Confused little girl?

Remember my joke entry in our guild's quilt challenge?


Hayden saw it in my sewing room today and immediately pointed at the construction worker and proclaimed "Daddy!" Now, I think Craig is good looking, but he'd be the first to admit he's not quite this buff. We've been laughing all day as she points to it and calls out 'Daddy.'

Thanksgivings past

As I was chopping onions for the stuffing this morning, I was remembering Thanksgivings past.

In 1972 we spent our first married Thanksgiving in Dunoon, Scotland - a charming small town on the banks of the Firth of Clyde.



Jerry was stationed there aboard the submarine tender USS Canopus. This photo isn't the Canopus, but a previous tender tied up just as the Canopus was.



Four days after our wedding in September '72, Jerry left to report to his ship leaving me in Detroit until the Navy would approve my travel to join him. Come early November when we were still waiting for approval my step-father decided he'd just buy me the airline ticket. He was probably getting sick of me underfoot at his house! I arrived the day before Thanksgiving. Luckily a shipmate had invited us to spend the holiday with them. I spent the day in a daze. I was jetlagged in this damp cold country living in a house with no heat and I was freezing! The couple hosting dinner did have a traditional turkey, but dessert was coconut creme pie. Now, I love coconut creme pie, but where was the pumpkin pie??

When we returned to the states Jerry was stationed aboard various submarines. For a number of years he spent the holidays at sea. The wives often would gather together to spend the day. We would have a potluck style dinner and it would usually be a madhouse with all the kids running around. Those were actually fun times.

When Craig was in high school and Jerry was on shore duty, we decided to have non traditional Thanksgivings. Craig & Jerry would pull out the cookbooks and come up with themed dinners. For example one year we had Moroccan food. It was good, but I don't think Craig's friend Steve, who spent the holiday with us that year, enjoyed it very much. He was probably wondering "where is the pumpkin pie?!"

When we lived in California we were often able to spend the holiday with Jerry's brother & sister or with my dad. It's always nice to spend the day with family.

This year we are having turkey because Jerry won it. We're not turkey lovers so I probably would not have purchased one for today.

I hope you all have wonderful memories of Thanksgivings past and that you have many more memorable Thanksgivings ahead of you.

TTT gang cracks up

Yesterday the TTT gang took a road trip. We traveled to Aiken South Carolina to see a quilt show displayed at the Aiken Historical Museum. Aiken is about 2 hours from Charleston so we made a day of it - stopping for lunch along the way and making a visit to a quilt shop as well.

We posed for a photo on the steps of the museum. Unfortunately as we were posing I lost my balance on the step and nearly knocked over an urn of flowers. Betsy caught the reaction to my slip. That's me bent over laughing. Behind me (left to right) are Cindy, Joanne (holding her head in her hand),Karen (in the brown sweater), Sheila (partially hidden behind Karen)Judy (in black) Janet (in front in orange sweater) and Maureen (in red). Janice is the headless person in green way back behind Judy & Maureen. (click on photo for larger view)



We always manage to have a good laugh when we're together!

What a difference a day makes

A while back I posted about the vine that grows over the pergola on our back deck. I don't know what the vine is, but it has a pretty blue/purple flower and grows thickly enough to shade the chairs under the pergola.




The other night we had an unseasonable freeze. We usually don't get a hard freeze like it until after Christmas. Unfortunately, the vine didn't like the cold weather!



The vine died off from the cold last year as well but came back strongly in the spring. I sure hope it comes back as nicely next year.

My 15 minutes

I took part in last year's journal quilt project and my quilt was displayed at the Houston, Chicago, and Long Beach quilt shows. (here's a photo of the quilt)




My friend Judy came across a VidCast about the journal quilts and mine was included! I don't have a direct link to the VidCast, but you can see it if you: 1. click here 2. click on "new VidCasts" on the left and then 3. click on Journal Quilts Part 2. My quilt is discussed about half way through.

For those of you that are not quilters, the narrator, Karey Bresnhan, is a huge force in the quilt community and is highly respected. Hearing her say such good things about my quilt is a real honor.

Universal Florida

Jerry, Craig & Noah just returned from a trip to Universal Studios Florida. (photos clickable for larger view)


Rather than drive, they went by train. Here are Craig & Noah outside the train which left Charleston at the unreasonable hour of 5am. (I had to drop them at the station)



The train had a dining car so they were able to have breakfast on the way down. The train back left Orlando around 2pm so they had dinner in the dining car on the return trip.



They had lots of fun on the various rides at Universal. The water rides were a particular favorite.




They ended up walking around the park dripping wet!

They had a great time, but I think they were all glad to get home.

Voting

It seems like this election has been going on for years and years and I'm glad it's finally coming to an end. I don't know why the US can't be like the UK and Canada in its election process. The Prime Minister calls for an election - sets the date - and 6 weeks later the citizens go vote.

Jerry, Craig and Noah have been in Florida at the Universal theme park for the past few days. They'll be home late tonight. Since he wouldn't be here for voting Jerry needed to either vote early or by absentee ballot. Two weeks ago we went up to the county seat for him to vote. The wait was about 30 minutes and against my advice he decided not to wait. He requested an absentee ballot, but it never arrived. Last Friday (on Halloween) back he went to vote. It took him 5 hours. He admitted he should have listened to me.

I figured that my wait on the actual day wouldn't be nearly as long as Jerry's had been, but boy was I wrong. It took 4 1/2 hours today. While we were waiting one of the guys in line had a pizza delivered to him! He was a cop in uniform and as much as I would have like to steal his pizza, I didn't want to tangle with an armed man!

In spite of the long wait everyone in line seemed in fairly good spirits. I sure hope they figure out how to streamline the process before the next big election.