2014 Wrap-up: Grandchildren, Books, Quilts

The last few months have flown by, and I've had no time to blog. I hope to improve on that in the New Year. I'll wrap up the year right here, in one long post.

In November I took a trip to Seattle to see Debra and her wonderful family. I also had a side trip with my friends Tamara, Karen and Gayle to Cannon Beach while I was there. In the interest of actually getting this information on my blog, I have not taken the time to dig up all my pictures. Instead I'm limiting the pictures to my darling grandchildren (oh, and I'm there too)

Jonathan, Madeleine, Diane, and Diane

Me and Diane

Me and Madeleine

Me and Jonathan

Before my trip to Seattle, I had a new granddaughter added to our family in October. Audrey had another girl, LauraJane. It was a whirlwind delivery - Joseph was in Wendover, and Audrey was here in case she went into labor. She did. I took her to the hospital, where she was measured: dilated to an 8. Then she asked if they could hold off delivery until Joseph got there.
--No problem, how soon would he be there?
--Two hours.
--Hmm, we'll try.
Sure enough, it worked. Joseph walked in, and LauraJane was delivered 12 minutes later. I was blessed to be there for the birth. She is beautiful.

Here's our cute girlie, already half-way grown up!

I managed to get a little quilting in this fall (never enough time!) I made this quilt for LauraJane. In the bottom picture is LauraJane's older sister (by not quite one year), Katherine. She likes the quilt too.

This is my block of the month quilt, finished in September. Ray has claimed it for his own. He loves it.

I made five of these wall hanging/table topper NOEL quilts. Four for my children, and one for my sister for Christmas.  I also made 20 pillowcases for the season for my family.

 All right, now to the books. These are the books I can remember reading: (my apologies that the pictures won't line up properly. I'm giving up trying any longer)

The Harry Potter Series. I started this when they were originally written and got derailed after the second or third book. By the time a new book came out after a year, it was sometimes hard to get to it. Plus trying to remember all the details from the books before after all that time was difficult. So I thought, "sometime I'll read them." That sometime came this autumn. I actually listened to them, and it was the best thing ever. The narrator, Jim Dale was amazing. He really made the books come alive. I found myself exercising longer, and cleaning more often, just to get in some more time listening.

I loved the series! So well crafted. Now I'm going to watch the movies.

My daughters and I read The Willpower Instinct together. McGonigal teaches a 10 week seminar on willpower, and the book is written to follow that same format. We decided to read it over ten weeks, and apply the techniques.

I read all of it. Sort of over ten weeks, and really did try to implement a lot of what she said. It's very good, and I' hope to review it every once in a while and keep improving.











Death Comes to Pemberley is the first P.D. James book I've read. I liked it.

Named of the Dragon is another winner by Susanna Kearsley. I haven't yet met a book of hers I didn't like.

The Bess Crawford mystery series by Charles Todd is my new favorite series.I've finished all the ones written so far. A new one is due out in April. I can't wait. 

The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd

I recently read this for my book club. I really liked it and we had a pretty good discussion on the book.

This is the story of Sarah Grimke and Hetty. Sarah is a young woman raised in Charleston, South Carolina, and Hetty is given to her as a slave when Sarah is eleven years old.

The book chronicles their lives. I hate to tell much more about it, because I don't want to give it away. I will say this much: Sarah Grimke was a real person. I wish I'd known that from the very beginning. The notes at the end tell more about her--they give away the story, so don't read them until the end.  Hetty is a conglomeration of various people.

Kidd does a fine job of moving the story along through the years, and weaving two stories that are connected yet individual very well. I like her writing.

Season of Storms by Susanna Kearsley

They say you should never judge a book by its cover, and I've learned that lesson over the years. But still--I just love the artwork on these Susanna Kearsley covers. I have to admit I would pick them up unknown, just because of the covers.

This is a re-release of an earlier book that Kearsley wrote, and I liked it. It isn't like her other books. It's about a young actress to travels to Italy to perform in a play. The books chapter headings are set up like the acts and scenes in a play.

I liked it a lot. And if you've read any of her other books, I think you'll like this book. If you haven't read any of her other books, the stop what you are doing right now and get one and begin reading. That's how much I like her books.

Miss Julia Strikes Back by Ann B. Ross

I've read many Miss Julia books. It's been a while since I've read any, and quite frankly I'd forgotten about them. Somewhere I saw this one and picked it up. These are light books--diverting, I would say. It made me giggle in places.

If you're looking for something that's not too complicated, but is still entertaining, these are good books. I recommend reading them in order.

The Wily O'Reilly by Patrick Taylor

I have really enjoyed Patrick Taylor's Irish Country Doctor series. This book is a compilation of the magazine articles that Patrick Taylor wrote that first featured Doctor O'Reilly. I enjoyed reading this. It's different than the novels - it really is just the articles he wrote. But I liked it as well as the novels.

An Impartial Witness by Charles Todd

This is the second book in the Bess Crawford series.I'm liking these books quite a lot. If you're a mystery book lover, I think you'll enjoy these.

A Duty to the Dead by Charles Todd

I recently discovered another mystery series. This one is by Charles Todd, and is the Bess Crawford series.

The first book in the series is A Duty to the Dead. It takes place during World War I, and Bess is a nurse for the British army.

Some other mystery writer that I enjoy recommended this series. I can't remember who it was. But I thought the book was a winner, and I will read more in this series.

The Bully Pulpit by Doris Kearns Goodwin

The full title of this book is The Bully Pulpit Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, and the Golden Age of Journalism. And that is exactly what it is about.

I'm always amazed by Doris Kearns Goodwin's books. She manages to take tons of information that could be very dry, and makes it very interesting as well as informative. So far I haven't met a book of hers that I didn't like. At about 800 pages this book could be formidable, but I couldn't wait to get back to it every time I had to stop reading.

I sort of have a thing for Teddy Roosevelt, and I've read several books about him, and even a biography of his second wife, Edith Carow Roosevelt. I also have admired Taft. It was very fun to read about both of them in this book. I feel like I need to learn more about Taft now.

I really liked the way she kept the three strings of "characters" going and well meshed together. I am always fascinated to realize that politics really doesn't change that much over the years.

Southern Utah Motorcycle Trip ~ September 2014

I always think we don't get around much, but this summer seems to have been spent anticipating a trip, going on a trip, and recovering from a trip. Then repeating that about three more times. All well worth it, of course. We've sure been busy.

In September we did a motorcycle trip with our friends Karen and Scott Perry, Tamara and Dave Badger, and Mary Ann and Kirk Harvey. We spent eight days travelling. We started in Salt Lake, and went from there to Arches National Park, Moab, Gateway, Ridgway, Telluride, Mesa Verde National Park, Bluff, Moki Dugway, Natural Bridges Monument, Hanksville, Capital Reef National Park, Escalante National Monument, Bryce Canyon National Park, Panguitch, Cedar Breaks, Zion's National Park, St. George, Snow Canyon, Mountain Meadow Massacre Monument, Beaver, Manti, Gunnison, Mt. Nebo Loop, Alpine Loop, home.

We traveled to all these places on scenic highways, and rarely saw anyone else on the road. It was terrific. There were some storms and flooding going on while we traveled, so we did have to cut out a couple of places we were going to see, but pretty much the storm was ahead of us and for the most part we stayed very dry.

Here are another bunch of photos.