Happy Halloween! (Florence, OR)

Okay, I'm a little early, but I have been getting in the mood for Halloween all summer long between wall hangings, living in fog covered areas, reading, and...

....watching some old favorite movies like Hocus Pocus and Casper.

  

Books to get me in the mood for Halloween

I did a lot of reading this summer.  I discovered quite a few new authors, but I'll just talk about two for this post because they have lots of magic and fantasy to fire up anyone's imagination.

The first book is just the beginning of a great series filled with myths, legends, time travel, fantasy, monsters, gods, and Sci-fi....gosh, I could go on, but I won't...

Michael Scott, The Alchemyst (The Secrets of the Immortal NicolasFlamel)

This should be tagged “teens to adults” instead of “teens to young adults”.  I loved this book so much that I had to read the whole series.  This fast-paced series is about a legendary alchemist Nicolas and his wife Perenelle Flamel who actually lived in Paris in the fourteenth and fifteenth century.  You can visit their house, now a restaurant, at 51 Rue De Montmorecy, Paris today.   

Throughout the series, Michael Scott’s love of history shows through his storytelling.  This story is well written with in-depth characters, magic, action-packed battles, time-traveling, sprinkled with historical facts and mythology.  At the end of each book, Michael talks about how he decided to write this book, the history behind his characters, locations, different myths, and unusual historical discoveries.  So many historical characters!  There’s Joan of Arc, St. Germaine, Billy the Kid, Virginia Dare, and Dr. John Dee - who?  Do a Google, he was well known during his time.  Then there are the mythological characters such as the Egyptian cat goddess - Bastet, The Sphinx, Prometheus, and Isis.

In “The Alchemist”, Nicolas and his wife have learned the secret to long life through the Codex book.  It doesn't keep them young, but it does keep them alive a lot longer than anyone else without the help of The Elders.  800 years later, the Codex has them searching for the perfect “Twins” while living in San Francisco, CA and trying to stay hidden from their enemy Dr. John Dee and The Elders who want to destroy the human race.

I can go on, but I would end up talking about all 6 books. Start with the first one. If you like it, you will want to line up the next five because you will not want to stop reading until you get to the very last one.

The Witch’s Daughter by Paula Brackston

This is the story about a modern witch Bess Hasksmith and her story to stay independent through the centuries from Gideon – the one who made her a witch and feels she owes him for her life and training.   I enjoyed the way we go back and forth in time from 1658 with the plague and witch trials to London’s Whitechapel district in 1888 to WWI to present day as Bess tells her story to a young witch apprentice.

This one does have some unusual scenes that might make some people uncomfortable.  To me, the scenes were a good description of what witch trial accusers would have claimed to have witnessed during that time.  I like Paula's writing style and I plan to read her next book soon.

Another fascinating bridge built by Conde B. McCullough in the 1930s.  This one is close to Heceta Head Lighthouse.  It crosses the river and goes straight into the side of a mountain's tunnel.  I can see this being a wonderful starting point for a time-travel story.  Cross the bridge, through the tunnel to come out...not where, but when.  The fog that day really had my imagination going.

UR Kidding!  National Cat Day

Because I have four cats, I just had to mention that today is National Cat Day.  Like it's not a cat's day every day, right?  Ours are so spoiled that I don't know where I would start telling you how spoiled they are....I do love my cats and could never ever live without them.  They are my best furry friends ever.

So here are a couple of LOL Cats that look very familiar to me.

I Can Has Cheezburger? celebrates National Cat Day!

Gee, this looks familiar....
    so does this.....

yea, except ours comes up to us and demands we get out of his bed first...

Okay, got to go.  The cats are demanding dinner......

Happy Quilting!

Not So Wordless Wednesday (La Pine State Park, OR)

I haven't done a Not So Wordless Wednesday in a long time.  On our way to La Pine, we stopped at the P. S. Ogden State Park Rest Area for a quick break and were we in for a big surprise.  Just look at this view!  There are three bridges crossing this deep river gorge.  This is the railroad bridge..

 This is the new Hwy. 97 bridge opened in 2000 that we crossed...

 And surprise!  This one is built by Conde McCullough in 1926 and was finally closed to vehicle traffic.  It is now a pedestrians only bridge so we can view the river gorge and the bridges.  I really admire this man's work.  I first noticed his bridges as we were traveling down Hwy 101 along the Oregon Coast.  We kept crossing bridges with Art Deco designs.  Each one more unique than the last and all of them have the elegant arch design building timeless masterpieces.  McCullough connected Hwy. 101 from the north border all the way to the southern border with his bridges.  Many are still in use as of today.

 The other two bridges were built in the same arched style giving all three a consistent and graceful designs.

framed mountain

 Okay, two more photos of the far side of the river gorge.

Our WiFi signal has been very slow for the last couple of stops.  I'm hoping when we move tomorrow we will finally have a better connection and I will be able to visit blogs again.  It has been very frustrating just to load photos so I haven't been spending much time on the computer.
Happy Trails!

Inspired by Art Deco

While I am writing this blog, Dan is teasing Mad Max, our mixed short-tail Manx. Max is rolling around on the table between us. He keeps grabbing my arm and nipping me (not hard) every time Dan holds his tail or claims he is going to get Max’s tail. Max loves this game. He’s so cute while he waits for Dan to reach for his tail, he will meow at Dan and other times he playfully swats at Dan’s hand. He wags his tail all the time, but his tail really gets going when Dan starts playing this game. I know that cats are usually warning us with a wagging tail, but not Max. He wags his tail when he is happy. By the speed of the circles his tail is doing right now, I’d have to say he is ecstatic.

Anyway, about a month ago, I started thinking about a new appliqué project. I bought Garden Nouveau Quilts by Vicky Lawrence. Yea, I know I already have too many ongoing projects, but just looking at the cover of this book….sigh…I really want to do at least one panel. I can hang it in the window. This urge to make at least one panel got stronger after I saw the Yaquina Bay Bridge. I fell in love the Art Deco design. It is such an unusual looking bridge that I had to look up the history and found out the bridge was designed in the 1930’s by Conde B. McCullough. And this is just one of many built to tie Hwy 101 together along the Oregon Coast. That did it! I dug out my Batik fat quarters, but I was missing the right shade of ochre and teal. What a great excuse to go buy fabric! Quilter’s Cove in Newport had a nice selection of Batik. I could not believe my luck when I found the perfect ochre Batik with a motif of an Art Deco Sunburst. Perfect! But I still needed a teal blend.

We spent about 10 days in Florence and I have fallen in love with the draw bridge! This one is my favorite out of all the bridges I have seen along the Oregon Coast. The detailed work in the obelisks is amazing. I think Conde B. McCullough out did himself in designing this bridge. I am even more inspired to make this panel even though I should be working on my pond quilt.

We have been spending most of our time traveling up and down the coast while the sun was out.  I decided to go visit Florence’s two quilt shops.  A great way to pass the time on a rainy day.  Besides, I still needed my teal to make the Art Nouveau panel.

Wenz-Daze Quilter’s Emporium is a smaller shop with quilts hanging from its high ceiling and four rooms filled with fabrics and notions. I had fun looking around the store.

Then I went into the Joy of Quilting shop. Oh MY! I have walked into a quilter’s heaven! First, I was told there were two different areas to the shop. There are several rooms with fabric and then there is Gigi Mo’s Gallery. I decided to start with the gallery and I’m so glad I did! I was offered gloves if I wanted to touch any of the quilts, but I was quite happy spending my time just looking. The gallery displays quilts and fabric art from artists along the Oregon Coastal area. As a quilter I found it very inspiring to be able to admire these fabulous quilts up-close. If you don’t quilt, but would like to purchase one, this is the place to go. The selection is very diverse from traditional to contemporary. I’m sure you can find what you are looking for in this gallery.

Then there’s the rooms packed with bolts of fabrics, books, patterns, and notions. I made the mistake of stopping in front of the juvenile/novelty section. I kept telling myself that I really did not need another yard of fabric – so, I bought 1 ½ yards! That works… I was so energized and inspired that I almost forgot the reason for shopping in the first place…..oh yea! I need to look at their Batiks. I believe I found the perfect shade of teal to use in my panel.

Well, I have managed to put myself into a dilemma. Darn! I want to start this new quilt, but I really should work on the other two quilts. Okay, this project will be my carrot.  So for now, I will put the material and notes aside and get busy on the quilts-in-progress. :0)

A quick note: From the Today Show - Jane Pauley did a segment about "Life On The Road".  She interviewed two full-timers living in their vintage Bluebird since 2004.  There is an article on AARP's site as well as a video.  Enjoy!