Thursday, July 14, 2011

Bristlecones and More



DH and I took a little road trip this week and visited a spot that we have wanted to visit for many years.  Each time we drive north to the Sierra mountains we always pass a sign for a turnoff to the Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest.  This time we decided to make it our destination location. 


The Bristlecone Pines are the oldest single living organisms known.  The forest, located in the White-Inyo mountain range, is at an elevation of nearly 10,000 feet so it is springtime there at this time.  The wildflowers were just blooming and were wonderful to see.


The oldest of the Bristlecone pines is called Methuselah and is nearly 5000 years old.  It is located along one of the hiking paths, but they do not point it out to avoid vandalism to it.  Shortly after a Nat*ional Geo*graphic article came out about it in the late 1950s, someone broke a branch from it.



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Gorgeous stumps everywhere.

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Snow capped Sierras peeking through behind a high meadow.

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The needles were really quite "bristly" feeling.

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Springtime flowers.
After visiting the forest we continued eastward into Nevada and spent the night.  We saw many abandoned gold and silver mining towns and noticed that there seems to be more activity around some of the mines which we assume is because of the increase in the cost of the metals.


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Once a booming city.
Coming home we took the road through Death Valley.  The temperatures were surprisingly low for this time of the year with the high being only in the mid 90s.


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Heading onto the floor of the valley.

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Loved these gorgeous sand dunes.  I would have loved to have slid down them.
It’s always good to get home and sleep in your own bed again.  Guess I am a homebody at heart.  I always seem to become more aware of my gardens when we return.


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The plumerias are starting to bloom.  This was a piece of one of my father's plants.

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JUST starting to bloom.  The smell is heavenly.

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A late blooming Clivia.

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An even later blooming iris.

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The bougainvilleas that froze this winter have made a wonderful return.
I had a couple of nice packages waiting for me when we got home too.  The first was a whole bag of I Spy blocks from Michelle.  The little ones just love the I Spy quilts and it is so nice to have a great collection of them for making up quick quilts.  Thank you, Michelle.

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I also had a whole bag of goodies from Leona that I won from her fabulous giveaway.  It was loaded with fabulous items for quilting and I know that I can use all of these.  Thank you, Leona.
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Lastly, I received my mug rug from Leona’s Mug Rug 2 Swap.  I just love it.  I love the bright colors, the design as well as the wonderful fabrics and quilting.  Unfortunately, my partner did not include a blog link  to share.   I would really love to follow her work.


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The picture does not do this one justice.
My sewing machine has been humming away since I have been home.  My daughter came over to make some burp cloths for her SIL so I made a few for a shower that I am attending in August.  She worked in pink fabric and I worked in blue.  Everyone seems to know the sex of the babies these days.  I always like surprises myself.

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My next row of my PURPLE Rockin’ Robin is finished.  There were plenty of HSTs in this row!!!!!




Lastly, here are my latest Civil War blocks.  I can’t believe that we are over halfway done with the year already.
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The next few weeks are going to be pretty busy around here so I may not be around as much as normal.  I will continue to read blogs, but please forgive me if I don’t always comment.  I have a ton of canning to do – tomatoes, strawberries, peaches and apricots are all in right now.  Too bad it can’t be spread out throughout the year.

26 comments:

  1. Seems like you had a great little break.

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  2. Thanks for sharing your travels. Your flowers are beautiful.

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  3. The pictures are beautiful. Thanks so much for sharing the beauty of your part of the country.

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  4. I loved seeing your travel pics and those purple stars are divine....HST aren't my friends heehee.

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  5. You always have the best pictures - love seeing them all!♥

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  6. So many topics - I don't know where to comment first! LOL

    You call them plumerias, we call them frangipanis! The scent, though pretty, gives me a headache (as does jasmine, gardenia, murraya, etc).

    I love the purple stars.

    The bibs are so cute. My DD has just had her second child (three weeks ago) - she didn't want to know their sex before they were born. You would be surprised how many people complained about not knowing whether to buy blue or pink!! I just knitted with mint, lemon and white!

    And finally, thanks for the tour at the beginning of your post; I live in Australia so it's always good to see other parts of the world!

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  7. OH, loved the pictures of your trip! The road in Death Valley looks ominous!

    Your flowers are gorgeous! And I love the burp cloths.....You're a very busy lady!

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  8. Wow great pictures!!
    Love the burp cloths & your purple stars are fabulous!!

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  9. Love that beautiful purple star quilt and all the photos from your neck of the woods:)

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  10. Thanks Mary, I always love reading your road trip. Gorgeous photos you took. What a lovely surprise to find the packages waiting on your return. Those civil war blocks are beautiful - Hugs Nat

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  11. It looks like you had a wonderful trip. It's fun to visit some place you always seem to pass by. Thanks for sharing the photos and info.
    Loved the sayings on the burp clothes :D
    Your flowers are so pretty.
    The Rockin' Robin in purple is fantastic as are your CW blocks.
    Have fun canning :)

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  12. those were some great pics~what a fun trip! love that purple rockin robin!

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  13. What a beautiful trip you had. It is nice to get away but like you I enjoy the being at home.
    I love the quilts and I wish I could do that.
    Have a great weekend.

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  14. We live in a subdivision that has streets named after trees - our address is Bristlecone Place. I thought they should have planted a bristlecone pine in each of our yards. I would love to see them in their natural habitat.

    Love the plumeria - strange enough, with my perfume allergy, I was able to wear a plumeria lei a whole day when we were in Hawaii last time.

    Wonderful pictures as usual.

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  15. Oh, Mary, how I would love to visit your part of the country, I've never seen sand dunes, valley floors, meadows, etc, like that! So very gorgeous. I had never heard of Bristlecones...imagine some being over 5000 years old! Isn't it a shame, though, that some people feel they have to vandalize such places? It just makes my blood boil when I hear of that. It sounds like you had a wonderful little getaway but as you say, it's also lovely to get back home and in your own bed:-)

    Your flowers are gorgeous and you can grow so many types that we can't here due to our cold winters. This morning I went out to take pictures of the flowers that I have blooming over here, will have a post up shortly.

    Congratulations on winning another giveaway, you're as lucky as I am with those! lol Isn't it so much fun, though, getting those in the mail instead of the regular bills?!

    Love all the projects you've been working on. I know I've said it before but I'll say it again, you do such beautiful work:-)

    It's been in the 80's here and sunny again today. It's been like this the last couple of weeks so we can finally say that we're having a summer! lol Have a lovely weekend dear friend. xoxo

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  16. Love the road trip! Loved all of your goodies too. Those burp cloths are so cute! My daughter, May May and hubby are choosing not to know what the baby is that is due in October! It is kind of fun! But the funny thing is I never knew what I was having. It was always a surprise.

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  17. Wow! You have had a busy week! I love your pictures, especially the sand dune.....amazing :-)

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  18. What a lovely site to find on your return home. I missing visiting the desert. My grandparents retired there in the early 70's. Much of my youth was spent with them on school holidays. It is so fun to find the hidden treasures of such an arid place.

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  19. Wonderful photos of your trip and your garden. Rockin Robin is beautiful, love the colour. What lovely surprise packages - enjoy!

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  20. Hi Needledmom,

    I so enjoyed this post. The trip pictures were such a treat! Thanks for sharing. And I must say I drooled over your purple rockin robin row. Missing quilt bee!! Pout..sniff..

    Love to see your work! The bibs are just hilarious!
    xo
    Donna

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  21. How interesting and fun Mary and so different to anything we have here.

    To vandalise things so old is so awful

    Love the burb cloths which we call bibs.

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  22. Sounds like you had a wonderful little travel adventure!!
    Your flowers are beautiful!
    Wonderful purple stars in progress there, and darling burp clothes!! You are making good progress on your CW blocks!!
    Take care while busy with your canning! 8-)

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  23. Thanks for sharing your fun trip. The burp clothes are too funny. And your purple row is stunning.

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  24. The desert has such beauty. We love it when we are in Arizona and go through the desert. You have such extremes that you can visit and see, from snow to desert! I had never heard of the Bristlecone Pines. Can you imagine 5000 years old?! Actually I have days that I feel that old!!! ha! So nice that you two can get away on these little trips.

    Your flowers are gorgeous! I drool when I hear about peaches, they are my favorite. Ours come from CA most of the time. When I was expecting J I craved peaches and ate them every day!!

    I love your PURPLE Rocking Robin blocks! Yay, purple!!

    Wow! Lots of nice wins!!! It's so much fun to find these things in our mailboxes isn't it? The mug rug is adorable.

    We are getting HOT temps and HIGH humidity. You know how that makes me feel! ha! Today is nice though with a bit lower humidity and sunny. It's hot but manageable. I have been watering and watering my plants outside as we haven't had any significant rain for ages. We went from all rain to no rain.

    Will be at the lake again this weekend. Plan to go to Lincolnville for lobster, our favorite seafood restaurant. Mom has gone to the doctor today. Not feeling good. I hope the doc can do something for her. Dad took her as my friend Ann is coming over and we are going to put the new name plates on the horses graves. I think we had better take some kleenix with us as I am sure the tears will flow!

    Love to you my friend! xoxoxox

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  25. gorgeous flowers... u captured them perfectly!

    love the quilts! and the travels!

    such fun birthdays u celebrated is right! so darn cute;)

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  26. What an interesting place for a road trip. Glad you finally got to see it.
    It's so good to see your beautiful garden. The bougainvillea is spectacular, and I adore that yellow plumeria. Wish I call smell it. The pink is beautiful too.
    And so is the late-blooming clivia.
    I'd love to stroll around your yard with you and see it all in person :)

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