Shopping with Dianne and Walking with Aucuba

She had to come all the way from Australia to get me going to some quilt shops I’d not visited for a long time. Dianne and I met for the first time in our lives at Thimble Creek in Concord. We started talking about this and that and everything the moment we saw each other. We moved through the store with the greatest of ease, grabbing bolts of fabric and plopping them on the cutting counter. Dianne’s taste is wide-ranging – she goes from sweet pastel prints and checks to wild and wonderful stripes and dots. We both took a sampling of the wild stuff. We found we had read many of the same books about Australia; a favorite of ours is The Road from Coorain by Jill Ker Conway.

After inspecting almost every book, notion, and bolt there, Dianne suggested heading for The Cotton Patch in Lafayette. I had forgotten what an interesting quilt-lined labyrinth that store is. They have an extensive collection of Asian prints and I bought just enough. Yes, that is possible.

Over a “gourmet” lunch (Dianne’s treat at Subway) we kept finding coincidences in our lives. We both were raised in the Bay Area. I’d attended a performance or two of the Oakland Ballet while she was a ballerina in the company. We both have sons that are the same age.

(If the picture at the top looks familiar it’s because it is the same one Dianne used on her blog, only I mirrored it for a change of pace.)

Aucuba Goes Out

Robert (coach) told me before I left for Concord to meet Dianne that he would not accept any excuses from me that afternoon. He said if I tried to tell him I walked around a lot in the stores it would not count toward exercise. Our very old cat, Aucuba, is not very active. She does not like to go outdoors for any length of time. But yesterday, she accompanied us outside to observe my exercise walk. Aucuba came to the front yard and watched as we strode up and down the lane. She moved from one corner of the yard to the other to follow our progress with her eyes.