Sunday, November 3, 2024
Time to Say Goodbye
Tuesday, July 2, 2024
July 2: Why I'm Smiling Today
2. I also felt really good about helping my Venezuelan friend find a refurbished bike to replace the one that was recently stolen. She'd been using it to cart her two young kids around town and was really missing it, so Ben and I took her to Community Cycle which takes donated old bikes and spruces them up for continued use, selling them at reasonable prices. It was a long shot that they'd have what Rei needed, but they did, so big smiles all around.
4. We had a lovely Father's Day, taking a hike with Paul and then driving up the canyon to Nederland for a delicious meal at Cross Cut Pizza, one of our favorite causal places to eat. Turbo went with us and bounded up the steep hike with exuberance.
5. I'm quite delighted with a little fabric artwork I finished the other day and hung over the fireplace yesterday. I was inspired by scraps of the purple and green fabric I used in the border, which was left over from another piece I finished about two years ago. I found it while cleaning up my studio and decided it was too cool not to use in some way. The purple reminded me of eggplants, so I drew a design with two of them and then created them by collaging other scraps that I had around. My critique group helped me with ideas for how to quilt it, I added a piece of fuzzy yarn around the edge, and now it's hanging in the living room next to the blooming artichoke piece that I made a while back. I think they make a good pair!
Taken from Cartoonstock.com |
Thursday, June 20, 2024
June 20: A Week in Rome!
Ben and I were well overdue for a nice vacation with just the two of us so we decided to spend a week in Rome to celebrate his birthday, which was on May 21. Not being able to go exactly on his birthday, we went the first week of June.
One of the items on my "bucket list" was to stay in a luxury hotel, so we splurged on deluxe room with a private balcony at the 47 Boutique Hotel, near the Colosseum and walkable to all the main sights of the city. We were delighted to find that there were antiquities right up the street (Marcellus theater, Capitoline hill, the old Jewish Ghetto) and that the old and charming Travestera neighborhood was right across the river. We walked everywhere and took one bus, averaging about five miles a day, which burned off the calories we took in while exploring the "Four Pastas of Rome" and the many variations on Tiramisu, one of Ben's favorite desserts.
We had been to Rome for a few days back in 2013 when we traveled with Paul, his friend Robbie, and my sister Jean. We saw many of the "big ticks" of the city then, so on this trip we tried some different activities. We toured the underground excavations at the Roman Domus of Palazzo Valentini and the Domus Aurea (Nere's Golden Palace), enjoyed a concert of music by Vivaldii and Bach at St. Paul’s within the walls, and saw Japanese woodcuts from the Edo period 1603-1868 on display at the Palazzo Braschi.
Most afternoons Ben relaxed while I walked about the city, wandering around just to be out and see all the interesting buildings, shops, and street life. One day I explored the Castel Sant’ Angelo which is near the Vatican, doing some people watching from the excellent cafe up on the top floor and admiring the lovely views from so far up high. Another day I toured the Old Jewish synagogue, and spent more than an hour looking at its excellent and informative exhibits and touring the worship area, which was both interesting and sobering.
It was a wonderful trip!
Monday, May 6, 2024
May 6: A Windy Day
Gardening is front and center this time of year, but I have found some time to be the studio. I designed and sewed this little wall hanging, which is about 17x30". One of my quilt groups had a challenge to use the Golden Ratio theory to make a piece and this is what I did. Most of the beautiful fabrics are hand-dyes from Cherrywood. They feel like suede and are wonderful to sew.
The past week or so I haven't been able to settle on any particular project, though I can see from these recent pictures that I'm currently captivated by bright spring colors.
Sunday, April 14, 2024
April 14: Halfway Through April!
Beyondboulder.com |