On to Prince Edward Island

                   "The power of Imagination makes us infinite." John Muir

The Coast off Cape Breton, Nova Scotia

Cape Breton is the fartherest NE part of NS.  It is most rugged of the whole province and most of it is a National Park.  The coastline drive is reminiscent of Big Sur in California, but not quite as "thrilling"; the road didn't quite follow right on the edge as in CA!

A Farmhouse on the Coast on Prince Edward Island

We really like PEI...it was very green and clean and UNtouristy!  To see a farm house right on the coast like this was an interesting sight for us.  It was not uncommon to see the horses grazing in the front of the houses.  This particular shot  reminds me of an Andrew Wyeth painting!

Surfing with Kites on the north coast of PEI

There is a National Park on the Atlantic Coast, north PEI that was basically closed for the winter but we could still drive around the coastline and get out at the beaches.  In the summer, it must be a very popular place to surf and sun as there were cabanas and boardwalks, etc.  As we came around one of the large sand dunes, we saw these three people out in the water surfing!!!!  The wind and waves were really high so they must have been having quite an adventure!  We enjoyed watching them from the warmth of our car!

Flowers at the Cairn's Motel in Summerside, PEI

Flowers were just lush everywhere!!  And we met the nicest people whereever we went.  A young couple owned and ran this motel...they were born and raised there and lived in a nice home right next door to the motel.  In Canada we were able to stop at the visitors centers and they would make lodging arrangements for us once we told them what kind of rooms, etc we were looking for...we were never steered wrong! 

More of our Fab Trip East

One of the many lighthouses we saw along the coastline.

After we left Alma, on our way to the Hopewell Rocks on the Bay of Fundy, New Brunswick, we drove down a winding road to see the lighthouse.  The place was not open yet, so we parked and just got some pictures from above.

The Hopewell Rocks from Above

To get to the ocean floor you have to climb down MANY stairs...you can see people walking around down there.  When the tide is out, people are allowed to go down and wander around much of the floor.  There are some cavelike areas which are blocked off that would be dangerous to go in.  Then when the tide starts to come in, everyone has to evacuate the area.  The water will rise 20-30 feet at high tide.   We got quite a thrill out of walking on the ocean floor!!

Standing on the Ocean Floor!

At low tide, the eroded rocks are very visible...you can see algae growing on them.  At high tide, the arch behind Dick would be almost invisible.  The visitors' center has pictures of people canoeing right in the same area we are standing!

Lunenburg, Nova Scotia

After visiting the Hopewell Rocks, we drove to Nova Scotia.  When stopping at the visitors' center, we expressed to the aid there that we were not interested in the typical touristy stuff so we avoided Halifax and went around further to this charming fishing town of Lunenburg.  We stopped at the town visitors' center and the lady there set us up with a lovely little B&B run by a local couple who were very friendly and interesting....all within walking distance to the village. This is a picture of the town from across the bay at sunset.

The Academy of Lunenburg

The town was first settled, in the 1600's by Swiss and German families.  This building was built in the  1700's for the education of the more elite children.  It is still being used today as the town's elementary school....beautiful construction and grounds.

A Street in Lunenburg

Although a bit more colorful than many of the houses in town, these are typical of the architecture of Lunenburg.





The Fishing Boat "Cape Rouge"

I don't know how many fans of the tv show "Haven" are reading this, but as we wandered the piers, we came on this boat which we discovered is used in the show.  We were moseying along when this ol' sea captain came out and asked us where we were from..we struck up a conversation with him and he told us that the town of Lunenburg, and this boat of his were used in "Haven"!  The show is a kind of SciFi, which I do watch so that was fun to talk to him....then after getting home and watching some I had taped, I could really recognize a lot of the places in the show....including this boat!

The Third Leg of Our Northeast Trip!

"There's no place like home!" Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz

Belted Galloway cows at Camden Maine

After getting our room at Camden, we drove around to see what we could see.  We came upon these cows, marked like nothing we had seen before so we had to check them out!

Penobscot Bay...Camden, Maine

We really enjoyed Camden...it is not far from Acadia National Park nor Bar Harbor; although it is not as well known as BH, we enjoyed it more because it seemed less "touristy" to us...a beautiful harbor, many cute shops and places to eat.  As we were driving North into Maine, the traffic heading South towards Boston and New York was backed up, three lanes deep and at least 10 miles long!  Then we realized it was Labor Day and everyone was heading back home...we felt real lucky we were going in the opposite direction!

Acadia National Park Shoreline

Beautiful park..we left Camden and came straight here..we spent most of the day here before getting our lodgings for the night.

Lunch at Jordan Pond

This was a neat spot about half way around the park that is traditional for lunches. Around the turn of the last century, this is where the elite of the east coast would dine on the lawn when visiting Acadia and have popovers with ice cream so we did, too.  There is a large restaurant with many verandas there also, but eating overlooking the water was the fun part!

 View from Cadillac Mountain

Cadillac Mountain has the fame of being the tallest point from the top of the east coast all the way down to Brazil.....compared to the Rockies, it isn't that tall, but for the east, it is a mountain!  Very pretty...a drive all the way to the top but many hikers and bikers were making the summit.

Bar Harbor Marina

We went to our lodgings then walked around Bar Harbor...still liked Camden better!

Next stop....New Brunswick and the Bay of Fundy...home of the highest tides in the world!

After Arrowmont

"A woman has the age she deserves"!  Anonymous (hmmm...think about it!)

Norman Rockwell Museum

After we left the Smokys and Arrowmont, we traveled to Stockbridge, Massachusetts....Norman Rockwell country.  Beautiful country, in the Berkshires.  The museum is located a little out of town on land purchased several years ago to locate the museum and to recreate Rockwell's studio...a lovely setting.

                       Norman Rockwell's Studio in the Berkshires

We were not able to take pictures inside...but what a thrill to see the "originals" done by an artist I have always admired!  We could tour the studio in part, which was the real thing....just moved to the new setting.

             Mark Twain's Home in Hartford, Connecticut

Then we drove to Hartford, CT and visited Mark Twain's home where he wrote "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" and others works.  There is a museum and then the house tour.  Our guide was a very entertaining young man who was just finishing up high school;  he was very articulate as well as amusing.  As I grew up near Hannibal, MO, I have always been a big fan of Twain's so found the whole visit to be very interesting.  The home was located in what once was a very exclusive area....Nook Farm...where the Alcott's and others of the time had homes.  Now it is kind of surrounded by a not so nice neighborhood....but the grounds immediately around the homes are still well kept.

                     A Statue of Mark Twain made of Legos!

Located in the museum is this statue of Twain made entirely of legos!  It is life size...my grand son would love to see that...and try to duplicate it......being the "lego" King of Texas!  Both the museum and home were very worth the trip, to me...and Dick is a fan of Twain also so he liked it too.

The next stop .......... the coast of Maine and Acadia National Park!

There is no place like home!

"Mid Pleasures and Palaces though we may roam, be it ever so humble, there is no place like home!" John Howard Payne
                                                                                                                                  

We just returned from a long trip...first went to Arrowmont Arts and Crafts School at Gatlinburg, Tennessee.  This is our fourth time to take classes there.  My class this year was with Martine House who is a wonderful, talented lady in the field of fabric manipulation, use of different kinds of fabrics to create texture, hand stitching and beading techniques...and so much more.  This is just a very loose beginning of my work in various  parts started there.   I hope to get back to work on it quickly so I can remember the different things she taught us!!!!

After spending a really great week at Arrowmont, we left there on an extended trip to the far Northeast...all the way to Prince Edward Islands via many other interesting sites!

Finally a cool day in Texas!

"I have not failed, I have just found 10,000 ways that won't work!" Thomas Edison

Yesterday....105!  Today...79!  And Monday when we were in Granbury, our car temperature showed 113!  I don't think I hae ever seen a themometer read that high!

I just watched a short video that one of my quilter friends had put out on Facebook...It was an interview by Susan Shie at the Festival of Quilts in Birmingham, England.  Susan's website is http://www.turtlemoon.com/ and her blog is http://www.susanshie.blogspot.com/ .  I didn't see the interview on either yet but I bet it will show up soon.  I am interested in her technique more than I am in her final product...although it is very interesting, it is just a little way out for me.  But she is a marvelously creative spirit!!  I would love to take her workshop sometime.

I just finished reading "A Reliable Wife"...it is touted as a Gothic novel and, although it is set up similar to that genre, it is more contemporarily written.  It takes place in winter, Wisconsin, 1907...a gentleman puts an ad in the Chicago paper for a reliable wife and as it is described..."she is anything but reliable"!  It is written by Robert Goolrick, author of "The End of the World As We Know It".  This is his first fiction novel and is a very intriguing read.

I am now starting "The Poisonwood Bible" by Barbara Kingsolver...a book sent to me by one of my "blogger buddies" after I had mentioned I had not read it.  I think it will travel well with me as we head out.

Going International!!!

         "Knowledge speaks, but Wisdon listens!"  Jimi Hendrix

In addition to our daily crossword puzzles, the Tuesday newspaper has an additional quiz.  Today's "test" was to finish "famous Quotes".  Although we weren't real successful, I really liked some of the quotes so am going to add them to my "quote of the blog" list.  The above....Jimi Hendrix...who knew he could be so deep???

I just finished reading "Moonlight in Odessa" by Janet Skeslien Charles....and we are not talking Odessa, Texas!  This is her first novel and I am looking forward to more from her.  It was really good...one of those "okay, what next!!"  kind of books...not a mystery, just human interest story but gave  a really good aspect of life in post communist Russia/Ukraine.  The author had lived there for two years and her writing certainly reads authentic!  A warning...guys, no automatic  weapons/ bombings/ violence...so you might not care for it as much as we gals!

The book I just finished right before this one was "The Children's Book" by A.S. Byatt.  She is a new author to me and I would read her again...not a  first novel.  This book takes place in England at the end of the 19th century into the 20th, around the time of the first World War.  Very good also... descriptive of the time period...historical fiction...and full of quirky characters...but as with many British authors, a little to wordy at times...sometimes TMI!!!  I am a pretty good scanner though so can move a story right along!

My last International thought is the Netflix we watched the other night..."Invictus".  A movie about South Africa and Nelson Mandela when he first became president...how he got the country to get excited together over their National Rugby team...I highly recommend it!  I still do not understand rugby...seems a little odd to me.   I may have to check out the procedures on the 'net sometime!

Trinity Valley Guild Meeting Friday..am going to show my "Chinese Coin" quilt.  No meeting in September as our quilt show is at that time.

Happy Birthdays!

"Growing old is compulsory - growing up is optional." Bob Monkhouse

At the pool at Andrea's

Getting ready to use that new grill!!

Happy Birthday, DAD!!

And Happy Birthday, Graham!

We had a great day with everyone today...celebrating birthdays..cooking out...much laughter..a little swimming for the family fish...seeing all Andrea's new stuff...furniture, grill, etc.  Family fun is hard to beat!!!

What a good looking bunch!!!

HOT IN TEXAS!!

I did forget to mention that it is hot!!! The weather report is on tv right now and they said this is the 19th day of over 100 degrees!   Our outdoor thermometer shows 106.9 right now at 6:25 PM.  Gotta' love Texas!!!

I am posting this to remind myself that it CAN be a whole lot cooler!

Finally finished!!

"The cardiologist's diet: If it tastes good, spit it out!" Anonymous

I can finally report I have some finished products!!!  Below are the small quilts I have finished for our guild show's Silent Auction.  We have a scholarship fund for college students we choose from several applications to help with their college expenses.  (See our website http://www.tvqg.org/ if interested in finding out more about it.)  The money we make at our Silent Auction goes towards our scholarship money...the more we make, the more we can give. 

The top Quilt was pieced by my daughter and quilted by me..24" X 24"; the bottom quilt...12" x 12" was  a leftover block from a previous quilt to which I added some more borders.

The top quilt is a block I was experimenting with to see if I wanted to make a larger quilt.  And the bottom one is from the Paula Nadelstern class I took a few weeks ago...some of the left over small blocks I had made...both are about 14" X 14".

And I finally have finished my Challenge Quilt...each year, the guild has a member's only challenge with a different topic...I think I have given the criteria in a previous blog.  My quilt turned out to be  21" x 42"; I have titled it "Chinese Coins: 170 X 2"...the title comes from the traditional block (my interpretation) Chinese Coins, and the fact that I have used 170 fabrics/six columns/ split in half which gives me 12 columns...thus the "x  2"!  And I added some fake Chinese coins and a little Asian script (which I have no idea what it means!) for some embellishments....also hand quilted with perle cotton thread.

Chinese Coins: 170 x 2

Two close ups of my embellishments.

I meant to make it kind of "crude"...not straight lines etc. so I am hoping that will not be taken as errors!!  But, oh well, I am happy with it!

Other distractions from my quilting...(not really complaining!!!)...Monday I met with about 15 of my ex-fellow teachers from when I taught....some still teaching; most retired as I am...We had a great time and are going to make it an annual event!  Second Monday in August.  Then Wednesday, we met with our poker pals...fun time as always...we again weren't big winners, but we made a "not quite such a loss" comeback before we called it a night!  I am sure if we played for several more hours we would have come out way ahead!!!  NOT!!

Another busy week!!

"The old begin to complain of the conduct of the young when they themselves are no longer able to set a bad example."  Francois de la Rochefoucauld

I think Francois is right!  But then, some people have always been old all their lives!

I had no idea retirement could be so much fun!  It is hard to believe I have been "unemployed" for eight years, now...and never busier!!  But MY choice of what to do!  I highly recommend it!

Monday my "studio Q" group met...we had a fun lunch...Stone Salad!  Our hostess came up with the idea from an old Russian folktale "Stone Soup" about a peasant lady who made a delicious soup from water and a stone..improved upon by all the neighbors contributions of veggies, meat, etc.  We all brought anything to make a salad with greens (lettuce/spinach) as the base.  Without discussing it, we had a very good assortment of things to add...tomatoes, croutons, hard boiled eggs, cheese, nuts, etc.   After we had our "show and tell", we discussed our new goals/challenges for the coming few months.

The start of a quilt by Bethany

A quilt by Nancy using her own hand-dyed fabrics

A cute Halloween quilt by Sue...very cool quilting!

Then on Tuesday, we went to Fossil Rim with the grands and their parents. 

 

Fossil Rim is  wild life preserve near Glen Rose, Texas.. http://www.fossilrim.org/ .  We had not been there before and it had been several years since the kids had.

An addax

A wildebeest                    

A herd of Oudads

There are a lot of really interesting animals there and visitors can feed them (with their food) right from the car.  After our tour around the park, we had a picnic at the Glen Rose park at the Paluxy River.

Makin' jam!!

"Age puzzles me.  I thought it was a quiet time.  My seventies were interesting and fairly serene, but my eighties are passionate.  I grow more intense as I age."  Florida Scott-Maxwell

 I don't know who Florida Scott-Maxwell is, but I like her style!  Looking forward to those serene, interesting seventies...but can hardly wait for the passionate eighties!!

Tonight, we watched  a very dark movie...The Road..from the book by Cormac McCarthy.  I had read the book a couple of years ago and really liked it...not necessarily enjoying it; it is not a "fun" book, but it is a thought provoking book...and the movie followed the same line of feeling.  And, I love Viggo Morgenstern in anything he does!!

Yesterday, I spent the day making jam.  It is peach time here in Texas.  I had a lot of fruit frozen up to make  a batch of "mixed fruit" jam.

Now, I am getting a little anxious because, although they all taste yummy, I am afraid they are not setting up right and will be a little (or a lot) runny!!  The directions say it may take up to two weeks to really set up, but I am impatient to see if they do!  The last batch of peach that I made never did gel really well, so I am hoping these do not do the same...way to messy!!!

I think these are the coolest clouds!  A few mornings ago, we were sitting on the back porch having our morning coffee and doing the cross word puzzles when I looked up and saw these formations.  Just had to go get my camera and snap  a few pics!  They remind me of a Georgia O'Keeffe painting that I have seen.

We had a lot of "bluebird" activity for three or four days and were very excited as the little guys hadn't come to their house early spring because the blankety-blank grackles would chase them away.  But a few days ago, we saw a male and female spending a lot of time in and out and all around; today, there was nothing though so I am beginning to think they must have been just passing through!  I hope not; they are one of my favorites to watch!

Friday Update

                 "Age is something that doesn't matter, unless you are cheese." Billie Burke

     HOT here in Texas...my car registered 102 on my way home from running around today.  I do not do heat very well...way too tiring!!!

      The Trinity Valley Quilters Guild Meeting was today...we had a real cute speaker, Amy Stewart Winsor... http://www.winsorartquilts.com/   She lives in North Carolina and does "whimsical" quilts.  Very cute quilts and an entertaining speaker.  She had good ideas on some techniques that she shared with us too.  We had part II of our book sale today also.  Last month's sale was  good but we had a lot of books left over so this month I decided to put them all on Half-price....they sold very well!!   We would have had more but two boxes were sitting on the floor in the storeroom and there had been a little flooding problem sometime since last month.  The cardboard boxes were soaked and the books ruined!  Ah, well...it made for less work for us to get them out and to haul the remainder to Half-Price books to sell. (We have a very nice maintainence man at the church where we meet and he offered to dispose of the ruined books.)

     I only turned in one quilt for the show this year...applications due today.  It is my challenge quilt that I am hand stitching..."Chinese Coins: 170 X 2".  I titled it that because it is a Chinese Coin pattern and I used 170 different fabrics plus three of four different blacks, then the "X 2" is because I had six columns which I split in half to make 12 columns.  I am using perle cotton thread...black and colors to match the squares.  I'll post a picture when I am finished.

     After the meeting, I had some running around to do...that's when I got so hot!  I went to Calloway's nursery to look at their pottery...had a 20% off coupon.  I am on a mission to find a tall...maybe 4 feet...slender blue or red pot to put on my front porch.  I will then put some sticks or something in it...I am giving up trying to grow any flowers on my front porch...too hot!  Everything just melts....but no luck at Calloways today. 

      On my way down Hulen, I stopped off at the kids house.  My granddaughter is having her 16th birthday party Saturday at the Benbrook Stables...going horse back riding and then to her house for a sleep over.  I had made her magnets to give to the girls as a memento of the occassion which I needed to drop off. I caught them just at lunch time so joined them for lunch and a viewing of "Modern Family"..the funniest sitcom on television!!

     Then to Half-Price books to be rid of the remainder of our guild sale books....that place is always a Zoo!!!  Very busy!  And on to Berry Patch to pick up my acrylic extension table for my Bernina.  I had ordered one four weeks ago when they were on sale with several gift cards I had accumulated, but when it came in two weeks later, the wrong one had been ordered.  So they had to reorder the right size, and it just came in yesterday.

     My last stop was Tom Thumb to get some groceries so I won't have to leave the house all weekend!  On the way home, I had thought about stopping by the Y to do a little work out, but...oh, too bad...I have perishables...so I just came on home and took a nap instead!!!

   

A Lesson to Learn

"Age is an Issue of mind over matter; if you don't mind, it doesn't matter!"  Mark Twain

     I have, throughout my life, been the victim of bizarre accidents...never anything too serious but somewhat weird! At age four, my sister hit me in the head with an iron fireplace broom...not her fault; we were playing "magic" before a large lilac bush; she was "casting a spell"; I walked right into the swing of the broom!!  She hid under the bed while I got stitches!

     At five, I tried to pet a strange dog...bit me on the arm...stitches.

   When I was seven, I swallowed a toothbrush bristle; it stuck in my tonsil (pretonsilectomy days) and had to be extracted by a doctor..."open wide and used those tweezers!"

     When I was nine, I fell off of a chair I was standing on (it had wheels) and broke my arm.  My mother, eight and a half months pregnant with my brother carried me to the car...the doctor gave her more attention than he did me!!!

     At eleven, I was opening a can of veggies with the "new" electric canopener on the wall; it slipped, I grabbed at the can to catch it...slashed my thumb...stitches!

     At sixteen, got my ring finger on my right hand slammed in a car door....reconstruction stitching to save the end of my finger...it worked!!

     I had perpetual scabs on my elbows and knees from crashes on my bike which I rode all over town.  (I grew up in a small town in the '50's...the true age of innocence!"

    I know there are many other little "incidents" but just wanted to set the stage for my latest strange episode!  Yesterday afternoon, we were having our poker bunch at our house for food, fun and friendship.  Just as everyone was getting here, the rains began...we all took our drinks and went to sit on the porch to watch the downpour.  A gust of wind came along and something blew into my right eye!  Really burned and felt like something inbedded in my eye.  I went in the house to try to wash it out...tried everything...my friends (the girls) gathered to aid me with advice and encouragment. (The guys continued to enjoy their beverages!)  Nothing was making my eye feel any better, so it was decided I needed to see my eye doctor.  After my gal friends fixed me up with an eye patch  (Arg-g-h-h-...that's my pirate imitation), my husband called the doctor...."if we could come right away, he could see me"...so he and I jumped into the car and headed to town. (We live about 20-30 minutes out in the country.)

    At the doctor's, he had waited for me...a really nice guy!!  But after examining my eye, he could not see anything but said it looked almost like an acid abrasion...and like I had rubbed sandpaper across my eye...I will say that was a really apt description of what it felt like, too.  He put drops in, covered the eye with a theraputic contact lens and made an appt for me to return this morning.  It was feeling MUCH better after he fixed me up so we headed home.

     In the meantime...we had left our friends to "play" with out us....we called them to let them know we were on the way.  After tracking down the phone (my husband had not put it back on the dock when he called the doctor), they told us all was well etc.  Of course, there had been rain going on and one of the stop lights on the way home was out so it took us a little longer to get home.  But when we did finally get there, our wonderful friends had the meal all set out (we had had everything cooked but not ready to serve), fixed the table, drinks, etc!!  So we ended up having a great evening (even though I didn't do very well at poker...but we play for very low stakes so no biggy!!)

     I woke up this morning....a light bulb went off in my head...I knew what had blown into my eye!!  It couldn't have been dust as it was raining, there were no bugs around or anything...but I was drinking a Margarita and I knew a speck of the salt on the rim had blown into my eye!!!  It was caustic, rough and dissolved so could not be seen!!  When I went to the doctor this morning, I told him what I thought and he, after laughing uproariously, agreed...what he hadn't told me was that he had taken a crystal-like substance off my eyelid when he was looking at my eye...and with the all over burning, etc.  it had to be the salt!!

    Moral to the story: do not drink Margaritas with salt on windy days!!

Great week, so far!

"At my age, I don't even buy green bananas!"  Claude D. Pepper

What social butterflies we have been this past week and to come!  Last Saturday, we met with family and friends for a surprise birthday party for a good friend (my daughter's mother-in-law) who is the same age as I am.

Sunday, we celebrated the Fourth of July with family and friends...many of the same we saw the night before.  And our daughter from out of town joined us.  We all went to the Fort Worth Botanical Gardens for food, fun and music...then a really fabulous fireworks display!  We have done this together for several years...always fun...sometimes really hot, but this time the weather was warm but not too bad...a nice breeze kept us cool.  The Fort Worth Symphonic Orchestra played...mostly patriotic music.  There was a wonderful solo singer..very rich voice....and I always get goose bumps when they play each of the armed forces' songs and have the vets and current military stand. 

Isn't this a great "patriotic" fireworks display?  I have discovered a "fireworks" setting on my camera which is fun to have! (I took MANY more, but won't post them all!!)  Maybe a quilt in the works??  I'll have to try printing off some of my pics on fabric!

To continue with the social life...tomorrow I am having lunch with good friend I have not seen in awhile and then Thursday we are hosting our poker group at our house.  We have not met for poker for about three months...we have trouble this time of year finding all six of us in the area at the same time!!  I am definitely planning on not winning as we haven't played for quite awhile and I'm not that great to start with!!

After all this "eating out", I think we will need to curtail the calories and get back to our usual eating pattern which is, at least we try, modest!

Rainy Day in July!

"The secret to staying young is to live honestly, eat slowly and lie about your age" Lucille Ball

     I had collected several "humorous" little quotes to pass on to my friends as they age...so thought I would share a few with my blog friends!  (I think Lucille Ball just blew her advice...be honest and lie in the same sentence!)

     We have been experiencing the greatest weather for June/July in Texas!  We have been having rain and temperatures in the 80's.  Not so bad considering we have already had 100+ temps earlier in the summer!  And on the county road which runs right by my house, we have been eating dust or mud for the past four months.  Today, the road guys have been resurfacing it!!  Oh, the little pleasures of life!!

     Our granddaughter celebrated a very significant birthday Sunday so we were all at her house helping her celebrate!!  I cannot believe that baby girl is really 16!!!

      Monday, my art group, studioQ met and had lunch as well as our usual activities...show and tell, etc.  For lunch the hostess suggested something different...we were all to bring a food that started with the letter "P"!  It is surprising how many foods to begin with the letter P...we ended up with quite a feast..we had pulled pork on potato rolls, pimento cheese with pecans on pumpernickel bread, pineapple fruit salads, pickles, peanut butter balls, pecan muffins, pasta salads, peach pie and peach cobbler...and more I am sure!

Where Nancy lives there are deer everywhere.  These three fawns were right outside her window with their

mama.

Anne brought her Kindel Book bag which she had made out of fabric painted at another meeting at my house a couple of years ago. And Heather showed us one of the quilts she did at a Nancy Crow workshop. And Nancy showed her "recipe" quilt, all finished!

.

Heather has a couple of box turtles living in her garden.  "Charlie" had suffered a terrible attack by a racoon and lost a leg.  He had been recouperating in her bathtub...I had this "turtle" pattern for ever so made up a little memento of the occassion for her.  My husband carved the toy turtle a wooden leg!!  She was very surprised!