2017 missive, Jan at breakfast, deer quilt top finished, Elsie & Cookie

Now that I believe our post-holiday cards have arrived, I can post the last of the year end items…here’s our year end missive for 2017:  

2017 – It’s time once again for our post-holiday missive….

I started up my bread baking classes again in January and Michael had his best golf round ever in his life….a 77.  This was also the month that we actively started researching screened in porches in order to create one ourselves this year.  The bad news this month is that both Michael and I were diagnosed with glaucoma, but the doctor feels confident that she has significantly arrested the damage.

In February Michael turned the big 7-0….and that’s all he’d like to say about that!  :~(

The highlight of March was also the second biggest highlight of the entire year….the birth of the most beautiful and happy grandchild you’ve ever seen.  Audrey June is just a delight and we are so blessed to have her, and Kate & Marc are wonderful parents.

We waited almost to the end of April for a visit from Janice & Dennis, but it was worth it!  They were touring the southeast looking for a retirement place, and we spent a wonderful couple of days together….we can hardly wait until they move closer…and any place down here is closer than Connecticut!

At the beginning of May I got to go to Paducah for a wonderful quilting retreat with my friend Pat and 5 of her friends.  These ladies were super nice and I had a terrific time.  Charlie & Sue visited mid-month and got to spend time on our almost finished deck and Michael made his annual pilgrimage to Pinehurst with 11 other guys for a 3 day golfing retreat.  We celebrated 12 blessed years of marriage at the very end of the month.

 In June the biggest event of our year occurred….at last a visit with our most precious granddaughter.  The time was spent holding her, playing with her, and just simply watching her.  She is such a beautiful, sweet and happy baby and we feel very blessed.

In July we started a new tradition; at the end of the evening we light candles and sit out on our finished porch and enjoy the night and talking to each other.  We had a good friend visit as well; Inez was here to visit and to help (or pretty much totally MAKE) desserts for my birthday gathering at the end of the month.  Oh, and remember that low, low golfing score of 77 in January?  Well, Michael blew it out of the water with a 74 in July :~).

Many in our entire nation had the same high point in August that we did….our first ever viewing of the totality of a solar eclipse!  Michael and I and 2 of our friends drove several hours south to be in the zone of totality…and it was totally worth it!  So much so that we are planning to join a NASA cruise in 2019 to the next total eclipse in the Pacific Ocean.  August was personally exciting when Mary Jo came for a visit…we laughed and ate and talked and quilted…it was fabulous  :~).

September saw the death of a friend and fellow quilter – Diane.  This was totally unexpected and mourned by many of her friends, fellow quilters and neighbors.  At the end of September we had an other worldly experience….standing in the street with some of our neighbors watching the International Space Station soar overhead.  And now that I have read ENDURANCE  by Scott Kelly (about his year-long visit to the ISS), I am even more enthralled when we see it.

Of course the highlight of October for me was the Fiber Floozie retreat in Pennsylvania….5 days spent with my closest friends…quilting and eating and talking and laughing…heaven!

November was notable for the fact that it was the first time that the Thursday quilting group hosted a luncheon for veterans.  We had 17 veterans who came and we heard about how wonderful they thought it was for weeks afterwards.  The quilt group has voted to make it an annual event, as well as potentially giving out a Quilt of Valor or 2…I can hardly wait for next year.

As usual, December was filled with Christmas parties and lots of other good food.  I made my usual Christmas candies, and they were all distributed far and wide.  Michael had a wonderful time playing Scrooge again for the Rock Hill production of A CHRISTMAS CAROL.  For the most part the weather was beautiful and Michael continued his regular 3 days a week golfing schedule.

Once again, 2017 was a year filled with golfing and theatre (both community and professional) and new recipes, quilting and lots of visits and dinners with friends.  But the best of all is all of the times we got to SKYPE with Audrey June, and all of the pictures we get to share.  How exciting and wonderful it is to have a grandchild.  

We’re definitely looking forward to what 2018 brings.  We still feel so fortunate to be living here and we try to be grateful every day for all of the wonderful things that have happened over this past year.

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We had a big fry-up on Sunday morning (1/14), pancakes and bacon 

and potatoes….even the kids were there enjoying the smells and the sun:  

When I opened the eggs to get out 2 for the pancakes, I got a surprise from my honey:  

Wonder how long he’s been waiting for me to fix an egg by myself?  Jan came by to help us eat it all up  :~)  

First up on my sewing agenda after breakfast was finishing the last border on the deer quilt:  

Michael thinks it looks really sharp.  Now I just have to buy 6 – 8 yards of brown fleece to get all 3 of the men’s quilts finished.  Next I took Vortex off of the frame and got it cleaned up.  That took a bit of time because I had lots of bobbin ends to weave in, but eventually it was done and on the to-be-bound pile:  

I also got binding done for the fish quilt that's hiding under Vortex:

Michael came down in the afternoon, so the kids were snuggling again:  

When Michael left at 4 PM for rehearsal, I headed back upstairs to read my book.  He didn't get back home until 8:30, and he was starving!  I heated up his leftovers from Olive Garden and then we vegged and watched TV for a bit before bed.