2020 Coming to an End

I've not written much in the last few days (or even this year) as 2020 was not a lot of fun. We were expecting "The Roaring 20s" of the last century, instead we got " The Masked 20s" wrapped in fear. I passed up Christmas as it was not the Merry Season it is supposed to be. My family mourned two losses in December. My brother in law passed away mid-month; and my nephew never got to play with his stillborn grandson. We met on Christmas and celebrated in a somber manner, no hugs, a few tears. Yes, I'm happy to see this go away. 

As we stand on the cusp of 2021, there are worries in the future. We need the vaccine. We need a strong democracy (which the weak puppet-elect cannot give us) to unite the country. We need so much that we are not going to get. The next 4 years will be hard endure as we fight an invisible killer (Covid-19) and the very visible "progressive" movement that will lead us to defeat. 

I do not talk politics in my blog, so I need to apologize to my readers, I just broke my own rule. But I do talk about my life and times and pretty pictures. Two evenings ago we had an amazing moon-rise. The sky was pink and a paper moon skimmed over the mountains as it was rising into the night sky.

That night the moon shone like a spotlight in an inky sky. Does that moon represent anything? I doubt it. With that, I wish you a better 2021-- but I'm waiting for the other shoe to fall.

Covid Bear

I made this bear for my friend Kay. She specifically asked for a masked bear. I hope this is the last masked bear I have to make. 

Kizen and his Teddy Bear

Meet Kizen and his new teddy bear. He's a year old on Christmas. 

He seems to be enjoying his new toy.

 

Good News

Our house went "live" on Saturday morning at 9 AM. It was supposed to go "on sale" on January 1, but everything was in order, so our real estate agent asked if he could put it up on the web. By 10:30 we had a call from the agent saying that a couple wanted to see the house between 12 and 12:30. They arrived at noon and stayed for over 2 hours. From my vantage point in the RV, they seemed to look at everything from the outside. I wanted to be a fly on the wall, but I knew I needed to stay in the RV and be patient. At 3 our agent called saying we had an over-price cash offer on the home. WHEW! It was sold.

It was uncomfortable having someone evaluate my home, yet the results were incredible. My beautiful home sold in 6 hours. I don't know if that is a record or not, but it was fast. 

Yesterday we met the buyers and we liked them and they love our home. I can rest at night knowing that my home will have people who love it as much as I do. It's hard work getting a home ready to sell. I need to thank our real estate agent who helped us along the way; the stager who made our home look wonderful; my neighbor who helped more than he will ever know; and a host of other folks who were very encouraging all along the way. 

It's Busy Outside

The last few weeks have been very busy for the DrCs. We found a new house; we emptied the old house, and today we started full-timing in our RV. The stagers arrived today and set up the home completely different from the way we had it. We now have 3 very distinct bedrooms, and cool entertainment room, a great room all decorated in "cool, hip" neutrals. 

The living room

The dining area

Our home is well designed and very pretty. Let's hope it sells quickly. If you know someone who wants a custom home on almost 12 acres, let me know.

A Visit to Zion

Over the weekend we had special treat...an opportunity to visit Zion National Park in Utah. Zion was beautiful; and while there were people there, it was not overcrowded and we could drive our car on all the park roads. 

To top off the day, we saw this buck taking a sun bath. Then, he stuck out his pink tongue. I've never seen a deer stick out his tongue. 

It was a good weekend.

 

Watch This Spot

Sunset on the desert

Mountain Lake at Sunset

 

Guess what? More critters

I love making these critters and now that I'm getting more orders...it's hard to keep up with the demand. So  I made a teddy bear for Kaizen and a hedgehog for Sharon.

BUT...here's the recipient of a teddy bear and, according to his grand dad, Benjamin is completely in love with his teddy bear. He got the present on Thanksgiving and would not let it down the whole time grand dad was there. Proof...kids like these guys.

 

Happy Thanksgiving

 

May you have a Happy Thanksgiving! 

Politically correct or not; Covid or not; we have things to be thankful for...

friends, family and health. Long may they reign.

Critters

The critters I made for the charity auction never made it to the auction. The auctioneers bought them and made a lot of $$$. So, I've been making some replacement critters to actually sell. I wonder if these will be scarfed up before the auction too. 

Meet Bonita and Dot the hedgehogs...

...and Red Fred, a Santa Bear.

I'm crocheting as fast as I can to meet demand. It's a kick!

Second Fall

 One of the joys of living in two places is we get to experience 2 springs and 2 autumns. Right now we are enjoying our second fall in northern California. Here fall starts late, and the colors are different from those in WY. There we have bright yellows. Here we have reds and oranges. We left fall in the Rockies and returned to later summer here. NOW the colors are starting to change, well past the official date of fall. Take a look.

A Chinese Pistache (related to a pistachio but does not bear fruit) decorates our driveway

As well as the streets of town

The leaves, up close and personal are red and orange and gold. These colors are completely different from those in the Rocky Mountains...see below

Lots more yellow...the pictures tell the ...

...tale of two falls.

Elections come and go but Love is forever

I am not happy with the outcome of the election, but I know one thing...I love my country, even if folks made the wrong decision. Now it's time to "buck it up buttercup" and get on with my life. To that end, I'm making Critters for a Christmas Charity Auction. They were too much fun to make (it's good to have a diversion when the country has gone crazy).

Hedgehogs

Teddy Bears, including a little girl teddy with her ballet slippers and tutu, and one wearing a covid mask 

And a pile of piggies and hedgehogs. 

Happy Halloween

Tonight there was full moon. The sky was clear and ghosties and ghoulies were out. In addition there were dinosaurs and cows and butterflies and a few aliens too. 

But alas, you are going to have to stand sideways to see the astronaut and 

The two aliens he brought back from space.

I don't remember who these young girls were, but they were polite and we had a nice conversation about werewolves roving around during a full moon.

They assured me that the aliens were able to deal with mere werewolves.

To all, I hope you had a Happy Halloween.

Two Classics

This morning I saw a 1953 Hudson Wasp, and I thought that would be the last classic car I would see for the day. I was wrong. This evening I saw a 1956 Chevrolet Belair. Both are beauties in very different ways. The Wasp harked back to the forties; while the Belair was edgy and forward looking. The Wasp was the past, the Belair was the future.

The 1953 Hudson Wasp was in the second year of production. It was built on the a shorter Hudson chassis, but still had the chubby looks of the day. While rounded and shiny it looks bulky in comparison to the Chevy and might explain why the model was discontinued after only 4 years in production. Automobile design had changed.

The 1956 Chevrolet Belair was the top of the line Chevy that year. The chrome design exemplifies forward movement; speed; modernity. She is optimistic and bright, exactly matching the mood of the country at the time.

Nowadays, both cars shine, for the same reason. 

They are beautiful. 

Dolly Domestic

 Since arriving at my other home, I've been enjoying the domestic arts of sewing and decoration. We had new flooring installed in the house and I decided it was time to change the master bedroom furniture. I traded in the huge CalKing bed for a more modest Queen sized bed. All summer I looked for a headboard I liked and I found nothing. SO, we made a headboard that matches the bedspread. Next, I made the matching window cushion, and the valance for the master bath...and now we are working on recovering the bed bench. What started out as a small project grew and grew. A few more finishing touches and the room should be finished today.

During the day the teddy bears enjoy their new digs. They don't seem to complain too much when we take them off to sleep at night (I love to play with my teddy bears)

As an aside, if you plan on a project like this, buy 2 bedspread kits, that way you have enough fabric for the rest of the stuff you will need to have a coordinating bedroom. 

Three Little Piggies Up For Auction

My Delta Kappa Gamma group is holding a Christmas Auction in December and I volunteered some critters. These 3 little piggies (2 Berkshires and 1 Hampshire) are going on the auction block. Some other critters are going to follow. The nice folks want a starting price and I have no idea. Please write to me and tell me what you would pay for a piggy? Thank you in advance.

 

Going West from Fall to Summer

 We made our semi-annual migration from the high country to the low country without too much ado. 

We left autumn. The colors were in full array until western Nevada...then it became "late summer" again. We drove through the Feather RIver Canyon, which has a great fall color display, but it's too early. 

There were green conifers, dried grasses with burned patches along the way. One bridge had been destroyed by fire. Lots of trees have been lost to flames. That's the reason we had smoky skies from Idaho west. No more burning eyes, no more choking on the smoke. We had arrived in California. 

Since it's still late summer here, we can look forward to another colorful fall. In the meantime, we will get used to the grasses changing from gold to gray as summer wears out.

Big Scare

 Yesterday I was feeling "off" with a low temperature, body aches, shortness of breath. I called the local prompt care clinic and the nice person there told me to call the hospital as those were potential COVID-19 symptoms. I called the hospital and Tanya said, please get tested for COVID. 

The drive to the hospital was strange. Neither of us wanted to say anything about COVID and what a positive test would mean. We talked about the pretty fall leaves.

That was easier to handle. Once at the hospital we drove into the "test site." At first no one appeared then a masked woman walked out of the hospital. She asked both of us a few questions, then she asked me some pointed questions regarding COVID. She left to get an oximeter and thermometer. I had a 1.5 degree fever, oxygen was ok, pulse was high (I can only imagine why?). Then she suited up in a disposable garment and told me about the test. She said she would put a slim flexible probe with short bristles up my nose for 15 seconds then take it out slowly. She said it will tickle a bit but it will not be painful. She was correct. There was a "mean" tickle...not a tickle that makes you laugh but a tickle that is just this side of uncomfortable. It did not hurt. It was not painful. She counted to 15, pulled the probe out, and placed it in a covered tube. She told me that someone would call in the morning with the results.

For the rest of the day, we were walking around like zombies...was I infected? Were we infected? The other DrC now had a fever and he was feeling "off" too. The elephant in the room was "what will we do if both of us have this dreaded disease"?

We were not very hungry for dinner, but I fixed a little something. We needed to take our minds off the elephant, so I suggested a diversion. We looked at 4 episodes of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer." It was a great diversion. Worrying about vampires and the mythical destruction of the world was the way to go.(I guess that sounds strange, but there you go.) We did not think once about what might be in store for us. 

This morning, no call arrived. The other DrC was getting antsy. We were feeling pretty good. The fevers were gone. At 11:39 I called the hospital. After 3 transfers, I was put in touch with Don and he said "he tried to call me earlier today but my phone just rang and rang"...I never heard the ring. Then he said...are you ready...the test was NEGATIVE.

I hope you don't have to go thru that scare. It's pretty bad. Now I'll go back to looking at the pretty fall leaves.

 

Bright Sun in Bluebird Blue Skies

Yesterday I was looking for great fall color, when I saw a bucolic country scene, and I snapped a few pictures.

When I came home I looked at my pictures and I saw the sun. I have no idea how I "got" the aura around the sun, but I do know the pictures are special.  I wonder if I can take a picture of the sun  like this again?

The cows however don't seem to know that the sun is shining or the skies are clear and bluebird blue. The joys of living in the country.

Musings from the Naked Lady Trail

Back in the day, the Basque shepherds would move their sheep up-country or down-country (depending on the season) on the Naked Lady Trail. My home is near the old Naked Lady Trail so I've learned a little bit of the Basque Lore of the area. 

Aspen trees are sometimes called "newspaper trees" because the bark is white and easy to carve. The old Basque shepherds would "write" where they were moving the sheep by carving a date and direction on the bark of the aspens so other shepherds knew where to find the flock. There were many sheep trails, but the Naked Lady Trail was notorious. Instead of telling where the flock was going, the artistic shepherds  carved naked ladies on the trees. I've seen one of the ladies on a venerable aspen (that has since succumbed to very old age).  Sadly, the the trail is no longer in operation but old-timers know where the trail was. If I tell one of those old timers I live by the NLT they know exactly where I live.

Another interesting tree in the area is the Rocky Mountain Maple. During the summer, this maple tree is just another tree on the mountainside. But in the fall, the green maple leaves change to red and the mountains are dotted with bright red highlights. Over the years we've been told that the red splashes of color came from the Mountain Mahogany, this year we finally learned the name of this bright red tree.

 

Autumn Abstractions

I have always wanted to be an artist, but sadly no talent in that area exists. However, with the help of an app called Brushtroke, I can transform my pictures into abstract works of art. It's great fun and if I don't like the result, I can delete it and start anew. Here are few of my artistic attempts with the marvelous fall colors and the cloudy skies I saw this past week. 

Aspens and Pine

Clouds Over the Palisade

Golden Delight

Dazzled and Dappled

Fall in the Rocky Mountains happens with haste.

 The display of color and light is illusive as it drifts away on a zephyr

The vibrant leaves form dappled designs on the forest floor

They dance and sing in the autumn breeze. 

Mere humans can never make patterns this perfect 

Mother Nature dazzles us with the delights of the season.