I’m lining up places to take the postcards and will be posting dates and times as they are confirmed.
March 2012
March 15, 2012
Peninsula Rugmakers Guild
San Jose Rose Garden Library
San Jose
11:00 am
June 2012
Week of June 3-8, 2012
Cambria Pines Rug Camp
Cambria, CAJune 28, 2012
Wester McGown Teacher’s Workshop
Riley Hall
University of Oregon
650 E 11 Ave
Eugene, OR
12-5 pmJuly 2012
Hooker Hill Rug Retreat
Evergreen Conference Center Oakhurst
Oakhurst, CA
Sailing Away by Val Flannigan
Val Flannigan from British Columbia, Canada, was inspired by a souvenir T-shirt from California to hook Sailing Away. Sailing Away captures the bright free spirit of California. Thank you, Val.
Postcard Displays
CA Postcards on Display at the Monterey Fiber Jam
SF Bay Area Postcards on Display
The Monterey Fiber Jam 2012 is over and it was a huge success. The “Jam” kicked off with the CA Postcard Display. See Laura Pierce’s blog for more posts on the “Jam.”
http://laurawp.wordpress.com/
Postcards displayed at Asilomar: 50
Two more postcards have been posted from Australia and should be received any day now and I expect to receive a few more within the next few weeks.
Stay tuned for more posts of the postcards and a calendar of events for the Postcards from California.
Willets on the shore at Asilomar State Beach
This next postcard comes to us from Gigi Taylor in Livingston, Texas. Gigi has many wonderful memories of living in California and this is just one of them.
When my husband and I met, we both worked in San Francisco. Our home was a sailboat in Alameda. We regularly sailed San Francisco Bay and through the “Gate” to offshore waters. When not sailing, we especially liked to stroll San Francisco’s waterfront, from Fisherman’s Wharf to the Golden Gate Bridge. Marina Green was a fine place to watch boats on the Bay. We left San Francisco in 1989, but for us it will always be a special place!
Thanks for the opportunity to send a “Postcard from California”!
Gigi Taylor
Golden Gate Bridge: California Roll by Gigi Taylor
Grapes & Raisins by Cai King
A conversation about California without a reference to grapes would be, for me, like a sentence without punctuation. And so it is for my sister, Kirsten. When I told her about the postcard challenge and asked her what evoked a California state of mind for her she said the strongest images were raisins drying and driving past rows and rows of grapevines Since she left the San Joaquin Valley 21 years ago she no longer sees the raisins drying unless she’s in Fresno to visit but there are plenty of wine grapes growing near her home in Temecula. And that’s the thing about grapes—California grows ‘em from head to toe; from Napa to Lodi to Madera to Coachella you’re going to find wine grapes, table grapes, or raisin grapes growing. As a kid growing up in Madera, we had many family friends who were ranchers and farmers so the summer brought TONS of gifted produce. All varieties of grapes found their place at the family dinner table. How fast can you peel one with your teeth? Remember getting fancy and freezing grapes for pizzazz-y ice cubes? And memories would be incomplete without a mention of the peculiar putrid smell that engulfs Madera and overwhelms nostrils during “crush”—a late summer agricultural ritual when grapes are squished within an inch of their lives and the wine fermentation begins. Ching, ching!
Cai King
And so it is with grapes and California……
Note: Wine production in California has been in a boom for the last 30 years.
1975–California was home to 330 wineries
2006–California had nearly 2,500 wineries
Since 2000 California has opened 175 new wineries each year
Reference: California Agriculture, Vol 64, no. 1 (Jan/Mar 2010).
Charles M. Schulz – Sonoma County Airport
Charles M. Schulz - Sonoma County Airport by Nancy Terhaar
In March of 2000, the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors voted to change the Sonoma County Airport’s name to Charles M. Schulz – Sonoma County Airport. This airport is located at Santa Rosa, CA. The name change was in honor of the famous “Peanuts” comic strip cartoonist who lived for many years in Sonoma County, leaving a lasting legacy with his beloved characters’ whimsical antics. Mr. Schulz and his family have made many positive contributions to Sonoma County including the Snoopy Home Ice Arena and Charles M. Schulz Museum.
In 2011, my husband, Ron, and our friend, Frank Fitzgerald, flew in their homebuilt airplane, RV-816RF, to Santa Rosa for some business that Frank had there. Ron came home wearing a t-shirt he bought at the Charles M. Schulz – Sonoma County Airport, and that gave me the inspiration for this hooked postcard.
Nancy Terhaar, Albany Oregon
The Golden Gate Bridge by Laurie Wiles
I finally decided to use the picture I took of the Golden Gate Bridge, the first day I arrived. It is so big and beautiful!!!! I hope people will recognize the bridge and love it as much as I do.
Well, I certainly love it as much. In fact, when I was a kid the first time my family drove across the border into California we sang….
California, Here I Come
Right back where I started from
Where bowers of flowers
Bloom in the spring
Each morning at dawning
Birdies sing at everything
A sunkissed miss said, “Don’t be late!”
That’s why I can hardly wait
Open up that golden gate
California, Here I Come
Then every time we left the State and returned we sang “California Here I Come” as we reentered the State. Even as an adult I sing this song (either out loud or in my head) coming into the State. The Golden Gate Bridge came to represent coming home to me. I’ve always loved seeing it, although the first time I saw it I was disappointed because I thought it would be gold, not red. Now, I can’t imagine it being any other color. I know the Golden Gate represents many things to many people, but for me it means coming home.
Laurie hooked Golden in bold, bright colors. She used embroidery floss for the cables between the towers. Her rendition illuminates the grandeur of the Golden Gate in all its glory. Thank you, Laurie, for your contribution to Postcards from California.
