Dang

I just realized that even with my recent birthday I'm too young to retire. Guess I'll have to keep working for a few years. That means little time to quilt, little time to hike.

Fortunately, I have plenty of time to read. I listen to books when I'm working. When I'm really busy with work, I get through nearly a book a day.

The most recent read was The Chase by Clive Cussler. I am a rabid Dirk Pitt fan, and this wasn't a book featuring that most lovely man. This was about bank robbery, antique cars, steam locomotives, and turn-of-the-century detective work. It was kind of predictable, but enjoyable anyway. If you get to listen to the book, Scott Brick is the narrator. That man is amazing and I'd listen to him read his grocery list. Seriously.

Now for a few personal notes.....

Being a native Pittsburgh-er, I have to root for the Pens in the Stanley Cup. Sorry S and A. We can be friends again next week.

Welcome to my new book buddy, L. Just in case you were wondering, this book isn't anywhere near as good as Twilight. Even if Edward is too young for me.

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Happy weekend, everyone. Do something fun and think of me while I'm working, ok?

Happy Places on Mother's Day

Where I was supposed to hike to:




Where I actually hiked to:



I had a truly ah-ma-zing hike today. Since I'm breaking in a new pair of boots, I was only going to go out for a short hike; once I was out there, however, I couldn't NOT go to the lake. I encountered two very cute little dogs taking their humans for a Sunday stroll. I also met a college-aged young man on his way to Vermont. He's got quite a few days ahead of him. I hope he's somewhere warm -- it's pretty cold tonight yet.

When I returned home, my family treated me to takeout Pad Thai. We're about a 1/2 hour from the restaurant, but the food was yummy enough to justify all that driving. I will admit to ordering spring rolls just so we could eat them on the drive home.

I'm now sitting at the kitchen table with my laptop while my daughter is icing a cake she made for me. She's an incredible baker and wants to learn to make her cakes look as yummy as they taste. I bought her some cake decorating stuff for her birthday and she's breaking all the bags and tips out for this cake. There may be pictures later. After that, there may be only crumbs.

Happy Mother's Day to all the moms and moms-to-be (especially S and A). I hope that your day was as relaxing and special as mine was.

Happy Mother's Day!

The Plague, part deux.....

Twice in two months is simply not fair.

Q: When is it OK to look down on your husband?

A: When you hike above his workplace!

Also, the trail today was RIDICULOUSLY crowded. OK, so not Rockefeller Center at Christmas crowded, but quite crowded for the woods. I was out for 2 hours and met:

1. the same 50ish hiker dude as the other day
2. 2 really loud Fran Drescher wannabes who were behind me on the trail cackling loudly until I sat down and let them pass so I could unclench my teeth

3. a woman with 2 gorgeous and energetic black labs

4. a family -- mom with baby in a sling, dad who screamed a lot with a voice that carried for miles, and 3 rambunctious little boys

5. the woman with her 2 dogs again

6. the same 50ish hiker dude again

So basically, my time alone in the woods was spent listening to other people's loud conversations.

My relaxing hike was anything but relaxing. I think I got as upset as I did because I consider the trail to be holy ground. Listening to them all felt like someone swearing in church.

I met someone else on the trail today, and he didn't bother me one little bit:

Update: I showed this photo to the family and we got into a long discussion of frog versus toad. After some research, this is definitely a toad.

Update, part deux: To answer the emails that I know are coming, yes, I do actually have a job. I work weekends so I get to pick which day of the week to take off. I usually choose the ones that are sunny.

File under 'Things that make me happy'

Diamonds? Nope.

New cars? Nope.

Designer clothes? Closer.

Clothespins.

This is the second day in a row that I've been able to hang laundry outside to dry. It's gonna be a great day!

Fourth post of the day?!?!?!?!?

Batman has the Joker. Spiderman has the Green Goblin. Flash Gordon has Ming the Merciless. I have this:

While hiking, I routinely go over, under, and around many fallen trees. This one, however, foils every attempt. There's really thick brush so going around it is out. It's too high to crawl over. And it's too low to crawl under while wearing my pack. I fight with this stupid tree every time I go hiking. Today, I crawled under and my pack got completely stuck. I wriggled and twisted my way loose and fell right over. Fortunately I was annoyed rather than injured. And fortunately, no one else watched me do what was surely a hilarious series of stunts.

On the way back, I took off my pack and crawled under without any problems. I may be slow, but I can be taught.

This is supposed to be a quilting blog, right?

Someone has fallen in love with Glitter thread from Superior. It might be me.



And if you have tricks on how to photograph irridescent thread on black fabric so that it doesn't wash out, I'm all ears. This one was taken with overhead lighting but no flash. The actual quilting is much more vibrant than the photo reveals.

RIP

This car has been parked in my driveway for 1-1/2 years. We bought it when it was 7 years old. It was my car for many years, and then it was the babe-mobile for my teenaged son. We got a better used car and this one was retired.



This is the last I will ever see of our old car:



Good-bye, old friend, I will not mourn thee.

And hopefully someone, somewhere, will give you the love you need.

SIng along with the Brady Bunch!

I've worked several weeks of 12-15 hours days without a break. My first chance at a day off was Monday. It was yukky and rainy. So I worked. Maybe I could take off Tuesday? Nope, yukky and rainy again. Since today looked like this...



...I found myself singing:

I think I'll go for a walk outside now
The summer sun's calling my name
(I hear you now)
I just can't stay inside all day
I gotta get out, get me some of those rays....

Wasn't Cindy cute in her little pigtails?

Anyway, I worked this morning and got some stuff done before I hit the trail. I was also waiting for it to warm up a bit. I'm not that hearty and 50 is cool in the shade. I knew my hike would be interrupted often by my runny nose. (It was.) I had 2 hours 45 minutes before I had to be a mom, so I went to visit some happy places.

They are a bit greener than they were 2-1/2 weeks ago.

Next week I hope to audition this place as another happy place. I didn't have enough time to get there and back today (it's another 75 minutes each way), but I'm checking the weather for next week already.

I met 5 people hiking today. That's unusually high, but I guess I wasn't the only one who noticed that the sun was shining.

The first two men shared my philosophy of hiking. (hint: I go out into the woods to be alone.) When we passed on the trail, there was a quick 'hello', no eye contact, and away we went. I was passed by two trail runners, so they had no time for conversation either.

The final young man was probably in high school or college and he stopped to chat. He asked about my trekking poles and I agreed that they were quite handy. He asked where I hiked to and I told him about the lake. He asked if the trail went to the next town over. I laughed and told him that the trail went to Georgia and that if he turned around and went the other way, he'd eventually hit Maine. He looked a little shocked. I sent him to the library to get information on the Appalachian Trail.

Today I did my part to educate the next generation.

Is it May yet?

I've known for a year that April would be crazy busy. Crazy busy in a good way, but crazy busy is still crazy busy. It's exceeding all expectations at that. Things should calm down to the normal chaotic roar after Sunday, but I decided that I really, really, really need a day off before I go back to the grindstone.

I think I should go hiking. Or get a pedicure. Or have a super sweet sewing day all to myself. Any other suggestions on how to spend a much-needed day off? Or several days off?

Please comment. 100% of my recent comments have been spam. I feel so unloved.

I'm clicking my heels together and saying.....

...There's no place like home!

I drove home from MQX on Sunday. My car was emptier coming home. Next year, hopefully I can get more shopping done. I chatted with some friends and listened to the end of Harry Potter: The Half-Blood Prince to keep me awake. The weather couldn't have been more perfect for a drive through New England. And I'm falling in love with my GPS. People have asked me the route I took, and I can only answer that I go wherever the little voices tell me to go!

The show was, as usual, amazing. The quilts were inspirational. The work was fun. I love the people I work with. I taught 5 classes and they were a hoot! I learn so much from my students and I hope to have the opportunity to teach there again.

I'm home now, quilting away for customers and putting the finishing touches on a quilt retreat that I'm teaching this weekend.

If anyone knows about a lost-and-found from the show, I lost my voice. Think I could get it back before this weekend?

One of these things is not like the other...

Dinner Monday: CLIF bar and a banana
Dinner Tuesday: CLIF bar and a banana
Dinner Wednesday: CLIF bar and a banana
Dinner Thursday: butternut squash ravioli and chicken cutlets with pancetta in a frangelica sauce with a taste of cinnamon. yum.

Here's to hoping for dinner tonight. I'm enjoying the MQX diet.

We don't need no stinkin' SUVs!

Baby cars ROCK!

76 and sunny and I'm doing my taxes

Today's very short hike was very awesome, but this picture sums up my feelings about doing my taxes.



This outhouse is brought to you by the Boy Scouts of America. Thirty short minutes from my house you can have the honor of using this fine facility. OR, hike with your legs crossed for a while and enjoy my hideous harvest gold bathroom -- it may be ugly, but it flushes.

I wish I had a camera that captured sound. I was on the top of the mountain and it sounded like a fleet flock herd gaggle lot of helicopters were flying up from the valley. As the noise grew closer and louder, I realized that it was wind. Awesome warm gusts of wind.

I also wish I had a camera that could capture smell. We had thunderstorms overnight so there was a damp, sweet, warm smell that shouted spring.

Back to my taxes. Yuk.

Internal Conflict

Whereas there are areas of my life that need greening, I'm fairly conscious of my carbon footprint. My preferred recreation is hiking in my neighborhood (living along the Appalachian Trail is helpful). We eat fairly low on the food chain and we produce very little waste. We drive very small fuel-efficient cars, and that presents today's dilemma:

I have a large quantity of stuff to transport for my job this week and it won't fit in my little baby car. Am I no longer green if I lust after a large SUV?

It's now time to bore you with hiking photos. It's spring, but not very green yet.

Photo of my happy place (75 minute hike from home):

Photo of a different happy place (20 minute hike from home):

I am so incredibly blessed to live here.

Mother/Daughter time

Not to be confused with Hammer Time. But I digress....

My darling daughter usually remembers that I know how to sew about 2 hours before a birthday party that she has a) neglected to tell us about and b) neglected to buy a present for (I couldn't un-dangle those prepositions, sorry.) The conversation usually starts like, "Mom? What do you have in the house that can be easily embroidered?"

I usually suggest a tote bag or a hat or a t-shirt. Somehow, these are never what she has in mind. Today's simple embroidery project turned into a red metallic pillow with a flange, embroidered in gold. I measured, cut, hooped for embroidery, and my daughter did all the sewing. We're pleased. Hopefully Sarah will be as well.



Note my daughter's PJs. I usually have to be on my death bed to wear PJs at 2pm.

Speaking of death bed, my daughter finally got the plague. Very, very minor case on Thursday night. Who wants it next?

The Plague Spreads......

My son goes to college about 600 miles away from home. He's joined the list of the fallen.

Saturday -- dear husband

Monday -- me

Tuesday -- dear son

Who's next? And why is my daughter locked in her room refusing all contact with us?

What's your favorite color?

Mine is blue. Especially this shade.

We took a quick mid-week trip to celebrate our anniversary and stayed here:



and ate here:



Yes, it's a castle. Really. We ate there for two reasons: 1) it's good and 2) we couldn't afford to actually stay there.

Then we came home and my husband gave me the best present ever -- the stomach flu. I think my new necklace matches my pjs just fine, thank you.

I'm thinking toast now ... maybe?

I've got the power!

(insert dance moves here)

A quick run-down of my day:

Get up
Run a few quick errands
Go to work
Come home and eat dinner
Start laundry
Head to the studio to work some more (where o where are the soap operas and bonbons?)
Lose power
Set up a quilt by candlelight
Hook up generator (ok, so Mr. Man did that but I honestly know how)
Quilt that quilt
Decide to unhook generator and go to bed
Re-gain power
Re-start laundry (but it's still gonna sit overnight)
Check email
Blog
Finally hit the sack (that's next, I promise)

Electricity, I've got a crush on you.