Saturday, April 25, 2009

A Quilt Week Walk -or three - Come on Along! (and a treasure)

First, look at this lovely painting that a dear, dear reader sent of Giacomino and Maria!

Thank you Sharon, I absolutely treasure it!

Today marks the end of Quilt Week in Paducah.

30,000 quilters come to our city of 27,000 (they outnumber us!) to experience all that is the Annual Quilt Show and Contest of the American Quilter's Society. People from Australia, Japan, Wisconsin, Colorado, Sweden, France, Brazil, and all over this good world.

The Quilters love Paducah. And, dear readers, it is reciprocal. Paducah loves the quilters. We are the home of The Museum of the American Quilter's Society, and because of all of this, Paducah is known as Quilt City, USA.

These quilters aren't ho-hum, no, no, no. They are fiber artists. Take a look HERE. If you're new to quilting, check out Mountain Chapel, My Home Town, and Feather Story. HOLY SCHMOLY!!! Can you believe they do that with fabric!!!! Zounds.

But walks must go on, Quilt Week or no, they simply take on a new and exciting flavor. The first walk is Mama Pajama, Spice and Easy. We go collect Tracey and Francie and meet sweet neighbor Stefanie, who joins us. (Tracey said, "Don't you put me in this picture on your blog. Don't you do that!" So I didn't.)


L to R - Spice, Easy, Mama Pajama, Francie in the foreground, Stef holding the leads


Then we said hey to our sweet neighbor Kate, who was out working on her beautiful gardens.



Francie wondered what the heck all of these cars were doing in our little neighborhood. Hmmm?

The first walk completed, we headed off on the second walk.

L to R - Fat Charlie who really had to poop bad, Francie, Delia, and Luciano. Legs? Whose legs? What legs? Those are not Tracey's gorgeous long legs. They are not. I said "No your legs aren't in the photo. Don't worry about it. Nowhere near."

The third and final walk is the longest. We go all the way to the river with the young'uns, which takes us through downtown. There we can take pictures of ourselves, reflected in the store windows.

L to R - Francie, Tracey who appeared to be getting in this photo on purpose, uh-huh, sure looks to me, Swede William, Lindy Loo, your writer, Sam I Am.

Oh, yeah, now she's even posing!

Paducah's charming Renaissance District (downtown, and our adjoining neighborhood of Lowertown) was teeming with fun people. And so many of them were missing their dogs at home.

"Look! Greyhounds!"
Oh, dear readers, I would be one wealthy person if I had a ha'penny for every time I heard those words. And each time, ("Are they all rescued?") I have to decide whether to smile and walk on, or explain that these look like greyhounds, only they're smaller and they're actually their own whole breed. Whippets.

People don't like to be wrong.

Sometimes they try to convince me. "No, them are greyhounds."

Sigh.

But during Quilt Week, particularly the Brits and the Aussies chorus, "Lovely whippets! Lovely dogs!" Smilin' words.
After all that walking, Tracey and I had worked up a powerful hunger and it was lunch time and we noticed, lo and behold, that we had arrived back in our neighborhood at our favorite coffee house, Et Cetera.


The dogs checked the pretty flowers for huntable bumble bees, and we...

... PIGGED OUT! Homemade spinache quiche right out of the oven, fresh strawberries with yogurt and granola and a peach Izzie for me. YUMMMMMMM. Tracey started out with quiche and just strawberries, but she went back later and got the yogurt and granola too.

(Did I mention yumm? I think I did. In case I didn't: YUMMMMM.)

Et Cetera owner Allan is painting a labyrinth. It is way beyond cool, and another example of the magic of this place.


When we got home, we wallered on the porch. After all that pigging out, wallerin' was about all I was good for.
Easy is learning that folks who walk by our sidewalk are okay. Last evening, instead of barking at a group of home tour-ers, he ran and got the giant moose toy and brought it to them. He set to pulling Mr. Moose's mane off, which lodged in Easy's teeth, giving him the silliest beard!

Neighbor Auntie Karen had her iPhone and got these precious shots (you can click to enlarge, use your back button to return):




hug your hounds

16 comments:

  1. Patience, you are so very welcome.
    I have a confession I sent you painting number two.
    Sara my 15 year old Whippet added a few things to the first one. (I think she just really wanted to help LOL!) I left the room for a second and she managed to get her paws up on the table and spill my water on the painting. I needed more practice anyway,LOL!
    Best wishes to you and yours,
    Sharon (Saramurphy100)
    P.S. I quilted for 25 years, I have to see Paducah

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  2. And what a beautiful weekend you arranged for the quilters. Wouldn't be a bit surprised to see William on one of those quilts next year.

    Gussie
    (no, I am not an airedale!)
    and Teka
    (how come they all know I am a JRT?)

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  3. Great pictures of Lowertown and downtown. I try to stay clear of downtown during quilt week. I just don't like crowds anymore. It would be fun though to take my 2boxers for a walk down there next quilt week. The quilters would probably call them pitbulls or bulldogs. UGH!

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  4. Loved it -- you definitely captured the feel!!

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  5. What a lovely day! And such a sweet portrait of your friends--something to treasure.

    We have many people confusing Gus for an Irish Setter. There ARE red-haired goldens, people!

    wuv,
    Gus and Waldo

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  6. Francarrich from WWApril 26, 2009 at 12:26 PM

    I knew it wouldn't take you long to get a new dog walking rota organised. No wonder Francie has such little short legs, you've walked them down, although her Mum seems to be lasting out! Glad to see that all of Tracey finally made it into a photo.

    The quilts are wonderful, (& I'm no needlewoman) I will tell my friend all about them, she is a keen quilter.

    Wags from Banjo & snuffles from Aida.

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  7. Spinach quiche! i am SO JEALOUS-I shall have to visit Et Cetera one day! (once whilst walking my airedale someone said "my god,that's a big scottie!"..sigh..i don't even comment on the whippets since someone in the bank lot said "where did you get a baby deer?" double sigh..

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  8. The expanded waggle is looking gowgeous! and what a gweat weekend in such a lovely place. All that awt has to make youw town one of the best in the wowld!
    I love those paintings of Mawia and Giacomino..so elegant..so like them.
    I think youw luch looked supew yumm, but I'd be happy to shawe my pizza wif you!
    love and smoochie kisses
    ASTA(not a schnauzew)

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  9. Loved this entry and all the pictures. Looks like a very nice town you live in. People have questioned what I am too. I Ernie am a Schnoodle but people have told Mom that she is wrong and that I am a Portugese Water Dog. When Mom & Dad had 2 Siberians and a retired racing greyhound people would say the Siberians were beautiful and then ask "What is that?" about the greyhound. Go figure. Like Martha and P-Doggy it is a double sigh.
    Have a great day.
    Woofs
    Ernie & Sasha

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  10. Join the quilters with the whippets!
    lol
    The painting is gorgeous!

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  11. What a nice weekend.

    Hmmm...a new breed: the bearded whippet!

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  12. I had no idea so many people were into quilting!

    But I do know a whippet when I see one (or two).

    Great pictures!

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  13. omdog our boss and her sister make the most beautiful quilts, I wonder if her sister was there. They get a ton of fabric from Paducah! That food looks soo good, Mom is drooling.

    You know what we get? MINI PITBULLS?

    WTF?

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  14. My greyhounds always get called Great Danes! I had an Am. Eskimo-Lab mix, and so many people asked if she was a Minature White German Shepherd. I gave up and said, with a straight face, that she was an Artic coyote - and lots of people believed me! Go figure. At the vet's a woman who has a small, slender-ish, but most definitely Pit Bull, has convinced herself that because of the rose ears and tuck-up, that it's a whippet-French bulldog mix. I was glad I wasn't drinking anything when she said that, as it would have come out of my nose. I let her keep her special idea, though, as that's what makes her happy.

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  15. My all time favorite is the following comment from an early 20-something who pointed to my two whippets and said -- "How cute! They look just like my dachshunds." Oy.

    (Well, at least she was right about their being cute . . .)

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  16. Oh my goodness! Wallering about with you guys looks wonderful. (Bonus question: am I always Wallering about?) We laughed and laughed at the "greyhounds!" thing. There was a know-it-all at the dogpark who insisted Ethel is a border collie. And someone else who harumphed that there is no such thing as an all-black GSD (Oscar Bean). But people always hem and haw over me and have called me everything from a dachshund to a Newfoundland puppy to a fat beagle (what?) My ma ape tells people that I am a designer dog--a Teacup Newfie. Hahaha! Maybe you should make up a new breed!

    wally t.

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