Back from Vacation

We spent some time in Montana recently and saw two graduations. Our great niece "graduated" from kindergarten and our oldest grandson graduated from high school. I couldn't believe our niece when she did a little program, she recited ALL the books of the bible, the preamble to the constitution, sang America, played two songs on the fiddle, recited the 23 Psalm,  plus a few other things I can't remember off the top of my head. I couldn't do most of those things and never have been able to. Good old home schooling by a mom who spends the time necessary. What a difference it makes. Our grandson graduated on Sunday and the following Tuesday, left for a 3 and 1/2 month trip to Australia with his great uncle to mine for gold. He is a real outdoorsman, (see the  quilt with all the antlers, bears, deer, ducks, etc.) so he is going to really love being in the outdoors and camping a lot. He did this a couple of years ago in the summer and just loved it. He's a real good kid, so postponing college for one semester won't be a big thing. He will get a lot of education that he wouldn't get in the classroom.

We traveled with our dog and she was a trooper, she had surgery on her leg right before and had to wear the "Elizabethan collar" to keep her from tearing out the stitches, which she did once before we left. She was so good. She just sleeps all of the time we drive (like I did as a kid). HRH is a madman when he drives. He just doesn't want to stop for anything. We made the trip in 14 hours with stops for gas and to let the dog go potty. I think if it weren't for the dog, he would have handed me a cup and said "go to it!" I tried to push fluids on him, knowing if he had to "go" we'd stop. Some day I'm going to throttle him, I swear. We drove home at night and so the stops were even less. That and the fact that he likes to see how far he can go on a tank of gas. I think the last fill up we had only 1/2 gal of gas left. That's pushing it if you ask me.

A fun time was had and I'm back to work today. I could use a week to recover, but that isn't happening so here we go.

Another one bites the dust...so to speak

I finished another UFO and got it back from the LA quilter,  Kay from Hattie and Me Quilting. She did a beautiful job even though I had one side crooked. oops! This is a quilt that I started some time ago in a class and never finished it. Have you ever gone to a class that just wasn't too much fun? Well, this was one of those, the way she explained doing the flowers made no sense to me, we used a square in a square ruler and for some reason, it never quite gelled with me. I put it away and never looked back, until I unearthed it in the great archeological dig known as my stash clean up. I really wasn't too far from being done and had planned it for a wall hanging. It didn't look finished without borders so I added some and it grew too big for the wall I wanted it on.  I do like it now though. The picture was taken with quite a wind blowing and it makes the quilt look lopsided and it isn't. I really need to work on my photography skills so I don't have to keep apologizing for my quilts, don't I?

On another note, we were walking Maggie the other day and it was where other dogs had been and she was walking like a blood hound with her nose to the ground. I commented on it to HRH, saying that we could hide and she wouldn't miss us and he said, well, it's pretty much like what you do in a quilt shop. Ladies, it is true! We walk in there and the rest of the world just drops out of sight, doesn't it. I love the smell, the colors, the feel of every fabric. I sure wish we had more shops close.

Have a great quilty week! Carline

Am I getting old or what?

Last night about 11:00 I was woken by voices and then a crash just outside our bedroom window. HRH got up and went out with a flashlight and probably a weapon (he used to be a policeman) you go ahead and guess what weapon! What he found out there was a teenage girl who had been trying to climb over our fence into the backyard and broke the fence. She said a bunch of kids were just trying to get to the park (1 block away) as a game and were trying to do it without stepping on any concrete. He told her that she was lucky because he may have shot first and asked questions later. If I had been out there, I would have drug her sorry little butt in the house and called her parents and or the police. Tell me, what is in kids heads to make them trespass, break things, have no better things to do than this? I think I'm getting old. I can't get this out of my mind and am sure glad my kids are grown. The other thing I heard at the gas station a few weeks ago was a car full of young "ladies" using the most foul language and comments to the driver, (a boy) suggesting all kinds of "activities" they would like to do to him. You could hear them for a block away and they thought it was so funny, laughing and pointing at the adults that were shocked by this. I think morals are going the way of the Edsel. Heaven help us!