Posts

Surrounded by history

Image
As I was talking with my friend yesterday, we realized that most of the people we went to elementary school with lived in families who had lived in Arizona for a while. Many people had grandparents who also lived in the area. The Phoenix area was not the city of transplants that it is now. As my mother and I have visited various friends today, I realize that they, too, are all long time residents. My friend, who still lives in the valley, says it is very rare that she comes across people who didn't personally move here. I'm not even sure where I'm going with this except to note the phenomenon.  I've also been helping my mom go through some boxes that have been stored since my grandmother passed away twenty-five years ago. A couple of them included some family history which has been interesting to look at. One picture shows my great-grandmother and my grandmother (on my mother's side) when my grandmother was eight, standing on a train platform about to leave Chicago ...
1 comment
Read more

Desert photos

Image
I spent the morning at the Desert Botanical Garden with a friend I've known since first grade. We actually spent more time catching up than paying attention to the gardens, but I did take a couple of pictures for you.  This is one of the many Palo Verde trees which were in bloom. And another picture from the butterfly garden which has only species native to the area. The rest of the day was spent with my mom visiting other friends and helping her sort through ~13 boxes which had been stored in the garage.  Today's high temperature was 108° F (42° C). It's not spring, it's summer and it feels exactly like the summers of my childhood. I've never felt nostalgic about the summers of my childhood temperature-wise. In true form, the weather back home was very pleasant and my family was in t-shirts. At least it is still cooling off at night, so the mornings aren't bad. 
Post a Comment
Read more

Not perfect weather

This morning when I headed outside to feed the horses, it was 10° F (-12° C) with a wind chill of -3. It's not really the weather one wants to see in March. Tomorrow night I fly to Arizona to spend the weekend with my mom. I always look forward to this trip which often has the added perk of warm weather to tide me over until spring finally arrives here.  So there's warm and there's hot. It seems the Southwest is going to be having a heat wave while I'm there, with temperatures around 102° F (39° C). While I know that the first few days will feel lovely after that ten degrees business, I also know that by the afternoon it won't exactly be sit outside and read weather. I'm not really complaining. I grew up there and know that 102° in March is actually pretty manageable. But it does seem a bit extreme to experience a hundred degree temperature difference in 48 hours (if you start at that wind chill figure.) I will say that it is better than pouring rain which has a...
Post a Comment
Read more

Fiber Monday - A nearly finished object and other thoughts

Image
I am so close to being done with the making the actual skirt I have been drafting the pattern for. Here's what I have done. The front: Notice the fly zipper. I have made so many fly zipper over the past two weeks. I think I all paid off because I'm happy with this one. The front has pockets with a nice lining.  This is the back. You can tell where I left off sewing today. I'm finishing the seams where the yoke connects to the panels which is why this hasn't been pressed yet. It will lie flat once I do that.  The back also has went pockets which I drafted to fit my phone. Here is the pile of 14 (!) pattern pieces I had to draft in order to make this skirt. I'm not sure I realized how involved my first drafting project actually was. That's probably for the best.  Tomorrow I'll finish the yoke, see the side seams together, do the waistband, and then hem it. It shouldn't be too hard to finish. I would love to be able to pack it for my trip to Arizona to visi...
Post a Comment
Read more

A new series

If you are a fan of Elizabeth Peter's Amelia Peabody series, I have another series to recommend to you! Last week I was browsing the library's new book shelf and grabbed a mystery that looked vaguely interesting. It was the first in a series, so I assumed it was a new series.  I've been reading a lot (that would be a lot even in terms of my own voracious reading habits,), but I have also been very quick to put down a book that is not holding my interest. (I'm up to nine books on my 'did not finish' tally so far, and that's just for the past two and a half months.) I had just set aside three books in a row, so decided to start the mystery that I had grabbed.  I ended up loving it, reading it in just two or three days. At the end of the book there was the beginning of the next book in the series. This was thrilling because I didn't have to wait for it, it was already here! I did a quick catalog search and discovered that the first book was not as new as I ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Some pictures from the past week

Image
Yesterday I wasn't feel well, so took myself to bed, because catching up on sleep is usually my cure all. It continued to prove true because I was fine thus morning. Then this evening, J. and I had planned to go out to dinner since we couldn't actually remember the last time we had done that. I wanted a good hamburger, so we headed to one of three small downtown areas east of us along the Fox River.  Well, when you don't get out much, I guess you become unaware of events. Events such as the weekend before St. Patrick's Day. It took us a minute to figure out why parking was proving to be so difficult. When we did find a spot, the loud people wearing kelly green were our clue. We made it to the restaurant we were heading to, which was a pub type place. I opened the door and the noise, the crowd, and the overwhelming amount of green made me close it again and said no.  [This is not an age thing. I have never ever enjoyed loud and crowded restaurants even in my 20's.] W...
1 comment
Read more

Lamb spam

Image
In my continuing effort to be 'the fun mom' thus spring break, there were some people who wanted to take a trip to Kline Creek Farm near us because I had seen there were lambs. This farm raises Cotswold sheep, an endangered breed. (I would love to add some Cotswolds to our flock, but I'm afraid with current accomodations we are full up.) It's still fun to go visit lambs, though, even if they aren't ours.  Five lambs had been born so far, two who were old enough to be with the other ewes, and a set of triplets that were pretty recent I think. There are a lot of pictures because I had a couple of photographers who were smitten. If you live in the area, you should go visit them.
Post a Comment
Read more