A couple of recent projects - a trivet that I quilted - just for fun.....and I seriously need to do more quilting - I need more practice.

Bookmarks for book club - the book was Dark Matters by Blake Crouch - good book!!!

And another doily for the week.  Actually last week, and I need to get started on the one for this week....

Alex sent me some picture from Japan!  He's been busy - he went to a museum one day with his host family, and then to a temple, and the ocean.  He's also had activities with the study-abroad group. School starts next week, and his host family seems to be showing him around quite a bit.  The mom and daughters participated in a festival yesterday doing traditional dancing, and Alex went along.  

He seems to be doing well - the language barrier is exhausting him though.  The host mom only speaks a little bit of English, so almost everything is in Japanese, and he said by the end of the day, he's tired!  

  

One of the Yahoo! crochet groups I'm on started a new challenge - a doily a week from a book called "99 Little Doilies".  So far, so good - I have the first two done, and the third one on the hook.....but it's due by tomorrow, so, we'll see.  The doilies are all by one designer, who puts a lot of texture in her doilies - a little different than the usual doily.  I haven't picked up thread for a doily in a couple of years (and actually finished the doily), so this is a good change of pace for me.  

Speaking of a change of pace.....I babysat Nicholas last night.  It's been a couple of months, I think, since I saw him last, and he's really picking up speed in his language.  (He was delayed in a couple of areas, speech being one of them.)  He is chattering up a storm now, not that I can understand him or anything....

I sewed up a toy bag for him, and threw in some new cars, and he was a happy camper part f the night.  He had a bit of a fit when Mom AND Dad left him (Chris drove Malorie over to the play that she's in and came back for a little while, and then left again to go see the play.  The second time he left threw Nicholas into a tizzy.)  We had a fairly long episode of unhappiness, but once he got through that, we had a good time.  His favorite movie right now is Cars, so we watched that a few time through.  He didn't go to sleep until after Mom and Dad got home, so hopefully he sleeps in for them this morning.  (I got in bed after midnight, and Alli did NOT sleep in for me.....)

Here's Nicholas playing with his new cars, trying desperately not to go to sleep.....

I spent last week in San Diego for a LaserPro conference - very informative, and, like most trips, had its ups and downs.  I tried posting to the blog from my e-mail while I was there, but it wasn't the most successful post.  I could e-mail pictures in, but the text didn't go through, and I don't have access to my e-mail on my Kindle, so....I need to work on that more.

The trip down was uneventful - flying our of Sac to San Diego is a pretty quick flight.  I did get one photo from the air.....

The hotel wasn't the greatest, but the staff was exceptional - I swear if you stood still too long somewhere, someone was asking if you needed help (no, just trying to remember where I was going.....) The layout was a bit confusing, but mostly, it was just me.  I had a little balcony that overlooked the pool area, and the weather was perfect for sitting outside.

Thursday evening, I was out on the balcony enjoying the weather, and decided to go grab some dinner.  I had noticed emergency vehicles across the street from the hotel, but figured there was an accident or something on I-8.  Nope.   When I came into the room, I noticed that a piece of paper had been slid under the door.  The 'accident' that I saw was actually a ruptured water pipe, and the hotel had no water.  Bummer!  Oh well, they'll fix it, and I'll get dinner later.  I turned on the news, and there was a view from a helicopter that looked very familiar.  Yep, there was an aerial shot of the view from my window.  

It wasn't "just a water pipe" that ruptured, it was a water main, and I-8 was closed, due in part to water, but also because there was now a huge sink-hole. There had been three other line breaks that day, and they think that this break was caused by the pressure from the other breaks.  Not a good day for the water company!  Maybe they wouldn't get it fixed as fast as I thought!  Bummer!  The whole "Hotel Circle" was out of water, which meant no restaurants in the vicinity were open either.  I did have the option of going out for dinner, but, since I had had a large lunch (thanks to the conference - they kept us well fed) I wasn't that hungry.  I always bring snacks with me when I travel, so I was forced to have a dinner of cookies. So sad!

I also did my first Uber trip - I hooked up with a lady from Arkansas and went to Mission Beach (both of us were nervous about trying Uber by ourselves - we've heard the "don't accept a ride from strangers" too many times, I think.  We walked and talked for about 3 hours, I think, and then went back to the hotel for dinner.We both got some good photos.  I do love the beach in Southern California.....

San Diego trip

I can get a photo to post via email, but not the rest of the post.....

Here's a picture of the beach in San Diego, more later.....

How not to start your day at a conference.....putting the lid on your coffee wrong, and spilling coffee down your front the very first thing.   What a way to start the day!   Luckily I wasn't wearing white.  And I didn't get it on my shirt (much).  Other than that, a good day!  Lots of networking and  watching up on the changes to the world of banking regulations.   I did get down to Olde Towne San Diego last night and had a good dinner.  It is definitely a tourist trap, but the food was good.  Tonight I'm staying in and watching TV.  We had a reception after the meeting today, and I'm peopled out.  Tomorrow is another day......

Happy birthday to me!!!  I got up to a nice card and present......okay, a snarky card - the best kind - and a present....the card:

The present:

I stole this photo from Whiskeytown National Park's Facebook page.  Alex and I were supposed to go kayaking yesterday morning, and here is a "now" photo vs. "normal sunny day" photo of the lake.  We didn't go kayaking.......

I got up this morning at 5:30, and checked the temps outside.  The app on my phone said 90 degrees.  Hmmm - must not be updating, I'll check the weather station.  Yes, the app was wrong, we were only 87 degrees....at 5:30 in the morning!  About that time, I heard the air conditioner kick on - at 5:30 in the morning!  I'm done with summer!!!  Not only is it hot, it is still so smokey you can see the smoke in the air just looking across the street.

One step closer on the quilt - I made up one center block all the way through, just to see how it worked out.  (Nothing like doing a bunch of them all wrong, all at once....I've had a lot of issues with this quilt - all by myself I have mis-cut and mis-sewed a lot!)  I started sewing the rest of the blocks yesterday, but did't get very far. I really like the quilt. I still have to put together more of the border pieces.  I need 92 modified flying geese, and I think I have about 70 done.

Last weekend, Alex had a 'going away' party - Jeff and Wes came over for dinner, and Jeff spent the night.  (Alex is leaving the 10th for a year of school in Japan....)  While Jeff, the body builder, was here, I enlisted his help moving furniture around.  I have a couple of couches slated to move out with Dawn that were sitting in my computer room.  Since I had Ralph take some of the furniture I had from Mom's to the consignment store, there was room in the garage for them....if someone else moved them.  Woohoo!  Cheap labor!  (All it took was a couple of burgers!)  Once the couches were out, I had them bring in the bookcase from Mom's and put it in the computer room.  Then, I rearranged my sewing room!  (Actually, Ralph and Alex rearranged it while I was at work.....I just fussed with the details after the fact.)  Now, I have room to put my project board back up.

My current project:

And my new arrangement - I still need to fuss with the bookcase - it needs some stuff put on it - and NOT sewing stuff - decorative stuff!  I'm going to live with the current arrangement for a while, and see what needs to be adjusted.  I'm already jotting down a few idea.

  

Floods in Texas and fires in California - yes, it's summer time again......

We have a couple of big fires in the area - Weaverville and Dunsmuir - that are causing heavy smoke in the valley.  Oh, and did I mention that we are having record breaking heat too? (and it takes a lot of heat to break records in Redding.....)  It was 112 yesterday when Alex and I were running around in town.  Add the heat to air you can see and taste.....yuck!

These pictures were taken Thursday morning on my way to work, the first day of the fire outside of Weaverville.  So far, not a lot of containment, and it's headed for Junction City.