Pictures from a Sunday walk....

Bookmarks are finished for book club this month!  The book is "Earth Abides" by George R Stewart. Good book!  The bookmark this month is a hammer - which the protagonist Ish takes with him everywhere and it takes on a hallowed status with his 'tribe',  Not too bad a likeness, if I do say so myself!

The way home last night was beautiful!!!

Last Saturday found me at my first wine tasting event.  Margene is a member of the Matson Winery, and invited me to go with her to taste some wine and pick up her quarterly order.  It was a beautiful Spring day out there - especially since it was the beginning of February!  The winery is beautiful....

We took the dogs for a walk in the sunshine too....

What happy girls!!!!

And yes, the grass really is that green....

While I was outside the other day, I noticed a bird sitting on the feeder that didn't fly away as I approached....not a good sign.  Poor baby - he was definitely sick.  This morning, there was an article in the paper - take down your bird feeders to stop the spread of a disease that's killing local birds. Down came the feeder this morning!  Bummer - I really enjoy watching the different birds come in.

Here is the next batch of blocks for my quilt club quilt.  I didn't get much more done than these blocks in the way of quilting (or anything else, really...) this weekend.  I'm liking the blocks, but there are so many little pieces!  It might not look like it, but there are 6 separate pieces of material in the space between the lids on the jar block.  6!

Ralph spent last weekend over at Crescent City learning to kayak in the ocean.  He had a blast and came home exhausted.  On my way in to pick him up Monday night, I had to stop for the sunset.

I'm loving my design wall!  Here's the next project to finish:

This is another 'block a month' quilt - and I got the final set of material last week.  I have six blocks (out of twelve total) completely done (the bottom six), and two blocks ready to put together (top left), one block cut out (top right), and two blocks and the finishing material still in the bag to be cut. Then....the finishing!  But I really like having it out to see it and to rearrange the blocks.

Keeping it out and visual really makes me want to sit down and sew.  Not that I do, but I want to! Alli's been getting up between 4:00 and 4:30, and by the time I deal with her, I'm too awake to go back to sleep. That means by dinner time, I'm too tired to sit and sew (without nodding off at my machine at least).  I've been doing pretty good at getting some sewing time on the weekends though - and this weekend is a long one - sewing time!!!

Yesterday morning, as I was brushing Alli's teeth before the bus came, the phone rang.  Weird - it's the land line, not my cell.  Usually, when I get a call that early, it's someone from work calling in sick, and they don't usually call the land line.  When I checked the caller ID, it was Dave.  Even weirder....I thought he went to work before that.  When I asked what was up.......he asked if I knew the recipe to de-skunk a dog.  Yuck!  I told him he had the wrong sister - I didn't know the recipe off the top of my head.  His reply?  "Yes, but I know you're awake, and she isn't."  It figures!  Oh well - Google didn't fail us.

Just last Saturday the neighbor had had to de-skunk her whole house (more on that later) I knew that the most effective treatment included hydrogen peroxide and dish soap, but not the ratios.  A quick search showed the ratio, and to include baking soda.  Luckily, Dave had all the ingredients on hand, and I got a call later in the day that it had worked - woohoo!!!!

Last Christmas, Margene was trying to figure out something to get her grandkids (age 3 and 1).  They live in Oklahoma, and had all the toys in the world already, so what was a grandmother to do?  I suggested that she make a video of her reading some books to them, then send them the books.  That way, they got to spend time with her doing something fun, even though she's a thousand miles away. We got AJ involved, and he recorded her, edited the videos, put them up on YouTube for us (and best of all, told us how to find them later!)  The present was a hit at Christmas, and recently, the oldest was asking for more stories from grandma.  So, last Saturday, Margene was supposed to come down and have AJ record some more books.  I got a text from her around 4:00 saying she wouldn't be down, she'd had a terrible day.  That's where I learned the recipe for de-skunking dogs.....

She said she was in a really deep sleep - you know the kind that when you hear something, it fits itself into the dream....then it doesn't.  From putting all the clues together, we think a skunk came in the doggie-door (which is in her bedroom) and her Pomeranian attacked it.  The dog was soaked to the skin in skunk spray and there was blood and skunk spray everywhere.  None of the blood seemed to be from the dog, so we are assuming it was the skunk that came out on the losing side (though really it was Margene....)  Let's just say that she's sleeping in her spare bedroom now.  She really did have an awful day!!

I did it!  I finished the quilt top!  This is a block-a-month quilt that I did in my quilt club and started back in June.  The block a month wasn't hard, but when it came to finishing it, there was a lot more to do (like another 52 flying geese!)  I wish they had spread it out more so the ending wasn't so overwhelming, but....it's done now!  It took me longer, of course, because I had to re-do a few of my flying geese - I changed my mind about the layout.....