Aloha!

  

I'm back from 2 amazing weeks in Hawaii!  As you may have figured out by now, I'm not much of a photographer but I'll add a few pix to this post to give you an idea.  Of course, Hawaii was incredibly beautiful as I had known from pictures I'd seen my entire life. But in reality, it was so much more.

We had a little balcony off our room and had coffee there in the morning. We left the sliding door open so we could enjoy the sounds of the birds and feel the ever present gentle breezes.  Temps were perfect--68 to 83 F or so every day, even when we had a few rain showers.  We spent the entire time on Oahu and when I return, which I'm determined to do, I'd like to explore the other islands as well.

On one of our first days there, we hiked to the top of Diamond Head and took this photo from the look out up there. Simply amazing!

I've been trying to decide on the best things of the trip and it's really hard!  I loved the day we spent on the water with Captain Bob and the crew, turtle watching, messing around on what they said was the world's largest sandbar, and snorkeling on a huge and beautiful coral reef.  We had grilled burgers with the usual fixin's on board for lunch--Delicious!

I also enjoyed walking the beaches on the North Shore, watching the surfers and savoring Matsumoto's shave ice after we'd had the most amazing Thai food lunch at Opal Thai.  It was just like the food we'd loved in Thailand when we were there over 35 years ago. If you look at this photo with a magnifying glass, you can see a half dozen surfers off this North Shore beach, out where the waves turn white and foamy.

On the last day, which was my birthday, we spent hours at the USS Arizona memorial, which was truly moving.  Later, we went to the Punch Bowl cemetery where many of those killed on Dec. 7, 1941, have been buried.

Then we went on an adventure!  Since I was driving and Don had control of the gps, I took off in the direction I thought I wanted to go, and soon enough we were at Kaneohe. Don asked the gps to find us a restaurant and he selected a Thai one in the town.  We never found the Thai restaurant but we did find a Viet Namese restaurant where we had my birthday dinner.  My husband loves to talk with people so after we were seated, he starts chatting with the Viet Namese owner of the place. I couldn't believe it--turns out that the guy's family provided services (laundry, cleaning, etc) to the American GIs at the base where Don was stationed for his first tour in Viet Nam! Talk about your small world! We let the owner choose our food for dinner and it was soooooo delicious!  I have no idea what the dishes were called so probably won't be able to get the same here at home, but it was a truly divine meal--just what I deserved on my birthday. ;~)

On the last  day in Hawaii, I started getting a sore throat which has developed into the "MOTHER OF ALL HEAD COLDS"  Don't stand too close to you computer device or you may catch the same cold.
 I feel like the female version of this poor guy.     

Hope you're all healthy and getting on with what life is handing you. As for me, I still have to unpack my house from the big move on 12/30. (I told Don that if I ever mention moving house again, he's to hit me over the head with a 2x4 until I get some sense back. LOL)

ON THE WAY TO VACATION

I can't begin to say how happy I am to be on my way to 2 weeks of vacation with my loved one of the past 42 years--to the beaches of Hawaii!

Don and I had planned to get married in Hawaii back in 1971 when he took his R&R from his tour in Viet Nam.  I'd wanted to go to Hawaii since I was a teen and saw Elvis in "Blue Hawaii" and I'd also had  a great desire to learn how to surf, based on all those Annette Funicello and Frankie Avalon beach movies.

Alas, my trip to the land of black sand beaches and luaus has been delayed these 42 years.  I've never been on a surf board (and with my arthritic knees, I doubt that I ever will now) and we married in Duluth, MN instead of Honolulu. Don returned home from the war earlier than expected and got a medical discharge from the Air Force.  Then came college, kids and careers, and our traveling days were put on hold for many years.

So finally, we are on that long delayed trip, and wouldn't you know, things are already going wrong.  As I was  pulling out of the driveway to head to Mpls, I caught the front fender of the car on a snow drift and tore it all apart.  Don couldn't fix it right then and we didn't want to risk driving it the way it was, so I heaved all the bags into the pickup and we bumped along to the city. When we got to the hotel, I found out that the free airport shuttle service they offer isn't free if you don't book directly with the hotel. Whoever heard of that! I swear I never saw it on the website when I made the reservation.  Oh well, I'm not going to let that keep me from my trip.  We're going to head out to get some dinner in a few minutes.  Let's hope nothing more goes wrong.  After how hard we've worked this past month we really, really need this vacation!  I can't wait to get there tomorrow!

Happy New Year

In the eleven days since I last posted, an amazing amount of energy has been expended by me and my family. I almost feel as though the universe is determined to make us use up all our old energy before midnight tonight and start fresh in 2014 with a new supply.

Since the solstice, we have finished packing up the house. Daughter Jo came on the 26th and helped clean while the movers loaded the truck. What a great team of movers they were! We've always loaded the rental truck ourselves when we've moved (about 10 or 12 times I think, over the years) but this time we hired a  company and I'm so glad we did! Thye got all our crap on the truck in 4 hours where it used to take us at least a day or more to load up.

So, on the morning of the 27th, we signed all the papers, turned over the keys, and were oficially homeless for the weekend. Don and I spent a well earned 2 days at the (relative) luxury of the Super 8 in town.We got all rested up for Monday, the 30th.

We signed the papers to buy the new house at 8:30, the moving truck arrived at 10:30 and 4 hours later, all our crap was deposited in the house and garage where most of it still waits to be put away. 

Don and I have spent this New Year's Eve unpacking and trying to make some sense out of all the chaos. I think the worst thing about moving to a new house is deciding where to put everything especially in the kitchen, and then remembering where I put them.  It gets harder as my brain "matures!"

The hardest thing about the whole move--not the fact that our belongings were frozen on the moving truck all weekend, not spending the weekend in a cheap hotel,  not the having to sort out the freezable foods and liquids so they could be stored indoors for the weekend--was having to put our two old cats in the kennel all weekend and not knowing if they were miserable or delighted.  When I brought them to the new  house yesterday, they spent several hours exploring and the rest of the evening and all day today they have been close at hand wanting to be petted at every opportunity. I think they're happy to be back with their humans. :-)

I retrieved my sewing machines from daughter Tessa's house today and they are in the sewing room, patiently waiting to be used again, but they'll have to wait until we come back from Hawaii in the middle of January.  Then the fun will begin again! I'll have 10 days to finish sorting  out  the house and getting ready for our month in Alabama. At least I'll be taking my machines and several projects along with and will finally be able to work on my quilts again.

So, happy New Year--may it be filled with serenity and contentment and a boundless supply of 2014 energy.

The Winter Solstice

Today's the winter solstice, the time when the earth begins turning to light and warmth after six months of increasing darkness and cold.  I celebrate this day as the beginning of a new season in my life.

This past month has held many changes for me and truly, a new season is beginning. Just before Thanksgiving, I retired from my job and on that day as well, Don and I accepted an offer to buy our house.  This was followed by a frantic search to find a house in Menomonie that suits our needs. We lucked out and found a very beautiful house that will serve our purposes for the rest of our lives.  We are moving out of this house on the 27th and will be "homeless" until the 30th when we can move into the new house.  Every day since then has been spent sorting, cleaning, throwing and packing and we are nearing the end of it.  I managed to finish a crib quilt for my friend's new grandson and got that off in the mail the other day. In the midst of all this chaos, our son graduated with his Masters degree so we spent last weekend in Milwaukee for the ceremony and to have an early Christmas with Dan and Erin and the family. I'm so proud of my son--it's taken him a long time to get this degree but he managed to do it--and he landed a choice job as well!  

Enjoy this shortest day and fill it with things that bring joy to your heart and to your family. 

The quilt tour

I went to the quilt tour wrap up meeting last night. What a huge success the entire fundraiser was!  Naomi's goal was to raise $5000 and when she told us that a couple of months ago, she said it with doubt in her voice.  Well, little lady, doubt no more!  The tour grossed over $6000 and after the program subtacted the (minimal) expenses they'd incurred, they came out with about $5900 in their pockets!  All for a very good cause, and I (and the other group chairs) feel very good for doing our bit to help this very needed service in our community.

We learned that a neighboring community had their semi-annual quilt show the same day as our quilt tour and we think that drew visitors away to a certain extent. We decided last night that we want to do the quilt tour again next year, and then, on alternate years, opposite the other quilt show.  That way, its a win-win for both events.

Will I step up and organize the show for the guild again?  You bet--if they want me to. I had a lot of fun doing it and working with the awesome ladies of my guild.  And hearing all the positive comments from the visitors was so rewarding.  Yes, I'm in it again, I think.

Typhoon Haiyan

I've been hearing bits and pieces of the news of the huge storm that hit the Philippines a few days ago but this morning, I sat down and read the NBC news article on the situation here: 

 http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/11/11/21399516-silence-worries-aid-workers-in-wake-of-typhoon-haiyan-56k-homes-wrecked-on-one-island?lite

This article says it's estimated that 10,000 people have died but "Nearly 620,000 people were displaced and 9.5 million "affected" across the Philippines," according to the UN. How many more will die due to exposure and disease as they have to go without basic necessities such as clean water?

They are saying this storm is as devastating as the tsunami that destroyed so much of the countries along the Indian Ocean  in 2004! The storm was as big as the country of Germany when it hit the Philippines, for crying out loud! Maybe you already know these things but I'm just finding out this morning, so I'm horrified!

I worked with a Filipina over the past couple of years, helping her become a citizen and getting the benefits she's entitled to, and she has children and grandchildren still in the Philippines.  I called her today and she said they are okay but their house has been washed away. This is the second time her kids have lost their house in a huge storm in the past few years.  Of course, I will send some money to them, via their mother, to help them out.  I would encourage anyone who reads this to send a generous donation to the relief agencies which are trying to cope with this disaster.

As I read the above article, it occurred to me that Mother Nature has a way of solving her problems.  Several years ago, I learned that one of the signs of climate change or global warming, is an increase in severe weather episodes. It seems to me that it's happening these days.  But, when huge and disastrous events occur--such as record-breaking cold in Europe in 2011 which killed many people, storms like Sandy which hit the east coast of the US, and this most recent disaster--thousands of people end up dying.  Is this Mother Nature's way of coping with the human influence on climate change?  The fewer people there are on this planet, the less of a carbon footprint?  Is this nature's way of bringing climate back into balance?

It seems to me that we humans can assist in bring the climate back into balance without having to suffer these extreme weather events.  I'm glad I traded my car for a Prius. It's a very small thing, but it's what I can do to lessen my personal carbon footprint.

The First Ever Quilt Show

Yesterday was the first ever quilt show for my guild.  Last summer we were invited to participate in a "quilt tour" fundraiser for the local domestic abuse program and I was tasked with following up on the email. I actually moved myself into the position of coordinator of our part of the tour--something I've had no experience with at all!  Without going into the details, 5 of the 6 ladies who were on the team were real troopers and went full speed ahead and got everything done that they had to do--it was amazing to see it all come together. The 6th lady we'll not say much about other than even though she didn't attend the planning meetings and had no idea of our plans, she arrived on Friday night when we were setting up, and proceeded to tell everyone what they were supposed to do. That kind of thing really burns my butt!  Fortunately, the other ladies know her pretty well and for the most part, ignored her and went ahead with the plans we'd already made.

The tour was held yesterday and Yea, there was no snow, always a risk in November in NW Wisconsin. The turn out was overwhelming!  The thing was set up that 5 guilds or quilting groups set up quilt shows in 4 area churches. We were in one of the larger churches and shared the space with another guild which worked out very well.  People bought a "passport" and were allowed into all the churches on the one passport.  The domestic abuse program also had a raffle in conjunction with the tour and they had some wonderful items in the raffle. Each guild donated a lap size quilt and area businesses donated wonderful things.  I didn't win anything, but that's okay.

We had a store set up where guests could buy items made by members of the guild. We were given 1/2 yard pieces of fabric that the guild bought, and made items using the fabric--mostly table runners, pot holders and other small items. Almost everything sold and we shared the proceeds of the store with the domestic abuse program.

We also had a cafe where we had coffee, cider, punch and cookies for the guests. We set out a good will offering basket and again, shared the proceeds with the program.

I was busy all day on the floor of the show, mixing with guests, answering questions, and so forth. I was a "white glove lady!"  The last time I wore white gloves was when I still lived at home with my mother and we had to dress up for Sunday church--and that's a very long time ago! I heard so many compliments over how we'd set up our quilt racks and how beautiful the quilts were. We had a section of antique quilts that was a big hit. I displayed my husband's great-grandmother's quilt which looked so beautiful now that it's all quilted up.

When it was over and the raffle winners drawn, I helped take it all down and load everything in cars and trucks and came home with a very good feeling in my heart.  My hips and knees, however, had a very bad feeling in them from all the standing and walking as well as heavy lifting so I spent the evening in a comfy chair with my feet on a footstool.  Today, I'm back in the routine and hope to be spending some time working on quilts instead of looking at them and talking about them.

I think the quilt tour was a big success and I know our part of this show was a big success! I would definitely do this again, if we're invited next year.