the 1st at the welfare office

Well today is the day we dread at the Welfare Office, the 1st of the month. But this time it surprised us. Yesterday the 30th was a full moon. The 30th, the last day of the month is the last day a client can turn in any late required forms. So... with our 1 year old new handy dandy electronic scheduling system ( a lobby kiosk ticket machine) we had a new record of 687 people getting tickets simply to turn in documents by 4:30 p.m. That doesn't count all the regular scheduled appts, walk in appts. and people wanting new Food Stamp cards or Medi-Cal cards. I don't think the fire dept will allow 687 people in our lobby. By the way, the wait time after getting a ticket from the kiosk was 2 hrs and 47 minutes before getting served. by 3 p.m. that wait time had extended to 4 hrs and 57 min. Remember, these are your county property and sales taxes at work. Aren't you proud how your San Joaquin County Board of Supervisors are spending all that money?

full moon

This is what I woke up to yesterday. Sometimes there are instant rewards for waking up early. This is the moon setting behind the cherry orchard at 5:30 a.m.

Husbands and Flea Markets

Never let your husband go out of town where there is a flea market without you. The result is unwanted "special gifts".
Jeff drove a trailer to Quartzsite, Arizona for friends. If any of you know anything about Arizona, you know that Snowbirds like it there. And even better is Quartzsite where there is thousands of acres of free R.V. parking space for months on end. And they think they are going to get rich quick by setting up their little tables with nick nacks that someone can't live without. So after being gone for 3 days, (yeah, time with the 5 Little Lovelies, videos and sewing) he came back with treasures for me and ....our girls. Notice there are 3 cookie jars. My guess is the duck is going to be up for grabs, so anyone that really wants it speak now or forever hold your piece. there is also 3 covered pie plates, a combo tea cup & pot in the shape of an english cottage and an electric skillet, identical to the one we received as a wedding gift more than 35 years ago. He knew how much I liked cooking in the old one and since he didn't get around to fixing the broken leg, he figured this was a good deal because it's in such good shape. And the grand total of this good deal is $60. Wow! I just don't know what to say dear. Thank you?

October Red Work Block

Okay I got October Red work block done before November 5th. I'm enjoying this. It's mindless. The block is on the piece that I'm working on from a photograph I took at Fitzgerald Marine Preserve. Someday I'll finish it and you can see the whole thing.

Redwork Quilt Block

I've been doing the Tisket a Tasket Basket block of the month in Redwork. My friend Lisa is doing her's in applique. I'm starting to set my blocks together so I'll be able to finish the quilt in January after we get the last block in December. Maybe it will be done for our quilt show in March. I never can tell.

Natalie's Ballgame

>

Natalie plays Shortstop and Centerfield

Her team played in the R&R tournament in Stockton, CA this weekend and..

Took 2nd Place. The last game score was 6-4. Can you tell she really doesn't like her picture taken. Even when she is in outfield and trying to ignore me in the stands.

Salmon at Taylor Creek/Lake Tahoe

This is my best day trip this time of the year. The salmon are so colorful and the walk along the creek is perfect.

Entrance of Taylor Creek along Hwy 89, South end of Lake Tahoe

div> The salmon are spawning and swimming up Taylor Creek into Fallen Leaf Lake.

The plain green/brown fish is the female and the bright red is the male.

They travel in big schools

And as you walk along the path the schools get bigger and

and bigger


The season is ending in a week or two.

New Baby Daphne

Daphne Olivia Pheifle is still perfect at 13 days old. Her hair is starting to turn blond and she is getting light eyelashes and brows. Her eyes are the deepest blue you have ever seen.

And just look at those cheeks!

Friends

My friend Lisa and I got to spend the best part of Saturday visiting. We had lunch, went to a quilt store and had a great road trip to Yuba City. All my favorite things. The quilt on the wall behind us, Lisa made for her Mom

Lake Tahoe

Caples Lake

Silver lake

Jeff and I were able to get away by ourselves last Thursday and take a day trip up into the Sierras. This is my favorite road trip this time of the year. We headed up Hwy 88, past Silver Lake, Caples Lake, Woods Lake, Carson Pass, Red Lake and into Hope Valley.

Okay half of my captions worked and others didn't.

So past Caples Lake is Blue Lake on Carson Pass. The cattle chutes are at Woods Lake. And this is where I fell while trying to get a great picture of Jeff at the chutes. I fell face first but I saved the camera. Notice the aspens have not changed colors yet, still bright green. We came across lots of patches of snow from the previous weekend storm. On to Hope Valley. We stopped for the best homemake pie at Hope Valley Cafe. All of these places have so many memories for Jeff and I when we helped our friend Ed Questo with his cattle up around Woods Lake. We always went with our friend John Bayless. I couldn't take a photo without thinking of at least 3-4 stories of John with each placed we stopped. John Loved Pie.

I'll finishe our trip to Lake Tahoe tomorrow because I have to save time for sleeping and work. And it take to long to upload pics for some reason.

Silk Ribbon Flower/Applique Class

This is LueAnne's basket of flowers in progress. Her yellow rose looks like a real old fashion rose. It looks like it must smell like a real rose.


Lisa showed us lots of techniques and made the day fun.
We all had a good time and a very good pot luck lunch. Sharon, Inez, Della, Barbara, Joan,
Diana, Pat, Janet, Teresa, LueAnne, Char, Sandra and Bonnie.

I really like this picture of Sandra so I had to show it twice. Really, I'm just getting the hang of posting pictures and did it twice and can't figure how to delete.

Sandra's is beautiful with her batik basket.

This is Della's work. Really nice.

We had a fun class at Manteca Quilters today with Lisa Van Groningren, Silk Ribbon Flowers an applique. Here is Barbara, Bonnie and Joan checking Lisa's class sample.

This is my sample. I learned to applique more than 15 years ago and the techniques then are alot different than today. So I stopped appliqueing because it was too time consuming and I didn't always like the end result. Lisa has showed me that it can be easy, quick and get good results. I'm not sure I'm going to make a boat load of wire ribbon roses. But I'm glad I learned and had fun day with friends

We had a fun class at Manteca Quilters today. Lisa Van Groningren taught us to make silk ribbon flower and how to applique. She had some great instructions. I realized the last applique class I took was about 15 years ago. I quit applique because it was too time comsuming and to much preparation.

Are you Sure it's Fall In San Joaquin Valley

Today is the first day of fall, but you have to look at the calendar to may sure it's reached this part of San Joaquin Valley. It's the third day of over 100 degrees and miserable hot. It's exactly one week before Oct 1st when we get to meet our 5Th granddaughter. And the farmers are harvesting the walnuts. They are already on the ground. They look like little beige polka dots in a dark forest as you drive down country roads. The pomegranates are huge, almost ripe and bright red with a tinge of lime green. On the grape harvest has started. But it's sure hard to believe it's fall. It's just too hot. We have the airconditoner on every afternoon and we're running 3 spinklers 4 times a week just to keep the lawn alive. But it's perfect when I walk out to the barn and feed the horse at 6:30 in the morning and it's cool and fresh and I'm ready to start a new day.

So, how was your weekend?

I've been surfing blogs and reading all the work and accomplishments of my friends and family. So what did I do this weekend?
I started Friday on the third day of antibotic for Bronchitis and headed to W. Stockton for a 7 a.m. root canal. My dentist said, "May as well, you're alrealy on good drugs."
Then I bought stock in Kleenex. When I got home I transferred back and forth from sitting to sleeping on my couch, watching old movies and working on my "Tisket, Tasket Baskets". I'm doing them in redwork. I know Lisa H. will have her appliqued TTB quilted by the time I get my last block embroidered. Pictures later.
It's good to run with over achievers, makes me know not to waste alot of my time trying to keep up. But I do enjoy her finished projects, (usually years of enjoyment before my project every gets done.)
Thanks to the best computer geek I know, HUD my computer is up and running again, but my camera has been loaned out. So pictures to finally follow soon.

This is the view from the back yard. What a way to watch the end of my day come to a close.
I'm sewing the top of nu bebeb's quilt tonight. I hope to have the top done by Friday morning.

Pumpkins in July

Delaney and Allison help Gram pick pumpkins in our garden. We had a very nice garden this year and have been able to share with lots of family and friends. This was a good thing for Jeff this year to work on.

Okay, I did it. I started a blog. I sure hope I don't turn into one of those people that can't start their morning without blogging. Oh, Wait, I already am. Before I start work I visit with Dianah, Lisa, Sandy and LueAnne. Then I check the webcam at Seward, Alaska and Jackson Hole, Wy town square to see if their weather is better than mine. Then I take a bird walk over to Old Faithful and check it out and then I actually start work. Yep, that pretty much qualifies my as a blogger. Now I just have to figure out how to add pictures to this darn thing.