Then and Now

I came across this picture of Ray carrying Beth in a back pack:

Ray and Beth, 1989

And it reminded me of when we went to Yosemite two years ago. This is Ray carrying Matthew who was about the same age as Beth was in the picture above:

Ray and Matthew, 2008

Happy Birthday Ray!

53 years old today. The best man I know.

Here's a little trip down memory lane - these are a few favorite pictures, some of which I've carried around in my wallet, most of which I have pinned up on the wall surrounding my desk so I can look at them all the time.

1978, Essen Germany

1982, BYU graduation (BS Business Finance)

1984, Santa Monica, California

1991

1997 or 1998, Lake Cavanaugh, Washington

Mid 1990's, Comdex or a Trade Show

2006, Sandy, Utah - Debra's wedding reception

2007, Trek

2010, Yosemite

2010, Yosemite

It is a joy traveling through life with you, Ray. Happy Birthday. I love you.

A True Friend

Today was Thursday workday. Trish came over, walked into my office/sewing room, and asked, "Has young Ray been in here?" I said I didn't think so - at least not for any extended period of time.

She said, "It smells like boy in here." Yikes! Time to open the window and air things out. Thank heavens for a friend who can honestly tell you when you have a problem. Seriously. 

The window stayed open until the deluge began. We had a serious rainstorm here this afternoon and our neighborhood sustained some damage. Our home had water pouring in a couple of window casings, and our storage room got some water in it also - all of which was easily mopped up with a towel. Several neighbors have Disaster Relief trucks in front of their homes, and I know many basements have water in them. Ray is currently out with our pump and shop vac helping clear some of the water from those homes. 

Trish and I ventured out for lunch, got about two minutes down the road and turned around and came back. It looked like you could ride some big waves on Wasatch Blvd. Then we hit 17th East where it turns into Draper Parkway and part of the road looked washed out. Large orange construction barrels were floating along. That's when we turned around and scrounged for lunch here at home.

Now the sun is shining, and it is absolutely beautiful outside. My window is open again (I'm going to get some air freshener in down here) and I'm enjoying a gentle breeze. It is hard to believe it stormed so hard earlier.

Meanwhile Trish and I had one of our least productive, but most enjoyable and relaxing quilting days. She pinned two quilts, and I put a final border on one quilt and cut out another. That sounds more productive than we were. We sure got a lot of talking done, though.

Here is the fabric that I am using on my new little quilt. These are the leftovers. I grossly miscalculated how much fabric I would need, and will be able to get lots more use out of this fabric than I originally thought. 

I really like the fabric. I bought it while on Vashon Island last Spring. It feels fresh and cheerful. I'll enjoy working with it.

(Pictures of my other quilt when it's all done and quilted - hopefully by next week.)

Perilous Work

I've got another six weeks or so of yard work before the weather really changes and I can hang up my gloves and bucket for the year. I'm trying hard to get the yard in order before that time.

Yesterday I corralled Ray (son) to help me work on the rock wall. I don't like to do the wall because there are a gazillion snails (I stopped counting at 25 the other day), and of course, the spiders. They just love those rock crevices.

I asked Ray to do the top part of the wall. I told him it is a lot easier for him to climb up and down than it is for me, which is very true. I did not mention to him the other reason: the spiders up there are bigger and more aggressive. I think they've worked their way to the top, so to speak. He rolled his eyes, but climbed right up and got to work.

About 45 minutes later I heard gasp. I looked up and Ray said, "Two very large spiders just rushed me." (I must admit to being relieved it was him and not me - for me it would not have been a mere gasp). Then he looked to his right, and scrambled down the wall. "Another one right by my face!" (Now I was really glad it was him and not me - I'm still here to tell about it.)

About five minutes later he announced he was done for the day (who can blame him?). As he left he said, "If only we could start a war between the spiders and the snails, maybe they would decimate each other."

A mighty fine plan.

Some Words of Advice

1. Label your quilts.

2. Take pictures of your quilts.

3. Record size and any fun details of your quilts.

Dogwood Quilt, completed 2007

For awhile I was faithful about doing those things. Then life got in the way. And I got lazy. And now I regret it.

I started quilting in 1992. About 5 years later I decided to keep a journal of my quilts. I hunted down all the ones I had made until then and took pictures of them. I was very diligent in keeping track of my quilts. I put the start and end date of making them, I put the pattern source and size, and any notes about the quilt (why I made it, problems I had, any fun details). I also took a picture of the quilt and put it on the page.  I had two binders with pages of my quilts.

Recently I decided to scan all those pictures and put them on my computer. Audrey went one step further for me and set me up in Picasa and made a link at the top of my blog to see the quilts. I've been working on this for the past month or so.

Imagine my dismay to discover I'm missing at least three years worth of quilts. There are a few factors. One, it was when I was switching from film to digital camera. Two, part of that time included a move (quilting things packed up for many months) and a broken arm. Three, when I was in a hurry to give away a quilt, I sometimes forgot to take a picture of it.

I've commissioned my children to take pictures of the quilts I made them or their children in those years, and they are doing that for me. But I'll still have a big gap. I guess that's just life, and I'm lucky it's not any worse than that.

Now I journal my quilts on my blog, so that helps.

The other thing I've done is not labeled my quilts well over the last few  years. Now I'm very sad (I hate doing labels, that's why I didn't do it.) None of my grandchildren's quilts have a label on them. I don't think my daughters' wedding quilts do either. I need to remedy that. It won't be fun, but it's my own fault. Maybe I should start my quilts now by making the label first...

It's good to know I still have things to improve in my life. Somehow it never ends.

When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead

This book is the Newbery Award winner for 2010.  I finally got around to reading it last night. Although I have not ready any of the other nominees or honor books for this year, this book certainly deserves the award.

I was captured by two things right off the bat. One, it opens with the fact that Miranda's mother is going to be on the TV game show The $25,000 Pyramid. Two, it references Madeleine L'Engle's A Wrinkle in Time.

I'm a game show junkie from way back. I remember being glued to the Pyramid daily. Plus, having been a contestant on Wheel of Fortune, I had another little buy-in. The chapter titles in the book could all be a category on Pyramid. Very clever, I thought. And subtle. I don't know how many kids would get that, but I sure did.

I love all things Madeleine L'Engle. But I didn't always. When I was young, A Wrinkle in Time was all the rage. Everyone was reading it, and telling me over and over that I should read it. I tried to read it several times, and never could "get into" it. It wasn't until I read it as an assignment in a juvenile lit class in college that I liked it and appreciated it. Here's an interesting side note: the main character, Miranda, is obsessed with Wrinkle. A Wrinkle in Time was the Newbery Award winner for the year it was written. Obviously when Stead wrote this book she had no idea she would also be a Newbery Award winner.

All that introduction and those are not the main points to the story. They certainly figure in the story, but they are not the main points. It is hard to describe - there is a mystery to the story, which we discover as the story unfolds. I loved the denouement. In fact, I want to go back and read the book again to catch the clues as I go along.

I don't want to give away any more of the book. Read it. You'll be happy you did.

One Enchanted Evening by Lynn Kurland

Another easy romantic read by Lynn Kurland.

I stayed up until two last night reading, woke up early this morning and finished it.

Now time for a nap.

A Shout Out for Fantastic Fiction

The librarian in Wendover recommended a great website to Audrey, and she passed it on to me.

Fantastic Fiction

You can look up books, and you can look up authors. Here's what I really love: when you look up an author, if they write a series, the books in the series are all listed in the order they were written.

One of my frustrations is that it is sometimes hard to tell in the library system the order of books in a series. And even if you pick up a book to read it, the other books in the series are not always listed, and certainly are not always listed in order.

While this website solves that problem, it creates another: more books to read!

Of course, that's not really a problem.