HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL MY FRIENDS IN BLOGLAND & TO MY FAMILY TOO

Today we fly home. Good bye snow. Good bye dear family. Good bye eating too much. Good bye all the marvelous quilt shops I found here. ;-) Looking forward to being HOME, Hello Henry V (our cat), Hello Grand kids and kids, Hello other family members, Hello friends, Hello work, Hello SEWING MACHINE!!!!!!!!!!! Hello weather you can walk in without freezing your toes! Wishing you all a very Happy New Year. May you all be healthy and happy. And may we please have Peace in this world we live in? Please! Peace. PEACE. SHALOM.

What People DO in the SNOW! By a Californian with frozen toes

I am enamoured by the icicles...We see them everywhere in small to large and they are just begging to be broken off and eaten like a frozen dessert!

Kids sledding down a hill...the two in the middle are just about to collide into each other. No one hurt...both got up and got hugs.

Cross country skiers abounded as well...

A true artist is apparently one who does not let the weather conditions interfere with his art.

This man was outside in the freezing cold painting on a huge canvas...I caught a glimpse from the car driving past him. One more day and then we return to Sunny California. The weather there is in the 30s at night and 45 daytime F. Which seems cold to my mind, but warm after being here in the 20's and teens F. And minus' C.

Tonight we Laughed

We are in line. These past few days with daily and evening trips to the Care Center where DH's ma, my MIL is now living since this summer after she became deathly ill, but survived, we are becoming oh so much more aware of our mortality's. We look at the residents here and think we are next in line and age wise we are. It's an awareness one might rather ignore, deny, put off, and I suppose it's not ours tomorrow or the next day, however, we are just more aware of it being the next part of life. As Ma says to us: "This is my final resting place." Meaning the last place she shall call home.

Ma is doing well physically. At 87.8 yrs old her body is doing well, her mind is pretty sharp but she is suffering the early stages of dementia. She knows it too. But her sense of humor is very much in tact. Tonight was a good example of this. DH got her laughing with his silly antics and we all had tears rolling down our cheeks from laughter. Then Ma found these two night gowns in her closet (hospital gowns) and started showing us what silly things they were and even started to dress herself in one and again she was laughing and we were laughing with her. It was so funny...more than how I can describe it here. And then there was a phone call from a relative she could not recall and she became very frustrated and then angry...we were able to calm her down and the moment passed.
Then it became fun again...but this is her new world, of memory coming in and going out...and leaving her frustrated. And then she talks of one of the young men who care for her there and tells about having a crush on him. And we are all smiling and laughing again, especially Ma.

MN Music Store and Amazing Quilt Store

DH trying out a guitar at Hobgoblin Music while
His Sister tries her hand at a harp...musical family they are. Above is stash I bought today at colorful textiles and quilt shop.

Then we found Susan Stein in her Colorful Textiles Quilt Shop...I had her autograph her book I had bought two days ago at B & N.
Her shop was quilters, textile artists heaven...I bought five more fat quarters for $2.50 and eight more for $1 on sale!!!!! Got the newest edition of Cloth, Paper, Scissors...bags of embellishments, a Laurel Burch large piece of fabric, and ogled lots and lots of art quilts, and other paraphernalia...I spent only $78 here, and could have bought a lot more but would have needed a truck to get it home.

More snowy days...no longer feel cold even though it's 19 degrees F today and -8 degrees C. For a Calif. Gal I am doing admirably well.

These two photos are journal pages from a class Susan teachers. Her classes are $70 for 10 hours, which is practically free in my book.

Another Day in MN quilt stores & book stores & with family

Reporting in from here in snow country...yesterday was a book club meeting at Barnes and Nobles in the morning with my SIL...more coffee and scone...then on to antique shops, lunch (chili and corn bread); antique gun shop for DH (Civil War era); and yes, another quilt shop for me. And more Fat Squares. Evening spent with MIL at her "home"...She is so happy to have all her family around her at once. We watched a very funny movie together and she delighted in it and me in her laughter...try not to become depressed at the aging process around there, women in wheel chairs who cannot talk, head to one side, mouths draped open, yet smiling...Both DH and I separately pictured ourselves as residents there hopefully in far future, but nonetheless saw it as a possibility winding up in such a place. Scary...

Then home for more humor, watching Coupling on TV with nephew, laughing more before going to bed.

Another Day with Our Family in MN

These photos are backwards in our day, as the top two were taken tonight visiting DHs mom at her care home...again she and her daughter this time played the piano in the main lounge. She had picked out a new book of music at B & N this morning.

These adorable music pajama's I found at Cabellas. I could not leave them there, as the theme was perfect for my music loving 3 yr old grandson.

I had fun at Barnes and Nobles too using a gift card to get some new books...lots and lots of instruction for paint on fabric and lots of other techniques that I cannot wait to try out.

We also went to one quilt store in Rogers, MN where I "started" buying fat quarters to make a stash for my fabric art vest(s). I did lean towards the oriental look today.

And later I got this shot of Erika in her art gallery with "my art" made just for her.

Yes, it is still snowing!

Four more inches of snow fell last night and more today...brother and sister joined forces to clear the driveway to get car out of garage...

Yarn Cafe for Coffee with the Queen

This morning SIL took DH, thier mom and me to the Yarn Cafe for coffee and sweets. We sat around the fire place looking at it snowing out the windows on either side...whilest drinking, talking and laughing...surrounded by beautiful yarns of many colors.

I told my MIL she was The Queen of England in the felted hat she tried on...and she hadn't a care in the world. She loved being Queen!

Merry Christmas From Lynn in MN

Wishing you all (who celebrate this holiday) a very Merry Christmas. I celebrated with my husband and his family here in snowy Minnesota today. The star donned the top of a former brother in laws' brother's Christmas tree;

This is my dear Mother in law, Erika, age 87.5 yr in her room at her "care center"...We are standing in front of the appliqued bird houses I made for her. You may remember this (some of you) from second blog post ever! Oh yeah, and that is me. Next is my nephew leading the way in the snow (see the flakes on his coat) with MIL behind him and DH behind her (his mom).

Then DH and his ma in a very sweet shot of both.

Later Erika entertained us at the piano. She has a medium level of dementia so I was surprised at how much she remembered. She plays MORE music now in her "new home" than she did before she was placed there this summer after a serious illness. She has fully recovered from that illness. And yes, those are her beautiful hands on the piano keys below.

A very loving day had by all of us.

This is not Sunny California anymore

DH and his sister walking to her car after lunch...she said she flocked the trees just for me...special!

The trees and little blue house are in her backyard!

Is it cold?

Yes!

8 degrees F this morning warmed up to 12 degrees F this afternoon... wearing lots of layers!

Meeting Santa

Santa at the Mall on Christmas Eve wowing all the little kids. I got quite excited when I thought I might sit on his lap too, but DH said we had to go to lunch instead. Oh well. Looked like fun to me!

Wishing You ALL A VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS

Arrived Safely IN MN

We got up at 4 a.m. to get the airport in time to fly to MN. Thought on Christmas Eve there would be lots of traffic, long lines, crowds, but none of that happened. Easy ride in, little fog, no crowds, normal amount of other fliers, no waiting as had gotten boarding passes on line before going; plane itself was very crowded, little to no leg room, but whole flight was three and a half hours so a piece of cake as far as I was concerned. Read my Fabric collage book, got lots of new ideas for next projects/processes...SIL met us at the airport...stopped at Macy's Deli for lunch and visit to Santa Claus...she bought Godiva chocolates and I helped her eat them in the car.

So far a very Merry Christmas Eve!

Oh, and it's snowing!

I am too full...A grandmother's poem

I am too full yes of food but also of love but one cannot be too full of love that is foolish to say
I am full of a wonderful day
Cleaning house takes a lot of energy and time and effort
And then I sat back and looked at it shining
every corner cleaner than it had been in a long long time
as one cannot clean while one is quilting or drawing or sketching
so the dust accumulated and layered like layers of a collage
Thick, chaotic
overlapping
things
books
magazines piled high
in places
stuff everywhere put into place
so nice to see as DH took out boxes of his magazines to the garage no longer stacked under tables
in living areas
bare then
open spaces
room to breathe and move
then the company came
kids came
toys got taken out of their neat places where they had waited patiently for little hands to find them
found they spread over all the newly opened spaces filling them up
then food came out and was spread over two tables and people filled all the chairs brought in for the occasion
food got on the once clean table cloths
napkins fell to the floor
crumbs followed
children with dirty faces, cute, sweet food strewn faces
getting their fill
eating some and then rushing off to play some more
gifts opened next and paper flying
new toys played with all over the house
find all the parts so nothing is lost
time to pack up and put into pajamas
read a few books on a grandmothers lap
play a few songs with grandpas guitar
then pile all that they came with and all the new toys into the car
carry a child who is suddenly too heavy for the back that worked so hard to mop the floors
cook the dinner set the table do the dishes
but what a joy to carry this child
in all her heaviness to the car
to buckle her into her car seat as mother buckles brother in his
covers them in blankets as they clutch two books they got to take from grandmothers stash
reading them in the light of moon
over head full
like my stomach is full from the food
and my heart is full from the love
of having family over
to clean for and cook for
and be with and hug
happy to do it
happy to be it
happy to have it
feeling full y blessed

My Christmas/Chanukah With Patty

Wishing you all a very Happy Holiday

and a Happy New Year

I have a best friend from childhood. We moved into her neighborhood when I was six months old, and Patty was one year old. We have great memories of shared childhood fun, playing Dale Evans (Patty) and Roy Rogers (me); Drama lessons at the dancing school down the street: "Some day somebody is going to sprinkle ant poison on you!" (my favorite line); playing at each others houses, calling each other on the phone five minutes after going home from the others house; riding bikes all over town together, and she reminded me today in front of the funeral parlor and screaming to wake up the dead!; roller skating; hanging out at the Foster Freeze at the corner and getting free ice cream from the owners; playing dress up and doll houses; going on double dates to drive in movies; the time Patty got me down on the floor to make me smoke a cigarette (I never smoked later, she did!); I could go on and on and on. We truly have shared a life time together, promise to grow old together, okay we already have done that, and to be there for each other until the end of time...which we hope is lots and lots of years from now.
Patty collects Cupie dolls... So today when we were celebrating Christmas and Chanukah together I gave her a quilted wall hanging I made for her of cupie dolls!

Patty also collects beautiful crosses. I gave her a lovely tiled mosaic one today and a tiny one for her little "faith" bag.

In case you are looking for me, those are my argyle socks in this picture! ;-)

Patty has lots of collections as you can see here.

And a big beautiful Christmas tree that is full of ornaments with great sentimentality, some that go back to her father's time.

Some for her children who are grown now with children of their own, and some for her grandchildren and great grand child.

We had a fun day today, one more in a life time of them. We had lunch at a tea shoppe and talked and talked...later we drove by our old neighborhood (Patty still lives in the town we were both born in) and were a tad depressed by what we found...very old run down houses...schools...nothing as we knew it in our yester years. But still, it was our beginnings, the place where we had all that fun. We feel truly blessed to still have each other in our lives today!

I realized after writing all this that I had neglected to say what a generous friend Patty is and how thoughtful too. Her gifts to me were all filled with thought for what I like and care about.

For instance, to name just a few, she gave me a very beautiful piece of Lucite that has an etched menorah in it's center and it comes in a very special blue box. She also gave me a Sketching Kit, with a book on sketching by an English artist, two layers of pencils/charcoal, an artists pliable eraser, pencil sharpener, and sketch pad. And the clever box it comes in folds to make an easel! Wow!

AND two gift cards: one to Michael's (for more art supplies) and one to our local quilt shop! (for more fabric!!!!) How sweet is all that? Thank you again, Patty!

PS Mark tagged me today to write about Christmas. May this plus what I wrote on Sylvan's site or was it Kelly's suffice? There must be a total of twelve things between these three places. Okay, Mark?