Adventures in Quilting

I was quilting today and my mind drifted for a moment. Suddenly I was sewing over one of my pins.

I can't believe the needle hit dead center. No broken needle or thread. I cut the pin loose, reinforced the stitches in that spot, and was back on my way.

The Darling Dahlias and the Cucumber Tree by Susan Wittig Albert

This is a new mystery and a new mystery series by Susan Wittig Albert. It is set in a small town in Alabama (Darling, Alabama), at the onset of the Depression. Rather than one person who is the "sleuth", a few members of the garden club - the Darling Dahlias - ferret out the answer to the mystery.

It looks to be a good series. I felt like I got a good introduction to the characters and look forward to getting to know them better in books to come.

Susan Wittig Albert has a knack for creating different mystery series that each have their own unique flavor. This one is very different from the China Bayles books as well as the Beatrix Potter series or the Robin Paige Victorian/Edwardian series.

Note: usually while I'm on vacation, I read a lot. Really a lot. While we were in Yosemite I think I got 10 pages read. Shows how much other fun I was having...

Courage

The phrase gather your courage sounds so simple. At times I am very brave. At other times my courage is scattered so far and wide that there is no hope for gathering it. When it comes to heights and instability, my courage is well beyond my reach.

My children are intrepid. They do things like jump off of bridges (swinging bridges) hundreds of times:

Debra

I jumped off the swinging bridge. Once. In 1991. (I will only walk across it if there is no one else on it.)

My children jump off high rocks by waterfalls hundreds of times:

Audrey

I hiked to the waterfall for the first time this year. I did not jump. I thought to myself, "It's a good thing I never knew what my children were doing up here."

My children hike Half Dome (some of them multiple times):

Bruce, Samuel, Randy, Ray, Audrey, Joseph

Okay, I hiked Half Dome. Once. In 1991. I did not do those treacherous cables. Instead, I lay on the saddle and cried, and only looked down one time.

I regard with admiration my brave children and grandchildren (the two boys jumped off the bridge this year, with just a tiny help from their Uncle Ray).

But everyone needs an audience to appreciate their bravery, right? I'm a great audience. I'm happy to live vicariously through their joy in these instances.

Yosemite Pictures

We took over 1000 pictures between four cameras. Take heart, I have only a few more to share than I have already posted.

These are a few favorite shots of just my very own children:

Debra and Audrey

Beth and Debra

Beth, Debra, Audrey

Beth, Debra, Ray, Audrey

Okay, one last picture of the whole group:

L to R: Ray, Debra, Diane, Randy, Madeleine, Ray, Diane, Elizabeth, Audrey, Matthew, Joseph, Austin, Rachel, Beth, and Bruce

Yosemite 2010

The food is eaten.
The car is unpacked.
The laundry is washed, folded, and put away.

The memory banks are full.

We had a delightful, fun and sun filled week in Yosemite. We played in the river, hiked, jumped off the waterfall,  climbed Half Dome (a few intrepid souls - all the adults in our family have now climbed Half Dome - quite a feat!), sang songs, played games, and had the best week of family time ever.

Our little day camp at the river

Here are the family highlights:

For Baby Diane: playing and napping in her pack-n-play at the river all day (she wins the best baby award)

Diane, happy all day long

Diane

For Elizabeth: playing with the sand and rocks by the river and sitting on anyone's lap who would hold her

Elizabeth

Elizabeth and G'ma

Elizabeth and Pa'a

For Rachel: throwing rocks into the river, eating Swedish Fish from Pa'a

Rachel

Madeleine and Rachel

For Madeleine: going to the river all day long, playing with cousins

Madeleine

Madeleine and Austin

For Matthew: climbing the mountains, eating, going swimming 

Matthew

Austin (above) and Matthew (below) floating down the rapids

For Austin: the animals, all the beautiful trees

Austin

Austin (left) and Matthew on the rapids

For Beth: playing games, eating "It's Its" (thanks for the treats, Clarks!)

Beth

Bruce and Beth

For Bruce: the view from Half Dome

Bruce on the top of Half Dome

On the top of Half Dome - Samuel Clark, Bruce, Joseph, Ray

For Ray the younger: just being able to relax all week

Ray

Ray planning his entry under the waterfall

For Debra: the waterfall

Debra

Debra on top of the waterfall

For Randy: the waterfall

Randy

Randy jumping at the waterfall

For Audrey: the waterfall (I sense a pattern here...)

Audrey

Audrey the mermaid

For Joseph: the waterfall and Half Dome

Joseph

Joseph doing a cannonball

Half Dome hikers: Bruce, Samuel, Randy, Ray, Audrey, Joseph

For Ray my husband: being with Diane (me) and being with everyone else

Ray

Ray and Diane

For Diane (me): being with my family for an entire week in one of the most beautiful places in the world.

The Linford Clan
Top row, l-r: Debra, Randy, Ray, Joseph, Audrey, Bruce, Beth
Middle: Ray and Diane
Children, l-r: Austin, Diane, Madeleine, Elizabeth, Matthew, Rachel

 The best week of my life.

Put All Your Ducks (Or Toys) in a Row

When Debra was about two and a half, Ray did an inventory audit at Redken. He was there on a Friday, and on Fridays they used to give all the employees a bag of "seconds", or product that was not able to be sold because the packaging was messed up. He brought home the bag and set it on our bedroom floor. We came in later to find all the bottles lined up in a long row, arranged from tallest to smallest, and all labels facing the same way. 

Ray rearranged a few bottles. We watched as Debra came in, glanced at the bottles, immediately fixed the problem, and walked away. We still laugh about it.

The other day I walked into my family room. Madeleine (who is two and a half) had been playing. I first saw this:

Then I saw a long line of Fisher-Price animals lined up. Here are just a couple of shots of the line. There were about twice as many lined up as are shown here:

Like mother, like daughter.

Please Do Not Get Into This Cupboard

I thought I'd share a little glimpse into our family while we are gone on vacation...

A few months ago I put a little sign on the door of one of my cabinets downstairs. It said "Do not get into this cupboard". I had some things in there that I didn't want my children to see.

Randy (Debby's husband), who probably never even knew there was a cabinet there before the note was on it, asked, "How come I can't look in there?"

I told him I didn't want him to look there.

Then he told me he was dying to look.

I said, "Actually, you can look. You'll never figure out what's in there that I don't want you to see anyway. I don't want the girls to look in there."

He said to Debby, "Aren't you dying to look in there?"

She said, "No. If Mom doesn't want me to look, I won't look."

We canvassed the family - none of the girls would look. They all said they didn't want to spoil any surprise that might be in there. I've learned the hard way that spoiling a surprise really does spoil it. Somehow my girls have learned that too (or else they're waiting until I'm not around to look).

The sign is off now. Debby was looking for something last week, and I told her I thought it was in that cupboard. She said, "Is it okay to look now?" I told her it was okay.

Would you look?

We're Off!

Our bags are packed, the cars are loaded to the limit, and we're headed out for a marvelous week in Yosemite with our children and grandchildren.

My husband's family camped in Yosemite at Wawona every summer as he was growing up. His sister Elna has rarely missed a year since then. Our children have gone often over the years with their cousins. The kids and I went a few times with Elna (and no Ray). We've gone as a whole family a few times. Ray and I and Audrey and her boys went a couple of years ago.  Many wonderful memories have been forged there for a few generations of our family.

Our sons-in-law have never been. My daughters feel that is a sad thing. So last year we decided we would take the whole family to Yosemite for a week (Merry Christmas 2009).  We booked our week, and have been looking forward to it ever since. We'll be staying at #29 on the map above - near Wawona. No more tent camping in Yosemite for this G'ma! We'll be in a cabin. Can you call it a cabin if it sleeps 15?

Ray's sister Elna and her family will be there the same time we are there. Purely a marvelous coincidence. We just missed his sister Orva and her family who were there a week ago. Too bad. We will think of Ray's mom while we are there - for her Yosemite is pure heaven.

Yosemite, here we come! Won't it be grand?