A Different Easter..

Who shows up at 10 pm on a work night to cheer her  sister on??????

My sister, that's who!!  She has to work on Easter.

I made a mistake on this bowl cozie, so happily I kept it for myself.

Rainy evening, rainy days, rainy week.

Best time ever to organize my oranges:

I had PT today.   He insisted on the importance of walking 6 minutes a day on my cane.

Six minutes seems like nothing, but wow.....it is huge. I am doing it anyway.

On Easter, 

My DIL is taking 7 kids to the beach in the rain by herself.  I have to really talk to myself that she is 38 and I am 75....Ah, my grandma's words:  MYOB

I spent this evening repairing the purse I made from my husband's suede jacket.

Seven days from today, it will  have been 8 years...This  year seems especially hard. God only  knows why.

I am going to focus on the hope of Easter.

Could I have this dance Ann Murray

 

Malaise

Today's diary entry:

Woke up crabby and went to the pool for the cure!!

Exercised with 5, 90 year olds and totally kept up!!!

My lovely Hyacinth drooped...Fixed with forks...Voila!!

To celebrate buying a new apt in Matthews Glen, we were all given I-pads.  I got mine today, 8 months late, however still grateful.  It is an Apple, but I do not know which version and, this one has a real keyboard....Hmmmm...a mystery .  I cannot get a pretty cover if I remain clueless.

Of course, I deal with the doldrums by sewing.  The greatest part is fondling pretty fabric.

These are work.  On Etsy, I see them sold for $6 or 7$$  Hmmm  I do not know if they are made with Wrap and Zap, if it is doubled or what.....I make mine for gifts and do it right.

 Out of  nowhere came melancholy today . It probably has no connection to anything but life stages.  

After  so much joy and few tears, Today I realized that there is no more Thanksgiving /Easter dinners at Grandma's house where the family gathers.  My "matriarchal" head of household  role is now defunct and I am the last/ oldest of my family.  I am now, the "Ad-on" if I am lucky. My DIL and the grands live in a place without a walker ramp.  I know I am in the right place for me. Guess I am grieving a bit.. Surely nothing to do with the 8 year anniversary in 8 days of losing my wonderful  husband.to that monster, ALS.  Certainly I am not the only one my age with this feeling...And, I do know, that like the weather, eventually every cloud runs out of rain.

I wish I could have lunch with my son...but, unfortunately, he is already out to lunch. Lucky me has a wonderful daughter who is coming to visit in two weeks..(alone)

Finally, it has come to pass that I am able to be grateful for the life I have been given, instead of looking around the corner to see what other's have...

Maybe malaise came from being totally out of Brach's original jelly beans.  I drove out to get them, but the sky opened up and rain and lightening were upon me. A message???  Sigh...

Grey Pebbles in the Sun

 

So much fun with a few friends today...lunch and sewing in my tiny studio.

I finished my bunnies.  It is almost Easter, so I only made 3.  My friends measured my mattress, etc, so I can go buy a new one tomorrow.  I have had mine for 25 years and it shows.  We had so much fun.

PT this morning was exhausting.  I kept telling him that I could not do what he was asking.  He insisted and I did it, but dear me did I want whiskey after.  Tonight I was told to walk 5 minutes with my cane.  I could not do it without the walker....I will not freak out because tomorrow  may be a better day physically.

Tonight Charlotte Quilters' Guild was on Zoom.  So nice to see friends.

A full fun day, just some sadness on my achy joints and my balance are so off.

Nine days to the 8 year anniversary of my love's death from ALS

I am trying to think of what I could do to mark the date.  My guess is that he would want me to "just go sew" ! I embroidered my bunny eyes by hand and have finished the top of Meadowland but the borders.

There are signs everywhere saying that we have such a low Covid count that no one has to wear a mask any more.. The hospital where my sister works also is no longer demanding masks. Sew sewing friends, come on over!!

Below, Sherry and Linda explaining where they lived in Michigan.  Hilarious!!

Yesterday. I wanted to stay in the day and not fret about tomorrow nor to regret the past.

Sitting on the porch, I watched the full moon rising.

A spiritual experience as I realized, once again, how huge it all is.

Time flies so quickly, 

 and such a grain of sand am I.

Rainy Days and Sewing

 More family drama tonight...However, Grandma, did not freak....not much anyway. I made a bunny potholder for my door instead!!

Went to Trader Joe's today...no more waxed Amaryllis even though Emily has them in Portland.

And, no Rosemary.  However, they did have this Hyacinth with several blooms.

Trader Joe's  has the very best plants.

In the mail today came some Kaffe shark's tooth from Ebay...a good deal.

Sometimes lazy rainy days are good..Today was a good one.

Fickle Grandma

A gift of love xoxo

This is what 13 looks like at my house!!!!  A great weekend of fun and help at Grandma's house.

Not one soul asked Grandma if he could pierce his ears/ nor wear jewelry...OMG

EJ, my neighbor.....birds of a feather....etc.

Now, fickle Grandma!!  Just avoiding the projects partly finished in order to start something new...

I just know that  no one else does that????

Starting a fresh new few bowl cozies.  They are work, but for friends and family...just love.

And the Accuquilt die makes it easier.

Easter has snuck up on me. I need a few seasonal things for my door., potholders, of course.

I have changed the size of my potholders to 8.5 inches instead of 8 inches, because I found a die for that.  Any thing that is easy is good for me now-a-days.  Just need applique and an eye or two and quilting.  Tomorrow back to the Meadowland quilt and to repair my purse I had made of my husband's suede jacket.  April 14th...He will have been 8 years dead plus the 22 months dying...a nightmare for sure. Nasty and cruel ALS

I bask in the joy of Dylan's visit.  He was so helpful...never a cross word.  We  swam and talked..

Sooooooo grateful!!

I have been a bit  under the weather the past few days....Dylan took a look at my computer screen, 

"GRANDMA!!!! Hancock of Paducah sale page!!! You have got to be kidding me"!!

And sew it goes   xo

 

Quilting and Quilting Friends

Carol and her husband came in from Kansas City and added me to her visit list.

Looook what  she  brought me!!  Some of the wonderful new Tilda fabric...from her Hancock of Paducah visit.

A Good Vibes online quilting group came by today...Marie and Sherry joined in as did Susan from Minnesota!!!  Here we are dining for lunch in the Bistro at my apartment complex.

I do not know what to do about this wax Amaryllis.  I was  expecting number 13 as I saw it coming, but it is a double flower, so I am calling it number 14.  All since my birthday December 17th.  Three months blooming and I have not done a thing to it but love it...on and on it goes.

Remember this?  The chair cover I  made for my husband's chair.  It was all ratty but the children did not want to throw away Grandaddy's chair.  So I used my clothes and fabric from Guatemala and India to make a cover.  I use it now in my new apartment to protect my new recliner.

There are pockets on each side made of my son's middle school jeans.

Such a few days of excitement.  I loved it...felt normal...if that is possible.  Covid stole so much of our bee and group fun.  I can fit 6 sewing machines in my one bedroom apartment for future fun times.  And, Miriam from upstairs came by  my garden gate to discuss fabric and a class she is teaching here.  She will use my Accuquilt cutter for some of her pieces.

My friends saw our hallway quilt exhibit and the art room...

Tonight I walked 4 minutes down  my hall on my cane. I was out of breathe...but I have to start somewhere..

Two days of happy connections with quilty friends...My cup runneth over.

"Oh, the comfort--the inexpressible comfort

of feeling safe with a person--

having neither to weigh thoughts

nor measure words,

but pouring them all right out

just as they are, chaff and grain

together

certain that a faithful hand will

take and sift them,

keep what is worth keeping,

and then with the breath of kind-

ness, blow the rest away."

Dinah Craik, A  Life for a Life, 1859

Happy Saturday!!

Two orange and blue tops from yester-year....done. I struggled using up the blue, because I loved it.  I used it anyway because I am now an old lady....Duh~~

Four patches made into one patches.  The sunset in the background is not too shabby either.  Taken at 6 pm.

Did I ever ever mention how much I love my apartment...so carefree...so relaxing.

Below is my Coral Honeysuckle .  Thank you Lisa...I cannot wait till it blooms.  My only native plant..Yes!!  Again, the sunset in the background.

Today my DIL  celebrates her 38th  birthday...Amazingly, she has become a gift to our family...as has her husband!!

Tomorrow, two big events.  Dear quilty company coming at noon!! and bday party at 5.  Breakfast and lunch....Boy, am I  coming along.  I have given up the cleaning up of my studio/room.  Friends  and family have  known me for 35 years and more.  They know who I am now and love me anyway....Lucky me!!

My PT had me walking for two days with no walker and no cane.  He put a belt around me that he did not hold.  Every time I tried to grab his arm or a railing, he shouted NO!!  When I started talking, he shouted FOCUS... What a guy...

 OMG...Today I am way exhausted, but pleased that I could actually do it. Guess the hope I shrugged off before, has come back to me.

Folks are catching me in the hall and telling me that they are happy to see me smile....Really??  And when I was walking the halls without the walker, they started to clap.  Wow....Did I mention how happy I am to be in my lovely apartment.. In retrospect I am amazed at my survival and healing. I tried to hold my children tight and fix them...It did not work.  Now, when my dear grands make a mistake, I want do the same thing.....but I have  learned here to take care of me....wow.

 My daughter is so kind to me...Her daughter, not so much:

Here is a picture of Aoife doing Facetime with me,  her grandmother, last night.

Two and a half year old behavior. I love her anyway xo

 

Baby Steps

 Today's progress:  Went to Target.  Was only able to walk half of it before I had to sit down.  Nicest ever cashier helped me out.  He was about my age...and working!!  His name was Mo.He lifted my spirits and gave me courage to carry on. Steps in the right direction that I went at all.

Found this partly done project. This  baby quilt and stuffed animal quilt to match, only need borders before I can quilt them. Happy to see them advancing.  I think I got the jelly roll on the cheap from Tuesday Morning.  I added fabric of  my own.

Our Good Vibes online group is having a strip sewing share this upcoming week.

I am playing around tonight with my new triangle die, using strips and scraps

The results are a bit smaller than I had planned, but still fun.

After PT tomorrow, if I have the energy, I will try another small outing...like returning overdue library books and maybe a quick stop at Trader Joe's.

I am learning the hard way that the change is coming, only it is coming in small steps...

The PT  says I am doing so much better than when we first started in November.  I do not see it.  Why?, because I want to go rollerskating...and run in the woods....Unrealistic, just like my mother.  Seems like at my age, "jumping' into the shower, and "running" into the store are obsolete concepts.

After lunch I met a lady named Rita.  She is 88.  Her shoulder has been repaired...but still functions poorly.....WHY??? Because at  78, she was salmon fishing in Alaska when a bear came after her and the salmon she had caught...OMG  Fishermen near by sprayed the bear and saved her life.  No boring arthritis for her...adventure instead and she was older than I am...at the time.

I am not buying any more jelly beans.  I am eating them without thinking.  At least I will not be arrested for my addiction..

Glorious day today...light breeze and 78....The weather is as crazy as life is.

The Happy Mishmash

My girl had a garment knit class at Modern Domestic in Portland, Ore.  She did not have a babysitter...

A little thinking outside the box and everyone had fun. 

Here we are:  Good Vibes online quilting group meets in Charlotte to celebrate Susan's visit.

Missing the others !! For three hours we talked about quilting and fabric and each other...Bliss!!

I might as well show my tranquilizer:  Anyone understand???

I already ate the good ones.

My birthday is December 17th.  Emily bought this Trader Joe's flower for me to celebrate my 75th bday

Today, March 22...It has given me the 12th bloom....Amazing!! Three months of blooms with nary one drop of water.....

A scrap challenge for next week.  Looking here at  my random relaxing pass-time;  Sewing one scrap to another to make new crazy fabric.  I am glad I have a box of these to use for my challenge.  So much fun.

Pouring rain today in Charlotte....cold  brrr..

However a big switch comes tomorrow.and the next five days.

Five days of highs between 78 and 82. How very crazy is that????

Brave me is thinking of asking the quilting group here to help me baste a few quilts in the art room on Friday afternoon.

Speaking of healing...PT had me walk the halls today with only a PT belt and no cane or walker.

Miracles are everywhere now that I am healthy enough to see them.

 

Two Grand Weeks and one Night Struggling...a Win

Just finished the last of my Meadowland blocks...three years coming!!

Starching and lattice next....finding a backing.  My shoulder hurts too much to  quilt a  quilt this big..so off to Mary Jerz it  will go for quilting.

I hate that my design wall is too small here...I just  hate it...Oh, well...big house gone  and with it went big design walls... Plus I am struggling with the lighting here....Will discover a fix as my brain mulls over the problem.  When I was in college, my brain would work on its own all night...At 75, that is but a dream.!

Found a St Paddy's Day tree in a common area here...on Friday.

Busy day here....friendship group  then a few sewing buddies...so fun..

Just a morning post with brilliant sun and 30 degrees...wow...After growing up in Phoenix and spending 20 years in Miami, when I see sun, I think warm....

Today I am wrong. 

 

Looking Forward

 Missing my Irish man on St Patrick's Day!!

Celtic Knot

Just  quilted tonight for display on my door tomorrow, St. Paddy's Day!

Today the maintenance man here, assembled and attached my new bathroom medicine cabinet.

I am thrilled with it.  Alas, at $70 an hour, it took him forever...I mean forever.  He is new here and he was so anxious as he tried to figure it out.  Amazon had said it was easy assemble.  I guess not. But,  I let it all go to celebrate my bathroom upgrade and that I am settled enough to care.

Trader Joe's has wonderful spring plants.  Daffodils growing in water.

Linda brought them to brighten my day.

Today was all about sleeping, my 6 minute power walk, eating jelly beans and sewing.

Crazy weather in Charlotte.  Freezing this morning with 31 degrees....warming up to 66 and brilliant Carolina Blue skies.

Looking Back

My father was in the Air Force for 20 years, then worked at Lockhead for 20 more.  He was an airplane mechanic.  However, he was afraid to fly.  The young pilots used to tease him.....Come on John Henry, they would say...I'll take you for a ride.  He would just ignore them.

When I got a job with Pan Am, we all had free passes around the world.  My mother was desperate to go to Greece and Rome.  Begrudgingly, my father agreed to go. He loved my mother!! From Phoenix to LA; from LA over the pole to London; from London to Rome we went.  My stoic father sat tight with his seat belt on the entire time.

In Greece, I saw this  cross.  For some reason, I loved it.

Betty fixed the hanger the other day and today Soro, a worker from Honduras hung it on the wall for me 

It has been 50 some years since then.  This cross brings back such wonderful memories we had from that trip.  It is now broken in parts, banged up, but in my heart it is still wonderful.

Above is Meadowland.  Four blocks, 3 years in a box, I am relaxed enough to work on it now

I have 3 more blocks to go.

New event scheduled by my PT.  I am to walk 6 minutes at a moderate pace, timing myself.  Tried it with him today and broke a sweat I have not felt in forever. All hard work.

Living in a one bedroom apt, I can afford a weekly cleaning lady .....Thank you  Carol!!!

Looking at my Meadowland piece above and wondering if it looks like autumn??  The pattern is from 

https://thencamejune.com/  Then Came June

cm

I was feeling grand that I could handle St. Paddy's Day this year.  As the date gets closer...sigh...not so much.

Eight months ago, I sold our family home of 28 years.  It was quite a stressor with all the rest going on.

The children are now thriving with their mother, and I am thriving in my new senior apartment.

The new owners just moved in a few weeks ago.  Eight months of work and limitless money must have done a lot of upgrades....Brick has been painted a cream color.  The Flame Azalea my mother bought me is gone.  It was too big and old to move...Oh, well...Life goes on.

Feeling Peaceful

Finally,  I am back to my Meadowland quilt top.

Block 5 out of 12..

African quilt that won the recognition ribbon.

Spring comes to Charlotte.  My Hyacinths, Trader Joe's daffodils. (20 for $4 )

Hyacinth from my patio.

Heather made T-shirts for their trip to Quilt Con!!  A great team.

Again...lighting so poor, but I want to show my gratitude for my little show.

Matthews Glen puts on a  monthy show with art from residents.  This is March.  One side shows needlepoint, the other side quilting..I was given a huge chunk of space for my things.  It really gave me a lift and helped me feel more included at my wonderful new home.

Nothing we have not seen on this blog before.  Joy for  me.

Back from vacation, Aoife plays peek-a-boo with Grandma on Facetime.

Sharing a pix of my March messy room

My comfort zone 

Lynsey said she wanted to visit me this  weekend. Last night she said she had been invited to hang out with friends....It's fine...She is 14...All unbelievable... xo