Midsummer Crafting

Ahoy from 95F/35C weather near Portland, Oregon, USA!  I know some of you endure hotter temps than that on a routine basis, and I admire your ability to do that when I just want to complain about having to rarely cope with such heat!

July 1, 2021, I needed to supply a headshot jpg to apply for security clearance to potentially work with some students learning to crochet and knit in August so I crafted the above selfie that my phone camera labeled a portrait. When I attached the photo to an email to submit it I noted I did not know how to produce a jpg photo, but would the attached photo be acceptable?  It was!  I was relieved it was and glad that I passed the security clearance a few days later. Sadly for me, the classes were just canceled, though.

Some of you know I am particularly fond of the color purple, sheep, and processing wool.  A young friend saw these socks and sent them to me to enjoy!  Such fun!

This Spring my youngest daughter grew some Birdhouse Gourd seeds under grow lights inside her house and trusted me with this little vine to plant where the Sweet Pea vines had been a month ago.

The triple-digit weather we had at the end of June was very hard on plants, but so far these have survived and I am hoping they will thrive!

One day when the weather was perfect I was able to gather with some friends at a nearby friend's house for a luncheon backyard picnic...a lovely way to craft our friendships! 

On the way home from the picnic I was pleasantly surprised to see Mt. Hood!  The snowpack is quickly melting, but I enjoyed stopping to appreciate the view and craft a photo of it. 

Remember the little Birdhouse Gourd vine my youngest daughter gave me to plant? This is how big it is now at the end of July!

It is fascinating to see the tendrils that grow from vines to help them to climb. I have never grown or processed a gourd to craft it into a birdhouse. Have you ever tried to do that?

This month I have done a little stitching.  I crafted a few more rows on the crocheted baby blanket I am making, and I finished knitting this little Grandma's Dishcloth. Have you been stitching?

When I see Mt. Hood I often think of the Psalmist's observation:

"I look up to the mountains- does my help come from there?  My help comes from the LORD, who made heaven and earth!

Psalm 121:1-2NLT

Blessings and ((hugs)),

Gracie :)

 

Crafting Blog Relaunch June 2021

Thanks for checking out this Saylor's Log today!  I launched this blog a little over ten years ago in search of creative expression and shared adventures in the crafting blog community.  I was especially interested in exploring fiber crafts, faith, and watercolor painting and I still am.  This past year I have been given three painted rocks from local friends and during the month of June, the rock pictured above arrived in the mail!  Through Zoom I have been meeting monthly with a group of ladies for a little over a year, and texting daily with them in-between Zoom meetings.  I mentioned admiring a rock my mother painted over fifty years ago that my older sister now has.  Our mom painted a little sailboat sailing on the ocean so my Zoom friend surprised me by painting a little sailboat sailing on the ocean and then sent it from Florida to Oregon so that I could have it! It is on the table beside my favorite chair in the living room...such an incredibly thoughtful and generous gift I so appreciate.

During June I have made some progress on the simple double crochet stitched acrylic baby blanket I started months ago, and I have started knitting another Grandma's Dishcloth...simple stitches I so enjoy crafting!  Are you stitching anything?

During record-breaking !!! heat in June, in the Portland, OR area, I used frozen blue ice packs in a bowl in front of a fan directed toward me for AC. Cool crafting!!! 

During June, my rose bush produced lovely little fragrant roses for me to craft into bouquets and arrange on my kitchen windowsill before the days of scorching heat arrived.

In June, for the first time in a year and a half, my condo community was able to gather together outside...crafting our neighborly skills!

These neighbor's flowers were such a delight to enjoy... an old-fashioned rose scent!  This June I have been experimenting with crafting some essential oils in a dollar store diffuser.  Do you have a favorite combination of essential oil scents and a favorite type of diffuser?

This neighbor's beautiful rose reminded me of my dear blogging friend Teresa who I typed about in my last post. Through the years of our friendship, Teresa encouraged me to craft my blog and continue even while seeing stormy seas from my widow's walk...so here I am typing to you...feeling the need to relaunch One Saylor's Log.  I just reread what I typed in my About page years ago and it seems fitting to reprint it here...

Now more a spyglass than part of a set of binoculars, I am freshly exploring how I can best use the B.A. in Speech-Communications I earned from SJSU in 1975. Typing this log for you to read seems to me to be a part of the answer for this season of my sailing; and as you read, I hope you have a Bon Voyage!

                                                   Jeremiah 29:11-13 NIV

                                       For I know the plans I have for you,”                                          declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and                                     not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a                               future. 12Then you will call on me and come and                         pray to me, and I will listen to you. 13You will seek me                                 and find me when you seek me with all your heart."

Five on Friday: Knock! Knock!

Thank you to all who visited my last post and special thanks to those who took the time to comment so that we can type back and forth and get to know each other better :)

Once more I am joining Amy's Five on Friday Link Up.

ONE: My youngest son, Tim, and I witnessed the following exchange out in front of our house this past week.

Knock! Knock!

Who's there?

Just me, Dear! 

TWO: Exploring a new way home from church on Sunday I saw the following.....

Headed East to Mt. Hood on Kelso Road, Boring, Oregon 

Raspberries growing on Leopold Farms

Mountain View Club House across from Leopold Farms

Mountain View Golf Course across from Leopold Farms

Do you see the mascot guarding Leopold Farms' berry stand?

THREE:  From Boring, Oregon, I drove about eight miles to Sandy, Oregon, to check out their Farmer's Market, and bought some apricots.

Sandy, Oregon, Farmer's Market, Centennial Plaza                       

FOUR:  On Monday Teresa drove us across the mighty Columbia River to swim in a beautiful, warm, mineral pool. If you haven't already, I hope you visit her post and enjoy her account of our adventure.  Just click on her name to visit her post. Besides the lovely weather, water and setting, the resort played soothing floaty type music so that I came away feeling I had the best hour's swim in my 65 years of life!

From the entrance to Bonneville Hot Springs Resort and Spa

Grand living room at the resort

A carved bench in the pool courtyard

The mighty Columbia River Gorge looking south toward Portland

FIVE:  Wednesday morning I got to meet with my knitting/crocheting church friends to work on the crocheted baby blanket I am making.  Of the acrylic baby yarn I have used to make baby blankets, Deborah Norville's Premier Serenity Baby yarn is my favorite.  It is incredibly soft worsted weight.

           Usually I have a dishcloth on a set of needles...this time another purple one in Paton's cotton.

           My grand girls Joy [4], Molly [6], and Hayley [8] brought me sprigs of Lavender, a Daisy, and a Chive flower from our garden which I have been enjoying on the table beside my favorite chair.

A crocheted baby blanket I am making

Lavender, a Daisy, and a Chive flower with a dishcloth I'm knitting

We had a true and proper rainy day today, Thursday, as I type this and my niece from California just texted me telling me that the UK has voted to leave the European Union!

Change is knocking at the world's door.

May the Lord bless us one and all with good leaders in authority and with His peace in all circumstances.

xx
Gracie 

Color Crazed

Mt. Hood from the corner of Orient Drive and Waybill Rd.

Mt. Hood from Revenue Drive by Schmidt's Farm

Rhododendrons

Rhododendrons

Knit dishcloth from Sugar'n Cream cotton, Crown Jewels

My favorite coloring book!

It has been gray and rainy outside today, but I feel happily drenched in color from absorbing the colors around me over the last few days!

The Rhododendrons are displaying their brilliant pinks and reds!  Mt. Hood stood majestically white against hazy blue skies when I took a roundabout way home on Thursday from a meeting; and  I finished knitting a variegated dishcloth in purples and greens this evening.

Around Mother's Day I got a copy of Inspire, the NLT Bible that has lots of black and white sketches to color.  So far I have used woodless colored pencils, fiber tipped ink pens, and watercolor on the opening pages. I find it very exciting work/play/meditation!

Yesterday I enjoyed listening to some knitting podcasts that Betsy and Kris told me about, and I explored the knitting tutorial for socks that Kris has successfully used. Maybe I will eventually be able to finish the magic loop socks I started several years ago if I watch the tutorial enough times...maybe :)

Tonight I watched a movie about the French artist, Seraphine, then I did a Google search to see more of her work...fantastic colors!  Do click HERE to see her work!

Do you ever feel color crazed?

Gracie xx

Wildfire Weather

Hi!  Thanks for coming to visit : )  It is good to greet you from home, although I had a great time traveling. With pretty cotton yarn Betsy gave me awhile ago, I even got two dishcloths knit while I wasn't driving.

When we heard that there were some wildfires in northern California we decided to take the coastal route [always my favorite anyway : )] to try to avoid driving through smokey areas...a plan that did not entirely work.

While driving through Crescent City, CA we stopped at Brother Jonathan Point where I took this zoomed in view of St. George lighthouse which is seven miles from shore and difficult to see in the foggy mist that day.

Then looking to the south I took this less zoomed in view of the Crescent City lighthouse which I enjoyed touring many years ago when we lived in Crescent City.

South of Crescent City there was a huge herd of elk in a park protected area on both sides of the road.  Aren't those antlers amazing?

Then, not many miles south we started running into smoke from a wildfire east of Eureka, CA.  Typically this is the time of year when lightning strikes start wildfires and the on going drought in the West has made this year particularly vulnerable to fire and the loss of many homes and a few lives so far, too, as you may have heard through the news.

As we continued driving south, the smoke lessened and we enjoyed driving through a redwood forrest CA state park.

My youngest son, Tim, and I stopped in the northern San Francisco Bay area to pick up three family members to continue the drive to Burbank, CA, and the 50th wedding celebration for my older sister and my bother-in-law.  We saw many orchards along route I-5, and were very curious to know what was growing in them because we could not see as we sped down the road, and we wished the farmers had put out signs to inform us : )

Many sections of the southern freeways have oleander bushes growing in the median strips, which I think is a lovely choice.

My nieces planned a wonderful party and helped us make wonderful memories as we celebrated.

My oldest niece's sister-in-law made this amazing cake which made me think of Anne's wonderful sugar craft work. 

After several days of visiting we drove north and my family dropped me off to visit with my friend of forty years, Paula, and her husband Lee in San Jose, CA.  Paula and I met at the church we attended, and Lee told my husband, Louis, that IBM was hiring for a position he was interested in getting and did get.

Paula is an animal lover and has a beautiful little flock of chickens in her backyard.

This feathery girl seems to be thinking..."Did I really lay that!?!"  : )

My pictures don't do justice to this pretty and productive flock!

Paula drove me up into the San Jose foothills and this is a view of the southern Bay Area and some of the golden hills of CA.

While there are few trees in the foothills, the eucalyptus and old oak trees are especially beautiful, I think.

We enjoyed seeing this small herd of horses, also.

There are so many vineyards up and down CA, it always impresses me as I drive by them.

This thought provoking message on the mount impressed me as well.

The modern windmills springing from more and more locations pose a pretty and practical presence to me although some protest their worth.

The diminished snow cover on Mt. Shasta in northern CA while normal for this time of year also reminds us of our increased drought conditions.

But in spite of the drought, our household has been given or picked up fruit and vegetables which are being processed.

Various family members are canning and freezing the results and we are having yummy fresh produce meals as well.  A Fisherman Friend has given us delicious fresh salmon to enjoy several times, also.

The wildfires have made some of our sunsets especially colorful.

But it has been concerning to not be able to see Mt. Hood very well because of the smokey haze, as in this view several blocks from our home that I have often shared with you on clearer days.  Can you see Mt. Hood?  It is a bit of a shadow in the upper right of the photo...honest!

While I was traveling,  my youngest daughter attended the county fair and sent me this delightful Smiling Sheep photo which is the last image I will leave with you in this post.

Wildfire weather is a time of tragic loss for some and great concern for others.  Forestry experts explain that forrest fires positively contribute to the growth cycle of forests,  but we still mourn the loss of lives and property they bring.

Today marks the six year anniversary of the death of my husband of 38 years.  While I am celebrating with those around me who are marking 50 years of marriage, I am saddened and jealous that I can not celebrate 50 years of marriage or more with my husband.  Yet I celebrate the positive time we shared, particularly our shared faith: that pleasures on earth will be followed by the incredible pleasures of eternal life through Christ.

Months ago I added a page to my sidebar but did not bring your attention to it.  It is entitled "Louis."  In it I describe my view of my time spent with Louis on earth.  Adventures!  I invite you to read about them if you are curious : )

Since coming home during our stretch of wildfire weather, I have been picking sun gold cherry tomatoes, knitting, swimming, attending church, having luncheons with friends, planning to restring some cobalt blue glass beads I have been collecting along with those Teresa gave me, writing a poem, drawing, painting a watercolor picture, and planning a business link to this blog...my adventures continue!

Please tell me about your adventures whatever your weather may be.  I am eager to know!

Gracie xx