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Archive for the ‘Family’ Category

Busy, Having Fun and a Year Older

Monday, October 13th, 2014

On Thursday, Lisa and Clay arrived from San Francisco while I was having fun with my STASH group – it is the first time that all six of us have been together in so long. In the afternoon, the girls and I headed down to Pioneer Square where Design Week Portland had set up a display and geodesic domes. In one of the domes, she was interviewed by Namita Wiggers, former Director and Chief Curator for the Museum of Contemporary Craft in Portland, and now freelance curator and writer. Coincidentally, Namita will be the keynote speaker for the SAQA conference in Portland next year. I always enjoy hearing Lisa talk about her path to success as an artist. Two people brought their college students to her talk — pretty cool.

On Friday, I got my new teeth “installed.” They look really good! After that, I picked up Steph and Mia and we went to another event where Lisa was the featured speaker. She talked about her evolution as a sketchbook user and how important it is to her work, now. She had her two latest books there for sale and after the talk, she signed books. When I left there was a huge line and she sold out of all her books. I think there were over 200 people there for the event.

On Saturday, I got to go shopping with Mr C and pick out some birthday presents for myself. We all went out to dinner on Saturday night because the girls were leaving on Sunday, my actual birthday. We has a wonderful meal at a restaurant in our new neighborhood. This is me ogling my birthday cheesecake.

On Sunday, after church, we went out to brunch with a group of friends who had gone on the trip to Israel with us. One couple was visiting from Iowa. So I feel as if I had a wonderful 4 days of fun and good food and great company.

I managed to get a little studio work done. I painted some organza for leaves for the quilt I am trying to rehabilitate.

I then fused pieces of organza together to give more depth and character to the fabric.

I need to find time to cut and stitch the leaves and finish redoing the quilt before my crit group next Saturday. But, first, I have to finish the guild newsletter!

Posted in Family, Fusing, My Brilliant Daughters, My creations, painting fabric, This and that | 4 Comments »

Rayna is Here and 50th Wrap-UP

Thursday, September 11th, 2014

Rayna Gillman, long time internet friend, is here in Portland. She lectured at our guild meeting Wednesday and is teaching screen printing techniques today and tomorrow. She arrived on Monday night and so we had a fun day on Tuesday taking the street car downtown to shop and have lunch.

I was hoping that her workshop would get me back in the creative mood and it is working. That piece up there has a background done with torn masking tape and then construction fence resist over that. The yellow background is a hand dye. I am planning to do a black print on top of this, not sure what, yet.

This piece is the start of something. I used a newspaper resist to print these lines on a pale olive cotton.

I took some unsuccessful silk scarves that I hope to rescue. Here is the first one.

I used a turquoise printing ink and a squishy whisk. I think it has been transformed.

I prepared a screen with a washable school glue resist for using tomorrow.

There are 22 people in the worship and they are all doing some fantastic work. I will try to get some photos tomorrow.

On Sunday, we celebrated our 50th anniversary at Trinity. Our friend, Heidi Rose, made 300 macarons and created a tower for the coffee hour after church.

She put two of each flavor in a box for us to take home.

Today, Lisa sent me photos that were taken at our celebration in California. You have to love this one of little Miss Paige photo-bombing the family.

Lisa selected two photos of the whole family:

I really love this one of Mr C and I.

So that is a little bit of what has been happening in my life. It has been especially fun to hang out with Rayna. Tonight we went out for sushi and ice cream.

Posted in Art Cloth, Family, Mark making, Paige Ada, Surface Design Techniques, workshop | 3 Comments »

Half a Century Flew By

Friday, September 5th, 2014

We arrived home Tuesday from our 50th anniversary sojourn to California and back. I took many photos in the car and at the beach house and still, I missed some important people. I have tons of our vivacious Paige and none of her beautiful mother. I will share what I have. I was hoping for the professional photos taken on Saturday morning, but I do not have those, yet.

We hit the road, with Scooter, on Wednesday and drove along the beautiful Umpqua River Valley to the Oregon Coast where we stayed in a less than stellar motel. Brookings seems to be a long series of strip malls along Hwy. 101. We picked up takeout at the grocery and ate dinner in the motel with Scooter.

The next day, we headed south on 101 to California. We stopped at an Elk viewing area. We could see them far away, but not close enough for photos. It was a pretty area with a creek and beautiful grasses and cat tails.

We stopped for lunch in the Victorian village of Ferndale. I found a vegetarian restaurant with lots of gluten free options and an outdoor seating are. Mario, the owner was a delight to talk to, and he brought Scooter water and a plate of food.

At some point, we left Hwy. 101 and took the winding, hairpin turns of Rte. 1 on our way to Mendocino. We had to stop soon after so that I could drive. I get car sick easily and if I drive, I do better. We drove through beautiful redwood forests for much or our drive in CA. I love the smell of these old forests.

We love Mendocino and have spent many fun times there over our the time we lived in CA. We stayed in the little yellow cottage in this photo.

The cottage was a special one for guests with dogs. Scooter enjoyed it.

We walked around Mendocino and picked up some breakfast food. I loved this yarn bombed tree.

For dinner, we got room service from the Inn at Little River. It was delicious.

On Friday, we found our way back to Hwy 101 and drove to our old home town, Santa Rosa, to pick up some needed supplies for the beach house. We arrives in Bodega Bay at our big house on the golf course in time for a quick lunch before the family started arriving. The weather was fantastic all week-end. We had blue skies and warm sunshine the whole time we were there, a rarity on the coast of N. California.

The view of the bay from our patio.

We had egrets and herons making regular visits to our backyard.

Jayme and Mark did not arrive until late on Friday night after she finished her stint at SF General in the NIC ward. She had a grueling month doing a practice residency in pediatrics so she was really ready for some R & R. The rest of us went out to dinner at Rocky Oysterfellas in Valley Ford.

On Saturday, our children prepared a beautiful feast for Saturday evening. There was much coming and going, looking for all the ingredients. In the meantime, my puzzle helpers and I worked on this.

Here is the food they prepared.

That last dish is salmon. Mark bought a whole salmon and had it fileted. He saved the head and trimmings which were used to make chowder the next day.

Lisa and Clay brought gluten free and delicious cake and cupcakes for the kids.

The cake was very tempting for little miss Paige.

Steve’s brother, Mike, and wife, Ann, came up from Southern California. So good to see them.

Here is Ann with her daughter, Jessica, who lives in the area.

All the cousins were having a great time in the garage/game room.

Miles and Jess’s daughter, Viola.

Paige and Jess’s daughter Celeste.

They look a little somber, but they were really having a fun time.

Here is Mia, taking a break from the pandemonium.

Mark – my handsome son and super dad.

Lisa, relaxing in the sun.

Clay and Wilfredo.

So, I didn’t get photos of the elusive Jack, Stephanie and Jayme. I got lots of photos of Paige!! Here she is in the fort that Clay made out of pillows.

It was a fun day and we greatly appreciate all the work that went into this by our children and their partners.It was what I most wanted – a relaxing time with the family. Mr C and I are so proud of the accomplishments of all of them. We are truly blessed.

On Sunday, the Barnes family left to get back to Portland for the start of school for M & M. Lisa and Clay went home so that Lisa could get back to work on her latest book which had a deadline of this week.

We enjoyed time with Mark and Jayme and Paige. Mark made this incredible chowder for us.

We went to the beach.

Paige sat still long enough for some time with Poppop.

After breakfast with Mark and Jayme, we packed up headed out for our two day drive home. We drove through our old neighborhood of Sonoma vineyards.

Today us our actual anniversary. We are going out to dinner and will have a quiet day.

Posted in Family, Holidays, Travels, Uncategorized | 2 Comments »

That Was Fun!

Monday, August 11th, 2014

We had some precious bonding time with that adorable child. She is beautiful, charming, mischievous and the epitome of the strong willed child. She loves being in the center of the action and insinuating herself into whatever conversation is going on around her. Walking back from dinner one night, she kept trying to get our attention by saying, “Hey, I’m here!” She thought the six adults were ignoring, as we chatted on our walk back to the house.

A couple more pics of her – one afternoon, she dressed herself up in her boots, backpack and hat, ready for a hike. So we marched around, singing, I love to go awandering!

She eats like a farmer. She loves veggies and fish is her favorite protein.

I don’t know how the three of them manage their crazy life. Jayme is currently spending a month in a trial residency program, learning what it will be like next year. She is working in the neonatal intensive care unit at SF General, which is walking distance from their house. She puts in 12 hours on most days, with one day off. She is taking fewer days off early in the month so that she can come to Bodega Bay on Labor Day week-end to help celebrate our 50th anniversary.

While we were there, we stayed at a flat on their street, house sitting and cat sitting for their friends. The cat, Alice, is 18 years old and requires meds morning and night. She was very shy until our last day, when she finally warmed up to me.

I was finally able to snag a copy of my prolific daughter, Lisa’s, new book, Art, Inc., in which she interviews successful artists and the ins and outs of the business side of being an artist.

I love this dedication!

On Saturday afternoon, Lisa, Clay and I went to the American Craft Council show at Fort Mason. Here I am with one of my brilliant daughters.

I thought a lot of the work was very pedestrian and some was downright bad. I did see lots of gorgeous, but very expensive wearable art that I would have loved to walk off with. I ended up buying this ring which I just love. A silver tape measure!

I ran into an SDA acquaintance, Lynn Pollard who is dipping paper into indigo and making these lovely prints.

I know I promised more photos of the show, but was not that inspired or I was too busy shmoozing to take photos.

On a sad note, on our drive home this morning, we got a call from Scooter’s vet telling us that he had had some kind of serious episode on his morning walk. He vomited twice and then collapsed and was totally out. The young man who was walking him had to carry him back. She thought it could be a seizure or perhaps he has Addison’s disease, which is not that uncommon in Poodles. I cried most of the drive home, but we got to the vet hospital and he was fine. So he is home with us now and we are waiting for test results to come tomorrow. If it is Addison’s, it can be treated with prednisone and monthly shots.

Tomorrow, I am going to the convention center to help set up the SAQA booth at Quilt Knit Stitch, the new Quilts, Inc show debuting later this week. It is going to be a busy week. I am looking forward to having Kristin LaFlamme, my art quilt daughter, come to spend the rest of the week with us on Wednesday. She has been staying with Terry Grant and visiting her Mom in Eugene.

Posted in Family, Paige Ada, Quilting Friends, SAQA, Travels | Comments Off on That Was Fun!

Excuses, Excuses

Sunday, July 20th, 2014

That lovely girl in the photo with me is my lovely granddaughter, Mia. Those who have been following my blog for low these many years know that we moved to Portland 8 years ago when she was just finishing Kindergarden. And, just like that, she is taller than me and graduated from Junior High. Her gift from me was a trip to Seattle on the train and a night in a posh hotel.

We took the trip last Friday and Saturday. Prior to that, I was busy with meetings — Guild board on Monday, finishing quilts to turn in to High Fiber Diet on Tuesday and SAQA at Terry Grant’s home on Wednesday. It was a busy week.

Early on Thursday, I met Mia and Steph at the Portland Union Station to board our train to Seattle. I love trains and train travel. This is the ceiling of the Union ‘Station.

By lunch time, we were in Seattle at the King Street Station.

We packed very lightly so that we could carry our stuff easily until we got to the Hotel Sorrento which is way up on First Hill – nine blocks up from the touristy area of the city. The station is near Pioneer Square, a lovely older area of Seattle with lots of galleries and parks. Steph knew of a restaurant there that she wanted to try — London Plane. The food was quite avant garde and very delicious. They also had a lovely selection of things for the stylish home.

I had to really hustle to keep up with my ectomorph daughter and granddaughter.

After stopping in a few shops, chosen by Miss Mia, we actually walked up to our hotel, stopping to rest at the beautifully designed Seattle Library.

The room was magically ready and so we were able to get settled. Mia loved the big king size bed so much that I thought we might never get her out of the room.

I slept in the sitting room on a pull out bed which they made up for me with a ton of pillows and comforter.

I always love going to Seattle to discover new things. On this trip, we found out about this small park which has a waterfall.

Steph caught me Instagramming.

I love the variety of architecture.

We loved the small Finnish shop near Pike Place. They had a beautiful assortment of Marimekko fabric.

I took this shot of Mia on the train, coming home. I can’t believe how grown up and beautiful she is. In the fall, she is going to St Mary’s Acadamy – a highschool for girls.

We saw the start of the sun setting as we arrived back in Oregon.

Don’t forget to check out the Monday Creative Blog Tours for Helen Conway and Susan Lenz.

Posted in Family, M & M, My Brilliant Daughters, Travels | 3 Comments »

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