Uncle Bob

I have a small family.  My father was an only child and my mother only had a sister, Rustle.  (Rustle's birth name was Mabel, but she hated that name and changed it as an adult to Rustle.  Russell is a surname back in the family tree and I wonder if that had any bearing in her picking Rustle as a new name.)   Aunt Rustle was married to Uncle Bob.  They had two sons, Donovan, and Rob.

Aunt Rustle passed away about 12 years ago.  Yesterday we lost Uncle Bob. 

 Uncle Bob (on right) with his 2 sons Rob (on left) and Donovan (center)

 It's funny, but Uncle Bob was just always in the background of my childhood memories. I remember bits and pieces of the summer I was 5 and I lived with them. My single parent mother couldn't leave me home alone all summer with my older brothers (who were 9 & 11) so on Monday morning she'd drop me off at my Aunt & Uncle's and leave me there until Friday evening. They only lived a few miles from us so I never understood why I couldn't go home every night, but there is probably something I don't know about the entire situation. Anyway, I remember the flow of a 'normal' 1950's family with the husband leaving for work in the morning and coming home at dinner time while the wife remained home.  It was so different from what was happening in my house!  My cousins hadn't arrived yet, so it was just me with my Aunt & Uncle.

I bought my first car from Uncle Bob. A 1961 VW Bug - for which I paid him $200 cash. I didn't even know how to drive a stick shift when I bought it but he kept assuring me it wouldn't be hard to learn. I still drive a stick shift, so I guess he was right.

A story about him that will always remain with me. Bob was a pilot (he was retired from the Air National Guard) and was once in a small plane crash. When the emergency crews arrived they initially thought he had not survived and he heard them say they were not going to worry about him because he was dead. He managed to move enough to alert them that he wasn't dead and they loaded him in the ambulance. On the way to the hospital the ambulance was in an accident!

Jerry & Uncle Bob shared the same birthday.  When I first started dating Jerry and he told me his birth date I didn't believe him.  After all that my Uncle's day - how could anyone else share it?

It had been several years since I'd seen him but I can still hear his chuckle.

Rest in Peace Uncle Bob.  You'll be missed.

A day late and a dollar short

When we moved into our new (to us) house the lot next door was for sale.   Our lots here in this neighborhood are rather small and the houses are fairly close together.  We decided that if the price was right we would like to buy that lot which would give us some nice open space to one side of the house.  As it was we were already mowing a portion of the lot and the kids could use that area for kicking around the soccer ball, etc.  Hayden even wanted us to put a swing set there! 

The only thing stopping the purchase of the lot was the necessity of selling our other house.  Once we had the proceeds from the sale of that house we could purchase the lot.  Alas, one month before closing on the old house the lot sold (after being for sale for at least 2 years!)

Turns out a builder purchased the lot and this past weekend preliminary work began.

The lot is right outside our bedroom.  Guess there won't be much sleeping late for a few months as they build the house. 

Design issues

I am trying to finish up a quilt for my art group's Charles Towne Landing challenge.   We were tasked to use photos taken at the Landing as inspiration for our work.  I was taken by the various pathways I saw and used these photos for inspiration:

Sorry about that last photo, I just can't get it to rotate properly.

My original plan was to depict each photo and then join the 3 pieces together as one quilt.  The trees in the middle with the other two in opposite corners.    The trees in the middle of this:

(these are not done yet, but are fused enough to be able to put them on the wall)

 We are limited to a maximum size of 36" and I obviously didn't give the measurements serious consideration.  Each of the 3 individual pieces is too big to use the way I'd original planned. 

So, on to plan B - but I don't know what plan B is!  This is the only way I can stay within the required 36".

I know at one time we talked about maybe being able to do more than one work - I wonder if they'd let me do 3 small works!? 

Any advice on composition would be welcome.