Sunrise on a new year... since the Fire/Evacuation

On Monday the oil change mechanic said, "Come look at this!"  And he pointed to this big, rectangular oil-something gasket that was failing, and then he explained that "brake fluid just doesn't evaporate..." to the tune of several hundreds of $$$.

And yesterday, as I had an hour and a half between classes and a dinner-date-and-concert-plans with Miriam, I bought this cute Saturn Ion.

She had the last ride in my 1996 green Chevy Cavalier.  It was good and dependable for nine years and 147,000+ miles.  I say a happy 'thank you and farewell.'  Good luck at auction--I bet the dealer can recoup the $500 trade-in!

So after I dropped off Miriam, I picked up this shiny, silver chariot.  

What a great way to begin a new year with a dear friend, wonderful Fred B and Peter S on the guitars, and a zippy new (to me), ride.

...and Esly said, "Hi, Mormor," on the phone!

One Fish, Two Fish...

Last weekend was the Fallbrook Open Studios Art Tour with 18 professionals (sculpture, paint, print, textile, jewelry...), offering their working space and demonstrations to the ticket-buying public.  The self-guided scenic automobile trek brought about 50 people to my place to "look at art" and very few of them used the "q" word.

I had good fun piecing this running water composition in four sections.  And the respect-filled encouragement must have been the stimulus for using a rusching technique which narrowed the "too-wide" project.  Nonetheless, "Cold Climes" is off to Houston for a premiere in the Hoffman Fabrics booth at Quilt Market.

One guest on the tour remarked that all my work has birds, cats, animals in them.  Huh, I guess that's right.  And this one hasn't any flowers!