Progress

My liking for this quilt is inversely proportional to the amount of time it has taken to make it, and it is smaller than I thought it would be, but progress is being made and the end is in sight....I like to take a picture once in awhile just to give a little perspective to the project. In this case, it didn't help, but as my father used to say, 'the die is cast'. 

Those words always have quite an ominous cast as the the were usually uttered when a decision had to be made at Blackwell's Corner whether to take the shorter hotter route, or the longer still pretty hot route through the Central Valley on our summer drive from Altadena to my grandparent's home in the Santa Cruz mountains. Those were the days before cars were air conditioned and before the I-5 made the drive hours faster and infinitely more boring. Elaborate plans were often made to get us through the heat. Sometimes we just went for it, and sometimes the entire back seat of the car was converted into a bed for my brother and me to sleep in while my parents drove through the night to beat the heat.

It was never an easy drive but we loved our summer vacation in Mt. Hermon exploring Bean Creek for crawdads and salamanders, learning how to negotiate the bramble filled back yard in bare feet and the wondrous field trips to the Santa Cruz boardwalk or to a giant public swimming pool. My grandmother taught me to knit there, and no matter what my dad did, did the first waffle of the batch always stuck in the waffle iron resulting in much scraping and swearing (under his breath, of course). I don't think my mother thought it was the magical place we did, but there were undercurrents that completely eluded my brother and me as we wandered the place unhindered and unencumbered.

That was not where I was planning to go with this entry, but they do tend to take on a life of their own.

Cindy dropped by with Hazel, the bassett puppy (extra). I made a fruitless attempt at getting a picture of the two long ears together, but Hazel was never still and Spike spent most of his time at my feet protecting his Kong and generally trying to get away from her!  I don't think he was entirely clear on why she kept attacking his face and ears and trying to get his Kong away from him, but he did seem to realize that she was a puppy and to be tolerated.

Having a puppy is like having a two year old. Very cute and fun but never a moment's peace....