Red is Best

My sister Sue is a master quilter. She measures, cuts, pieces, stitches, binds, and then hand quilts treasures of love to wrap ourselves in. Back when we were still gifting siblings on a rotating basis at Christmas time, each of us was given a quilt made by Sue. I had to wait 6 long years for mine, being the youngest 0f 7 kids. Sue says she wants her quilts used and loved. I treasure mine and for years left it folded neatly over the back of my "beehive" antique chair John gave to me for Christmas the following year. It was just too special to use. But recently I decided that I needed to have the quilt worn just a bit. Like the soft, well used and loved quilts of Aunt Mary's. So I have started to use it when I sleep. It is soft, the perfect weight and makes me think of my sister.

Recently Sue entered this quilt in the Diablo Valley Quilters Show. It won a blue ribbon for Best in Show for hand quilting stitches. Sue completes the entire quilt by hand. It seems to becoming a lost art. There are machines now a day that will expertly design and then "quilt or stitch" the pieced fabric of the top and bottom of the finished product together. With beautiful, intricate and straight, even stitches, she makes these quilts for her mother, her sisters, her nieces and nephews and their babies too. She makes them for infant babies she does not know but who need a little extra love while spending time in the local hospitals NICU. And many women suffering from chills while undergoing chemo therapy treatment receive a little comfort and warmth as one of Sue's quilts is given to them to wrap around their legs.

Sue and Steve's dining room has been turned into a quilting room. "Fat quarters" and bolts of fabric line the walls and are stacked on the floors, tables, chairs etc. Like an artist choosing his paints, sue will choose her fabric color, patterns and texture to form a master piece. I remember my aunts quilting. Ruby in particular was the quilter and seemed to always have a quilt on. When anyone visited they were often invited to sit and make a stitch or two. Quilters are good people. When I think of those that quilt, Connie, Mary, Marsha, Cindy, my aunties or "the sisters" as they were known and of course Sue, I count myself lucky to call them friend. And luckier still to have a piece of their art work!

Ruby Lou and Gram

Ruby is such a good help with Gram. When she is here Ruby helps Gram get up out of bed, gently pulling her arms as I lift her legs. She picks her clothes, usually a purple shirt, finds Gram's shoes and brings the feet to the wheelchair for me to attach once Gram is safely seated. She then, of course, insists on pushing Gram out to the family room by herself. And best of all - she give her hugs.

Introducing ....

Calvin Roy Merrill

July 22, 2011
7 lbs 9 oz
10:32 pm

Gram sings him a lullaby

Momma, baby and daddy are all doing fine. We are so very happy for this new little one!

7 ways to save towards retirment . . . not

as i was sitting in my office, aka family room couch, or should i say reclining in my office browsing the web with laptop propped up against my knees, i came across an article that gave 7 essential ways to save towards retirement. hmmm. i suppose buying myself a vintage martin baritone ukulele is not listed among those items.


i have given myself numerous reasons justifying this purchase. some are good, some not so good. yes the money could have been used for much wiser purposes. but what the heck, i wanted it. so happy early birthday me! when i am older, because i already am old, i can sit in a tent under the 4th street viaduct and make myself happy while trying to still learn to play the dang thing.

besides - gram said it was ok if i bought it! and ... it will be fun years down the road in history to look down from heaven, hope i'm there, and hear one of the grandkids say "yes, i remember my dear old decrepit spinster auntie trying to play that thing!" ahh sweet memories :O

post script: when i told gram that i did indeed buy the ukulele she said, with a very big smile, "oh good, now you can learn to play it!" gotta love that gram.

yet another good reason to not eat road kill

Study: armadillos could be spreading leprosy to humans in the U.S.

monday monday

on this rainy monday morning, the day after daylight savings change, i would like to leave the shutters closed, the blinds down, the lights off, the heat turned up and hibernate!


i believe i am part bear. would someone please wake me up when spring actually gets here!

post script: since i went out the front door and found these blooming in the garden, i guessed it was time to get up. spring be almost here. but, beware the ides of march cometh!

oh no ....

a news headline that caught my attention this night ... "Cap'n Crunch sails into obscurity. Long derided by health experts for its high sugar content – a single serving contains 12 grams – the cereal is no longer being actively marketed by Quaker. It appears parent company PepsiCo is forcing the good Cap'n to walk the plank. Cap'n Crunch was once the No. 1 breakfast cereal, but pressure from the White House and health activists is having an effect on how PepsiCo and other food companies peddle their products to kids."

but cap'n crunch is my favorite cereal. who cares that it has absolutely no nutritional value. it stays crunchy in milk and that is important. it is crunchy sugary goodness and the best on a sunday after church. doesn't the white house have more important matters to attend to then messing with my cereal?

aargh matey...i best go stock up!

favorite sale

it is such a grand feeling to find a cashmere sweater originally selling for $100.00, marked down 90% off to $10.00, with an additional 25% taken off at register and then ... you use your 30% coupon and voila! ... you are almost being paid to take the thing home. so of course you must by three! spent $67.00 with total savings of $470.00. not too bad.

ah the joy of clearance sales! now, what else do i not need but will buy because it is just such a good deal? anybody need a sweater?

president's day weekend

time to start the taxes! i'm not quite sure why i traditionally start taxes on this weekend. perhaps it is the patriotic thing to do. nah. maybe it's cause there's not much else to do on a dark and dreary three day weekend in the middle of february. then again, i just might feel the need to start them now because it give me 2 months to procrastinate while somehow feeling a bit better because i at least started. this year really should not be hard due to the fact of the very slow economy and lack of income. ( i don't have to be as creative with my write offs ... . :) ... just kidding! ) on the other hand i have three people to do taxes for, so...maybe that's why i put if off more and more. sigh . . . guess i better go find where i put the turbo tax i bought. hmmm.

it was a dark and stormy night ....

and the wind blew .....

in contemplating the writing of this post i realize how many quotes, songs, poems, stories, etc are based upon the wind. "the wayward wind", "dust in the wind", "wind beneath my wings", "wind in the willows", "winds of war", "the wind walker", and of course "gone with the wind". and that is exactly what happened to two of our large pine trees out back. they went with the wind! saddness.
i suppose it was the fact that we had warmer weather last week. all the snow melted and the hard frozen ground was mushy and soft. add to that 63 mph winds coming out of the canyon and the poor shallow rooted giant trees didn't stand a chance. one fell completely over onto halliday's driveway. luckily the boat has been stored for the winter! the other was leaning heavily to the left and had to come down as well. linda bailey first called with the sad news, as she noticed the fallen timber while dropping amanda off from school, and was planning on sending kirt and mckay over to help clean it up. (note: kirt just had knee replacement surgery!). fortunately reedo and gary humphries came to the rescue. chain saw in hand they played "paul bunyan" chopped the trees up, loaded them into the back of the truck and hauled them off to the dump. what good guys they are!

this is what is left of the stump of the first tree.

it took several "dump" trips to take it all. unfortunately i didn't get pictures of the lumberjacks. but they were cute. they look a little like this, minus "babe the blue ox".

i now have a very bare, open space and am feeling a bit exposed. thankfully spring is just around the corner. i shall now surf the web and go on "outings" with mom in search of the perfect "hedge" type replacement tree or shrubs. perhaps concentrating on a plant that will have a deeper root system. hmmm.. the need for deep roots....now that's provides enough contemplation for a blog post all its own.

in the sun he melted ....

small


small

small

once there was a snowman tall tall tall

it had been snowing most of the morning. by 11:oo am the ground was covered with several inches. i had been doing laundry and cleaning the "laoffice". (that's my laundry room - office for those who need translation). i stepped outside to place the now unused phone books into the recycle bin and said to myself, "this is perfect snowman making snow"! upon coming back into the house i decided i needed a break and called my sister ann marie in california. laying on the couch, with my feet wrapped in a blanket to get warm, having gone outside barefoot of course, i asked ann marie how her day was going. before she had time to answer i heard a small knock on the side door. i looked and saw no one. "hmmm. i wonder who knocked?" the knock came again. this time i saw a small head appear at the bottom of the window. "parker?" i quickly opened the door and parker, dressed in full snow gear somewhat urgently said, "gummy needs you." i looked around for cori and didn't see her. "where is gummy, buddy?" "she's at her house. but she needs you" he said. by this time i was getting a bit concerned. why hadn't cori just called me. my home phone wasn't busy, because i was talking to ann marie on the cell phone. i told ann marie, "it's parker. he says cori needs me. i wonder if she's ok? she didn't call." i decided to press parker for more information. "parker, is gummy ok? where is she exactly?" i pictured cori laying on the kitchen floor in some allergic trance or something. a bit impatient now he said, "she's at her house. we need help ... making a snowman." at this point i gave a big sigh of relief, told ann marie that everything was ok, but that i needed to go because cori and parker needed help making a snowman. after giving parker a pat on his head, i told him to go back down and tell gummy i was coming and then went to put on some snow clothes of my own. by the time i arrived, cori had already completed the bottom third of the man. this was going to be one big snowman! it had snowed more than i thought because this very large ball was sitting in her yard and very little of the surrounding snow was missing. she had started at the bottom of the driveway and decided to push the gigantic ball up hill!!!! her arms are a bit sore tonight to say the least! together we rolled the middle section right next to the bottom ball. hmmm. how were we going to get it up on top of that other ball? parker said he could help. we tried lifting. it didn't budge. parker stepped back and looked at me a bit discouraged. i suggested that maybe gummy and i try to lift it. he agreed. unfortunately, the ball still did not budge. cori said " let's build a ramp or find something to roll it up on." we decided to look for something rather than build a ramp. we ended up using a "mixer" stand from her performing equipment. even with a ramp we could not move the ball. "hey" i said "there's caleb, shoveling my walk and driveway" (a wonderful act of service the horne boys do for this decrepit old lady), "let's get him to help". we call out to caleb, telling him we need help and he cheerfully comes down to join us. with his added strength we or should i say he, almost effortlessly rolls the belly ball into place. parker cheers. we then make a head, which is small enough for me to lift on myself. gummy lifts parker up to place the "carrot" nose in place. we plug in the eyes, mouth and pipe. wrap a red scarf, because red is best of course, around his rather fat neck and place a red and white stripped hat upon his head. gummy finds great tree limps for his arms and voila!

parker is sure everyone will think he is made of vanilla ice cream. great way to spend the morning! thanks parker and cori. (and, don't you think parker looks a bit like paddington bear?)

p.s. there is a sign as you go out our side door, "fat snowmen last longer!"

God will take care of you.

this "youtube" makes me smile. having a down day? just watch. i guarantee you will smile.

thngs that make you go hmmmmm

talk about reality tv.

when we were young, my sisters cori and ann marie, along with our best pal gary sujeta sat on his mom's bed, eating apples and watched hitchcock's scary movie "the birds". (they had a color tv, we did not.) if i remember black birds and seagulls fell out of the sky appearing to be dead, only then they seemed to come back to life and pluck out peoples eyes and peck at their heads. very scary indeed. and didn't something like this happen on the tv series "flashforward"? too bad it was canceled before we found out why things were happening? or maybe the show was too close to reality and that's why it was canceled. hmmmm

i don't know about anyone else but i'm not feeling, or maybe i'm just hoping cause i'm not ready, like it is the end of the world even though birds are dropping from the sky and fish are floating belly up. ( ewwwww! ) guess i should be glad i'm not a red winged blackbird!