I Made a Ca-to-Vie

 I finally got my Magic Cloth out in the sunshine...well, with the sun coming through, so you can see the hidden parts...the magical parts. I hung it on the clothesline and snapped pix through the window!

 flying geese emerging from the fork in the road

 one of the first weaves I did was on another fabric, so there are many layers here, not sure I like it that way, but it is that way now.

 the really bright area is the reflection on the window back onto the cloth.

 the really bright green is from Grace and came along with the Hawaiian flowers, so they are either summer leading to autumn, or fall into summer....depending on how literal you want to be.

 many paths....the top one in the middle is the newest...I think it's done now....

a fly came by, i don't know why, perhaps he's sly.

Cat on Duty

from dans chair

from my chair to the right of dan

first zoom through window

zoom zoom...zzzzzzzzzz

alert

A cats job is never done.

This and That

 Lily had no fear riding on the back of the bike with either me or her daddy in front.

 College Girl was home all r!ight.

 A leather purse for me!

 There were many museums she went to, she is starting a life list. The assignment was to paint what caught your eye, so bugs it was.

 Other assignments.....

 including a panoramic of Florence.

 It seems I was the easiest to find gifts for....including personalized scissors.  Steph couldn't convey my personal stylized Capricorn symbol,VJ, to the Italian man who did the etching.

 This is the outside cover of the little book shown above.  They learned the marbling on paper from a...master?  Not sure what his 'title' would be, have to ask Steph.

 

This is a cloth she brought me, hand dyed.  I am looking forward to stitching it to something...or maybe wear it as a scarf like it's intended for.

More Pix From Our Vacation

Later Edit....So I need to add that some of these pix were repeats...sheesh....

do you see the alien? it overlooks the Painted Hills area of the John
Day National Park

I really love a good stack of rocks....

taken so as not to forget the name....this rock formation is before the painted ones.

Painted Hills

there is even green in this one

like i said, i love a good rock.

When On Vacation...

found on a blog, click picture to link

click picture to link

so....I ID'ed the bird I saw in Crane Prairie Reservoir, Oregon.  A Townsend's Solitaire.  I found the first picture here, but I needed to see it in different positions to be sure it was the same.  When I saw them, a grouping of 5 or so, they were moving through the trees, doing bird things.  Turns out they were all after the chunk of hotdog I tossed away from the table for the meat bees. Once the bravest of the group swooped in for the morsel, the rest of them all flew off after him/her.  Another bird I heard, but never saw, was possibly a Raven. It sounded 'larger' than the crows sound here at home.  I saw chipmunks, including the fellow who climbed the screen door.  Squirrels, small, like the chip's. A deer, female, and her twins. And ducks across the lake.  I don't remember seeing animals, other than the dead skunk, anywhere else.

CollegeGirl

is coming home today from her adventures in Europe...well, mostly Italy.  She should be boarding her plane in Philly [had to change flights from EU] right now and flying backwards...well....time wise she will be coming back in time....

CollegeGirl on a Canal

So College Girl sends an email that just exudes energy! The Biennale.  I can see that museums will be like a birders life list* for this child of ours....wait til I show her this exhibit at a local spot...a jy-nor-mas** Rubik's Cube!  

Mom! Venice is beautiful! Love the canals and boats and gondolas and water and everything here! We went to the Biennale today and I spent over six hours there and that was only one half of it! Next half tomorrow and then Murano (glass making island) sometime this weekend. Look up the Biennale, it's huge. Pronounced bee- en-all-ay.



*i have a bird to look up for my list, so glad i thought of it.  one i saw in oregon.

**trying a new spelling.....

College Girl Still in Europe

Got this message a few days ago, so she leaves in a few hours for the city of canal's...wonder what it's real nic name is?? Or is Europe above that??  They are a bit older than we are...


The beach is good!  Pisa today and we leave for venice on Wednesday!

Have Trailer Will Travel...

We went on vacation.

My backseat companion, Lily.

 My feet up on an improvised foot stool.

 Sewing in my lap.

 Son driving.

 Pin cushion behind husbands head.

 The Sisters mountain's in Oregon.

 Our first campsite at Crane Prairie Resort.

 Totally modern camping.  No more plugging the hair dryer into a tree.

 Lily wasn't too sure about the fire.

 Husband getting his relax on.

 Wake Butte.

 Back to Crane Prairie...this is the lake.

 Off to the next item on the half assed travel plans.

The Painted Hills.  Fantastic!

 The next campground was awesome!  Called Clyde Holliday State Park. Every site had bushes and trees and grass.  But no real water to play in, the John Day river was a bit shallow.  And it was hot hot hot.

 Looks like a double exposure with the camera reflected in the window.

 Since it was so hot in the eastern half of the state, and we weren't having good luck with campgrounds, other than the first one and the looks of the second, we decided to head back out to the coast.  Since it was supposed to be a nice weekend out there, the Oregon beach campgrounds were full.  So we went back to WA and ended up in Westport.

So here is what we found there....

 look closer at this cop....

 He was a fake!  Sitting right outside the city offices.  Slick.

 Lily wasn't going to get those giant waves get to her...no way.

All in all we learned a few things about our older travelling desires...they aren't the same as they were 10 years ago.  Duh!  We should have stayed at the first place in the first place.  That was where I got to enjoy one day of 6. The truck backseat area is more comfortable than the front, thank goodness, or I would have been bitching, not just sighing.  Did I mention it was HOT!!!??