Thursday, July 17, 2008

Quiet house...

The children have returned home with their parents, and we are back to being "Darby and Joan" again ! I think the visit was a success. There was a fair amount of "coming and going" and I got to be an expert at producing a meal for seven when I expected them to be elsewhere , and pretending not to mind when they would phone from somewhere to say they wouldn't be back for dinner.... when I had a roast on.....

The weather was mostly good and we managed a few special outings , including a visit to an Ice Rink a "first" for all of us. The children managed well and their parents enjoyed it too. I stood guard over the bags and clothes... DD and I enjoyed our two nights at Hanmer and soaked in the hot pools as we enjoyed looking at the snow capped alps... There was enough snow, left on the lawn of the house we rented, for the children to make an icy snowman ! That made their day.

Time now to reclaim the house (and my life) starting with a hair cut today. We have a busy w/end coming up. Off out with friends to a mid-winter dinner tomorrow night and then lunch with other friends, after church on Sunday. Must try to prune my roses too, I don't have many and it's easy to forget them !

Enjoy your w/end.
Marion.

Sunday, July 13, 2008

Earthquakes..

Thank you for your concern Lavinia, but the first I heard about the quakes was when I read your post. Eventually I found a few lines in the paper saying that two earthquakes had happened , quite near here, at 5.30 am., no damage and no one I know, was even aware of them , so we were lucky !
Lovely day here today, sunny and warm. I still have DD#2 and her family staying so I am grateful for the fine weather (!)
Welcome home Jean. Sounds as if you had a wonderful time. It's always nice to get home though isn't it ?
Jill, the photos are lovely... I seem to remember that in a past life I had time for quilting...maybe the photos will inspire me to get into it again...
Better go. The family leave on Thursday so I'll try to post before the w/end.
Have a good week.
Marion.

Welcome back home Jean. Glad to see you had a fantastic time. I know how much you were looking forward to this trip.

Thank you Jill for the pictures. Aren't quilt show just the greatest.
Short note tonight.Been a long day
Hugs and good night or morning where ever you are
Grace

Back to Earth...

We got home from our travels in Europe yesterday morning. I have spent the day playing in the gardens, watering and weeding and generally having a wonderful time. Now I am going to take my sunburned nose and sit in the shade with a book or maybe some sewing. I was so hyper when we got home yesterday -- seriously sleep deprived and running on some other clock from some parallel universe -- that I got all the unpacking, laundry and assorted chores done before dinnertime, so I could afford to play today :)

The house sitter was a complete success -- the animals were all well cared for and the house and yard well maintained. I am only missing one cat, and he is the one who has a habit of disappearing for several days at a time in the summer, so I am not yet worried about him. The cats all wanted to sleep on top of me all night -- which did not work out too well! -- and the dogs won't let me out of their sight, but I do not believe that they are telling the truth when they say they had a horrible time while I was away. They are all too fat and healthy to convince me of that! LOL

The holiday was great. We had the pleasure of introducing our 13 year old DGD to some of our favourite places and people, spending a week in each of France (Normandy and Brittany), Austria, and Bavaria. The weather cooperated throughout and a really good number of my relatives in Austria came to a party that a couple of my cousins arranged. I got to see and hug my last remaining aunt, my mother's baby sister, now 83 years old and walking with canes. For that part of the trip we were joined by my brothers and their wives and two of my nephews, which really made for a lot of fun! We put 5800 kilometres on the rental car, despite the fact that gas is almost twice as expensive there than it is here... Now I just have to sort about 2,000 pictures from the digital cameras, and make some albums.

We are now counting down for the big family reunion for my in-laws that we will be hosting in August. My reward for being nice about that will be the trip to Grace's Retreat in September, which I am so-o-o looking forward to! I have my reservations for the flights and the hotel made and I am getting quite excited about seeing so many of those who were at Rosey's Retreat.

I love the pictures from Sisters! That is one quilt show that has been on my 'things to do' list for years now. Maybe in the next couple of years I will be able to get there... Thanks for the pictures, Jill!

Jean, back at Mill Bay

Sister's Quilt SHow


Here's a link to my Sister's pictures.

We had a great time.

Met with Mary & Sondra briefly.

Always good to see my friends from the BB!

Still a little rummy from the long day & drive.

There are a couple pictures I want to revisit for

future projects though :)

Overall inpressions:

Quilter's sure know color!

Machine quilting has reached extraordinary levels,

Hot Quilt: One Block Wonder,


Love high desert Oregon just as much as ever, & am so thankful to

those who treasure & protect us every day.


http://community.webshots.com/user/easystitches


Jill

Earthquake

Marion, I can't recall which island you are on, but hope you are safe and well. Hugs. Lavinia