feb/March Challenge Week 7

I can't believe our two-month challenge is almost over! It's been great for encouraging me to make sure I have something new from the sewing room to share with you every Monday.

This past week I've concentrated on my big curves quilt. Each block will finish at about 16 inches, and I'm going to have four across and four down. You can see the size by looking at my foot in the top picture.

Since I have so much free time on my hands, I don't mind having to mark and pin all the curves.

I was asked if the beige fabric below was a batik (it's not), so I thought I'd tell you about the fabrics that I'm using. The ones that look like they've been discharged or batiked are from a line by Marcia Derse called Art History 101 for Windham Fabrics. I've used more than these three.

I visited Marcia at her Whidbey Island, WA, studio a few years ago. Here's a link to that post: visiting-marcia-derse-fabric-designer.html. She was so friendly and her fabric is literally "to dye for."

I've also used a selection from the Grunge line by Moda. I've been using that line for years -- I love the textured look.

This last one, which I love for the complex layers, is by Lonni Rossi for Andover Fabrics.

I also bought some pretty pear fabric last week to use for napkins to go with some pale green thrift store plates that I have.

I'm linking up to Lynda's latest challenge week blog so you can see what she's been up to: feb-march-challenge-week-seven

In other news, I met up with my hiking friends today for a desert hike followed by lunch. It was good hiking weather -- a little on the cool side and overcast, so we didn't overheat.

And here's a nice sunset from a few days ago.

Have a colorful day

Snow and Nancy's visit

I'm looking out my window at SNOW in Tucson in March and can hardly believe it! It's raining at my elevation, but snowing on Pusch Ridge just a mile away.

Quite a change from a few days ago when my Washington friend Nancy and her husband visited. It was sunny and warm, and we strolled in short sleeves around the Tucson Botanical Gardens looking at spring blooms.

This tumble of yellow flowers is a primrose jasmine, and I think it would be a great addition to my backyard. I was getting ideas for how I can add more color.

We had lunch at the gardens at a wonderful outdoor cafe surrounded by trees, flowers, birds and fountains. Our paninis and salads were delicious.

We also went shopping at the Happy Saguaro so Nancy could buy some Talavera pottery from Mexico for a gift. She found this huge platter in vibrant colors. We also hit two quilt shops, but I forgot to get pictures.

And of course there was a Mexican restaurant involved in the visit. Cheers!!!

Have a colorful day

Feb/March Challenge Week 6

As we head into Week 6 of the Feb/March Challenge, I've had one finish and one start. I finished the bowl, and it's a biggie!

And I started another "Eye of the Storm" quilt. (That's the name of the pattern.) This one isn't in my usual screaming bright colors. It's a little quieter and earthier.

I've used three stacks of six fabrics per stack. The picture above shows my progress with the first stack, and below are the other two waiting to be cut.

It's slow going because you have to carefully match the curves, but I wanted a project that would take awhile. I don't work on it every day, but it's nice to have it waiting for me when I get the itch to stitch.

I'm linking to Lynda's blog about the challenge: feb-march-challenge-week-six

In other news this past week, I got my first COVID vaccine! It was a drive through at the University of Arizona, and I loved all the palms surrounding the vaccine site.

And this morning I went on an almost six-mile hike with Barb and Beth in Catalina State Park. Note the clouds! This is so unusual that it felt eerie, like something was very wrong.

Have a colorful day

Reward after a hard hike

 

We had to take two pictures to get all four of us at the start of yesterday's hike on the Lower Tanque Verde Canyon Trail. We were smiling then, but not as we dragged ourselves back up out of the canyon hours later!

It was a short trail, but very steep and very rocky, and sometimes we lost the trail altogether and had to find our way through the rock rubble. There were a lot of steep slippery gravel areas, so I tried to keep my footing on solid rocks. 

But once at the bottom, we found some beautiful swimming holes and pools. That's as far as Tere and I went, but Beth and Barb forged on toward the falls. They staggered back much later, reporting that it was pretty scary in parts due to slippery boulders and no path. I had read the reviews earlier and decided I didn't want to do that.

But the worst was yet to come, because we had to climb all the way up to the top of the canyon, and it was really steep and near 80 degrees under hot sun.

Here's a funny little saguaro in the canyon. I think it looks like a cartoon creature of some sort.

We finally made it out, cranked up the air conditioning in our cars (it was almost an hour's drive but because of Covid we didn't carpool), and headed out to Agua Caliente Park. 

It was an oasis in the desert with stunning green-blue ponds fringed with giant palms. Agua Caliente means "hot water" and gets its name from the hot spring that feeds the ponds.

We pulled out our picnic lunches and sat at a shady picnic table after the luxury of using a real restroom!

I spotted this turtle sunning itself on a rock.

And we saw this spectacular succulent with the most unusual orange-yellow blooms. It's identified on a park website only as an aloe. See www.friendsofaguacaliente.org for more info about the history of the park.

There's also color in my courtyard because I planted a few flower pots. And the sunset a few nights ago from the courtyard was spectacular.

 

Have a colorful day

Feb/March Challenge Week 5

I can't believe we're halfway through the Feb/March Challenge! I don't have much sewing to show for the past week except for my bowl because I've mainly been hiking. By the time I get home and cleaned up and eat, I'm usually too tired to sew.

But I have done sporadic work on my coiled bowl. I used up a whole 72-foot bundle of poly rope and spliced in a second one. I'm just going to keep on until I feel it's done. Lord knows I won't run out of fabric!

Here are some photos from yesterday's seven-mile hike, my longest yet:

We hadn't planned on doing seven miles, but the trail was easy after the initial climb so we kept going, and then on the way back we missed our turnoff to the parking lot so we logged an extra mile. But we met a lot of nice people who we stopped to chat with, and we even met up again with the horses from my last post!

We thought the upper part of this saguaro looks like the Michelin Man with his chubby tummy and arms. And speaking of chubby, I made some double chocolate muffins this past week, but I figure I earned them with all of the hiking.

I'm linking to Lynda's challenge post so you can see what she's done this past week:

feb-march-challenge-week-5

Have a colorful day