Saturday, July 24, 2010

Rich Day of Friendship

This morning a group of fiber-nuts met at Walden's. It was pretty sponta-
neous and I do think we had an great turn-out, but you know how fiber-nuts are. We want to make this habit - not fiber. It's already a habit. Getting together!
Everyone split afterwards to see an art exhibit but my book club was meeting in an hour so I decided rather than race through the exhibit, I'd take my self to my favorite nearby county park. It's a very large and wonderful complex of native plants. I had the pleasure of living within a mile of it for almost 20 years. My running partner friend and I ran through here and brought our sketch pads on occasion. I haven't been back in a long time - many memories.
I took my drop spindle to my favorite bench by a Douglas Fir. A quiet 30 minutes of spindling seemed to be in order, though I found myself chatting with folks as they walked by, fascinated by what I was doing. I thought "my" bench was hidden - guess not. One woman and her two teen-age boys were absolutely fascinated and both the boys were openly interested. I gave the Mom a gold star.

I love my book club and the ladies in it. We all come from such different backgrounds and the group is small enough for an easy-paced discussion - I guess I do need two book clubs.
We meet in each others homes every other month and then a restaurant. BTW, my quiche was awesome - really. The secret is to scald the half-and-half. Okay, that's half the secret. I'd have to kill you for the other half.

Betty, our hostess today, is an accomplished basket weaver and in the conversation about weaving, I mentioned my hunt for cheap rags. She ran down to the basement and came back several pair of mens twill pants, saying that after the Quilts of Gees Bend exhibit, she thought she'd do something, but here - you do something. I've seen Julie's rugs from twill pants and they're terrific.

I put them in the dining room when I got home, and then when I went to set the table for dinner, found that they had been adopted. Thanks Mom, says Charlie. I love these. You want me to move?? Move where? When? Now?
When the temps climb to 100, I know we're going to have electrical activity. We unplugged and waited. Ideally, thunderstorms bring rain, but for us in the arid high desert, dry lightening is always a danger.
Ian saw the lights from the VFD truck leaving our valley and then saw the fire. This is burning where I was stuck in roadwork just yesterday. There are hundreds of head of cattle there. This is a terrible time for ranchers in Long Valley. They've suffered from these strikes many times. I wonder why the weather systems are so mean to them.

Meanwhile, at our house we have a golden sunset and rainbow.

7 comments:

Marion B. said...

It seems you had a good time with your friends and in the park. At the blog of Raewyn I read about floods, at your blog I read about fires and drought. But those pictures are great (when I don't think about what is really happening overthere.....)
Have a nice Sunday.

Theresa said...

Oh what a lovely day! The quiche sounds wonderful.
Have to kill me eh? Oh bummer on the fire. No storms though...yet. Today has thunderstorm warnings.
I know I'll get slammed but honestly, the high desert was never meant for cattle. The grazing so scant you need large tracts, the vegetation so delicate. It's like putting golf courses in Scottsdale. ;)

Carolyn Jean Thompson said...

Waldens! That is in walking distance from my house! And I was glad to see pix of the May Arboretum. I've been meaning to go there soon to paint possibly. Last night was exciting in my area. Gusty winds and thunder. We sat under our easy up and had to quicky easy-down it. We sat under it and held on to it so it wouldn't fly away from the strong down and updrafts. The lightning was still a distance away - 15 seconds before the clap of thunder. But we did eat dinner inside because I didn't want my salad to blow away!

Anonymous said...

Hope that fire gets put out quickly! That is the scary thing about hot summer and storms. We have been lucky here, but the danger is always there.
How wonderful to have such a good group of friends to spin and read with!

Annie said...

It's getting cooler here now, so I'm back at the computer. Trying to read everybody's blogs.
You sure have been busy! Beautiful spun yarns, beautiful rug.
Isn't it fun to do things 'in public', like spindling or knitting. It's always good for a conversation or two!

Leigh said...

And Charlie says, "Aw Betty, for me? You shouldn't have."

Sounds like a wonderful day and I'm glad you mentioned quiche. That's something yummy I can do with our eggs.

Robin said...

Terrible about the fires but what beautiful sky shots.