Jerome Park CommUnity Garden

What a perfect day to celebrate the one year anniversary of the Jerome Park Community Garden! Sun shining, music and children playing and families enjoying the park.

The Grain Project used this site as a Pilot Project for the City of Santa Ana. Successful?

You be the judge!

Community volunteers help clear the land, prepare the soil, plant and reap the harvest of the garden. They had to till under the winter plants to make room for the spring crops. Even the tiniest gardeners had a job to do. What did they plant? I think those are peppers!

The verbena below was last season, but look beautiful.

Now where are those shovels and the wheelbarrow? Let's get dirty!

Tea for Five at Diane and Steve's Farm in Valley Center, CA

Diane must have cooked all day because the kitchen was full of goodies when I got to the house after winding my way along Lilac Road to the hilly mud-free path/road to enjoy this delightful gathering. Saw California Poppies along the way, enjoyed the enforced slow-down of a dirt road. Every one should get to slow down in such a pleasant environment.

Diane had home-made scones, and lots of tea choices.






Elaine, Diane' s irrepressible sister and Diane's daughter, just as enthusiastic, were "helping".

Elaine has just the right touch, don't you think?

Diane and her daughter had arranged flowers for the table and every little corner, so even at the tea table it was like being in a garden. The Dutch cow cannot resist the lavender and mint combination and neither could I!Sue got away before we grabbed the camera , but here are Elaine, Diane and Cecelia sharing the friendship that created this lovely group of self-proclaimed "Tea Bags."

Diane and Steve's is truly a working farm. Just ask Diane about the water shortage and how short showers have to be so the goats and crops have enough water. Here is a batch of just collected eggs from their geese, hens and assorted fowl. Yes, that is DIRT!

Diane even planned a project for us and had "whipped up" in her "spare time" tea cozies for us to decorate. Here are the fun things we got to play with.


And a good time was had by all....tea anyone?

You can tell it's Spring the wildflowers have arrived!

We took a walk in Tin Mine Canyon to see the wildflowers!

Tin Mine Canyon is on the south side of the 91, exit Lincoln and meander back behind the newest Corona housing develpments....unfortunately!

We walked about 2 miles up the canyon over paths that were bumpy with large gravel, but fairly easy to hike.

We saw a lot of wildflowers including Miner's Lettuce, Milk Maids (green and white) and Rattlesnake Spurge with the teeeeeniest flowers I have ever seen(white against rocks).

We also saw stinging lupines, named for the prickly hairs that you can see on the stems and leaves (left).
On the way and when returning we saw lots of poppies and a hillside covered in purple...Chino Hills.

Gorgeous! Go wildflowering while you can...
Tennyson's poem says "Once in a golden moment I cast to earth a seed, up there came a flower, the people said a weed."

A wildflower, not a weed!

Happy National Quilters Day

What a fun day! We saw many beautiful quilts, had mimosas and a great lunch, and are all set to take on a new project to bring next year on the third Saturday of March.

Claudia Redfern is our brave yearly hostess, and she lives in a beautiful home on the hillside in Laguna Beach.

Each year, quilters arrive from south, north, and east (not west... that would be the ocean!) to share what we have done since the last time we were all together. Elli Rapp arrived from Oregon this year, having missed last year's gathering due to snow...this year it was only raining! She won the prize for coming the greatest distance.
Pat and Dionne came from San Diego and the rest of us were OC/LA close.

Each year we have Show and Tell.

I got to announce that the quilt that Jamie Fingal, Anne Copeland and I made called Tres Latinas Artistas was sold in a gallery in Orange, CA. THAT is a lot to live up to!

Each year we choose one or two or three projects to do for next year....some will be doing garden ladies from Gwen and Freddies's newest book, Collaborative Quilts. Some of us will do an applique quilt of Christmas socks...not stockings, and some will do black and white four patches. Then next year we swap!

Let's get started!

Synchronicity?

So, I was drivng to work, sort of listening to the radio, and the moment I looked in the rearview mirror and saw the word Dodge on the front of the old, red truck behind me, the voice on the radio said "Dodge"....very weird, and it happens all the time....I just figure that I am in the right place doing the right thing and this is just the the universe telling me so...

Does this ever happen to you? Is it syn·chro·nic·i·ty ?
(sĭng'krə-nĭs'ĭ-tē, sĭn'-) Pronunciation Key n. pl. syn·chro·nic·i·ties
The state or fact of being synchronous or simultaneous; synchronism.
Coincidence of events that seem to be meaningfully related, conceived in Jungian theory as an explanatory principle on the same order as causality.

Ok, ok I had no idea it was Jungian!

So what?

Orange County Quilters Guild Opportunity Quilt!

Look at this luscious quilt! Designed and made by Juanita Swarts and Lorraine Voorhees and quilted by Jane Ann Monroe it illustrates our theme perfectly. Orange County Quilters Guild is selling tickets to win this gorgeous art quilt! Soon it will show on their website, but here is a preview. The money raised is used for workshops and more at the Guild."Quilts-Our Global Language" will be at CSU, Fullerton, September 26 & 27, 2009. I am the crazy woman who is the Quilt Show Chair! Can't wait to see the lovely quilts that we will hang!

Hello Blog Land!

Ok, so now I have a blog.....now what?
First let me introduce my self....
Self described art quilter, poet, cat lover, gardener and owner of a new Scion...hmm
What else?
Favorite Color: Periwinkle, closely followed by red
Favorite Band of All Time: The Cream...da da da da DA DA doo doo doo doo (you know... Sunshine of your Love)
What I thought I would be when I grew up? Rich and Famous...ha!
What I love to do besides read and make art? Play tennis, eat good Mexican food and dance.
Ok enough of me
Here is a poem.

The Secret Language of Snow
Do you know snow?
It whispers down like a baby's sigh, like a brush of hummingbird feathers, like a fling of twinkles.

It shouts down like the rush of a linebacker, like the struggle of the earth to move, like the ageless gift of fire.

It tickles down like an eyelash wink, like a tip-toe of lace, like a wave of the flag, or the dust of the forest.

The secret language of snow. Do you know snow?



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