Fast Fix-it

Perhaps it's the fastest ever that we've completed a fix-it to the house. By "we" I mean Ray and Ray. And this time it was mostly Ray our son. We've had water coming in one of the downstairs bedrooms since we moved here. Okay, so maybe the repair wasn't fast in commencing, but once started it was done quickly. Ray O (younger) dug out along the wall. The finished ditch was about two feet wide, eleven feet long, and four and a half feet deep. Then Ray and Ray put in a french drain and hooked it up to the drainpipe from the downspout. Then Ray O filled in the ditch. Time to complete: 2 days.

It was supposed to rain all week. Ray shoveled the last of the dirt back, and it started raining an hour later. Not a drop fell the whole time he was working. What a blessing.

Here's the laborer hard at work:

Here's his captivated audience. The boys had a lot of fun watching Ray:

I had a lot of fun watching everyone!

Joseph the Prophet Tribute Quilt

In 2005 our church commemorated the 200 year anniversary of the birth of Joseph Smith. Here in Salt Lake there was a big celebration program, and other activities. In Seattle, where we were at the time, it was a much quieter celebration. (No big events.)

I came to Salt Lake for a visit in 2005 - maybe more than one visit - but while here I happened to stop in at the Bernina dealer where I bought my sewing machine. There was a woman working on one of the squares for this quilt. I asked her about it, and she told me it was a Block of the Month series, in honor of Joseph Smith. I decided I'd like to do it, and I wrote down all the information so I could get the patterns. I really liked the idea of doing it in Seattle. I figured not many, if any people would be doing this quilt there, and I'd be one of the only ones to make it.

I got the blocks, and began. Then a little glitch happened. We decided to move to Utah. This project got put away pretty fast. Then all my sewing stuff got packed up. So much for commemorating Joseph Smith's birth. After we moved and I got wrapped up in life here I thought I'd be lucky to be commemorating Joseph Smith's death with the quilt.

Last year when I made my inventory of quilts and projects to finish I pulled out this quilt. I started sewing on it, and I finished it today! I'm very happy with it. Ray asked who it was for. I said, "Me!" I guess I have given away several quilts lately...
The blocks all have something to do with the life/times of Joseph Smith.
#1 Log Cabin
#2 Brightness and Glory
#3 True Lover's Knot
#4 Tree of Life
#5 A House of Order
#6 Broken Windows
#7 Broken Dishes
#8 Ocean Waves
#9 Hovering Hawks
#10 Sister's Choice
#11 King's Highway
#12 A Song of Praise
Can you pick out which block is which? They are not sewn together in order.

Finished: April 42, 2009
Quilt size: 75 inches X 90 inches
Quilt pattern: Joseph the Prophet Tribute Quilt byKennel Club Girls
Fabric: Thimbleberries

Sylvester by Georgette Heyer

Another Georgette Heyer book. These are clean, light romances, so far all of them set in the early 19th century. I think The Grand Sophy may still be my favorite so far. 

These will be good books for traveling - easy to keep track of the story, easy on the mind. She wrote several of them, so I think there will be quite a few to choose from in the future.

For now, I'm on to more serious reading. It's getting to be biography season (somehow I read a lot of biographies in the summer). I've got Sir Isaac Newton waiting, and George Washington, to name just a couple.

...I do have a couple of other books I want to get done, and book group books. Hmm, I wonder which I'll pick up next?

State of Play

Excellent movie--twists and turns, suspenseful, great acting. I don't want to give it away - go see it!

Spring is finally on its way!

Last week the branches on the trees outside my dining room window looked like this:
I didn't think Spring was ever going to get here. Then we had two days of snow to prove it. This morning I sat down to eat breakfast, and looked out the window. The leaves have already started emerging! In just a week there is a big difference:

I looked out in the back yard, and we have one bush that has bravely gone forth and started to bloom. All the bushes around it are still barren - not even any leaves. It gives me joy to look out and see these flowers, braving the cold, and still shining forth:

Once I noticed those flowers, I looked around and noticed the ground cover starting to bloom:

Spring is on its way! Last Sunday it was nice enough for a little while that Debra and Madeleine could sit out on the porch and enjoy the rocker:

I've had the doldrums the last few weeks. I needed this burst of Spring to help boost me out of it. Then I read a great article in the current BYU Magazine (their alumni magazine) about commitment. It was so inspiring that I decided to make a few new commitments and/or renew some commitments in my life. I won't divulge those commitments, but I will share a quote from the article that I really liked:

Let us be more aware of our commitments; decide now to keep them; follow the Master in our approach to our commitments; set realistic goals to help us endure in our commitments; anticipate the opposition that will come; and reap the blessings, both temporal and eternal, that flow to those who faithfully keep commitments. --Sarah Westerberg, Drawing Lines of Commitment, BYU Magazine, p. 41.

Spring signals a new beginning. I'm going to seize the moment, and begin to live my commitments. I'll be reminded of this goal each time I look out and see the beginnings of the new season all around me. Even if it snows again.

Three Sisters

Marilyn, Elna, Joanne

The Austin girls are amazing women. Ray's mother (Joanne) is one of them. Last Friday we were lucky enough to have them all together in our home. I admire them for many reasons. Here are just a few: they are great mothers, they are kind and loving women, and they are loads of fun to be with. They are a great example to me in every way. I'm thankful to be part of their family (another reason to be happy Ray married me).

Among the Mad by Jacqueline Winspear

This is the latest in the Maisie Dobbs series. It just came out the end of February. So far Winspear has kept up the quality of the books in the series - I look forward to more of them in the future.

Venetia by Georgette Heyer

A light, mindless book. Just what I needed to have my brain start to function normally again. I liked The Grand Sophy better, but these are safe book fluff.

I think I'll head back into a mystery next. (Surprise!)