Blight and beauty along the river walk

Written last night:

Dear Friends,

Today was a quiet repeat of yesterday — I think I’ll be back on energetic Pacific time tomorrow!

Today Zing and I returned to Sutter’s Landing trail along the American River. I plan to go there at least twice a week — as I went to Phipps Park in Tallahassee every Tuesday and Thursday morning. I think I went to the river two days in a row just to make sure it is as good as I hoped. It is. (a gravel path with glimpses of river and wild flowers all along, ending — for me — underneath a truss bridge). Someday Zing and I might venture beyond that.

Yesterday the graffiti under that bridge contained a white swastika, but now that hateful sign is gone. Then Zing and I rested in the bridge’s cool shadow, thinking maybe we’ll bring some food along next time, and we saw another swastika mixed up in the letters on the opposing bridge wall. Don’t worry — it’s gone too.

Love,

k

Swastikas yesterday,

not today

Slow time flows like the river

Written last night:

Dear Friends,

Today I dreamily removed each item from my suitcase — whether underwear or iPad charger or little piece of lint -- looked at it quizzically and with much more respect than it deserved -- and then, once I’d identified it, slowly and deliberately took it to the drawer, shelf, or trashcan where it belonged. That’s what jet lag does to me … puts the next day into slow motion. I’m not sure what I’d do if I had to hit the ground running. Today went slow, and yet it is nighttime so quickly!

The best thing Zing and I did today is walk the path along the American River, from Sutter Landing Park to the railroad bridge this side of the freeway.  Finally I’ve found a place where I can’t hear traffic hum. Birds were chirping, and ducks made their calls. I’ve missed these sounds. Birds used to start my day. The river is not my dear Phipps Park in Tallahassee, but already I see its charms. It’s about 10 minutes away. We’ll be going back often, I think. 

Love,

k

The American River

Graffiti under the bridge

Do you see the swastika?

It is a blight on the river walk

Paperwork with interludes

Written last night:

Today was so boring: lots of paperwork that I'd  put off while unpacking. It’s true I did some at the hotel — seemed like a lot, but I think that was a mind-trick. 

“Today I did paperwork,” I said to Bill the contractor when he dropped off his key this afternoon. “I hate doing it!” “Yes,” he nodded, “but it has to be done.” Exactly.

Something about paperwork makes my heart thump: I expect everything to turn out wrong. (OK, I know — think happy thoughts! Everything will be OK.) Today it looks like everything is OK. More to do, but no financial disasters yet: no missed payments, etc. The more I do this all alone, the more confident I become. Tomorrow I hope to finish all the address changes, name changes, direct deposits and automatic payments. Even as I write this, I know that won’t happen. But I’m off to a solid start.

I took a break to get lunch at the Thursday farmers market on Capitol Mall. It’s only one block away, hidden behind tall office and government buildings. (Where I live is kind of like Brickell Avenue in Miami.)  There was olive oil pressed in Sacramento, and local wine (Yes, wine at a farmer’s market! Don’t you love it?), nuts, honey, skinny eggplants, sweet and firm  melons that are half honeydew / half cantaloupe. (I finally bought a I bought a curried chickpea wrap.)  I wanted to take pictures of the cops and construction workers and office workers all leaning against buildings and sitting on planters, relaxing with good food for their lunch hour. But I decided to leave them alone.

More paperwork followed. Then for a late afternoon break, Zing and I went to Paradise Beach on the American River, just out J Street, near Sacramento State University. You turn left for the park and right for the university. 
Several people, including Melanie, who loves to run and knows her parks, have told me Paradise Beach is beautiful and safe and nearby. Those are its advantages. But I have to say its sand isn’t as sandy as  Florida's beaches. I'll learn to love river sand.


To get there you drive a shady street just past a school, there’s a parking lot; then you climb a levee and follow a sandy downhill path with dried grasses on each side. Soon you see trees and a clearing and then another downhill slope to the river, where the color is green and families and teens are splashing. Because of my knee (much better but I didn’t want to push it), we stayed up on the hill, where I snoozed  on a bed of dried grass, while Zing did the same nearby. It was comforting to hear the kids yelling in the distance. I can’t wait to feel the water myself — to see how cold it is, and how the bottom feels.

Zing and I were so happy to be in the “wild” again. Aside from a couple short walks at Phipps in Tallahassee, this is the first time we've roamed since Clark died. We’ll be back to Paradise Beach (What a great name!) on Tuesday. 

We hurried home, to beat the rush hour traffic — ate stuff from my cooler (chopped kale salad, pre-made in a bag, with crackers and an avocado and tomatoes), and I tried to learn to program the TV. Now I’ve turned it off. Good night!

Love,
k

Farmers Market on Capitol Mall
Notice the grass is not green!

Paradise Beach
on the American River

River wrap-up

L-hook with bumper

The River quilt is hanging so that it looks like art -- I've got to pinch myself and when I do, I say, "You're pinching an artist!"

This is how George and Sue hung the piece:

1. They asked me to make the casing in 3 separate pieces, so I made two outside casings of about 7" each. I sewed them about 1" in from the sides and 1/2" from the top. The center casing takes up the rest, about 20".

2.They hung two L-hooks where the casings meet, 8" in from the edges. In addition to being out of sight, hooks placed this way offer more support to the center, to avoid possible sagging.

3. They put little black foam doughnuts, from the plumbing department, over the hooks. They ensure there's space between quilt and wall.

4. The quilt, with a flat board in the casing, rests on the hooks. It looks great. I'm going to re-hang all my quilts this way.

Here are some other things I learned while making this piece:

I followed Judy Perez' tutorial on how to make a faced binding. 

River inspiration.

Joan Mitchell painter: River and Sides of a River

Poetry

John O'Donahue, For the Pilgrim a Kiss: the Caha River

Music

XTC, River of Orchids

Myth

Lethe, River of Forgetfulness--Drink from it and forget earthly life

Bible:

Amos 5, 24. But let justice roll on like a river, righteousness a never-failing stream!

River quilt, finished

River, 36" x 36"

(I think the quilting made it shrink.)

I am happy with this River quilt. I like the design, the colors, & the quilting. I wondered if it would be hard to work with friends who had asked me to make them a quilt. It turned out fine.

River quilt, step 7

Cautious at first, I didn't want to disturb the edges of the pieces because I love the design. But water does ripple & run, so I let the thread go in waves of color around the edges. At QSDS I learned "mistakes" don't last; I can fix them. Of course, I did look at pictures, sketch out lines & practice on scraps first! Bobby McFerrin's free improvisation made inspiring sounds around me.

River quilt, step 5

When I woke up I realized I had the wrong blues -- too rosy. The river is supposed to slice through, but it should look like it belongs in the same quilt. My river was a little off, so I moved toward green-blue. Now it all flows.

It took several days of trial & error to get this far. I wonder & cut & then reject several fabrics for each little part. I was fussing over how long it takes me. Picasso would have had this done already! "What's the hurry?" Clark asked. He's right--especially since I love the process.

River quilt, step 4

It's been a week since I started back on the river quilt, & I thought it would take a day or two to get all the pieces in place, but I was wrong. Tuesday I loved it, but when I saw it Wednesday, as it is here, I could see that something was wrong. I didn't know what.

River quilt, step 3

Eeek! I started top left, when I wanted to start with the river. But I might do some felting on the river (Maureen again is my encourager!), so I was saving that for last. But it's impossible; I've got to do the river. So -- a day fussing with fabric -- then rejecting all. I enjoyed it.

River quilt, step 2

Second, make a pattern. With an ultra-fine black Sharpie I drew the lines of the little cloth model onto white letter paper. I traced this onto a transparency. Then, using an overhead projector, I enlarged it (to a 38" square) on the wall, where I had pinned a big sheet of drawing paper (from a 48-inch roll by Utrecht). Maureen lent me her projector, the kind I often used as a teacher. It's a simple machine, but my hands were shaking at first.

River quilt, step one

First, make a model. I fuss over small glued-fabric models to see colors & feel my way. This is a river to me.