California, Palm Springs - Indian Canyon

My flight from Toronto to Calgary was delayed resulting in missing my connection to Palm Springs. I have to give Westjet credit, they readily stated that it was a mechanical issue (not weather as we had all assumed) and therefor they paid for my hotel stay overnight in Calgary, gave me vouchers for dinner and breakfast and had me on a plane to California the next morning. Mind you I had no clothes appropriate for -17 and snowy Calgary!

I love having a window seat. The Rockies go on forever.

From -17 to +27, Eve picked me up at the airport and we spent the afternoon swimming and then in the hot tub

with hummingbirds in aerial battles over territory around the flowering shrubs and fruit trees.

Today we drove up to the Indian Canyons for a hike as it was not excessively hot.

Looking back down the road we had driven up from Palm Springs. Dry and brown hills.

There are a number of trails in this area but the Palm Canyon Trail was the only one open.

It follows the canyon where a stream supports palm trees and other vegetation

as well as Rattlesnakes, Mountain Lion and Big Horn Sheep. We saw none of these.

We took a short side trail

through a little rock tunnel

to a small waterfall, unusual here as it runs all year.

Good place for a photo op.

Then we walked down into the canyon with its small stream,

massive unpruned California Fan Palms

and little ones

with the white hairs curling from the "finger tips" of their fronds.

Some of the trail wove through the forest of palms at the base of the canyon

and parts of it were open and sunny. The berries hanging at the top of this picture are the fruit of the Fan Palm.

We crossed the stream

and the sides of the canyon got steeper

with more views of the cacti growing on the rocky hills. I think this is a Barrel Cactus.

Pretty intimidating prickles!

Pretty

and pretty lethal too. This may be one of the Chollo Cactus varieties.

When the trail started to steeply climb the canyon walls we turned around and retraced our steps.

We hiked a few miles, about 8,000 steps, in and out of shade and putting jackets on and off. We figured we had earned it and went to Rick and Eve's favorite place for a milkshake.

George liked cactus, especially the ones that look like a man with arms. He loved the variety of cacti when we visited Palm Springs in 2012. I am just now beginning to develop an appreciation for them.

One project done and another one started

The rug hooking piece that I started during "Applique Weekend" was intended just to be an experiment, a little something just to try out some techniques on.

Attaching stones,

attaching leather,

appliqueing wool and some embroidery stitches.

I was going to attach it to a wooden hoop  but couldn't find one the right size, so looked into another suggestion and found a brass ring at Lens.

The rug hooking is 15" in diameter and the ring is 16" so I was able to whip the edge at the same time as attaching the ring.

I attached a piece of thrift store blanket to the back and

its finished and I love it. The pattern was a Rittemere-Hurst-Field called Glass Peaches but I'm calling mine "Peach Stones"

Next September at the McGown Teacher Training I have to teach this piece.

The instructions were to hook it in a 3 cut and have cumulus clouds. I do not find the pattern particularly inspiring and I have to find some teachable components. So one of the things I am going to teach is how to use black walnuts to dye wool. I will then use the dyed wool in the tree trunk and perhaps the cabin too. Sue and Bruce donated 2 bags of walnuts that had fallen from their trees so Thanksgiving weekend was spent dyeing.

Black walnut stains everything so I did my dyeing outside.

I only used about 25 walnuts (husk and nut) and the "tea" lasted through 2 days and 2 yards of wool. I took a 1/4yd and simmered it for 1hr, another 1/4yd for 1/2 an hour, another for 15 minutes and another for 7 minutes. Each piece was then rinsed, again and again and again, then hung on the line and sprayed with the hose to get all the walnut bits off.

It was very windy so the spraying with the hose step resulted in me taking a cold water shower! Then they all went in the washing machine .

So now I have a nice 4 value swatch.

The next day I went through the process again - 90 minutes, 45 minutes, 30 minutes and 15 minutes. The last 3 all look pretty well the same colour but I wont really be able to tell until tomorrow when they will be dry after the final wash.

J.J. Ruggers 50th Anniversary Event

Yes, we had cake!!!

For the last year a group of J.J.s have been meeting to plan a "hook-in" open to our members and other hookers, a display open to the public and a celebration of our branch's 50th Anniversary.
After many meetings and e-mails it all finally came to fruition last Saturday. Most of the J.J. membership turned out on Friday night to help set up the display, set up the tables for the various activities and organize the kitchen. 6 of us set up the display, starting at 6pm and finishing at about 9:45pm. A long, tiring evening but ultimately we were happy with the results.

J.J. Ruggers was started in 1969 by a Paris rug hooking teacher, Joyce Johnson. The branch was one of the 12 original branches that formed the Ontario Hooking Craft Guild.

Cheryl and I were in charge of the display and we set it up chronologically, the oldest rugs to the left. We were lucky enough to get rugs from the families of deceased J.J.s members and from members that no longer attend the meetings, to complete the display of 1970's and 1980's rugs.

The older rugs had subtler, more muted colours, not just because they had faded with time but also because that was the style at the time. Most pieces were shaded, floral or oriental and many were sculpted.

Into the 1990s there were still many florals, crewel and oriental but also pictorial and primitive.

We had far more of the recent rugs and had to cram them onto the rented and borrowed display grids. Colours and subject matter were more varied. At the far right of the display were the rugs that were created this year to commemorate the history of the branch and the area. In total there were about 120 examples of the rug hooking created over the last 50 years.

People attending the hook-in admired the display as did members of the public who could attend in the afternoon. The public could also try their hand at rug hooking on a Chedicamp frame set up near the display.

There was ample opportunity to shop

with 6 vendors in attendance

selling patterns, backing, wool, yarn, frames, wooden items and even a scissor sharpener.

There was a draw for beautiful gift baskets, another draw for a donated photograph of Paris, a garage sale and the opportunity to take home the pumpkin table centres.

We snacked all day on cookies, squares and fruit and then after speeches and presentations by the Mayor (on behalf of the County of Brant) and the past president of the OHCG, we cut and indulged in cake!