Choices (and a Cat!)

 Two BOOne’s are on the design wall, ready to start piecing. 

Need to make the eyes and corners next

But! The new patterns for the Birdwatchers Project came out today - Ruby-throated Hummingbird

and  California Quail. 

What to choose… hoping to actually sew one of them tomorrow. 

Leia is all packed and moving into her college dorm this weekend. 

Phoenix is so far away! Going to miss her a bunch.

Leo and Jac got a cat today! This is 8-month old Iddy, as in itty-bitty kitty (the shelter named her but the kids like it…)

Leo said Iddy was sleeping with her tonight so I think Iddy’s picked her favorite human. 

I asked Donovan if he could teach me to build Legos. He heaved a huge sigh(!) and said he could try. He’s obviously not holding out much hope for me. 😂 But we ordered a new Minecraft set (that he just happened to want…) in case I might be able to learn. 😜

Prepping

Prepping, prepping, sooooo much prepping.

After 3 days, I’ve got the majority of fabric cut for all the wee ghosties,

Bought the fabric last year specifically for this project

and the FPP* papers are cut, creased and clipped together for the two BOOne ghosts and a couple or three stars. 

I messed up by not printing the papers in color, trying to save $$ on ink jet print cartridges ☹️. Turns out the colors are too similar in tone so everything looks the same. 

My choices at this point are a) “no worries! I’ll remember which side is which color!” (😂😂🙄) - or b) grab my coloring pencils and pre-color each and every section. We all know the outcome of “a)” so I’ve already picked a tv show for tomorrow’s coloring session. 

Then can I please start sewing??!? Fingers crossed. 

* Foundation Paper Piecing

Long Distance Games

What do you do when you’re bored and the buddy-cousin you're used to playing games with now lives 1100 miles away?

 Ready to play

You get creative. And grandma loses her phone for the duration. Worth it!

Red arrow is FaceTime Jackie

They had so much fun, each with a phone set to Facetime and a Switch or iPad set to Minecraft (then Roblox). Listening to them chatter back and forth is the highlight of my day. 💕

Starting Again

Remember the Wildflowers embroidery project? (here)

I went looking for blog posts to see when I left off… can’t believe it was all the way back in April 2024. I knew I hadn’t worked on it since the eye adventure began last October but….April??

I took it along on our cruise as a hand project and got a little bit done on block #5,

 then finished it up tonight while watching tv. 

It looks so tiny when the pattern is washed away

And started on #6.

Looks like this project is once again a ‘go’. Going to keep it near the couch and see if I can get it done this year. 

Baking Birthday

We celebrated Leia’s birthday a few days early since she’s going to her mom’s tomorrow and then off to college in Arizona. And I forgot to take a single photo…

Remember the salmon tea sandwiches she fell in love with on our cruise? We decided to try duplicating them today… and as a surprise, I also made a copycat version of Pazooki, her favorite restaurant dessert. 

Two kinds of rolls, two brands of smoked salmon and three flavors of crème fraiche* later, she said King’s Hawaiian rolls, smoked lox and the plain version of crème was a perfect match. Hooray! (*Who knew crème fraiche was so ridiculously easy to make?? The dill and horseradish versions were pretty tasty too.) 

We used this recipe for pazooki (here) and it tasted as good as the restaurant version, especially with ice cream on top. Leia wants to try a s’mores pazooki next, wonder if there’s a copycat recipe of that available yet…

While she did her laundry tonight, I made copies of all her favorite grandma recipes for her to take to college. Anybody surprised they were all desserts?? 

 

Gone Girls

The day’s finally here, and while we are (really, really) sad, Leo and Jac are thrilled to be on their way to their new home in Idaho.

Promises of a new puppy and chickens and maybe a cat are fueling a lot of the excitement 

but so is the idea of each having their own bedroom, with a shared bathroom just for the two of them. (Shhhhhhh, don’t tell them that means they have to clean it too. 😂)

 

We had one last sleep over - Jac claimed the crochet blanket Cyrus made me, sleeping with it every night this week and carefully carrying it room to room with her during the day - then Pop drove them to the airport for the 3 hour flight north. 

 Idahooooooo!

And tonight they roasted marshmallows in their own yard.

Both girls have promised to send pics, so I’m hoping we’ll have a continuing window into their new lives. 

Going to miss them like crazy. 

Hanging out, waiting for’go’ time

* I’ve already started a pile of things the girls forgot, these 2 stuffies being the most important so far. Dad will be back for the final truckload in a week or two, so he’ll pick up our box (boxes??) then.  

Wrap It Up Week

It’s been a busy week, trying to visit the kids’ favorite museums and zoo before Jac and Leo move to Idaho on Saturday. 😭

Monday was the California Science Center ⬆️, 

Tuesday was Natural History Museum of LA County ⬆️, 

Adding to the stuffie collection, one last time

and today was the Santa Barbara Zoo.

SBZ made the list mainly because they have a new blue lizard (iguana) - Donovan and Jaclyn are huge reptile fans.

 Big exhibit, small lizard (relatively)

They were disappointed that the blue lizard wasn’t really blue (apparently it’s a juvenile and will get bluer with age)

but the leaf tailed lizard (gecko),

Gecko toe beans!

Indigo snake (a beautiful deep blue),

and Prevost’s Squirrel were huge hits. 

 Squirrel was just as interested in the kids as they were in him

As was the new, much larger axolotl tank in the recently remodeled area under the penguin exhibit. No picture, alas.

The newly opened, not completely finished Tropical Wonders exhibit (with the lizards, snake and squirrel) is very nice -more room to move around, bigger exhibits and much better lighting. It’s going to be a kid favorite.

 Lions, Ralph and Felicity, hoping dinner-on-the-hoof comes just a little closer (the giraffes were not impressed 😅)

Our train conductor today was a storyteller (a good one)

and had a tale I hadn’t heard before. 

Apparently the lake/estuary next to the zoo was a race track many years ago (1930’s?) and then became the town dump. 

Those three islands in the middle of the lake? 

They’re mounds of trash left when the dump was abandoned. They are sometimes above water and sometimes submerged (only two are above water this summer) and over the years gained soil, seeds and what are now pretty big trees. Love learning something new!

 Sad Cactus Man

A few favorite flower pics…