Laying to rest

As I watch Michael Jackson’s memorial service, I can’t help but wonder why I am emotional about this service.  Why would I care?  Why did I care so much during Princess Diana’s funeral?  Or Ronald Reagan’s?  I never even met these people.

And it struck me:

we watch and think of those funerals we have been to before.  think of those we have loved and lost

see the symbols of life and death

feel what each symbol and song invokes in us

sing and dance to what moves us

mourn for what was ours and is no longer

or at least, is no longer ours in the same way

We think of our own mortality.

how long do I have left?  I have so much left to do….

who will mourn me?  will someone care?

will they know I loved them too?

Whether you loved his music or not, whether you enjoyed watching him or not, he changed our world as we know it.  He was an American icon…. a WORLD icon.  A part of our collective experience.

Perhaps what I loved most about MJ was his creativity.  His willingness to be himself, do things his way, forge his own path.

His death reminds me that I must use my own creative talents while I am able…continue to use what gifts God has given ME to impact my own little piece of this world.

And a little directive to my family and those that are involved in my life…. take the quilts and use them.  display them.  love them.  share them.  the rest the stuff?  it is just stuff.  the quilts were created with my heart and soul.

Now, I better get busy and create some more…..

PS to Neil and Steve:  gold coffin not necessary.  pine box just fine.  maple or oak would be extra nice.

William drives the dumptruck

Just a few shots of the kids when they were here last week.

Hey Elizabeth… look out the window!  There are cows out there.

Thanks for moving out of my way……

Because I LIKE to drive this dumptruck!

These are my grandkids, Elizabeth and William.  William broke his leg a week ago, while visiting a museum in Pittsburgh.   That put a few kinks in their overall vacation plans, but all survived.

While here, William had only had the cast a few days and was still figuring out how to maneuver.  He will be 2 at the end of August.  Elizabeth is 5.

How appropriate

How appropriate……

look what we saw today (July 4, 2009) when we took our lunch to the lake.

The eagle was interested in fish….

Steve was interested in his chicken dinner from the local Dairy Isle.

We hadnt planned on going anywhere today, it just happened.  We both finished up the quilts we were working on by 1pm, so jumped in the car and went to grab something to eat.  Our favorite little restaurant had closed early, so we went to Dairy Isle.  Took it to the lake and enjoyed the first sunshine we have seen in a week.

We walked around, then went over to the marina to take more pictures.  A drive around the backside of the lake to find the herons, and then home.  It was fun to get out.  We should do it more often.

Happy 4th

Would you like to go up here?

I know I wouldnt be able to go up and down that many steps, but oh boy, would I love to take the tour to the crown of the Statue of Liberty.  I just watched Susan Candioti on CNN do a tour.  Thanks to technology,  I felt like I was there.

May you all have a happy and safe 4th of July.  We are staying home, working and will throw a steak on the grill tonite.  No fireworks, unless our neighbors have some.

Milk for my babies

My son, daughter in law and 2 grandchildren came to visit this week.  For several days ahead, I had asked them what kind of milk to get for the kids.  (they drink some kind of special soy milk due to dairy allergies)  They repeatedly said don’t worry about it,  they won’t need it.  I was so bugged by that, and couldn’t figure out why.

I was completely unsettled about milk for those babies.  I finally went to get their milk the night before they got here.  It may have been the wrong kind, but damn it, I was getting milk for my babies.

On the way home from the store, it struck me…..

When my son was 2, his Dad and I separated.  I lived alone in a very small, cheap, roach infested apartment.  Neil and his Dad lived in our house.

I had NO money.  The very little money I had, went to college tuition.  I worked part time at the college snack bar flipping burgers and pouring pitchers of beer for the rich kids from Anapolis and Baltimore.  It was a smelly job (I dont like beer, or the smell of it) since I often had to mop up the beer that drunk students dumped on the floor.  The pay also stunk.

My apartment was dismal.  It had so many roaches that my kitten played with them all day.  He would bat them across the room, then chase after them.

If I turned on a burner on the stove, there was an exodus of roaches.  I never turned the oven on.  ever.  never ever.  I don’t know if I ever even opened it.  I was afraid to.  The fridge was no better.  The gasket was broken, so it really only kept food cool, not cold.  And the roaches could get in it too.  The only food I ever bought while living there was a 6 pack of Pepsi (cans) and a package of Chips Ahoy every week. The cookie package could reseal by rolling the end up and folding the tabbed ends.  The roaches couldn’t get in it.  It was all I could afford.  I was merely in survival mode.

So, when I would get Neil for the weekend, it was a problem.  I loved having him… but I never quite knew how I would feed him.  I didn’t have enough money to buy additional food, nor could I leave food in the fridge.  Each time I picked him up, I hoped that Gary would throw some snacks in his bag.  Sometimes he did, sometimes not.  When he did, I was really grateful.  I was too proud/stubborn/stupid to ask him for more help than he had already willingly given me.  For sure, he would not have denied his son.

So…. I had no milk for my baby.  I would cry myself to sleep when I could not scrounge enough money to buy milk on those weekends.  Maybe it was only a few times, but each time it happened, it about killed me.  It didn’t take long to discover that if I took Neil with me to the college snackbar, my coworkers would feed him.  They weren’t supposed to, nor did I ask, but they did it.  Neil would say something like ” fwench fwies Mama??”  and they would make him some fries.  Or give him something else to eat that he would point out.

And that stinky floor mopping job?  I realized that if I watched carefully,  I would often find money on the beer covered floor when I mopped… and that money bought milk for my baby.

………. so…. that is why it was so darn important that I have milk for my grandbabies this week.

Vultures

Like all of life…… and death…..

some keep their distance

some are close by, yet remain in the shadows

and some are waiting too eagerly……

to lay claim to what can be had.

Not unlike those surrounding Michael Jackson’s children and property.

What’s on your wall?

What’s on YOUR design wall?

I have been fooling around with this stack n whack quilt…..

I need to get this one put together so I can use the design wall to lay out the next one.

Oh, that thing hanging on the left side?  An art quilt that has been in progress for close to 3 years.  And above it?  2 little blocks for an Obama quilt.  (I belong to an online group making a quilt for the Obama family)

And that crap on the table on the right?  Several projects in various states of progress.  Yep, it’s how I roll.  Multi-tasking is the name of my game.

A little nature

A few nature shots …. all on our property.

Frogs in the pond

Baby robins

Humming moth.  They sound like a hummingbird too.

Hello? Anyone home??

Hello??  helllllooooooooooooooooo……….

Yooooooooooohoooooooooooooooooo…….

anyone else here?  Oh, there you are!  Hi!  How the heck are you?  Whatcha been doing?  What have you created lately?  Been on vacation?  Feeling well?

Oh, me?? I am ok.  Think I am finally on the road back to better health.  I got home from MQX completely wiped out.  Kicked me right in to an acute exacerbation…. or flare….. of MS.  So after a big kick in the butt with some heavy duty steroids and a little PT at home, I am doing better.  I have quilted like a snail some days in the past 2 mos, but not nearly as much as normal.

So….. it is June, which means hay season at our house.  Steve cut hay last week, and hopes to cut some more next week.  That means Gayle stays inside and out of the barn.  Hay gives me asthma, so I watch from a distance.

We have had a beautiful spring, which I have enjoyed immensely.  My camera and I go on yard tours often.  I will share some photos along the way.

Speaking of photos…. see my new header???  That is cropped from the photo below of a turtle in our pond.  Anyone know what kind it is?  We only saw his/her head, so couldn’t really tell.  Any experts?

Hope some of my regular readers are still around, and other new ones come by to visit too.

Here is a quilt I finished last month.  It belongs to Sammi, and was made from a pattern by Pam Bono.

And just for Sammi, who loves purple almost as much as she loves life….. a purple petunia with a bee on it.

MQX Mon and Tue

Tuesday evening checking in…..

Monday’s class with Jessica Schick was great.  What a wonderful teacher.  I knew she was a fabulous artist, but that doesnt always equate to teaching abilities.  This time it did.  She was warm, helpful and oh so patient.  Many of the others had had classes with her before.  And it was an intermediate/advanced class.  I was a beginner.  OH NO!   I learned a ton about painting with dye.  I painted 2 small pieces and had a blast.  I have another class with her tomorrow.

Today, I had a wholecloth class with Irena Bluhm.  Oh my.  What a warm, generous, creative teacher.  Beautiful work, beautifully done books.  I really enjoyed this class.  I plan on either painting with dye, or coloring with colored pencils the piece I drew out in her class.

Tomorrow is my fullest class day.  I have 3 classes back to back from 8am to 6pm.

Ive taken pictures, but havent been in my room long enough to upload them to the laptop.  Not sure if that will happen here or not.  One day at a time.

Tonite was the Ice Cream Social.  Tomorrow nite is show preview and the vendors open.  I bet it will be a late nite again.

Here is what my observations are about New Hamphire:

The dirt is yellowish, sandy looking.  Dont know if it feels sandy, but it looks sandy.  Very light colored compared to Western PA.

They dont know how to make salad..

They never heard of steak salad …… at least not the kind in W PA. with steak, cheese, fries and all the other greens

Maybe more in  a day or 2…….