My mom lives still (for a few more weeks–she should be here in Camden, Maine by mid-March) in the county where I grew up: Marin County, California, at the north end of the Golden Gate Bridge. I was out there the past ten days to help her prepare to move. We moved to Marin in January 1964, shortly after President Kennedy was assassinated (we were in Buenos Aires, Argentina, when he was shot but moved back to the US a week or few later). I attended first and second grades at Bayside Elementary School in Sausalito, California, where we lived (it’s the first town on the north side of the bridge). Daddy didn’t always know what to do with me after school, so he used to take me to the beach at Fort Cronkhite. (PS…all photos in this post can be right-clicked to open up larger in a separate window or tab.) The old one-lane tunnel (thankfully retro-fitted to better withstand being smack dab on top of the San Andreas fault) is still there, and is one of two ways to get to the beach:

At the time, it was still an active military base (along with Fort Barry, just inside the bridge, and Fort Baker, between the bridge and Cronkhite on the outside). I can remember sometimes seeing the Nike missiles pointed skyward for periodic tests. The picture below is from the crest of the hills to the south of the beach.

You know all those car commercials with San Francisco (aka “the City”) in the background? They are taken from the road that skirts the coast, sometimes from a dizzying height and drop-off. This photo was taken from one of the few pull-outs. I don’t think there is a finer view of the city from anywhere:

Since I was a kid, the entire Marin Headlands area has become part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, the first such “park” in the nation. I get goosebumps to think of the legacy Teddy Roosevelt gave to us all when he created the National Park system, and that this area which I have always loved so much is now a part of it. I love the red-wing blackbirds that populate the marshes and lagoon! Until I was in my 30s I never new that most red-wing blackbirds have yellow on the wings, as the ones at Cronkhite are a small subset with red only (others have red+yellow or red+white). One of these days there will be a redwing art quilt!

When the military bases were decommissioned, the area became even more accessible to the public. Eventually, the California Marine Mammal Center opened to help rescue stranded and injured pinnipeds (and I think the occasional small cetacean)–seals, sea lions, and also otters I think. After a few years the privately funded and volunteer-staffed center dropped the “California” to help folks understand they didn’t get state funding. They are now building a new facility (no more gift shop in a second-hand single-wide!), and I’m proud to say that Paul and I have given a modest yearly donation for 19 years now! Here’s a photo of the new facilities from across the valley.

I’ll share two more posts about this glorious area… come on back! And thanks for surfing in today!

Our Monday meeting in late January was a welcome respite from the chaos that is my life these days. So much so, that I headed out Route 1 south I found myself talking to myself with glee: “yipppeeee! Girls day out! Girls day away!” Ya think I needed the break? Yep.

The day started nicely, and I stopped at the Starbucks at Cook’s Corner en route to Hannah’s. I went in instead of through the drive-through (and found a gift for hubby for Valentine’s), and found this “art notebook” (above). The trees remind me a bit of Deborah, and I loved the inside (below). But I think I can make a nicer quality one…this was really neat, but I can make it even more fun (and all mine!). Still, I liked it enough to snap pics, and I really liked the embroidered detail on the flap covering the pencil points, which alas you can’t see because I lifted the flap for the photo—smack self upside head!

We met at Hannah’s house, where her youngest took a long nap (and the babysitter was there to boot!), we shared and talked and ate and played, pretty much in that order, except we also ate while sharing! Kath brought muffins and I brought juice (I have fallen in love with the Simply Orange, which tastes like fresh…and the jars are great for mixing dyes, too.) Kathy brought her being-quilted chickadee quilt which she has discussed over on her blog, here. I brought my in-progress Hawaiian style quilt that will be in my book (which will be delayed again as I deal with mom’s decline), and Hannah had these incredible delectables tucked away, but we found them anyway…. I am in LOVE with that tree piece (second photo)!

Hannah had a project she wanted us to try and even had all the supplies… she had seen on Martha how you cover a canvas with your own cloth, Mod Podge it to seal it and glue it to the canvas. Then you take a mask or a stencil and paint around a shape. Here’s Kate working on hers as Hannah starts on our Italian sub sandwiches for lunch:

Of course I couldn’t do what the instructions said…. I decided to tear strips of cloth and have a striped background….

And I was SO inspired by this flyer from the library in Brunswick (or was it the local film / cinema group? It was about movies)… aren’t these incredible graphics? I think I’ll tear masking tape to mask off trees and birds on my striped cloth one before I paint…. but what color? Deep navy? Teal? Silver? That last hadn’t occurred to me until I just typed it, but maybe that’s it…. or a dark metallic gray?

And then there was Kate’s rum cake for dessert….. *almost* needed to worry about a breathelyzer test after that one….grin! And, sigh, we missed Deborah, who always took photos of our feast…..

Yes, I am alive. Yes, I have been working like a madwoman. Yes, family life happens (and means you don’t get to blog). Yes, I have been teaching. Yes, I have been quilting!

Earlier this week I came across a post on the quiltart list by Sonja Lee, and a link to her blog, Art Textilian, with her contribution to the World Beach Project. WOWIE ZOWIE! Instant inspiration! The Beach project is sponsored by the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, England, and a collaboration with artist Sue Lawty. Immediately I wanted to participate, despite the bone-shattering cold this week

So on Friday at sunset when it was about 12 degrees Fahrenheit (minus temps in Celcius) with a nice breeze blowing to make it feel chillier, Eli and I went to town to buy Pigwidgeon (the pug)  a birthday present (a new bed), go to the post office, and just before dark (well, as dark was happening at 5 pm) make our piece on the beach. The photo above is of the beach below the library and amphitheatre park. You can see the schooners wrapped for winter and the ice (yes, ice) on the beach at low tide at sunset.

I guess I didn’t read the instructions too well, because the project is supposed to be made of stone, and ours is made of mussel shells, a few rocks, and tumbled, broken bits of brick (so it is totally New England!). When I asked Eli at breakfast if he wanted to do this with me, he asked if we could make the yin and yang if we could find white and black stones, so of course I said yes. Well, he didn’t remember what it was called, but I knew he meant yin-yang. When we got to the beach, he decided red and blue of brick and mussels would be better.

Anyway, I don’t know if our project will make the V&A website since it isn’t exactly mostly rock, but we had fun anyway. It got so dark in the 20 minutes or so that we were freezing our fingertips (some of the shells were frozen to the sand and we had to scrabble to pry them loose!), so I had to photoshop / lighten this last picture so you can actually see both the harbor and our project.

Can you tell I love snow? And taking pictures… here, some more winter inspiration, starting with the tree in the cemetary (not that you can tell with all that snow), Mt. Battie in the background:

Here’s the Village Green:

And the Harbor, from in front of the library:

I love the “dinosaur ridges” on the tree branches (near our house):

The reflections in the not-yet-frozen run-off creek near the house:

Eli playing in the snow with ‘Widgeon:

and Joshua playing in the snow, too:

And the snow at least a foot deep blanketing my studio over the garage:

The snow-bound creek (which will freeze over before too long):

And the laden pine boughs alongside the driveway:

Let it snow:

Let is snow (some more):

Let it snow (even more!):

We had a White Christmas this year in spite of the warming weather last week, mostly because there was about 22 inches of snow on the ground. Quite a bit melted off before New Year’s Eve day, when we got more. Then the night of New Year’s Day, we got even more….. We now have more snow than I’ve seen in our short 3 1/2 years here. The snow plow ridge at the end of the driveway is SO high I can’t see over it to look for oncoming cars! So of course, since I love the winter and the cold (and being snug inside our house and quilting and reading and fixing tea and listening to the kids …well…. most of the time listening to them), I took pictures. LOTS of pictures! Here you go! Plenty of inspiration for art quilts, I think…. (a late note…too many pics! will post more tomorrow!)

Here’s our house:

And the mailbox:

The house end of the driveway after being plowed and shovelled…notice how high the pile goes compared to the basketball hoop!

And here’s Eli at the street end of the driveway…Widgeon loves the snow, at least when it is in the 20s. Today it was around 0, yep, ZERO Fahrenheit (which is well below zero centigrade!), currently with a windchill of minus 10! That was a bit too cold on his little tootsies!

More pics tomorrow, including ones of town and the neighborhood.