Quilting Interlude; building a little stash

The birds and the bees -  or rather, this week is birds and quilts, fabric and whatever comes my way.

Like this doorway in Merrill, Oregon, a traditional square made from tiles . A quilter must live or work here.

And here in Klamath Falls, Tisha, a quilter running a small business from her home.

Popping into local quilt shops in Klamath Falls

A little stash it is, but so colorful for my special quilting group back home.

Northern California: caving in Lava Tubes

The outside temperature hovered in the early 90 degrees, while in the lava tubes it dropped down to almost freezing, the winter air gets trapped and it is so cold that there is permanent ice at the bottom of Skull Cave.

Its dark and eerie underworld and I felt as though my breath was shallow and loud in my ears.

Mushpot Lava Tube Cave

Caving not my scene, but how amazing to see these caves created by flows of smooth lava thousands of years ago, like veins carrying blood, they formed kilometers of these tubes as the lava forced its way to the surface.

Mushpot Cave was the only lighted cave, in the others we walked in the pitch dark with weak torches provided by the Visitors Centre, bending and taking care not to bump heads.

Gnarly indeed….

Walking through Mushpot

Skull Cave: This cave is the remnant of 3 very large lava tubes.

Entrance to Skull Cave

That's me, gingerly walking into the cavernous dark….

...relieved to see the daylight.

Valentine Cave, almost feels man made in its smoothness.

Extraordinary shapes..

…and no further for me, caving done at this point!