Welcome to Wine Country

 Wasabi Girl came to visit me for a day recently, and since she had just turned 21 I decided to take her on a little wine tour through my neighborhood. I live in the Willamette Valley in Oregon and you can't swing a cat without hitting a winery. I even have "Wine Country" license plates.

We did the complete winery tour at Lange Vinyards and it was amazing. We kept getting dazzled by the statistics. Did you know each barrel holds 300 bottles of wine? There were rooms and rooms of barrels, steel tanks, and even a concrete "egg." The neutral nature of the concrete gives the wine a bright, clean flavor.

The Willamette Valley is sometimes called the "Burgundy of the West," because we are at the same latitude as Burgundy France. The similar growing conditions yield rich reds, although we have plenty of wonderful wines of all types.

At the end of the tour we were able to taste and compare a variety of their offerings and of course, I ended up buying a few bottles.

So if you ever come visit, prepare to meet some wine. One of the perks of living in Wine Country.

Call Me Snow White

I had a wonderful day. I stepped outside this morning to take out the trash and I smelled the ocean. We don't live very close, but when the wind is right, the fresh sea breeze is wonderful. It was especially nice after days of smelling smoke that's drifted from the fires in Northern California. I decided to take my applique project outside and enjoy the beautiful weather, the smell of the air, and the sound of birds.

As I sat down, I saw that there was already somebody in the yard; a little fawn resting in the shade.  I held up my applique for perspective on how close it was sitting.

The fawn considered me for a while,then stood up and walked off.  I continued stitching.

The next time I looked up, I had several visitors in the yard.  I took a quick little video.  My fawn had circled around and come to visit me over by my left elbow.

It was just a perfect moment.  I included my project in the video to hopefully give some perspective on how close they were. The quilt block is resting on my knee. 

They stayed nearby for quite a while and finally all three wandered off.  I started to get a bit hot in the sun so I returned indoors.

For an animal lover like me, this was the best day ever.

How to drop a freshman off at college

This has been one of the hardest things I've ever done in my life.  There has been real grief and real joy in this process.  I am still recovering.  I'm going to apologize in advance for the blurry photos.  Everything happened so fast.  It will give the realistic impression of looking through tears.

Step 1:  Packing.

Three suitcases packed impossibly full.  Each suitcase came in at just under the 50lb weight limit.  This was no small feat.  Favorite pillow, favorite teddy, favorite journals all had to stay home.  We enjoyed the miracle of those big bags that can be filled and then vacuumed to remove the air.  Even though this made things wonderfully compact, it didn't make them any lighter.

Step 2:  Arrive at destination, hit all the stores.

It's all those little things that add up:  a white board, highlighters, a desk lamp.  Ka-ching!  Big bill at Target.  Then we went to another store where my credit card was immediately denied.  Apparently out-of-state big purchases trigger a freeze.  One parent told me that a Target she went to actually had  a sign on the front door warning out-of-state college parents to notify their credit card company before trying to make a purchase.  It took a little time, but I got it cleared up and spent plenty more money at the bedding store.

Step 3: Visit the campus even though move-in day is the next day.

"Mom,this is the lawn, this is the castle..."  is about the level of detail I got from her. She had been out to visit earlier in the summer with a friend to take placement tests. She was thrilled to show me the "writing room" in the library where she plans to hunker down with her laptop.

But the castle!  Oh my, what a beautiful place.  I learned the next day that it was modeled after the castle in Scotland that was later used to film the Harry Potter movies.

There were numerous ballrooms.

Some of the ballrooms had painted ceilings.

Suit of armor - I was told he tends to change spots and poses in the night.

Step 4:  Try to sleep the night before move-in.  Fail.

Step 5: Try to survive move-in day
This was so well orchestrated that it all went pretty quickly.  Parents backed cars up to the curb in front of the dorms and all the sports teams descended on the cars and unloaded them and took everything up to the room.  It felt like it was about 130 degrees and these poor kids kept their good humor despite being drenched with sweat at 10:00 in the morning. 

Step 6: Make the bed.

Even though it would have been a lot easier for her to wrestle the sheets onto the top bunk, I insisted on doing it.  It's the mom's job, the last time I'll probably ever make her bed for her.  I tugged and smoothed and tried to make everything as perfect as possible.  Meanwhile, Drama Girl stuffed clothes into drawers and I bit my tongue to stop myself from lecturing about the importance of folding.

Step 7: Meet the roommates and their parents

Did I mention three girls are stuffed into an "overbooked double?"  Drama Girl will only be with them for one semester and they communicated a lot before they met, but I still have reservations about the whole setup.  By the time we got all three girls and all of their stuff squeezed into the room, it was time to attend the half-dozen parent orientation activities while the kids went off to do some icebreaker activities with other students.

Step 8:  The final goodbye

I can't write about this without crying.  As the staff explained it, they designed it to happen fast, like pulling off a bandaid.  There were plenty of volunteers around with "Free Hugs" buttons and I confess I got one from a sympathetic stranger.  Seeing other moms (and some dads) tearing up didn't make any of it any easier.

But when all was said and done, it was such a happy day too.  As one parent said, it was like "releasing a trout."  A flip of the tail, a shimmer of light, and they were off, happy in their environment.

Good luck Drama Girl.  I love you.

Shop Hop

This past weekend Wasabi Girl and I went on a shop hop to 13 local quilt shops.  I'm using the term "local" rather loosely because the entire trip was hundreds of miles.

Each shop gave us charm squares of batik fabrics and a set of patterns to use with them.  Of course, I took a million pictures of the sample quilts and still couldn't make up my mind so I made hexies out of mine instead.  This was a fun little project and will make a nice memento of the trip.

We saw a lot of fabric and patterns to love.  Wasabi Girl was wearing a "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" shirt and several different people we met talked about how much they love the show.

One girl in a shop ran to a back room and got a special bolt of fabric she'd been hoarding for Buffy fans.  It's the famous fabric from this scene.  If you're not familiar with Buffy, this 22 second clip sort of sums up the whole show:


So Wasabi Girl will be making some yummy sushi pajamas this week - which is sort of fitting when I think about the screen name I've assigned her!

Fun at the Nerd Museum

Drama Girl and I made a quick trip to Seattle this weekend.  It was gray and rainy but we had a fabulous time seeing old friends and touring colleges.

One of the highlights was the EMP Museum.  I'm afraid we geeked out at the displays of fantasy and sci-fi memorabilia.

Here's my childhood.  Right here.  The cowardly lion costume from The Wizard of Oz.  One of the guard costumes is next to it.  This made me ridiculously happy.

The next case had costumes from The Princess Bride.  Yay!!  Another favorite we've seen many times.

We couldn't use flash, so here's a dim picture of Drama Girl swooning over David Bowie's outfit from Labyrinth.

Two of Buffy the Vampire Slayer's famous stakes.  We love this show too.  For fellow fans, "Mr. Pointy" is the one on the top.

A Dalek from Doctor Who. Look at that grin.  We loved this place.

Sirius Black's costume from Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.  I think this was Drama Girl's favorite.

It feels silly to say, but if you're ever in Seattle, I recommend a stop by this museum if you enjoy pop culture memorabilia.  It was beautifully curated and a lot of fun.

The funniest thing about the trip was getting an email from the PTA president  at Drama Girl's high school asking if he'd just spotted me walking around Pike's Place Market.  What are the chances?  I had just been there a few minutes before.  It's a small world.  The older I get, the more often I run into people in unlikely places.  I wonder if there's a name for that phenomenon.

Roses

This is a painting my husband did recently.  I found this frame around the house but I want to get a better one. 

I think some of my love of flowers is rubbing off on him.  He paints all kinds of things - still lifes, portraits, copies of famous paintings.  These are some of the tiny climbing roses in our yard.  I love this picture.

Mother's Day was full of adventure.  We visited the Disney Family Museum in San Francisco.  I could have spent all day there but I spared my family.  Of course I had to stop in the gift shop.  It was lovely.  Jewelry and posters and art supplies and Little Golden Books.  I could have stayed in there all day as well.  My son was hovering a bit while I shopped.  I remarked on a cute Minnie Mouse clock and laughed about how we haven't had a copy of Dumbo in the house for years.  After a while he suggested I go see what Drama Girl was making in the art room.  While I was visiting her, my son reappeared with my husband and the kids handed over the following little gift: 

I had to laugh.  Way to go with the covert operations!  The story came out that they had been looking for a copy of Dumbo for the past week but had been unsuccessful.  All's well that ends well.  Remind me the next time I'm in a gift shop to admire all the expensive jewelry.

The day finished up with a trip to see The Great Gatsby.  I really liked it, although I kept remembering the Robert Redford version, which made me feel kind of old.  I don't like seeing remakes of movies that came out in my lifetime.  It's like I'm overdue for a remake.

Hope you had a lovely Mother's Day!

Back from the woods

I had a wonderful time at my machine quilting class at Asilomar.

This is the first mini-quilt I worked on.  I need to get the binding on and then I can wash out all the marks.  It's about 18 inches on each side.  Not very big but a lot of work.  I used "Radiance" fabric which is about half silk/half cotton.  Slippery to work with but the finished piece is pretty.  I also used silk thread for the first time.  Took a while to adjust the tension on my machine just right but now I feel like I know how to do it.  Sort of a mixed blessing because silk thread is really expensive.  But if you're going to make something heirloom-quality, better to use the good stuff.

This mini quilt I did manage to finish and bind and rinse.  It's my first trapunto piece, and now I'm hooked on using this technique.  I never looked much at whole cloth quilts before but this class really gave me an appreciation for them.

This is also a change for me because I really love quilts that have a riot of color going on.  Now I'm going to keep my eyes open for fabric that's pale and demure to show off the stitching.  My shopping options just expanded.

Of course, even though my goal was to come home without another unfinished quilt to work on, I just couldn't resist starting another much bigger trapunto quilt.  I had a big piece of this soft pink fabric so I just dove right in.  Yet another project to divide my attention.

I met many wonderful women there.  I even met a blogger I've visited online before!  Go visit  Tami at Lemon Tree Tales.  She's wonderful.

Off to sew!

Sew Forth by threeundertwo related [litandlaundry.blogspot.com]

I'm leaving Friday for a six day class in machine quilting at Asilomar.  This is always so exciting for me.  Being around amazing talented women is like taking creativity vitamins.  I get inspired not just by the beautiful work that everyone does, but by their energy and their stories.  Quilters love to talk about their quilts and I love to listen. 

Here at home I have a hard time stealing hours to quilt because of our busy family schedule, but for this one week, quilting is the only job and the only expectation.  When I'm free from the demands of kids and laundry and volunteer work, my brain explodes with creative ideas and energy.

But the work I get done is only a part of it.  Meeting quilters from all over the country is great fun.  New people who all share a common love.  Conversations at dinner always start with quilting and what we've learned and sewing machines, but they soon move on to families and life and what we all share as women in the 21st century.  Quilters are the greatest people. 

Then there's the beautiful setting.  Beach and forest and no televisions!  My kind of place.

So wish me luck - I'm hoping to become better at what I love to do.  I'm so grateful to have this opportunity.

The Greatest Gymnastics Souvenir Ever

Gabby Douglas
Nastia Liukin
Mckayla Maroney
Aly Raisman
Kyla Ross
Jordyn Wieber

And so many more.  This shirt blows my mind.

Wasabi Girl had the opportunity to go with her coach to the Kellogs Tour of Gymnastics Champions this weekend.

The event was apparently incredible, but better still, afterwards her coach took her backstage where she was able to meet the Olympic Gymnastics team and former Olympic winners.  They all signed this shirt for her.

It may not be everyone's idea of art, but I'm getting this framed.  What an absolutely wonderful keepsake.  What a great memory for Wasabi Girl!

This shirt makes my Monday.  To see more Monday makers, visit Cheryl at Twinfatuation

Field Trips Then and Now

Back when I was in high school, I remember we had opportunities to go to fine arts events.  There was one concert in particular I remember.  It was a young artist series and we got to see a young man play the cello.  His tuxedo didn't fit very well, but I remember I really enjoyed the concert.  He was just starting out at the time, which is why he was playing for students.

I remembered that young man often as I learned the harp.  Seeing and hearing him helped me realize that solo instruments could draw an audience.  To this day I think hearing good live music is one of the most valuable gifts we can give children - and ourselves.

Here are Wasabi Girl and Jungle Boy off to see "Rigoletto" at San Francisco Opera.  They are going on a field trip with their symphonic band.  It's really just a dress rehearsal, which is why the tickets were available to schools.  Jungle Boy wanted to dress up anyway.  I think they look great.

Not everyone appreciates opera.  I love some, don't care as much for others.  But I believe trying  new experiences like this is like trying new foods.  You can't really know unless you experience it.  I'm grateful that their school gave them this opportunity.

And that young man who played the cello in the ill-fitting tux?  His name was Yo-Yo Ma.  He's won many many awards in his brilliant career.  I'm proud to say I've been a fan since we were both very young.

Makes My Monday: Disney Studio

On our recent trip to Disneyland, we had the wonderful privilege of visiting the Walt Disney Studios.  I am so grateful to my friend who is an employee there for giving us the grand "insiders" tour.

Here is Wasabi Girl sitting in the recording studio.  It was all set up that morning for a celebrity.  Not sure if I can mention the name because she was coming in to audition for the next Pixar feature (Monsters University).  Each of the kids got to sit in the chair, but before we left, they all had to sit in a different chair - the one Johnny Depp always uses.  Ok, I admit, I sat in it too.  You can see the huge screen in the background that's used when actors are recording lines for live action films.

Every Disney park around the world has this "Partners" statue, but this one at the Disney Studios is the only one you can walk up next to and pose with.  Wasabi Girl got her hand close to it, but Jungle Boy reached out and put his arm on Walt and got scorched.  That metal gets hot!



The statue is in an outdoor walkway that has plaques with hand prints of people who have been designated "Disney Legends."  It's a lot of fun to read all the famous names.

We also got to visit the Disney Archives, where the kids could get up close to wonderful items like the actual wardrobe from "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe."

I am so grateful for this opportunity.   Now that we've all been behind the scenes, we have a new appreciation for the work done by all those people in those long lists of credits at the end of films.

"Makes My Monday" is hosted by Cheryl at Twinfatuation.

Coming Home!

I'm so excited today.  My kids are finally all going to come home.  Drama Girl has been here, although she's been at ballet camp every day.

We're going to go hear Wasabi Girl perform with her jazz combo tonight to mark the end of her week of jazz camp.

And right now, on the other side of the country, Jungle Boy is performing with other students at American Ballet Theatre's summer intensive program.  Tomorrow he gets on a plane for the long journey home.  We'll be monitoring the flights and texting him to be sure he makes his connecting flight.

I've missed Jungle Boy so much.  A month away is a really long time!

So right now I'm planning a coming home party and a big brunch for Sunday morning when we're all together.

I still haven't planned what I'm going to make - do you have any favorite brunch recipes?  Thanks in advance.

In the company of Champions

That beauty is Gabrielle Douglas, currently second in the standings at the U.S. gymnastics Olympic trials.  I wish her luck!

The trials are being held not far from us, in San Jose.  This is an incredible opportunity for my budding gymnast Wasabi Girl to see fabulous world class gymnastics.  We'll be going to the finals on Sunday evening.

Today she will be among the demonstrators for the  meeting of the U.S.A. gymnastics congress, a meeting of gymnastics educators that's being held in the convention center next door.  They put out the call for young gymnasts with specific skill levels to come and demonstrate moves and routines.  She'll be spending all morning with other local talented gymnasts doing fly-aways and other skills on the uneven bars.

It's exciting to have this happening near our home town.  Good luck to all the hopefuls out there!

If you'd like to follow the standings, visit http://www.intlgymnast.com/ for up to the minute news.  My screenshot above is from Universal Sports.

Suitcases coming and going everywhere

Every time I turn around I see a different suitcase either being packed or unpacked around here.  My husband travels frequently for work so I trip over his in the bedroom every other week (because seriously, I can't look down and brush my teeth and walk around texting my kids at the same time - I've tried).

Wasabi Girl and Jungle Boy have packed up and joined the school band for a whirlwind weekend at Disneyland.  I have fingers crossed for them that it wont rain. 

And the newest suitcase around here belongs to our exchange student from France who has just arrived.  He's 15 and will be going to high school with Drama Girl and living with us for the next two weeks. 

I'm so excited to have him stay with us, but at the same time I'm worried - are we normal enough?  What should I cook for him?  Drama Girl insisted that we have hot dogs for his first evening here.  I think that's rather a lame dinner, but it sure is American.  At least I could offer fresh chocolate chip cookies for dessert. 

I speak a little French, Drama Girl speaks a little French, and he speaks a little English, so there's a fair amount of "Franglais" and plenty of gesturing and synonym-searching going on around here.  Drama Girl fell over laughing when I tried to describe Alcatraz as "the place where the gangsters were imprisoned" while I made my hands act like a machine gun. 

Drama Girl and I tried to describe the redwoods by asking if he'd seen Rise of the Planet of the Apes.  After much gesturing and some google-translate help we determined that he had not.  So we tried Star Wars.  Oh yes! Everyone has seen Star Wars!  But he didn't remember the forest scene.  Then my husband came home from work and somehow we got onto redwoods again and he started trying the exact same movie references.  I'm pretty sure our exchange student thinks we're either crazy or movie-obsessed.

I've started a list of places near San Francisco that I think he might enjoy.  I'd really love to get ideas from you of places that a tourist might want to see.  What do you associate with San Francisco?  Or if you've been here, what did you enjoy seeing?  Thanks for your help!

Views of Asilomar (image heavy)

Full moon at sunrise over the rooftop of one of the lodge buildings.  The ocean can be seen in the lower left.

Asilomar is a beautiful serene conference center on the California coast.  I took a lot of pictures - the weather was just beautiful.  I wanted to share a few with you.

I was particularly thrilled when I stepped out in the early morning on Friday and saw the full moon was huge and beautiful.  I ran upstairs to my room to get my camera and chased the moon down the path to the beach as I snapped a bunch of shots.

Lots of wild windswept trees and unfortunately, some dead spires.  The rare local pines have been affected by a parasite that was introduced into the area in some firewood a few years ago.  There is a very aggressive effort underway to repopulate these trees that grow nowhere else on earth.  Squint hard and you can see the full moon and ocean again.

Phoebe Hearst Hall.  Like most of the buildings, this was designed in the early 20th century by Julia Morgan, a pioneer of California architecture who designed many famous buildings including Hearst castle.  Phoebe Hearst was William Randolph Hearst's mother and benefactor of Asilomar when it was a YWCA camp.  If you're unfamiliar with William Randolph Hearst, he was a newspaper baron and subject of the movie "Citizen Kane."

 The beautiful porch of the main hall.  I could sit here all day and listen to the ocean and sip wine.  Or make yo-yos.  Or both.  By happy coincidence, they sell wine just inside the door.

 To me, the rustic natural surroundings were incredibly serene.  In the background here you see part of the stone wall of the dining hall.  To complete the rustic atmosphere, there were no televisions or telephones in the guest bedrooms.  It felt great to be completely unplugged for a week.  There was free wifi available in the rooms for those who come to the conference center for business meetings and such.

A wild iris growing near one of the guest buildings.  Love the color.  There were also a lot of Monarch butterflies around because just up the street is Pacific Grove, where over 25,000 Monarchs gather every October during their migration.  I guess a few stick around in the area all year.

Surf, white sand, beautiful dunes.  In the foreground you see the railing for the boardwalk that has been constructed over the dunes to help preserve their vegetation.  It's a beautiful, wild, unique ecosystem.  A short way up the coast I was able to see sea otters playing in the kelp offshore.  Note to self:  buy a telephoto lens!

I even loved the patterns and colors in the debris on the sand.  Hot pink seaweed!

One more shot of that full moon over the ocean at sunrise.  I'll spare you the other hundred pictures I took.

Design Wall Monday: Seeing Stars

I've had a million things going on this week so why not just start a new project as well?  I saw this pattern called "Celebrating Freedom" in the latest issue of McCall's Quilting and I had to start it.  Thirty-six scrappy blue stars and a pretty red and white border.  This one will be done by summer hopefully. 

I have several quilts just about ready to be basted.  Once I get them all ready to go, the quilting usually goes pretty quickly for me.  I just need to call in my team of junior assistants to crawl around on the floor with the pins and put those quilt sandwiches together.

I'm packing up my sewing machine tomorrow morning to head off to quilt camp at Asilomar.  I can't wait!  Did I mention that the on-site quilt shop lets you run a tab?  Do you know how dangerous that can be?  "Oh I just need a little bit of this green fabric ...and this book...and this thread...and this cute tote bag.

Also, there is a wonderful quilt shop just down the street from the retreat center.  I would like to think I haven't spent a lot of money there - it's really pretty far from home - but I have gift certificates from them for being one of their big shoppers.  I can resist anything, except the possibility that I wont see a piece of beautiful fabric again.

Running a tab, spending money at a great quilt shop - I'm willing to face these dangers.  I'm brave like that. 

Design Wall Monday is hosted by Judy Laquidara at Patchwork Times.

Billy Elliot!

Last night we went to see Billy Elliot.  It's a musical based on the 2001 movie of the same name.  Billy is a young boy living in a coal-mining town in England during the strikes of 1984-1985.  After wandering into a ballet class he discovers his love of dance and dreams of auditioning for the Royal Ballet School.  Meanwhile his father and brother face the brutality of the massive police forces sent to their town to control the strikers.

The musical has won many awards, including the Tony award for best musical.  The music is by Sir Elton John.  We absolutely loved it.  We thought it would be fitting to bring along Jungle Boy's ballet teacher, since the story centers around a young dancer and his teacher.

When we got to the theater, his teacher and I made him do the "Billy Jump" in front of the marquee.  Forgive the blur of my cheap camera - you can still see he gets some height here.

Poor Jungle Boy.  I'm always making him do stuff like that.

After the show, we waited by the stage door and got to meet some of the actors including the incredibly talented Kylend Hetherington, who played Billy for that performance.  There are five boys who alternate performances in this demanding role.

Here is Jungle Boy with Wasabi Girl and his ballet teacher with Kylend.  I love this picture.  Kylend is such a cutie with those dimples.  He was so sweet to all of his fans.  The perfect end to a memorable evening.

Home Again

Saxophone with mouthpiece and supply of reeds: $$$$

Weekly music lessons:$$

Enrollment at jazz camp: $$$

Earning the right to put a cool sticker on your saxophone case?  Priceless.

Wasabi Girl is back from her jazz camp.  She had a fabulous time, learned a lot, and met some jazz legends.  Her session had 185 boys and 25 girls - who are all her new best friends.

Jungle Boy got back late last night from his month at ABT.  I'm still getting the stories from him.  His camp had 220 girls and 9 boys.  How did this happen that both of my twins went to camps where they were a decided minority?

Jungle Boy met a special girl - who lives halfway across the country.  He started drinking coffee to deal with all the early mornings and he decided that dorm food can't hold a candle to home cooking.  Luckily for him there was a fresh batch of cookies waiting for him when he got home last night.

Think of me today - it looks like I have a ton of laundry to get through.  It's worth every bit of it to have everyone home again!

Finished for Friday: Mischief Managed

Over Wednesday and Thursday of this week I took my daughters and some of their friends to the local theater that was hosting a Harry Potter marathon.  All 8 movies in two days.  We had such a blast. Wasabi Girl and I had spent some time making gift bags for each person for each movie.  Each bag had a little bit of candy and a toy.  For the first goodie bag I made everyone a golden snitch.  Find the pattern here.

The girls dressed up, as you can see from the picture below.

That's Drama Girl on the right getting ready to read tea leaves.

Because we were among the first in line for the marathon we got some fun swag from the theater including this cap and these special edition 3D glasses.

I've had a few hours sleep, but I see my future and predict a nap if I can fit it in this afternoon. 

What have you been up to this week?  Link up and show us.  Thanks for playing along. Oh, and if you're any kind of Harry Potter fan at all, you really want to see the final movie.  Exceeds all expectations.  And I love Neville.