Spring Has Sprung!

 It's true, Spring has sprung here. I went out today to get some pictures for you.

South Amherst Common (North End), also known as Fiddlers' Green

Hampshire College President's House

The pink tree below was on the way to the Post Office

South East Street, on the South Amherst Common

Old barn in the back is on Shays St.

And we end with what Spring epitomizes: hope. This is the about-to-bloom azalea near my front door.

Enjoy your visual feast!

Home Again, Home Again

 

April 8

Jiggety jog! Yes, April 7 was the day I came home to Amherst, Massachusetts. We are supposed to get into the 70s today (April 9) but getting back to the 50s next week. It's New England -- we never really know what to expect.

I did not expect to be greeted by so many happy daffodils. Arriving at night, after 11 p.m., I didn't take time to look. The next morning, I was delighted to see them.

Before I forget, I took this picture of the tall roses near Mom's house in Palm Springs. They get taller every year. I think they are about 10 feet tall.

April 9

Nancy and I decided to take a walk on the bike trail. We began behind her condo in Amherst and walked to Hadley (about 2.5 miles). Here are a couple of views.

I couldn't resist: I had to get some pansies. See them on the porch? At least the paler daffs in front hide the ugly stump. I have to work on that.

April 12

Today Nancy and I decided to walk at the other end of the Norwottuck Bike Trail. We entered in South Amherst. Nancy calls it "fancy" and I guess it is because not only is there a parking lot, but also there are signs with history and a port a potty. (Nothing like that at our usual route.)

The beavers have created a huge haven for themselves. I would say the pond is about 2.5 acres parallel to the bike trail, which is paved. The width is maybe a half acre in spots, smaller in other areas. There were at least five beaver hutches. One looked to be four or five feet tall; the others were smaller. We didn't see any beavers -- I thought there must be many of them but maybe it was siesta time.

The Town had to put wire cages around pipes which drain the water under the bike trail to the other side. Before that, the water was rising so high due to the beavers' dams, that it was almost flooding out the bike trail. The water is now a couple of feet below the trail.

One of the smaller beaver condominiums

You can see all of the trees killed by the water. Here's another beaver domicile.

Mr. Canada Goose having a leisurely swim.

Heron

Mrs. Canada Goose napping on her nest.

Goose butt. Mr. Goose went for a snack.

Nothing exciting has been happening. I bought groceries the second day I was here. I haven't done any fancy cooking. I'm trying very hard to lose the extra weight that I gained in Palm Springs. It must have been the wine ... The house still needs washing outside but it's supposed to rain and I don't want to let the solution just wash off and not do any good.

I have been working on a new quilt but it's not far enough along to show you any pictures yet. I have a whole bunch of squares that I made while in Palm Springs that I have to figure out how to arrange them.

I just realized today that I forgot to buy decaf k cups. So I reloaded my reusable k cups with decaf. Although I was a bit perkier with caffeinated coffee, lol!

And that's about it for now. I wish you all good health and a dry mask. (My seasonal allergies are making me dribble into my mask. Yuck! I'm constantly washing masks. Thank goodness, Emily gave me a bunch.)

Cheers!

Floating through My Head

 As you probably have figured out by now, there is often a lot floating through my head. Most of it is not of interest to others, but here's a dump of thoughts and experiences.

It's heating up on the desert -- who would have guessed? It's supposed to go to 102 F. tomorrow (Easter Sunday). Speaking of which, there has been, in my opinion, an inordinate amount of nasty "jokes" on FaceBook around Palm Sunday and the Resurrection. I'm not a prude and I can take a good joke, but I do know that these kinds of "jokes" (slurs, really) could not be made about Judaism or Islam, etc. Are we all so angry that it comes out no matter what?

But back to the heat. LeeAnne and I cooled off yesterday with Popsicles by John Cerny. 

After visiting Popsicles, we went to the Cathedral City Art Walk which will be held every Friday. There were nine galleries and live music outside of Frank's Italian bakery. It was a bit warm, but luckily the galleries had air conditioning.

I especially enjoyed meeting Kurt Glowienke who explained his technique to me in detail. I was fascinated by his paintings which included background paint of many layers, including applied rice paper. All was topped by a crackling medium which created impressive crackling effects according to the thickness of application.

Andree B. Carter (mixed media artist) and I had a lovely conversation about her paintings which included needlepoint and other items stitched into ripped canvases. One fabric looked like glittery chicken wire which covered other fabric and all was imbedded in a 'hole' in her layered canvas. 

La Chica Art seems to be having a bit of an identity crisis because her card does not have one artist's name, but refers to Island Tribe. So maybe there's more than one artist. But as soon as I walked in, the one finished painting jumped out to me saying, "I am a big fan of Hopper." Kathleen Struckoff was amazed that I saw this and mentioned someone else had said something similar. She had an unfinished work in the corner (wet paint and all) and it was from a photo of a famous diner and Cadillac in Arizona in the same Ed Hopper style. They are terrific paintings. If you want to register for a lottery for a free painting, go to: https://linktr.ee/wintheprize and click on Island Tribe. To follow: @islandtribe-&@lachicaart. Way to make it difficult for people to see your art!! 

Here's the website for LaChica Art (really, I looked it up:  https://www.kathleenstrukoff.com/

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Dinner at Santorini's Greek Restaurant was yummy. We had the indoor dining to ourselves, which was fabulous! I got the mixed grill which turned out to be enough for three people! Yes, that whole big salad went along with it. There were chicken and beef kabobos, meatballs, shredded chicken, shaved lamb, pita bread with hummus, tzatziki sauce and the giant salad.

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On Thursday, Mom and I went to the Palm Springs Art Museum for the first time in over a year. We had timed tickets and they took our temperature by having us lean into a camera without a mask. My temp. was 97.7 which is my usual. 

Outside of the museum. I call this Hope.

Online Art Auction: April 9 through April 16.

The 'new' exhibit is Agnes Pelton, Desert Transcendenalist. I am not a big fan of modern art, but there were a few that I liked. 

I am really sorry to report that I neglected to drill this artist's name into my head. The picture below shows what you see when you look into the sphere below it. This piece is about 10 feet tall. There were some people clustered around it so I didn't look for the tag. Sorry.

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Spring is a-coming in. With it, come the black flies. Here's The Black Fly Song by Bob van Vliet:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjLBXb1kgMo

He's talking about North Ontario (Canada, not California), but Amherst has a fair share. Every year, my daughters would get what I called 'black fly fever. They would get welts from the bites and mild flu like symptoms. One year, Deb got bitten under her eye and it looked as if there were a golf ball under her eye. 

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I finished binding a happy table topper.

Front

Back

I have to finish binding these potholders. Hand binding is slow.

Hand quilting, however, is even slower. I think I need sharper needles. I definitely need some bandaids for my fingers. (The back of the needle is peeling off the inside skin of my naughty finger.)

Finally, this is beginning to feel like the never-ending blog, isn't it? A couple of weeks ago, we went to see the Wildlights at the Living Desert. Much of the lights were the same as at Christmas two years ago, so I shall leave you with one of my faves. Meep, meep.

Cheers! Be happy and well!