Had a delightful day today with Sharon.  Got to see her new house, enjoyed a delicious lunch at Kneaders, and then toured the Mavericks' collection of wall-hangings celebrating our National Parks.  

This footprint reminded me of that 

"we should take nothing but photographs and leave nothing but footprints."

Sharon and I had the place to ourselves (Julie actually had to unlock the building for us.)  I had no difficulty getting a clear shot (the crowds can be a real problem at shows) though the lighting could have been better.  Enjoy your tour - and see how many parks you recognize!  

This one was my favorite:

But it definitely wasn't an easy choice, with so many wonderful (and creative) entries.

Here's a close-up of that "smoke":

Because the computer is (currently) cooperative (and also because Sharon and I are going to the Mavericks' quilt exhibit this afternoon, and I'll have yet more pix to post!) I thought this might be a good time to post more of the goodies from Saturday!

The first couple ought to help wake you up....

  

Sorry about this neck turner; my usual fix <GRRRR> is not working on the sideways shots today, which is no real surprise to me!  (And in fact ALL the pix that I reoriented when I first loaded and resized them are not even showing up in the folder....)

Heather sounds like a wonderful sister....

While not "my" style, these next few do have beautiful work(wo)manship!

Did you notice the 3D ruched (sp?) flower centers?

Never can see a purple quilt without thinking of Mel!

Obviously I wasn't the only one who appreciated this quilt!

This reminds me of the quilt Ellen was working on at the quilt retreat!

I've got LOTS more pix I'd like to share, but first I'll need to figure out where the rotated ones are hiding!  Maybe if I go take a soak the computer will be happier when I return?

Hey, that could happen, right?

Yesterday afternoon I made a second trip to the library after I received an e-mail that one of the books I hadn't yet gotten a chance to read was due (and with no renewals since it is a New book) - but at least on that trip it wasn't raining!   Another e-mail had let me know that a book had come in for me (it hadn't been there in the morning when I checked) so I also picked that up.  And  a quick perusal of the New Shelf scored me Three Sisters, Three Queens, by Phillippa Gregory (about Katherine of Aragon, Margaret, and Mary.) It was one of the pile I had dropped it off earlier in the day during the downpour (unread, but also not available for renewal) and already reshelved on the New shelf... so I checked it out again.

Alex had invited us over to watch a movie last night.  We ordered pizza when Alex and Aja got back in the early evening from more errands, one of which was to buy a replacement microwave.  (The two of them have been zooming around madly getting stuff done so we offered to "cook".)  

When Alex's electrician friend had taken off the front "thingie" the other day to get to the microwave it turned out that it was not hard-wired after all, but instead was a 'regular' microwave simply plugged into a wall socket in the back of that cabinet.  The replacement is quite nice, and also seems considerably larger than the one that died, though I made sure there was plenty of room for the air to vent.

Since Alex was slated to leave this morning for a month of Spring Break assignments, Tom and I decided to  "eat and run" to give them a little down time together to just relax.  However I found out this morning that he'll be skipping the first segment (in California), not leaving until Tuesday when he heads to Lake Havasu.  

His work plans are CONSTANTLY changing (which would drive me crazy) 

but he says that' just the way it is.

I was running late this morning (wanted to be out the door at 8:00 "just in case" rush hour was worse than expected) but didn't quite make it.  Between being low on gas (and then with traffic stopped several times I was afraid I might run out of gas on the 101 or 51!) and traffic being horrible (the announcer on the radio commented on how bad it was for being so far past the usual worst part of the rush hour cycle) I was relieved to make it to my 9:00 tax appointment on time, breezing in at 8:58.  When I was l leaving the office an hour later, a woman scurried in apologizing for being late for her 10:00, citing worse than usual rush hour.

Next I headed to Modern Quilts, a block away, to see if I could find "that" batik fabric I need for the border.  Last night I had packed up my quilting bag with the fabric and the quilt (in case I needed to see if something else might match well) and had hung that bag on the hook by the door near my purse.  

I tried not to panic when I got to the store and the quilting bag was not in my car (did someone break into my car and steal the wedding quilt?!) but a call to Tom let me know that yep, the bag was still hanging on that hook, right where I left it.

Sadly Iid not find the fabric I want (and of course since it was PERFECT I am not likely to be happy with anything else) though I did find something that might work for the "new design opportunity" border I'm thinking about.

On my way to the gas station (with 'officially' 17 miles left in the tank) I called Patti. She and Gary were on their way home from this morning's doctor appointment, but I could tell right away by her voice that surgery is not going to happen tomorrow.  Between the swelling, and more blood blisters, she's on hold until I take her again next Wednesday (when Gary will be out of town.)  I also asked about the results of yesterday's CT, and that apparently showed a couple more issues that hadn't shown up on the x-rays.  Poor Patti!  She's very discouraged, and we didn't talk long.

As you may have figured out from the illustrations, Tom fixed my computer!!! He said he just tried rebooting it several times (which is exactly what I did) but finally one of his took.  Maybe I need to take a class in how to reboot? <g>

Or maybe I just didn't kick the computer hard enough...