Sorry, Sudoku....you've been replaced.

Sorry, Will Shortz, the Sudoku puzzles no longer appeal to me the way that Zen Doodling does.  As I put that Sharpie pen to paper, I am enchanted with the designs that flow.  Although I'm currently limiting myself to paper and pens, I anticipate sitting at my machine with rich colored Aurifil thread on solid cotton fabrics.  Oh....to imagine!

Food Truck Friday in Reno

She moved seductively, hips swaying as she belted out a Nora Roberts song.  She rubbed up against his leg, and nested on his shoe, knowing how much he loved her!  This was my introduction to Food Truck Friday, a puppeteer well versed in his craft. Cheyenne selected a Vietnamese sandwich from the Dish Truck and Bill tried out ribs from the Saucewagon.  Noah had a burger and fries from Fatburger and  I tried the Asian Tacos from Kenji's...the pork were especially delicious and priced at $1.50/each - best deal of the evening.  Beer from Great Basin Brewery and home-made chocolate ice cream with chunks of chewy chocolate and almonds made the evening perfect.  Then we headed over to Chey's house and watched Freddy Frogface with Noah.  Cheyenne brought out movie candy and offered popcorn to end a fun night with our grand kids.  Check out Food Truck Friday (the first Friday of each month) on their facebook page, http://www.facebook.com/RenoFoodTruckFridays

Birthday Placemats...a year long project.

As you may imagine, my family has lots of birthdays from the oldest, William, to the youngest, Willa Rose, we manage to fill up calendar pages, month after month with reasons to celebrate.  I think the only months we get a breather are February, June and December.  But, if you agree with me, December definitely does not qualify as a "breather."  I decided I wanted to make individual placemats, celebrating what makes each of us unique, so I began in May with Max and Sam's 11th birthdays and followed in July with Larry's 35th! Molly is next, the end of August and then I charge head on into the fall months with celebrations for Chaja, Willa, Marcel, Dylan, Rachael, Scott, Ivan and Olivia.  I'll be so glad to have December "off" for January brings four more birthdays!  I'll be posting pictures of the placemats as I finish them.  Since I'll be doing the little grand daughters closer to their 3rd birthdays, Willa and Olivia will have a wait.  I think this will be a  very long, drawn-out adventure in figuring out how to capture each person's personality in a placemat.

The Best of Dandelion Wine

Queen replacement bee

I'm listening to Ray Bradbury's semi-autographical recollection of a small-town summer in 1928, Dandelion Wine.  This quote is magical  "...searching out the smell of the gold fuzzed bees that hung around our back-porch grape arbor.  Bees do have a smell you know and if they don't, they should, for their feet are dusted with spices from a million flowers."

Placing the queen in the frames.  The bees will eat through the candy nougat plug and release the queen.  By then they will accept her because of the pheromones she releases.

The Backside Offers the Best View!

Now, I guess that really depends on what you are looking at, doesn't it?  For me, the backside of quilts typically offers the best view of the quilting and the work I enjoy the most.  Rachael, when she and her family visited over spring break, worked on a disappearing nine patch for her mother-in-law, Ellen.  She ended up taking it home to rework the squares and when Bill and I were visiting Seattle in June, she put it together and sent it home with me for quilting.  By rights, the only side I can claim is the backside of the quilt, for that is where my creativity hides.  I finished my part and am returning the quilt to Rachael so she can bind it and prepare the label for this warm and cozy Christmas offering.  And so I offer you the backside of Rachael's quilt.

Feliz Dia de las Madres

Five baby birds on Cheyenne's front door wreath

Mother's Day crosses state lines, national borders and continents.  Mother's Day, a time to reflect on motherhood in general and our own mothers in particular.  Mine was perfect for me...short, fiery and a heart as large as her body.  It's been over five years since her heart stopped beating and I miss her every day.  We didn't always agree but she never expected that.  She wanted her children to speak up when there was injustice, comfort the sick and feed the hungry.  She was a "people person" and we learned from the best.  So, to all mother's everywhere, especially my four daughters who are learning about life from their children, blessings to you on Mother's Day.

Front door nesting site

As Pregnant as a Pea

Something about springtime makes people want to dig in dirt, take in the rich, earthy smell and watch minute particles find hiding places under fingernails.  Bill is the family gardener and he tills the soil well.  I, on the other hand, am more like a butterfly or a dandelion....not one to rely upon, for in a poof!, I'm gone.  I like to be outdoors but prefer to flit about, checking out this or that; digging a hole, pulling some weeds, planting a few seeds but commitment is not in my genetic code.  For that, I look to Bill. Currently, he is planting old seeds with expiration dates that came and went long ago stamped on the colorful envelopes.  Sunday he decided to plant beans and peas and began to head outdoors when I asked why he wasn't soaking them.  "I never have" was his reply.  Having seen Jessie, our neighbor with green thumbs and garden clogs permanently parked on her front porch, soak seeds over the years, I gave her a call and she said to soak them about a day and a half.  As we sat down to dinner tonight, two jars filled with water and soaking seeds were at Bill's place at the table. The beans and peas were swollen with potential, not unlike the belly I gazed upon when I was near term.  He finished his dinner and headed outdoors to find a nesting place for the peas, after all their due date has long passed.