Summer’s End

This summer turned out to be a magical time for us this year, spent outside, with friends and family, sprinkled with a few good movies, lots of yummy food, and a moderate amount of…lounging.

We went traveling!

There is a tiny little community about 2 hours NorthEast of San Diego, up in the mountains of San Bernadino called Oak Glen. Beautiful high country villages, pine trees, and LOTS of Apple Farms. We visited Riley’s Farm last week, they do U-Pick fruits, berries, pumpkins- and Colonial America Recreation Tours, with the cutest little Public House you’ve ever seen:

Real Pewter Mugs and Tableware! (That mug got so cold I had to use a napkin to pick it up!)

It wasn’t all fun and games this summer though- I spent some time cataloging all the crafting I do, drafting lists and getting everything in order for the grand opening next month of the Workshop:

This is just a cross section of some of the bags I’ve been making over the last few years. I’m particularly excited by the latest grocery bag design I’ve worked out:

Yep- I’ve decided to start production on Yule presents a month early this year- I’ve had some really good ideas this summer!

Hey, you Faeries better stop moving that lamp outta frame!

Wash Day at the Quilt Show…

The quilt show was so much fun this year! It’s always nice when you get to share your interest with likeminded people, isn’t it? And for one whole day, Temecula turns its Main Street into a quilty goodness Festival, chock full of people who just love quilts! It’s over, sadly- but through the wonders of time travel and photography, I can take you there with me! Want to go? C’mon, the portal is just over this way:

As we turn into the parking lot at the end of Main Street, I can already sense the excitement in the air! This is a beautiful part of the city, with all its wood and brick buildings evoking the Wild, Wild West. Then we turn that first corner and see all the people! And all the quilts! They really are hung everywhere, all around outside on every building:

That’s “The Coop”, a really nice quilt store that is full of wonderful fabrics, quilt samples, patterns and books. I just love how the entire building is swathed in quilts- on the outside and on the inside! An interesting thing about this quilt show is that it lasts for only one day- that way the quilts don’t sit outside in the wet, nor do they get damp from the morning dew. But it’s fun to imagine it’s wash-day in the early 1800’s, and the whole town has hung their quilts out to dry in the early October morning sun. Okay, okay, yes- I’m in the middle of rereading the “Little House” series- how did you know?

One thing I didn’t know about before this year was that they also have a great Farmers Market every Saturday full of good things to eat, crafts and jewelry stalls, organic foods and even a few garden plants for sale. Oh! I am wishing I had gotten some of the small lavender plants that were out- they were so yummy looking! My hummingbirds could use a few more of those now that winter is on the way.

Hmm…all those quilts up there are giving me some ideas. Where’s that rotary cutter gotten to …

On time, and the ever expanding deadline. . .

It’s Leap Year, the last day of February- and I’ve run out of time. I didn’t have enough time yesterday to write a blog post- heck, I was too busy to even turn the computer on! Although, I am secretly proud of myself for that. Normally I am too busy to cook, clean, sew, read, brush the cat, et., etc., because of spending too much time on the computer. Yesterday was different. Today is, too- mainly because I’m letting go of a few things. Expectations, deadlines, I-have-to’s. Leap Year has taught me to cherish time again. It isn’t that there is more of it- there is, this year. But I haven’t been using it carefully enough lately. I keep finding myself lamenting the lack of a sense of accomplishment at the end of the day. There are too many item’s left unchecked on my weekly to-do list for my piece of mind.

What to do when that happens- what to do. Well, I just happened to let some things go- and it worked. Voila! A sense of accomplishment- because I did the one thing I set out to do yesterday. Now, I know that won’t work every time- you can’t just not do what needs to get done. But sometimes, you can change your mind.

Sometimes, it’s better to just. . . let it go.

Time trippin'

     We went to Old Town again this summer. This time I bought some terra cotta pots, but ended up taking pictures of this...

The architecture of days gone by fascinates me. What materials were available to the builders? Why did they choose those colours? How did they build those chimneys?

Love that chimney!

I also got some pictures of their new gardens depicting the plants, vegetable, and herbs that you would have found when the site was first occupied. 

There are roses in there! I love that they considered roses a necessity to life, along with the squash and carrots. The park had three areas planted out, this next one is behind the Mccoy House proper:

That's a pomegranate tree in the back against the fence. Such a surprise to find one in a public garden!

The Mccoy House is a  funny little museum- the front half is a house decorated in period style (the frieze is to die for gorgeous!) and the back half is a life-size diorama filled with a timeline of the area, blown-up black-and-white pictures of people, a fully planked out general-store-in-a-ship's hold with requisite shopkeep (creepy), a saloon with a bar and saloon keeper (creepier) and a post office, complete with stagecoach times and waiting area, also with creepy attendant. This would be a fun experience around Halloween, I can tell already!

Time traveling...

It is so dry here in my hometown. We passed two wildfires on our weekend trip up to the mountains last saturday. It was beautiful up there though. I so want to move to the area whenever we get the chance to visit, and become a Laura Ingalls type frontierswoman, you know? Long dresses, sweeping floors with corn brooms, making my own cheese type of life. heehee. My husband is terrified I am serious, and goes along with the daydream only so long, then he brings up the movies, or shopping in the city, or which neighborhood has the best internet reception. He doesn't want to lose his technology. I tell him we can just hide it behind a chicken coop...

Where is your favorite get-away-from-modern-life-destination?