Quilts, Friends, and Worms

Yes, Rod and Karen did catch up with us, and she and I left the guys to their own devices while we zipped up the road to Ontario. Bev arrived on Wednesday evening, and the three of us spent two fun days at the quilt show.

We scored a a great deal on a suite at the Hyatt, and I guess it shouldn’t come as any surprise that my two closest friends, each acquired at a different era in my life, are very compatible. We spent our mornings with coffee and crossword puzzles and our evenings with wine and crossword puzzles – in our pajamas of course. One or two of us would make the coffee/breakfast run downstairs and bring it back to the room.

Keith was in Los Angeles on business last week, so he gallantly drove to Ontario and took we three matrons out to dinner. That was a special bonus for me to get to see him, and I know it has been years since Karen or Bev have seen him. Thank you son.

The quilt show was excellent with dozens and dozens of quilts that boggle the mind as to how they were even created much less finished. Eleanor Burns of quilting world fame was present and signing her books. I didn’t opt for the book and autograph but it was fun to see her since I have watched many many of her shows. I am proud to say that I did not purchase one single item at the show; always my goal to spend less than my shopping companions, and I succeeded.

Now we are into our fifth or sixth day in the desert outside Quartzite having joined the Alpine rally group. The rally ended on Sunday but we have stayed put. However, the tanks are all in the wrong state of being full or empty so we either need to get trucks in for service or pull up stakes and move on. Rod is the restless adventurer so I think we will part ways for a while; they to the great unknown and we to a park in Casa Grande or Phoenix area.

The stay in the desert has surprised me!! It is much less hostile and dirty and dusty than I imagined. It is interesting to look out the window and see dozens and dozens of rigs from little tiny campers to forty-foot coaches parked here, there and everywhere at all angles and orientations. For the entire time I have been writing this, Ken has been a few hundred feet away talking to a couple who just pulled up in a Westfalia like his. The two men are deep in discussion!!

Cooper is a trooper, but we do find the various parks welcome pets in varying degrees, so we want to stay someplace after this where it is easy to walk him. He has been quite happy in the desert, and usually manages to pick up at least one spine or burr when we are out walking.

Speaking of pets; Karen has bested us! She is now traveling with a plastic bin full of red worms compliments of her son John. A plastic bin with some vents and layers of newspaper and table scraps and fruit and vegetable peelings seem to be all it takes to keep them happy. And they are especially fond of coffee grounds which we have in good supply.

Yesterday was Karen’s birthday so we had dinner together and finished the meal with gingerbread (Karen’s request). However, it was pretty wimpy gingerbread considering I had to substitute honey and brown sugar for molasses and my ginger had lost its oomph! But with whipped cream, it was passable.

The Canadians (Ouseys and Robinsons) are about ten miles from here at a Bluebird rally, so we might swing by to see if we can even find them. There are sometimes hand-printed signs alongside the main road to indicate the jumping off point into the desert to find a particular group, but that is about it.

We are off to take a look at the big tent in Quartzite. Another of those great shopping opportunities, except there is no one else with us whom I can convince to spend their money instead of spending my own. Hmmm.

Ciao