Soups On!!!

Funny how something as simple as a soup recipe can open a floodgate of memories.

A recipe came my way yesterday morning as I was going through my email -- it was enclosed within a fitness pal - 15 hearty soups note. One of them Crockpot Roasted Tomato Garlic Soup!

There was Valentine's Day trip that David and I took many years ago. We were headed for a weekend VD getaway to Cambria, CA and we took a little side trip to a small town just north of Solvang -- Los Olivos. It was a small town but had several galleries and as we made our way through the main street we ended up at the Fess Parker Hotel...

there we had a wonderful lunch -- mine was Garlic Tomato Soup....
amazing, and ever since that day I have searched for a similar recipe.

So, as I sit here there is a batch of this soup in the crockpot and it smells incredible -- and the memories of that side trip return.

The walk after that great lunch...
a couple of purchases made at the galleries that day...
and introduction to the artist Eyvind Earle whose work I still happily turn to today for delight and inspiration..... a true artist of CA's central coast.

All from a soup recipe...
You never know...

Hope your Valentine's Day is made special in some way today!
Meanwhile,
soup's on at the Hughes.....

Taking It In

Well, it is Sunday morning.... 25 degrees outside this morning, though another dry day. Unlike the storms that move through the area last weekend this one was much calmer. I have spent most of the time between this week working on projects for the new book.

There's a deadline looming, and I have to admit to feeling really excited about how everything is coming together -- so, so hard not to share, BUT I have other really fun things that I can!

David & I were waiting for the sun to come out to take a ride up to Mt.Vernon IL to see the Cedarhurst Museum. We needed sun especially for they are known for their sculpture park -- and boy we were not disappointed.

I am sharing here just a tiny smidge of the sculptures -- I was enthralled with each piece and it's home in the landscape...I even tried to record the sounds of the leaves and the wind for they played a part in the enjoyment of the experience.

Then there was the main galleries - wonderful permanent collection, and an amazing kid space -- and if you walked through there was another gallery there with the sculptures of Michelle Stitzlein - assemblages to wonder at.

Enough commentary... enjoy some of my pictures but also check out the link to Michelle's site, for the pieces are well documented and presented there.

Hope these bring a bit of inspiration to your day/week, and if you get a chance to visit Cedarhurst in person --- don't miss it!

Cave-in-the-Rock Wandering

Happy Sunday!
I hope each of you have been enjoying this long holiday weekend. My own 4th was spent quietly - seems like the summer bug caught hold of me - left me with broncitis and antibiotics:
But, I seemed well on the mend yesterday so David & I set off on a bit of a wander.
We have been treated to amazingly cool weather (70-80s) and really want to take advantage.
(sorry to all my friends in family enduing the HOTs - stay cool!)

We planned the day to go in a bit of circle - leaving Paducah, heading across the river to Illinois and taking the backroads to Cave-in-the-Rock, IL. There we went climbed down to the waters edge and into the cave. The cave and the area have quite a notorious history and the rock formations along with the fissure letting light naturally into the back of cave were intriguing.

Climbing our way out we headed to the small ferry that takes about 10-12 cars across the Ohio into Kentucky. It was fun & fast and left us right in the middle of the Amish area just outside Marion --

Using a map provided by the Amish farmers we worked our way through the small roads and narrow lanes. It is quite beautiful -- all decked out in summer green with creeks, ferns and cows taking a laydown in the middle of a wooded area. Having been just beating out the rain all day, it caught up with us as we traveled here, but it came and went quickly.

Today - well, suns coming up
- who knows where the day may take us.

Todays Source: Clouding Around

Yesterday morning the ac installers finally finished setting the new system in place. We were so pleased to have that behind us that Dave & I set off for a bit of fun. We headed up the road -- to Target...(ok, now that we have to go over 60 miles to get to a Target it is a bit of a destination). -- being there also left us in a fun area, so leaving Target behind we headed off into the woods.

Riding off, with the trees and sky -- it was a grand day!
I fell (wonderfully cool) asleep thinking of the day, and I awoke with CLOUDS.
Seemed the universe was sending a message -

So, today's source --
NO CLOUDING AROUND

Take some time, kick back and let the clouds pull you in...

While teaching in Asilomar my class gave me the name Queen of Clouds --
something about loving the clouds in my quilts...
they requested a design file of 'my clouds' that resulted with:

Get Hammered & Gain a Source

It has been a couple of very warm days at the Hughes --
New AC unit has been being installed (who would expect it to take soooo long).

To escape the heat yesterday I headed off to run some chores, and to hang out in places that were air-conditioned. One of these was Lowes -- and since wandering thru the hardware section is always fun, I spent about an hour walking up and down....

there were giant screws
chains of all shapes & sizes
hammers, nails, screwdrivers,
there was also some fun-
shiny new skeleton keys that caught my eye

All these shiny - textured - fun items were also the inspiration for today's posting.

Next time you're heading to the hardware store -- give yourself some extra time...
wander the aisles....

and, GET HAMMERED!

Sources: How about Venturing?

As we move into the last full week of June many of us have some big plans for setting out for time away from home. We may be traveling to far away, never seen before places; or maybe heading home for a family reunion or relaxing time at the lake, beach, mountains or  (fill in the blank).

Others, (me included), are enjoying the summer right in our own backyards --
did you catch a glimmer of the 'supermoon',
or watch the fire-flies flit by?
Well, this week I will be sharing ideas on how to see & hear during our wanderings....
and how to feed our souls and fill our sketch books.

You'll want to be prepared to:

btw - most of my favorite quilts were things found along the way and stitched together...

Is it a Bird? Is it a Plane?

No, it's Superman!
Brought to you on this Funtastic Friday.
Friday...the perfect day to get-away, or make those weekend plans to get-away.

Superman here lives just across the river here in Metropolis... Illinois,
and it's fun to go wander about and meet some of the town's super heros.

You never know who you may run into down an alleyway.

Or, what inspirational 'line' finds you might find along the way.

I do recommend being ready to take off on a moments notice,

clicking and sketching along the way...
the fun finds to inspire you another day!


Happy Friday Everyone...
I'm Off!
~Rose

Begin It...

Here I sit in Paducah, KY...not just visiting but getting ready to sign the dotted line on a new home, and a new life. Just a couple of months ago this was not even on the to do radar, but then David took early retirement and the wheels began to roll. Who knew?

Way back at the beginning of the summer there was a list of things I wanted to do in conjunction with my new book coming out. Top on the list was reDOing my website and my blog. More on this will follow over the next bit of time, for with the help of my webmistress this huge project went on in the background of 'the move.

Long ago I read the words of Walt Disney who said...
"We keep moving  forward, opening new doors, and doing new things, because we're curious, and curiosity keeps leading us down new pathways."

and we certainly have kept moving...
With the home in California sold, and the home in Kentucky awaiting it was time to set out, the packers finished and we hit the road. Thank goodness for our moms - mine in Arizona and Dave's in Missouri for in these two places our kitties found more home than hotel, and we found home cooking. It made the journey a bit easier. Here's the tale in pictures:

Nikki & Edgar were great troopers along the way.

we chose the RT 66 trail that took us through AZ, NM, TX, OK, MO

Stay tuned here for the 'after the move' fun .... and remember--
Sign up to follow me here before Nov 1, leave a comment & receive a free Poppy Dreamin' pattern via email.