Sunday, April 29, 2007

It's Official!

It's spring and I have been bitten by the hiking bug. I live 2 miles from the Appalachian Trail and am considering how much of it I'm going to attempt to hike and in what time frame. I'm a goal-oriented person, so this stuff really matters to me.

I hiked the closest portion of the AT today. My husband drove me down to the next county to leave my car and then drove me back to the trailhead. My dear husband is anti-hiking. He hiked a local trail with me once last year and kept asking if the treadmill wouldn't be an easier way to take a walk. Bah!

The NY AT trail maps are out of print. I ordered what I think are the right maps from the library. We shall see. I have visions of maps and pushpins and coloring in the portions of the trail I've hiked. Georgia to Maine is 2,175 miles. That's daunting. But the 88 miles in New York seem do-able.

The reasons I feel like an official hiker today are several:

1. It was threatening some serious rain today and I went anyway. No pics since I didn't want to risk the camera in the gloomy weather.

2. I signed the trail register. I'm officially part of the tradition now. Cool, huh? They wanted to know my trail name -- anyone have suggestions on what that should be? I hope to sign many more registers and would love to have an awesome trail name. Higheredhands is the name I use for most things, but doesn't seem nearly cool enough for a 'trail name'.

3. Today for the first time, I tended to, um, *cough* personal business *cough* on the trail. Well, not on the trail exactly. Maybe 50 feet back from the trail. Behind some serious cover. Does this make me an official hiker? I think it does. And in case you are wondering, yes, for a short time I wished I was a man.

4. While I was on the trail, I noticed a baggie of trail mix hanging from a tree branch in the middle of the path. One might think that the last hiker dropped it, but no. There's a tradition of 'trail angels' leaving food for the next hiker. Knowing that makes me feel oh-so-official.

I'm looking for hiking buddies. Let me know if you are interested in covering some miles with me.

On a completely different topic -- Happy 16th Birthday, darling daughter!!! And to the rest of you.... stay off the sidewalks. She gets her learner's permit tomorrow.

Friday, April 27, 2007

Finally ...... Quilt Pix

It's been a long, long time, but finally..... quilt pix!

There's a local woman who is sending quilts to babies born to servicemen. I have some spare quilts to donate.

This one was made from leftover fabrics from a Moda University Bound to the Prairie quilt:


I made 5 of these blue quilts. Last year when I wanted to practice a design I had in my head, I pulled this top out and quilted it. At long last, it's done:
Here's a close-up:

I got a phone call from my mom a while back that went something like this

Mom: Do you know what I want for my birthday?

Me: No. Do tell!

Mom: Remember that snowman tablerunner you made me for Christmas last year? Well, it's not snowing any longer so I had to put it away. I put my old embroidered tablerunners on and they didn't look as good as the quilted tablerunner. Could you, at some point, make me another quilted tablerunner?

Me (to myself): SCORE!

Here's the tablerunner I'm mailing tomorrow. Don't tell my mom, OK?

Saturday, April 21, 2007

I can't fly, so why must time?

Background information about me: I got married when I turned 18 and moved to NY and lost touch with most of my school friends. I was changing diapers, they were going to Cancun for spring break ... it's easy to drift apart.

After church on Easter morning, I was reading the NYTimes bestseller lists online. I usually only read the hardcover lists, but since I was having a lazy morning, I read the paperback list as well.

I noticed this book:



Gaelen Foley? Wasn't she one of my closest friends in junior high and high school? Why, yes! Yes, she was!

Gaele was very smart and funny and not just a little bit 'off'. She had the greatest laugh and warmest smile. She beat up my boyfriend in the hall at school once when he did something particularly cruel. I have some great memories of my years with her.

Apparently, she writes bodice-ripping Regency romance novels that are very successful. It's such a perfect fit for her! I know she rode horses and I can picture her fencing. I can just see her digging into the history and enjoying inventing steamy love scenes.

I just finished one of her books and purchased two more. I'm going to actually buy all of them -- this is a challenge for a library-type-gal like myself, but I want to support the author. It's also a challenge to eyes-on-paper read them, as opposed to listening to the audio while I work. Her books aren't available on audio, so read I must.

Now that I've finished the first book, I do plan on writing to Gaele to congratulate her. It'll be neat to get back in touch. Maybe I'll even consider going to my 20th high school reunion. I've successfully avoided all of them so far. This just might be the year.

Check her out.

And how about you? Do you know any kind-of famous people?