Boy is it ever spring here. Mockingbirds are flitting all over the place, hopefully setting up housekeeping in some nearby magnolia so I can listen to them all day. Unbelieveably, our neighbor to the right CHOPPED DOWN their perfectly lovely magnolia because it was blocking their view of the street (!!!). I, on the other hand, am painstakingly training our bougainvillea to screen our front porch and my delicate eyes from... well, let's just say gentlemen of a certain age really should wear shirts.
So anyway, the sand hill cranes are nesting in the grasses of the pond next door and someone says two babies have hatched, tho I can only see Mama's head so far. The osprey pair have built another nest on top of the light pole by the pool and this morning I saw one fly in breakfast, either a very long-legged frog or a small dog (oops!). Something large-ish, I'm telling you!
It's a constant battle with nature here in Central Florida. I haven't told my next-door neighbor mother this yet (and when she reads this I'll hear her screech, I'm sure), but the other morning, I got up before dawn as usual, walked into the bathroom and found myself looking eye-level at a frog on the wall. He was only about 4 inches long while quietly clutching the wall, though sensing me he decided to flop wetly from wall to wall. I slammed the door shut, but knowing I was the one who had to capture the thing (Jimbo is SO not a nature boy), I finally cornered it on a picture frame with a yoghurt container and we set it free in the neighbor's yard (the magnolia killers, not my mother's).
So it goes here in the tropics. Spring is on its way up, dear Northeners, never fear. Then perhaps YOU will have to worry about frogs in your bathroom. --cds
Monday, February 24, 2014
Saturday, February 15, 2014
Finishes, Part II
More completions from the Unfinished Projects Grab Bag:
Whoops! How did that get in here. Above is some of Mother's strawberry shortcake that she made for Chuck and Sue who visited with us last Monday. It's strawberry season in Central Florida, believe it or not.
The quilt below is a smallish square, maybe 60" by 60", that I started probably 15 years ago. The pattern called for a bigger quilt, but I had to quit because it was horrendously time consuming. It's all pieced from these little 6" strips of fabric and meant to be a sort of modern-ish take on your basic log cabin design (yeah, I know).
I think this is about the time that I quit making quilts from book patterns and just starting designing my own, made to the dimensions I wanted, etc.
Also I could never figure out how to quilt the darn thing so after 15 years of pulling it out of the bag, trying something, hating it, throwing it back in the bag, I finally decided to just give it some curved machine quilting and called it a quilt.
Looks nice in my living room draped over the sofa and it's just big enough to keep my legs warm in the mornings when it's only 50 degrees (sorry, Northerners, but really, come visit! It's quite pleasant here). --cds
Whoops! How did that get in here. Above is some of Mother's strawberry shortcake that she made for Chuck and Sue who visited with us last Monday. It's strawberry season in Central Florida, believe it or not.
The quilt below is a smallish square, maybe 60" by 60", that I started probably 15 years ago. The pattern called for a bigger quilt, but I had to quit because it was horrendously time consuming. It's all pieced from these little 6" strips of fabric and meant to be a sort of modern-ish take on your basic log cabin design (yeah, I know).
I think this is about the time that I quit making quilts from book patterns and just starting designing my own, made to the dimensions I wanted, etc.
Also I could never figure out how to quilt the darn thing so after 15 years of pulling it out of the bag, trying something, hating it, throwing it back in the bag, I finally decided to just give it some curved machine quilting and called it a quilt.
Looks nice in my living room draped over the sofa and it's just big enough to keep my legs warm in the mornings when it's only 50 degrees (sorry, Northerners, but really, come visit! It's quite pleasant here). --cds
Friday, January 24, 2014
Ok, Back Again
Normally when I have been absent from the blog, I like to wait until the first of the month or something to post my return - I somehow think that beginning afresh on the first day of a new month will magically make me stick to a routine. Nah. But I mean to try and so I'm jumping in again on Friday, January 24, for no other reason than I've got a couple of finishes to share:
This is a crib-size quilt for Marcus who will be ONE YEAR OLD on February 5. Seems like only yesterday we were in Vermont awaiting his birth during one of the most bitterly cold spells I can ever remember in all my forty years as a Vermonter. I remember saying at the time that we would most likely be celebrating his future birthdays from afar because I'm not sure I can handle that coldness anymore.
So we plan on singing Happy Birthday via Skype (and they have airline reservations for a Florida visit toward the end of March).
Anyway, after eleven years of buying only girl stuff, we have had a good time focusing on boy things. Marcus WILL love trucks and racecars if Grandpa has anything to do with it, so when I found this fabric, I figured it would make a cute quilt.
The back is a fleece fabric, so it'll be nice and warm (and you can race cars on it!).
I had even forgotten how much fun it is to buy boy clothes. I bought him some shorts for his March visit - that tee-shirt says "I Still Live With My Parents." So cute.
And it will not surprise my relatives that I saved my sons' sports teams tee-shirts all these years with the intention of making tee-shirt quilts. Well, I finally stitched this one up for Jamie since he was here for Christmas. It's actually quite hard to get these shirt-fronts squared up and laying flat. It's not perfect, but with the navy-blue fleece as sashing and backing, the thing is warm as all get out and will be nice for him to wrap up in during the Utah freeze.
I'll be back tomorrow, I'm sure. I seem to have words stored up. --cds
Tuesday, December 31, 2013
Kids For Christmas!
We had actual kids with us for the Christmas holiday. Our Utah family escaped all that Western coldness and spent about ten days with us here in Florida.
The girls baked cookies with Great-MomMom, did a lot of swimming, paper-chain making, jump-roping, Lego-building - such good girls, fun and smart and creative and only occasionally dramatic. We had a great time.
The Magic Kingdom was lovely as usual, but crowded of course.
Evie, taking time out from rope jumping to study the sand hill cranes strolling through the yard.
Then taking a ride with Grandpa in the old truck.
Just wanted to post this little re-cap of our holidays on this last evening of 2013. It's nearly 9:00 pm and already fireworks (and firearms) have been booming around the neighborhood. I'm heading to Mrs. White's party. --cds
Friday, November 15, 2013
Highly Recommend, Maybe.....
I admit my initial reaction after finishing Five Days was "why did I even read this?"
Basically it is an account of the experiences at Memorial Hospital in New Orleans before, during and after Hurricane Katrina. The disturbing and thought-provoking part comes from the fact that around the fifth day of remaining trapped inside the hospital, there were patients who were euthanized. Whatever your feelings about euthanasia, for me the infuriating aspect was synthesized by the remark made by a daughter whose elderly mother had been injected with the lethal dose (I can't quote it exactly because I don't have the book here, but essentially) - My mother had Do Not Resuscitate orders - we never meant DNR to stand for Do Not Rescue.
Why why why did it take five days to get everyone out of that hospital. Memorial is not an island in the middle of the Pacific. To me the crime here was the fact that it took so long to completely evacuate the place. There were many heroic efforts, no doubt, both inside and outside of the hospital, but I would have given the medal to the guys from the bayous who arrived with airboats - one desperate couple hooked up with one of these boat owners and directed him to the hospital where they not only rescued the husband's elderly mother, but other patients and staff as well.
It's a frustrating story, but the current horrors in the Philippines reminded me that I wanted to (I guess) recommend this book. --cds
This was one of the most intense, infuriating, disturbing and thought-provoking books I've read in a long time. I suppose that's probably the reason most people read certain types of non-fiction, but this has taken me a long time to process and I still can't get it out of my head.
Basically it is an account of the experiences at Memorial Hospital in New Orleans before, during and after Hurricane Katrina. The disturbing and thought-provoking part comes from the fact that around the fifth day of remaining trapped inside the hospital, there were patients who were euthanized. Whatever your feelings about euthanasia, for me the infuriating aspect was synthesized by the remark made by a daughter whose elderly mother had been injected with the lethal dose (I can't quote it exactly because I don't have the book here, but essentially) - My mother had Do Not Resuscitate orders - we never meant DNR to stand for Do Not Rescue.
Why why why did it take five days to get everyone out of that hospital. Memorial is not an island in the middle of the Pacific. To me the crime here was the fact that it took so long to completely evacuate the place. There were many heroic efforts, no doubt, both inside and outside of the hospital, but I would have given the medal to the guys from the bayous who arrived with airboats - one desperate couple hooked up with one of these boat owners and directed him to the hospital where they not only rescued the husband's elderly mother, but other patients and staff as well.
It's a frustrating story, but the current horrors in the Philippines reminded me that I wanted to (I guess) recommend this book. --cds
Wednesday, November 13, 2013
Recent Absence
Our recent absence from Florida was the result of a quick trip North to visit our Vermonters before the winter sets in.
It was a busy week with lots of leaf raking and swing swinging.
We arrived just in time to help put the finishing touches to Ruthanne's Halloween costume. She was a great pirate.
Marcus enjoyed observing Trick-or-Treating from the confines of his stroller. Luckily the weather was fairly balmy though breezy. I can remember a great many ice-y and blustery Halloween nights when the boys' costumes had to accommodate parkas and wooley hats and mittens.
We spent most of our time just enjoying the grands - lots of laughing and chasing and coloring.....
... and silliness with Grandma's glasses.
It was a busy week with lots of leaf raking and swing swinging.
We arrived just in time to help put the finishing touches to Ruthanne's Halloween costume. She was a great pirate.
Marcus enjoyed observing Trick-or-Treating from the confines of his stroller. Luckily the weather was fairly balmy though breezy. I can remember a great many ice-y and blustery Halloween nights when the boys' costumes had to accommodate parkas and wooley hats and mittens.
We spent most of our time just enjoying the grands - lots of laughing and chasing and coloring.....
... and silliness with Grandma's glasses.
The Vermonters will be here in Florida in March for a winter visit - already miss them! --cds
Tuesday, November 12, 2013
Change of Plan
I was going to stick in a book review today to mark my return to blogville (I've been absent, lazy, busy, etc etc etc), but this morning I watched Ken Burns talk about a project he just completed regarding the recitation of The Gettysburg Address. Number 1, I was reminded how much I love Ken Burns - he's smart, serious, seems true to his beliefs and ignores his critics, which is good because I think he's just about the best documentary-creator ever. Anyway Number 2, he talked about the importance of putting famous American speeches and documents to memory, or at least parts of them, or at the very least recognizing them, so in support, let's re-visit:
Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.
Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battlefield of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.
But, in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate -- we cannot consecrate -- we cannot hallow -- this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here have consecrated it far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us -- that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion -- that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain -- that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom -- and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.
--cds
Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.
Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battlefield of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.
But, in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate -- we cannot consecrate -- we cannot hallow -- this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here have consecrated it far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us -- that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion -- that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain -- that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom -- and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.
--cds
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