Update on a Ho-Hum Life

Dear friend,

I know you think I have forgotten you-I haven't. I have just been busy doing lots of things and accomplishing nothing. I finally finished piecing the Scrappy Star quilt, and now I need to put a back together for it and take it to Sue's to be quilted. I'm not sure where this one is going yet. I still need to decide before I make the label.

I started another quilt that's really fun but need to find more fabric so tomorrow after breakfast with Shirley, Lisa, Nikki and Nancy I am going to plow through my stash. This quilt is red, white and black. I may be forced to buy some fabrics for this one. Darn it, don't you just hate that! (Yes, that was tongue-in-cheek.)

Have you ever been to south-eastern Arizona? I have been to Nogales once and to Tombstone but I have always wanted to go to Patagonia-isn't that a great name! Mat is down there now working on a contract that finally came in. Hooray!!!! He has been sending me wonderful pictures via phone and this is one of them. I was so amazed at this beautiful sun (rise or set, I'm not sure.) I had just read a photography tutorial the other day about scene pictures needing to to tell a story-it needs a beginning, a middle and an end. Then I get this and there it is. I love getting pictures from him. It really makes my day.

Keep sending the pictures Mat. I love them.

I am trying to read a book called the Zookeepers Wife for book club. It is a true story about the underground Polish network and the amazing work they did to hide and rescue as many of the victims of the Nazi occupation of Poland during WWII. It is not easy to read as it talks about so much of the horrible things that were done to the Polish people and the Jews but I will finish this book by next week. The author, Diane Ackerman, is very knowledgable, and she did a tremondous amount of research for this book, but I sometimes think she has a need to share all of her knowledge whether it has anything to do with the story or not.

I guess I've told you about all there is for now. I promise to write soon.

Love Jan

2 Great Books and a Lost Art

Dear Friend,

I have just had the marvelous opportunity to read 2 wonderful books over the past couple of weeks. It started with my Book Club assignment, "The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society". It was such a great book, written in letters between Islanders of Guernsey about their WWII experiences under Nazi invasion and the main character, a writer in London.

If you love the old fashioned idea of writing letters and loved waiting by the mailbox for a response then you will love this book.

First, I knew Guernsey and Jersey were Islands somewhere off the coast of England and that the inhabitants were British, but I never realized that they were actually just off the coast of France-hence, the Nazi invasion.

Second, I am really drawn to the dry British humor and their ability to laugh at themselves and their situations.
Reader Warning: This book is not easy to find-I originally ordered it from Amazon. It came during the move and of course got lost in the USPS system of forwarded addresses, so I had to go to B&N because it was the Saturday before BC and I had to get a copy in my hands. Needless to say, it took calls to 3 different B&N stores in the southeast valley to find a copy!!!!! Oh, and the Library only had a downloadable copy. So if you can find it, or want to borrow mine, read it and enjoy.



The second book I just read this morning is a result of reading the above. I had seen the movie starring Anne Bancroft and Anthony Hopkins. "84 Charing Cross Road" is a small book full of delightful correspondences between a New York writer and a charming used book firm in London starting right after the end of WWII. I recommend both the book and the movie

Do you suppose that since we no longer write long or short letters to each other (or does anyone even have an address book - just mailing addresses) anymore, that we will lose an artform that was gone before we missed it? Will the internet become our new Master of Communication? Well, I hereby declare that in memory of the lost art of letter writing, all my future posts will be in letter form!

Love always, Jan

Dear Mr. Obama

Dear President-Elect Mr. Obama,

I am unable to attend the festivities surrounding your upcomming inauguration. It seems that my local Walmart store is unable to have my designer ball gown finished in time.

I am, therefore, requesting that you refund my share of the millions of $$$ you are spending on this hoop-de-doo, $3,000 will just about do it. You see, I can really use the money to pay my mortgage, car payment and support one or two of the few remaining small, local businesses here in my part of the world.

Oh, and please don't let your nomination for the head of the tax department touch it. You see, I've used the same excuse he did and it didn't work for me. I have a hard time believing that a leopard can change his spots.

I'll send you my checking account number so you can put it directly into the bank, which by the way is not one of the several that keep coming back for more. If you decide that my request is not enough, please send more. We know you have some deep pockets. Just ask B of A or General Motors.

Sincerely living on the edge of poverty,
Jan

Sewing Again

I am so happy to be able to get back to my sewing machine. I have been piecing this top for almost a year now and had all the blocks made when I decided I needed to add another row. So hopefully, this will be finised and ready for the quilt machine by the end of the month. I love the scrappy look (this was all made from stash fabric) and this Carrie Nelson pattern was really fun to work with. One more row, the border and the back and it's over and out the door to Sue's for her magic.

Speaking of Sue and her magic. I just picked this quilt up from her house tonight. Actually, she finished it in August but I kept forgetting to touch base with her to pick it up-she was ready to adopt it but it's mine now. All I need to do is put the binding on it and then it's your's-Lisa.

The pictures don't do it justice but I love it anyway. No, the lumps are not a body, it's my clean laundry waiting to be put away but I had to spread this out somewhere.

Do you think there is enough red in it?

My Best Friends Birthday

"Best Friends" by William J Kallwick

Today is my oldest (as in - clear back to second grade) best friend's birthday. I won't say how old she really is, but until we turned that all important age of 16, I was always made aware that she was 7 months older than me. Now I like to remind her that she is still 7 months older than me.

Irene's family lived "next door" to us through most of grade school and we had wonderful adventures together. We survived all the surprises and antics of growing up, all the way through sharing an apartment in Yuma.

Our lives paralled a lot as we grew older and (I hope) wiser, but work and family have kept us busy and so we try to "go to Concho" once or twice a year so we can spend a few hours together catching up and sharing. ("Going to Concho" was what our mothers used to tell us when they wanted to visit without kids around.)

Happy Birthday Irene! I can't wait for our "Concho" visit later this month.




Irene & Lisa at Mom's funeral in August.

The road to Concho!

The New Year-A New Sewing Room

I finally got up to Vernon on Friday. There was a lot of snow still on the ground around the house and in the forest around Show Low and up on the mountains, but it was a beautiful day, windy and wintry with lots of sunshine. Here a couple of pictures of Dad and his new friend Sam(antha) and the snow.

Hunter drove-his first driving experience through the canyon. He did great and now I have to set back and let Logann and Morgann do it. I let them drive up and back to Payson last summer but that is not the same thing. I am not a good passenger though, and I probably drive them all crazy telling them how to do things. I think I inherited that from Dad! I remember him doing the very same thing when he rode shotgun with me.

Today is the last day of a wonderful 4 day weekend and I still have so much I want to do! My sewing room is finally unpacked and put away, my sewing machine is up and ready to go, my current project containers are sitting under the sewing table and my hands are craving the feel of sewing. But-I have a ton of other things I have to do before I return to the real world tomorrow.

I do have to admit to at least one addiction. The daughters would not let this pass-I am addicted to fabric and am hereby proclaiming that, though I may be able to control it a little better now that I have full access to my stash, this is one addiction I shall never give up. So I am putting my children on notice now-this is your inheritance and it will continue to grow. Get over it!

The cabinets with the sliding basket shelves I got at Ikea are absolutely wonderful and worth every penny I paid for them. I am so lucky to have two great daughters that helped me un-box all of my stuff. The labor only cost me a breakfast and a lunch. Oh well, small price to pay for a good time.