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.