Years ago when I first started to quilt, and I first started to read quilt magazines, I thought “I could do that too”.   But the sort of women who get ribbons at shows and who get into quilt magazines are mostly insane and obsessive about quilting, and that is not me.  My work for others has appeared in magazines, but I couldn’t find where I had squirreled them away, so I can’t show them today.   But my work has appeared years ago in two books, and here they are.

I met Ann at a class she taught, this was my class sample.  She lived in Denver at the time and we became friends.  She even talked me in to wearing this at a fashion show at the quilt expo in Houston.

And I still have the jacket.

I also met the other author when I took a class from her, and we would run into each other back when I went to quilting conferences.  I sent her a picture of this little quilt and she chose it for her second book.

This is a detail of the quilt.   I’m not sure why I stopped quilting, but my life changed and I got busy with other things.  But perhaps I will pick it up again when I am old (I am already old, so I had better make that ‘when I am much, much older.) 😉

I much prefer Spring snow to Winter snow.  You know that the ground is warm, every day is getting a little longer, and this snow will quickly melt, rather than sticking around outstaying it’s welcome.  It does slow down the pace of life, especially for me as I am afraid to drive when the weather is mucky.   But I had to drive across town this morning, and I must admit it was a rather lovely day.

I was walking down the street when I stopped to admire the icicles forming on this imposing roofline (click on the picture for details).

The snow changes the landscape and morphs it into the sort of place where one might see a fairy hiding away from the cold.

The main street runs down the horizontal bit of town, the rest of it slopes sharply upward and I always wonder ‘how do they get their groceries in?’.

The Little Engine that Could graces the nearby park.   Built in the late 1880’s this engine powered a cog railway to carry tourists up to admire the view.   On a day such as today they would not have been able to see much besides softly falling snow.

The scene today is peaceful and almost pastoral, I saw a few hardy souls out walking their dogs.   But there was very little traffic, it was mostly just me and my thoughts, admiring the quiet.

A few weeks back, the annual space symposium was in town.   It’s a sort of trade show for persons working for the military and civilian spaceflight industry (I know, who even knew there was such a thing!).  Some companies are there to flog their products and others are just there to show they exist (and could sell you something).   But we already had our own version of a rocket here in town.

It’s not going anywhere, this sculpture is by famous local artist Concrete Couch.   I made a tiny tile for a project he is doing at a local school, and that is the name he goes by.  It guards the county building where I went to pay my car tax.

Another place to see rockets is in the ceiling at the local public library that is devoted to technology.   Although is is somewhat enigmatic to have rockets stuck in the ceiling, I’m sure that there is a reason for this (besides human error).

This is the real rocket that was in town to promote ordinary (extremely wealthy) people going into outer space.   Owned by the Amazon guy, this rocket can carry one into outer space and back again.  I must say I was rather surprised to see it when I was driving down the street to the pub.  The rocket company brags that the windows on the space capsule are much nicer that the ones NASA uses, so one gets a better view.

But I’m afraid that this is actually more my speed.   It’s a candy shop that specializes in vintage candy of the sort we old people had while growing up.  And if one is too young to have nostalgia for this, one can still enjoy the candy, because who doesn’t like candy?

It’s well known that rabbits are pests.  Just look at the career of Peter Rabbit.

He is famous as a carrot thief, and he lost his new jacket and slippers almost as soon as he got them, he’s very careless and doesn’t listen to his mother.  But, he is also adorable!  As are all bunnies, and this is the season that we celebrate them.   So here are a few pictures of the newest rabbits in my collection (yes, I do remember that I am supposed to be downsizing, just not today).

There is just something appealing about the little round shape of the rabbit.

They do try to hide, but the ears always give them away.

This is one of the bunnies that lives down by the mailbox.   He came running up the driveway as soon as he saw me one morning recently.

And this is the rest of them as well.   I tried buying commercial rabbit pellets for them, but they did not like that nutritionally balanced stuff.   This is sweet mix (a horse treat), oats, corn, and crunchy bits coated in molasses.   They are rabbits after my own heart. (And they are probably where Cadbury Eggs come from!)

I think I’ve already mentioned that I have an ongoing love of books, and I am often reading more than one at a time.   How do I keep track of where I stopped?   Why with my handy collection of bookmarks that delineate the books in current rotation.

These bookmarks show some of the places that I buy from.   The Tattered Cover was a great book lovers institution in Denver.  Four floors of books, with a knowledgeable staff and comfy seating.  I went there whenever I had to be in Denver.   But rising real estate prices pushed them out of their wonderful location (and competition from cut-price retailers like Amazon) and now the store is a shadow of it’s former self in an inconvenient location.   Gateway was a funky   used bookstore downtown and was also pushed out by rising rents.    Book depository is a mail order business where I order out of print books that I want.

These are from local authors that I have talked with.   Manuel Ramos, a former Public Defender from Denver writes “Mile High Noir”, Langdon Foss is an artist for graphic novels.   Barbara Nickless is speaking at an upcoming writing conference here.

These are a mixed bag.   I read the book on the B & N bookmark when I was in the Mennonite Women Book Lovers.   I bought a book at Fort Union last year to get the middle one.   And free comic book day has led to some interesting reading (some are even books).

These are the odd bits that I will stick in a book to mark my place.   The top is a winning lottery ticket (on a $1 ticket, I could win a prize of $1, if I take it in to a store).   The middle is a ticket stub from a Jazz concert at an expensive hotel.   Me and M were just sitting down for a drink, and someone gave us the $$$ ticket for free.   At the bottom are business cards.  The one on the left is from a well-known quilter, she gave it to me in Houston years ago and I kept it because it’s pretty.   The other card is from the late-husband of my cousin, he gave it to me the last time I saw him on the rez.   These are some of the bits of the paper ephemera floating through the house, waiting for their turn in the recycling bin of life.

I recently acquired these books from yet another hoarder house that my sorority helped to clear out.  There were lots of paperback books, those went to the free library of the guy who helps the homeless, down on the wrong side of the railroad tracks. (I really hope he liked these, as there were five boxes of them).  But, in this house I did find a couple of books that I really needed to add to my collection. ( I am falling behind in de-accessioning books). 🙁

What are these books?  Why they are the same books that we had in the house when I was a child.

And I remember them quite fondly, Mom read some of the stories to us before I knew how to read, and later I read them myself.

This edition was published in the late 1940’s, they had lots of charming illustrations to go with the stories, bits and bobs of popular culture of the time.

I especially remember Mom reading aloud from this book of poetry, she had a fondness for poetry, even of the children’s sort.

Children’s literature always had a moral to it.

Like “be kind” and “treat people and animals as you might wish to be treated”.   Which I suppose is still good advice.

There is a new exhibit down at the local history museum, which lists bits of the past from A (either the Antlers hotel or Alexander Film Company) to Z (the zoo).  It’s completely random and arbitrary what things survive from the past, and this totally appeals to me.

Here are some bits that come from Alexander film.  The company started in the silent era and held on making commercials that were shown before a movie started  until the 1950’s.  Oddly enough the company also made airplanes in the 20’s and early 30’s, because they though it would be a good idea to deliver the films by airplane. Part of the buildings they used for film production are now home to a television station.

Another business that is no longer around, but fondly remembered is the Burns theater.  This was an opera house and vaudeville venue.   It only existed in memory by the time I moved here, it was long vanished.

Which is not true of these relics, they are from the company I call whenever I need a plumber (and they come right out).

This company is also still in business, but instead of being a quaint little concern, it’s a giant industrial behemoth out by the motorway.

This sign used to hang downtown before the business was pushed from the downtown area.   The building was taken over by the US Olympic Committee at taxpayer expense.

This is how we preserve the past in our city, just as a tiny morsel.  Meanwhile the present is quietly steamrolled into the future by real estate interests.

After much ado, I changed my ancient desktop computer to a minimally newer model.    I didn’t go into the big box computer store to be insulted, but this was provided free of charge.   I persevered in my attempt to conquer technology, but I don’t have a brilliant or cohesive post for this week.   So in lieu of that I am offering up random portraits from the past two weeks.

We’ve had some fine spring-like weather, with warm updrafts that are perfect for soaring and flirting (the other hawk slipped out of view).   This is one of the hawks that lives on the hill behind my house.

This is one of the dinosaurs posing with a basket of roses.  I’m not really sure what this dino was up to!

I was waiting for the phone to ring at a charity fundraiser.   I must have been completely bored to take a photo of myself.   Also there is not much interesting to photograph about a line of phones.

This smiling building with a banana split flying overhead was rather unsurprisingly taken at an ice cream shop.  This local business offers gigantic portions and stays busy.  I enjoyed a late night mango gelato under his friendly gaze.