York Quilt Show

Every two years the York Quilt Guild holds a show that showcases the talents of their members.  This was the year for that.  Of course Kathy and I took a trip down to see them.  It seems that for this show the quilters decided to try techniques that would stretch their skills.  Maybe it was a type of quilting they haven’t tried before.  Maybe it was using fabrics they didn’t typically use in their quilts.  Whatever, the results were quite beautiful.  See what you think.

I will say that I was surprised to see a famous person there.  Wish I had a chance to talk to him.

It is never surprising that animals make quite a showing at quilt shows.

 

One quilt even took to the sky.

Another popular theme among the quilters is flowers.

As with many quilt shows there was one featured quilter.  The woman featured buys quilt tops no one wants.  Maybe the family doesn’t like it. Maybe they don’t know how to finish it.  Maybe they can’t clean it.  Anyway, this woman buys them, not spending more than $50.00 per top, and she finishes them.  Quilts that no one wanted become masterpieces.

Here are a few she finished.  I would take any of them.

Quilt guilds like to hold challenges for their members.  The York Guild decided that their challenge would be an ugly fabric one.  It seems like the members were to take what they considered to be ugly fabric and try to turn it into something beautiful.  Honestly, I can see ugliness in any of there examples.

 

There were other quilts on display, but I think this post has gone on long enough.  Maybe I will return to the show next week with the rest of the pictures.

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Cutting the Grass

Cutting the grass is just one of those things I do without giving it much thought.  It has to be done so about once a week I get the mower out and give the lawn a haircut.  Yesterday the weather cooperated.  It was warm but not too hot.  The sun was shining and there was a nice breeze blowing.  It was the perfect day to be outside.

Generally I am in my own little world when cutting the grass.  I zone out.  Yesterday, though, there were things i noticed that I usually don’t give much thought to as I walk the yard.  Cutting the grass yesterday was a feast for some of the senses.

Of course there is sight.  I find it a great accomplishment to see the patch of grass that needs to be cut get smaller and smaller as I make my way back and forth.  Maybe if I cut the grass more than once a week the difference between the cut and uncut grass wouldn’t be so noticeable.

I also noticed that our hosta is up and growing nicely.  It always makes a nice border to the driveway and front stoop.

I also noticed that there are many buds on our rhododendron.  Although the flowers are not open yet the promise of what is to come is.

Two flowers that are in bloom are the bleeding hearts and azalea.

As I was cutting the back yard I noticed that the ground cover around our tree was also in bloom.  I don’t know what it is the little yellow flowers are a cheery sight.

As far as hearing goes there is the sound of the mower, the constant whir of the motor dulled by the wearing of ear protectors.  They also dull the sound of traffic, cars, trucks, and motorcycles that travel the road in front of our house.  Without the protectors and the mower off the chirping birds can be heard.  Maybe they are telling me to stay away from their trees.

My sense of smell was hit both in the front yard and back.  We have lilac bushes growing along our driveway.  The purple and white blossoms are pleasing to the eye, but it is their fragrance that I noticed each time I made a pass by the bushes.

It might be time to cut a few sprigs and bring them into the house.

Out back we don’t have lilacs but another little flower.  This always takes me back to my childhood because my grandmother had many in her yard.  Although small and low to the ground, their fragrance hits you every time you walk by them.  I am talking about the lily of the valley.

I know that these are all spring blooms and won’t last for long, but as long as they are here cutting the grass is a pleasurable experience.

An Unexpected Surprise

Kathy and I are friends with the organist at our church and her husband.  In fact, if all four of us are at church on Saturday evening we usually end up going out for dinner after Mass.  It is not unusual for dinner to last two hours.  Luckily the servers at the places we pick don’t mind us sitting and talking over coffee and dessert.

There is also another couple, Jerry and Ginny, we have gotten to know at church.  Although he and his wife don’t join us for dinner we sometimes see them wherever we decide to go for dinner.

As we are waiting for Bob and Rita after Mass Jerry usually asks Kathy and me where we are going for dinner and our response is that we won’t know until Bob and Rita join us.  Jerry then tells us what he and Ginny plan to do.

Generally when we happen to be at the same place for dinner we kid each other about giving our bill to the other.  On Saturday the six of us happened to be at Behm’s Family Restaurant in Tremont. We got there first and got our table.  When Jerry and Ginny got there he came over and talked to us before sitting down.  Of course we had the usual banter of giving our checks to the other.

Jerry and Ginny finished first, came over to talk before leaving, then paid their Bill and left.  We were there another half hour before we were ready to settle our bill.

When Bob and went to pay the amount rung up was not the same as that was on my bill.  In fact, it was $10.00 less.  I questioned our server and he told us that Jerry had put $10.00 down on both Bob and Rita’s bill and Kathy’s and my bill.

 

I don’t Know How It Happened

When did it happen?

I don’t know.

How did it happen?

I don’t know.

When did you notice it?

Yesterday morning.

How did you notice it?

There was a dark spot in the upper corner of my vision.

What did you think?

Maybe there was some dirt on the lens of my glasses.

What did you do?

I took them off and looked.

What did you see?

This:

Hard to Say “No”

I am not the kind of person who likes to tell people I don’t want their service, especially if they have been working on something for me.  A prime example will happen today after I post this.

I had mentioned a few weeks ago that we are thinking of remodeling our kitchen.  We had talked with several contractors and narrowed it down to two companies that we really felt comfortable working with.  We then started working with a designer from each.

We met with each one several times to talk about what we wanted in the kitchen.  We picked out cabinet style and colors with each.  We picked out flooring materials and colors.  We picked out the type of counter top and color we wanted.  We discussed new lighting.

It seems that each time we met with one of the designers we changed something a little bit,  This was due either because we talked with the other designer and liked some of her ideas or because we have visited some stores such as Home Depot and Lowe’s and looked at their displays.

Each designer was open to our changes and willingly incorporated them into the prepared design.  Keep in mind that this back and forth has been going on for over a month.

We finally have completed designs from both designers.  Although they are sightly different they are more similar than not.  We can be happy with either design.  Now it was time to talk cost.  One company relies on high volume sales to keep their costs down.  The other company is more of a private concern so their prices are higher.

In a side by side comparison of design and cost one company is considerably less.  They are offering discount promotions on both the cabinets we picked as well as the countertop.  In fact, the countertop company is also including a new sink with their deal.  I realize that in the scope of things a new sink is not that much more, but when added to the other discounts it does add to lowering the price.

So, for better or worse we have made our choice.  Now I have to suck it up, make a phone call, and tell someone that I appreciate all of the time and hard work they put in for us, but we have decided to go with someone else.

I am not good at this.

Albums

A few days ago I decided to do some rearranging of things to get ready for the new doors we are getting.  In order to give the guys enough space to work I had to move things I haven’t moved in years – our record albums.  Yes, we still have our albums, vinyls to those who might not know what albums are.

Looking through them took me back.  I had a collection before we got married and Kathy had her own collection as well.  Weirdly enough we had only two or three duplicates when we combined our collection.

Even before we met we both enjoyed Broadway.  Here is one of my albums.

Here are two of Kathy’s.

This is the only Broadway Show we duplicated probably we cause we saw this together before we were married.

Since we met and dated during the disco era how could we not have at least one album the the reigning Disco Queen?

In a few weeks we are going to see the Broadway show Summer which is based on the life of Donna Summer.

Our collection includes records of the popular artists of the day.

We even have this original.

Of course there were the two male artists that women went crazy over.

Hard to believe this guy turned 83 yesterday.

I have always been a fan of Sonny and Cher.

I couldn’t get enough of Motown, especially these ladies.

What about that Aussie favorite?

We saw Melissa Manchester in concert twice.

It seems that with Barbara you either love her can’t stand her.  I love her.

A great duo tragically cut short too soon.

Of course most singers had Christmas albums as well.  My collection also has several Christmas albums.

Some albums were strictly instrumental.  Who can forger Leroy Anderson’s unique style.

I don’t know why the 101 Strings were so popular, but we have some of their albums as well.

Do you see the price on this one? $1.98.  Highway robbery.

I haven’t counted how many albums we have but there are quite a few.  This is just a small sample of what we have.

With the CDs it has been a long time since I have listened to any of our records.  We still have a turntable and good speakers.  Maybe it’s time to start listening and enjoying once again.

 

 

A Nod To Rodgers and Hammerstein

After Seeing The King And I  on Saturday I had an idea to try something.  Don’t know if I can make it work but I’ll try and let you decide if it makes any kind of sense. This post could not have been written without the help of Rodgers and Hammerstein.  The only word in this that is mine is the word “brings”.

In My Own Little Corner

I Have Dreamed

Something Wonderful

My Favorite Things

 

What’s the Use of Wond’rin

It Might As Well Be Spring

A Lovely Night

A Hundred Million Miracles brings

 

It’s A Grand Night For Singing

Isn’t It Kind of Fun

The Next Time It Happens

I Whistle A Happy Tune

 

You’ve Got To Be Carefully Taught

When You’re Driving Through the Moonlight

There’s No Way To Stop It

Some Enchanted Evening

 

Gliding Through My Memories

That’s The Way It Happens

 Climb Every Mountain

You’ll Never Walk Alone

 

Thank you Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II for some great shows and show tunes.