The Best Laid Plans ...

 Having completed this star, it occurred to me that my all red and white future quilt has one sticking point. What if the red dye runs? Not wanting to lose the use of this star, I set out to pre-wash the star and the other 90 pre-cut red and white squares. I also had one 2 yard length of all red fabric.

I bought a delicate fabric bag and some color catchers and a drying rack. After carefully loading the pre-cut squares (five inch squares, a few four inch squares) into the bag, I put it all into the washer with a few clothing items. 

Unfortunately, someone must have left the zipper open on the delicates bag. I had to fish the 8 million squares out of the washer. And since they were not only wet, but also crumpled, I decided to iron them dry. I did put the length of fabric into the dryer to get benefit of the fabric softener.

While everything was in the washer, I assembled a new drying rack that leans up against the wall (taking up less space). It didn't occur to me that it needed assembly. Duh. Anyway, I thought, how hard can this be? It wasn't hard, just a tad annoying.

Masks drying; soon to be joined by hand washed fat quarters of fabric.

Finally, having finished the ironing, I get the fabric out of the dryer. It is covered in white threads from the fraying of the squares in the washer. It took me about 15 minutes to pick off the threads. Cathy V. and I used to joke that, 'If you want to find a quilter in a room, look for the one with threads all over her clothing.' At this point, with no piecing nor any quilting done, my stomach alarm went off.

Mom and I had a lovely jaunt to the Windmill Market & Cafe north of Palm Springs (near the windmill farm). The following flowers are taken in their lovely patio which has two fountains bubbling and two cats wandering around.

The other cat is a short hair orange one unlike this floofy cat.

 

We have finished season one of Your Honor on Showtime. It's with Bryan Cranston. It's about a judge in Louisiana whose son has some trouble and the judge does everything he can to protect his son, Cranston is a great actor.

Today, we started a new series called City on a Hill (also on Showtime) with Kevin Bacon. It's set in Boston in the early 90s. Some incidents are based on real events and Bacon plays a fast and loose FBI agent. There is a lot of racial prejudice and shady cops -- and it seems to be a fairly accurate picture of the times. The Boston accents are pretty good too.

Tomorrow (Sunday) Mom and I are going to brunch. I can't wait!

Have a great Sunday and an even better week. Cheers!

Happy Post Valentine's Day!

 

I always thought fruit was female, but ...

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A little palm tree primer for my friend, Naomi, and you. I was explaining that we had high winds and the bark that flies off the palm trees can be dangerous if you are hit with it. 

Needless to say, my shoe is for a size reference.

We continued talking about palm trees and I mentioned how I never knew that these picturesque palms that you see have had their beards trimmed off. And, as you know, these trees are wicked tall. Mom informed me that guys go up in a cherry picker and then they shimmy up to the top (I assume carrying wicked big clippers). She has read of guys falling out of the trees. 

So ... apparently, Downtown Palm Springs has decided for a neatly trimmed beard that people can barber from the ground.

This was the day last week when we had a lovely lunch at Las Cazuelas. While waiting for our socially distanced table on the patio, I took a few snaps of the interior.

There is another larger bar, inlaid with lovely tiles, around the corner from here but I was following the hostess and didn't stop to take pictures.

Nope, no food pictures -- I scarfed it up too quickly!

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Weird fact of the day:

The pineapple plant is closely related to certain species of carnivorous plants, and actually has digestive enzymes in its flesh. Workers at pineapple canning factories lose their fingerprints because the juice literally eats them away.  (Ed. note: Pineapple is part of your meat tenderizer. )

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The next day, the wind increased at night. We had gusts of 50 to 60 mph. The whistling sounds were strange -- very high pitched -- and at times sounded more like a scream. I found it unsettling. Leeanne was not amused since the fruit trees were dropping numerous lemons and oranges onto her roof making thunderous thuds. Her outdoor clock blew off and shattered on the patio.

Here's what the pool looked like yesterday.

The winds are supposed to come back tonight. 

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Did a little more.

I think I have enough fabric to do one more of the above. Not sure if I will.

Left over from the blue and yellow of last year. (It was in pieces.)

The next ones were on their way to becoming a star, but I goofed up so they may end up being potholders. I have 196 pre-cut squares. One hundred squares are whites with varying patterns; ninety-six are reds (light, medium, and dark patterns). I'm thinking of making an all red and white quilt. 

Don't ask. I thought it might be easier with pre-cuts because I'm not very good at cutting. It's not. But we shall see what we end up with. 

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We went to 5 and Under today. When I first heard of it, I thought it was a warm clothing store (forgetting where I was). Everything is $5 or less. Look at the neat laptop case I got! ($5)

In case you need one, 5 and Under has a heated eyelash curler. It looks like a miniature curling iron. Personally, I don't think that's a good idea. Then again, I don't think putting botox into your lips, making you look like a duck, is a good idea either. But plenty of people do it.

That's all I got. Cheers!

There Goes the Neighborhood!

 The woodpeckers winged away the hummers. (Well, they don't have elbows.)

Above and below taken through the window with a screen on it.

Don't worry, the hummingbirds are back in full force. Mom has to fill the feeders every other day. I don't know that I would be as dedicated as she.

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Thank you, Emily for the great birthday present! I have been following Fiona, the baby hippo at the Cincinnati Zoo, for years now. She's still cute!

And thank you, Deb, for the wonderful "Another Fu#king Coloring Book!" It's very rude and brash and I love it! It will be great when I get home to my zillions of colored markers that I got many years ago at the Crayola Crayon factory. I wonder if Emily remembers that visit.

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On a walk around the neighborhood.

I was really looking at the tree shapes, but if you're interested this place is solar and for sale.

Mom and I walked a different way from our usual around the block route and down a side street it soon became apparent that this was an 'old growth' neighborhood as all of the cacti and plantings were huge.

I began to feel as if I were in an episode of "Honey, I Shrunk the Kids."

Mom, always the good Trooper, allowed me to use her as a size reference for this agave. There is no trick of perspective here -- it really is that big.

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This tree is outside of Mom's big patio which is a common area of green and plantings. It blooms once a year and the blossoms only stay for a short time. I'm sorry that the close up is first, but I'm too lazy to juggle it around. You'll have to cope.

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I've been experimenting with a new (to me) type of block. I love the end result, but the execution is a bit on the intensive side. You start with a plain backing fabric and stack two strips, sewing a seam. Then you press it open. Repeat a zillion times. There's another block, but I'm too lazy to look for that picture. I'm thinking of cutting these in half. Eventually, I will float them in black -- but all of my black fabric (and I have a lot!) is in Amherst. So this is another long term project.

In case you are wondering, I have to do the binding on Hey Diddle Diddle. It's sort of like when you are reading a good book and you don't want it to end. But I will get to that soon. I may have to mail it back because I don't know if it will fit into a suitcase. 

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We went to IHop for breakfast! Every once in a while, Mom needs her IHop pancakes. I got this steak and cheese omelet. I had to ask them to leave the hash browns out of the omelet. It hadn't dawned on me that they put them IN the omelet, lol. Luckily, the waitress asked.

Had to take the mask off to eat the omelet!

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Exploring the Wellness Park

Century Plant. It blooms once about every 30 or 40 years.

Sign Art commissioned to honor the Agua Caliente Indians, the first residents of the area. No, they didn't explain what that word means. They did say that there are 13 signs, but they didn't say where. We saw one other of these installations in the small park. I assume the others are elsewhere. 

There are other exercise stations; this one included a recumbent bike.

Interesting Grass

I liked the lamps.

Close up is below.

Close up of the 'flowers' of the above tree. These balls are fuzzy looking; I'm not sure if it's a flower or a fruit. From a distance it looks like flowers. The bees loved this tree!

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We have a pair of bunnies that have a set routine. I can see them from the kitchen window every morning. They make their way munching the grass past 3 or 4 patios. I have watched them grow into teenagers. A question came to mind: do bunnies mate for life?

"Finding a friend for your altered (spayed or neutered) rabbit is one of the most rewarding things you can do for both of you. In the wild, rabbits mate for life and in captivity, the same applies." from Bright Eyes Sanctuary.

The next entry down in my Google search, however, is from www.mammal.org.uk:

"In groups with more than one female and more than one male, rabbits are not monogamous. Lower ranking rabbits may be forced to breed in single entrance breeding "stops" away from the main burrows where they and their young are more vulnerable to predators."

So there you have it -- two answers for the price of one. 

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Since I am all out of things to report and I really should try to sleep more (this is one of those went-to-the-br-and-cannot- sleep-again nights), I will leave you with a colorful sunset from last year.

Cheers!

The Hummers Are Eating Us Out of House & Home!

 

There are at least five birds here slurping down the sugar water that Mom concocts for the little hummers. These hummingbirds have decided that this is the good stuff and Mom has to refill two or three times in a week! It sure is a difference from last year when one hummingbird chased all of the others away.

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In an effort to boost the local economy, Mom and I went to have lunch on Phillippe's outdoor patio. It was breezy at times.

My lunch was yummy. I did find out the hard way, however, that it was not a strip of roasted sweet pepper, but a strip of roasted jalapeno pepper with seeds. My mouth was on fire for a bit. 

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It was only last year that I was introduced to kumquats. We have a tree of them over by the pool.

Kumquat Tree

Kumquat Tree Close Up

Soup Can Is Size Reference

They taste like mini oranges with a tang. You eat the skin and all.

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We went for chai in Palm Desert. Here's the view there.

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Here's the center of Hey Diddle Diddle which I hand quilted. I think it gives it motion. To me it looks as if the Cow is jumping over the moon. I will machine quilt the rest. Anybody out there pregnant? Let me know if you want to buy the quilt.

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Here's some color for those of you who have just received 9 to 15 inches of snow -- you know who you are!

Orange Flowers Hedge

Neighbor's Lantana

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From the Netflix Movies I Have Loved Corner:

White Tiger -- this is set in India and it tells the journey of a young man who lives in grinding poverty with his family. It becomes intolerable for him to support the whole family, headed by his grandmother as a 'slave driver,' and he creates a position for himself with a wealthy family. What follows documents his treatment by his peers and his employers. This movie not only illuminates a whole different world, but it demonstrates the cultural differences between the bottom and top strata of economics.  There is a lot of drama here.

The Dig -- Set in England, and based on a true story, this movie tells us (in a dramatic way) of an excavation of a burial mound on a well to do woman's property. Ralph Finnes is the only actor's name I can remember and he's marvelous, of course, but so are the other actors. In particular, we were taken with the little boy who seems to be about 11 years old. This is great with no violence and no swearing and only a hint of sex!

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We went to Aldi yesterday so now it's time for marathon cooking. First I have to find some recipes that are -- different. I'm tired of the same old thing. Although I am starting with chicken soup, which is a crowd pleaser. O.k., Mom is the crowd but she's all that matters. Right?

Virtual Hugs and Kisses to you all! Ciao.