A Day at the Zoo

My daughter and I made a day trip to the Fresno Chaffee Zoo.
Here are a few of the animals we saw...

And here is how we recorded them for posterity...

Well, I guess they won't win any awards, but we did have a really fun time hanging out together and giggling about our artistic renderings.

The Last Piece

We took our first family road trip in the autumn of 1999.
A road trip from California to Alaska.
We had $2000 and 4 weeks of vacation time and planned to see and do it all.
We wandered the ALCAN (Alaska-Canadian Highway) at a rather leisurely pace stopping anywhere and everywhere we felt like stopping. We toured caverns and National Parks and historical sites. We photographed sweeping vistas and landmarks and tourist-y kitch. We got out first glimpses of the Northern Lights, and of moose and of herds of caribou.
And I bought my first piece of fabric sold by the meter. (We Americans, of course, are not into the metric system. All of that logical incrementation is just too much for our brains to handle!)
It was a pretty little burgundy rose bud on a butter colored background and I used it to made my youngest daughter a Sunday dress with a pretty crochet collar. It was a favorite of hers and she wore it for years.

The scraps, of course, went straight into the scrap basket and became quilting supplies.
Over the years, little bits have gone into many, many quilts.
There have been multiple occasions when I thought that I had used all of that fabric up, but then a new piece would appear from somewhere. And each time, the new piece would be even smaller than the piece before...some little snippet stuck to the backside of a larger piece of fabric in the basket.

But this time...this time I am certain that this is THE LAST piece. The end of an era.
It was hardly even big enough to work into anything (about a 1" square), but I just could not let it go. So I stitched it onto the tip of a string block and it became part of the 2015 String-Along.

And the rest, as they say, is history.

As a side note, we came home from that trip with $80 in our pockets. Today, I don't even think we could buy the gas to get there and back (in a big ol' pick up truck with a camper on it) for $2000!

Wyoming

We just took a little vacation up to the great state of Wyoming. And as we made our way up through Utah and then Jackson and even Yellowstone...I decided that I didn't really like Wyoming. It was so...desert-y, and sage-y, and dusty, and dry. I am not really a desert person, and I was so surprised to find out that Wyoming is pretty much a desert state. Who knew?? (Well, probably everyone but me!)

But then we came to Cody, and something in me changed. Cody felt different. After we had been there for a few days I realized that I had completely fallen in love with that little town. With the community and the landscape and the mom-and-pop-ness of it. With the wildness and the western-ness and culture of it.

It made me feel small and safe and free all at the same time.

The sky was so very big, and even the clouds looked to be as big as a whole cities. There was a great vastness to the open space...it made me feel very small. Like a mere speck on this grand creation we call Earth.

The mountains were big and rolling and many, and they surrounded the town on all sides like a fortress. The legend of William F Cody was alive and well, and it seemed to pour out of everywhere. And it made me feel safe... to be inside a fortress guarded by the world-renowned marksman known as Buffalo Bill.

The sunshine was brilliant. The fresh air seemed to be without limit and the wildness lay just beyond view. And I felt as free as I have ever felt.

It all made me feel closer to God, and I am not sure why.

But on our last day there, we visited the Buffalo Bill Center of the West. A movie about Bill Cody was played somewhere along the way and I was surprised to hear him say the same thing...closer to God.
He said it like this...

The moment [my] show closes, I hike out to the mountains. I like to get close to nature. That’s the only real way to live, after all. The [city dweller] doesn’t know what a true man is like. He hasn’t any chance to know. He never takes a full, deep breath; he never gets his lungs full of air. He can’t do it in [his] low altitude. When I get back in the mountains, in those grand temples that God built, I feel like another being, and I say, as I draw in a full breath of life, “I’m certainly a man!”

I believe that a man gets closer to God out there in the big, free West. It gives him a chance to expand, to know himself, to think.

* Charles Darnton, “’Buffalo Bill’ Cody at Close Range,” unidentified newspaper, April 27, 1907

...and I couldn't agree more.

Travel Tips

I L-O-V-E NYC. It is one of my favorite travel destinations.
The architecture, the museums, the food, Broadway, Times Square, Ellis Island, the shopping.........
I love it so much I have even toyed with the idea of living there for a year.
This, of course, will never happen but I like to think about it.

So when I came across this the other day, travel tips for NYC tourists, I just had to share it with you!

And now you know!

Getting Ready

It pays to have a professional contractor hanging around.

Just waiting to help me put a market booth together.
He loves it.
Kinda.
Maybe.

But I keep him happy with lots of....

Time to smell the roses (in Portland at the International Rose Test Garden).

And more importantly...

VooDoo Doughnuts (also in Portland at VooDoo Donuts, of course!)
And yes, that is a doughnut topped with Captain Crunch cereal.
Only the best for my guy.
The professional contractor.
And market booth builder extraordinaire!

V is for...

Vacation!!

Who doesn't love a little vacay?!

I know I do!

Recommended Reading

Here are a few books I came across while on vacation that looked particularly interesting. I am going to be checking out Amazon.com pronto!

Day 12: The Norman Rockwell Museum

We stopped in to see some of Norman Rockwell's works.
I love his art. I love that he portrayed Americans as Americans saw themselves. I love the wholesomeness of it. The patriotism. The heroism. The colors. The expressions. The mischief. The sincerity. The young and the old. The seashore and the country. And I love that you can walk into one of his exhibits and know that you will not see anything morbid or naked. I know that that is not everyone's preference, but it is mine.

Freedom of Worship, 1943.

Cobbler studying Doll's Shoe, 1921

Girl Reading the Post, 1941.

Facts of Life, 1951.
This one was particularly hilarious to me. That look on the boy's face is priceless!

Going and Coming, 1947.

My guy liked the story these two told.
Fishing Trip, They'll be coming back next week, 1919.

The catch, 1919.

 

Family Home from Vacation, 1930.

Vacation's Over, 1921.

Mother Tucking Children into Bed, 1921.

Girl at Mirror, 1954.

A little kid has lots of heroes, 1961.

Saying Grace, 1951.

The gossips, 1948.

Day in the life of a little girl, 1952.

Day in the life of a little boy, 1952. It was not part of the museum's collection but you can see it here.

And somehow, I cannot find the pictures of our favorites!!
So, my favorite is called Hallowe'en (1920) and you can see it here.

And my guy loved The Shiner (1953). See it here.

Day 12: Old Sturbridge Village

Here are a few of the sights from the Old Sturbridge Village, a living history village filled with all kinds of information and period collections.(1790 to 1840 New England.)

The fabric and notion selections of the day.

From the garden.
These lobed tomatoes are heirlooms called Big Red. We spotted them at the minister's house. According to the docent, tomatoes were a curiosity of the day and no one, not even the dogs, would eat them.

 

For the kiddies.

 

From the boat. Yes, I got on a boat. It was a little pontoon boat. And I may or may not have sang a line or two of Little Big Town...

Another butter mold to inspire.

A little applique. Gorgeous!

A grinding stone.

 

And finally, my guy as a Yank.