Jeremiah

Walk in all the ways that I command you,



so that you may prosper.

Jeremiah 7:23

Good Bye Old Friend

 So it's about time.

Good Bye dear friend, you have served us well for sixteen years through many states and great adventures.

 Mama's new ride!

ABC Wednesday K

There are several quilt blocks which come from Kansas or Kentucky, and some with a biblical reference such as King's  Cross, but today I  challenged  myself  to do this one,  which  is  called    Key West Beauty.

At first I thought this was going to be fairly simple to cut, and fairly straightforward to put together. There are no inside seams to place, and I thought the angles in the center were all 45º. But the green and the blue meeting in the center are different angles. I printed the block out and used a method called paper piecing to do it. With paper piecing, you place the fabrics one at a time in sequence and stitch on the printed lines of the paper to get the seams exactly right. I did it in four sections like that, then put the four together.

Have you ever seen the same pattern with different colors in different parts and not realized it was the same? Different values--intensity of color or lightness to darkness--in different places can make a block look very different with different parts coming into dominance. Check it out in this comparison sketch of the Key West Beauty in two different sets of fabrics.

Find ABC Wednesday here.

We're eating cactus for dinner.

But I forgot to take a picture.

Old, renewed and new in my world

It was a surprise to me a few weeks ago when along the back roads I saw this familiar orchard in this state. Orchards are torn out for a variety of reasons. As trees age--these were probably forty years old--they are less productive and it can be financially beneficial to take the few years necessary to establish a new orchard. Add to that the new varieties of fruit that have replaced the old in the tastes of the consumer. If I recall correctly, this orhard was either Red or Golden Delicious. Although the Goldens are still a favorite apple of mine, You see a lot more Fujis, Galas, Braeburns, and others in the supermarket.

Today I passed that way again and found the progress:

So, will it be a new variety of fruit that goes in? I cannot imagine Janet, who  is the owner of that property, subdividing for houses there. I guess I will have to wait and see.

Further up the road on that first trip I found a team of workers installing the posts for a new vineyard. I do not remember what crop was grown in this area before. Today the posts and the wires that they support appeared to be completed, and a cleaning up of bits of branches and such that were remaining was underway. Vineyards are common in the Yakima Valley, and wine grapes have been replacing juice grapes more and more over the years that we have lived here--earning the area the name of Wine Country.

So that's some of what's happening in My World today. I need to take the camera out to the site of the new library, for which I showed the ground-breaking a few months ago. Progress is really taking place there, and I have been asked to volunteer to help move books in July--having had experience in moving libraries, though nothing so large a project as this.

What's happening in other parts of the world? Check My World Tuesday.

from Psalm 25

Show me your ways, LORD, teach me your paths.

Psalm 25:4

from Psalm 42

 
 
 
 
 
Athirst is my soul for the living God.

When shall I go and behold the face of God?




Psalm 42:2


(I have decided that Psalms are not just for Sunday blogs. I may not do a verse from a Psalm every day, but expect to see them at least a couple of times a week.)

So, what's odd?

Well, first of all, I always like an odd angle on even the most mudane of subjects. But wait! There is actually a telephone directory at a pay phone? And almost odd these days--there is a pay phone.

Take a walk down memory road and watch an old detective show from the 70s. James Rockford from the Rockford Files, for example, is always popping into a phone booth and digging into his pocket for change.

Fast forward to the series Sherlock, (which we've only seen three episodes of on PBS here in the states--send more, send more!!) Sherlock Holmes set in current times. Sherlock is constantly texting his Watson.

What other odd shots are simply anachronisms? What other technology will go the way of the pay phone?

Sunday's Psalm--Third Sunday of Lent

If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.

Come, let us sing joyfully to the LORD;

let us acclaim the Rock of our salvation.

Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving;

let us joyfully sing psalms to him.

If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.

Come, let us bow down in worship;
let us kneel before the LORD who made us.
For he is our God,

and we are the people he shepherds, the flock he guides.

If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.

Oh, that today you would hear his voice:

“Harden not your hearts as at Meribah,

as in the day of Massah in the desert,

Where your fathers tempted me;If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.

they tested me though they had seen my works.”












from Psalm 95

images:
chaffinch
Zion Canyon
deer at Longmire
roadside sheep in Scotland
Death Valley Badlands
seasonal waterfall in Zion

Other illustrated psalms can be found linked at Athens Daily Photo.

Wilelife Refuge Reflection

Water is high in the wetlands. We took our lunch to the Toppenish Wildlife Refuge to give ourselves a chance to get out into the open. As we headed to the pass on our way to California last week, I caught a glance of large white birds in the refuge waters. I think the pelicans have returned to the Valley for the season. With eighteen hours of driving ahead of us, I didn't even suggest stopping then, and the pelicans were not hanging around for lunch. I'll have to make an early morning visit and see.

This reflection is inspired by -- well, by the tree --  but by James' Weekend Reflections at Newtown Daily Photo.

ABC J

Visit Wikipedia for a quick bit of info about the plant Jack in the Pulpit. Do you think that the quilt block by that name suggests the plant? I have not yet made my sample of the Jack in the Pulpit block, having been gone out of town for five of the last seven days, so you will have to settle for the sketch. I will play catch up next week.

ABC Wednesday is here.

What I learned while traveling this weekend

Do not refill your 32 oz. iced tea and head off on a road that doesn't have any rest stops for miles and miles and miles and miles and...

Wonder what HIZZZZZZZ iz.

Odd Shots



Sunday's Psalm--Second Sunday of Lent

Lord, let your mercy be on us, as we place our trust in you.

Upright is the word of the LORD,

and all his works are trustworthy.

He loves justice and right;

of the kindness of the LORD the earth is full. 

Lord, let your mercy be on us, as we place our trust in you.

See, the eyes of the LORD are upon those who fear him,

upon those who hope for his kindness,

To deliver them from death

and preserve them in spite of famine.

Lord, let your mercy be on us, as we place our trust in you.

Our soul waits for the LORD,

who is our help and our shield.

May your kindness, O LORD, be upon us

who have put our hope in you.

Lord, let your mercy be on us, as we place our trust in you.

from Psalm 33

Photos:

Monument Valley, UT/AZ

sky in Eastern Oregon

Mt. Rainier National Park

Be sure to check for other illustrated psalms
at Athens Daily Photo.

SkyWatch StormWatch?

All that cloud!

And the moon, too.



SkyWatch

ABC Wednesday -- I

It can be really interesting to follow the names of quilt blocks. I post this one for the letter I because one of its names is Indian Meadow. It is listed with that name in two early historic quilt resources. But the same sources and another also call it Queen Charlotte's Crown. One other has it as Basket Design.

Meanwhile, both of these blocks are listed in some sources as Indian Meadow (along with other names.)

Basically, it means that a similar block may be developed in different times or regions and be given different names.

Why any of them would be called Indian Meadow is a good question.

 ABC Wednesday can be found here.

Odd Shot Monday

I was tempted to go get something for my Gard, but I needed some pparel.

Last week the Linky did not work. I will give it another try. Please leave a comment with your link as the links from the Linky are not showing. I will find another Linky service for future posts or figure out what is wrong with this one.

Sunday's Psalm--First Sunday of Lent

Be merciful, O Lord, for we have sinned.

Have mercy on me, O God, in your goodness;

in the greatness of your compassion wipe out my offense.

Thoroughly wash me from my guilt

and of my sin cleanse me.

 

Be merciful, O Lord, for we have sinned.


For I acknowledge my offense,

and my sin is before me always:

“Against you only have I sinned,

and done what is evil in your sight.”



 Be merciful, O Lord, for we have sinned.

A clean heart create for me, O God,

and a steadfast spirit renew within me.

Cast me not out from your presence,

and your Holy Spirit take not from me.

Be merciful, O Lord, for we have sinned.

Give me back the joy of your salvation,

and a willing spirit sustain in me.

O Lord, open my lips,

and my mouth shall proclaim your praise.

Be merciful, O Lord, for we have sinned.

from Psalm 51

fountain in Seattle

Olympia Harbor

mushrooms hiding in Alaska

Avalanche Lily

Skywatch Reflecting Retrospective --Japan Earthquake

Reflecting on the earthquake this morning in Japan I thought to remember what images I might have stored that relate to Japan. The Japanese Garden at the Yakima Arboretum came to mind and I found these reminders from a visit there a couple of years ago.

Our hearts go out to those affected directly by the quake and with prayers also for those awaiting the tsumani's approach across the Pacific not knowing how extensively it might affect each area.

This is the Rotary International Centennial Pagoda at the Japanese Garden.

We visited in the fall.

SkyWatch is reflected also for Weekend Reflections. 

ABC Wednesday -- H

Eight Hands Around

Pattern originally published in 1929. Also known as Swing in the Center and Joy Bells.

ABC Wednesday is here.

Sometimes an Odd Shot is an eyeball to eyeball view.

For some reason, the linkies are not showing up. Please leave a comment if you have an Odd Shot so that we can visit you.

Sunday's Psalm--Ninth Sunday of Ordinary Time

from Psalm 31
Others who illustrate psalms each Sunday can be found linked at Athens Daily Photo.

...and if you decide...

A news report concerning a problem with skunks in one of our nearby communities included options the citizens have for dealing with the critter invasion. An officer with the Department of Fish and Wildlife warned--with a subtle smile and a gleam in his eye--that if you decide to trap them yourself to use an enclosed trap.

Hmmmm.

Suppose he found out the hard way?

ABC Wednesday--G is for Goose

In quilt piecing terms, most of us consider this unit to be a flying goose.  In this sketch you can identify the goose and the sky by color--they are even referred to that way sometimes.

There are numerous quilt blocks with something about geese in their names, and nearly all of them contain this element of three triangles. Flying geese are also used in creating a number of stars and other blocks.

Or you can have a whole quilt of flying geese.

ABC Wednesday, Round 8