Fall – on the farm and at home

Our little St. Alban’s Episcopal church held a big annual fund raiser called Fall on the Farm in October. The congregation is small but the event attracted lots of visitors from all over the east county area.

Friends greeted friends.

 The cakewalk was a very popular attraction.

 My friend Sidney did a good job of guarding the cakes.

 The silent auction was a big success because the offerings were really nice. We sat a long tables and enjoyed a delicious dinner too.

 Back on the homefront I was preparing for winter with the help of my son and his boys. They arrived full of enthusiasm to insulate the underside of my house.

 Davis went to Home Depot and bought enough rigid foam insulation sheets to cover the area. He had store cut them in half so they would all fit in his SUV. They are bulky so he had to make two trips. The family crew worked pretty hard trimming and placing a couple of the sheets. They stacked them up and we all decided to find a skilled carpenter to complete the job.

My trip to PIQF 2011

I rode in style to the Pacific International Quilt Festival at the Santa Clara Convention Center last Friday.

My local quilt store, Queen B’s Quilt Shop in Antioch, chartered a big bus to take 56 of us there.

 The upholstery in the bus was interesting – not the usual industrial blue-gray.

 Del Thomas came up from Southern California for the Festival. I had hoped to meet her there, but she attended on Thursday and Saturday. We were ships passing in the night (really daytime). She took really good pictures of several of the quilts I liked best. So, go to Del’s Blog and see them. It was funny, we didn’t have any communication about the quilts and yet when I looked at her blog she had picked the same ones I had taken pictures of. Her photos are much better than mine.


I’ll just show three quilts that caught my eye. One was funny, another was puzzling, and the third one was special to me.

Linda Laird’s quilt made me laugh out loud. It’s called “My Mom Wasn’t Much of a Cook.” She is from San Diego, CA.

 The sign said:

“Many people have fond memories of their mother’s home-cooking. Well, what if your mother wasn’t much of a cook? Not poisonous or revolting meals, just not very daring or imaginative. This piece uses photos from 1950s – 1960s women’s magazines to show the “alternatives” available to mothers who didn’t quite measure up to the culinary ideals of the times.”
The sayings were fun to read. Click on the photo below to see them larger.

 The puzzling quilt was called “My Hard Life” by Felicia Horowitz.

 It was an ambitious piece. I kept looking at the gauzy bra-like thing and wondering what it was doing there. I called my cousin Sylvia over to see it. I said, “I wonder if it was put on to cover something.” Sylvia looked closely. We couldn’t touch the quilt. It was sewn on, but not with the tiny stitches that were used all over the rest of the quilt.

 I searched for a white-glove lady and had her come over and show me the back of the quilt. Sure enough the stitches holding the gauzy stuff were much larger and did not seem to be part of the original concept. I guess I’ll never know exactly what the intention was.


The third quilt is really lovely. It was made by Tanya Brown and is called “Siesta.”

 You really should click on the close-up photo to see the stitches. Amazing.

 My quilting daughter-in-law, Toni, lives in San Jose and she had gone to the Festival on the opening day – Thursday. Toni planned to go Friday too because you really can’t take in such a large show in one day. Our quilting cousin, Sylvia, drove down from Oakland. Toni brought her friend Carol and we all toured around together.

Flashback Friday – Playing your cards right

Davis Romine

 I’ve been watching Prohibition, a three-part, five-and-a-half-hour documentary film series directed by Ken Burns, on PBS. It is a fascinating look at U.S. history.

I was reminded of story my father, Davis Romine, told. He was a young man on a train going home to South Bend, Indiana sometime in the late 1920s. A fellow walked down the isle in the coach car and spotted him. He leaned over and asked Davis if he played cards. Davis nodded yes, but said nothing.

The fellow came back through the car a bit later and told Davis to get up and follow him. Davis did not want to go with this tough looking guy. The fellow said, "My boss wants for you to play cards." He was menacing and Davis was sort of scared. He followed the fellow to a private room and was told to sit down and play cards.

Al Capone's mug shot

The guy in the room was Al Capone. My father was nervous but he played. He did not win. He was glad to get off the train in South Bend.

Good job

We're here to put a dent in the universe.

Steve Jobs, entrepreneur and inventor (1955-2011)

Just across the isle

When I entered church this morning I was surprised to see an orange cat walking up the center isle toward me. Then I remembered that today was the Feast of St. Francis. I learned that the cat was named Martha and she has been coming to church on St. Francis’s feast day for many, many years. Someone told me she is 14 years old. Martha sat several places in the church. She did not stay with her owners, but wandered around greeting people. However, she stayed still and attentive during the sermon.


I made a little YouTube video. You can see it if you click on the picture.