Arrrgh!!!

Well, I lied. We've seen LOTS of wildlife in the past week, but no lions or tigers or bears.

We saw an amazing number of egrets as we traveled through central Florida, and there was one big old grey heron at the golf course in a dwindling water hole.

Sunday and Monday I was treated to pelicans, storks (we think), and a short sandpiper-like bird at the shore. The storks were white with black-tipped wing feathers.....very dramatic looking birds!

I was surprised to see an amazing number of hawks circling the urban areas. I would have expected to see them over the drier areas of the marshes, but we saw groups of three where there were large concentrations of homes and businesses.

We came home to cold weather following a snow storm that left at least four inches at our doorstep, maybe more. I took pity on the deer, raccoon and the possum and set out ears of corn. Of course, the squirrels and raccoons and bunnies claimed a portion of it. Everybody is hungry, with all the grass and plants covered up. I saw a bunny pruning my sage plant the other day.

I put up a bird feeder that is a cylinder of hardware cloth with four wood ribs, a wood platform and a wood lid. I think the raccoons have been getting a diet of wood at night. Today when I checked the feeder, I found that half of two of the wood ribs have been eaten away. I think Dear Husband can create replacements so I can rebuild the feeder, but it's aggravating to have to do this kind of maintenance.

Edward Scissorhands missed me while we were away. My-Sister-The-Nurse tried to get him to sit on her lap, but he said it just wasn't the same. Rather than getting the cold shoulder when I returned, I had a cat glued to my body, asking to be loved up. Ed is fifteen, and this past year has been hard on him. Our vet asked me to try to shift him to either Iams or Science Diet foods. Ed informed us in no uncertain terms what he thought of that. Rather than starve him, we're going to let him have the food he wants. I think this is likely to be our last summer with Ed.

Soooooooo...that's the fur and feather news for the day!

Bogie! I saw a sign at a nursery in Florida, saying they were selling KNOCKOUT ROSES! I wouldn't have known what they are if you hadn't mentioned them.

I was in the grocery store/pharmacy today, picking up a few items to get us through the weekend, when I discovered a huge display of seeds! I'm SUCH a sucker. I bought two large packets of mixed seeds for plants that butterflies like. I hope to scatter sow the seeds in an area along the north end of the driveway. I'll have to see if dear husband will till a strip for me over there so I can be sure the seeds are in contact with soil.

We had a rainy morning, with temperatures rising to the 50s. There's lots of melting going on. I was taking down the Christmas swags and bows when I discovered that four pots of Iris are drowning. The pots are sitting on the soil in an arm of the garden that is next to the opening of the garage door. The ice that covered the top of the pots from Sunday's storm is melting, but there's nowhere for the meltwater to go, because the bottom of the pots are encased in ice. I dug one of the pots out, but I think we can safely say that these Iris are kaput. Still....I'll leave them, just to make sure that I am right.

I have dozens of plant and seed catalogs flooding my home. I think it's time to look for romaine and spinach seeds. I used to plant a wonderful French bean, but the bunnies and deer all feel that the bean starts are a delicacy. They leave me bare stalks. I'd have to wrap the garden with chicken wire for the first month or so....and they still might eat the beans!

I bought morning glory seeds! Remember last year, when I discovered that the reason I couldn't grow morning glories was the bunnies? I have several rings of chicken wire already in place. I'm going to plant LOTS of morning glories and see if I can get them to climb like crazy. Now that I know what was eating them, I might be able to get some to grow.

Are any of you going to attend Flower and Garden shows? We have one coming up in Chicago on Navy Pier. It's always so jammed with bodies that you can't stand back and see the effects the designers had in mind, but you get to see some wonderful new plants. Maybe we'll get there this year.

Hi, all! We're back. Actually, we returned Monday, and this is the first time I've been able to blog. I've worked through a mountain of laundry, and am back in the office. I'm back on schedule as Elegante Mother's chauffeur, too.

We took off a week ago, on Thursday afternoon for Florida. We left O'Hare about the time a warm front was coming in. I was disgusted. At the very least, the weather could have stayed cold while we were away! *G*

We had a good flight, landed at Orlando International, picked up a rental car and made it to our motel in good time. Dear Husband's daughter, son-in-law and our not-quite-three-year-old granddaughter all stayed at the same motel, and Friday morning we had breakfast and headed off to the Magic Kingdom. It's always wonderful to see a child's first visit with Mickey and the gang. As always, the people at Disney made our experience move smoothly. We arrived some time between 10 and 11:00 and stayed well into the evening. The fireworks went off at 7:00 and we were still going strong. Our granddaughter was frightened by the fireworks so her parents took her on "It's A Small World." DH and I, who have been on that ride, chose to watch the last of the fireworks! *G*

Saturday, the guys participated in the golf tournament named in memory of Dear Husband's oldest son. DH doesn't golf, but he was game to join the tour. He got off several good shots, I'm delighted to announce. One of the tournament organizers assumed that my step-daughter and I were there to drive the carts with water and beer. We were rather surprised that he was insistent that we take on the chore. I have never met a man as sexist as this one. We acquiesced, but my step-daughter was really offended.

Saturday was a little cool, and very windy. The serious golfers were not happy campers. It was too cold and too early for beer, so for the most part we handed over bottles of water. We were on the course for about five hours. Lunch and awards followed at the sports bar that hosted the tournament, followed by naps for our entire group. (All that fresh air....)

Dinner Saturday night was Greek food. It was excellent! I had pastitsio, and a Greek salad, and I may have had the best meal at the table. I was even complimented on my pronunciation of "pastitsio," which took me by surprise.

Sunday, the kids went back to Disney, and DH and I drove east to the Atlantic. One of my all-time favorite Florida activities is walking at the edge of the Atlantic. We found a lovely public beach at Smyrna Beach and walked for an hour or so.

We were trying to find Turtle Mound, but our map wasn't adequate. Ultimately, we began winding our way back to the motel on a little two lane highway through a marshy area. Like Elegante Mother, I really enjoy seeing the wildlife, and egrets are among my favorites. It was a nice trip. A storm was beginning to come in. The clouds were as fascinating to watch as the ocean had been. We made it back to our room and napped a bit more. By 7:30 I assumed that the kids had eaten at the Magic Kingdom, but DH said to wait, and he was right. At 8:00 they called and asked us to order pizza.

The baby was out for the night, but the four of us shared pizza and watched the first half of the Oscars. That was about all we had the patience for, given that we needed to be up at a reasonable time on Monday to make the plane.

Our flight home left 15 minutes late and got in 3 minutes early. If I have the time I'll tell you more about that. We had a tiny bit of turbulence over Indiana, otherwise it was a smooth flight. Too bad we came back to four or more inches of snow!

It's nice to be back. I wish we could have stayed longer, but I'm happy to be back. I hope you all had a good weekend!

This morning, I headed off to exercise on my own. Elegante Mother is a little under the weather, and wanted to stay home out of the rather inclement weather. I didn't blame her. We had winds so high I was do-si-doing with garbage cans as I drove down the street. I think some of the residents are going to have to travel to the next county to find their garbage cans!

It was windy all day, with periods of higher gusts. It began to "rain" snow in early afternoon. When the wind died for a bit, the snow looked more like fog. There wasn't much accumulated snow, probably less than an inch. Unfortunately, we didn't have any melt-off today We have ponds of melt water in the swales along the road that are freezing, but they didn't get any larger.

Our driveway is a MESS! We have an old gravel drive that needs to be reconditioned, that is 220 feet just to the edge of the house. There's probably another 100 feet from that point north. Dear Husband had that accident almost two months ago, and the front of his truck was damaged. It wasn't damaged enough to keep him from driving, but he couldn't use the snow plow, so ice and snow have built up on the driveway. THIS WEEK they called to say the parts are in, and they've had the truck hostage all week. It's a very strange way to do business: making the owner of a brand new truck wait two months for parts and repairs!

At any rate, I think we are going to have to wait for all this ice to melt. I doubt the snowplow will be able to do anything with it. So, we very carefully drive the ruts down the drive, and wait until all the traffic has passed, both ways, before trying to get onto the road. I didn't think I'd ever say it, but I'd be happy to see Spring!

I've been invited by my second sister to speak to the quilt group that meets at her church. She would like me to do a Show and Tell and Tips presentation on March 10th. I spent some time thinking about the quilts and wallhangings and unfinished work here, and think I could easily take 25 pieces to show. The hard part is limiting it to 25. A few years ago I decided to keep some of my work rather than giving it all away, and I didn't realize how many quilted items I'd amassed.

The first Friday of every month a quilting bee meets here at Chez Buffy. I was thinking about the "Tips" part of the presentation. I'm able to give tips to beginners and intermediate quilters, but I realized that I had the opportunity to ask my bee what tips they thought were most important for beginners.

Seven women join Elegante Mother and me to make up this bee, and I am the least prolific quilter among them. One of the ladies is a certified quilt appraiser. Another is a member of the local professional art quilter's association, and another is the most amazing applique artist I know. Another brings her eight year old daughter who is a budding quilter.

We settled in last night with cups of hot tea to tide us against that cold wind, and had our show and tell. Then I asked each of them for the tip they felt was most important. It didn't work that way. There was silence for a moment as they thought, and then one started and the tips came fast and furious. I was hard-pressed to keep up with them as I took notes. These are the tips they gave me:

1. Use good fabric.
2. Take classes and ASK QUESTIONS!
3. Do what you like. Of course, we mean choose colors and techniques that you enjoy.
4. It's okay not to finish something.
5. There are some things NOTHING will help.
6. It's okay to have more than one project at a time but try to keep the number under three
digits. (*G*)
7. Don't be too "matchy-matchy" when choosing fabric.
8. Colors cycle through the market. If you see a color you need or like, BUY IT! That bolt
won't be there in 90 days, and that color probably won't be available next year.
9. Change the needle in your sewing machine with every new project.
10. Look for long-staple 100% cotton thread. If thread feels dusty or "linty" don't buy it.
11. Learn how to clean your machine, and keep it clean, especially the bobbin casing.
12. Read the machine manual and keep it near the machine!
13. Know your sewing machine's quarter of an inch measurement. Keep in mind that the
size of the needle, the weight of the thread, and the kind of fabric will all have an affect on
sewing a perfect quarter of an inch.
14. When taking a class, make sure it suits your skill level. If the class level is not posted,
ASK what it is.
15. Keep your rotary cutter closed when not in use.

To those fifteen, I'd add:

1. Don't change sewing machines in the middle of a project.
2. Periodically refold the fabric in your stash so that the folds don't weaken the fabric.
3. Store your stash away from light to avoid fading.
4. When displaying quilts in your home, place them where they will not receive direct
sunlight. Even bright indirect light can fade fabrics.
5. Look into acid-free archival storage boxes, especially for older quilts.
6. When making an all-cotton quilt, avoid cotton-covered polyester thread. Buy the best
100% long-staple cotton thread you can afford.
7. One of the bee members and I are fond of saying that we have never walked away from a
class without learning something new. Don't be afraid to take a class in a new technique.
Even if you decide that technique is not for you, you will have learned something that will
improve your piecing or quilting, so it's worthwhile.
8. Keep a quilt journal, listing the projects you've made, dating the work, showing who owns the pieces and a picture of the finished work.
9. Create labels for your work, with your name, the date completed, and your town. Also list if anyone else worked on the quilt with you, and who the owner is, if it is a gift. At the very least, write the information on the back of the quilt.

Quilting can be a solitary activity, but it's at it's best when it's shared!

I'm addicted to quilting. Not as addicted as most of the ladies in my bee, but addicted nevertheless. You've seen pictures of the blocks using Halloween fabrics and shades of orange fabric, in an earlier entry. I decided that I need to get that top put together to take to the Trunk Show I'll be doing for my sister's quilting group.

There's a lot to be said about taking an unquilted top to show. Quilters ALWAYS want to see the back of your work, to see if they measure up to you, or if maybe, just maybe, the back of their work looks even better than yours! *G* It's the nature of the beast. I'll be charitable, and tell you that some women look to learn how to do things better. I'm sufficiently confident about my work that it doesn't bother me that there are women who are better piecers and quilters than I am. If it helps a beginner quilter to know that she measures up to me, I'm glad to give her the boost.

There are things to be learned from the back of a quilt top. You can see if the quilter has given thought to pressing the pieces for flat assembly. You can see if the top was paper pieced, or you can look for markings that would indicate the pieces were cut from templates. You can see if the quilter has cleaned up the back, snipping threads leftover from sewing. And, of course, you can see if the top was pieced by hand or by machine. No doubt my more learned friends can glean even more information than that.

Most of the quilts I make use old-fashioned patterns with today's amazing variety of fabrics. I tend to like a scrap quilt look, so it's very rare when I use just five or six fabrics in a quilt. One of the last quilts I'll show is dark blue and gold, but I think there may be 24 different blue fabrics and 24 different gold fabrics in the top. I need to count them before I pack the quilt for the talk. I saw a blue and gold quilt in a magazine, and thought I had to have one like it. When I was done, I really wished I had a kid at a college that used blue and gold for their colors so I could send it away! It could have been worse. I could have made a blue and orange quilt, and everybody would comment on how great a Bears fan I am! *G*

Today I sewed together the 20 blocks that make up the center of the Halloween quilt. I used a one-inch green and black sashing to connect the blocks. The next step is to surround this rectangle with the same sashing. I may get that finished tonight. The next border is made up of two-inch strips of all the fabrics in the blocks, set at a 45 degree angle, and the last border will be black fabric with stars or pumpkins....whichever I can find at the shop this time of the year.

It's shaping up. Soon I'll have another picture to share. *S*

I'm longing for crocus blooms, balmy breezes, sunshine on my skin and the chance to burn my winter coat.

I want to see leaves starting to bud out, and the magnolia blooms start to swell.

I want to play in my gardens, and be able to hop in the car to run an errand without having to put on 15 pounds of specialized clothing!

I want to be able to ride my bike down the drive without bogging down in the mud.

I want to be able to serve salad as the main course for dinner.

I want to taste a tomato that doesn't taste like cardboard.

My apologies for whining publicly. Usually I can deal with the wait, but this year it just seems a bit more difficult. I'll keep my head down, and work at my sewing machine for the next week or so, and maybe there will be a change when I get back to the window.

(croaking...) I need MORE SLEEP!

I sent out a call to Number-Three-Son on Monday. We have a new all-in-one machine in the office and Dear Husband was having some difficulties getting it hooked up correctly. The missing connection was the one to the computer, so I wasn't able to print anything from the living room computer, and, the fax portion of the machine wasn't cooperating.

NTS said that he could come on Tuesday but he couldn't make it until 6:30 or so. Both he and his wife came. I fixed dinner, and then he had a go at our problems. He reorganized the connections, installed a wireless mouse for me in the office, and then upgraded and did some troubleshooting. I think he was pleasantly surprised to find that there was virtually nothing to do on the personal computer. I'd run the Spybot program, AdAware and Norton, and defragged, recently.

All this took about three and a half hours. By 11:00 I was overtaken by jaw-popping yawns, and an intense longing for my bed. We'd sent Dear Husband off to bed around 10:00 because he has such an early morning call during the week. I didn't complain, because NTS's help with the computers is so necessary. We're lucky to have a kid willing to keep us up and running.

Number-Two-Son came home and chatted with the others for a bit. I had to work hard not to edge them toward the door, thinking longingly of my bed....but I managed to hold back. Really! I was GLAD to have them there! I swear!

I have been short on sleep for the past few months, and I am one of those people who needs at least eight hours a night, if not a little bit more. I get up early and get my day started, but if I haven't had enough sleep, especially if I've been short on sleep for several days in a row, I get to the middle of the day and crash.

I came into the office and worked for a few minutes around 11:30 this morning, and thought I'd tilt back and rest my eyes....just for a moment! Every now and then, I could hear myself snore. (Pretty picture, hmmmmmmm??? At least I wasn't drooling.) It was enough to disturb the sleep I was getting, but not quite enough to wake me for the afternoon. When I finally bolted upright in my chair, my hands were frozen. I must have been sitting just right to cut down on the circulation to my arms.

I'm improving on getting up earlier in the morning. 5:15 doesn't seem quite so wretched to me now, but I need to work on getting to bed earlier. I want my eight hours a day of snooze time back! I want to snuggle under the quilts, and gather my strength to meet the day, so that I'm ready to meet the needs of gardening season. Now I know why my parents felt it was inappropriate for phone calls to come in after nine at night, unless there was an emergency. THEY NEEDED THEIR SLEEP! And so do I.

Yesterday, I made the trek to Elmhurst to my dermatologist. This doctor is so special that Elegante Mother and I followed her when she moved her practice. It's a pleasure to see her, and in return, she takes care of my skin woes.

We visited for my annual body check in February just before I left for Florida. She said there was a precancerous spot on my nose that needed to be treated (one I hadn't even realized was there), but she'd do it when we got back. So, I dutifully made and kept the appointment. When she was done yesterday, I had FOUR treated spots: two on my face and one at each wrist. Unfortunately, they may not be totally healed by the time I give my quilt presentation, but I'm sure the ladies will cope with it.

Dear Husband was referred to a dermatologist for the same kind of treatment on his nose last week. He'd had a spot for about a year, that was so understated that I didn't even think about it. Our poor little noses are not quite twins.

Dermatology is big business with all the missing ozone. I think that more people will be adding a dermatologist to the list of their health providers, just to keep track of all the types of skin cancers that are developing. I wear long sleeves and long pants when I garden, and floppy hats. I try to remember to wear sun-screen, and I try to work early in the day when the sun's rays are not directly overhead. What gets past me, Doc will zap. OUCH!!

I was carded yesterday. That hasn't happened in more than twenty years.

I was at Office M@x yesterday to buy cans of compressed gas. I use them to clean out my keyboards. Number-Three-Son was coming to work on the computers, so I needed to clean out the cat fur.

At check out, the clerk asked me for my identification. I handed it over. He muttered something about a birth date, and I finally realized that he was carding me for age. It seems the company had just instituted a requirement that purchasers of compressed gas dusters needed to be a certain age. I don't know just what age. I muttered (loudly) that I was OLD ENOUGH! He finally got the computer running the cash register to agree.

I picked up one of the cans just now to be sure I had the product name right, and on the label it says "Contains a bitterant to help discourage inhalant abuse." Good God. What the heck are kids doing with this stuff? It's not like it's going to make you talk like Donald Duck!

And, what the heck is a "bitterant"? Does that sound like a made up word to you? (As far as www.dictionary.com is concerned, it isn't a word. Some PR person probably came up with that to save room on the label.)

I am SICK of TAXES! I propose that everyone, EVERY SINGLE PERSON IN THE COUNTRY, pay 15% of their income each year to support the federal government, and another 3% for state funding. Wouldn't THAT streamline the process?

Can't ya see all the accountants, and lawyers and government workers scrambling to head off that proposal? They'd all be out of jobs, or would have to shift over to collections.

We are so top-heavy with management, and so overwhelmed by government that we are slowly sinking into the mire. Soon the middle class won't be able to support all the demands made upon them, and then just who do you think will pay those bills?

We had the most interesting day yesterday. My youngest sister was visiting and she joined us for a Red Hat Lady's luncheon. They welcomed her warmly and asked where she lived and worked, and then the conversation was off and running. We had lunch at "The Claddagh" as a tip of the hat to St. Paddy's Day. I had a great corned beef and coleslaw variation on a Reuben. While we were out, we visited Trader Joe's and Crate and Barrel. Nan egged me on to make a major dish purchase, while she walked out of the store empty-handed!

We made it home a little after 3:00 and then Dear Husband and I drove into Chicago to hear the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. I'd given DH tickets for Christmas to hear Sir Alfred Brendel perform Mozart. It was the first time we'd been there since they have remodeled the facility. It's a beautiful bon-bon in cream, taupe, silver and gold. It just shimmers, and has great sight and sound lines.

We heard Haydn's Symphony No. 93 in D Major, Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 17 in G Major, K.453, and Beethoven's Symphony No. 5 in C Minor, Op. 67. We arrived more than 30 minutes early, and had main-floor seats on the aisle. Rather than get up and down ten times, we spent part of the time standing until the aisle filled. The staff is energetic in getting everyone seated so that the performance can begin on time. We were interested to see the layout change for each performance.

Roberto Abbado was conducting, and he chose to have the basses and first violins to his left, the second violins and violas to his right and the cellos in the center, second row. The woodwinds were behind the cellos and the brass were off to the right, and slightly higher on the risers. There was one lone percussionist, a tympanist.

I thought they were going to have to roll in the piano for Sir Alfred, but we were surprised to see it rise from the pit. Beethoven's symphony required more performers than the Haydn and Mozart, so there was an intermission before the last selection, so they could get everything moved in place.

The first flute, first oboe, first clarinet and first bassoon of the CSO create a beautiful core of sound for selections like these. Where the musical line moves from one to the next, the trade off is faultless, and the tone quality so perfect that it sounds as though one instrument is playing the line. I closed my eyes to listen just to focus on the incredible sound. It was a wonderful evening, one which we need to do again, soon!

We came home to change our clocks forward, and slept fast. Elegante Mother wanted to go to early church, and then we had breakfast at a great Cajun place, before Nan started the drive home. When you factor in the warm weather, Nan's presence, and the enjoyable activities, this has to be one of the best weekends we've had all winter. Let's do it again, SOON!

It doesn't take much of a change in weather to make us happy campers. Yesterday and today it was still coat weather, but hardy souls could have made due with a jacket rather than a long coat and woollies.

We had so much sun this weekend that most of our snow cover has melted off. We know better than to be running out on the lawn and tossing a few footballs, because the lawn is not completely defrosted, and we have a lot of mud waiting to trip up anyone who's not wary. It will be a couple of weeks until we can safely walk out there because we have more rain on the way.

Today, as we left the house, I saw two hyacinth bulbs pushing up through the dirt in the sidewalk garden. And, there's a line of daffodils marching across the front of the house that is about three inches out of the ground. Soon we should see crocus blooms!

I had this terrible urge to go out and clean up the gardens. I ignored it, and worked on a quilt top, instead. I want to get the Halloween quilt finished and sent off to be quilted. There will be time to play in the gardens soon! *G*

I am truly blessed with wonderful sisters! I've always felt that they were there for me, but this past year has really brought that into focus. When I hurt my knee they acted as chauffeurs and cooks and housekeepers and gardeners. One in particular kept saying "GO SIT DOWN!"
They took care of me off and on for several months, as the need arose.

It's usually momentous occasions that make us treasure our sisters, those memorable moments in our lives that become part of the family lore. But, this weekend didn't start out to be one of those memorable occasions. It was just going to be a laid back visit, a "mini-vacation."

Nan, My-Sister-The-Blogger, who wears ninety thousand other hats: MOM, Lt. Commander, teacher, principal, confidant, church lady, band uniform mother, gramma, scrap booker, gardener (you get the picture), attended a seminar in Gary, Indiana on Friday. Since she was in the Chicago area, she decided that she would come to visit us for the weekend. She's always welcome. She knows she doesn't have to ask, but she did, rather than just appearing on my doorstep.

Dear Husband and I lead a very laid back life. Since he's become an avid sailor, we have fewer and fewer winter weekends where we are away from home. This weekend happened to be one of two for the year that had been booked with something that couldn't be postponed. I told Nan that DH and I would be away Saturday night, but that she was more than welcome to visit with Elegante Mother and make herself at home.

She did just that. While we were away Saturday night, she folded my laundry, washed my dishes (things left from Friday dinner that didn't fit into the washer), and kept my cat company. I suspect that I need to check to see if my ironing was done, too.

She did all of this without a word, fitting right into the household seamlessly, and when I realized that she had done the dishes, and marveled about it, she merely poo-pooed the recognition.

I had a lovely day with her Saturday. We were at an amazing mall, and we both wished we could have stayed to shop until we dropped. I have the feeling that we might do that one day, but we were other directed Saturday. We paved the way for EM to attend the Red Hat Lady luncheon, and then Nan kept her company in the evening when Dear Husband and I went to Orchestra Hall.

What started out to be a mini-vacation for my sister, turned out to be "the same old thing" but at my house, not hers. Not much of a vacation, in my mind, but she seemed to enjoy it, and I certainly enjoyed her company and help.

Despite the simplicity of the weekend, I think it's going to become one of those memorable occasions. It isn't often that we get to share times like this with our siblings, once we have reached this stage in our lives. I think that makes this time with Nan all the sweeter.

I hope I said it when you were here, but if I didn't, "Thank you, Nan! I really enjoyed your visit. Let me know when I can return the favor." *S*

P.S. I REALLY like the new layout that our fearless leader is creating for you on your blog. The light house is a great choice!

I have been invited to show my quilts to my second sister's quilt group at church. This is the first time I have ever done a formal Show and Tell of my work. I'm accustomed to having guests ask me to show them what I'm working on (in my bedroom/quilt studio), but I've never done a program of this sort for a guild or bee or quilt group.

I have to thank these ladies for getting me started on my Spring cleaning! I've pulled quilts from the backs of couches and the walls and the storage cabinets in the great room, from my bed, from the quilt rack in the bedroom, from my closet and my mother's closet, and from the closet in the guest room! Most of the quilts have been run through the dryer on air fluff to remove dust and lint.

Second Sister also asked for quilt tips, and I've posted those in an earlier entry. I'm taking one medium-sized tote bag with things like my favorite pins, needles and thread, and the magazines I consider necessary. I'm also taking the size olfa cutter I prefer and a new turntable mat I've fallen in love with for sub-cutting patches. One of the items is a piece of screening, the kind you use for summer screens. If you have a fragile quilt, like a crazy quilt, you lay the quilt on a carpet, and lay the screen over it, and hand vacuum it. It gets the dust off without damaging the fabrics and embroidery.

I counted, and last night I bagged up 31 quilts and tops . I have a crazy quilt and a scrap quilt to bag, and I'm debating whether or not I'll be taking the family crazy quilt from 1890. My grandmother did six over-sized crazy quilt blocks to which I added a backing for safety. The fabrics are very fragile. Some are starting to disintegrate. I may choose to leave it at home once I've inspected it.

These 31 quilts are not every quilt that I have in the house. While my walls are really bare at the moment, I still have several antique quilts, and many wall hangings that I'm not taking. I wish I could take the Sails and Whales quilt that I'm doing for Dear Husband, but it's pinned to the rollers for the quilt frame, and it's just too long to pack.

I organized the quilts into categories to decide what to take. Early work, Mystery Quilts, Bee Quilts, Crazy Quilts, Half-Square Triangle Quilts, and One of a Kind Quilts were the divisions that made sense to me. I just realized that I could have borrowed TWO signature or album quilts from Elegante Mother, and the Hand-print Quilt in the hallway, and the box of batik hands that I'm doing for the next generation, to talk about genealogy quilts. But.....enough is enough. I know there's going to be complaining when we have to carry everything in, and back out.

I'm going to give my digital camera to one of the ladies and ask her to take pictures of the quilts as they are shown. It will be the first time some of these quilts will have been photographed. I need to bring my quilting journal up to date.

I don't need to have you wish me luck; this is a subject near and dear to my heart. But, you can wish me smooth sailing. The ladies will probably have to tell me that it's time to go, long before I get to the end of what I want to share. Isn't it wonderful to be able to share something you love?

My quilt Show and Tell (and Tips) went well, last Thursday night. I packed up the car with bag after bag of quilts, and we headed off to have dinner with My-Sister-The-Nurse. She was standing in for Second-Sister, who was in the hospital with pneumonia. SS will be okay, but she needs some time to heal, and is basically on house arrest this week.

When we arrived I learned that I had a maximum of two hours to fill, but that was the absolute limit. I knew that I could easily fill up 120 minutes. I was more worried that I had too much to share! I started with the tips so I could show how some of them appear in my own quilts. My mouth was on overdrive, because I knew it would be a race to show everything, but the ladies soaked it all up.

When I packed, I took one more group of things than I had originally planned, and it turned out it was a good choice. My-Sister-The-Nurse made a quilt with our hand prints over 25 years ago. I've wanted to make a current genealogy quilt ever since, and I've blogged about the batik version I've started. I took the run of fabrics for that quilt, and several of the completed hand prints, and the quilt my sister made. There's also a signature quilt that I made for mother more than ten years ago. I didn't have the time to search for it, or I would have taken that, too.

I substituted the hand print quilts for the wall hanging tops I made last summer with fabric Cop Car gave me, and fabric that I gave to Cop Car, and the ladies were very interested.

It was a VERY long day for Elegante Mother. She was quite tired by the time we came home. I think we pulled into the garage around 10:30 or so, and she announced she had no plans to go to exercise the next morning, thank you very much.

My-Sister-The-Nurse called on Friday and asked if I would do a similar show for her church. It seems that my family will keep me busy for a while.

For those of you who were waiting for pictures, I'm sorry to tell you that you will have to wait a bit longer. The room was set up in a way that wasn't conducive to good photos. At best you might have seen a closeup of the quilts. Many of the quilts are so large that there wasn't enough room to back up and get the entire quilt in one picture. Do you know how HEAVY some of those quilts are? An hour into the show I was perspiring from hefting them around! I was just as happy that the quilts and I weren't being photographed.

Although all but one of the hanging quilts is back in place, I have to unpack all the rest tomorrow. If there's sunlight, I'll try to photograph some of them on the floor before they are put away. I need to make a list of just how many quilts need labels. I plan to take one day this summer and make labels for all of them. One other project is to bring my quilt journal up to date. I'll have to ask family members to take pictures of the quilts I've given them, but I'd like to have a journal page for each, along with the photo.

So....a good time was had by all, and I've had incentive to get Spring Cleaning started. That's a win-win situation in my book!

At 6:28 this morning, you could see you hand in front of your face. By 6:48 the sky was light. Unfortunately, Dear Husband was off to work at 5:30. Poor man. He must feel like a mushroom!

Bird song. Chit Chat. Bur-DEE Bur-DEE Bur-DEE! The birds are so ready for Spring that they are talking it in! We've missed their chatter during the winter, but now they're making such a racket that you can't miss them.

Elegante Mother's Empty Nester sewing circle from church is meeting here this afternoon. EM bought a sinfully rich chocolate dessert and will offer Earl Grey in porcelain cups to go with it. I've been up since 5:00 putting the house to rights, putting quilts away, doing a few loads of laundry, getting the table organized for the crafters and faxing off tax information.

I think I've developed Conjunctivitis. I have a doctor's visit later this morning to confirm my guess and get some treatment. As I recall, no shared towels, lots of hand washing, and maybe, eye drops. I wonder where this came from??

Crocus are in bloom, and daffodils, oriental poppies, day lilies, chrysanthemum, iris and chives all show growth. Dear Husband and I moved the plants I wintered over in the garage to the edges of the sidewalk Sunday afternoon. You should see the growth on the Seedum 'Autumn Joy'!! And, of course, the mint is showing new growth!

We saw our first robin yesterday, March 19th. One of the ladies at exercise reported that she had seen TEN on her lawn, a couple of weeks ago when there was a particularly bad cold snap. Robins eat worms. How do the survive when the soil is frozen and the worms are hibernating?

Okay, it's time to get cleaned up to visit the doc. I hope you all have a great day!

We started our day in a very light rain. I thought perhaps that Elegante Mother would refuse to go to exercise, but she went, without complaint. I like almost all of the music this session, which makes exercise easier. But, today we discovered that our exercise guru is capable of extending the songs digitally, and we're working a little harder than we were a few weeks ago.

Our guru, "Gentle Dragon," has been focusing on hip exercises the past couple of months, and I must need these exercises, because my hips have been aching. It's not bad enough to do anything about it; I can control it with regular doses of Ibuprofen.I know that in the long run, this is good for me, so I try to make it to class. I thought I was going to miss on Friday, but the dentist rescheduled my appointment, so I'll get to exercise.

I was sitting in the "green room," the room off the kitchen that holds the plants and the casual dining table, having toast, and there was a flash of light. I wondered if it had something to do with my eye problem, but about 15 seconds later there was one LARGE boom of thunder! Just one. It seems that most of the daytime thunderstorms went north of us.

We had about an hour of lovely sunlight before the clouds closed in again. We're supposed to have thunderstorms tonight.

The two retention ponds immediately to the east of us have been very poorly designed. They were fine when there were no houses, but the contractor who owned the land, clear cut it, dredged out more lake area and then connected those lakes to these two retention ponds, and covered it with houses and apartments. I think it's all supposed to drain out the southern most pond. BUT....they underestimated the amount of flow.

A year later, they came back and increased the size of the lake. I still don't think they have estimated the flow correctly, because we have been in drought since the houses were built.

I'm taking bets. I think by Friday those two lakes will become one, and our road will be under water. If it happens....I'll have pictures!

Happy Spring, all! Enjoy the warmer weather!

We've had several record-breaking warm days. I stalled on getting our spring cleanup started, and now I regret it. This afternoon our temps are going to drop from the 80s to the 40s as a cold front moves south over the Chicago area. It's bringing showers that will come and go throughout the rest of the week. I can expect the ground to remain boggy.

On the other hand..... the squill and crocus are blooming, and some of the daffodils have opened. I've seen robins, and gold finches and house finches. The chives are easily six inches tall, and there are tulip leaves, day lilies, oregano, feverfew and one more plant that I can't identify turning green in the herb garden. The honeysuckle along the lot lines and tree lines is leafing out. I think I may need to uncover the rose bushes before Easter.

We are all ready for a gradual warming that will lead to spring. None of us are completely happy about the yo-yo temperatures. We'd feel better if we could acclimate gradually, rather than being thrown into Summer with no preparation. Our climate is surely odd these days.

One of my favorite nieces and her son will be joining us for dinner tonight. On the way to grocery shopping today, Elegante Mother suggested that the next time my niece came to visit we should plan a different meal. It seems that we've done the same meal for them for the last several visits! I hadn't realized. I'll have to ask her what she has a taste for next time.

Tonight we'll be having medium rare flank steak with broiled steak seasoning, lemon pepper and garlic salt, huge baking potatoes (and I'll put out sour cream, butter, bacon bits and shredded cheddar cheese for those who want them), steamed cauliflower with browned bread crumbs and sliced green onions, roasted asparagus with Kosher salt and minced dry onion, Caesar salad, strawberries, and maybe chocolate cupcakes.

We rarely eat this way at home. Normally, I offer a much more trimmed down meal, with fewer condiments, and simpler veggies, but we seem to go all out for my niece and her boys. We'll be hosting Easter in a couple of weeks. The preparation for tonight's meal is similar to what we do for Easter, Of course, those who come to have Easter dinner with us will bring dishes to pass. Dear Husband and I will do all the cooking tonight. He cooks the flank steak and makes the Caesar salad. I clean the romaine, cook the cauliflower, roast the asparagus, clean and slice the strawberries, make the cupcakes, and clean the kitchen.

Hopefully, a good time will be had by all, and I'll go back to lighter meals for the end of the week.

The forsythia is in bloom!

And the star magnolia buds are swelling, but it looks like a lot of the buds were killed off in the three weeks of below-freezing weather we had in February. Too bad, it's really a beautiful shrub.

Today started really well, and I have high hopes for the rest of the day, despite the rain that is coming our way. The weather forecasters are uncertain whether the showers will slide in this afternoon, or this evening, but we can expect rain for several days.

Gentle Dragon, our exercise guru, is off to visit one of her daughters for a long weekend. We had a sub today who has a slightly different style. I think it disturbs her that we aren't shouting back encouragement, so she does it for herself. She paces the exercise differently. There's rarely a break in movement, while GD has us keep stepping between songs. There's nothing wrong with the way the sub handled the class, nothing at all. But she isn't Gentle Dragon.

The ladies and gentlemen in my class have become very fond of GD, but it took us a while to develop that relationship. Our sub seems to feel that she can come in and have instant relationship, and it just hasn't worked that way. Class was full today, but I think that might have been because we were all meeting for breakfast after class, to celebrate the March birthdays. *G* (Yeah....we exercise and then we eat!)

I was up at five this morning, doing a little housework and getting ready for exercise. Elegante Mother is a little under the weather, so we let her skip exercise this morning and sleep in. She's had a little tummy upset, which in turn has kept her from sleeping well. I think she'll be fine tomorrow, and we'll just pretend it isn't raining.

I'm going to steal some time to sew today, and pay some bills. The house is clean, so there aren't any chores calling to me. It seems like the perfect day to vege out!

Dear Husband has volunteered his talents to one of my nephews, who is working on finishing a basement fireplace. If it weren't raining, I might have told my nephew he'd have to wait, because I have a long list of outside chores that require Dear Husband's help. As it is, I'll have to hope that we get a dry weekend before boating season starts, that isn't taken up with boat preparation.

The forsythia is GORGEOUS!. We've left it in the arching "fountain" style, and the gold just glows against the gloomy skies. I have my youngest sister, Nan, and her husband to thank for planting it. I'd purchased it, and had delayed getting it into the ground. One visit, they simply picked up the forsythia and a shovel, and had it planted in 15 minutes! Thank you, Nan, for saving the shrub and giving me years of spring enjoyment!

So, my day is filled with average, run of the mill things, but I'm really enjoying it. I hope you all have a good weekend!

Go visit Texas Trifles, and take a look at the book meme that Cowtown Pattie has published.

I was astonished to see how many books both she and I have read. Pattie has read 58 of a list of 100 books; I've read 54. I own several of the books on the list and am waiting to get to them.

There's no rhyme or reason to this list, apparently. Just go browse and see how many of them you've read, and say "Hey!" to Pattie while you're there.