in the stroke of a key…a computer key!

Taking a brief break from photos….I’ve been wanting to blog about all the wonderful places the visitors to this blog come from. As the daughter of a US diplomat, who was in the Foreign (diplomatic) service too, and married a Foreign Service officer, clearly I love travel and learning about the wonderful places in the world, and the people there. A while back, succumbing to curiosity, I signed up for a free “site meter” (that little rainbow colored cube at the very, very bottom of the blog page). This site meter does *not* tell me your e-mail address, but it does (in most cases) identify where you are from…I LOVE that! So does my 8 year old…he’ll ask, Mommy, where are people from today? So we’ll go to my blog meter and see.

So far, in the couple of months I’ve had the site meter, I’ve had folks from 47 of the 50 US States (I’m missing Delaware, North Dakota and Nebraska), Washington DC, eleven provinces in Canada (missing The Yukon Territory and Nunavut), six states in Australia (missing South Australia and the Northern Territory), and 43 (!!!!) countries. And, thrill of thrill, most of those appear to be repeat visitors (the same town in the UK showing up again and again, for example). Since I’m only on the Artful Quilters blog ring, I’m guessing most come from there…how cool! Here’s my list to date:

USA………. Turkey ……….. Denmark
Canada….. Norway …………Sweden
Australia ..Germany ………Israel
Korea…….. Brazil ……………The Netherlands
Spain……… Mexico………… England
Scotland…. New Zealand …Hungary
Oman…….. Italy……………… Belgium
Taiwan…… Switzerland …..France
Singapore.. Austria………… San Salvador
Poland……. Chile……………. Indonesia
Finland…… Iceland …………Ireland
Thailand…. Egypt …………..Kuwait
Slovakia….. South Africa… Kazakhstan (!)
Malaysia…. Lybia ……………India

I totally promise *not*, EVER, to break into the chorus of “It’s a small world after all,” but I love how we come together by a shared passion for art in cloth. Even more wonderful, I found a “Where Are You From” mini-map on Caity’s blog, and promptly signed up. So now, we’ll have a visual in the sidebar area to the right of this post (and since we’re all visually oriented as quilt artists!!!!!) to enjoy and you can share in spotting new dots on the map. Can’t wait to see the dots grow!

One morning as I was out for an exercise walk while visiting mom, I (big surprise) had my camera out. Next to the gatehouse / security and front gate, I found artichokes growing as a decorative plant in the flower bed.

Two of the photos are taken from overhead, looking down on the radiating pattern of the petals of the edible “fruit”:

And finally, I loved the sinewy look of the stalk:

Any of these could make the most wonderful quilting pattern!

As those of you who have been reading my blog know, I have been making a Tableau / Nativity quilt for my old school, San Domenico School, in San Anselmo, California. While visiting Mom in neighboring San Rafael, I went to visit and had a wonderful time. The first order of the day was to make a rubbing of the plaque on the rock by the flag pole that has the dates and places of the schools founded by the Dominican sisters in California, beginning in Monterey in 1850, then Benicia, San Rafael (home of Dominican University and the old convent building), and finally San Domenico in 1965 (when the school outgrew the availableAs those of you have been reading my blog know, I am making a quilt as a gift for my old school, San Domenico space in San Rafael).

Here, Mom and I are in front of the stone and plaque (which was a lot smaller than I remembered!)

Sister Gervaise was Lower School principal (K-8) when I began there in 1969. She later became principal of the Upper School (9-12), then Head of School, and is now Head of School emerita. I don’t think she has visibly aged a day in 35 years! Still as youthful in spirit as ever. I also got to meet her assistant Beth, who has been awesomely helpful in sending me scripts and programs for Tableau, as well as old uniforms to cut up and include in the quilt.

Beth took this picture of me doing a rubbing of the plaque. Instead of doing the plaque as it is made, I put all the dates and place names on a line to use in the border of the quilt (now…to get time to work on the quilt…sigh!). For those into technical info, I used gold Shiva painstiks on the dark blue batik “solid” that I am using for the night sky…maybe by the time I finish with the California photo posts late this week or next I’ll have a significantly updated photo of the quilt.

Sister Gervaise and Beth gave us a tour of the new gymnasium and performing arts center…WOW! We were lucky there was a Middle School art program exhibit in the lobby of the latter, and here are some photos.

One of my favorites is this little dragon / gremlin guy, by a seventh grade boy (!!! It was all girls in my day, but boys are now admitted through 8th grade).

I loved the prints done by the 7th grade, as well, including this one:

(PS–to respect their privacy, I’m not including the names of the young artists.)

A high school student made this centaur out of windfall branches and twigs, and a dried spray provided by a teacher (for the tail). Because it was against a window, it was hard to photograph and get a good shot of what you are seeing but it is FANTASTIC! It stands nearly as tall as I am….5’6″!

The students had also created altarpieces for Dia de los Muertos, the Mexican celebration of All Soul’s Day (November 1), in ceramics. The display was fantastic. Each piece was a small work of art, but the grouped impact is really something.

I also got a kick out of this picture, again part of the Dia de los Muertos corner, with the horse and rider, compelte with skeletons:

Inside the blow-your-mind quality auditorium, some students had done a riff on Andy Goldsworthy with leaves (google his name and you’ll get a ton of references and images), creating a swirl and sworl of gingko leaves along one wall:

Goldsworthy does some really cool things with leaves and dandelions (click on the words for links).

Wish they’d had an art program like that when I was in 7th and 8th grades. Heck, I’d go audit classes NOW if I lived there! Congrats to all involved, but especially the students and their teacher!

What can I say…

I love the voluptuousness of these flowers…the color, the huge thick stalks and nearly succulent leaves. And did I mention the color? Here are just some of the photos I took at Mom’s retirement community:

Happy Mother’s Day to one and all. I guess it’s appropriate to show the area where mom lives as today’s post. If you haven’t been to visit in a day or two, scroll down below this post…lots of new photos over the past few days!

Mom never had a high-paying job, but she sure invested wisely and well (and owning a home in California as real estate skyrocketed, several times, helped). So, she lives in an upscale retirement community / enclave in Marin County (north end of the Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco is on the south end). The grounds are beautifully landscaped, and there are some wonderful typically Californian vistas.

This first view is a favorite with the residents…one of the few remaining farms in the increasingly wealthy county (where a two-bedroom, one-bath fixer-upper tiny house on postage size lot goes for WELL over $300,000—insane!). In addition to the cattle, I saw an egret (but the photo wasn’t so great–too far away) and swear I heard a peacock over by the barn buildings. Since it was May, the hills were in a rare state: green. Usually the wild grasses turn golden brown, with the dark Coast live oak trees, scrub, and screaming blue skies.

There are several water features on the property. These two photos are of the same one. Given the usual danger of drought there (it rains October to April, usually, then nothing for months), I’m sure the water is recycled / runs in a loop. The sound masks the noise of Highway 101, which is nearby (well, within earshot).

Another spot which I hadn’t seen before is tucked behind the swimming pool. This pond is surrounded by thick stands of Birds of Paradise, a profusion of nasturtiums (which are one of my favorite flowers), and various other flora. I think I took about thirty photos just of the Birds of Paradise, but that will be a separate posting!

This final photo is, to me, quintessential California hillside…the tangle of branches, the waving grass and blue sky: