And here's a couple photos of the actual quilt-in-progress, sans kitties:

Today while reading the news online I think I may have come across the explanation:

"The last night of November, 65 years ago Monday, was wet with rain and fog. A big Navy reconnaissance plane bound from Alameda to Hawaii developed engine trouble over the Golden Gate. The pilot made a sweeping right turn, fighting to keep the plane in the air.

He failed. The plane crashed into the south face of Mount Tamalpais, above Mill Valley. Everyone aboard - eight young Navy fliers - was killed. It was Nov. 30, 1944.

The wreckage of that plane is still there, about halfway up the mountain, scattered under manzanita brush and laurel trees, a lonely and remote reminder of an almost forgotten tragedy from World War II."

We were hiking on a little windy path along a creek and I just noticed the weird non-organic shape down in the creek and pointed it out to a couple other people in our group, and we thought it looked like plane wreckage, but no one knew anything about it.

Funny how lately, hiking has led me to discover about local military history...

After our hike, we went to Bucks in Woodside for good food and a whole lotta kitschy decor:


And while we were all there, we got (okay, Dave got) an international call from our jet-setting missing member, Mary Lou!

IMaybe if you didn't know him, you;d think those were his markings, but his fur is pure white no more... Black smudges on his chin, front arm and paws, and then a dingy gray on one side. We tried to clean him off with a wet paper towel, but it didn't do too much, and he smelled very smokey. Good thing our fireplace was 'clean' though (and not lit), because I supposed it could be worse for Bad Kitty.

 All night I was cracking up when he would look at me, with his round-eyed and earnest look, and with that big smudge on his chin...

Halloween night: Action Bats V at Arwa's!

I've been driving in to work as the sun rises the past few weeks (and leaving after the sun sets... sigh) but there have been some really beautiful skies lately. Too bad I've been driving so I can't take pictures -- this photo is from the parking lot at work.

Chris & I went for a walk at Milagra Ridge, which is conveniently located 10 minutes from us and overlooks the ocean, and is a nice little hike.

There is quite a bit of history there, some of which is pretty evident (like the WWII bunkers and where the guns were) but no signage about what any of it is, but I found this on the NPS website:

"Native Ohlone people inhabited the land we now call Milagra Ridge and Pacifica for thousands of years. Their lives probably included seasonal harvesting of seeds, greens and fruits and harvesting local animals.

In the late 1700s, the Spanish missions of San Francisco de Asis established farms in the area, and the hills of Pacifica became part of Rancho San Pedro. Livestock grazing began a agricultural era that lasted until the mid-1900s. Artichokes were grown atop Milagra Ridge until 1938, and the furrows can still be seen today.

 In the late 1930s, the United States Army acquired Milagra Ridge as part of a project to defend the San Francisco Bay. In 1948, several 6-inch guns were mounted at Milagra Ridge, only to be removed between 1949 and 1950.

 In 1956, Nike Missile Site SF-51 was established at Milagra Ridge. These surface-to-air missiles were protection against attacking aircraft during the Cold War. The site was converted to the nuclear-capable Nike-Hercules system in 1958. The entire area was fenced with barbed wire and patrolled by guards with trained dogs.

 The National Guard managed the area from 1963 through 1974. The buildings were demolished, the launch elevators were buried, the asphalt was removed, and the site was given to the City of Pacifica as an open space park. In 1987, Milagra Ridge became a part of Golden Gate National Recreation Area."