Field Trip

Hayden's pre-school class made a trip to West Farm yesterday. They had a busy morning of activities. (click photos for larger view)

She got to pick out her own pumpkin...


...which she and mommy decorated with paint and stickers



She got to feed the cow and the sheep




We went on a hayride



and she ran through the haybale maze



It's hard to get all the kids to pose for a photo



But more fun saying "CHEESE" when mommy is there.



At dinner we always ask the kids what the best part of their day was. When we asked Hayden what the best was for her she said it was the bouncy ball at the farm.








It was a fun day.

Georgia Quilt Show

I attended the Georgia Quilt Show in the Atlanta area over the weekend. The quilts on display were lovely. The registration materials said that photos would not be allowed at the show so I did not take my camera. Turns out the limit on photos was only for a couple of special exhibitions, including the Hoffman Challenge.

I snagged these photos from the show website.

This was the Best of Show quilt. Lots of heavy quilting on this.

Serengeti at Twilight by Leona Harden


I liked this quilt of the young girl on the beach.

Beach Baby by Molly Samuels



This was the first quilt one saw upon entering the show. It was really cool and caused a bit of a traffic jam at the entrance.

The Moment of Inspiration by Sandy Curran


I didn't take any classes but did attend a lecture on dyeing fabric in the microwave. It was interesting and I'm going to give it a try.

In the past they did the Georgia Quilt Show every other year but they announced they'll be doing the show again next year October 20-22.

Random thoughts on a fall day

I spent the weekend at the state quilters guild annual retreat. Participants can either take a class from one of our state's talented teachers or set up in a bring your own project room. I went the BYOP route but didn't really get much accomplished. I took my camera and it never left my suitcase. I promise you that a lot of great work was done over the weekend (by others!)I just won't be able to prove it! The weather was great and I think everyone had a wonderful time.

I've been in a creative funk lately. Hopefully I'll get past that soon.

Also this past weekend was my 41st high school reunion which I was not able to attend.








I've seen photos from the reunion on several Facebook pages and it was fun to pick out old friends in the photos.

Redford High School in Detroit was a good place to go to school back in the '60's but the entire Detroit school system has been plagued by problems over the years. Redford was closed a couple of years ago and the last I heard there is a plan to develop the property into a shopping area. Redford's brush with greatness includes graduating George C. Scott and the actor Michael Dunn - google him for a photo - bet you recognize him (oh, and me too!)

It looks like summer has finally left South Carolina. We had such a hot humid summer and I think many of us had given up hope on cooler weather arriving.

LeMons report

It was quite a weekend at Carolina Motorsports Park in Kershaw, SC. The 24 Hours of LeMons organizers have a slick operation going. They put on these races all over the country and give adult men (and women) an opportunity to fulfil a childhood fantasy of driving a race car.

On Friday each car had to go through a technical inspection to make sure the car met specs. Even though our car was purchased from a previous LeMons team and had raced before, it failed its first inspection. The team was directed to correct some welding on the roll bar. Luckily the guys in the campsite next door had both the necessary welding equipment and a guy willing to do the welding in exchange for a case of beer. There was a party atmosphere throughout the weekend and teams helped each other out any way they could. (click photos for a larger view)



Part of the fun of the race is picking a theme for the car and decorating it. Some themes were funny.



A couple made a political statement.



Our guys paid homage to a scene in the old 70's movie, Dirty Harry, where a school bus was hijacked. They painted the car school bus yellow and striped and lettered it like the one in the movie. The car number was the same as that on the bus. It turns out that having a bright yellow car was an advantage to the spectators. It made it much easier to watch the car on the track.



103 teams registered for this weekend's race. A couple of the teams didn't make it to the start line, but I'm guessing there were 100 cars that started the race.
The assembly of team Terminally Confused was Craig's idea and he served as captain so he had the honor of beginning the race. They decided that each of the 5 drivers would put in 45 minutes behind the wheel and then they'd change out. They later extended the drive time because each driver thought 45 minutes was too short.



Each guy was exhilarated after his turn behind the wheel and Jerry was no exception.





I love this photo of the team watching while Jerry was driving.



During Craig's 2nd time behind the wheel the brakes decided to quit working. He spun out at about 70mph which apparently rattled him. (it didn't do much for his mom either!) The car was pushed off the track and they fixed the issue in about 20 minutes.

Later the inside mirror came loose and was beating the driver, Taan, in the head so they had to pull off the track to fix that.



By the end of day 1 the tires were well worn.



They'd brought a 2nd set of new tires and put them on the car Saturday night. Turned out it was the perfect thing to do as it rained on Sunday and the new tires were great in the rain. We'd ended day 1 in 41st place and by noon on Sunday had moved up to 35th. Not bad for first time racers.

Unfortunately things kind of went downhill after noon on Sunday. There was an oil issue, a minor collision (no injuries thank goodness) and the last nail in the coffin- a problem with the lug nuts on one of the wheels. The last problem was not fixable as the lugs were stripped. Sadly they ended up pulling out of the race about 90 minutes before the end. Even so, they ended up in 51st place. I left the course at noon on Sunday to come home. I told Craig that the reason things fell apart Sunday afternoon was because I wasn't there to cheer them on! Next time I'll have to stay through the entire race.

All in all it was a great showing for a rookie team. They are already planning the next race (in February) and are using this race as a learning experience.

24 Hours of LeMons

After a couple of months of preparation Jerry, Craig and several co-workers have finally reached the weekend of the 24 Hours of LeMons race. This is a race for cars with a value of $500 or less. (the $500 limit does not include the required safety equipment) Today was spent getting the necessary safety inspections, etc and tomorrow is the first day of actual racing.

Beach vacation

We have just returned from a glorious week in Myrtle Beach. We stayed at Ocean Lakes which is a family oriented resort that has accommodations varying from traditional campsites to elevated beach homes. Since I don't do camping we rented a beach house. Our friends, John & June, Jim & Susie, and Ned and Linda rented homes nearby.

We have all vacationed together in the past and somehow our times together evolved into Pirate events. In honor of that I made each couple a pirate quilt.

Here are the guys with their quilts: L-R: John, Jerry, Jim & Ned (click photos for larger view)



Then the girls: June, Susie, Me & Linda



I haven't quite figured out what prompted this photo:



Craig, Chrystal & the kids were able to come up last Saturday & Sunday and then again yesterday. The kids loved the beach. Noah enjoyed the water while Hayden just wanted to dig in the sand. At one point she even flopped down to make sand angels on the beach and had such a grin on her face while doing it.

The week was wonderful and the weather could not have been more perfect. Days spent on the beach and evenings spent driving around Ocean Lakes in a golf cart are my idea of paradise. We're already planning next year's trip.

38 years

Today we celebrate 38 years of marriage. We were married in the garden of the Botsford Inn, a historic hotel in the Detroit suburbs. (which is no longer an Inn but part of the adjacent Botsford Hospital.) It was a beautiful late summer afternoon with vivid blue skies and puffy white clouds. A neighbor of ours, who served as minister of his church in addition to being a Detroit City Cop (interesting combination of jobs!) performed the ceremony. I don't remember a lot about the ceremony but do recall my mother complaining that Jerry's shoes needed polishing.

Four days after the wedding Jerry left for a tour of duty in Scotland with the US Navy. I joined him in Scotland 2 months later. We've been moving around every few years since!

Lemons car

The 24 Hours of LeMons race is quickly approaching.

Jerry, Craig and the rest of team Terminally Confused have been working diligently getting the car ready for the race. Today was painting day. They have an obscure theme for the car having to do with the highjacking of a school bus in the movie Dirty Harry; thus they painted the car to resemble a school bus.



Apparently the painting project created a bit of interest in Craig's neighborhood and prompted a couple of his neighbors to come investigate. Glad that old clunker is in his yard and not mine!

Challenge quilt

Our guild always has a community service project. This year our project is Camp Happy Days, a camp for kids 'living with cancer.' In addition to the quilts we've made throughout the year, the community service coordinator issued a crayon challenge. We pulled a crayon from a paper bag and had to make a quilt using that color.

My crayon was black and this is the quilt I made. (click photo for larger view)



I know, the quilt isn't really black is it? This was a 4 patch swirl that I started some time ago and I decided it was close enough for the challenge - since the quilt is going to charity, they won't mind that it's not really black.

We turn in the challenge quilts next week and I'm looking forward to seeing what everyone made.

Getting off the couch

Years ago (about 20) I used to run. I never actually ran, it was more like a slow jog, but I entered numerous races. Most races saw me finish way in the back sometimes just in front of the police cruiser with its flashing lights indicating the end of the race. I even received a special Turtle Award trophy for being the last finisher in one race. The longest race I ever ran was a half marathon and I was the last uninjured finisher - but heck I finished!

I did win the women's category in a one mile race once but the weather was so bad that only 3 women entered the race and the other 2 dropped out before finishing the mile.

After we moved from Charleston to Columbia SC I tweaked my knee - probably because Columbia wasn't flat like Charleston and the hills were not kind to the joints-and I gradually stopped running.

Here we are 20 years later (and back in flat Charleston) and I got a bug that I wanted to try to run again. I know that just walking is better on the joints but I never could get enthused about just taking a walk around the neighborhood.

I came across a program called Couch to 5K on the Cool Running.com site and decided to give it a go. It's a 9 week program that starts with more walking than running. Week one had intervals of 90 seconds of running followed by 60 seconds of walking. Each successive week has more running and less walking until one builds up to 35 minutes of straight running - presumably enough to complete a 5K in a timely manner.

When I first started the program I got to week 2 and my knee started bothering me. I immediately went to the doctor who prescribed physical therapy. I learned lots of great stretches and strengthening techniques and the knee feels pretty good now. I restarted the program at week one and am now 6 weeks in.

I don't have a race goal in mind to test my new found 5K abilities, but need to schedule something just to keep me motivated.

See you on the roads!

9 years ago

Noah was born 9 years ago today.



I remember that day so well. We were living in California and waiting anxiously to hear that he had arrived safely. We didn't get to Charleston to see him for a week and it was so hard to miss so much of his infancy.

He decided on a slip & slide party so we set that up, filled up a bunch of water balloons and got out the water guns. It has been so hot and humid that when I brought the camera out for photos the lens fogged up. I didn't realize it as I was taking the photos so that's why some of these photos look blurry.












He shares his birthday with his Aunt Heather who turned 21 today. Her party may involve some slipping and sliding, but not the same kind as Noah's!

Happy Birthday Noah (and Heather)!

Beach Retreat 2010

Every year my guild, Cobblestone Quilters Guild, holds its annual beach retreat on Seabrook Island. This year's retreat started this past Friday and ran until today. We had rain on and off all weekend so we couldn't spend the time on the deck overlooking the ocean like usual, but it was still a great time. (click photos for larger view)




We always have a snack table which is loaded down with a variety of tempting goodies.




Lots of beautiful projects were worked on. My table mate, Frances, did this detailed paper pieced Dogwood.



She nearly ran out of the blue fabric for the sky. This is what was left when she finished the piecing.



There were so many beautiful quilts in progress through the weekend and I'm sorry I didn't get photos of most of them. Here are a few I was able to photograph.

Here is Karen's Monterrey Medallion. There were 3 others finished at retreat but I didn't get photos. Each looked so different because of the different color palette.



Janice's wall hanging



Betsy's Ohio Square Dance



Betsy's snowman




Sheila's



Marva's. For some reason I can't get this photo to orient the right way but I wanted to share this cool quilt. I loved the fabric gradation.


I also worked on a Monterrey Medallion. I started later than the others so am nowhere near done with mine. The red in the quilt doesn't seem so strong in person. Wish I'd seen how it reacts in the photo before I sewed all those blocks! I would have changed it.

Roller Derby

Did you know that Charleston has a Roller Derby league? We attended one of the matches last Saturday night. Jerry got us VIP tickets (there are VIPs that go to Roller Derby??) so we were in the special seats and our meal and drinks were included. There were more people in the stands than I expected and it was an interesting group of people.



Craig & Chrystal came with us.



It was an interesting experience but I'm not sure I'm in a hurry to return. Maybe we'll go back when Hayden joins the team.