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I’ve know about the Nike lookout tower for years, I’ve even gotten close to it when hiking up on dirt Mulholland, but never actually got there.

Until this week, when our walking group went up the back way, so instead of a two mile hike, it was less than that round trip. Yup, I am getting lazier.

This is also the first time I’ve driven on Paved Mulholland all the way to where the dirt section begins.

It was a great day for a walk, not so much for pictures. Here we are, looking down at the Encino reservoir. in the haze beyond it is the vast spread of the valley, but its’ hidden today.

Not a great image either, but you can see both a cell tower and to the left, the Nike station.

Aside from being a military installation during WWII, I love how it is now called the gateway to the Big Wild. One of the wonders of Los Angeles is the fact that we are a huge urban metropolitan area and yet, within the boundaries of the city are these amazing wild areas. Of course all around the city there are plenty more, thank to Mulholland himself, this is in the city. Had he not brought the water through the aqueduct to LA, San Fernando Valley never would have become part of the city.

The old guard house and the lookout tower. I am happy to say, there is no graffiti, the rest of the state is being covered with it, even tree, stone and rock. That is what happens when you tell people that destroying property is art. I guess that maybe the military still has some say here, I don’t know. I’m just grateful for no graffiti.

I love how they have updated these signs. So the missiles were in the Sepulveda Basin, today there is a lake, a water reclamation plant, golf course as well as the Army Armory and the Airforce Armory. So I’m not surprised to learn that they could launch missiles from there.

Walking up the staircase. Once again, I love the textures and the mixture of shapes one sees here.

I love how informative these signs are. I’ll be honest, I took the pictures and read them later.

Reaching the top.

Here are the views, not great because of the fog. Next time I go, will probably be very sunny and very different, so I’m enjoying this atmosphere.

That is dirt Mulholland heading towards Reseda Blvd, the way I have always come up.

They have created a nice picnic area down there as well as bathrooms. The real thing, not just Porta-Potties. It is beginning to clear a little, but it didn’t completely clear until hours later.

I have one of those plant identifying apps. Very nice. So this plant, that looks strange but is all over these mountains is the Castor Bean plant! The source of castor bean oil, which is used in cosmetics and industry. It isn’t used as cooking oil because it has ricin – which is very toxic. Over 20 years ago there were ricin attacks on the subway in Japan – it killed people instantly. So this just goes to show you, good and bad go hand in hand in most everything. Especially in plants.

Leah

It’s my daughter in law, who is redoing another Airbnb house, this time with Moroccan flair. She mentioned a store called Badia. There is a reason why I’ve missed this, it is in a large non discreet industrial building, that I have driven by many many times.

One of the great things with being in such a large space is, like IKEA, they create rooms to create atmosphere.

All the while, displaying so much of the products they sell.

They have massive sections of tile. Btw, Morroco was one of the first areas to develop these wonderful multi colored tiles. Well, many others in the Middle East did as well, but as far as a production business – Morocco is still where it’s at.

The tiles around my fireplace in the dining room are from Morocco. I don’t know that the designer ordered them from here, I love the fireplace surround and I love these tiles so much!

I know that decorative tiles are found throughout the Middle East. Turkey has amazing ones, and yet, I think that this style of tile originated in Morocco. If not from here originally, then they really got the whole production going here.

They have plenty table tops, although I like the floor tiles better.

Color! Color! Color! at some point I need to buy some of these vases. They have a ton of incredible textiles as well….

Side tables and cabinets…..

That is a very good price. I wouldn’t say this place is outrageously expensive, but hand work, imported it will cost.

I’m sure this inlay table costs much more, well worth the money. That is true workmanship.

Another ‘room’ display. My son has an outdoor gazebo that they are trying to make a little more like Morocco, yup, I’ll bring them here.

So did I buy anything? Yes, a small item.

This little lamp, that now hangs in my bathroom, next to this:

I’ve had this piece for years, it needed a companion, especially since there is another hook on the ceiling.

When we bought the house, these three were left in the guest bathroom. I like them, a lot.

So yes, another day of exploring and fun. LA has a lot of serious problems but two things, I have family, ie. grandkids here and I love exploring.

Leah

Went to U-Frame it to audition frames.

This simple silver one is the winner. Literally that evening they called me to tell me the job is done. No glass, I’m not that interested in glass on top of my handwork, not to mention, it gets really expensive.

Here it is framed, on the wall. This is a small hallway, you can see this as you come in the front door, although you have to get close. I’m ok with people getting very close, so much so that they might even find my mistakes.

I finished woodland friends, I even put my initials and the year in there, I think I should have done over 4, not two, it is so tiny. This is before I ironed it out.

Here it is ironed. I decided, maybe its’ time to lace the work myself. I had gone to Good will and found a nice frame. Then onto You Tube, so I could get a good tutorial. I’m sorry to say that I’m not thrilled with Ceesie Smitt, it’s ok, but not all that good. Of course, I found much better tutorials and set to work.

Its’ not complicate, there are some tricks of the trade, my huge mistake with Ceesie was cutting the background fabric too small. No need, it doesn’t matter if there is plenty of fabric back here.

Dropped it in the frame, without glass. The acid free foam board is pretty thick, and although this frame came with some stupid saying mounted on a thinner board, I’d rather go with the acid free. I was able to reuse most of these pins to hold the work in place.

Wrapping paper and painters tape seal off the back.

It is bright gold, but I don’t find that that detracts. Also, the frame is square and the work was a little more rectangular. So there is more edging along the side than on the top and bottom. It look fine.

I just realized that I didn’t finish the tree between the elks. Oh well, I think it will just stay that way. all in all, a nice piece, and they won’t know that it isn’t supposed to look like that.

Now

, to send it off with a book for big brother. Of course, I’ll be starting something new very soon.

Leah

It is done!!! a year long sew along and I have finished!

Let me go back to November, here I was working on that months block. As you can see, 21, the 20 is up on the top back in February.

November done, also I kept on working as much as I could in December, before December started.

This is as far as I got in December. Sure I was working off the main image, there were some mistakes in the background, but you can’t see them, at this point I can’t either. Also note, I didn’t have my initials in next to that house.

Working one December!

Here is a close up, someone else on IG had put in their own little signature, I’ve been doing this on my projects, so I added it in.

I had seen other people put in their initials, I didn’t have the alphabet. Turns out that back in January the alphabet was provided, but I misplace my January pattern, from Feb onwards I saved it in many locations. So I asked Jacob, he told me where it was, he also provided us with the complete design in one file. So now I’m getting rid of the individual ones. I also sewed my initials.

Looks very nice!

Close up of the tiny initials.

So I’m done! Tomorrow I will take it to the framers. I think I will forgo glass…. I don’t want to think about the cost of glass for a piece this size.

Also, I immediately signed up for the 2022 SAL, Jacob is doing it differently. It is a mystery based on an old Dutch Sampler. Too many people ripped off his design from the full image and sold it for pennies online. That is not OK. That is very different from me and others who worked ahead.

So, I have a nice piece of 40 count linen, I just ordered silk from Mrs. Seida in Spain and apparently it is on it’s way! We shall see how long it takes to get here. I am excited. Jacob is a phenomenal designer, I was ready to take the risk and just be surprised each month. Meanwhile, other projects are also happening.

I am left with a lot of thread. I over bought and I think Jacob is overly generous is telling us how much we need. No worries, these are good colors and my thread stash is simply growing. I need to figure out how to store them better…

Leah

Another year, and this time, Thanksgiving was back to what it should be, the whole family as well as a guest who had no where else to go.

Thank you Kimi for taking the family pictures, each one has someone with their eyes closed or blurry

, or looking away, which I think is the true spirit of family.

Aytan did not want to be in the picture! Meanwhile, Cam is holding an old lego project. You know how things disappear and suddenly appear again? I found an old box of lego that my kids used. Cam is the master lego maker, he found this, put it together, and the battery, which is at least 15 years old was still inside and it worked! Lights flashed noises were made.

No pictures of the food, lets just say it was delicious and many people went home with care packages.

I bought flowers from the LA flower Truck, they go downtown and buy the flowers at the flower mart. They are no cheaper from the truck, well maybe they are, you do get a lot of flowers. I added lemon and some bottle brush from the garden.

two lovely large arrangements.

Look how gorgeous the peonies are when open.

I needed the buffet for food, so the decorations are now surrounding the ancestors over the fire place.

I have probably already shared this image, but look closely at all the textures and reflections!

after the meal, when only these two guys remain, under the quilt watching Paw Patrol.

Of course, tradition when the boys sleep over is pancakes. Of course, pumpkin with chocolate chips.

On to another great year.

Leah

I decided to put the name of the quilt right on the front.

I know, this is just a riot of color, its’ not easy to see the patterns, but there is a lot of symmetry here.

There we go, full title.

I need more borders, another Sew Kind of Wonderful element as well as a bear paw block. Bears live in the fall woods right?

The quilt needed to be a little longer as well as wider, so time for owls.

getting an image of the quilt top isn’t easy. I have a small clothes rack. This is the best I could get.

So lets’ look at close ups instead.

The quilting should be simple since there is so much going on here

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, knowing me, I won’t be able to do complete simple.

How about that owl!

I learn new fangled ways of doing things, then I go back to the tried and true. No more spray glue for me. Good old fashioned safety pins, well the bent kind made for quilting. I have gone back to paper charts for my knitting, although I have to admit, I really enjoy the cross-stitch charts on the tablet. Sure, I can do it from a paper chart, but being able to really zoom in, helps. Plus, I enjoy seeing my progress both on cloth and on the tablet.

Basted!

The perfect backing. I had bought a bolt on sale for $20. This one is called game day and it celebrates all kinds of sports, yes, football being one of them. So what is more appropriate for fall then football? No, I never watch it but Joel does and this will be his quilt.

Even before it’s quilted, the batting and backing add so much support.

I’d love to get it quilted before Thanksgiving, like I don’t have enough to do with my cooking…

Leah

Our Temple in conjunction with another Temple started a group for seniors. I’m not quite there yet, but figured, I can avail myself of some activities.

So I joined a hike, well really a walk.

Out in Chatsworth, looking for the old Stagecoach route from Simi Valley to Chatsworth.

It was a gorgeous fall day, the weather was perfect. The company was fine, I’m very much in a completely different lane than these people. Always have been, such is life. I’ll probably go on a few more hikes, but the older you get, the harder it is to make friends, and at some point I realize, it’s not worth it to me for people who are different from me in everything but the fact that we happen to be Jewish.

The scenery is beautiful, the air was clear. It was good to be outside.

Water tanks along the way.

We found the wagon road, now I understand it hasn’t been in use for over 120 years, railroads, cars replaced it, so the condition it’s in doesn’t indicate what it was like when in use.

Either way it was very steep. Only walked up a few feet.

There is a lovely park on the Chatsworth side, they are keeping this abode structure around. there is also a homestead building, where a family lived way back all those years ago. Open the first Sunday of the month. As well as a really nice recreation center. Life moves on, finding signs of the past gets harder.

That is the homestead in the background, nowadays, just a house. but look at the relic in front of it! Talk about old, I’m a little surprised it’s allowed on CA roads, it can’t be up to code.

Sure

, the hippies were right – and now their descendants are doing everything possible to destroy civilization as we know it. I never thought they were right, they simply lived off their parents hard work and pretended to be righteous – at least one of them left this relic behind.

Leah

I should have put this up earlier in October, I didn’t. Knowing me it will stay up for a few weeks after Thanksgiving.

I think what it is, is that I don’t want summer to be over. We just switched off DST, I happen to like the longer daylight hours. I’m not bothered by the change – sure, it takes a day or two to get used to, so what? The people who complain the loudest are the ones who travel the world and never complain about jet lag. Its’ one hour – get over it!

Love this one. Although this will probably be replaced by my Channuka one right after Thanksgiving – it starts that Sunday night, one of those very early years.

Adding roses from the garden, as well as the bottlebrush and even a few leftover kumquats from last year – to a supermarket bunch of flowers. I do love my indoor flower arrangements.

Best holiday decoration!!! I finished it!

I probably already showed this one. I used a piece of the original 32 count Lugana that I bought for my Modern folk Embroidery SAL. I’m glad I was forced to switch, I went with 36. I am getting so spoiled, these days, it’s only linen I like, I find it so much more pliable and workable.

I worked on this one every day, and when I say I worked, I put in a lot of stitches. I also played around with the colors, added more than was called for. It’s all from my growing stash.

Jeep done! Turkey, almost done.

Here I am done with all the cross stitches, there are a few back stitches to add.

Here it is, back stitches, which really do add some dimension and it’s ironed!

I bought a 10″ diameter hoop. I wrapped it with fall color fabric. Then I cut a piece of quilt batting and put that behind the work. I did a very uneven lacing of the fabric.

Glued a backing fabric over the back as well

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, so it would be nice and neat.

I had also bought the stand at Jo-Ann’s. I notice that some of the fabric glue leaked to the front- yikes! Luckily, if you look back at the first image – you will see it dried to invisible. Very fun project, I will probably do more fall ones in the future. I don’t do Christmas and at this point what I have seen of Hannukah designs is rather yucky – just like Hannukah wrapping paper. Blue, white and silver, stars and menorahs. I’ll keep looking, but it won’t happen this year.

Leah

I found about about this two years ago, but it was too late to go. Last year it didn’t happen, yay for this year, we went this year, it was wonderful.

I had wanted to take all the grandsons, but that didn’t work out. It was only Aytan and his dad, which was lovely. Its’ nice to do special things with Aytan. This year it was all about helicopters.

Here is Cal Fire with one of their scooper helicopters, its’ not a big scoop, they have a pump underneath and a tank to hold the water. All the fire helicopters now are like this.

We here in SoCal have had so many years of awful fires. We’ve burned a lot out. so Northern California has been hit very hard in the last two years. These guys stayed local – just in case they were needed. Love how the emblem of CA is mirrored in the plane.

Military Black Hawk, a hospital helicopter.

Aytan enjoyed climbing up and sitting in as many of these as he could. Hard to get a smile out of him, but he was very happy.

In the cockpit

A picture with Saba. Yes, it was very hot, 90 degrees, the Santa Anas are blowing. Lets hope they don’t bring fire.

A former military Black Hawk, bought by Ventura county and painted bright yellow. Aytans favorite color!

The guys and gals manning the helicopters were delightful to talk to. It was a fun day for them, to talk to the public, and it was fun for us.

They were handing out the fire hats at most of the helicopters. Aytan is good, he sits in a chair with a seatbelt and immediately puts it on.

There was Navy…

Next to Army. They get along just fine.

KABC new helicopter was there as well.

There were booths with all kinds of first responders and law enforcement. There was a private helicopter company offering rides. We never got close enough to even ask the price. Here is Aytan on a 1962 Fire engine from the Encino Station.

A couple of beautiful old classics. As well as the Veterans Day motorcycle parade that went by up on Foothill Blvd. There had to be hundreds of them. I was too far away to get a good picture. It took a long time for them to go by. Bless them all!

Its’ on my calendar for next year, hopefully with more grandkids.

Leah

Yes, we have amazing weather, and the landscape is gorgeous. Sure the taxes suck and our governing cabal is horrible, so although last year they shut off the beaches and parks – and thereby increased the number of ill exponentially – this year we are out and about.

Veterans Day, the kids are out of school. first thing when I arrived – play with play dough. Only allowed outside, and believe me that table is very dirty. Cam doesn’t care about dirt, he is enjoying the mushy creativeness.

there is something about being half a mile from the beach. my DIL created this wall almost 2 years ago and doesn’t water much. You’d think this sport cacti would be dying – even though its grafted on a strong base. Not only is it thriving – its’ got babies. Must be just enough moisture in the air.

West got a metal detector from his other grandma. Not sure the interest will last all that long, but down to the beach we went.

The two of them

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, looking for treasure – they found a pull-tab. Previously with their mom they found some coins, so were happy to share that with a couple of people who asked. This was Veterans Day, the beach was full!

Both sitting out and enjoying the sun. Yes, the sky really is that blue.

The brave ones are in the water, although the air was in the high 70s the water is very cold.

Seagulls are nasty. This one stole the bag of chips. The woman must not be local – because she was surprised at the audacity. I wasn’t, but couldn’t get the bag bag, just took pictures of the spoils.

Bag is open, I’m surprised this other guy is being patient.

Before long at least 6 birds were here, yup they cleaned up the chips, but we had to pick up the trash bag. Seagulls really don’t care about the environment.

The apartment building closest to the beach. Lest you think this is some rich guy – nope, these are old broken down apartments, it’s the young people who live here. Despite the media’s best efforts – people know.

An old coot lives here, in an old original beach house. I concur – my body my choice shouldn’t only be about abortion. but of course, these days, that is all it is. I also like how he is playing off the trans issue – I feel like a woman today so I am!

Life here is always interesting.

Leah