LA Sunday - Huntington Gardens 1 of 3

Sunday found us heading in the direction of Pasadena, CA, someplace new to me. We ended up at the Huntington Library, Art Collection & Gardens where we spent a very hot and humid day enjoying the gardens. The gardens are actually a collection of gardens, and we managed to see quite a bit of the Rose Garden, the Japanese Garden and the Chinese Garden. And that's just too much for one post, so today we'll look at the Rose Garden.

Arrival found us hungry, so a brief lunch was had in the Tea Room of the Rose Garden. After refreshing ourselves, we headed out into the garden and took a walk. The three acres of rose gardens were originally planted in 1908, but have been in a constant state of change over the years. Also, since the Rose Parade is held in Pasadena on January 1 each year, they hold off on pruning the rose bushes back until January 2nd. I can tell you, they looked like they needed some mid-year pruning.

The Temple of Love begins your tour of the Rose Beds, a nice classical statue of a goddess and cupid in a small circular temple. The Temple is circled twice, the interior roses are the white roses above, "French Lace" and the exterior circle are the peach roses below, "Tamora". The Huntington website has a map of the rose beds, complete with rose names on it. Quite handy.

The Rose Gardens also feature several specimen trees, like the Montezuma Cypress from Mexico. These cypress trees are over 90 years old, and are still going strong. They have a wonderful drapey feel to them.

It's a beautiful rose garden, and I am at a loss for words. Instead, I'll let pictures say the 1000 words I wish I had.

Saturday - Shopping & Eating in LA

Saturday morning I made my "famous" buttermilk biscuits for my hosts and slathered on lots of homemade strawberry jam.

Afterwards, we headed out to a yarn store - the Knitter's Studio (not pictured). I had found a place on Friday, but that store was full of discontinued, acrylic and novelty yarns, so I was sadly disappointed and will not review them. The Knitter's Studio, however, was just what I was looking for. They had cubbies wrapped around the perimeter of the store, nicely organized by color, style and maker. It was a joy to fondle the cashmere and silk yarns. I ended up with four skeins of Debbie Bliss Donegal Luxury Tweed in a beautiful aubergine color. I have to say aubergine instead of eggplant since Debbie Bliss is an English company. After feeding the parking meter three times (!) I managed to make my purchases so we could move on. If I lived in LA, they would be one of my favorite yarn stores. They were setting up for a beginning knitting class around the work table, complete with cupcakes & coffee.

We then headed to an extra large art & craft supply store called Pearl. They had a great selection of goodies for all your creative needs. However, I had to say no for purchases since I didn't really have a project in the works that I could legitimately buy for. I even passed on the sketch & notebooks! Can you believe it? Mostly because I couldn't find them when we were ready to check out.

By this time we were starting to feel a bit of a hunger clench in our bellies, so we headed in the direction of the ocean and ended up on the Third Street Promenade in Santa Monica. I had suggested sushi since I don't get many takers in my family, and ended up at this interesting Balinese looking place called Monsoon. I ended up with a Rainbow Roll and a beef noodle bowl. I flustered the poor waiter by asking what he would have to eat for lunch. I wasn't picky about what to eat, just wanted something good. My friend had the Saikyo Yaki Black Cod, which is marinated in Miso Paste before it's cooked. My goodness, that was yummy. If I ever see it on another menu, I'll be having that for sure. The decor was pure Asian tongue-in-cheek, complete with brass dragon lanterns from the palm leaf ceiling and a stone "happy" fertility god in the ladies room. Fun!

The architecture in Downtown Santa Monica is unique. They are trying to infuse the city with a sense of community, so all new & remodel work is going with three tiers. The bottom floor is retail space, the second floor office space, and the third floor housing. Evidently, it's being snapped up, because there is no where to turn without seeing some new construction. But, for the older buildings, you have to look up to see the more interesting parts. We were parked on an upper level of a garage, so I got to take pictures looking down on some

of the details. A long stop at Michael's had me lusting after beads, but I don't need a new set of tools! I put them back again. And again. And again.

So what do we do then? Head to another bead store, called Ritual Adornments. We wandered around, running our fingers through the lovely pieces of stone, glass, wood, and other fabulousness. I wish I had taken out my camera - a bowl of skull beads would have been a perfect Halloween photo op. Ah well. I still managed not to snag any beads on my shopping trip.

The sun was past the mid-day point, way past by this time, and we had an hour or so left on the parking meter, so we hit the beach for a walk in the waves. We hiked up our pants, took our shoes off and headed up the coast line, with no destination in mind, just enjoying the last of the sun and the waves splashing. Just enough time to get a little bit of sun and exercise.

Headed back to the apartment for some homemade guacamole and chips and watching Phelps win yet another race. All in all a good day.

My Friday in LA

Early Friday morning I joined the fuzzballs on the patio in the cool stillness of the LA dawn. It was quiet, something I've grown to need every day. My hostess has quite the collection of green things on her postage stamp patio, but there is a calmness in those things. The hummingbirds were chattering, waiting impatiently to be fed. And the cats were enjoying the fresh air, wondering if the birds would dare come close enough to swipe at. The apartments came alive around me. The garbage trucks were in the alley. A neighbor upstairs was obviously getting her kids ready for school, an Asian language floating down. Another neighbor was practicing singing scales, she still needs practice. A Slavic couple was banging dishes around eating breakfast, but by about 8:00 all was quiet again.

After my hosts had left for the day, I readied myself and headed into Beverly Hills to find the all important coffee and pastry. Success at the Coffee Bean. I had a lovely Carmel Iced Coffee and Chocolate filled Croissant. It is a different vibe in downtown Beverly Hills. The men are in their business suits, women are dressed to the nines, fancy cars, cell phones and connections being made on the street. I'm such a hick sometimes. I walked up and down Beverly Hills Drive, peeking in windows and checking out the people. I still haven't been to Rodeo Drive, even though I've been near there three times. Maybe next time.

After the breakfast, I headed in a westerly direction, hoping for inspiration to strike. I ended up at the Santa Monica Beach with a couple of thousand of my nearest and dearest friends. This is what the beach looks like at 1:00 on a Friday afternoon. Can you believe all those people are not working? OMG! When I found a perfect parking spot - really I did - I tried to put my money in for a two hour stint. But no, I was to be denied, and only allowed to stay for an hour.


Actually that was pretty good. And my view was not as bad as it seems. I had lucked out and parked near the Santa Monica Pier, which is the home of an amusement park on the water. There was a "NO SWIMMING" zone due to the dangers of potentially getting thrashed against the piles. Fortunately, everyone else thought "NO SWIMMING" meant "NO SITTING" and I had about 20 yards of beach front property all to myself.

NOTES of the moment: Waves crashing, harsh sky light, overcast. Long walk from the car to water, sand feels good on my feet. Screaming kids, happy kids in the water chasing the surf. The clickity clack of the roller coaster as it climbs the first hill. The tin music of the Ferris wheel and a helicopter scoping out the show on the beach. Humid and warm, but the breeze off the water is nice. Tourists with their cameras, like me. A couple of Amish (Quaker?) women, in black, covered from head to toe. Families holding hands, parents to kids. 'Tweens walking the beach looking to be seen. The scene is a study in greys, bordered by the bright primaries of the amusement park.

As my hour drew to a close, it was a good thing. The sun, though shrouded by the clouds, was intense and I managed to get just the smallest bit of sun color to my skin. I walked back to the car, feeling the warm sand between my feet, feeling the warmth of the sun on the back of my neck.

I got in the car and headed back in the direction of the apartment. I was hungry and hot though, so when I saw the Westside Pavilion Mall, I paused for a moment and went for a walk in the air conditioning. I had a bite to eat at the Food Court and managed to snag a pretty sweet backpack from Gap Kids. The hubster thinks it is the ugliest thing he's ever seen, but that just means he's not going to steal that one from me later on. My devious plan has worked!

The rest of the day was spent reading, planning, and having some good food with friends.

More sooner than later! Hope you are having a good weekend.

Santa Barbara Mission - The first stop

The drive down to LA is about 400 miles, or 7-ish hours. I knew I was going to hit rush hour traffic, no matter what time I got there, so I planned for a stop in Santa Barbara to visit a historical landmark, the Santa Barbara Mission. There were 21 Catholic Missions established in California, and this is the first one I have visited - at least intentionally. I know very little about them, other than they exist, because frankly, I took Texas history, not California history in grade school. Although I should know more, this was a tourist stop for me, hopefully with the potential for some interesting photographs. Next time, I'll know more, thanks to wikipedia.

My basic understanding is that the Spanish Catholics of the Franciscan Order established a line of Missions near the coast of California, both as a means to indoctrinate the local Indian tribes, but also to provide a safe route from the Los Angeles to San Francisco areas. This route is called "El Camino Real" which explains all the roads so named in the area. Hey, learn something new every day. The road way is marked with bells on a hook, a signpost that was developed in more recent history due to the lack of standard signage when the roadway was first established as a state highway.

Now, I can't tell if this is a recent development, but it appears that the Mission attempted to recreate the architecture of the Spanish homeland, both through the liberal applications of arches, tile roofs, carved railings, and also through the splendor of the intricate stone work in the cathedrals. However, instead or outfitting the mission with stone, the adobe plaster is painted to look like stone. Again, I don't know if this is modern or historical decoration. But, having been to some of the cathedrals in Europe, the details are similar. The columns seen in the picture are flat to the wall, painted to look like marble, as well as the cornice surrounding the doorway. The floral stone caps where arches meet in the ceiling of the cathedral - painted on the adobe. It feels primitive, like the Indians who may have painted it.

A walk through the cemetery gave me a better sense of history. This gateway feels more like the original architecture than the clean and bright interior of the chapel. Things are a little more rustic, down to earth, and not quite as polished.

I don't know what this bear was doing on the grounds, but I love the spareness of his form. All in all, it was a good stop. I think I may try and do a series of Mission stops and put together some kind of blurb book for my future tourist needs.

Have a good day!

Home Again

Home now... The trip was most excellent - the people, the food, the sights and sounds, the shopping. It was really just exactly what I needed. I took 250 pix, so you know it's going to take some time to download, sort and figure out what I want to post. But just a quick note to let you know I'm home safe and sound.

Thanks for checking in on me!

Taking a Trip

I'm headed down to LA for a quick visit with one of my best high school friends. I hadn't spoken to her for - oh - probably a year, but when I picked up the phone, it was tho no time had passed. I'm bumming alone around LA on Friday, and then on Saturday & Sunday I'll get some girl time.

I'm driving down in the KitKar so I shouldn't need a map, just final addresses. One day, if they don't already, they will put the search function into the nav system as well. I guess I better make sure I know where I want to go, even if I don't know how to get there.

All this to say, I'll be offline until Tuesday. Here's hoping for some really good photos and stories (shouldn't be a problem!). Have a great weekend!

One Quilt Top

So this is what happens when I go into a (or several) fabric store(s) and arm myself with a rotary cutter. It's so sad really. And the thing just keeps growing and growing. I've got the last of the borders put on and it's gonna be plenty big to cover the MIL's toes and ears. She's always cold, so I thought she would appreciate this. The hubster says "it looks like her".

I have no desire to quilt, really. I just like putting the fabrics together. So this will be ready to send to a quilter next week. I'll have to show you the pillowcases I made to go with it. I just love them.

Pink Lemonade

While I've been unemployed, I've been trying to work on some projects - both creative and home maintenance - that have been niggling at me for some time.

The stack of fabric has very nearly been turned into a quilt top for the MIL in GA. Her favorite color is pink, but that is just too much for me. So I paired it up with green - ooh preppy - and then some yellow to make it all pop. For whatever reason, this makes me think of pink lemonade - so that's what I'm going to call it. My original intention was to make a Chinese coins quilt - simple strips of fabric put together in stacks. But, then I picked up a stack and cut quilt book, and I couldn't resist the off-kilter cutting.

I think I ended up using about 25 different fabrics in the top. I tried very hard to use fabrics with a floral or polka-dot theme, and mostly succeeded - I think there's one yellow with a grid pattern on it. In a way, the top looks like a cutting garden of pink, yellow and green flowers. All that remains to get this quilt top on the way to someone for quilting is a double border, and for me to sew the backing together. I think I will try to get that done today so I can have a nice photo shoot tomorrow.

Carnage

Damn Squirrels!

A bowl full of summer

I was at a restaurant the other night and ordered a salad. Alongside of the of the nicely dressed greens and lightly seared Ahi Tuna were three round slabs of tomato. I'd say they were about 4" in diameter, pink and firm like Styrofoam. Don't even bother.

What we have here however, are three tiny tomatoes that have been waiting patiently on the deck for the perfect moment of ripeness. They span the summer spectrum of red to yellow all in the same fruit, and are firm and juicy at the same time.

Seasoned with some kosher salt, cracked pepper and a side of mayo, it's a sweet bowl full of summer sunshine.

Fighting with Yarn

Over the weekend, I took some time to start (yet another) yarn project. I wanted something that didn't feel quite so overwhelming. Like a sweater, or the scarf that's been hidden deep in bag for more than a year, or the 20 gajillion toys I need to make for the boy-o's (just kidding - you know I love you!)

Socks are actually much more complicated and yet easier than you would think. I wanted to design my own sock pattern - it's just a matter of matching up gauge with the yarn and choosing a stitch pattern that will work for you.

But what you see above, well, that toe has been knit three times - once the gauge swatch lied so I had to re-do it for the smaller gauge, then, I didn't like the lace/cable pattern I picked - the 6 stitch cable is too lumpy to actually wear on your foot, and then a white foot showing through dark purple yarn - ummmm, not very attractive. So that was frogged back, while I thumbed through multiple stitch guides looking for something else. I tried a 3 stitch mock cable, but because of the "eastern" layout of my stitch work, that's more difficult than an actual cable. I tried a shell rib - but the repeat was too close together. Frogged again. But learning every time - no lace in a dark yarn, small cable shifts, longer repeats.

Back to the stitch-ionaries. I pulled the "Knitting on the Edge" from the shelf, because I know I really need a rib stitch, and she's got pretty ones gathered together in one space. Maypole Rib it is. It suits my needs. It's only crossing two stitches at a time, there are no holes in the pattern, and the repeat is 8 rows long. I think that in a blue/black/grey/brown yarn this would be fairly manly, but in my Velvet Plum Jitterbug by Colinette, it's feminine enough to suit me. So it's my own design, and I'm keeping the notes for it on my Ravelry account here.

So we may fight, but I'll getcha in the end!

Found

Hidden deep in the messy drawers of my kitchen. Tucked inside a oven mitt. Waiting patiently, maybe since Thanksgiving (hmmmm?). Only to be discovered last night.

When I pulled the mitt out, there was something hard inside, and given our recent escapades with the rodents, I was afraid -afraid that somebody had crawled inside and was now mummified. You can imagine my relief to find, no, it was only one of my many plastic mice. Silly sister!

Thanks for the smile...

May 2001 - Pineapple Anyone?

When was the last time you cleaned out your pantry? It's been a while for me, but yesterday found me emptying the shelves of everything and taking stock of what's been hiding back there. About half the stuff has a "best by" date of sometime prior to today. And it's a lot of the same thing, over and over again. Like 6 cans of Chicken Noodle Soup. And 12 boxes of Jell-o/Pudding Mix. Beans and Diced Tomatoes.

So I'm going to set up an "interim" pantry - where I have to use one or two items from the old stock every day. Most of it's not bad, it's just not "best". The old rule about canned items was that as long as they weren't leaking, dented, or off in color or smell, they were probably OK. So we'll use up what we have. And how bad is Jell-o or Pudding going to get in it's hermetically sealed little pouch in the box? Especially when it's sugar-free?

What's going back in the main pantry are the current items. Doesn't look like much does it? I mean really, what are you going to do with four cans of boiled peanuts? And 6 cans of hominy - just because you can't find it in the first place. You know it's in there, but it's been buried under who-knows-what. And just how many jars of Mayhaw Jelly does one diabetic South Georgian need?

I can tell that we have a definite Southern influence in our pantry - jams & jellies, cornbread, black-eyed peas, hominy... But there's some regional influence as well - like 5 different brands of barbecue sauce. And 4 different salsas. And fish sauce, and rose water, and anchovy fillets.

What's the oddest thing in your pantry?

Purging

It's only a few, but they are leaving the house. I've got about 60 cookbooks - which sounds like far to many, but really, it's not. I like to dream about the cooking I'd do if only people would come visit me on a regular basis. There are some that I like just for the fabulous photos, and some I like for the timeless and normal, sturdy cooking they show you how to do. Food when I was growing up was not something you particularly enjoyed - you ate to eat, not because it was good. Slathering the pancakes with peanut butter and drowning them in syrup - because that was the only way you could actually eat the inch thick burnt puddles of goo. There were a few things that turned out well - split pea soup is one of my favorites, but mostly, it was food.

So I look to the books to learn how to cook. Even simple things like pancakes, or pizza, or believe it or not - how to boil an egg (do you put the egg in the cold water, or do you put it in when the water is boiling? How long will give me soft set, hard set? For whatever reason, this just will not stick in my head!) And I watch too much food TV. But, now, I'm a pretty darn good cook. Oh, I still cook the same things week after week, but I'm not afraid to try something new, especially when it involves new gadgets. And I look to the books to try something new - a different kind of ice cream, a new cookie, something good for dinner.

The books that are heading out the door fall into two categories: 1) somebody else bought them for me - while I appreciate the thought, they just don't inspire me. 2) diet cookbooks - I'll admit, I bought most of these. I thought that maybe a different cookbook would inspire me to cook healthier. Right. They are full of weird foods and weird combinations and that just won't work for me.

So off they go. To the library for their library fund, and a tax deduction for me.