What a difference a day (or two) makes

I could have titled this "bringing in the big guns" or "spoke too soon."
I felt so good on Saturday that I did too much and then Sunday was not particularly restful.
The bishop called me to a meeting yesterday at 11 am and let me go home 6 1/2 hours later. (I only got to be in Sacrament--the rest of the time was in unofficial meetings.)
After all that I went straight home to my pj's and bed, but that was not the end. There were more phone calls and not enough sleep.
After coughing through the night, I called my doctor back and now I am snuggling down with Cipro and a codeine cough syrup ("do not drive"-type).
Well, at least I finished Breaking Dawn.
The cats and me are snoozing together. (And Dad is glad he is in Bali looking out at the beach!)
See you in a few days....zzzzzzz

Bronchitis and books

Well, I have finally risen from the dead (bed?) and am feeling alive again. Wednesday I went to the doctor after having slept for Friday, Saturday, Sunday, part of Monday, and Tuesday. The verdict was, "Yes, that wheeze when you exhale is not good. Here is a prescription for antibiotics for your bronchitis. Go home and go back to bed."
So, there I have been. Actually it has been perfect weather for dozing and reading--drizzle and wind. In the past two days I have reread the Twilight series, books 1-3, and I have started Breaking Dawn for the first time.
During the earlier sleeping days I read Patricia Cornwall's Potter's Field, Grandmother and the Priests by Taylor Caldwell (absolutely terrific!!) and restarted the Avalon series with The Forest House by Marion Zimmer Bradley. I'll return to that sequence, rereading Lady of Avalon next.

For those of you who share reading info on GoodReads, I am a dropout. I will be forever grateful to Tricia for Library Thing because that is where I catalog my books. I don't like to reenter them, so I really have not been good at GR. I enjoy reading everyone's reviews and have gotten some great suggestions from them, but I expect my reading log will be on this blog periodically. I wrote too many critical essays/abstracts/summaries in college to enjoy doing them for "fun" now.

I continue to buy books faster than I can read them. The recorded library is currently at 2001, but that does not contain Church books, children's books, or 90% of the paperbacks on the basement bookshelves. Maybe that will be my Christmas present to myself--time spent with the "cat" and my laptop down there while Dad copies our video tape collection to DVD. (He is only halfway through the shelves!!)

Well, time to go back to bed. Stay healthy, family units :)

I love seasons

I was asked to post a picture of our colors. Here is the sugar maple in our front yard on a sparkling fall day. The burgundy maple and the golden maple have both lost their leaves already. The sugar was patient and waited for the "real" first frost. Actually, the pear is the slowest and has just barely begun to turn. The tree line in back is completely bare, and the apple orchard is browns and yellows and dropping daily.

Even though we have had our first hard freeze (21), I have not put the garden to bed yet. I am hoping Dad gets a weekend to help before the ground really hardens up. All the veggies are in and stored. We only use the freezer for this because I no longer have a canner (sold it when we left Ohio). We put away beets, peppers, peas, tomatoes, and beans. We'll do the same next year. These seem to work best for us. We ate all the squash, and this year we only had a half dozen blueberries or so that Cami and Lauren picked and shared. I hope there are more next summer:)

November 11 memories

Today is Veteran's Day--"the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month"--the end of World War I, the one that was supposed to end them all. Well, that hasn't happened.
But today is also a commemoration of something much earlier than 1918. Today is the Marine Corps Birthday. I have many memories of the birthday balls that my mom and dad went to. Mom always made a beautiful formal gown for the event, and Dad always wore his dress uniform. But the one I remember the most was really the funniest.
My dad had enlisted in the Marine Corps in 1941, before Pearl Harbor, but after his 17th birthday in October. He had graduated early from high school the previous June (age 16), and his parents had given permission for him to join the Corps. He worked his way up through the ranks, and after being a Master Sergeant for the requisite time, he was promoted to Warrant Officer. That was a big step up because now he was no longer enlisted or a staff NCO (non-commissioned officer), but he was an OFFICER. That meant new uniforms, new insignia, and a SWORD. Now his dress uniform was no longer dress blues but whites!!
It was a really big deal the first time he got to wear them to the Marine Corps Ball at El Toro in 1959. Mom had made a gorgeous green satin sheath with a matching cape and she was stunning. I remember Dad going out to the driveway with a sheet to cover the seats of our Ford Falcon so that she wouldn't snag her dress and he wouldn't smudge his whites. They left for the dinner and dance and we were with a babysitter. The ball was lovely, and mom was so proud to go as an officer's wife to the party at the officer's club instead of the NCO club.
The next day one of the neighbors saw Mom out in the yard and asked her when Dad had started working a second job at Disneyland. She was dead serious, and Mom was livid. Apparently the neighbor had seen only Dad in his whites in the driveway from across the street, and she had assumed he was now working in the sanitary department (following the horse-drawn carriages on Main Street with a shovel and barrel) at the amusement park. Suffice it to say, Mom never spoke to her again:)
I have to say again how proud I was and still am of my dad who served his country from 1941 to 1961 in the United States Marine Corps. He was an honorable soldier who was decorated for his service. He received a Purple Heart for injuries received in the South Pacific campaign. He landed on Guadalcanal when he was 18 and fought up the island chains. He was a drill instructor at Parris Island, and a supply sergeant in Okinawa and Barstow. He retired from the service in November of 1961 as a W-2 grade Warrant Officer. He taught me the manual at arms, the ranks of service, and the general orders of the day as well as all the verses of the Marine Corps hymn practically as soon as I could talk. I can remember sitting on the couch with him as he was reading a book, and when I asked him what he was reading he said he was studying to be a tech sergeant.
I love my dad very much and miss him still. He would have been 85 on October 20. He died much too young.

M&M's and Linus Blankets

Don't you just love M&M's? This idea came from Family Circle, but I made a devil's food cake (of course, it's Halloween!!) and used their idea. Dad and I went to the New York Chocolate Show and visited M&M World on Times Square to pick up 2 pounds of orange candies for this. (No, I honestly did not sort through all the bags we have for just the orange ones, Tom!!) I made this little guy as part of the refreshments for our service project yesterday.

The RS met at my house last night for the 2nd annual Linus Blanket brigade. We made 13 fleece blankets to donate to the Project that delivers blankets to local hospitals to comfort children and others. (Ilana and Ronan both received them from local chapters when they were hospitalized in Wisconsin.) Our ward has donated over a hundred this year--crocheted, quilted, and fleece. It is an activity we are very excited about. Our blankets and the love that goes into them have gone to children at Hershey Medical Center, Gettysburg and Hanover hospitals, and Johns Hopkins hospital. Besides our nights of blanketing, sisters do these on their own all year long. We have used them to teach needlecraft skills (crochet and knitting) and piecing and tying quilts. As you all know, this is not work for me, just another way to share my love of fabric and yarn.

Ken, this one's for you

Hey, Ken, you were concerned that the whole project froze in time. Well, here it is, completed just a couple of weeks after the last post in March. The ceiling in person looks like a thatched roof with the greenish grass paper. The circle in the center is for the "palm frond" fan that isn't up yet.


The light in the room is so intense that it is hard to get real color. The walls are a soft green, and the tile is sandish. The dead plants in pots are actually intended. They are naturally drying herbs.


This is the place I like to sit and listen to rain on the sunlights in the ceiling. There are lots of my turtles on the walls and sitting around.




The cats love the room during the day. They curl up with the Hawaiian teddy bears.



My wonderful husband did in fact put up the paneling that made the whole room look just like the Hawaiian lanai I wanted to recreate. I love him!

There is plenty of space on the two slanted side walls and the tall back wall above the paneling for my Hawaiian quilts to be displayed (assuming I finish them someday!!) I have a trickly water fountain and music from Keali'i Reichel in the background. It is a great room for quiet thought.

Yes, I know, it's been 8 months--oh, well

(I will catch up on those 8 months another time.)

I have been thinking all day about this date 42 years ago. On Saturday, November 4, 1967, I was baptized at the Pasadena Stake Center by my fiancee, and my best friend.
Three weeks earlier, on Sunday, October 15, (my 20th birthday) we were engaged outside the Los Angeles Temple. At the time, Dad said he wanted me to know he wanted to marry me whether I joined the Church or not.
The Saturday of my baptism was really hectic because we (UCLA) had a late afternoon home football game in the LA Coliseum. Because I was on the Rally Committee that set up all the half-time card stunts that meant going to the game first thing in the morning. Since we were going to have to leave early to get to the stake baptismal service by 7 pm, Dad came over to the dorm in the 55 Chevy to pick me up and go to his first Pac 10 game. I honestly don't remember who we were playing, but we left as the game was tied and had to listen to it in the car on the way back to Pasadena.
I think we must have won because I do remember being in a great mood.
The only one I knew at the service was Dad. Like all stake baptisms in California, there seemed to be dozens of children. I was the only adult. I was confirmed at the same service, and the blessing I received from my sweetheart was the most beautiful one I have ever heard. It was quite prophetic, too.
A year and a half later, after we had been married in the same Stake Center, become pregnant with Eddie, and were preparing to go to the LA temple to be sealed, I received my patriarchal blessing. In that, the patriarch in the Los Angeles Stake, whom I had never met before, pronounced some of the same words of promise and blessing on me that I had received at my confirmation. That was the strongest testimony to me that the Church was true that I had ever experienced.
And two years later those words came back to me as I drove through the night to the Memphis hospital where an ambulance had taken Dad after his hand accident. The comfort that my Heavenly Father had known what I was going to face years away from the first blessing (and other times since) sustained me during that difficult time.
I am so grateful for a young man who believed what he had learned and practiced in his own youth, and who shared that with me. We have had such a blessed life together, and the family we created is our greatest joy.

Thatching the Sun Room Ceiling

Here is the interim report on the crazy wallpapering of the ceiling and a partial shot of the rough exterior paneling that Dad put up last weekend. I am so excited.

I have to add here that I am very grateful to the Lord for the opportunity that we have been afforded by this job change. Having the resources to share is wonderful. Our 2nd counselor hadn't worked in 6 weeks and his wife was laid off last week. This job is a blessing for them, too.

Hand stuff

No pictures--it looks really gross :(
But I only needed vicodin for one day. I am handling the discomfort (we learned in LaMaze classes that pain is only in your head!!) with Advil. The dressing came off yesterday, and I am just wrapped up pretty well until the 16th when the stitches come out. I can sort of pinch with my left thumb free, but no closing of the hand to hold anything. Sewing machines and knitting are out, but I am able to do some hand sewing for a short while at a time. It will be great soon.

The Blue and Gold rules!

Here are the completed pictures from several angles. I love the effect. Check the first bonus shot of a short-legged cat peeking down. His brother is currently perched on my shoulder purring in my ear.
My super wallpaperer is currently trying to set up the task of putting wallpaper on a slanted ceiling with two sky lights and a fan. The one side is 20 feet up and the other is 8 feet. There are three ladders and a scaffolding plank. I would take a picture, but Tom might lose his balance. I offered to help, but the proverbial "one-armed paper hanger" image is too real. I'll update as we go along.

SURVEY--What is your usual speed?

(This is a little challenging to write. I had hand surgery and am doing this as one-handed hunt and peck. Dressing off on Monday and stitches out on the 16th. Everything is fine.)

At any rate, back to the survey.

Choices:
(a) speed limit?
(b) limit +2?
(c) limit +5?
(d) limit +9?
(e) Whatever the traffic will allow?

I have always been a fast driver (e would be me). I've only gotten two speeding tickets in 45 years of driving, though. One was in Tennessee when I didn't pay attention to the fact that the limit dropped after dark. The second was in Ohio when I was driving nursery school carpool, and Julie was sure we were going to jail when she heard the siren.
Usually I cruise at limit plus 9, but I had an epiphany last week. On Sunday Feb 22 I drove over to Dallin's ordination by myself early in the morning. I had shared a couple of days with a young woman who had totaled her car on the PA turnpike just north of me. (That is a long story all by itself, but not for here.) I found myself reflecting on the 12th Article of Faith. Remember that one?

"We believe in being subject to kings, presidents, rulers, and magistrates, in obeying, honoring, and sustaining the law."

I thought of how that probably meant I should obey speed limits. I didn't at that moment because I was running late, but it nagged at me. Later that day I had occasion to drive into the Philadelphia Hood and found myself needing the Lord's help to find my way out. The thought was right there that I needed to be obedient to the Lord when I was on His errand. I was led to a corner CVS parking lot where I called Ed and had him Mapquest me out of there. I was the slow driver on the way home.
The next day I continued on my errand and drove to Indianapolis. All along the way there were people passing me, as I drove the limit; and later I saw many of them pulled to the side by troopers across PA, WV, OH, and Indiana. The thought occurred to me what a great way to make up state budget deficits by increasing speeding tickets. I turned around and drove home on Tuesday, and my commitment to being obedient moved me up a notch closer to living the gospel I profess, even if it means leaving earlier whenever I go anywhere. I guess I have given up my high school nickname "Parnelli".

Even a week later, I still love my Valentine.

Last Saturday I hung this on Ed's chair. I had finished it a couple of days before. It is hand appliqued and machine embroidered and quilted. He was surprised that he got something I had made downstairs. He gave me a stuffed red M&M hugging a sweet bear.

We went into Washington DC to the Smithsonian museum of Native American History. They are doing a big project/display on chocolate from the Western Hemisphere. Mars had a section devoted to early American chocolate that they produce for Williamsburg, and the whole exhibit was well-attended. It continues for a few more weeks. (Dad will actually be participating on March 7.)

Afterward we went up to PF Chang's for lunch and leftovers, and on to the LDS bookstore and the temple. We had to wait a half hour because the session we arrived in time for was dedicated to Mandarin. I know Tom would have enjoyed it, but I could just see myself giggling because I can remember dubbed Japanese monster films where the sound/lips synch was off. We were able to do Aunt Clara's work (Grandpa Seguine's oldest sister) and James Bacon's work (my grandmother's grandfather). All in all, it was a wonderful day. (Although we did have to eat dinner at Wendy's because everywhere else was overwhelmed--even Cracker Barrel!!)

We laughed about our first Valentine's day on Malibu Beach when I gave him a package of pink cupcakes from the grocery store, and he gave me a heart pin. I still have the pin 42 years later, and the cupcakes tasted like they were that old to begin with :) Our second Valentine's day on the same beach, we excitedly gave each other a book--THE SAME ONE!! It was a collection of Rod McKuen poems, Stanyan Street and Other Sorrows. We still have both of them inscribed to each other. The third Valentine's day he gave me my first sewing machine, a VERY HEAVY and practical Kenmore from Sears that I made my honeymoon clothes on. After that, I can't remember anything specific because they all involved children coming and growing and going.

It's getting finished---at last.

We have hired our 2nd counselor to finish all the painting and wallpapering in the house. He started last Thursday, and he finished painting the entry, stairs and hall yesterday. Doesn't it look great? Next he will do the blue stripe wallpaper under the chair rail. Because it is morning and there is too much light, I can't get a picture of the front wall with the arched window, but the whole effect is exactly what I wanted. Now I have to get busy and finish the two quilt hangings for the walls. I'll keep you posted as more is done. (He's even going to wallpaper the ceiling in the sunroom so that it looks like a thatched roof!! And he is doing all the bathrooms, too. That will complete the house. I am so excited!)

The BEST Reality Show !!

I absolutely love the Westminster Dog Show from Madison Square Garden!

This year's winner is an amazing 10 year old called Stump. He succeeds Uno the beagle as America's dog for the coming year. This is the best competition because the competitors are judged only on how well they portray the standards for their individual breeds. Imagine, being judged on standards. what a great idea!

The memories of sitting with kids and cheering for our favorites and giggling at some of the really weird looking varieties are warm and cozy. Thanks for sharing.

Equal pay finally has its day

As I watched the signing of the Equal Pay Bill today, I was reminded of how far we have come. I am glad that I have lived through the amazing transition of "worth less" to valued equally.

My own journey included stops at the counselor's office in high school where I was told I had been named a National Merit Scholarship semifinalist (that meant no money) but that I shouldn't be upset because I would only be wasting a spot in college that was better given to a boy who would provide for his family while all I would probably do was get my "Mrs." and drop out.

When I finished my BA and went on to earn my M.Ed., I taught at Jackson State Community College in Jackson, TN. I was there for 3 years before we moved to Ohio. I ran a developmental education department in the school of technology, and I taught GED classes and industrial and technical writing courses in the Continuing Education program. As I was signing out at the end of my last term, the Vice Chancellor told me he was really sorry to have me go. Not because I had done such a terrific job growing the program for industrial education into the community but because "the only applicants for your job are men and we will have to pay them more because they have families to support." I was so mad I nearly broke the pen I was writing with!!

Through the years, as much as I do not like the idea of unions for teachers (I see myself as a professional capable of negotiating my own salary), I am very grateful for the progress that NEA has made in guaranteeing that each teacher, regardless of gender, receives the same pay for the same position and seniority.

So, to the next generations, daughters and granddaughters, look back with respect and a grateful heart to the women who preceded us and stood up for what was right and celebrate a great new day in the signing of this bill.

the beauty of an ice storm

I am taking bets on how long until this sheet of snow slides off the library bay window. The piece on the nearer side of the copper roof already crashed down. It is quite explosive as it hits the ice surface on the ground.


Ice encrusted branches and seed pods are so sparkly and pretty. My second counselor's 4 year-old told me Heavenly Father had sprinkled glitter on the snow outside his bedroom window just for him. So precious!

How about a bid on the rent for this lovely nest? It is a little cool right now, but it is in a great neighborhood!

A SNOW DAY!!

I am just as excited as kids when there is a wonderful day just to celebrate snow! I am sure the Philly side is enjoying it, too. And it took Dad twice as long as usual to get to work in New Jersey.(Okay, so it took 18 minutes instead of 9, but who's counting??)

I was reminded that there are people whose jobs get harder in this glorious weather. First, when this storm was predicted, we got a notice from the US Post Office reminding us to clear a path to our mailboxes and front doors or we would not get mail. (What about "neither snow nor rain..."?)
Then, I got a robo-call (funny how we all know what that means now!) from Waste Management apologizing that our trash pickup would be delayed a day because streets were too icy. Actually, I hadn't even bothered to try to drag my container out to the street because we had 1/2 inch of ice on top of 3 inches of snow.

I put on boots and a scarf and mittens and heavy coat to go out and do the required shoveling. A snow plow had come up our street and left a ridge almost 18 inches high along the edge of the street and across the driveway. I knew the mail lady would not be able to get to my box with that. It took me about 30 minutes to move enough of that pile away from the mailbox, and another 15 to shovel the sidewalk to the front door. I did not even consider the driveway. I am going nowhere until Dad gets home Friday, so I will be patient and see what Mother Nature does in the next 48 hours.

For a brief moment while I was shoveling, the thought passed through my mind that I wished I lived closer to grandchildren who might come help with this in exchange for sledding fun and cookies and hot cocoa. Then I quickly amended the thought to just having them come for the fun and treats because I was going to be just like my grandma and do my own shoveling until I was 95!! That's why we moved here in the first place!

So now I am heading downstairs to listen to the drip of icicles off the deck and work on a great sampler quilt in the studio. Life is wonderful! Blessings to all of you.

Whose woods these are...

They are mine! But what a difference a couple of hours makes. It has been a beautiful day watching these "woods fill up with snow".

I had taken a page out of Debi's blog and began to really reclaim my space ( Christmas is still everywhere!). So I was starting with the morning room when the outside called me. There were fat little birds in my naked birch tree outside the window. They were huddled up and looked at me as if to say, "So, where's the seed?" Of course, I had to go out and fill the feeders. No one seems interested in the holly berries at the front door, but they were so pretty dusted with snow.

The rest of the day I spent on Maddie's quilt and getting fabric ready for the "Block a Month" enrichment group that starts on the 29th. This will be my first sampler, and it is all lavenders--a change for me. Winter is a great time to quilt--just the thought of layers of batting is warming.

(Someday I have to get the whole picture placement thing figured out :( )

What melts in your mouth and not in your hands??

And the answer is.....(click on the label attached to this basket of goodies.)

This was on the porch when we arrived home from San Francisco.

Dad started on Monday at Hackettstown, NJ, and called me each night from his hotel.


It was rather funny that each day was "the best day ever--even better than yesterday!!"

I am so happy for him.

July 27, 1983, to January 9, 2008

What an amazing experience we have all had.

Everyone of you children has spent time working for this company, in one way or another. Perhaps you measured labels for See's bars or you melted candy bars and counted almonds. You might have spent time in the lab at the Burlingame plant, or you listened to endless audio tapes and transcribed customer contacts into Q&A. Or maybe you just traded bags of chips for Fritos at lunch or bribed teachers (or friends) with big chunks. You might have used the bars as thank you gifts or teaching aids as you grew older. And there is no counting the masses of chocolate chip cookies you have baked.

Well, everything changes, and this is the biggest one yet for our family. We won't say anything more about the week Dad and I spent in San Francisco. We held each other a lot, shed a few tears, and reflected on good friends and good times spent in a place that always smelled like heaven (to me, anyway!)

Now, the adventure continues. A while back at PF Chang's Dad got a fortune cookie that said, "Be prepared to accept a wondrous opportunity in the days ahead!" Here we go!!

No, I didn't leave my heart, but...

(I wish you could hear the haunting music and rich voice of Glen Yarbrough singing this Rod McKuen classic)

So long, San Francisco,
Now it's time to leave,
Though the fog is all around me,
A'tugging at my sleeve.

I've overstayed my welcome.
Now it's time to go,
So, I'll just say,
"So long, San Francisco."

It's always hard to leave a lady,
Hard to know what to say.
When you love a lady like I love San Francisco,
Words don't mean anything, anyway.

So, so long, San Francisco.
Remember, if you will,
I'm in love with every street
On every single hill.

The whole, wide world's a highway,
And anywhere you go,
The roads lead back
To San Francisco.

Where did the last 2 months go???

Well, let's see:

Decorate for Christmas one-handed, literally (with Dad home to help), in 1 week

RS Christmas party at our house for Linus Project Activity (finished 25 blankets)

Quick trip to Jen and Ed's for Dallin's concert and time with a sweet family

Ward Christmas Service Project (with attendant baking and delivering baskets and bags)

Wonderful trip to Tricia and Dan's to share more concerts, cookies, lights, TWILIGHT, shopping, and hugs.

Sharing our own Christmas presents of finishing (sort of) the unpacking of the storage area in the basement, including 17 shelving units put up and 13 shirts ironed--yes, old people are weird

Having Kennan and Austin here for a couple of days including a wild trip to New York and Radio City Music Hall's Christmas Extravaganza and Planet Hollywood and M&M's World and lots of crowds!!

Flying to SFO with the kids on New's Year Day (getting up at 2 am--not so much fun) and seeing Bill before driving down to LA to be with Tom and Heather (with lunch at Andersen's, of course)

Disneyland with them on Friday--more crowds--but great fun till almost midnight (and yes, the hyenas were still there, and the kisses were still sweet!)

Seeing Tom's amazing workplace on Saturday, and sharing some powerful spiritual moments as Tom gave Dad a special blessing for the days to come and helping dedicate Grandfather Munt's gravesite at the Veterans Memorial Cemetery in Westwood before we drove back to San Francisco up 101 saying good-bye to the beautiful coast

All of that was enough to strengthen us for the next big week.
Thanks for all the family prayers and support.