Seems to me like I owe all of you a blog to finish the story about replacing the carpet and tile in the coach. June was a very busy month. We did indeed finish the remodeling project and there will be a gallery of photos on the web site. We then rushed up to L. L. “Stub” Stewart State Park to clean cabins for two weeks in late May. Continue reading Catching Up:
Tag Archives: relatives
We Never Drive in Snow:
Well almost never!
We spent the day relocating from Sisters Oregon on the East side of the Cascade Mountains to Detroit Lake near Salem on the west flank of the Cascade Mountains. We are meeting our daughter, Renee and Neil and their daughters Georgia and Mathilda. We drove over US 20 to Sweet Home. It crosses Santiam Pass at 4751 feet. It was raining hard as we approached the pass. Then suddenly it was snow. Continue reading We Never Drive in Snow:
A Tale of Two Artists:
The Starr sisters, Genaveve and Judy, have combined their talents and their media to create some special and unique art. This blog will highlight these art pieces and each of the artists will provide a paragraph to discuss their contribution and its relationship to the whole piece.
Judy: It all began with Genaveve’s husband, Karl. He is an avid garage sale attendee and found a treasure which he brought home to her. Genaveve has spent a lifetime perfecting her talents with calligraphy and handmade tools used for painting. Karl thought she might be able to use them.
My hobby of about seven years is tatting and I enjoy creating new patterns. I had a new book with ideas for using photo folders to display tatting. Genaveve was willing to share her treasure and out came the box of photo folders. Not only that, but she wanted to have some pieces of tatting threads, the purpose, was unclear to me.
After Genaveve got her creative juices flowing, some special paper arrived for me to ponder. What fun I had with the choosing of the appropriate tatting embellishment.
Genaveve: Judith showed me the colored threads she uses for tatting and asked me to help her compose a design that would work in the photo folder. Since I know nothing about tatting, except that it is a skill that is very difficult to master, I wasn’t able to visualize any compositions. I researched patterns on the internet, but still wasn’t able to draw a design. Then I got the idea to create backgrounds that Judith could use as inspiration for designing patterns herself. I asked her to send me samples of her colored threads. I mixed watercolor paint to match colors of the threads and using wooden tools painted strokes on watercolor paper, leaving space for the tatting. My only motivation was to provide her with an element she could have fun playing with.
Contest:
I am declaring a contest. This will be to celebrate the completion of Golanth, the Bronze Dragon. He is a recumbent tandem bicycle. We are daily getting him outfitted and ready for serious riding. I mounted a new bicycle computer on his stem today. And a new blindingly bright flashing tail-light on his butt. While we were downtown Portland today visiting my Neurologist for my Parkinsonism, we went over to the east side and ordered a new set of panniers custom built just for Golanth. Continue reading Contest:
Sailing on Monterey Bay:
We started for the town of Monterey and as we approached we ran into fog. Bad sign! We turned around and went to Moss Landing instead. There was a thin layer of fog there also. It was lunch time, so we pulled out the picnic lunch and climbed aboard Regal Jug, (still on the trailer,) and had our lunch. Half an hour later it looked as though the fog might break up, so we determined that we should set up the boat and get ready. About an hour later we were ready to launch, the fog had cleared and a 10 mph sea breeze had set in. About 2:20 we got underway and dodged a few dozen zodiacs and kayakers As soon as we cleared the entrance buoy we raised the sails. At 2:38 pm we set off on the port tack for Santa Cruz. After about an hour we changed course and headed back to the marina. We were perhaps 15% of the way to Santa Cruz.
Shortly after turning about the Skipper Emeritus began to feel the need to be on dry land again. It isn’t often that you can be hard on the wind and still have a following sea, but that is what we had. I tried every trick I knew, but to no avail. The fish got my lunch and then I felt fine again.
Landing again back at the launch ramp was a bit tricky. Again we were inundated with zodiacs and kayaks. To make things interesting, however, the motor would not idle back. It would run half throttle or more, but as soon as you idled back it would stop. I was at the helm with Glen on the fore-deck ready to get a line ashore. I finally got a bead on the float and no kayak’s between us and the float. I got the motor running and made a high speed run at the dock. I only idled back when I was sure our momentum would carry us to the dock. Glen was able to step off onto the float with the bow line and then snag the stern line from Judy. It wasn’t pretty, but as they say in airplanes, “Any landing you can walk away from is a good landing, If the airplane is still usable it is a fantastic landing.” Well, Regal Jug suffered nary a scratch and the bottom paint is still all in place. It was a fantastic landing.
When we returned to Gilroy, we put the motor on the test stand and did a little tuning. Yes, it had been professionally serviced just a couple weeks ago, but a little twitch of the idle jet was all it took and the faithful old Honda would once again tick over at a dead idle without a hiccup.
Be sure to check out the website at
For a photo gallery of the adventure.
Gary and Judy