SkyWatch/PhotoHunt : Cloud

SkyWatch is found here.

PhotoHunt is at TnChick's place.

Stop by at the Sky Watch blog to see who else has posted delightful photos including the sky today. Visit TnChick on Saturday to see the clouds. These two themes just magically come together this week as I have seen lots of wonderful skies while traveling.

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Living along the Ring of Fire, there is always talk of the potential for an eruption, but as we drove along east of the Sierras last week, I got a kick out of this small cloud providing its imitation of a threatening volcano.

So I asked my Hubby if that was Mt. Whitney. I'd been looking for Mt. Whitney. Those darn California mountains! Here in Washington you can see your big mountains--they stand out among the shorter ones. Mt. Whitney--only 85 feet taller than Mt. Rainier--is hard to identify because there are lots of others which are not all that much shorter surrounding it.

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I think it's one of these.

But I'm not sure if I got the right picture. Mt. Whitney is the highest point in the continental United States--the "Lower 48."

Home again--errrr!

We are home from our trip to attend my cousin's anniversary party. Tomorrow morning I leave again. I hope this schedule is a fluke and not what retirement is really like.

Things I saw but didn't get a picture of:
a coyote
a boulder balanced on top of a fence post
some snowy egrets (I think)
a doe with four--count them--four--fawns. I think she was babysitting.
(OH, I did get a picture and will post it one day soon for Camera Critters.)
a shoe tree--This was a whole dead tree covered with shoes. I don't know why.

Well, I just asked Hubby what there was that we saw that I didn't get pictures of and he said, "Well, that's a puzzlement." So I guess that's it.

Like I say, I am off again in the morning. I hope to get a Skywatch Friday/Photohunt post up before I go. It may be a combined post as Photohunt's theme this week is clouds.

A Quilters's ABC--on Wednesdays--B

See Mrs. Nesbitt

for details about

ABC Wednesday--

Who's posted,

How to participate.
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These Bear Paw blocks were made for me by members of one of my online quilting guilds. I discovered--or maybe rediscovered--quilting about the same time I discovered the Internet. The Internet is a huge resource for modern quilters. Just try putting the word "quilt" into a search engine. You will get nearly 3o million hits.

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Fourteen different early sources had a form of this block available. Most of the names had something to do with bear's paws/feet/claws. It was also known as Duck's Foot in the Mud, Cat's Paw, and Illinois Turkey Track. Non-animal names included Hand of Friendship and The Best Friend. Quilting is a great activity for generating friends. Just like blogging.

The blocks in this small quilt are a variation of a block known as Birds in the Air. Think of the dark triangles as birds flying into a central point, and the light triangles as sky.

If you let those birds fly in a circle, you get a kind of a star.

I designed these blocks last year to illustrate Breast Cancer Awareness Pink Ribbons. It is quilted with names of women affected by Breast Cancer. Other quilters made some of the blocks for me to use in some of my fundraising for my 3-Day Breast Cancer Walk.

This post is pre-scheduled, as we may not be back yet from our trip. I will try to visit as soon as I can.

Twofer the Bell

Sunday we visited the Korean Friendship Bell in San Pedro.
This next doesn't count in the two fer Tuesday pairs as it is just an excuse for me not to type out all that information about the whys and wherefores of the bell.

I think I would want to stand back when it is rung.

Darn! I worked so hard to get the kite fliers framed nicely in the pillars of the structure and you can't even see the kites. I should have just posted the seagull on the top. (You can see him in the first picture.)

There, now you can see some of the kites. It is a lovely place for a family to spend an afternoon.


Jonna started Twofer Tuesdays. Visit her for the details.

Odd Shots on Monday--have I told you about...

Odd Shots is hosted here. To participate, leave a comment so others will know you are here. I am away for a bit so will not get the blogroll updated till my return. Odd Shot details can be found by clicking the logo in the sidebar.

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This is my hubby visiting while waiting to pay for our meal in the snack bar at Sunrise. Looks like he is telling one of his old stories to some of his best buds, right?

We had ordered our meal, and I sat down at a table to wait. He stayed in line to pay at the cashier, and they were a bit slow on that end. While he was waiting, I was watching, and these gentlemen were in line behind him. He had never seen them before, and will likely never see them again.

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He told them all about volunteering at the Park, the hikes we had taken, and all about camping in our Little Guy Trailer.
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Now this is not the oddest Odd Shot I have ever taken, but it made me laugh. You see, I actually (don't laugh at this, it's true) am a very shy person. My husband is the opposite. He can strike up a conversation with anyone any time.

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Obviously.

Don't forget Bridges between...

It will be time again next week. See RuneE here for details about this monthly meme.

The Castle

How will you celebrate your fiftieth wedding anniversary? If you make it that far, then perhaps you will do something akin to what my cousin did--invite a large number of friends, relatives, sorority sisters, and other associates to tour a strange historical relic with them.

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That is what found us at Rubel's Castle on Saturday afternoon. Did you ever want a castle of your own? Well, Mike Rubel did, and with the help of his friends, he built it. The article in Wikipedia differs a bit in some of the details from our Glendora Historical Society docent's version regarding how the creation came about, but you get the gist.

A wide view

Going through the portcullis


A variety of things are embedded in the stone faced walls.

Including this mailbox. There actually are six currently occupied residences which are part of the castle. They are mostly occupied by artists and artisans.

Rubel acquired the clockworks for his clock tower at auction. The Smithsonian was late for the auction, so he got it at the opening bid of $10,000. Not having $10,000, he turned to the friend who had accompanied him to the auction, who quickly found a group of friends who would put together the funds. Then it cost some $13,000 to ship it west, as the smallest of the bells weighed in near a ton.

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The clock keeps perfect time, and a couple arrives daily around five p.m. to wind it. The face is covered because the hands are being repaired. The clock chimes on the hour and half hour--actually an enormous grandfather clock--and when it was silent for a week or two because of repairs, the neighbors called to find out what was the matter.

This is one of many vintage automobiles just waiting for restoration--at least a dozen of them.

The docent said he asked Mike Rubel once about this rack of things. Mike responded that when he found something round he put it there, when he found something square, he put it on another rack.

Well, I would hope so.

I did say, didn't I, that there were a lot of odd things embedded in the walls?

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This one afternoon would provide me with at least a year's worth of Odd Shots, but I chose to share some of it here. If I am lacking an Odd Shot some Monday, I know which folder to look in. In fact, if you need one some day, just ask and I could send you a few.

Photo Hunt--Theme: Hanging

Photo Hunters is from TnChick.

I got this while hubby, Tricia, and son Jeff were hanging the artwork in the new apartment. Baby Benjie and I were outside watching the proceedings from a safe distance--hence the lens reflection

Sunset--Sunrise at Goose Lake

I know that seems backwards, but it is the sequence of events here.

Once we had set up camp at Goose Lake State Park on the Califonia/Oregon border (or was it the Oregon/California border--LOL--the park was in Oregon, but if you cross the road you were in California). Anyway, once we set up camp we set off to look at the lake, and this is the sight we saw.

We got back to our campsite just in time for another entertaining (NOT) thunder and lightning storm and a good night's sleep in our Little Guy. We were greeted in the early morning by this view looking east.

The thunder and lightning was not nearly as disturbing as the storm described here, as it only lasted an hour or so and we were cozily bunked up in our Little Guy and did not have the grandchildren in tents nearby. Besides, much of the lightning was not followed by audible thunder, and that which was had a very good count of seconds between. None of this CRASH/ONETWO/BOOM stuff!

This is my skywatch for Friday, July 25. I am still on the road. I finally found the Sky Watch icon and got it to post. And here is the address for the new SkyWatch blog where you will find other skywatchers.

A New Round af ABCs

This week we start Round Three of ABC Wednesday. If you would like to see who else has come up with something new for the letter A, stop by and see Mrs. Nesbitt. Or join us, it's fun! You'll find the details there, too.

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I started ABC Wednesday with Round Two--A, and completed that entire round with photos from Mt. Rainier National Park. It was a lot of fun combing my photo albums each week to find the perfect photo for each letter.

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For this round I am going to concentrate on another of my passions, one I haven't devoted much blog space to, and have not had a lot of time for of late--Quilting. In my new status as a retired lady, I hope to change that time thing--and the blog space thing, too. Challenging myself to come up with a quilt block for each letter of the alphabet will not be difficult. The challenge will be that for some of these blocks I will have to make the block in order to photograph it. For A, I already have some examples on hand.

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Quilt Block names can sometimes be a very personal thing. Different people came up with similar blocks in different parts of the country, and so the same block might have several names. Several pattern companies published block patterns as early as 1880. Some were published as newspaper features. Others were passed down as templates from mother to daughter, or among members of a quilting bee.

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This is Aunt Eliza's Star. The pattern was published under that name by the Ladies' Art Company of St. Louis. This was the first mail order quilt pattern company, and as of 1895 had some 272 patterns in its catalog.

Aunt Eliza's Star was also known in other sources as Aunt Lottie's Star, Texas Star, and White Star. Here it is in a quilt of many stars that I made several years ago. I will show some of the other blocks in this quilt for other letters.

Here is an Apple block in a quilt I call Apple Irish Chain. This is a pattern I designed myself. (For another A. the leaves are Appliqued instead of pieced.)

This post is pre-scheduled for vacation. I am away from my computer, though I will have my laptop along and may find access along my way. I don't imagine I will get too much time to visit, though, so do forgive me. I couldn't skip the start of the ABCs, could I?

Odd Shot Monday--Parking

This is the home of Odd Shots on Monday.

To participate, post your Odd Shot

and comment here to let others know you are participating.

Click the Odd Shots logo on the sidebar to be taken to the details.

I will update the Odd Shot blogroll this week, but will not be able to after that for a couple of weeks traveling. Will attend to it again when I return.

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And now, what have I seen that was odd?

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Well, this Sunday morning I walked to church

and along the way found this sight.

I would say it was likely that a lot of small fry hag out at this home, and when they are not in attendance, their vehicles hang out on the clothesline.

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I found that an odd spot to store wheeled toys.

Photo Hunt--Theme: What IS That?

See TnChick for more about Photo Hunt.

The theme this week is:

What IS that?

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Well, obviously it is a movie poster for a Mel Gibson movie.

Do you know which movie?

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Think back about ten years.

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Did you guess?

If you clicked to enlarge were you able to identify any of the other posters?

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Now how about this one?


" МАЛЛЕТ ЏОУ "spells out Muppet Show, but I don't know what the rest is.

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This was also showing when we were in Russia in 1998: ТІТАНИК.

(I hope I spelled that right.)

Sounds

I know you like your music. I may even like your music, too.

My volume control button has disappeared from my toolbar due to some sort of automatic update that hid it in some other stuff so that it takes a few clicks to turn your music down or find the mute button.
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Nope. It's gone. I was going to do a screenshot and put in a picture of it, but I can't find it again, though it must be there somewhere because I found it by accident yesterday.

That doesn't help when my radio or TV is on and I open several blogs in different tabs to go through and two of them have music that not only compete with what I am listening to but with each other and another has bird calls.

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If you have sound on your blog and I don't comment, it may mean that I have been assaulted by too much varied audio and closed everybody up early.

It may even happen if you don't have sound on your blog, 'cause if I have five tabs open I don't actually know which one is singing to me.

Sky Watch Friday--Looking down on the sky

Sky Watch details have their own blog.

Looking back on---er--down from our flight a couple of weeks ago.

ABC Wednesday--Z

Visit Mrs. Nesbitt
if you want to find
more ABC bloggers
or participate yourself.

Well, we have made it to Z, and each time I have posted photos from Mt. Rainier National Park I have thought afterwards of something else I could have posted for the letter, or found something different on our next trip to the park.

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That will not happen with Z.

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Until Saturday afternoon I had been dreading Z, pondering Z, meaning to ask someone, anyone at the park for a Z that I could post. Then on the way home on Saturday afternoon, it came to me! The perfect Z. In fact, two of them.

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Z is for zigzag and Z is for zero.

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Okay, Katney, those start with Z so how are you going to connect them?

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First ZIGZAG

The White River (as well as the Nisqually, the Carbon and others which are glacier-fed.) zigzag through their beds, changing their course within their banks as tumbling boulders and logs are deposited, blocking one channel and leading the waters to find another. They are sometimes called braided rivers.

Climber/skiers sometimes zigzag down the mountain from one area to another, as in this pattern seen from Nisqually Vista.

(In a similar fashion, many roads and hiking trails in the mountains will zigzag in switchbacks to make the climb more doable.)

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Now, ZERO
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After the thunderstorm described here, we prepared for the next night. Moving the small tents--which had dried out during the warm morning, into a clutch and covering them over with an extra tarp roof to keep them dry the next night. More thunderstorms were predicted.

Of course, the next night we had ZERO precipitation.

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At a campfire program at White River Campground, Summer Intern Justin showed and demonstrated the gear he uses for climbing, which is designed to keep him warm on the upper mountain and other places where the temperatures may dip to well below ZEROºF.

(Our own gear is designed to keep us toasty when it dips below ZEROºC. And, especially in our tiny trailer, we can sometimes get too warm at night.)

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The next morning, we found a group well prepared for both Zigzagging and zeroes.

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When ABC Wednesday begins its third season next week, I will leave Mt. Rainier--at least for the ABCs. You will have to wait till next week to see what new theme I will pick up, but if you want to guess, it is one of my other main interests.