A week of many things to do leads to a simple little project that I found in the Great British Sewing Bee : Sew Your Own Wardrobe. This is a t-shirt I have been wanting to make since I found it in the book as it is such a versatile piece, the bonus is that it has bias binding on the hems so that gave me more time to experiment with bias binding after last weeks project. This is an excellent demonstration piece and next time I know to make this a couple of sizes smaller!

The simple t-shirt in action

This weeks hike we wandered to Bear Creek Redwoods Open Space Preserve – another permit required open space managed by Mid Peninsula Open Space. It was an interesting place to explore with ruins of a Jesuit College which opened in 1934 – the college buildings were heavily damaged by the Loma Prieta earthquake of 1989. The Mid Peninsula Open Space acquired the land in 1999 and if you have a permit you are free to explore this space. Wandering the fire roads and through the forest  it was extremely fascinating to see what mystery unfolded. We had no idea what used to be there \ and it was interesting what we found and how we put the pieces together. In the end we looked at the Google Map and it said Alma College and we just wanted to find out more… In the link to Alma College it is really interesting to see what the future holds for this land. Also there are some great pictures on what the space looked like before the earthquake. It is now just derelict buildings and warning signs looking through the fences you can see that this was a place that has a lot of history to it, find more images here.

Do Not Enter this space is dangerous – graffiti added to the space

The giveaway that this is an older building – look at the light fitting

Indeed… Explore More…

This looks like a garage that was destroyed

Favorite parts of this hike exploration for me were through the ruins of old bricks and buildings nature still took over. I love how the grasses and moss grew everywhere, my son even found moss growing in an old green bottle we found when we went exploring down a hill to find the flowing creek.

Over time nature just takes over

Moss and graffiti

I like the look of these concrete pipes

“Look, moss is living in this bottle”

We found beer cans, old bottles, tires, rusted oil cans from back in the day that enhanced the experience of adventuring into places where no one visits. I can get used to this kind of hiking with no one else around – in the couple of hours we were there we only saw one horse rider and two horses on the fire road.

Checking out a beer can from 1968 – check out the tab top (ring pull) on the can

When we made it down to the creek

Our snack spot by the creek massive chunks of concrete and rocks form this small waterfall

The ruins with nature growing everywhere

Locked in! The only way to enter is with a key combination

Where a fountain once stood – this bird stretches its wings

Spring California Poppies Bloom

A bumblebee doing what they do best!