Bats in the Belfry or Butterflies in the Bath...

I have often been accused of the prior, especially when I decided to create Mosaic Butterflies for the Bath... but I got a lot of support from my friends, Lori, Linda, Roe, Larry, Martina and Bettijean...you're all to blame!!!

Way back in January, while in AZ, I decided I needed to do some mosaic work for our guest bath at home.  I was into butterflies for some reason, so I searched the internet for shower curtains with butterflies...one thing lead to another.  After purchasing the new shower curtain, our Mosaic “captain” Lori offered her husband John’s woodworking skills to cut out the wood butterfly shapes for me.  So I photographed and enlarged each butterfly, 2 dragonflies and 3 handsome bee images for John to use as patterns.    Magically, within a few days, I found a neat little pile of wood cutouts in my locker...

After a quick stop at the glass shop the process started.  Glass was cut and glued to the forms and the pieces were grouted.  Then I strung some beads on fine wire and wrapped the end of the wire around pipe cleaners to create colorful “bodies and antennas”.  It only took a month after arriving home in mid-March to find time to put them up on the wall.  That's why you're seeing a January project in April.  And what a wonderful surprise, when you enter the bath and look in the large mirror on your left  and see the reflection of  butterflies from the wall behind you.   It's amazing what  trouble we can get into when we have lots of time to play Arizona style!!!  Better than BATS don't you think?

close up photos to be used as patterns...

Shower curtain detail

Shower curtain with a bee and butterfly taking
off to the right (on the wood valance)

Close up...

While all their friends are returning to the "curtain"...

Close up "taking off from the towel rack"

And then I found these beautiful glass butterflies and confined them to a vase...

 beaded bodies

Squaw Valley (plus geocaching, hiking, cutting, trimming, raking & hauling)

Don and I managed a get-away between yard work, hiking, pickleball & geocaching as we made a day trip to Squaw Valley (home of the 1960 Winter Olympic Games) to attend a meeting for my upcoming Conference of Northern California Handweavers, which will be held May 31-June 2...more about that in a later blog.  After the meeting I took a few photos of the area while waiting for Don to return from a day of geocaching in the area.  He found 11.

After cutting, trimming, raking, hauling for 3 weeks, plus last years left-overs, Don got out the can of gas and lit 2 of our 3 burn piles on fire, since it was a burn day today!!!  The photos tell the story.  Things are looking better, but we still have a lot to do.  This 3 acre “yard” looks like a park when we’re finished and the leaves, on the 20 deciduous trees we planted, are out in full force, mixed between the native pine, cedar, fir and oaks...watch for an upcoming photo.

A few days later I hiked one of my favorite spring hikes from Eagles Nest Rd in Auburn to Rattlesnake Bar boat launch...7.5 miles, along the  Pioneer Express Trail.  Fabulous wildflowers,  and we’ll be chasing wildflowers from now on as we head to a higher elevations week after week after week, peaking out at over 9000 feet.  Stay tuned!!!

At Squaw Valley looking west...you can
take the tram to the peak on the right.  We've
hiked to the top of that snow capped one
on the left Granite Chief!!!

Snows gone - time to swim???

The rear of the Resort at Squaw Creek.

No, it's not Squaw Valley, it's what our son Eric
found at home in Eagle River AK after he and
his wife Susan returned from their condo
in Kona Hawaii...

On our way home from Squaw, we were delighted to
see that the main road "Grandview" was paved all the way to
our street "Moonrise Lane" after 20 years of potholes.  YIPPEE!!!

Don guards the "burn pile" to the North

While Nancy continues to rake pine needles to

add fuel to the "fire" to the East.

That "pile" is actually farther away from the house
than it seemed in the previous photo.

Miscellaneous... daughter Kristine buys a
2011 black Mustang convertible, while

 son-in-law Richard chose
a 2010 Ford 150,  and

Nancy enjoyed a hike along the North Fork
of the American River to Rattlesnake Bar...

and the lupine grew as high as Marilyn's eye...

and the "caterpillar" plant was starting to curl,

while the "twining snake lily" wandered wherever it wanted!!!

And Margie gathered specimens
for her "pond". (Fortunately we saw the
park ranger on horseback heading our way,
so I wrapped my sweatshirt around her waist to
cover the crime!!!

A beautiful wildflower hike along the river which flows
into Folsom Lake

More than your "babbling brook"...

Deer check me out while "wine tasting" on the deck,
after a hard day's hike...

while I am still enjoying the best "flowering cherry bloom" ever.

What do you think?

Birthday Boy turns 75...

Yes, Don turned 75 on April 5, so I took him to the California Automobile Museum in Old Sacramento to relive the past...  Don was hoping to see a 1968 Oldsmobile 442, to remind him of the car he owned in 1970 when we got married.  (Ask him to tell you the rest of that story.)  Unfortunately they didn’t have one in the special “1968” centerpiece showcase.  However the exhibition was nicely presented and brought back many fond memories.  While enjoying a nice “shrimp” dinner on the way home (my treat) I asked Don which was his favorite car.  His prize goes to the 1929 Hudson (Hudson Motor Company founded in 1909) Super Six Roadster which was the fastest built car in 1929 making it a favorite with bank robbers & bootleggers.  

My choice, the 1931 Ford Model A Deluxe Roadster, designed to replace the “aging” Model T to make the Ford more like a “little” Lincoln.  We both liked the 1967 Chevy C-10 Pickup produced during the Glamor Era for pick-ups 1967-72.  It was fast becoming the vehicle of choice for many American’s...those first RVer’s.  They bought pickups to carry slide in campers or pull trailers.  My dad owned one and we bought it from him in 1971 to haul a brand new 11’ Chinook slide in camper for which I sold my 1967 Pontiac Lemans (turquoise) convertible and all my IBM stock.  That’s how our RVing adventures started.

Of course one must find a birthday geocache so we went in search of “Needle in a Haystack”, (which I found first - tee hee)!!!  Another fun story, Don was approached by a drunk as soon as we exited our vehicle. Ask him about this sometime!!!

We arrived home before dark (does that tell another story?) and strolled the yard as we usually do to see what's new.   Do you know what the blossom is at the end of the photos?  It is known as one of the most beautiful broadleaf flowering evergreens, because of  its glossy foliage, large clusters of small white flowers, orange-red fruit and very showy reddish peeling bark.  And they are native to the Sierra Foothills where we live, and we have many on our property.

Nancy's Red Chariot - not a 1968!!!

Not quite a Hyundai Santa Fe but looks good.

The 1929 Hudson with a balanced crankshaft
gave it better and smoother performance than
other vehicles of the day.

Nancy's favorite - 1931 Ford Model A Deluxe Roadster,
the dual side mounted spare wheels,
rear "trunk" and mesh grille guard were all options!!!

Loved the Yosemite NP backdrop, the "grizzly" which we
don't have in CA anymore the old camera, the famous
"drive thru" redwood and yes the car.

Top of the line 1967 Chevy Pickup - 396 V8
(an optional upgrade)

Our 1967 327 V-8 Camper Special complete with a
wood bed, next to our current mode of RVing!!!

Don thought this might do the trick when he's too frail
to haul that 35' 5th wheel.  

As I admired this great red Ford Convertible, I recognized
the "bike" in the background 

and somewhere around here I have
a photo of the one my Dad had.

Don's dad had one of these and that's another
story to have him tell you!!!

This 1981 DeLorean DMC-12 sold for $25,00

Right above Don's head I found it...

Birthday geocache "Needle in the Haystack"

The magnificent Pacific Madrone

What is it?

To set the record straight, in 1866 Germany's Karl Benz
filed a patent for a three-wheeled vehicle powered
by a single-cylinder internal combustion engine.
Most consider this to be the first automobile!!!
His wife Bertha "borrowed" the car and made a
121 mile round trip to visit her mother and is the first long distance driver in history!!!