When I was growing up, my sisters and I stayed several weeks with my grandparents each summer. My grandmother kept this quilt spread out in the back of her station wagon where my sisters and I would all three ride on trips into town to get groceries, go to the library, or go "visiting." This quilt holds many memories in its faded fabric and melted crayon stains. My grandmother did not sew but she told me she helped cut the pieces for this quilt that her mother-in-law sewed together.When my grandmother gave me the double wedding ring quilt, she also gave me this fan quilt that I had never seen before. I love having these old quilts and enjoy looking at all the old fabric prints.
Prewedding Fun
The wedding day started with a morning at the salon for the wedding party.
Miss P LOVED getting her hair curled and "done".
The guys had fun learning how to tie their bow ties.
The prewedding photo session included a trolley tour around town. The first stop was at the pier in Grand Haven. I couldn't help but take a few photos myself.
The wedding party even got to climb the light house.
The bridesmaids and groomsmen were having a bit of fun too. Selfies with the bride and groom.
Photobomb by the bride.
They left on the trolley and made a few other stops before the trolley brought them to the wedding site on the beach. I know they had a fun afternoon and I'm eager to see all the professional photos!
Wedding Weekend
This weekend, my second son got married! He and his fiance held the festivities on the shore of Lake Michigan so we got to have a wonderful weekend getaway to boot..
The night before the ceremony we had a rehearsal/picnic on the beach. It was great to spend time with the wedding party and the bride's family.
P loved playing on the beach after her rehearsal duties were finished.
Spring Break - Part 4 coming home
Our last stop in New Mexico was at Capulin Volcano National Monument. We arrived just as they were locking the gate for the evening so we could not drive to the top. We were, however, permitted to walk up.
Walking the road is ONLY allowed after the gate is closed so that worked out very well.
There were big, wide views in every direction as we circled the extinct volcano. You can see several other extinct volcanos in the same area.
Below is a view inside the crater.
Our last significant stop was at the Tallgrass Prairie Nationsl Preserve. P was thrilled to see Bison from the walking path. In addition to these two that were close, we saw a herd running away over a hill elsewhere on the path.
There were several prescribed burns going on in the area and the air was filled with smoke. Still, it was a beautiful visit.
Miss P was excited to get many new stamps in her national park passport this trip.
Spring Break - part 3 New Mexico
After three fun filled days with my sister, we left Carlsbad and headed to Albuquerque to see my nephew. On the way we stopped at Salinas National Monument and visited the Gran Quivira Ruins
and the Quarai Ruins.
From Albuquerque, we journeyed to Bandelier National Monument to see the ancient cliff dwellings.
There were a few caves there that you could enter to see what it was like. P enjoyed that.
The wall shown below had many petroglyphs just above the level of the upper post holes.
Here is a carving of a parrot.
Next, we vistited the ruins of Fort Union, which had quite a spectacular location. It is way in the distance of the photo below.
Spring Break - part 2 - Carlsbad
We enjoyed getting out and seeing the sights around Carlsbad, NM. My brother-in-law took us to his secret pecos diamond hunting spot which thrilled P, our budding geologist.
On the hottest day of our visit we toured the Carlsbad Caverns National Park. The view below was from the parking lot at the caverns.
On our last day my brother-in-law took us to more great spots with big views. The first stop was Sitting Bull Falls where miss P and her cousins played in the water.
We had our picnic lunch there.
The next stop was Dark Canyon. We were amused that my great niece read the sign as "Dark Canyon, LOOKOUT!"
We hiked to Cottonwood Cave, a much less visited cave than the caverns.
My brother-in-law knows all the best places to hike.
We finished the day with a sunset view from "the rim" and late night star viewing from dark canyon.
This really was a trip of big views.
Spring Break - part 1 - traveling to New Mexico
Last week was P's spring break from school. We extended break by one day so that we could drive to New Mexico and visit my sister and her family. On the way there we stopped at the southern tip of Illinois and visited Heron Pond.
In addition to the state champion Cherrybark Oak shown below, we saw a thousand year old tupelo tree and the state champion Cypress tree. We were on our way to visit the nation's longest covered bridge but, sadly, that road was closed due to high water.
The next day we enjoyed the wide open spaces in Oklahoma at the Washita River Battlefield. We welcomed the big, blue, clear skies.
We also visted the Abilates Flint Quarries on our way to see my niece in Canyon, Texas. There was a beautiful camping area in the park. That's B up on top of the hill checking out the view.
Miss P enjoyed looking for fossils, and cacti.
We soaked up the big views.
Keeping Focused
I can't seem to stay focused on any one particular project lately.
I've been playing with the tiny squares,
joining rosettes on the passacaglia quilt,
and prepping this red and white quilt from last year for quilting.
What have you been working on?
A Joyous Day
Sunday morning I got up and wanted a few moments of solitude before the bustle of the day started so I went out for a stroll around the barn.
On the front porch I was greeted by marigold garland strands awaiting their final placement. Thanks to the many family members who pitched in to pick marigolds and string the garlands. It reminded me that this day was to be filled with loving thoughts from many friends and family.
I thought I was the first one up but Sophia, who was arranging all of the wedding flowers, had already been hard at work. All of the flowers for the day were cut from our fields and gardens as well as the from the home of the bride's family.
Here are the bride and groom after the ceremony when they opened the barn for the reception.
Miss P made the cake toppers, and did a wonderful job capturing the wedding attire of the bride and groom.
Friends and family helped with the preparations by fixing the barn, folding cranes, planting and weeding marigolds and other flowers, letter pressing invitations, floral arranging, wedding music, preparing cookies and cakes for the dessert buffet, and even shooing a couple of chickens who thought the flower bedecked arch was a buffet set out just for them.
The day was joyous and beyond anything I could have imagined. I loved seeing my son so happy and it was wonderful to spend time with family on such jubilant occasions.
Barn Update
I am really enjoying the barn photography these days.
I go out and check on the progress D and B are making every so often but I tend to look down at all of the interesting bits that that have been left behind.
I look down because looking up makes me nervous. D climbs around in there like a monkey. Here he was putting in the new electrical wiring. I'm afraid he'll forget he's up there and take a step backward. I know he really won't but it still makes me nervous.
He's done a lot of climbing to get these Christmas lights up. The floor still isn't finished but at least there's light now! I guess they can work after dark to get the flooring done.
If we can only get rid of the mosquitoes I think we'll be ready for the wedding in September.
Scenes from Our Weekend
We enjoyed a lovely four day weekend. Our days were filled with baby chicks, barn repair, pea picking and shelling, mowing, cleaning, weeding, raspberry picking, and a belated double birthday celebration.
Suzuki Family Camp at Blue Lake
I'm back home from a fun filled week with Miss P at Suzuki Family Camp at Blue Lake.
It was an intense week of cello and music and no internet or phones.
Here's the breakdown in numbers.Miss P participated in:
2 four day music camp sessions that included
30 hours of cello class,
Two cello play-ins,Two fiddle concerts,
One chamber recital,
andTwo end of session concerts.
We also enjoyed:
Two faculty concerts,Three camp fires with s'mores,
Riding bikes around the camp,
Dropping ants into antliontraps
Catching tadpoles and dragonflies,
Creative time in the Art Barn,
Swimming in the camp pool,
Playing with friends made previous years at camp,
Catching minnows at Duck Lake, and
Two trips to Pekadill's for ice cream.
Luckily the storm that brought tornadoes to other parts of Michigan this week missed Blue Lake.
Miss P is excited to practice this summer and has a list of new pieces that she will be working toward. We are eager to return next year.
Family Time
We are enjoying some much needed family time this holiday weekend. This photo was from an early morning kayak outing yesterday.
I hope you are also having a great weekend doing whatever it is that fills you with joy.
Spring Break 2015 - part four
Our last few stops for seeing the sites on the way home were in the Smoky Mountains. We would love to go back and spend a week camping there.
Spring Break 2015 - part three
On our way home we also made a few stops for nature viewing. The first stop was the Okefenokee Swamp.
Our next stop was Pearson's Falls, a 268 acre property with a beautiful trail and waterfall owned by Tyron Garden Club, in North Carolina.
Spring Break 2015 - part two
Our spring break destination this year was Florida. We have family in St. Petersburg, and St. Pete Beach so we do get down there to visit occasionally.Our favorite thing to do when visiting is to take morning walks at Ft. DeSoto. We always see such interesting wildlife there. Our last morning, in addition to the usual sea birds and shellfish, we saw two starfish, two manatee, a dolphin, and a sting ray. The ray swam along with us for a while as we walked the beach.
Spring Break 2015 - part one
We really enjoy driving south during our spring break each year. Shedding more outerwear at each stop, we leave the drab brown of Michigan and drive through the coming of pale green leaf buds showing on the trees and into greens so bright and rich they make your eyes hurt.
I'm still going through our vacation photos and will be back with more from our stay in Florida and the return trip.
Solstice
We went for a short solstice walk this afternoon.
I've been wanting to get back to using my DSLR every day like I did a couple of years ago.
I think it helps my state of mind to find something beautiful or interesting to document or remember each day. It provides a visual journal but also encourages me to get out and look at the world around me when I may be feeling more like a slug.
The solstice seemed like a good day to start back with daily photography.
I'll be posting my daily photos on flickr but some of them may end up here on the blog.
Trimming the Tree
The first weekend in December is always busy in our town. It is the festival of lights weekend with a tree lighting, luminarias, and a parade, the ballet has several performances of The Nutcracker, there is an arts and crafts show, the gingerbread house making workshop and display, and the Holiday community concert with the Chelsea Chamber Players and the high school orchestra and Choir. So many activities that there is no way to do them all.
We were busy this weekend trying to do all that we could. We even squeezed in cutting and decorating our Christmas tree.
Actually, we harvested three of our trees this year. D and M both wanted trees for their apartments this year. D cut the top out of the largest of our homegrown Christmas trees.
M chose a smaller tree for his first.
Miss P and her friend watched the proceedings.
We started planting Christmas trees when the boys were young and cut the first of our trees in 2010. It makes me very happy that we can take a short walk past the barn and choose the perfect tree or three.
End of Summer
Here we are at the close of the final weekend of summer vacation.
Autumns approach is in the air and the first leaves are beginning to fall.
It is always bittersweet time for me. I am glad that the kids are in school and have that structure. They love the extra activities and to spend more time with their friends while I miss the extra family time that summer allows. The sweet part is that I'll soon have more tim e to myself and be able to accomplish a lot of sewing!
I hope you are enjoying a wonderful weekend.
