to the hills again...

What a lovely day we had today. We got up early and went to Folsom Lake.

It seems strange to me that I have never been there. We've been to Camanche, Pardee, Lake Amador, and other lakes in California, but for some reason never Folsom.

The first area we visited was Beal's Point. We hadn't been able to understand what Teo Torres had said on the news, so we decided on Beal's Point. 

It was dry and desolate, but beautiful in its own way. Hubby made a comment that we didn't have this kind of weeds but then I saw some filaree, and we have lots of that. It is such an interesting plant, with its tiny pink blooms and the "swords" that mean it is also called storkbill.

Storkbill aka filaree

While we were at Beal's Point, there was a woman who came up to me looking for the flowers. I told her I hadn't seen them yet, we were trying to find them ourselves. She was the one who told us it was called "Beeks Bight" and no wonder I hadn't remembered! 

So we hopped in the car and made our way to Beeks Bight. 

Oh it was so gorgeous!! There were many flowers, some I recognized and some I didn't. I did recognize the huge poison oak patches! At first I thought it was berries, but fortunately I didn't touch anything. HA!

There were lots of paths, and lots of unfortunately trampled flowers. This pictures just show the beautiful foothills.

Since it was pretty early, Beal's Point was pretty empty. It was a different story at Beek's Bight. The main lot was full, so we had to walk a ways from a second lot. Not far, but I can feel it. We need to do this more often. 

Lupine is so beautiful. There were lots of patches like this one. So we just wandered around and enjoyed the area. 

There were some little kids to flirt with, so that was a bonus. 

So here are a few more pictures. 

There are still lots of places to explore at Folsom. It opens at 6 am so I am thinking we are going to do some more adventuring here. It really is lovely getting some outside time in the not-city. That will be a lot of peaceful memories for awhile. 

I will lift up my eyes to the hills....

The hills comfort my soul. When I am there, I breathe easily, my heart rate slows... it is good, all is well. 

Except, of course, that I have to come home.

It doesn't seem to matter how long I have been away, the foothills are still HOME. I still long to be there. I still want to move there, even though I know that it really isn't possible or sensible. 

I don't have parents there any more to visit. I do have friends, but there's this pandemic... but it's getting safer, and hopefully we will get to whatever "normal" looks like. 

Today I saw cows, and had this urge to go hug one, but they aren't MY cows, they don't know me. There are no cows that know me LOL I am going to have to visit the dairy with the third graders LOL

It was a gorgeous day, very few clouds. We went to Jackson, and ended up at that "Italian Place" to have a late lunch, which they fixed us even though it was after lunch. We sat outside and watched the birds, tiny sparrows, and some hawks looking for lunch. There's more cars that pass there now than twenty years ago. It is still a lovely spot, a lovely place to accept a marriage proposal.

Sometimes we end up at Camanche, but today we stopped at Pardee. This is from the Observation Point, and it is a lovely view. It was a bit windy up there, which of course I love, and we just stood and watched the boaters as well as more birds. 

I am wanting to see butterflies. It's really rare these days. I've seen ONE. It was a painted lady, the kind that migrated through Lodi a couple years ago, the day my mother died. 

I am also wanting to plant some good butterfly bushes in the back yard. I have some flowers coming up, but I'm getting impatient, and I am thinking Lowe's would be a great place to get some snapdragons or maybe some calendulas... it always feels like, "it's too early to plant" to "why didn't I plant earlier" so quickly. Up the hill we didn't plant until around May, but here, that's really too late to start! 

As for crafting...  I ordered myself a  new stamping platform. I realized that I always try to cut corners and get the cheapest of everything. The first one I got is really good, but only for tiny things. So I ordered one that I can use for much bigger things. I have been wanting a wreath builder forever, but it wouldn't work in my tiny platform. I ordered one of them too.

I really have been getting frustrated. My guillotine trimmer has a bent arm, so you have to hold it just right to cut it straight. My rotary one needs a new blade, and you have to go over it several times. My small one cuts all wrong. I need to just toss it. I would like to have a small one so I could use it in the living room. So now I have a new platform coming, and next perhaps some kind of small trimmer....

And then the die cutter. My little cuttlebug is old, and wobbly. So maybe that's next. So then I think, do I really want to do this?? Am I going to keep making cards, journaling and such? I decided that my thinking about giving up is because of dumb trimmers and tiny platforms and wobbly die cutter.... then, if I had good equipment it would not be so frustrating. So. New platform, next maybe trimmer or die cut machine?? Or, figure out the best way to make the cuttlebug work, new "sandwiches" or shims....

So I'm thinking about a trip to the hills in late April, or maybe May. To call Patty and meet at the Iris Gardens...

Until then, I am just remembering, all those years, all the wild flowers, all the cows and goats I have hugged, and the chickens, Lady Cluck and Esmeralda and Blackie... the lovely scene when it is windy and the grasses on the hill are swaying. Even the days when it was snowing sideways and the thunder just about made me jump out of my skin when I was trying to get to the barn to feed the cows... "herding water" with my dad when it was pouring and we had to divert the water off the road so it wouldn't wash out the road... that time when Patty and I were "skating" on the reservoir in our boots when we were little and we were lucky we didn't fall in. Or when we were on horseback and the silly horse tried to go under a tree to brush us off... or when we played at the grinding rock and lined up rocks and pretended to grind acorns... and hearing about years later an archeologist said there was "evidence of habitation" there and never knowing if it was our "habitation" he was seeing. 

Time it was, and what a time it was, it was

A time of innocence, a time of confidences

Long ago, it must be, I have a photograph

Preserve your memories, they're all that's left you 

Simon and Garfunkel, Bookends.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5S5V-Y53ad4

Wuzzup??

Kind of dry days. I've been cleaning out the dreaded Middle Bedroom, AKA my craft room/storage room. Getting into boxes and drawers, tossing things, sorting things, and getting emotional, uncomfortable but necessary to JUST GET IT DONE. I moved a dresser into the corner and put a cabinet on the top, which leaves me with a whole small table in the middle of the room to sort on and craft on. I know that it will be really good when I am done, and so it keeps me going. Some days I get through several boxes and other days I can't even get through one. 

The other day we took a drive to the country and that was wonderful. We ended up on the corner where my hubby proposed to me. There is now a little wonderful restaurant there and we had lunch. I knew the chef when he was a kid so that was fun to catch up.

So what have I been doing? Sorting out lots of card parts but not assembling. Putting away stamps and dies and reorganizing them. Getting lots of ideas. I watched a video series on a Card Bank, where you keep the parts of cards in one place for easy assembly. I realized I already have that! Just on a pretty small scale. It's a card file with card bases, frames, and background pieces. So I put it in a more accessible place, and added a few things to it. Go me!

My art has been rolodex cards. I did have a gel press session, that was fun, but nothing memorable from it. I then found an envelope of old embroidery transfers, and tossed them, but then thought, what would happen if I ironed them on to a gel press background?

I didn't take a picture, but here are the scraps...

I cut out a few pieces for Rolodex cards, and then I saw a bunch of teeny scraps and decided to glue them to a card. So that's the middle one. I really like it. Isn't that a cute bird? 

My pictures today are awful. I'll try again later.

The last one is the result of lots of questioning I've been doing. What is "proper". A question for the ages LOL it sounds goofy but you know, we focus on doing stuff "the right way" but who says what is the right way? 

So keep on asking those Important Questions. 
 

Interesting Oldness...

Something I absolutely never knew, they used to make greeting cards that were Congratulations for Getting your Tonsils taken out.  I mean, that was a very popular surgery when I was little,, nearly everyone had their tonsils out. 

Anyway, in my Putting Things Away I found a bag that had "Linda" on it three times, in my mother in law's handwriting. I remember seeing it, but I could see that it was full of greeting cards, and I just couldn't look in it. So it got put in a box, and today, I opened the box, and there was the bag, and today I felt like looking in it. 

My mother in law didn't save much of anything at all. She lived in the same house for 60 years, and the closets were not stuffed full, there were not a ton of boxes in the garage... she dealt with things.  

Unlike me.

Maybe that's why I was reluctant to look in the bag, what did she save for me?? But it was just cards. She knew I made them, so she saved them for me.

So it was fun to see what was in her greeting card collection. 

The first one is from 1948. I had never thought about a "Congratulations for Getting Your Tonsils Out" card but there it is. Seems a little bizarre to me. But in those days it was kind of a Rite of Passage I guess, you were Growing Up so now it's time to lose the tonsils. Glad they stopped that craziness. I have tons of allergies, and had many episodes of tonsillitis, and my adenoids are also gone. I STILL have allergies, and my poor little tonsil tag that grew back gets inflamed, so maybe there was a reason mine are gone. But it seems that for awhile it was all the rage to do that. 

A  birthday card from 1940. 

 

There were a few lovely floral cards, but no date, but the price was 25 cents so it was awhile ago. An Ideals Valentine book from 1963.  Ideals made many beautiful books, lot of photographs, and lots of poetry. I remember loving them as a child. I saved quite a few, although eventually I either let them go or cut some up (!!) for art projects. 

Then there were a couple cards that didn't exactly suit my mother in law's humor, but my hubby could have bought. I didn't know my father in law, maybe he had the same twisted humor... 

So there you are. I have another post coming for the art I've been doing but I always find this stuff interesting, a little picture of the past. I still can't imagine a Congratulations for Tonsil Removal. Kind of like Congratulations that Your Gall Bladder is Gone!

what should I title this blog post...

No, really, I have no idea. I've been so wonky these days I don't even know what day it is half the time. Can't blame the pandemic for everything though. Maybe it's odds and ends. Oh and the water heater went out today, and of course I need to do laundry badly, and I need a shower. Hubby hopefully fixed it today and hopefully tomorrow I can shower. In my experience, when hot water heaters start doing strangeness, they aren't too long for this world. This one is only six years old. Reminds me of Grandma Evelyn's that was from the sixties. I think it would have won the Oldest Hot Water Heater in history. We figured it was at least 55 years old. Do I sound old when I say "they don't make thinks like they used to"?? But it's TRUE. 

There's a box... Here I am trying to go through the box. It's basically just a collection of odd stuff. Here's some. Two combs. A package of bolts with one missing. A micron pen. A yellow colored pencil. A compass. A nail. A nail file. A pack of post it notes.  A different pen. A plastic bag. 

None seem tough to deal with, do they? The compass goes where? I don't know. Maybe in my desk? Those bolts ought to be in a tool box or something. Where? Those combs? Should I keep them? One of them might be from that hair cutting set. One yellow pencil, I can put it with the other colored pencils, and the micron and other pen with pens. Sounds simple enough for the next 5 minutes or so. However, most boxes contain more than this, and have harder decisions. I don't want to make decisions any more. So what, I say. This is YOUR STUFF. You want someone else to do it? They will just put it all in the garbage. 

Then there's this poor sad hanky with crocheted trim. It's old, it was a grandma's I suppose but I don't know that for sure, and it's falling apart. Maybe I can save the trim? For what? I don't know, on a doll dress? It's so pretty.

I ended up thanking the hanky for its service to I don't know who, or who made it, and thanked it for bringing me joy in the past, wadded it up and put it in the garbage. Somehow telling stuff goodbye helps. Sounds insane. I guess whatever works.

It was a beautiful hanky in its day. I'm sure it soothed many noses. That thought itself helped me let it go. Would I REALLY USE IT?? No. Will I REALLY cut off the trim and put it on a doll dress? NO. BYE BYE. THANK YOU. 

So if each little pile takes so long, when will I ever be done?? I watched an episode of Hoarders for motivation, all it did was give me nightmares LOL Last night I dreamt K was coming home from the hospital, and someone came in and took everything out of the house and brought in new furniture, and set up the hospital bed in the front bedroom, MY bedroom, and trashed my vintage furniture. I went out and crawled into the trash bin. 

Sigh. I see those shows and it isn't THAT bad, but still, I do still have trauma walls. It isn't easy taking them down, and letting myself be vulnerable. It isn't easy just putting things in the Out pile or trash, it feels like I am betraying myself somehow. Yes it sounds crazy, and it is...

But hey, there's some things coming together in my craft room. I cleaned out some spaces and most I just put back, but I switched the dresser that was in the middle of the room with a low table that this cabinet was on, and now the room looks 500x bigger. I have been filling garbage bags with Stuff and letting lots go. 

And now, the glues are together, the paints are together, etc. Less searching for stuff and hopefully less frustration when I am trying to find what I want to do what I want to do.

The sewing area is still the dining room table however. Sooner or later.... one can hope I live that long.

I did find a few things I forgot about. So I watched a couple Youtube videos today, but didn't get painty. I'm loving Natasha Foote these days along with my favorites Barbara Gray and Jennifer McGuire. 

What I ended up doing today was a surprise. I have been working on this for a long time, but haven't for a few months at least, maybe longer. I had the base done, and finally within the last few days have gotten all the applique pieces fastened on. So all I have left is a bit of embroidery and  finishing fastening stuff down, and I will hopefully finish in a few days. I do need some 1/8th inch black grosgrain ribbon, or something like that, but I'm thinking about just trying to embroider with satin stitch or something since I haven't found ribbon. I found some for 7.99 a reel, and some for 1.49 a reel with 7.00 shipping. Nothing on Amazon, besides to get free shipping I have to spend $25 and well what do I need? LOL Might take a masked trip to Hobby Lobby tomorrow, or the Dollar Tree, they have ribbon occasionally. I still need a shower, but maybe nobody will recognize me with a mask on... but that's when I always run into someone I know, LOL, when I'm a mess. 

Anyway here's a picture of the to be quilted wall hanging, so far. Hopefully the person it is for still likes lighthouses. LOL... the background is 2 inch squares of different florals, and the lighthouse etc are appliqued on the top. I'm doing raw edge applique, so it will get sewn down when I machine quilt it. I hope to be ready to work on the quilting tomorrow. The green I got for the last wall hanging will work well.

Oh and I found a couple Art cards  the other day...  I don't even remember when I did them. Haven't decided if I will give them away as Random Acts of Art or if I will add them to the rolodex.

And I got ALL THIS STUFF put away. I hate these boxes, I don't know why such oddness gets into them, other than I am too lazy to sort them and end up sweeping them into a box. Trying to stop doing that. But I still have a few more of them, so I'm having a party when I'm done. 

weed loving wonkiness.

I am always fascinated by plants, or, as hubby calls them, weeds. I did a lot of studying when I lived "up the hill" and for a long time after I moved here, I ignored the weeds, because hubby always mowed them down quickly. Now that we are not moving quite so quickly, I get to enjoy them for a bit.

This one, if I have identified it correctly, is a wild parsnip. I will not eat it, however, because I cannot positively identify it. Deb where are you?

Deb was a good friend of mine who introduced me to wild foraging. I was confident to eat what we found BECAUSE SHE KNOWS HER STUFF. But NEVER eat something unless you POSITIVELY know what it is. What you don't know can kill you. Not that I know this from personal experience. LOL

Nope, don't know what it is either, but I can enjoy its beautiful white puffy self.

I do wish I knew more. I don't have the confidence to really KNOW with many plants. I've been trying to get to know a few here and there, like Mallow last year, and I was confident enough to make some sore throat soothing tea this winter from the dried bits I saved last year.

This lovely is definitely edible, it is chickweed. The taste is a bit tart for me, but it's good in salads. This is one that Deb introduced me to all those years ago.

Others were shepherd's purse, a lovely little plant with heart shaped seed pods, that is kind of peppery and sharp, another good in salads.

I feel like I've written about this stuff before here. Oh well. That was then, and this is now...

Just the lovely weed patch in the front yard, that drives the neighbors crazy because it is Growing. I really need to live in the country. I wonder if I will ever get to go back. I don't like making the neighbors crazy, because they think we make the neighborhood look bad. 

It's pretty sad when these green beauties with occasional pink blossoms sticking up are considered ugly. I long for the times looking out the window and seeing dozens and dozens of wildflowers looking back at me. The huge variety of trees. Sometimes deer, or wild turkeys, or even adorable baby skunks. Lizards with blue bellies. Chickens glad to see me because they know I am there to feed them. Cows with their big liquid eyes waiting for the same thing. 

But there are gorgeous daffodils. There are a few tiny daisies coming up, and alyssum. The rosemary is full of bees. 

I think I need to find some garden places this year. I know the Congregational church has a community garden. I am wondering if my former boss still digs in the dirt there. There's a raised bed box in the back yard that needs filling and planting. I even have some seeds. February seems early, but everything's blooming and I am sneezing. In some ways it feels too late for planting, but I know that's not true. 

It has been hard. I find myself, yet again, just sitting. 

But I did get out for a bit and admired the "weeds" and thanked them for being persistent, and apologized for pulling them yet again, for the sake of a Neat and Tidy Yard, which pleases my hubby and my neighbors, but makes my heart a little sad. Yeah, I'm a bit wonky. I love me anyway. 

is it that close to spring already?

Of course, if you are in the Yukon, I don't think that there is a question, and also in some other parts of the country THIS year, like Texas, it is clear that winter is still a thing. But here, with such mild winters that once in awhile we get a light frost, and it hasn't snowed since 1969, it is a little harder. Today when I was out, I thought, I should have everything planted by now. There are flowers and blooming trees everywhere. My daffodils are going crazy, and so is the oxalis, although I think of that as a WEED but hubby doesn't seem to, and then there is the shepherd's purse and purslane and mallow and wild geraniums and dandilions which aren't weeds TO ME but they are to HIM. Every year it's a Discussion about Weeds and me running around trying to harvest a few before they get mowed down. I miss my pasture, where there were so many wild things that I could harvest, and not worry about someone (well, other than cows) mowing them down. 

Oh well, I chose to live here, didn't I. 

I spent some time in the craft room today, but not crafting, I was cleaning and clearing. Sometimes I see videos of people deciding to clean their craft room and finishing in a few hours. HA. Mine will take weeks, since there are those pesky Parent and Child boxes in there, that I don't have a clue what to do with. I open one of those and I turn around and leave the area. 

So today just a picture of my beautiful daffodils, where there are some freesia popping up, and a few daisies, and a lot of rosemary covered in bees. Lovely. 

And trying to plan what I can grow, and what I need to plant NOW... and making a list of plants I want to put in the back yard. Lavender and Rosemary for starters. And Sage. I find myself back at my dad's garden. It was on a hill, with built up areas on both sides. Honeysuckle. Roses. Calendula. Strawberries, asparagus. Memories of brushing the snow off the broccoli and picking off the tender buds and popping them in my mouth. And then in May, when we could go out and grab snow peas. I would love to create such a beautiful idyllic place again. My dad did, after we moved away from Dreamland, he created such a place of respite in the courtyard where he lived. I wish I had some of his confidence and his "gumption" which he said I always lacked.

See his garden, laugh at his antics, reminisce if you've been there.

DAD'S GARDEN