A Perfect Walk

I admire those of you who love to get exercise, because I am the ultimate couch potato and exercise only because I know I must---not because I love it so.

In my own defense, I was raised in an era when women were considered too frail to play full court basketball, and sweating was actively discouraged.  It's hard to believe anymore, when my daughters have rooms dedicated to exercise equipment and have ridden across the country on bicycles.

But I digress.  This morning my friend and I had a perfect morning walk.  The temp wasn't yet up to 60 degrees, very little wind, trees just leafing out, and there was no traffic.  We kept saying, "Ah, what a day!"  It made you wish it could be bottled up and saved for the days when I make excuses for staying in.

It doesn't take much for me to beg off.  Oh, it's windy.  It's too cold, hot, wet, dry, or the ever popular---my knee hurts.  My friend walks in wind, rain, heat, and cold, and she does her best to be a good influence on me.

I try to keep in mind the rule that a body in motion tends to stay in motion, and a body at rest tends to stay at rest.  And I would like to be able to move as the years go by.

So salute with me the wonder of a perfect day to walk and do things outdoors!  Well, what am I doing here, anyway?  See you later!

Longsuffering

Patience. and longsuffering would describe you, my dear readers, who bear with my whining and complaining about this and that while I try to find interesting things to share with you.

This morning Good Guy and I had an inexpensive outing to view the Spinning Spools Quilt Show and the local Woodcarvers Show being held today at the local community college.  There were a great many clever and beautifully made quilts on display and many of them had amazingly lovely machine quilting, too.

But I found a couple other old-timers like me who mourn the passing of hand quilted stuff.  (The folks who want to sell fabric encourage new quilters to have things machine quilted so they can complete projects more quickly and need more fabric.)  There were a few antique quilts and a few modern pieces that had been quilted by hand, and I looked at those lovingly.  

There's so much to love there.  Fabric, color, design, pattern, skill; it's all good.  The whole industry has changed a great deal since I first began quilting and a good portion of the marketing targets those who are "product" oriented.  

That would be those who prefer to have fabric packaged conveniently so choices are already made and a top can be completed quickly and sent off to the longarm quilter to be completed and then we can take it home and bind it.

Then there are the "process" people who like the choosing fabric, the cutting, the sewing, the quilting, and feel kind of lost and lonely when the huge project is done and has been shipped off to the recipient.  

I began quilting to use up the cutaway fabric from sewing clothing, so it wouldn't be wasted.  Obviously these were not necessarily objects of beauty---putting it kindly.  But on the other hand, I'm not attracted to a quilt that has been made from one color coordinated collection of fabric, either.  That is pretty bland, to my way of thinking. I don't want a quilt that I work at for months to look like something I could have bought at a big box store. 

I do believe I'll go into my workroom and sew for awhile.  Thanks for listening.  

Friday Bits

Hi-ho, it's Friday again and we're all getting together for a swap at Mrs 4444's place, Half Past Kissin' Time.    She gives us the opportunity to sweep together our bits and pieces, too small to hold their own in a whole post, but worth the mention, anyway.

I've been sitting here with a list of little nagging things to do; sort of a procrastinator's delight, if you will.

1.  Re-loan the Kiva money that has been repaid.

2.  Figure out how to transfer files from the computer that keeps dying and restarting to the newer laptop.  Make it easy enough so Good Guy can use it.

3.  Contact financial institution about IRA.

4.  Download this month's music and put Emusic on hold for awhile.  How can "music" accumulate.  I have hours of stuff I haven't listened to yet!  I need to wear my music player while I walk every morning.  (I did that when I had to walk alone or with my dog, but with a walking partner it isn't necessary to have music for company anymore.)

5.  Reschedule dentist appointment for July.  There are two great concerts at Ravinia that will be even more fun than a dentist appointment!

6.  Find the Doggy Daycare Center.  My daughter's dog spends long days alone and needs some companionship once in awhile.

7.  Write Friday Fragments before Friday is over---for once.

8.  Go shopping for garden supplies!  Woo-hoo!

Of Books and Knitting

Good Guy got to golf yesterday, and I entertained myself by reading Playing for Pizza and finishing that little cabled chemo cap.

Don't you love alliteration?

I'm staying on course with my reading plan and have finished 32 books, and have given up on a few others that I started.  Usually that was not because the books were not engaging enough; rather it was that their term expired and I couldn't access them on my Nook anymore.  Barnes and Noble aren't making much $$$$ off of my reading habit, since I usually download library books and read them within the allotted time.

I'm sort of proud of the cap, since I did it without a pattern in front of me, and the only tricky part was deciding how to decrease for the top.

I also pieced this little table topper out of some squares left over from a quilt Jane pieced for a Pink Quilt fundraiser for breast cancer research.  It will go with me to quilting this morning and I'll work on hand quilting it, since it's a small project and portable.

I wish you a happy and productive Wednesday.

"Send Feedback"

The subject of the new blogger interface garnered quite a few comments among my blogging friends over the weekend.  I had switched to "new" and back to old, before I discovered that the old option wouldn't be available any more.

So, I availed myself of the send feedback option and blew off some steam.  Why do things have to change just for the sake of changing?  Why can't the option we were familiar with continue?  I don't want to spend lots of time here, learning new stuff!  I've got a real life, dangit, and I don't love being on the computer all day long.  It's enough of a flippin' time waster as it is!  Believe it or not, every change isn't an improvement!

I didn't write that much.....today.  But as long as the send feedback button is there Blogger will hear more from me.  If we all whine, will they grant us our wish?

Hotel Deco

I just have to share with you some of the wonders of our hotel in Omaha.  (Now, isn't this better than Trip Adviser?)

This was a historic hotel from the Art Deco period and was decorated in black, white, grey, silver---with lots of sharp corners and hard edges, but so shiny, clean, and beautiful.


We stayed in a suite with two huge rooms, but the bathroom was the piece de resistance, with an enormous glass walled walk in shower and a multi source shower.  Good Guy loved it, but I was so afraid that I'd turn the wrong lever and either scald or freeze, that I didn't change the levers very much.  

As part of our Groupon package we got $50 worth of credit in the lounge every night.  There wasn't any way we were going to use that in drinking, so we had some excellent evening meals made up of their menu.  We had some pleasant conversations with the ladies who worked in that area, too.    It's kind of hard to see the name of the lounge, but it is "Encore".

At any rate, we will remember our time in Omaha with great fondness for this interesting and vibrant city.

Sunday in My City

We are beginning my absolute favorite days of spring.  The maple trees will leaf out within the next week.  I just love the days while they are unfurling!

After our little taste of unseasonable summer, we have returned to the usual erratic temperatures of April here.  Rain one day, frost and a little snow on Friday.  It is very tricky to know how to dress when you leave the house, even when you just leave for a few hours.  The sun is warm, but the wind is cold.

 

Outside my workroom window my neighbor's plum trees are blossoming and the apple trees in his back yard are looking mighty pretty, too.

I have never read The Secret Garden before this week, and it gave me an itch to get outside and dig around in the dirt.  Which I'll do now.

Happy Sunday from Michigan's Upper Peninsula. Check on other cities linked up to Unknown Mami's blog today.

Friday

Hi, fellow fragmenters,

TGIF, and I can now sweep together the flotsam of the week (or more) and pretend that it makes a coherent posting. That's what we all do, and then link up to Herself----Mrs. 4444 at Half Past Kissin Time, who hosts this mental health break every Friday.

1. On Wednesday at Quilting, I spent the time cutting pieces for future piecing and I hope I learned how wise this is. Cutting is by far my least favorite part of the process, but it made for quick work once I got back to my sewing machine.

2. My February letter a day morphed into sending post cards, and my time participating in Postcrossings has netted cards from Finland, Germany, Russia, Belarus, Singapore, Malaysia, Australia, New Zealand, England, the Netherlands, Canada, and from the dear USA.

3. My grandson's piano recital is this weekend, and we can save hours of driving by watching via live streaming video. I asked him if he was spooked by being Musician #13. He doesn't care about the number but is afraid the video time will expire before his appearance.

4. My daughter, the occupational therapist, has a client who told her she didn't get enough spankings as a child. (Admittedly, it was a long time ago, but I don't recall her needing much spanking then.)

5. Eclectic would describe our music collection. My downloads this month included Charlie Parker and the Bach Collegium. I like the Charlie Daniels band and Alison Krause, too.

6. Thank goodness it is possible to switch back to the old blogger interface. 'Nuff said. Oh, and by the way, I wanted to change my font and could only do it for one paragraph, after which I can't access the font option to make it all the same. I'm not schizophrenic. I'm not. I'm not.

Have a great weekend. I can't wait to read your bits.

Addendum(b)

Yes, I do know how to count to five (5). When I got as far as I did on my list, Blogger wouldn't allow me to continue, so I must have accidentally pushed some option I didn't intend to use. (Please go back and read the preceding post. This is a continuation.)

My fifth blogger on the list from the preceding post would be my good buddy, Jan, who writes A Journey. Jan is a quilter, hiker, wife, but mostly loves making art. And occasionally some good food. I'm not sure that she blogs about food, but occasionally we talk about food. She humors me by knitting occasionally, too.

Also added here, since I couldn't make it work on page one is a link to Margene and Zeneedle.

So that's my Heads Up list of writers whose work I enjoy as often as possible. There are a great many more that I read and love, so if you don't happen to be listed here----it's either because you are too popular, or because I only got to pick five blogs.

Happy Tuesday!!

On Being Grateful but Humble

Now picture this:  The setting is one of those  Stars on the Runway wearing over the top dressy clothes and borrowed jewels to the award show.  Well along in the action, a wizened crone steps to the microphone to accept her award, (probably wearing a frumpy frock she made for herself out of an old bedroom curtain.)

Are you there?  A nice lady has come out of Lurkdom to grant me a Liebster Blog award.  I am qualified for this prestigious honor because she likes me, and I have fewer than 200 followers (thank goodness).  So this entry is my acceptance speech.

Thanks, Stacy.  (Stacy can be found at A Life Lived Well.)

In order to fulfill the requirements of being a Liebster, I have to redirect you to some of my favorite people who also don't have more than 200 followers, but are people whose writings and happenings I enjoy every time they have a chance to post some news.

1. Post the award to my blog.  (check.)

2.  Link back to the blogger who gave me the award.  (check.)

3.  Give the award to five (5) blogs with fewer than 200 followers.  (coming right up.)

4.  Leave a comment for each blogger letting them know you have offered them the award.  (On my to-do list.)

Each of these Liebster nominees represent a facet of my interest spectrum, and if you ever visit me you may have detected some of these things.  So I redirect you to:

1.  Leeanne at Arrow Acres Farm who blogs about her knitting, yarn, alpacas, and her sons.  Not always in that order.  She's also a reader.

2.  Jean at Rainy Day Friend has a gratitude blog.  She spent years coping with a medical condition that was misdiagnosed.  Now she has abilities she never dreamed of and she has a sunny outlook on life.  

3.  Karen and Gerard of Right Where We Belong blog about their lives of faith, sports, a wonder dog named Abby, two cats, and a kitchen without a range!  Karen has given me lots of blogging and posting help, too.  (In the interest of full disclosure.)  They also contribute to charity for every comment that is left to their posts.

4.  Margene of Zeneedle posts about Utah, yarn, knitting projects, reading, gardening and philosophy.  (Are you detecting a pattern?)  Books and yarn....

These Shoes Aren't Made for Walkin'

 We are almost done celebrating our real wedding anniversary in the city of Omaha.  The very Omaha that was under major storm warnings yesterday.  We did see some heavy rain and thunderstorm activity here, but the tornadoes struck south of where we are.

Omaha, in addition to Wild Kingdom, Boys Town, Omaha Steaks, has the most wonderful zoo and aquarium, beautiful architecture, awesome Lauritzen Gardens, and amazing sculpture all around the city.

Because of the heavy weather, we cancelled our planned excursion to view one of the finest quilt collections in the country in Lincoln.  Maybe the next time we're in Nebraska!


Good Guy is by the shoes of this sculpture, in the new picture on the header today.  The light wasn't very good for getting his picture at breakfast time this morning.  But his shoes are proportional to his height.  He's a big dude!

Help Me, Mama!!

This is just a quick shout-out to remind any of you that (like me) were meaning to help, there are only four (4) days until Mrs. 4444's Difference Makers participate in the Relay for Life.

They set their sights high and wanted to raise $5,000.  They have quite a long way to go.

If you have some charity money lying about, waiting for a cause, please, please help these kids.

You can link up to the Relay for Life donation page by way of Halfpastkissintime.

Every little bit will help the cause and encourage the kids.  They really are a specially kind and energetic group of kids!  Mrs. 4444 is awesome, too.

Thanks!

Risen, Risen Indeed!

I don't sing much here, but the song running through my head tonight is Christ the Lord is risen today, Alleluia!

Since we know how the story ends, it is hard for us to imagine the joy of those followers who were able to see the Lord, back with them again.  Once he was taken off the cross and placed in the tomb, they were grieving in a very profound way.  

Since we never felt their heartache and disappointment, it is hard for us to experience their joy.  Just spend ten minutes today trying to be a part of the Easter story--- from the Passover meal, the praying in the garden, the betrayal, trial, punishment, and the glorious resurrection.  Maybe you did most of this at church on Thursday or Friday, but think it over again.  

I'm going to.  Happy Easter, dear friends.

Wonder Woman---of the Past

I have my family coming for the weekend, and I am in the state of pondering HOW I ever did all the things that needed doing when my kids were growing up.

There must be a "Murphy's Law" that accounts for becoming a total slug when you retire.  I take care of the house (after a fashion) and Good Guy does the grocery shopping and cooking.  I find myself feeling challenged by the task of planning and executing a weekend of company.

In the past, the cleaning the house would have been the challenge, but I wouldn't have thought twice about feeding extra people.  Don't think I'm not happy and excited that they'll be here, because I am.  I am just amazed that I was ever energetic and organized.  It seems like a very long time ago.

So those of you who are young and doing stuff with and for your family, I am envious and wish you well.  Happy, happy Easter weekend to you all.