Anne's quilt laid out

Michael had another super early golf date on Thursday (6/27) and I got a few things done around the house before Jan picked me up for quilting.  Today was a class on a woven basket, but since I made the woven knitting bag, I didn’t take the class.  I sat and talked and knit with everyone else who wasn’t taking the class.  I was home just before 2.  I read my book for just a bit until Michael came home with a score of 87, then I headed downstairs to continue working on the quilt.  I am still missing one square from one of her beach buddies, which is a tiny bit annoying since they were notified first about signing them.  I can only sew 60% of the quilt together and I am desperately trying to finish the top by Sunday night.  I took a picture of it before I started so that I would be sure to get it back together the way Michael laid it out:

 

By 9 PM I had done all I could, and I headed upstairs to watch TV with my honey.

Michael headed to Triple A early Tuesday morning (6/25), just making sure of last minute details for his trip to Scotland in less than 2 weeks!!!  I didn’t get to see Nancy in the morning…she is dealing with some medical issues and really didn’t feel up to a visit.  I did a bit around the house…then headed to Stitch and Chat in the afternoon….I think everyone really liked my woven bag (I took it for show and tell).  Michael and Walt headed for the movies in the evening (NOW YOU SEE ME) while Jan and I sat and chatted!

Michael left early for golf on Wednesday (6/26) (coming home with another 78!!!!!!!) and I read my library book in the morning.  In the afternoon I finally got started on re-doing Jan’s embroidery and I continued working on it until I went to bed!

making yoghurts

Michael left before SEVEN AM Monday morning (6/24) for golf…they had an early tee time at a golf course about an hour away.  Even though he was rushing to get ready and leave, when I got up and went to make my tea…..my cup was there.  Have I told you about the cup?  Every morning I make a cup of hot tea.  I always make it in my 22 oz mug and I generally carry it all over the house drinking it all morning.    I swear it never ends up in the same place twice!  Anyway, no matter where I leave it…when I go to make my cup the next morning…it is always washed and on the drain board, or sitting beside the tea bags.  I think out of 365 days a year….Michael misses maybe 2 of them.  I know it may seem like a small thing…but I always feel loved when I see that clean cup, right where I need it.  I think it’s the small nice things we do for each other that keep a relationship going….whether friend or husband.

Anyway, it was a yogurt making morning (another small thing!) I know I’ve told you before, Michael is lactose intolerant and the soy yoghurts that he liked got more and more expensive and harder and harder to find, so I started making yoghurt out of LACTAID milk for him.  Once I found out how to do it in the crockpot…it was a snap.  So, I got it put together last night and it incubated in the crock overnight.  This morning I put together containers for him. 

lining up the cups getting ready to start

this time the fruit is blueberries from our garden

now filling wih 1/2 cup of yoghurt from the crockpot

And a topping of jam (peach/pecan) for a little sweetness

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I got a few more squares cut for Anne’s quilt in the morning before Jan picked me up and we headed off to Joann’s.  I bought an entire roll of interfacing (you know…I used to have a bolt of it….that lasted FOREVER….finally it was gone…and since it has been gone, I am consistently running out of interfacing!!!  Never have it when I need it…forever going to Joann’s and buying 3 yards of it…only to be out of it in a couple of weeks!)  Anyway, I had a 50% off coupon, so bought a 25 yard roll of interfacing, along with 1 yard of tone on tone cream.  I have decided to do Anne’s embroidery over.  I am totally unhappy with the puckers in it, and am willing to spend 6 more hours trying to get something better.  Jan and I got home around 1 and I just couldn’t get anything going the rest of the day.  I kept telling myself I needed to get moving, but instead just read my book for part of the day, and sat on my you-know-what watching TV and feeling punk-y the rest of the day L.

Michael and I had breakfast on the deck on Sunday (6/23) but quickly headed inside afterwards….it was 80 degrees by 10 AM and you could tell it was going to be a scorcher.  I spent the rest of the day in my studio.  I got the lining and pockets cut for 2 more woven bags, but then had to stop as I had no interfacing  L.  But, that gave me an opportunity to work on Anne’s quilt for the rest of the time.  We had calzones for dinner (I made them awhile ago and froze a bunch) and I continued to work until 9 PM when I went upstairs to watch TV and snuggle with my honey.

blueberries

(to THE EAST BRANCH)...if I knew who you were, next time I bake the cinnamon bread...I would BRING you some...under the radar of course!)

Michael left before 8 for golf Saturday morning (6/22) and I made Rice Krispy Treats for probably the first time in my life!  I had some leftover Rice Krispies from I-don’t-know-when and wanted to use them up.  I took a plate over to my neighbor who just had surgery and put the rest in Michael’s cookie jar (except for the few that went in my tummy J).  I had a quick breakfast, then headed to my studio to continue working on my latest addiction….the woven bags.  I stopped around lunch to help Beth for just a bit with a knitting problem, and then to open the KNITPICKS box and ooo and ahhh with Jan.  Michael came home while we were visiting with a barely-under-90, 89 from his round of golf.

While playing with the dog, Michael came in with a second harvest of blueberries and said “we’re gonna need a bigger boat….I mean basket”!  YAY – we both love blueberries: 

 

I continued to work on the new bags until around 9 PM when I headed upstairs to watch TV and knit with my honey.

cinnamon chip brea, thread catcher, new hat

Michael left early Friday (6/21) for a hearing aid appointment, but not before having a piece of the cinnamon chip bread I baked:

I baked one large and 3 mini-loaves.  Two of the minis went to my neighbors and one was for Michael and Jan and Carolyn, who arrived at 9.  I was teaching a class on the cutest little thread catcher:

 

I actually can't believe I was teaching the class...since I never made one!  The day they showed this at quilting, I hadn't been able to find the 4 inch wooden hoops, so I just watched.  Then I had a tea and my friend Loree brought me one as a thank you gift...I was THRILLED!!!  Carolyn saw it at the tea and asked me to teach her.....so that's how it happened.  Carolyn finished hers, and Jan was really close by the time they left at 12:30.  I did a little sewing in the afternoon, and also finished another hat:

will you PLEASE stop waking me up to model these STUPID hats!!!

and at 5:30 we picked up Susan and Joe and headed into Charlotte for dinner and the theatre.  We ate at Mama Ricottas and I had the Pollo Romano (chicken with a Romano cheese breading…heaven!) and Michael had spaghetti and meatballs.  We saw THE DIVINE SISTER and it was really a hoot.  We were home just before 11 and did a little reading before bed.

blueberries, flowers, tomatoes

Michael left very early for golf on Wednesday (6/19) and I hopped up and did my computer work so that I was ready for Janice’s weekly call at 9 AM.  I LOVE getting that call….we get to talk for 1/2 an hour and it really makes my day.  After the call I settled down to finish my book…..WOW…I LOVED this book…it’s THERE WAS AN OLD WOMAN by Hallie Ephron and I got it from the library.  I’m glad I finished it because now I can get some work done  J.  By the time I was done, and I got the checkbook balanced, it was 1 PM and I headed to the studio to start to pull together Anne’s quilt.  Michael came home around 2 with an 87, and while he was playing in the backyard with the dog in the afternoon (and I was doing my 3 times a day ritual…drowning Japanese beetles in soap water from the zinnias), he also picked our first harvest of blueberries!!!!!

 

Quilting was cancelled for Thursday (6/20), so Jan and I headed out early to Joann’s…they had everything on my list…and I got to buy it all at 40% off….SCORE!!!  Jan also got a couple pairs of new shoes at DSW before we headed for home.  I came home to another beautiful bouquet in the kitchen:

 

as well as a single rose beside my computer  J.  AND, we harvested our first tomatoes of the season (cherry):

I pushed myself in the afternoon and I am done finishing my entrelac sweater!!!!  All knitting – DONE, all ribbing – DONE (for the third time), all ends sewing in – DONE!!!!  I will be blocking the collar on the island tomorrow….I am SO GLAD that this is totally finished  J.  Michael and I had mac ‘n’ cheese for dinner and afterwards I spent a bit of time on handles for new woven bags before heading upstairs to knit and watch TV with my honey.

charity hats, bread, coral gladiola, furry kids, new woven purse

By the way…I DID finish 4 knitted charity hats on vacation out of the new yarn I ordered…I LOVE it…it is soft-soft-soft!  When I put these away and saw all of the old ones I had made, I realized that I like the 2 tone ones better than the all solid ones.....I've been making many that way to use up little bits and bobs of yarn, but I think I'll do it on purpose now!

 

Monday morning (6/17) I spent several hours on the computer getting all of the instructions written for how to run our recent Volunteer drive.  At 10 I left for our volunteer meeting and I handed out copies of the instructions to the rest of the team.  They will review (hopefully!) and let me know if there is anything I missed before we publish these guidelines.  I didn’t get home until close to NOON, and the bread dough I made before I left had risen to the top of the bowl!  I got the loaves shaped and into pans to be baked, and they were finished baking shortly before Michael came home from golf (with an 84!!) 

 

Aren’t the mini-loaves just the cutest?  They went to 2 of our neighbors.  At 5 we headed over to Sally and Jimmy’s for dinner, which was wonderful.  Afterwards the men retired to Jimmy’s theatre room to watch THE AVENGERS, while Sally and I sat in the living room and talked and talked and talked!

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After a quick breakfast Tuesday morning (6/18) Michael took Cookie for a walk while I headed to the studio (Nancy wasn’t feeling well, so we cancelled our regular date).  When he got home we both went out to the back garden to pick another of our gladiolas….it is the MOST beautiful color:

 

I am excited about working on my new woven purse….but I REALLY just want to sit and read the new book I started called THERE WAS AN OLD WOMAN.  It’s a new novel of suspense and it’s REALLY good.  While I was downstairs sewing, the ‘kids’ tried to share the stool for their naps:

Cookie is laying right on top of Elsie...I think she is trying to get
Elsie to leave!

But Elsie stood her ground!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I got everything done on the woven purse (except the hand sewing…and there is a LOT of it L) done before it was time to make pizza for dinner (using the last of the leftover bread dough for the crust…Michael said it was excellent!), and head over to Jan’s for the evening.  Michael and Walt and Larry went to see the latest FAST AND FURIOUS movie while Jan and I stayed home.  She got a bunch of yarn wound and I finished all of the hand sewing on my new knitting bag (it’s way too big for a purse for me….I LOVE it):

See that gusset on the side?  What a pain in the b-tt!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I changed the pattern somewhat…it didn’t have a lining, so I put one in and added pockets on both sides:

 

anne & flowers, hydrangeas, beach embroidery, furry kids, beginning of woven bag

I got 2 loads of laundry in Saturday (6/15) before picking up Jan and heading to Michael’s (the store).  I went through last Sunday’s papers and found a 50% off Michael’s coupon.  I have tried to order a special ‘resist’ medium for Michael’s (my honey!) alcohol inks, and someone told me that they started carrying it at Michael’s (the store).  So Jan and I buzzed on out there and found it, along with 3 loaves of bread for Jan at the bread store.  I was home by 10:30 and Michael had picked a bunch of our flowers and made 3 beautiful bouquets.  I took one over to Anne’s (she is having surgery this week):

 

and one to Susan’s to thank her for watching after Elsie and one for us:

I spent over an hour getting my first blog entry done and by then it was NOON.  I made a list Friday night of all of the craft type things I wanted to do when I got home, so I got busy on those right away.  My first priority is to get Anne’s quilt moving…her surgery is the 20^th and I don’t know how soon after that she starts chemo, but I want her quilt done ASAP.  She has been going to the beach once a year for about 40 years with a group of close girlfriends.  I decided to make the center of her quilt a beach scene, and then put the blocks from those friends around it.  It took me a couple of hours to layout the embroideries that I am doing for the center, and then I started stitching.  I started stitching at 4PM, and it was finally done at 10PM.  I DID take a short break for dinner, but otherwise was changing my thread 52 times to stitch out the 6 different embroideries I combined for this scene:

 

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FATHER’sDAY!!!  We took a bike ride in the morning, then dined al fresco (on the deck) once we were home.  Michael spent the rest of the morning downstairs with me, reading his emails while someone snoozed nearby:

 

 

 

 

and the early part of the afternoon doing things around the house, and hitting a few golf balls for practice (and this is where Cookie waits while he is gone),

 

on the corner of the sofa, staring at the bottom
of the stairs

 

ok..let's ALL wait on the sofa arm for dad!

 

before settling in to watch the last round of the US OPEN.  I spent the rest of the day in the studio, working on a new purse…or it might be another knitting bag…it’s hard to tell at this point:

 

vacation Thur (6/13) & Friday (6/14)

For the first time since we landed in Las Vegas, the 45 minute drive to Sedona, AZ on Thursday morning (6/13) actually looked like almost normal scenery - meaning trees and hills like the east coast.  We were driving through Coconino National Forest.  Michael must have known about the drive, because he asked me if I would drive down...it was a skinny, 2 lane road with bunches of switchbacks going down, down, down, between red rock mountains.  Oh yeah, and bicycles all the way, in the opposite lane going up this huge hill (so cars kept swerving into our lane to get around the bikers!)  We got to Sedona around 9:30 and checked in for our Pink Jeep Tour. 

our guide and ride at the top!

We left at 10 and went 6 miles (and ascended an additional 2000 feet to 6000 feet above sea level) on Schnebly Road (the term road is VERY loose here as you can see from the sign and pics:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Through Bear Wallow Canyon up to Mogollon Rim.  It was like riding a bucking bronco and by the time the tour was done, I was definitely "shaken, not stirred".  We saw some very important plants on the ride:

 

 

 

Yes, that is an agave plant….it is harvested for TEQUILA!!! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And, our guide thought  he had me stumped when he showed us this:

 

but I know a ‘gin’ tree (aka juniper tree) when I see one!  I think I enjoyed this tour the best of all.  The scenery was spectacular, the ride was like something out of an amusement park and our guide was very knowledgeable and fun.  After the trip we had lunch outside, under the shade of a big umbrella...it was warm, but there was a constant breeze.

So, we come back from dinner and Michael decides to check his email.  I decide to look up our flight....can't find our flight!@!!!  Actually, I find the flight number, but it is now going from Vegas to Philadelphia, instead of Vegas to Charlotte!  I go to the room and call Triple A....no one on travel service is there....they give me 800 number for USAIR.  I call, go through automated process...yep...our flight now going to Philly!!!  I say I need to talk to an agent...am on hold for 45 minutes (Luckily figured out how to use speaker phone in room...but not before I already have a cauliflower ear!  Anyway....I figure I'm in a loop on the phone and go to the other phone and use line 2 to call USAIR again....finally after a mercifully brief 3 minutes I get to talk to an actual person....flight number had changed, and departure time has changed, but only by 10 minutes....PHEW!!!!

Friday morning (6/14) we were both up before 6, and after some last minute packing and a quick stop at DENNY’S, we were on the road before 7.  It was a very long day….a 5 hour drive back to Vegas…a couple of hours in the airport, a 4 hour flight and losing 3 hours due to flying east, we were finally back in Charlotte at 9:30 PM.  Susan picked us up and brought us home…and to make my honey happy, I forced myself to totally unpack my suitcase  J.  He let me off from unpacking my blue carry-on tote until Saturday.

vacation Tues (6/11) & Wed (6/12)

Tuesday (6/11) - How life can change in an instant....Michael and I were both almost killed this morning.  Even as I am writing this, it is hard to believe we were not.  We were up at 6 and packed and on the road to Flagstaff AZ by 6:30.  We thought we would drive for a couple of hours, stop for breakfast (to break up the 5 hour drive) and then continue on.  We were probably on the road for about 45 minutes and were passing through a small 'artist-type' town that we had traveled through on Monday.  The road was a 4 lane road with no median, and the speed limit was 40 miles an hour.  I was driving in the passing lane and there was a car slightly ahead of me in the right hand lane.  Suddenly just ahead of me, for no reason that I could see, a white van/truck (Michael and I couldn't remember which) crossed the double yellow line and headed straight for us at an angle (they didn't just drift over the line, the truck made a sharp turn into the oncoming lanes).  Michael saw 2 girls on the side walk jump into the chain link fence (because at first it looked like the truck was headed that way), then the driver kind of straddled the middle line of our 2 lanes.  The car ahead of me veered to the right...the white truck struck that SUV in the rear fender and bounced back into our lane directly in front of our car...I swerved to the left and only by the grace of GOD did our cars miss each other by inches.  It was probably all over in 5 seconds or less, but It all seemed to happen in slow motion and I really had time to think 'this is it!' just before I swerved.  We pulled over to the curb and sat there shaking as we saw the truck travel a bit more on the wrong side of the road before swerving back to the correct side and roaring off.  I have never been so frightened in all of my life and still can't believe how quickly it happened.  I am 100% convinced that if I had been doing a book on tape, or even talking on a hands free phone, any distraction at all….I wouldn't be here typing this right now.  The studies they keep doing are right….we can do all of those distracting things, as long as nothing really exciting is happening on the road ahead of us.  We finally felt a bit calmer and continued on to Page AZ.

We stopped for breakfast at 11 AM (good thing we still had some leftover breakfast bars from the helicopter day!)  After breakfast, we backtracked for just a bit to the Glen Canyon Dam (upstream of the Hoover Dam) for a tour.  We watched a couple of short films, one on the early exploration of the area and one on the building of the dam itself (incredible) before our actual tour.  Our tour guide Rachel was a Native American of the Navaho tribe.  She had only moved back to the area this year, after spending 6 years in ....can you guess????  Fort Mill South Carolina!!!!!  What are the odds of that?  At one point in the tour we took an elevator down to the bottom up the dam.  As we got off of the elevator, Rachel mentioned that there was a 4 inch gap, through which we could look up and see the top...it was dizzying!  I thought one of the most interesting facts about the dam (built in the 60's) was that, if the builders hadn't done any intervening, the concrete would still be very hot!  Apparently the chemical reaction to produce the concrete produces heat....the builders put pipes throughout the concrete and ran ice water through them to cool it down and help it set. 

 

beside one of the concrete carriers

shooting down to the bottom up the dam

one of the 8 turbines used in the dam

After the tour we hopped in the car for the remaining 2 hour trip to Flagstaff AZ.  Two hours later we were no closer to our destination!!!  Michael had driven about 1/2 a mile when we hit a detour.  The roads out here are few and far between, and the detour took us miles (and hours) out of our way.  The whole time Sheila (our GARMUN) kept trying to get us to turn onto dirt roads to get back to our destination.  When we finally got to a paved road that would begin to take us back towards where we were going...there was road construction.  We sat for 15 minutes talking to Steve (a Navaho)

 

who was stopping the cars on his portion of the road (Michael wanted to give him the Indian name of 'Man with big sign'!)  We gave him a bunch of candy we were traveling with (which he really seemed to appreciate) and finally we were on our way.  Instead of arriving around 3 PM, it was after 5 when we got to the hotel and we were both beat.

Wednesday (6/12) we ate at the hotel then headed out to Sunset Crater.  This volcano erupted 900 - 1000 years ago and was probably producing lava for close to a year.  We walked the 1-1/2 mile loop around one of the lava fields:

We had a guide at the beginning of the walk and he pointed out that from where we were standing, we could see 3 of the 4 types of volcanoes there are: cinder cone (this was the Sunset Crater), strata (those were the distant San Francisco mountains) and dome.  We drove a little further into the park after our hike, looking more closely at the "cinder mountain' and the trees which were growing every which way.  We left the park and headed to the meteor crater.  They had 2 movies, one on how the crater was formed (about 50,000 years ago) and one on what the government might be able to do to prevent another large collision in the future.  Then it was off (with a guide) to walk to the rim of the crater. 

There are no pictures that can adequately convey the size of this thing.  You need a frame of reference to understand the awesomeness and size.  Our guide told us that there was a lot of debate about the crater and up until the 1950's, the government had decided that it was a volcano crater.  It wasn't until a private, interested geologist inspected it that it was determined to be a meteor impact crater.  After our visit to the rim, we visited the museum and checked out the observation deck, before leaving around 4.  One the way home, Michael said 'today we saw stuff from the deepest part of the earth and from the farthest reaches of outer space"...pretty good for one day!

vacation Sun (6/9) & Mon (6/10)

I forgot to post a few pictures from our evening at The Luxor, so here you go:

 

Sunday (6/9) - we're still somewhat on SC time, since we got up voluntarily at 6:30 AM on Sunday.  When we first got to our room on Friday I said to Michael 'we have to take a whirl in the tub.  Our bathroom sported a whirlpool tub big enough for 2.  Well, we were so busy Friday and Saturday that we didn't get to it, but Sunday morning I got up while Michael was still sleeping and started the water (It was so huge it took FOREVER to fill up).  WE both got in, fired up the jets and relaxed and talked about everything we had done for the past 2 days and also talked a bit about what we were going to do on Sunday.  It was LOVELY and after an hour or 2, we finally got out.  We started out for St George  Utah, stopping along the way for breakfast at IHOP.  We got in around NOON.  We dropped our stuff off in the room and headed for Kolob canyon.  We went in to buy our tickets and the woman behind the desk explained that as a senior (62 or over) Michael could buy a $10 pass good for access to ANY national park in the country for free....talk about a deal!  The scenery was breathtaking as we drove along the 5 mile scenic ride through northern Zion National Park....stopping at all of the overlooks to take pictures.   

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Monday 6/10 - we had breakfast at the hotel, then headed to the south part of ZION Canyon.  There are shuttle buses to various points in the canyon, so we stopped first at the Emerald Pools Hike.  We hiked up to see the pools, took some pictures and came back down to hop on the bus again for Weeping Rock.  The levels of water seem to be down everywhere here in the west, and Michael thought it might just be 'sniveling rock' rather than weeping...but by the time we got there...weeping it was J.  After both hikes, we stopped at a cafe on the way down and had these incredible soft serve cones (yep, that was lunch) before heading back down the mountain to our car.  By now we have taken over 200 pictures, as well as some involuntary movies. 

Here’s the story on the ‘involuntary movies’.  When we are coming back down the canyon, Michael is taking pictures, but he keeps telling me that the camera screen always shows some new thing to him…but it is so tiny he can’t read it.  He keeps taking pictures and complaining about it…and I finally look at the camera…..yep…he’s been taking movies instead of pictures….I say “hello Deb!!!” because when we first got the camera and I didn’t really know how to use it…I would finish a quilt and take a picture (while he was out at some rehearsal or other) and then I would ask him to download the picture onto the computer.  The next morning he would say to me ‘yep, you took another movie of your quilt’ because I kept ending up with it on the movie setting instead of the picture setting!!!  By the time we got home, it was time to get cleaned up and head out to dinner.  This time it was Red Lobster (after eating at Olive Garden yesterday!!) .....yes...we have both an Olive Garden AND a Red Lobster within probably 10 miles of our house...and I don't think we've been to either in at least a year.