Whales & Lighthouse Lenses...

Looking north from the Pt. Reyes headlands.

 While we are experiencing summer-like temperatures outside here in Northern California, inside our house we are all fighting colds that seem to want to linger. In spite of our colds we decided that we needed to get out and enjoy some of this beautiful weather, so we took a day trip to Pt. Reyes National Seashore and historic lighthouse. Although having lived in this area for decades, none of us had been to the lighthouse. We could not have picked a more glorious day. It was a beautiful drive out to the coast and we enjoyed all the California poppies that were in bloom everywhere.

It is whale watching season, but Naomi was the only one of our crowd to see a whale. There had been over a dozen sightings that day before we got there. It was amazing to learn that as many as 20,000 pacific gray whales migrate south to the waters off Mexico in December & January and then return to the Alaska coastline during March & April. It is a 10,000 mile round trip and takes them 2 months each direction. When they return north, the females have their calves with them. Apparently they expect to be seeing females with calves anytime now. We did see a number of sea lions playing in the surf!

The lighthouse was also amazing to see. Its unique lens was crafted in France in 1867, to be displayed at the Paris World Fair. It then made it's way to California's coast. It contains over 1000 hand ground prisms that refract the light into a unique "signature" signal. It had to be cranked daily, to "wind it up" much like a clock, to keep the lens rotating. It was in continuous operation until 1975, when they installed an automated system.

It is over 300 steps plus several long inclines to get down to the light house, and of course that means equal number of steps to get back up. We definitely got our work out for the day!

The stairway down to the lighthouse.

Watching for whales.

This is where Naomi saw a whale after a ranger pointed it out to her. It is also where we watched sea lions.

 Beautiful day but always windy!

Looking up at some of the hand ground prisms.

The housing around the gears and clockworks that rotate the lenses.

Ahh... the climb back up!

The drive out to the lighthouse took us by and through many dairy ranches. These cows were grazing very close to the road, but seemed to be oblivious to us!

Blast to the Past...

This week, Lucas's ballroom dance class was having a costume dance. The theme was 1970's Disco. Well, I thought we'd pop into a few thrift stores and find some really cool polyester bell-bottoms, maybe even plaid ones! And of course a wide collared colorful jersey knit shirt. A pair of platform shoes would have been the icing on the cake!

The 70s was my high school era and the decade that I got married, which really doesn't seem that long ago. I think of 70s fashions as perhaps just a little "outdated", the stuff that I weeded out of my closet just a few years ago. I soon found out that 30+ year old fashions are not just "outdated", they are "vintage" and that means that they are snatched up at estate sales and skimmed off the top of donations by "dealers" and costume rental businesses and now you can find those polyester bell-bottoms at vintage fashion expos and on ebay for ridiculous prices!


 So... we had to get a little creative. We found 2 pairs of matching jeans at the thrift store and called upon the expert services of Angela to create an awesome pair of bell-bottoms. We did find a baby blue satin polyester shirt that I'm sure is in fact from the 70s and I sewed a simple neck-scarf to complete the outfit. Alas, no platform shoes or "big hair", but all-in-all he looked pretty great!   

Picture 300 students, in makeshift 1970s costumes, dancing to the Bee Gees "Stayin' Alive"  =)

      

                                      

Spring and Other Things...

 I hear the weather reports and know that much of the country is suffering severe winter storms, but it is hard for us here in balmy California to even imagine it. We've been having 70 degree sunny afternoons and all around are signs of spring -  plum trees, quince and daffodils blooming. Even the guinea pigs are enjoying the fresh green grass to nibble on!

Yesterday we enjoyed a beautiful afternoon out at Jordan and Becky's home. Naomi, my horse girl, got to groom horses, shampoo Hickory's tail and clean out his hooves. I'm so glad she has a sister-in-law to share these activities with her! =D

 

 

 

 Jordan was operating the tractor, leveling and expanding their round pen. Lucas was operating the manual shovel and Grandpa was looking after the little guy to keep him safely away from the equipment.

And at the end of the afternoon, we enjoyed a delicious corned beef dinner that Becky had prepared.

Yum!

Finishing Touches...

Most of our master bedroom remodel was actually completed in December, but we just got a few of the finishing touches done. The photos don't give a very good impression of the colors. I think that the lighting, along with my point and shoot camera, just didn't make a good combination.

We chose this scripture a while ago for our bedroom wall, and had the vinyl lettering created for us by Fruitful Vine Creations, a family owned business in Colorado.

A couple of other finished details include our built in bookshelves and the historical family photos that I framed and displayed on the photo ledge that Timothy built for us (he also built the new headboard for our bed).

One Cute Dinosaur!

I just had to share some photos of Lucas's latest project. This is a poseable wooden dinosaur he created from assorted sizes of dowels and balls. Beveled cuts on the dowels and strong elastic cord threaded through the center of all the pieces allow the dinosaur to move and be posed. He found instructions for this project in a recent Popular Mechanics magazine.

This particular dinosaur is for a little nephew's birthday, but as you can see from the pics, Lucas and I had great fun posing and photoing him!

A Baby for My Blanket :)

I have enjoyed knitting a blanket for each of my grandbabies before their arrival. Since I am not an outstanding or fast knitter, I have scrambled to finish each blanket before the arrival date! When the last one (Little Guy) arrived last June, I decided to get a jump start on another blanket. I do enjoy having a knitting project on the go; it is nice to have something to do if the family is watching a movie that I am not particularly riveted to or when I'm sitting in the back of Lucas's 3 hour speech class.

Since there was no baby on the way, I chose a cotton yarn in a nice, fresh, variegated green. As my blanket has been progressing, I have thought and wondered about the little one that might occupy it. It was nearing completion and I thought maybe it would just have to be tucked away on a shelf for awhile. But...

We recently got news that there will be a baby for my blanket! Now as I finish up the last inches, I can pray for the little one that, Lord willing, will be swaddled in it next August!

We rejoice!

Preserving a Piece of History...

 A recent project I completed was to frame a small piece of a quilt made by my paternal grandmother. She hand-pieced and quilted this double wedding ring quilt as a wedding gift for my parents, more than 60 years ago now. My parents used the quilt for many years until it became threadbare and badly worn in many places. I think it was destined for the scrap pile when I claimed it some years ago with the intent of somehow salvaging part of it. It sat in a closet for years, but having just remodeled our master bedroom, it seemed like a good time to do something with the quilt.

 From the close up picture, you can see how badly worn much of the quilt was, but I found a section that was intact enough to frame. I just bought an inexpensive framed canvas art piece at the local discount store and used that as a frame to wrap and staple the quilt around. Now it is hanging on our newly painted wall.

This is a picture of me as a toddler sitting on my grandmother's knee. She has been gone from this world for over 30 years, but I have many childhood memories of time spent with her. I also have some beautiful crocheted doilies that she made. She was a homesteading immigrant to the Canadian prairies in the early 1900s. The quilt and doilies are not only keepsakes from my grandmother, but are tributes to the fact that she and many other homesteading women who lived very hard lives, still found time to create beautiful things for their homes and families.

I love that the framed piece of my grandmother's quilt hangs on our wall just feet away from the beautiful quilt our daughters created much more recently. Women, separated by 3 generations and 90 years, but sharing the gift of creativity and love of family!