Don's Travels: Ragdoll History, Lovely People, and Quilts

by Jane

It's a little hard to get things in order even only a day after the event - and much harder than I expected to keep up with the blog (so I will have to forgive Dad's trip blog from 'fading' as his holidays progressed).

[Friday, 7th September] But the quick version of the last two days was that on Friday we drove to Thousand Oaks, a two+ hour drive north of here on the other side of Los Angeles. This was my first 'Ragdoll research' stop and an opportunity to meet Denny Dayton, the breeder who (with his late wife Laura) played a large part in promoting the breed to the public and the cat registries.

As well as meeting Denny we were invited to stay overnight at his home (the site of his and Laura's Blossom-Time cattery) and met his wonderful neighbours; Sam and Nadine, Tracey, Rick, and Jake.

While Denny and I looked through his photo album Gary was on duty photographing the photos I felt I just couldn't live without. Here's one for the British Ragdoll breeders:

Petil-Lu Cattery in Winter

And here's one I wanted the chance to study a bit (or a lot!) more. I think the cat is Raggedy Ann Joshua and have photos to compare with - but of course couldn't find them at the necessary moment.

Raggedy Ann Joshua?

Friday evening we were invited up to dinner with Denny's neighbours, Sam and Nadine, who had done a 21 day tour around New Zealand in 2004 and had fond memories of the trip. As well as providing a wonderful meal Nadine found time to take me around her quilt collection.

Quilts on Display

Being a 'collector' (books - not quilts!) I just loved the effort she had put into keeping her collection displayed and part of their home life.

Quilts on Display

Some of the quilts dated back to 1800s and each had an interesting story or features. It was Jennifer Chiaverini's Elm Creek Quilts stories come to life.

Quilts on Display

While Nadine was cooking and acting as a quilt tour guide Gary and Denny settled down for a chat. The photos in the blog enlarge when clicked and doing that it might be possible to make out more quilts on display in the gap between their seats. The quilts were everywhere and looked amazing.