The World Surrounding Me

Last spring, during the abundantly rich wildflower season here in Central Texas, the red indian paintbrush flowers were particularly beautiful. Their simple shape also seems particularly appropriate for Hawaiian-style appliqué. I’ve been planning my next applique project, and I think I want to feature this flower in another Texas-meets-Hawaii theme. I am going to use blue & [...]

I have finished two quilt blocks within the past few days. They both have a lot in common, but are also very different! Block #1: “Maile” Purchased pattern. Folded in eighths and cut out quickly (like a snowflake) the morning we were leaving for Kauai. Smooth, flowing shapes with some not-so-sharp outside points, but no [...]

I can’t believe I finished my Bluebonnet applique while sitting on the beach in Kauai!

Wednesday Nothing at all on our schedule! What a rare day! We debated a few options, but once we saw that the clouds north weren’t too heavy, we decided to go up to Waimea Canyon again. We wanted to do some hiking and take more pictures. We did a strenuous trail that went down, then [...]

Tuesday. Our scheduled activities came to an end Tuesday morning with a flight over the island with Wings Over Kauai. “Ground Crew” Maren and Pilot Bruce gave us most excellent service. Matt even got to be the “Captain,” reading off the pre-flight checklist. The flight was amazing! Smooth take-off and landing, and very smooth over [...]

Monday. Matt recently bought a DSLR camera. We both enjoy taking pictures of nature. So we booked a photo tour. We were escorted tp a bunch of east and north shore sights by a professional photographer. It was a pretty good trip. Many locations, we could have found on our own. Others, though, were hidden [...]

From Kauai – Sunday Sunday. One good thing about a long day of westward travel and a 5-hour difference in time zones: it makes it easy to get up to see sunrise. So, our first full day in Kauai started with a short trek over some black lava rock to take as the sun appeared [...]

Matt and I are on vacation, celebrating our fifth anniversary. For this trip, we chose the island of Kauai in Hawaii. Unlike what a few colleagues joked, we’re not addicted to Hawaii, but it certainly is a good vacation spot. We flew to the islands from LAX. Heading westward, at about 80% of the speed [...]

I woke up at 6am Austin time, which sadly, is 1am Hawaii time. Any idea I had of *not* napping on the flights today has completely vanished. Oh well, this should mean I’ll be up to see sunrise tomorrow morning from Poipu Beach! I’ve used the time so far this morning, trying to be quiet [...]