Shadows on a wall are the sort of things that distract me during a typical day. I could stare at this scene until the last pattern faded away. It reminds me of when Danette and Kari were babies and I'd take them outdoors and they would stare at the leaves in our tree, (only had one back then), and get excited when the wind blew and made the leaves flutter.
Maybe this is how old folks start to regress back to their childhood... I don't care because I welcome these distractions which are respites for my brain.

#272 The New Blonde

It seems that black is now the preferred hair color; it has become the new blonde in our area. It is always such a shock to say good-bye to the blonde headed girls on a Friday and they appear like this photo on a Monday.

Since I never died my hair, I am always fascinated to find out what motivated them to change to a new color. 10 times out of 10 the answer is, "Oh my mom wanted to do it."

Personally, I love the black, black hair...I wonder what they would do if I showed up on a Monday with my gray hair completely gone.

#271 One Project Down....

Oh My Gosh! Only 94 days left and I have ONE project done. Okay, I'm kicking myself in the butt now. Today, I celebrate the ONE I finished - a quilt to donate to the hospital. Each year our guild makes quilts and donates them to the hospital to give to kids or adults in need of a loving quilt. I love the little background fabric. I used up so many of my pink scraps that I didn't have enough of anything to bind it with. Then I found a small piece of tiny gingham to make the binding.

Now on to #2....(I'm 3 days behind on my "schedule" already but that's okay....I'll get it all done just in the nick of time for the quilt show. Knowing me, I'll be sewing the binding on a quilt on the way to set up for the show!!)

#270 Still Burning

The only thing missing from this photo is the BRIGHT ORANGE RED sun. Filtering through all the smoke, the sunrises have been incredible...on the days when the smoke has thinned a bit. The fires are still burning. The good news is rain is in the forecast this week. Well, maybe.

#269 at Mom's

When Mom and I returned from Virginia, I needed a ride to the airport to head home. Annette came over for a visit before we left to the airport and brought along her two charges, Caleb and Maddison. Caleb is the newest addition to our family. I don't think I've ever seen such a chubby baby and he is as sweet as he is chubby....must be all that sweetened breast milk Melissa is feeding him! Maddison was shy at first then was non-stop talking. She is such a sweetheart, even invited me to her house the next time I come up to Washington. Little ones in the family are so special as they keep the family growing and they keep us elders going!

#268 We Have One at Least

Okay, so you know all those things I have on my "to do" list....have only begun one. Jack, on the other hand, is the one who accomplishes what he sets out to do. Check out the pillars for our entry gate. He is going to town on them. He heads out the door at 7:30 a.m. and doesn't call it quits until 4:00pm or later. I'm tired just from watching him work!

(The grayness is from the wildfire smoke in the air.)

#267 Market bags

Okay, so I've made it clear how much I love these market bags. I have purchased so many of the $1 recycle bags from various stores that I was excited when Ina and I found this pattern in a magazine. I went a bit hog-wild over them and made 14 total this summer; mostly gifts. I actually kept two for myself. So here are the rest of them that I had not photographed before. Some are duplicates because the fabric was so cute.

Much nicer than waving a store brand name around town, don't you think?

#266 Wild Fires

Here we are burning up while Georgia is drowning. Why don't we build a pipe line and pipe the water from flooded areas to the parched West Coast?

#265 - 100 Days and Counting....

100 days until the end of the year and until the end of our Project 365...how the heck did that happen? Well, I've been thinking about how we put so much importance on every new U.S. President's first 100 days, and how we want to KNOW just what he has accomplished in that short period of time. I decided that I want to see just what I can accomplish in the LAST 100 days of the year!
So I’m going to document what I can accomplish in just 100 days. I know what I WANT to accomplish and I’ll start with that today:
I want to:

• put the binding on grandson, Joshua’s quilt
• finish grandson, Kai’s quilt
• finish my quilt to donate to the hospital
• make an art quilt for the challenge this year
• make an art quilt which is from a child’s artwork
• finish a wall hanging
• fill a purse and a market bag to donate to our quilt show
• visit Kari and her family in October since they were sick the last time we were in CA
• STOP volunteering so much at school and encourage parents to get involved in school events
• completely organize my sewing room. This means I have to purge things and I just hate doing that. The minute I get rid of a piece of lace, I find a need for it. But purge I must.
• select the paint color for our bedroom and possibly paint during one of my breaks. This will depend upon travel plans.
• begin putting all my record albums into my computer
• burn CD’s of record albums. If I can do an album a day, I think I’ll be able to finish up before my 70th birthday! (haha)
• NOT start any new projects until I have completed all of those which I have already begun. I have the attention span of a 2 year old and love starting new projects. So this will be one of my 100 day goals.
• lose weight and exercise regularly (yuck to both)

This is a nutshell version of what I want to accomplish in the next 100 days. I'll check them off as I go and I'm sure I'll be adding several to my "To Do" list! But whatever I can squeeze into 100 days along with working away from home full time...so be it!!! ...You be the judge!

#264 From an eagle's viewpoint

Flying home from Seattle, I was so excited to see that we flew right over our house! The seats across the aisle were empty so I scooted over to snap this photo.

Yesterday, the air looked like this photo due to smoke from a fire in Roseburg. It's supposed to be over 100° today with low humidity and winds - not good for the wild fires.

#?? Virginia is for Lovers!!

Okay, so the slogan goes "Virginia is for Lovers"! Heck, I must be a lover because I loved Virginia!!! Mom and I had the time of our lives. What a fun adventure.

I flew to Seattle after work on Thursday, no problems all the way. Then Friday at 2:45 AM, Mom and I got taken to SeaTac Airport. What an unnatural hour to be taken anywhere!! Nothing was open to even get tea or coffee to keep us awake. Mom stopped the luggage when they discovered "LIQUID" in her suitcase. They took her mousse and her cold cream away from her. She argued a bit that they weren't liquid but the guy told her he had to take them. She said, "Okay, you can have them, take them home if you want." (Like he was going to use her cold cream!) But neither of us took our shoes off or our jackets off so we were not the hit of the crowd by the time we got past the checkpoint.

We flew into Atlanta, GA then caught a plane to Greensboro, NC where we rented a car to drive to VA. Four states in one day still blows my old mind. We were a bit early at the car rental and they didn't have a small car for us so they upgraded us to a Dodge Voyager (I think) that sat up off the ground very nicely and got just over 30 mpg! Luckily for us, gas is cheap in the south!

This is the kudzu that is taking over like crazy down south.

Our first view of tobacco growing.

I think I may have driven in circles in Greensboro because it took is WAY too long to get to our B&B. I should have gotten the GPS but I figured it would take the adventuring out of the adventure if we had a machine telling us which way to turn. We had to pay attention to signs this way and stay awake! So what if we got a good look at Greensboro?! We pulled into the B&B just after 9pm and they were very gracious. (Orchard House B&B http://www.orchardhousebb.com/index.html )

Here's Mom exploring the grounds...naming all the flora and fauna!
We had the pleasure of meeting some of our distant cousins, Natalie and Molly from California. They stayed at the same B&B. We got plenty of family connections and past history of other reunions from them and even followed them to the reunion site the next day.

Driving towards Skippy and Faye's home, I spotted Amy's house on the left then we saw a big crowd gathered and I spotted John first then Amy.

I felt like I had come home, it was so cool! After hugging everyone and getting introduced to folks we may never understand how we are connected to, we settled in to eat and laugh and share stories. Mom didn't want to leave without speaking to everyone. She is such a hoot. She just plows right in...but then, come to think of it, I'm not too bashful myself. Like mother; like daughter maybe? The food was incredible. I heaped my plate to the sky and still made room for dessert! Mom had carried her datenut bread across the country with her so she could add to the table.

Linda, Amy and Kathy

Charlotte and Mom

This is Amy's family - those at the picnic anyway.
CousinsAshley and her crazy tongue!A cake walk for the kids...notice the LIVE music!

City gal, Sarah, with her feet actually touching the red earth of a country road.

A watercolor waiting to happen...
Artist, Allie. The next day, we met Amy and followed her to church. She drives a long way to go to church, I couldn't believe it. It wasn't like we didn't pass churches along the way either, because there was a church tucked away just about everywhere we looked throughout our trip. After church, we went to Kathy's aka: Maw, to celebrate Ashley's 16th birthday. We spent the whole day with Amy's sweet family minus Allie as she wasn't feeling well. We toured the Liberty University campus where Chris attends/lives. It was a huge campus and very nice.

Then back to our B&B to say our goodbyes. The visit was too short but at least we can put personalities to all our pictures now.

This was a very sad viewpoint: Amy and kids driving away, (sniff, sniff!)

Anyway, headed back to NC was another story. You know I said Mom talks to every stranger she meets, well we stopped at the rest area between NC and VA and she befriended the janitor. We chatted a bit and he showed us a way to the airport that was longer in miles but without traffic. We decided we were so early, we would try it. We went through new countryside on a 2-lane road and were delighted that we had taken his advice. Then we boarded the plane only to have to park along the runway for over an hour because Atlanta was backed up. We had a 2 hour layover in GA so we still figured we had time to make the connection. Then in GA, they wouldn't let us at a gate because there weren't any! We had to wait again....yup, we missed our connecting flight.

Now mind you, we had our rolling suitcases plus our big bags stuffed with goodies (which is another story in itself when it comes to what Mom packs in her bags!) Anyway, up stairs, then down escalators, onto underground trains, back up stairs, escalators and into the gauntlet of people only to find they weren't ready for us to check in on our new flight. I looked at mom going up the escalators and she looked like she was about to melt away. She said, "I need to eat." So we grabbed a seat and some food and she was revived again. She used the restroom and came out saying, "I just talked to a woman..." I interrupted her to say, "Surprise! Surprise!, you finding someone to talk to!" Then I heard the woman's life story, etc. Before we got on the plane, she befriended another woman who had an ear infection so Mom gave her the new earplugs we had just purchased!

Mom slept on the plane until I started crawling over her to take pictures of REAL mountains to show Amy what they look like. I think I took 100 photos out of the window and Mom asked me if I wanted to change seats with her. I told her no, I just wanted to sit on her lap and I did. We smooched and giggled. She is so much fun to travel with. I can't wait for our next trip!

Somewhere over the Rockies...

Mt. Rainier, WA

Mt. St. Helens, WA

#252 Virginia, here we come!

The trip begins....AFTER work today, I'll hop on a plane to Seattle. Mom and I will be picked up at 3:30 a.m. (OMG) and taken to the airport. Then, we'll be in Virginia tomorrow night AFTER we stop over in Atlanta, Georgia and Greensboro, North Carolina where we will rent a car and drive to VA. Five states in 2 days....pretty cool.

I'll wave at you, Tammy, when we are in NC!

#251 My VW Chevy Van

Well, I'm back at work once again and I realized I have the only "clunker" vehicle that doesn't qualify for the Cash for Clunkers program in the school parking lot and it isn't from a lack of trying. I decided that my Chevy van/VW wanna be was going to get traded in once the program started. Then the details came out and my van is TOO OLD to qualify! What the heck?!
So I had to apologize to it for considering trading it in and I washed it and now "she" shines. She has not forgiven me because I tried to use the heater yesterday on my sandaled feet but it wouldn't put out heat. (sigh) I do love this van - after driving her for 37½ years, I should love her! And heck, I couldn't haul all the crap I do if I got a tiny VW bug!

#250 Art Museum Treat

Kristin Hoppe's quilt art was colorful and happy. Tiny pieces were used to put this together. I really enjoyed seeing her work.

The famous Gee's Bend quilts - fun quilts and I'm so glad I got to see them in person. I thought the closest I'd ever get to one is thumbing through photos in my coffee table book or licking my postage stamps with Gee's Bend quilts on them!

The best part was I got to go alone and spend as much or as little time as I wanted in front of each quilt. Mmmm...I'm a happy camper!

#249 Ashland

Ashland is my favorite town; somehow we missed the mark by 45 minutes when we moved here. At least I have a place to escape to when I need a culture fix! I didn't see a Shakespearean play this year but the season isn't over until next month. Maybe I'll take myself to see one.
Kari introduced me to this sweet little candy company so every trip now means a tasty treat for me to walk off in town. This time was Java Toffee....mmmmm.
I took myself to an art museum too....I'll share those photos tomorrow so stay tuned!

#248 Best of Buds...Bad Food

Shannon and me. She claims she remembers the day she met me when she was just 5 years old. Actually I remember it too. We were at a Camp Fire event, introducing us to the program.

SooOOoo, 32 years later, we are all still friends.
Although the evening was fun, the food was horrible. We will never EVER eat at the marina again. The only thing that could be eaten was the watermelon!!

#247 Judy and Shannon Arrive

Judy and Shannon arrived yesterday from southern CA. They took the train then a bus from Eastern Oregon. So about 30 hours later, they got here, road tired, but smiling. (I figured Judy would shoot me if I got too close with my camera.)

Shannon got comfortable with Hook right off the bat.
Now he is spoiled rotten and I'm worried she may catnap him in her rucksack!

#246 Doing Kari Proud

Daughter, Kari, wears high heeled shoes to work frequently. When I saw these shoes in the store ON SALE, I thought of her. I've always loved open toed shoes so I bought them. Now I've been wearing them around the house for two months to get used to being so tall and to break them in. Don't I look just wonderful with my jeans and sexy shoes and what I call my salami skin tone!

Now I just need a place to wear them other than around the house. I'm afraid to wear them at school because I have to chase kids across the grass too often!