October 30, 2011, Gardening Art: Hanging Tomatoes

October 30, 2011....Autumn is in the air, but the feel and smell of spring is strong in this photo of my hanging tomato plants with a view of the Santa Cruz Mountains from my patio. I also planted some peas with the tomatoes, and they produced enough to top my salads several times.

PS: Note the two 35 year-old Elephant Palms on either side of the tomato tree that I grew from about 2 inch plants: 

October 29, 2011, Barb's Leaf Embroidery Quilted Table Topper

October 29, 2011....Barb made this lovely quilted and embroidered  table topper. I tried to talk her out of it to no avail. :)

October 24, 2011....My sister-in-law, Barb, made this stunning quilted table cover for me. She calls it "Christian Easter." Please click to enlarge and see the amazing detail:

Mark 16:6

the angel said, "Do not be so surprised. You are looking for Jesus, the Nazarene, who was crucified. He isn't here! He has been raised from the dead! Look, this is where they laid his body.

October 22, 2011

I found this in a box of  my mother's keepsakes after she passed away. She loved sentimental stories and  poetry.  It is very old and wonderful;  and contains no exact date, but my mother noted that it was  in a 3^rd grade reader from 1934.

One, Two, Three__by Henry Cuyler Bunner

It was an old, old, old, old lady

And a boy who was half-past 3;

And the way that they played together

Was beautiful to see.

She couldn’t go running and jumping,

And the boy, no more could he,

For he was a thin little fellow,

With a thin little twisted knee.

They sat in the yellow sunlight,

               Out under the maple tree;

And the game that they played, Ill tell you,

               Just as it was told to me.

It was Hide-and-Go-See they were playing,

Though you’d never have known it to be.

               With an old, old, old, old lady

And a boy with a twisted knee.

The boy would bend his face down

On his one little sound right knee,

And he’d guess where she was hiding

               In guesses One, Two, Three.

You are in the china closet!”

He would cry, and laugh with glee.

               It wasn’t the china closet;

But he still  had Two and Three.

“You are up in Papa’s big bedroom

In the chest with the queer old key!”

And she said: “You are warm and warmer,

But you’re not quite right,” said she.

               It can’t be the little cupboard

Where Momma’s things used to be,

So it must be in the clothes-press, Gran’ma.”

               And he found her with  his Three.

Then she covered her face with her fingers,

That were wrinkled and white and wee,

And she guessed where the boy was hiding

With a One, and Two, and a Three.

And they never  stirred from their places

               Right under the maple tree—

               This old, old, old, old lady

And the boy with the lame little knee,

And the boy that was half-past 3.

October 20, 2011 Halloween Scrabble Jack

October 20, 2011......Barb, my Idaho sister-in-law, made this really cute Halloween wall hanging. Please click to enlarge:

Quilted Pansys Wall Hanging

October 18, 2011.......My sister-in-law who lives in Idaho (let's call her Barb) made this wonderful work of art.

Note how Barb used tiny pieces of fabric to create a wreath of pansys that almost look like they grew around the wreath:

Kitty and Hearts Afghan Through the Window

Here is a good shot of the afghan that my daughter crocheted for me. It is on a quilt rack inside my living room. The rack is  in front of a window that looks out on a foggy day in  the Santa Cruz Mountains.

October 14, 2011 Dolly and the Kitty-Afghan

October 14, 2011....Dolly went to Kitty-Heaven last April. Her brother, Lama, and I miss her a lot.

Here she is checking out the gorgeous kitty-heart afghan that my daughter crocheted for me.

The Afghan was laying over a chair so I could get a good picture, but it's now displayed over a beautiful quilt rack that my favorite cousin made for me.

October 3, 2011...Learning to throw pottery on a wheel has been a great, but extremely challenging and frustrating joy in my life over the past couple of years.

I take a class once a week and also completed a week of intensive study through  Santa Cruz Adult Education, with an instructor that is a master potter and a well-known professor in the area.

Here is a group of freshly thrown bowls and vases. They have not been fired yet: