THE VIEW FROM MY WINDOW

           I spent some years of my life, in the 40's, living in a military housing complex with a plethora of kids, bikes, trikes, kids, and kids.  Moms in the complex finished up their morning work, grabbed their coffee mug, cigarettes and lighters, and headed for the neighbor's house for a chat.  I remember, as if it were yesterday, going with my mom to one of these tete-a-tetes.  Bored, I looked around the lady's house at lacy white curtains blowing softly in the breeze, a highly polished wood floor, and a baby bouncing in a Johnny-Jump-Up swing.  It was, to me, perfection.  Even as a five year old, I wanted that kind of life for myself.  Many years later, I had the lacy curtains, polished floors, and six children, and I wasn't quite so enamored!!  I felt that I'd lost "Me" somewhere in the equation of acquiring the perfect life.  I identified with Thoreau's "lives of quiet desperation."  I concluded that, in order, to find "Me" again, I had to set aside some time for myself, but when....?  One morning, at 3 am, I was up with a sick baby.  As I rocked him in the blessed silence of that early hour when the only sound was the ticking of the clock and his soft baby snores, I knew I'd found my "Me" time.  I'd found the time of day when, for the most part, I didn't need to be housekeeper, mom, wife, teacher, etc., I only had to be myself.  Arising at 3 in the morning has become a lifelong habit.  I've spent my "Me" time over the years sewing--xstitching, beading, crocheting, knitting, quilting, crafting, reading, indexing, researching, and writing.  I recommend the habit highly.  I've solved most of my own problems in those quiet hours before dawn through hundreds of quiet prayers.  Once I hear the stirrings of the family or the buzz of a distant alarm, I open my curtains with a sigh.  As the sun was coming up this morning, I was greeted with this sign that this is going to be a beautiful Sabbath day, no matter what the weather:



         On a lighter note, ur week has been filled with our projects: 

One row of the slats of the pergola is completed.  The other row will go up soon.  (As I was taking this picture, Astro sped off into the neglected orchard behind our house after five deer who were enjoying a morning fruit feast.  He nearly met an early demise when he wouldn't give up his determination to scare the deer off.  Papa Deer gave him a bit of a whack.  He's fine, but he decided to let the deer have the orchard; he'd lick his wounds on the couch.) 

 The "Wonky Pineapple" couch cover is completed.

Vale has arrived for his sophomore year in the Kennedy Boarding House.  Electronic gear is all set up, and his "man cave" is stocked.  Backpack is loaded with supplies.  The dunce hat is for his favorite teacher, Mr. Sankari, who Vale felt needed a dunce hat for a special corner of his classroom.
                  The view from my window is looking....upbeat and bright.  How about your view??  Love to All.  Mom

You can't help respecting anybody who can spell TUESDAY, even if he doesn't spell it right; but spelling isn't everything. There are days when spelling Tuesday simply doesn't count.”
― A.A. Milne



LAZY, HAZY, CRAZY DAYS OF SUMMER--OR WHY I HAVEN'T BEEN BLOGGING

          May to August with no blogs...hmmm...I just can't seem to keep up with this blog.  Here's why:
DAD'S SUMMER PROJECT:  Finishing the decks and trim on the house.  Still not finished, but it's looking beautiful.  He had planned to stop at putting on the railing; then decided on a pergola for the lower deck.  In addition to the decks, he's done yard work and stockpiled lots of wood for the winter.

MY SUMMER PROJECT:   Couch covers for the two living room couches. The one in the top picture is designed around a block called Courthouse Steps.  I'm learning to quilt large quilts on my own sewing machine.  Machine quilting is no easy skill to learn.  ALL of the fabric in this quilt is leftover strips from other projects. 

        The second quilt I call  Wonky Pineapples.  The blocks in Wonky Pineapples are made from fabric scraps as well.  To make the pineapples, I'm learning a quilting technique called Free Motion Quilting.  Some of my pineapples look like handgrenades; some like pumpkins; some almost resemble real pineapples.  Lots of fun.

          The "blurps" in our summer have been electronic!!  Dad describes me as the "techie" in the family, so you can guess that we struggle!!  Susan and Eric bought me a streaming device called a Roku, so that we could have Netflix on our tv.  Installing the Roku to our tv involved replacing our outdated gorge network setup, numerous calls to both our network provider and the Roku techs AND me crawling under the table in the sewing room about 20 times.  Now, however, we're old hands at this Netflix business.

         The second blurp involved my sewing machine and a very sweet tender mercy.  While I was working on a graduation quilt for one of the girls from church, my Pfaff broke down.  You can't be a reader of this blog without knowing that I count on my sewing machine, so you can imagine how devastated I was when our local repairman told me that he no longer worked on Pfaff machines.  In desperation, I borrowed one of the church machines to finish the quilt, and it BROKE.  There was nothing to do, but  take my machine to a Pfaff dealer in Portland.  In a telephone conversation to a tech in Portland, I learned to my dismay that there's a minimum charge of $160 to open the machine and do a diagnosis!!  On top of that would be the charge for the part replacement and the labor--estimated at $400 minimum.  Gulp.  However, it had to be done.  The repairman kept finding this and that wrong, and I kept praying that I could pay the bill.  In the end, he said with a grin, "Let's make it $50.  It's a slow day, and you're a nice lady."  Whew.

       Enjoy these Dog Days of Summer.  Hope all are well and happy.  We are.

Love, Mom

Listen to your heart. Even though it's on your left side, it will always be right! :)