I met NY Times Bestselling Author, Marie Bostwick, through a mutual friend when I attend last Fall’s Trends Show (see the “Postscript” section of the 09/18/16 post The Ladies Friendship Circle (1931)). I had a great time hanging out with her and learned she was moving to my beloved Central Oregon! She is currently on a book tour and Terry the Quilting Husband and I went to see her speak on Saturday.
Marie is a quilter and her first major series of books, Cobbled Court Quilt Series, was strongly quilting/life of a quilter related. The series begins with the book A Single Thread.
In case you have read her books, I thought I would share photos from her Book Tour stop on Saturday April 1, 2017 in Bend, Oregon.
During this tour she is promoting her latest book, The Promise Girls, released at the end of March.
Photo credit: mariebostwick.com
On Saturday Marie discussed her new book as well as some of the history on her other books and how she became a writer. She also did a little “trunk show” and showed us several quilts, many of which were based on quilts/themes in her books:
Even the table she did her book signing featured one of her quilts!
If you would like to see her on her US tour, here is a link with tour dates:
Terry the Quilting Husband (TTQH) is a military history buff and yesterday we went to see the exhibit “WWII: The High Desert Home Front” at the High Desert Museum.
This is exhibit, with many items donated by Oregon WWII veterans or their families, according the the exhibit’s page, “reveals the wartime activities that took place in the High Desert, including some of the most celebrated and tragic chapters in our country’s history”.
This exhibit honors those who served, those who gave the “ultimate sacrifice”, women workers during WWII, efforts by various ethic groups, the dark times of Japanese internment camps, and the development of and decision to drop the atomic bomb.
I took a zillion photos of this excellent exhibit and I thought I would share some of my favorites. (TTQH was in his element quietly wandering around this exhibit reading and looking at everything in awe and respect).
The Vehicles
WWII Harley Davidson and Army Jeep
The Uniforms
Of course being a nurse I had to include the Red Cross Volunteer uniform!
Women and WWII
I do not want World War to be a reason but I think more of us need our own “Victory Gardens” growing our own vegetables:
Contributions by Specific Ethnic Groups
Native American, African American, and Mexican American (keep in mind this was the 1940s a much different America than we are now…)
Japanese American Internment
A dark time in American history, hopefully we never forget.
(and finally) The Beginning of the Atomic Age
Postscript
After viewing the WWII: The High Desert Homefront, we needed something lighter before leaving the museum. So went wandered the rest of the museum and enjoyed some lighter “visual fare”:
Prehistoric Buzz Saw Sharks (Helicoprion)
Hysterical T-Shirt in the Gift Shop
A little High Desert humor!
Our Beloved High Desert Raptors
I enjoyed visiting with the museum volunteer holding the raptor in falconry style. We discussed Helen Macdonald’s book – H is for Hawk and the beautiful story of how falconry with a goshawk helps a woman deal with the loss of her beloved father. I listened to the audiobook and I thought it I was listening to beautiful poetry.
Looking through the Raptor exhibit made me think back to a weekend afternoon early last Fall. On a beautiful Central Oregon day with endless blue sky and a few fluffy cloud meandering across the sky, I took a “mini-vacation” in my backyard lying on a lounger and staring meditatively at the sky.
Suddenly my view appeared partially obscured by a large flying reptilian object and I thought for a moment I was in a scene from the movie Jurassic Park. No, it was not a Pterodactyl, it was one of our Central Oregon raptors, flying very low (likely it had spotted something tasty in a backyard…). As I had been intensively and hypnotically staring at the sky the object appeared larger than actual!
The whole moment took my breath away for a second. I guess if you are going to be eaten by a Pterodactyl at least have it happen after a relaxing afternoon…
Image credit: dinosaurpictures.org
So there were so many more photos but I had to stop somewhere with my photo sharing. Thanks for virtually joining me at the High Desert Museum!
In my previous posts “All Aboard” the Winter Train Village and Gingerbread Village, 12/2/16, I shared photos from a recent trip to Seattle, WA to meet up with my brother and his family (who live on the East Coast but my brother had a business trip in Seattle).
To close out this series of posts, here are the rest of the interesting holiday themed decorations I encountered during my three-day weekend wandering around Seattle tourist spots with my family.
Four Points Sheraton
We stayed at the Four Points Sheraton hotel in the Queen Anne area (conveniently within walking distance of Seattle Center/Space Needle). The lobby of the hotel was wonderfully decorated:
The Space Needle
For the full “tourist” experience in Seattle, you must visit the Space Needle, which was built for the 1962 World’s Fair (google “Space Needle” and read its interesting history). We spent part of our morning on Saturday up on the Observation deck.
One of the lovely holiday themed decorations from the Space Needle:
And here is the Space Needle itself, photographed at night as viewed through strings of holiday lights throughout the Seattle Center:
It was difficult to capture in the photo, but there is a Christmas tree at the top of the Space Needle!
Walking Around Downtown Seattle
Friday night, on our way to Gameworks to play games with my nephew (and a rematching on the long standing “air-hockey-death-match” between my brother and myself), we wandered around downtown Seattle. In addition to checking out the Gingerbread Village mentioned in previous post, we enjoyed the holiday lights and decorations around downtown.
Here are a few samples to give you a little taste of the visual delights while we wandered:
The Nordstrom Flagship Store had lovely wreaths hanging from their ceilings:
The tree at Westlake Center:
The Streets of Downtown – here is the original photo I took and then the stylized photo that Google Photos (where I backup on my photo) created:
Pretty cool, huh? And, here is one more photo from the streets of downtown Seattle:
And finally, here is a scene from the interior window display at the Tiffany & Co. store in downtown Seattle’s Pacific Place (everything in miniature with a tiny signature blue Tiffany’s box and a diamond engagement ring sitting on top):
I am sure what is inside this window display costs more than I make in year…maybe in 5 years…or more!
Alright, talk to you tomorrow when I reveal my business card selection and continue with my various ramblings…
Snow has fallen all day in Central Oregon. What began as a dusting of snow is now a couple inches of snowfall and the temperature has fallen to the 20s (yup Fahrenheit, wish I was talking Celsius!)
I call this time of year “Falinter” or “Wintal” (Fall meets Winter). It usually begins in November (we are after all a skiing area – Mount Bachelor); so I should not complain that the “Falinter”season did not begin until December (just a couple weeks before real Winter…)
However, the snow outside reinforces my holiday mood as I continue this week’s series of posts on Holiday Decorations.
Winter Train Village at Seattle Center
As I mentioned in yesterday’s postGingerbread Village, 12/2/16, I spent a three-day weekend in Seattle with my brother and his family. As a former Seattle resident, I got to spend 3 days being a tourist and enjoying the town through the eyes of my delightful 4-year old nephew.
We focused the weekend on kid related activities and one of those activities involved going to the Armory at the Seattle Center to see the Winter Train Village.
Each year the Seattle Center, located next to the Space Needle, has Winterfest. Here is a link with more information (which contains a short video overview of the annual Winterfest and the Winter Train in action):
One of the main features at Winterfest, is the Winter Train Village and here is a collection of photos (none of which do justice to the detail and adorableness of the recreation of an old fashioned town during the holidays):
The Armory at the Seattle Center was decorated a most festive manner:
We had a wonderful lunch in the food court of the Armory while we listened to children choirs perform carols.
Before leaving the Armory, I stopped at Seattle Fudge to pick up a treat to bring home to “Terry the Quilting Husband” who was at home with the dogs. I did of course accept a couple samples of the fudge from the person working at the booth to ensure it was not poisoned or anything – ha!
It was a complete test of self control for me not to break into the wrapped up fudge before I returned home on Sunday! (Terry the Quilting Husband did share a small piece with me).
I am feeling festive and filled with holiday spirit.
I just returned from a three-day weekend in Seattle with my brother, his wife and their four year old son (my super adorable nephew). They live on the East Coast (I am originally from NY) and my brother was in town for a business meeting on Friday and brought his family so we could all connect.
I lived in Seattle for 8 years before moving to Central Oregon, and it was to fun to return to Seattle as a tourist.
We stayed in the downtown Seattle area which was filled with endless holiday decorations. After posting on 12/1/16 about my neighbor’s awesome new holiday centerpiece in Seriously Cute Holiday Decorations, I have decided to spend this week sharing holiday season decoration related posts.
Gingerbread Village – Sheraton Hotel – Seattle
Friday evening my brother, his family and I wandered around downtown Seattle which had begin its holiday season and was filled with lights, holiday decorations and people in festive dressed filled with holiday cheer.
There was a “battle of the carolers” in progress on one of the streets we passed – the street was blocked off and various Caroling Singing groups were competing. It seemed that several holiday parties were going on as there were numerous people dressed in evening gowns and black tie wandering downtown.
We wandered upon a sign for the Gingerbread Village at the downtown Sheraton Hotel. We walked into a beautifully appointed hotel filled with people in formal attire and then some tourists like us standing on line to see the annual Gingerbread Village display.
This year’s Village was inspired by JK Rowling’s Harry Potterseries and featured elaborate (I mean ELABORATE) gingerbread houses/scenes (all made from candy and confections) based on various Harry Potter books.
There was also a Harry Potter inspired Christmas Tree!
Check out Sassy the Highly Opinionated Miniature Schnauzer’s blog page Schnauzer Snips, for her later musings.
My neighbor Carole is a very talented decorator and crafter. Her home interior looks like a photo shoot from Country Living magazine (my home interior looks like a photo shoot from Psychology Today).
I follow the blog a very talented crafty person – Linda @ kelleysdiy.com. Her holiday craft related posts inspired me to share a couple of photos of my neighbor’s latest holiday centerpiece-masterpiece.
My neighbor was inspired by a pin on Pinterest. She showed me the original pin and I have to say she way outdid her source of inspiration.
Here is the front:
Here is the side/back:
It is even cuter in person. She bought the three tied pan online and most of the stuff she already had in her huge stash of holiday decorations.
Her home is filled with lovely holiday vignettes everywhere, here is one to close out this post:
tierneycreates 