Around Here

Around here... We've been enjoying clear, clean skies.  The wildfires are all contained and all that terrible smoke is gone, thank heaven!   

Around here....Ben shared a favorite rock climbing area with me the other day;  the Mountain Rose sport climbing cliffs above Castle Rock in nearby Boulder Canyon.  No, I didn't climb!  But we did have to scramble up, up, up to the cliffs where there was a nice trail along the rock climbing routes.  

I had to have my picture taken by this beautiful orange color on the rock.   When I saw it I realized why I had included orange in the Canyonlands quilt top I recently finished.  

Around here...Turbo got a big haircut.  I loved that shaggy dog look he's had the past few months but try as I might I couldn't keep the mats under control. When that happens the groomer shaves your dog down to the skin and you start over and try again.  He doesn't seem to care, but I feel like a bad Mommy!     

Around here....we continue to declutter and refine our interior spaces.  Since the old guest room won't be used much now that the basement is set up for company, we moved some of the "office" supplies that had been in the sewing studio into the old guest room and are now calling it "the office."   A chair we had used for watching TV in that room was moved to the living room.  Not only did these changes make the living room more comfortable, but they opened up the space in both the office and the studio.   

Around here...I finished a quilt top I started a few weeks ago in an online class, "Artful Improv" taught by Cindy Grisdela.   It's about 26"x31," and is an original design greatly inspired by Cindy's own work.  I loved working with these fresh colors, so cheerful for this time of the year.  Next step: machine quilting.  

Around here.. My friend Lotus and I went down to the Denver Art Museum to see the Frida Kahlo, Diego Rivera and Mexican Modernism exhibit.  The social distancing rules made it a treat to view as there so few people in the galleries.  I know this is very tough on the museums, but us art lovers are getting spoiled.  My favorite piece wasn't any of Frida's work, but rather Diego's 1943 portrait of Natasha Gelman, the wife of filmmaker Jacques Gelman.  The couple were avid art collectors and it's their collection that make the bulk the exhibit.  I love the lines of her body and how the calla lillies echo them. She's quite glamorous but seems to be about to slide right off the sofa, which amuses me.  

   

Around here.. we had a nice 4" snowfall yesterday and so I made homemade cinnamon rolls as a snow day treat with our coffee.   I always think of my mother when I make these rolls, as it was one of her specialities.  She always gave some to her neighbors and so do I. 

Around here.. It'll be just us here for dinner tomorrow and I'm fine with that.  Our goal is to make it through this pandemic and if that means no big group around the table, so be it.  We have the memories of many wonderful large Thanksgiving gatherings and we have so many things to be thankful for.  We'll surely have some brief, spontaneous visits outside with friends and neighbors who pass by, and Paul may come over for a while, so we won't be lonely.  There seems to be an informal pie exchange happening with a couple of slices of pumpkin pie coming from the wonderful couple who live next door and some Atlantic City pie from Ray and Paula, and both getting apple pie slices from us.  There will be a hike or a walk or two, and being outside is so good for the soul!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Linking to my friend LeeAnna's "I Like Thursdays" at Not Afraid of Color