Only Mad Dogs and English Men ...

It's best to start by going all the way to the bottom of this blog and start with Cinco de Mayo. Then go up to the next date.

May 23. I think this blog is cursed. It's never going to be finished!

The dogs are fine and I find it more efficient to sleep on the couch at their house. That way when they want breakfast and outside at oh dark thirty, I'm already dressed. After they are fed and emptied, I toddle home (next door) and begin my day. It was kind of nice to have Shortie join me in snuggling since it's a bit chilly. It was in the 40s last night and 55 F. now. Welcome to New England weather!

Here's my latest accomplishment -- a baby quilt for a brand new baby boy. It's the first time I machine quilted a quilt on my machine, instead of sending it to a long arm quilter. It took me forever, partly because I didn't know what I was doing. Mostly, however, I had "bad thread." It was a brand new spool of cotton thread (not polyester) and it created a lot of loops on the underside. Cathy V., my technical advisor, figured it out. Thanks, Cathy!!

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May 22.  Back again -- two days later. For some reason, the darn computer (blog program?) wouldn't let me add any pictures. When you get down to the allium, that's where I had to stop after trying many ways and getting all kinds of error messages. I think "in order to serve me better" Microsoft did an update and everything has been fubar since. (I cannot get any sound on the videos on FaceBook, although it works on my phone.)

It is just gorgeous today and today is the first day of my dog sitting for the long weekend. Brownie (the really old beagle) and Shortie (a teenaged beagle) really like it when "Auntie Tina" dog sits because she's an easy touch for the dog treats. They have had their post prandial visit and the next will be after lunch. It's true, they don't care if I'm there, but I have discovered a new game on my phone that kept me busy. I like their rocking chair and I like to spend at least an hour with my furry friends.

May 20.  Since you know I'm not an English man, you know what part of the phrase in the title applies to me. And I'm not actually mad, as in annoyed, so ... I woke up at 6 a.m. as is my pattern lately, but I went back to bed and slept all the way to 10 a.m. Thus when it dawned on me I had a 'window chore' to do, it was fairly late. The chore was removing 8 million dead small beetle bodies. For some reason, they must have hatched in the well of the dining room window. That and cleaning the Raid residue off the window didn't take long.

But by then, the temperature was climbing and the earlier lovely breeze was not going to make the house comfortable any longer. (Yesterday it was 91 F. and I didn't have to turn on any a.c. because I went to Ann's and used hers!) It was time: I had to clean my trusty little window fan. I got out my favorite screw driver (with both heads in one) and got to work. Guess what? I still couldn't get the darn thing open. I have just spent oodles of time spraying the fan with Windex, which makes nice little mud balls that are really difficult to remove. I ended up using two butter knives as if they were chopsticks in order to stop the fan blade from revolving as I sprayed it. The whole thing is dripping in the sink. 

All of which brings me to: I will be doing grocery shopping in the Noonday sun. Tonight is put out the trash for tomorrow's pick up and I like to put the packaging from the meats in the trash right before pick up. When I get back with the groceries, I'll see if the fan still works. Yes, I was very careful to not soak the motor. [Editor's note: the fan works!! And it's clean!]

By the way, today (May 20) is World Bee Day. Be nice to your bees.

Okay, I'm back. I put all of the perishables away and I'll break up the big containers of meat later. It's down to 85 F. with very gusty winds.

 Here are some new blooms -- purple allium.

Happy Cinco de Mayo. May your chile con carne be to your liking and the mariachi in your kitchen be in tune.

I did it! I cleaned my sewing machine and it's a lot easier since I got these little screwdrivers. And I mean little -- they are about one inch tall. One is a flat head and the other is a phillips screwdriver. One of the women at The Lunch Bunch in Palm Desert had them. You get a flat metal solid triangle with your sewing machine toolkit but I find it particularly unwieldy. 

While rummaging around in my sewing room, I found the original ticket for my Featherweight sewing machine. It's a small Singer sewing machine made for travel and I had thought mine was from 1950 but the tag says it's a 1940 model. Wow! It's ten years older than I am. It's a good little machine with only a straight stitch, no fancy shapes. It's a workhorse. There are people who collect these Featherweights and I met a woman who has 14 of them. I'm assuming she has a really big room to store them. I also met another woman who had one painted (they are usually black and gold) teal. It cost her $700 for the paint job and she put it in a glass case so her grandchildren wouldn't scratch it. 

Deb and I had a great time in Cambridge viewing the paintings of the Sistine Chapel. The organizers of the exhibit had mounted really good photographs on canvas on an unseen metal framework. They were life sized which means really big as in about 10 feet tall and maybe 8 feet wide. Some such as Noah and the Ark were very wide, maybe 20 feet. Michelangelo certainly was enamored of the male figure. It was a lovely pop up exhibit and I enjoyed it a lot. Of course the experience was even better since Deb was there. Luckily, she walked me to my car in the underground garage. I couldn't find the blooming kiosk to pay my fee. She found it inside the mall, not inside the garage. Had I been alone, I would still be wandering around looking for it.

Deb is providing a size reference

Spring has sprung, sort of. It has been quite cool but is beginning to warm up this week. We did have an 87 degree day a couple of weeks ago, but then it went to the 40s, 50s, and today 70s. All of the blooming cherry trees and other flowering trees are in bloom (magnolias, Chinese weeping cherry, etc.) and I saw some lovely creeping phlox today. Of course, my allergies are a royal pain. So I broke down and bought some Claritin D. You have to show an ID and sign for it. The darn package only has 10 pills in it. They are either very optimistic or they just want you to be making many trips to CVS. I've already had my fill of trips there. (They missed refilling a prescription and I had to make two trips.)

I've also had my fill of the Post Office. Today I asked the postmistress (maybe she's not in charge, but she has a desk in the back) if when I put in the forwarding order to Palm Springs, does that mean they tell my bank and others that my address has changed. I'm being bedeviled with emails telling me that the post office has told them I have changed my address. Her answer: I don't know. Well, gollleee, if she doesn't know, who does?

Happy Tax Day!

 I'm happy because, believe it or not, I already have collected my federal refund. Since this is the first refund in years, I'm very happy!

My car being loaded in Palm Springs for transport to MA

I have been home seven days and those days have included one day when we were hotter than Palm Springs! It's so odd for me to go from a flannel nightgown and a sweater to shorts! Supposedly, next week will be in the 50s as opposed to the 83 degrees today.

The daffodils are still blooming their hearts out although I have discovered that the pale yellow ones wither and die very quickly vs. the deep yellow ones. In town, the cherry blossom trees and the occasional magnolia are in full bloom. Of course, the forsythia is in its brilliant yellow glory.

Picture taken standing in my neighbor's driveway to show their forsythia bushes. (Their swing is very comfy.)

Man, are those peepers loud! I just brought the trash out for tomorrow's pickup and the peepers are in full throated chorus. In case you don't know, peepers are little frogs looking for dates in the spring. I think there are a million of them because many critters, such as raptors, like to eat them. I am told they taste like chicken.

You think you have the best neighbors? Nope, I do.

I always get a welcome home bouquet! How wonderful is that?

The spring cleaning bug caught me and I still have a ways to go but I got to use my new steam cleaning mop on the kitchen floor and the floor is very happy (and clean). 

I have done a bit of work on the in-progress baby quilt. Yes, Leslie, I stitch ripped that seam with the wonky tension scribbly problem. I'm still thinking on the design and waiting for the fabric for the back. It's time for me to make some frankenbatting. (Frankenbatting: small pieces of batting stitched together to create one large piece. I usually hand stitch it because I find it therapeutic and it keeps some fuzz out of my sewing machine.)

It's raining for the second time. I hope this rain continues for more than the ten minutes of the last one. Amherst has a water ban on due to drought and the flowers and trees are very dry. We are allowed to water plants on Tuesdays and Thursdays but only the even side of the street on Tuesdays and odd house numbers on Thursdays. (Or maybe it's vice versa, I'll have to look that up.) At least I got the trash to the curb without getting wet!

Happy Spring!

Happy Spring!

 Thank you for the get well wishes from South Church! I got the card a couple of days ago and yes, the forwarded mail does take that long to reach me. Your get well wishes worked, I am fine!

I know that I'm a bit late for the Spring good wishes but I've been trying to keep hydrated. We have had weeks of hotter than normal weather. Yesterday and today we were at 101 F. Many heat records have been broken. Altogether now, it's a DRY heat and it's true today with only 6% humidity.

With the warmer weather, the desert changes in many ways. The cacti bloom as does the "human planted" flowers and citrus trees. (And the oleander hedges, bougainvillea, olives, etc. You get the idea.) Consequently, I am constantly bemoaning the fact that I do not have stock in kleenex.

For the past two nights, the local news has had a "It's springtime and the warmer than usual weather means the rattlesnakes are out to warm in the sun" feature story. Are these people farking crazy?! Who is going hiking in 100 plus degrees? 

And they are saying, 'You will hear the snake first. Just step around him.' I'm guessing if these people are out hiking (probably with only 4 ounces of water), they are also playing with their phone, checking their email or some other necessary thing. And the other major point, besides avoiding the snake (duh!) is this: remain calm, especially if bitten. Okaaay ... the chance of my remaining calm is about the same as my chances of being hiking on a mountain. Can you say zero?

Yes, it is true, my flight to Bradley is April 8th. I will miss Coachella by two days since it starts on April 10th. That's the rock concert(s) where thousands of people descend on the area to hear good music outdoors. (Last year, Taylor Swift was in the audience as a guest, not a performer.) It's always very hot and dusty, so I'm hoping it cools off a bit at least. 

Some people pay thousands of dollars to CAMP out on the grounds. Now that is my idea of hell. You zillions of people roaming around your tent day and night, the music (three stages I think, not sure) until 11 p.m., you have to know where the bathrooms are, and if you didn't bring enough water, it probably costs you $6 or more per bottle. Ugh. Coachella is followed by Stagecoach which is country and western music the following week. It's smaller but the locals are pretty stressed out with the traffic. Luckily, Palm Springs is on the outskirts so the people who stay in the hotels here are well heeled and have hired cars to transport them (Uber, Lyft, etc.).  

Since I have not really been out and about taking pictures, you will have to make do of "file footage" of a sunrise. This is taken from Mom's front door. The pool is on the right.

No, there's no snow on the mountains! 

I send you good wishes and happy thoughts. Today's Friday lunch is at Taco Asado and I'm looking forward to the salad in the edible bowl. There's enough for both lunch and supper so I don't have to worry about supper. It's summertime and the livin' is easy. (Okay, I know it's only spring but I've got the Porgy and Bess song in my head.) Cheers!

At a Loss for Words

 Yeah, I know -- I' m never at a loss for words. But ... real life is heavy, man, heavy. So I'll just go with my little narcissistic bubble.

On Saturday, February 8th, I went to help out at a quilting notions sale in Palm Desert. My typical back pain escalated so much that I left after only an hour instead of the two hours I had planned on. By 7:30 p.m. our good friend and angel, Eric, was depositing me at the ER. From there I spent 12 hours on a gurney in the hallway. Finally in a room, I had an elderly roommate (I can hear my mother's voice saying, 'You are elderly you know,') with dementia. I felt badly for her, but her loud arguments with the staff and her son were very upsetting, especially coupled with the other dementia patient screaming down the hall. The noise in the hallway was incredible. I was jangled.

I don't know on what day, maybe day 3, they moved me to a single room which was heaven. By then, however, I was with it enough to realize that I had someone waking me about every 15 minutes at night. I hadn't eaten since some toast at Noon on Saturday and they weren't letting me have even ice chips. I was thirsty! An I V of fluid isn't the same as a drink of water. It turns out they were trying to knock down an infection in the gall bladder so they didn't know when they could do the surgery. Thus nothing by mouth. Every time an I V bag emptied, they put on another one. On Feb. 12th, they took out my gall bladder. I was discharged on February 14. 

View at sunset from the good room.

I have made a new friend with Kevin, who was my home health aide for three days. He's an all around good helper if anyone local in the desert needs his services. He even carried my purse for me, noting that it was not in keeping with his color scheme. 

I want to thank everyone for your get well wishes and prayers. Thank you!!

Yesterday Cricket helped me ALL DAY bundling and labeling fabric pieces for a sale on March 7th. I couldn't have done it without her. Each piece of fabric had to be measured and each size was tied with a certain color of toule. The color indicated the price. This is how many we did.

We had a bit of a windy time on February 18 and 19. On the photo below you can see one of the many piles of palm tree "trash" that fell down.

Lots of fruit came down in the high winds.

On February 25th, Cricket and I went to El Paseo Drive in Palm Desert. This is equivalent to Rodeo Drive in Los Angeles. In other words, the baskets in one gallery were $1500. and one restaurant featured caviar and chips for $120. But we were on a mission to go to the Winston Pie shop for their opening day and then onto Mole, an upscale Mexican restaurant. We brought 3 mini pies home to taste and share. We had apple, cowboy (it was like a brownie with a fudgy center), and dark cherry. I really liked the cherry because it wasn't very sweet. But we were surprised when Cricket found a cherry pit. Luckily, she did not break a tooth. Later, after supper, Mom found another cherry pit! Again, thank God, she did not break a tooth. That was two pits in a mini pie about 4.5" across.

I wrote an email and they offered me and my friend a free latte. And the spokesperson said in her email, 'That's why we label the boxes, you may find a pit.' I took a picture of the box and it wasn't until I enlarged it that I saw their warning. 

On Friday, Feb. 27th, we celebrated three birthdays at lunch at Billy Reed's which is a restaurant with a huge menu. Everyone gave us cards with lottery scratch tickets. I may have won $10 but these things are complicated! Below is a picture of the cards that Cricket made for us using her incredible quilling skills. Mom's is on the left and mine is on the right. I didn't get to see Dottie's card, but one year Cricket put a parrot on it. It looked like Dottie's pet parrot. Thank you for all of the birthday good wishes!

Today, March 1, it was 95 F. and that is a record breaker. It's never this hot at this time in the winter. Consequently, many desert flowers are blooming their hearts out.

This bush was outside Manhattan Deli of the Desert yesterday.

I don't know if I showed you this bouquet before, it's from a church service. Today's arrangement was all in white daisies but I forgot to get a picture of it.

Enjoy every day!

Happy February!

 I'm sorry for those of you who are back East or in Canada because it's frippin' cold! Today it's 83+ degrees which is about 10 degrees above normal. I know, in these times there is a lot to consider that does not seem to be normal. I'm just talking about temperature at the moment. 

January 23, Bus Trip to Ontario (California) Convention Center for the Road2CA quilt show. It's several days, but we went on Friday. The place is huge with many vendors and quilts on exhibit. I did not buy a $6,000.00 sewing machine. I did not buy three spools of cotton thread for $60. 

As you enter the building, there are many quilts hung above on the ceiling. One was mostly browns and some oranges and it was obviously a Thanksgiving quilt with a prominent turkey in the middle. It was hung sideways. I don't know if it was a goof, but the turkey didn't seem to mind.

I don't know if this red and white quilt was a challenge (where they give you a theme and/or color scheme using one company's fabric) or not. If so, there would have been a long row in all red. I went up and down the aisles so many times that I can't remember.

This was definitely a challenge celebrating Route 66 which begins in Chicago and goes West to California. Every once in a while I go o Route 66 during my cross country trip. I don't take it too much because it's a lot slower than the newer routes. But it does have my favorite Route 66 Casino (in New Mexico, I think.)

Celebrating the USA's 250th birthday

I did not see the title of this challenge but there was a LOT of yellow. I love yellow!

And how gorgeous is this? I love it and am amazed by the creator's skill and talent.

I especially liked seeing the desert flora. What a good job of capturing the different plants!

Another spectacular 'I thought it was a photo' quilt!

This was 3D and so impressive. Someone actually took out a roll of fabric from the basket. It was a white glove lady, the only ones authorized to touch the quilts.

I love me a still life. Does it qualify as a still life with the man there? He's sitting still.

These were illustrating "Wind." The one on the right has a big blob of white that really looks like it's blowing in the wind.

I loved this one because it reminded me of Cape Cod. Although they do NOT have barbed wire on the beaches there!

I don't know why, but I have a big soft spot for elephants, especially baby elephants. I've been following elephant rescue ranches on Face Book and it's so funny to see baby elephants playing with their trunks or rolling in the grass. They really have fun playing like other babies.

These are from the theme "Abyss." I had no idea that meant underwater, but I learn something new everyday.  The jellies below (also a favorite) have sparkles imbedded.

January 25. These are the flowers at church. We don't really have an altar. There's a podium and the flowers are under the movie screen that has the words to some of the hymns.

February 3. This is the quilt that I donated today to "Philanthropy." It named itself "Stripes" in my head. Treese machine quilted it for me at a cut rate.

I am working on the Elvis quilt. It will be my first (larger that a table topper) machine quilted. The backing has many pictures of Elvis Presley on it. That fabric and the batting were donated.

After the meeting today, The Lunch Bunch (5 of us) had a yummy lunch at the Olive Garden in Palm Desert. We also had nice conversations. One woman is trying to arrange her birthday party next Christmas. She lives in Canada and they want to go somewhere warm. She's deciding if she will bring them to her house in Palm Desert. There will be a total of 14 people! She has put her foot down and said wherever they go (Cancoun, Palm Desert, Belize?), it has to be a direct flight from Calgary. And it sounded like she's footing the whole bill! She mentioned that at least one of the grandkids has a significant other. I would make him pay!

So I will leave you with this little video I saw on FB today. There was a golden retriever looking directly at the camera listening to Mom who is saying, "I opened the door for a delivery driver and you raced outside, jumped into the car through the open door into the backseat where there was a baby in a car seat. And you stole one of his McNuggets!" I'm glad I didn't have to apologize to the driver, lol!

Scary Times

 1/19/2026

I'm watching the evening news and there was a 100 car pile up in a blizzard in Michigan. 12 people injured, all expected to recover.

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BUT tonight, just before 6 p.m., we experienced an earthquake. Originally they said it was 5.1 on the Richter Scale, but it has been down graded to 4.6. There were 3 aftershocks which I didn't feel at all. The epicenter was 12 miles northeast of Indio. It was scary to feel my chair rocking. It was preceded by "thunder."    

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I haven't been able to find out if the rumor is true that Denmark is trying to buy California. 

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Yesterday Mom and I went to the Frances Stevens Park in Palm Springs to see an art show. This is the same park with the kinetic water sculpture where they set up the Christmas tree. Here are a couple of pictures from there.

Sorry, I forgot to get the artist's name.

The Rancho Super Car Wash pink elephant sign in Rancho Mirage, California is a beloved mid-century icon, originally from Seattle's Elephant Super Car Washes, brought to the desert in 1966 by the Fromme family, becoming a nostalgic landmark cherished by locals, and recently received historic designation and restoration thanks to Preservation Mirage and community efforts. 

It's still a working carwash, by the way. The caption above is from a google search. 

This alabaster stone was mined at the Anza Borrego desert and then smoothed and sculpted with tools.

The large colorful piece is public art. There was a sign to please not climb on it.

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Did I show you this sunset before? I really

 like it.

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I only have a short way to go in reading Cave of Bones by Anne Hillerman. I mentioned to one of the women at the Quilt Club that I liked the original books by Tony Hillerman (her father) and this woman brought me the book. I thought that was super nice!

A book I should get, but I don't know if I will: Separation of Church and Hate: A Sane Person's Guide to Taking Back the Bible from Fundamentalists, Fascists, and Flock-Fleecing Frauds. It's what Bloom in the Desert is using for their book club. Unfortunately, I have become lazy and watching too much TV to read much.

I really am enjoying Will Trent, High Intelligence, and Star Trek: Starfleet Academy. Holly Hunter (the Starfleet Academy Chancellor) is one of my favorite actresses. The show also has Paul Giacometti and Tig Notaro in it. Of course, you have to like SciFi, which Mom does not. I like Tig's sense of humor when she does her standup routines.

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That's about it. Although I found out I can make a passable shepherd's pie. Actually, it was yummy. I may try to remember how to make a meatloaf -- the idea of a meatloaf sandwich sounds good to me. I get tired of cooking the same things all of the time. Tomorrow I'm going to pick some lemons and make lemon chicken.

I hope you all are having a great time. Please try to stay well -- so many people I know have gotten that awful cold. Cheers, Tina