Donner...Party of Four

Is there anything better than spending a sunny warm summer day in Truckee with friends? After strolling the main street, petting new puppies and old dogs, admiring the creativity on display in the friendliest bead shop I've ever been in, drooling over a tooled red leather purse that's outside my budget, sampling free trade chocolate and bemoaning the loss of my favorite jewelry/spice store down on the Bar-of-America-end of town, I began wondering why it's been so long since I visited one of my favorite towns. We tend to drive past on our way over The Hill to see family rather than make it a day's outing. So wrong.

When our inner lunch bell finally overcame our predatory shopping instincts, we drove up Donner Pass Road and chose a spot a boulder's roll from the old bridge, unpacked our picnic lunch and sat down to enjoy the view and the warm sunshine. Looking down at Donner Lake brought back so many wonderful memories of family vacations here. The log cabin built for the railroad workers was fabulously close to trout fishing from the dock with our sons.

After lunch, we conducted scientific research with this little fellow.Turns out chipmunks prefer junk food (tortilla chips) to nutritious anti-oxidant fruit (blueberries) and will graciously pose for photo ops. I'm not sure if this was Chip or Dale.

Progress/Uh-Oh

Good news, bad news. Well, it's actually more good news followed by a wake-up call.

I'm on the homestretch of my Dazzling Dog jacket. Yes, that was a really giant grin you heard--partly because I can see the end in sight, but mostly because I'm soooo happy with my doggies.

I found a layout I liked, so I snapped pics so I wouldn't forget where I wanted which pup.

Boring alert! Stop reading now if you don't appreciate mom jeans and the word "diet".

On the flip side, the photos from my cousinly visit in California made me wince, repeatedly, and resolve to change my eating habits.

Apparently long hilly walks four mornings a week aren't enough to allow me to indulge in summery treats (chocolate milk at lunch, regular desserts, family reunions with homemade ice cream) and still regain my girlish figure. Alas, alack. Yeah, I did mean "regain" as opposed to "retain". Usually I'm so active each summer that I slim down and firm up but this summer hasn't followed the usual pattern.

I'm sure my family loves me anyway, but there's nothing like seeing yourself objectively in a photo (or in a department-store triple mirror) to realize that snacktime is OVER. I'm pasting the photo on our fridge for motivation. (Which is working so far, since I've resisted the siren call of the Tomato-Basil Wheat Thins accompanied by homemade hummus and snacked on fresh blueberries instead).

Fortunately for us all, the photo won't upload to Blogger. I tried, really. Twice. If that isn't a hint that something (like my butt) is too big, nothing is.

I hear ya, Universe, I hear ya.

Vinyl Final

This photo was taken on August 2nd last year--which means it took me slightly over a year to digitize our record collection. I don't know whether to groan because it took so long or cheer that I'm finally done.

Now what do I do with a box filled with record albums?

Gone To The Dogs

If there is one thing I love, it's my dog(s). So I received an appropriate birthday gift from my sister Pooh: a pattern for a jacket featuring some Dazzling Dogs! We had some unseasonably cool weather, so I had a great excuse to stay inside and craft while I was still enthusiastic about my new patterns and inspired by their resemblance to many wonderful dogs I've known.

After one very long day of sorting through my fabric stash as I envisioned each dog's personality, trying and retrying combinations of colors and textures, sometimes getting it right quickly, sometimes failing miserably and needing a second attempt before I was satisfied, I have these dogs. Unfinished, but cute.

Okay, Baxter's really unfinished, but I turns out I own only two grey fabrics and one didn't make the cut. I swore I was making this whole project out of my stash, but he just begs to have a silvery muzzle and I can't resist a begging dog. Baxter was the free download from Amy Bradley, the designer of Dazzling Dogs, so of course he's the troublemaker who's gonna force me to buy more fabric.

Poor Ruff looks a little naked without his polo shirt. Wait till you see him with happy dog smile.
This is Skipper, the Shih Tzu. He had to be black and white like the very talented Toby who lives in Fremont, rather than cute puppy Zeke who lives next door. Don't ask me why, sometimes the patterns take over and I have no choice.
I adore Pitties, known as Wiggle Butts around our house. Major here, who reminds me of Dozer, is clearly on vacation somewhere near Laguna Beach.
Winn Dixie will be darling with hair bows, lace trim, eyelashes and a big smile. Winn Dixie and Ruff are technically Pound Hounds rather than Dazzling Dogs, but mutts and purebreds look equally spiffy once they're dressed up.
And then there's Prissy. Still needs rhinestones for her glasses.

Next step: fuse them to the jacket and start blanket-stitching details! I think I can safely say (knock wood!) that this is one project that'll be finished before jacket weather arrives.

Over The Hill

and off to visit another relative...or eight. It's what summer is for.

I wasn't in love with the long drive--this one was seven hours of driving, there and back, in one day--for three hours of facetime, but I have to say that it was worth it to talk to my cousins, hug my uncle, marvel at how much the adolescent boys have grown and sip the Bordeaux (there are no words!) that accompanied a farm supper of lamb and roast potatoes.

I hadn't seen this painting of my grandparents' ranch before. I spent a lot of time there as a kid. This artwork brings back memories of dragonflies in the "crick", kittens dropped off at the end of the drive, windfall apples in the orchard, horseback riding in the hills, slopping the pigs. Pickup trucks, peacocks, dairy cows, a series of cattledogs named Ruff, ketchup in 7-Up bottles. Cousins and basements, berries and cow skulls.

Childhood memories are sweeter when they are shared around a table filled with relatives and laughter.

Tropical Green-land

aka Oregon.

On our Daily Dog Walk, my nephew Tigger and I enjoyed the landscaping--frontyard fountains, clematis wrapping a street sign, hidden lawns, banana trees...

BANANA TREES?!

Yep. They were a surprise to me too. (We were exiled in SoCal for thirteen long subtropical years before we escaped to the Sierra and somehow I just never contemplated bananas growing above the Forty-fifth Parallel.) Not only did we see banana trees--no actual bananas growing on them, happy to report--but we also saw a bamboo hedge that functioned beautifully as an impenetrable fence and even a palm tree swaying in the breeze at sunset. Either Global Warming is worse than I thought, Oregonians are jonesing for a tropical vacation, or the gardeners up there are adventurous souls pushing the USDA Zone Chart.

Tigger and I were a bit less adventuresome...We planted coleus seeds for him to enjoy outside this summer and inside this winter.

Bananas and palm trees are just to big to bring inside when the snow falls.

Adventures in Green Land

This year's Aha! moment in Oregon: I discovered that it's possible to eat too many blueberries. I love bluets but I've always had to make them last until the next Costco run. Then we discovered this u-pick berry farm that advertises all you can eat. I ate my way all the way down to the end of this row and then I couldn't look a blueberry in the face for two days. I've since recovered.

A visit to the Queen of Tarte's sale was high on my list of things-to-do. Anyone who greets me with flowers always ranks high with me.This lace-cap hydrangea right outside the barn entrance was the prettiest I've ever seen.

Behind this curtain is the most Zsa-Zsa barn in existence, where the Queen sells everything from raw silk pillowcases and a plethora of chandeliers to old birdcages and vintage lace. Everything oozed creativity in that way that inspires rather than intimidates. To one side was the bargain area where we found a candelabra for three bucks and a woodframe window for five. Love it!

But this was my favorite. It wasn't enough that they provided inspiration and bargains, they also lured us with sweets. Look at the texture--can't you just taste that lemon? Mmmmmmmm.Fabulous!

Oregon makes my eyes feel like they are bleeding green, but I've gotta say there are compensations.