Toad Haven Annex

Reentering the Blogosphere

2010-07-26T01:06:00.005-06:00

I'm still here, although I have been quiet for some time. I realize that I haven't been myself since I had my first of 3 TIAs (mini strokes), a little over 2 years ago. I've done no quiltmaking and little sewing in this time, but I have kept up with my gardening, and with my interest in quilts and quilting. Thanks to a new doctor, who adjusted my meds, I have become me again. Hooray and Praise the Lord!

[I even forgot to post on July 15 Garden Bloggers Bloom Day.]

During this time my world has been like living in blah shades of gray, and I've been a color loving person all my life. [I tell my grandkids that the reason old movies are B & W is because the world wasn't colored before Technicolor movies started. LOL] But we all know that my world was not B & W in those ancient days of yore. Now suddenly the world is a colorful delight again, I'm me again! Food even tastes better, oh oh...... I have been losing a bit of weight slowly and hope to continue that.

I have been FaceBooking, to keep in contact with family and friends, and enjoy seeing photos of grandkids and great grandkids. But the FaceBook format doesn't allow a person to say much at a time. In face, it is rediculously limited. "See Dick. See Jane. See Spot. See them run." etc. Where are all the words I love?

I remember, a number of years ago, being told in my church prayer group that the word "enthusiasm" came, somehow, from "God with us". I did not study Latin so can't really figure it out, except for "Theos." I believe now that the TIAs screwed up my brain wiring so that the enthusiasm channel was blocked. Enthusiam has much to do with having the Muse visit us, so without enthusiasm, my Muse was in a coma; not dead, thank God! The adjustment of meds has evidently allowed that channel to open and I am enjoying life immensely, again.

Now, I am still getting older and tire faster while working slower, but I am beginning to bring some order to the chaos that my world and office have become when I lost not only enthusiasm, but my life long talent at organization and multi-tasking. I'll never be 30 again, or even 60, but I can still do some of the things that I love to do. And instead of doing things being a burden, it becomes a joy...well...maybe not major housecleaning, but at least I can slowly scoop out the dust and junk and live a bit more civilized life.

I think I will even be able to start making journal quilts again; maybe not this summer while I have so much energy and strenth taken by my beloved gardening, but in this climate, I cannot garden in the winter, and it is cozy to fuse and sew in a nice warm house.

Since I am such a visual person, I can't just write, I have to jazz it up with my photos. Since getting my new computer with Windows 7, I have not been able to move the photos around within my blog, so, since I didn't think of posting photos until all this is written, I will post them at the top.

A few months ago I stepped out of my front door and the porch floor collapsed beneath me for several feet. Luckily I was not hurt, but pretty shaken up. The wood was covered with green fake grass and we couldn't tell that it had rotted out. We managed to shore it up until we were able to tear down the old, tiny stoop and build a new larger deck/porch. See the progress and try to feel how excited and happy I am with the new porch. We still need to dig Joe's late mom's old patio table and chairs out of my sister-in-laws storage units; I think it was small enough to fit on the west end of the porch. Our nephew is coming down from Parker to visit his mom tomorrow and he will help Joe get it out and over here. I love to decorate my home and garden with vintage pieces.

I've always been a night person but I have to adjust to the new med regimen so that my energy shows up earlier in the day and I don't keep getting sidetracked from getting to bed and sleep. And I need to work on pacing, which is what we are working on in my chronic pain support group.

Glad to be back; hope to have some quilt photos one of these days.

Garden Bloggers Bloom Day June 15, 2010

2010-06-14T21:22:00.007-06:00

Gaillardias and Yarrow, south of the house, planted last summer.

Things are a bit late this year due to the unusually cool, wet spring. To further complicate our gardening, it jumped from freezing to 100 degrees with dry winds in a very short time which stressed transplants that hadn't had time to grow deep roots. I still have lots of planting and transplanting to do because of this. Some friends tell me that they haven't managed to get any gardening done due to the weird weather conditions.

Serious gardeners in Colorado learn to go with the flow and succeed in having attractive gardens when they learn to grow plants that stand the conditions without coddling or using too much water, which is getting scarcer as more people move here and try to grow giant size blue grass lawns. I love my native Blue Gramma Grass that takes much less water and doesn't have to cut often and grows well in our sandy river bottom soil. I've become a missionary to spread the word about xeriscape gardening, and I don't mean only hot rocks and gravel.

Ozark Yellow Evening Primroses that grow beside the Lilliaputian Prairie Pond.

Volunteer Coropsis that moved from prairie border to the herb garden, probably with the help of one of the birds that flock in the Locust Tree, next to the bird feeders, behind the herb garden.

Closeup of Yellow Yarrow planted south of the house last summer.

Gaillardias planted with Yarrow last year. Notice that I don't even try to grow plants like beautiful Delphiniums that don't do well in our hot, dry climate gardens.

Feverfew in the dooryard patio garden with the California Poppies and Lavender.

Violas and California Poppies in the dooryard patio garden.

Honeysuckle Vine behind the herb garden.

ChoCho checking out the newly planted Catnip, which has to be protected by a metal basket to keep the cats from rolling in it and eating it down to the roots. Our historic patch didn't make it thru this tough winter, but there are volunteers coming up in all kinds of places they shouldn't be.

Pretty yellow blooms on unknown herb which I planted last year and can't find the label this spring. Any suggestions on what it is are welcomed.

This Caroway Thyme smells exactly like Caroway. It's been here since planted in 2004 when it began as a tiny plant.

This Cilantro is working on becoming Coriander seeds. Everything tastes better with Cilantro, well... Mexican dishes do.

Yellow Prickley Pear peeking out from the edge of the Cholla that is trying to take over the mini prairie garden. These PPs are blooming all over the prairie right now also. I hope to add a Claret Cup PP to the prairie garden. There are some of them growing on certain prairie hills around here, but they bloom a bit later. I am trying to figure out how to armor myself to prune down this overgrown Cholla, which has wickedly painful loooong spines that hurt, and they reach out and grab you if you come too near. I'm thinking I need a long handled lopper and very heavy leather gloves and a long handled grabber of some kind. Joe tells me I need to use the flame thrower on it, but I'm afraid of that thing. Note the bindweed that I am reluctant to try to pull out of those small spaces between predatory spines.

Pink Chintz Creeping Thyme by the front gate. I had a brilliant idea several years ago to plant a Creeping Thyme lawn on this side of the small front yard. The weedy grasses, dandelions and bindweed that had had free rein here for decades pretty much crowded the thymes out. I should have sterilized the soil before planting the thymes here, like I did before planting the prairie and veggie gardens in the side yard. The first summer we lived here I spread heavy black plastic sheeting all over that area and weighted it down with concrete pavers and the huge potted plants I had moved here from my previous roof top garden. The heat sterilizes most weed seeds.

Some of my beloved volunteer Bachelor Buttons along the front fence. These have been favorites of mine since I was a small child. They look good next to the Blaze Climbing Roses.

This is the Blaze Climbing Rose I plated on the front fence last year. I may decide to put them all along the fence.

Check out what is blooming all over the world, on May Dreams Gardens, each month on the 15th day.

Garden Bloggers Bloom Day May 15, 2010

2010-05-15T00:09:00.008-06:00

Happy springtime, fellow gardners and bloggers. We've had the coldest, wettest spring in ages here in Southeastern Colorado, interspersed with a few sunny, quite hot days. It is a big difference from the decade of serious drought that we just lived through. You can see how the Bleeding Hearts and Pansies were beaded with raindrops this late afternoon. Even on such a cold, dark, rainy day there are reasons to celebrate life. The cold and rain have not bugged me as much as the continuous high winds we have suffered through for a couple of months. On the warm, sunny days that hot, dry wind sucks up a lot of the moisture in the Toad Haven gardens as well as on the prairie surrounding us.

The pansies look especially fresh with the raindrops shining on them.

This is the first year I've had lots of blooms on this Lilac Bush. When we moved in seven years ago, it was quite small and suffering from years of neglect. I've babied it with water and fertilizer and tried to overcome the damage caused by a plague of grasshoppers and late freezes. This year I received my reward for my nurturing and was even able to take a large bouquet of Lilacs and Purple Iris to my mom on Mother's Day.

I love the color of this clump of Violets by the front porch.

These tiny Jonquils bloomed later this year than they usually do.

Old fashioned purple Bearded Iris, which were here when we moved in, are blooming along the front fence and in front of the garden shed in back.

My heart is so much lighter when the world begins to green up and flower. I'm also having a great time photographing the wild prairie flowers that are popping up in thanksgiving for the rains. The prairie grasses are so green and luxuriant this spring, also. Goodbye, drought! Not sorry to see you go.

For what's blooming around the world today, check out May Dreams Gardens.

Garden Bloggers Bloom Day April 2010

2010-04-14T16:43:00.006-06:00

Spring is finally springing! Warm days and sun, but lots of wind and dust also. This Aloe Vera, on the sunporch is blooming. It will go out onto the dooryard patio once the danger of frost is past. The first time this big Aloe bloomed I was amazed, didn't even know that they got blooms.

This Phalenopsis orchid in the dining room is still blooming beautifully. It is wonderful to have blossoms that last so long.

Out at the front corner of the house I have a few Scillas blooming. They are such a clear blue that they really show up inspite of being so small and so few.

The Violas in the dooryard patio garden are now blooming in bunches.

The Vinca under the Russian Olive next to the mini prairie is making quite a show. There is a lot of dead annual grass in that bed that needs to be grubbed out.

All the garden blooms tend to be in the blue/violet color range. For some reason my yellow daffodils haven't made a show this year. I hope something didn't eat all the bulbs. I see that I need to put in more daffodils and tulips this fall for early color. Ought to try some crocus as well. Even my ancient batch of Grape Hyacinths have been absent this spring, except for one self sown straggler in the Gramma Grass. The small Blue Grass lawn, in front, is beginning to turn green with attendent dandelions, but the Gramma Grass is a warm weather grass and won't get green until later in the spring.

I wish I could find flowers for my garden that were as prolific as the dandelions. While blooming, they put on a nice show, but look awful when they go to seed. My late, previous, husband, Lou, who was a plant ecologist and into natural plant medicines, wouldn't spray the dandelions because he believed that tea from the roots was very good for the kidneys. I've also tasted delicious homemade dandelion wine but don't know how to make it.

To see what is blooming around the world check May Dreams Gardens.

Garden Bloggers Bloom Day March 2010

2010-03-15T20:55:00.005-06:00

Welcome to Toad Haven Gardens on March 15. Some of yesterdays snow still covers the flower bed next to the front porch, on the north. Later there will be Daffodils, Creeping Phlox, and gorgeous Violets in this area.

Here are new green shoots from the Yarrow planted on the south side of the house last summer. Only dried flower heads are blossoming here.

This is in the same corner of the dooryard patio garden that I showed, looking so dead, in February, with the first Viola to bloom this spring. I love the Johnnie-Jump-Ups that seed themselves all over the garden. Some winters they manage to bloom through the season, but definitely not this year.

In between the March snows we are getting lovely, sunny days with up to low 60s temps so I will soon feel that it is safe to remove the dead stalks and dry leaves that I leave over the winter to protect the plants and for seed heads to feed the winter birds. My fingers are just itching to get out there and do the spring cleaning.

Indoors, the Orchid, that I recently posted photos of, is still in full bloom.

See what's blooming all over the world, today, at May Dreams Gardens.

All Orchid Buds Bloomed Out

2010-02-28T19:36:00.002-07:00

Here is how the Orchid looks with all the blossoms open. It will be interesting to see how long they last this time.

New Winter Blooms

2010-02-21T19:08:00.002-07:00

These Snow Blossoms were blooming all around the prairie border, at Toad Haven, this evening. I think they are really quite attractive. Brightened up the garden considerably.

The Orchid has a Bloom

2010-02-19T20:08:00.004-07:00

Today I was happily surprised to find that one of the orchid buds had blossomed out. It is gorgeous and they usually last for quite a while. There are still more buds waiting to make an entrance.

Garden Bloggers Bloom Day February 2010

2010-02-15T13:42:00.004-07:00

This is why February is the worst month of the year for me. Everything is brown, dry and dead; if I hadn't seen the miracle of Spring for 71 years, I would find it difficult to hope or have faith in live, green, growing, blossoming plants.

Usually, I have a few pansies and violas that manage to bloom through the winter, but this year even the pansies haven't been able to survive.

But indoors I manage to have a few blossoms. This is the lovely, tiny blossom on a hanging succulent that my mother started for me several years ago. If anyone knows what it is, I'd love to know the name. This hangs in the window over my kitchen sink. Since mother is in assisted living, I have her huge mother plant hanging in the sunporch.

A couple of blossoms are on the mini Hoya in the dining room south window. I think Hoyas have some of the most beautiful flowers I've ever seen; they look like they are made of glass. These are petite compared to the regular size Hoya on the sunporch. This plant started from three tiny sprigs from a sweet lady in senior housing in Lyons, when I was working for the Boulder County Housing Authority in the 70s. My oldest daughter also has a house full of these now in Wheatridge.

This is the final gasp of the Christmas Poinsettia in the dining room.

This is from the final stalk of Amaryllis blooms from the dish of three huge bulbs my daughter-in-law Robyn gave me at Thanksgiving. It's bloomed for three months and cheered us up during the sleeping garden season.

Finally, one of the Orchids (P. Mount Beauty x Stope New Candy) is getting ready to bloom again soon, in the south dining room window. I've been amazed at how faithfully these Orchids bloom year after year, and how long the blooms last. I have finally learned to only try to grow plants that don't take a lot of coddling, both indoors and out.

To see what is blooming around the world, today, check out the list at May Dreams Gardens.

Happy New Year with Family in Byers

2010-01-03T17:21:00.003-07:00

This is our granddaughter, Crystal's, senior photo. Isn't she pretty? She hopes to go on to college and medical school to become a doctor after her high school graduation this coming spring.

This is Heather's dad, Tom, with his grandson, Brendan. If daddy, Brian, was in the picture you could see that all three guys look alike with their red hair and blue eyes.

Joe's daughter, Lori, mother of Heather, and spouse of Tom, with Adam, who is Breanne's little one. It is great to see how Lori and Tom are so good at caring for and playing with our little great grandsons. They seem to enjoy being grandparents.

Here is a photo of the little cousins that Lori gave to us.

We are home from a great weekend at Byers where we had good company, food, and even Champagne on New Year's Eve at the home of our son Doug and his wife Jennie. Here are Mandy, Brendan and Kat enjoying Evan playing the keyboard. 17 week old black pug, Boo, has joined two toned Cooper as our Granddogs.

On Saturday Kat and I took Mandy to Aurora Mall to shop for a prom dress for her to take to Utah when she flew back to her Job Corp School on Sunday. It was fun to watch her look thru the shops and try on dresses. She wanted a long dress that wasn't very frou frou, and the style seemed to be for veeeerrrry short frou frou dresses, but she found a simple long black and white paneled dress that looked good on her. She says she and her friends don't go to dance, they just sit around and talk. Do you suppose they do it face to face or on their ever present fashion statement cell phones?

It was cold in Byers, with lots more snow banks than we have here, and I was wearing my sandals, not expecting having to walk thru snow. I forget that we live in Colorado's Banana Belt, and that they get much more snow than we do. That's why I-70 is often shut down due to blizzards and drifts.

I was washing, ironing and wrapping the kids' pillowcases at the last minute, before we left, and forgot to take photos of the finished pieces. Take my word for it, they were colorful and looked great, even though they are so fast and easy to make. That is the kind of project patterns I like to find.

Garden Bloggers Bloom Day December

2009-12-29T20:16:00.006-07:00

Poinsettia blooming behind the huge Amaryllis bulbs that Robyn gave me at Thanksgiving. This is how much they had grown by December 7.

Detail of throat of one of the Amaryllis blooms.

Large quantity of Amaryllis blooms by Christmas.

Detail of actual small yellow green blossoms of Poinsettia with the bright red bracts surrounding.

I didn't post about what flowers I had blooming on the 15th; the weather was so miserable and cold and the garden so dead, even my back door potted pansies froze. But my indoor flowers are going blooming like mad and brightening my holidays, so I thought I would do a late post for December. If we can't have flowers outdoors in the depth of winter, at least we can have them blooming indoors. I even have a flower stalk beginning to come up on one of the orchid plants.

Check out other Garden Bloggers Bloom Day reports for December at May Dreams Gardens.

More Hexagons

2009-12-16T20:34:00.004-07:00

Given my fascination with hexagons in quilts, I had to purchase this triangle ruler when I saw Denise demonstrating it to another customer at the Creative Cloth Closet in Canon City. I can picture all kinds of possibilities using this ruler. To start out I dug a set of Christmas fabric fat quarters from my stash and cut out enough triangles to make four place mats. The fabric under the ruler is the one I chose to back the mats.

Here is my progress so far. In order to fit them on my narrow design door, to photograph them, I overlapped the mats. I plan to use fuseable batting to sandwich the mats and then use gold thread satin stitch to embellish the seams and finish the edges. I'll do anything to get away from putting on binding.

Another Quard

2009-12-03T15:32:00.003-07:00

Here is the front and back of the quard I just made for my Aunt Lucy in Albuquerque. It was her 83rd birthday so I made this to send from my Mom and me. The family photo, that was taken on Saturday after Thanksgiving, was printed on cotton and fused to the front. The greeting was printed onto adhesive backed cotton and ironed onto the back.

I've decided that this is better than buying a ready made card at WalMarts. I have the materials on hand and cards are not inexpensive to buy these days. I looked and looked for cards for my aunts and couldn't find any that were appropriate and these are a lot more personal.

Birthday Quard

2009-12-02T23:37:00.004-07:00

My Aunt Esther, in Bakersfield, California, had her 90th birthday in November. Being in the hospital slowed me down but here is the birthday quard I made for her. That is a photo of her, from around 1938, printed on cotton and the fabric is a vintage taffeta from my Granny's stash. The greeting was printed on silk ExtravOrganza.

This was such fun, I need to do it more often.

I wish I had enough of that taffeta to make a long skirt for Christmas.

More Roses for Mom

2009-11-30T22:01:00.005-07:00

I found a pink rose fabric, so I made some more pillows for Mom's room, to go with the commode cozy and pillows made of the green background fabric.

Her room is looking so cozy and I was pleased when I got positive comments from the kids, during their visit on Saturday.

Her neck rolls were previously covered with legs she had cut off of a pair of old knit slacks that she no longer wore. I thought it was clever of her to think of that, but they had seen a lot of wear and tear and were in need of refurbishing.

Thanksgiving Holiday

2009-11-29T15:09:00.005-07:00

We had a wonderful time at our son, Carl's for Thanksgiving dinner; staying with daughter, Michal Ann in Wheatridge; visiting the Denver Zoo on Friday with the family; and having lunch in Colorado Springs on Saturday, with family at Guiseppi's (in the old C. S. RR depot); and then visiting Mom with the family on Saturday afternoon. This is a photo of the family with, Gramma Evy, in the parlor of the Friendship House.

There is an album of photos, taken with my new Canon Power Shot camera, on my

Facebook page. Joe says he think I'm becoming a Japanese tourist, taking photos of everything, whether it moves or not.

Thrilled Over Early Christmas

2009-11-21T12:53:00.005-07:00

I came home from WalMart yesterday and told Joe about a camera (Canon PowerShot SX120 IS) I had seen on sale and did he think I should get it since the 6 year old Canon Elph has about seen it's end of days. Only problem was, they didn't have any instock, but had some coming soon.

He came back from his trip to Pueblo this morning with a sack from Best Buy. In it was the same camera (10MB; 10 optical zoom), a 4 GB Flash Memory card, and a blue carrying case. He thought I needed it before we went to Denver and Boulder for family Thanksgiving. I am ecstatic! I've been out trying it and comparing it to my beloved little Elph. Beloved because it is so small I can carry it in my purse all the time and it is easy to use. This one is a bit bigger but will still fit in that huge purse and it has a huge screen compared to the other, not to mention tons of mega bytes and optical zoom!!!

I can get all the tiny details in flora and fauna, especially the birds. See examples above. A Downey Woodpecker was gracious to show up at the feeders just as I needed a model. The flower is a very late Gaillardia that I planted on the south side of the house this summer, and it still thinks it is summer, in spite of the 18 degree nights we've had recently. Look at the miniscule details.

The new camera photo was taken with the old Elph.

Do I have a very special husband? Count your blessings, Granny Fran.

Look What I Found

2009-11-19T11:36:00.006-07:00

While looking thru another of Mom's boxes, from her old home, look what I found.

Here are two cardboard templates with her notations on them. Along with these were a stack of recycled wool squares that she had planned for some comforter. There were also a few remnants of vintage fabrics she had saved.

Next were four notes to herself with longago measurements for a couple of my daughters dresses she was making as well as notes about things to do and a reminder to get the measurements from my brother Steve's daughter Regina. I feel so close to her when I see her handwriting on these yellowed pieces of paper. Granny had a genius for making things and recycling; she couldn't afford not to; she raised her family, on a farm, during the depression.

The final gem was this old early 40s pattern of a dress for my Mom, Evy. This was before sizes were changed so don't really reflect how small mother was. Daddy could circle his hands around her waist when they married.

Does anyone recognize the actress pictured on the front of the pattern envelope?

From the tattered condition of this pattern, I would say that Granny used it over and over. She was good at revising patterns for making different types of dresses. I grew up in school dresses that she made from feed sack fabric. She would have me pick out some dresses I liked from the "Monkey Wards" catalog and figure out how to make a version for me.

These went into "the box under the bed" that will one day be donated to the quilt museum that has the box under the bed project.

On the Road to Health Again

2009-11-17T21:23:00.003-07:00

My virtual body image.

Check out my new goals for healthy living in the Quilter's Lounge.

Rian and I are on this trip together. Feel free to join us. The more the merrier and we can support each other.

Garden Bloggers Bloom Day, November 2009

2009-11-15T12:02:00.007-07:00

Hi All, I've been ill and in the hospital and am still weak and shaky, but I'm here for
Garden Bloggers Bloom Day. Here is what is blooming outside today; snow blossoms. But it is wet snow and we are always thankful for that in this climate. This is the Dooryard Garden and Patio just outside the sliding glass door from the sunporch.

This Lily blossom just popped out of the bud overnight, in a dining room bouquet. I didn't know what color to expect and this is sunny and cheerful!

These Lipstick Vine blooms brighten the sunporch where we go in and out through the back sliding glass door. I am so glad that I found this plant at a local greenhouse several years ago after seeing one somewhere, I can't even remember where I first saw one, but love the way that the lipstick grows out of the tube as they bloom. This plant has done so well in this south window.

When I look out at the snow, I know that underneath are still blooming the Pansys and Violas.
On Thursday I picked a gorgeous orange one for my Mom, who was sitting in the back seat of the car, on the way home from her doctor appointment. They will appear as the snow melts and usually I find blooms all winter long, here in Colorado's Banana Belt.

May you all have blossoms and blooms in your life, today.

Commode Cozy Finished

2009-11-01T21:08:00.002-07:00

And now for the good news! Before the roof caved in this month, I finished the rose covered commode cozy and some matching pillows for my Mom's assisted living room. I guess I should have taken a before photo of the commode, but take my word for it, this is a vast improvement during the daytime. At night it can be popped off to prepare it for nighttime visits.

I made a pillow to put on the top of the lid, so it would fill in between the rails; that way it looks like a hassock and can even be used for extra seating if needed when we're visiting her. It matches her bedspread and curtains so well, and she loves roses, so I'm so pleased that I found this fabric locally.

Wonder Woman Lives

2009-11-01T20:09:00.007-07:00

And she is in about the same ragged condition as I am. This cartoon is one of my prize possessions from the early 80s when I had a "big lady dress up job". [That's what my college friends and I used to describe the jobs we were studying to (hopefully) get after graduation.] From time to time I dig it out and it still fits.

My friends, this old house I inhabit is wearing out. Since I last posted I had another TIA (mini-stroke) and I am now recuperating from a pretty miserable virus that affected my chest. I am so weak and shaky, have to force myself to eat a little chicken broth, toast and yoghurt, and am doing a lot of cogitating (wondering).

I realize that since the first 2 TIAs I have done almost no quilting, or even sewing. The joy seems to have simply disappeared and turned into guilt and "shoulds". I'm also not nearly as excited about photography, which was an integral part of my quilting interests. I still love gardening, but have to depend more and more on someone else to do the hard physical jobs, which I used to delight in. (Like laying a patio or digging a pond or spading a garden bed.) I still love to look at the birds, but no longer feel like hauling the feed outside the fence to the feeders.

Please do not take this as complaining or whining or asking for sympathy. I am simply trying to share what changes I am finding necessary due to challenges of the aging process. Different seasons of life require different things of us. Once in a while we need to set back and decide what is really important and then do some major pruning to allow us to use our waning energy more effectively.

There does seem to be some pain and grieving involved in this process, but it is a productive, necessary pain and grief.

One of my major weaknesses has been spreading myself too thin and ending up feeling overwhelmed. I was supposed to do "everything" myself and do it perfectly and it was not permissable to burden others by asking for help. When help is offered one smiles graciously and says, "Oh thank you, but I can do this myself, I don't want to impose on you."

Do you know what happens to someone who tries to do everything perfectly? Insanity or paralysis! (and in my case, obesity; food rather than alcohol or drugs). "There is a God. It is not me." I think I saw that in some AAA lit somewhere.

Right now my family is where my energy needs to be focused. And for the first time in my life I have to realize that it is ok, and necessary, to take care of myself so I can continue to share with my family.

Thank you, friends for letting me get some of this out of my system. I ask for your prayers and good thoughts as I go thru this new growing stage.

Added after first published: I'm still having trouble getting this darn thing to keep the spaces between my paragraphs for easier reading.

Baby It's Cold Outside

2009-10-11T15:53:00.006-06:00

It is good weather for a new sewing project. I am working on a project that I've never seen on any of the quilt blogs; a commode cozy for my mother's room in an assisted living home. She has a green comforter and sheer green curtain/blinds and loves roses, so when I found this fabric I knew it was perfect for her. I'm having to design my own pattern, since noone else has seemed to think of it. I got it sewn together except for the hem and took it to try out, and found that it was too large, so am in the process of reducing it (easier than reducing me) and will show a photo of the finished cozy on the commode. Kiddo is a "great help".

When we came home from dinner at DeRitos, last evening at 7:30 pm, the temperature was 28 degrees with freezing mist. This morning when I looked out the kitchen window I saw that most of the compound leaves of the Green Ash Tree had fallen off during the night.

The night before we broke the low temp record of 1905 by 8 degrees. This in the "Banana Belt of Colorado"! I'm used to long, warm, blue and gold Autumn days in October. I think I need to shop for some snuggly fleece clothing.

The Other Side of Autumn

2009-10-09T19:16:00.004-06:00

The Toad Haven Garden after our first freeze last week. Just when the flowers were looking so glorious. At least I do have mature mini pumpkins for the kids' Halloween. Our killing freeze came early this year, so it will be a looonnnngggg winter. Maybe I'll have time to make quilts again.

I guess I will harvest the stalks and make a corn shock to go with the pumpkins for an Autumn decoration.

Autumn Splendor

2009-10-09T18:53:00.003-06:00

Native Flora and Fauna on the Riverwalk. Someones attempt at humor, or a lost child's toy displayed for discovery?

Autumn splendor in a Riverwalk glade.

Autumn Elm in front of Canon City Library, across the street from the Art Center.

Chrysanthemums in sunshine and shadow.

Garden in front of the Fremont Center for the Arts in Canon City.

After a cold, gray morning the sun came out and turned the world into Autumn splendor. After I had my back treatment, and enjoyed the Studio Art Quilts Associates (SAQA) "Points of View" show at the Fremont Center for the Arts, I was able to take numerous photos in town and along the Arkansas Riverwalk.

Unfortunately, I was not allowed to take photos of the art quilts, but I did get the DVD so I can look at them over and over. I fell in love with a rough edge appliqued California Oak tree, but didn't feel like I could justify buying it for the the $2500 purchase price. [It was definitely worth it, but I didn't have enough quarters.] This was a very high quality show for our area, with art quilters from around the world displayed. The annual Royal Gorge Quilt Guild show will take place the second half of October. I will be able to get photos there.

What's Blooming?

2009-09-25T23:12:00.003-06:00

For reasons beyond my control, I forgot about Garden Bloggers Bloom Day on the 15th (see last post). When I realized this omission, I went out and took some garden photos. [That's ChoCho visiting the veggie garden with Zinnias and mini Pumpkins in front, Patty Pan Squash, Zuchinni, Eggplants, Peppers, and Tomatoes behind him] The perennials are pretty well shredded and battered from the hail storm, but the annuals in the new vegetable garden bed are doing well; they were too small to be ruined by the hail and have recuperated well. The Pumpkins and squash leaves were beaten into the soil, but sent up new leaves, blossoms and fruit. Does anyone want some Zuchinni; we have tons from just one hill of plants. I've made one big batch of zuchinni bread and plan to make and freeze more bread as well as casseroles, from my Granny's recipe, for winter holiday meals. There are still ripening tomatoes on the vines that look awful but kept on producing. I don't grow huge amounts of vegetables for canning and freezing; just enough to keep us in fresh produce and some to give away.

Overall photo of the new garden bed, with annual flowers, herbs, mini pumpkins, and corn. Although shredded, the corn was young enough to continue growing, set tassels and now the kernels are beginning to develop on the ears. This bed wasn't built until late in spring so I knew the corn was a gamble, but since I had never grown any I wanted to try and see what would develop. This year's crop will probably be for the raccoons, squirrels, and birds rather than people.

I love these sky blue Borage blossoms and grow them for that reason rather than to use as food seasoning. What does one flavor with Borage? I guess I need to taste it and see what it would enhance.

Closeups of the Borage, Zinnias, Cosmos, and Marigolds in the new veggie garden bed.

These Bells of Ireland were seeded in front of the Sugar Snap Peas that didn't survive the hail. I have a thing for green flowers, I also have green Zinnias.

Zinnias and Violas (Johnny Jump Ups) in the Dooryard Patio Garden. The California Poppies are mostly through blooming now, and the Lavender, Gaillardias, and Ornamental Oregano plants were beaten down by the hail.

To see what was blooming around the world on the 15th check out May Dreams Gardens. In October, I'll try not to get distracted and post on the 15th. As far as I know, we have no other great grandchildren expected to take my attention from garden blogging.

What's New?

2009-09-15T22:47:00.006-06:00

A new great grandchild.

Olivia

daughter of Brooke and Donnie

sister of Miles

Olivia and her loving family live in Denver. Dad is a musician from New Orleans, now making music in Denver. Mom has been going to college and taking care of the family.

I have only seen her online. Will probably get to hold her when we visit Denver at the beginning of October.

I am so wondrously blessed!

Not so blessed that Blogger cooperates with me, however. I am not allowed to arrange the photos the way I want to this evening. What you sees is what you gets.

California Wildfire Smoke

2009-09-02T15:03:00.004-06:00

Would you believe that it is again in the 90s here, yesterday and today, and the sky is so hazy we cannot see the mountains clearly. The reason is smoke from the horrendous California wildfires. The Health Department has issued an alert for people with lung problems, which includes me. Do you realize that the smoke has had to cross over 2 huge mountain ranges, the Sierras and Rocky Mountains, to get here, 1000 miles away?!

But here is the blessing in a tragedy; a brilliant sunset last evening. My heart goes out to all those suffering from these fires. I wish they could have come out of the drought this year, like we did.

Goodbye and Hello

2009-08-27T23:42:00.003-06:00

Ditto aka Buster Keaton

Once upon a time a lynx point Siamese kitty showed up at Toad Haven, kept moving closer to the house, and then moved in and adopted Joe, me and ChoCho as his family. Since he looked like a smaller version of ChoCho, we named him Ditto. Where ChoCho is big, energetic and adventurous, and hunted in the vacant land back of the house, Ditto was small, low key and snuggly and didn't wander very far from the house. When we took him to visit the vet, we discovered that he was at least 9 years old and had badly abcessed teeth, which had to be removed. Even toothless he refused the soft catfood and insisted on eating the dry Iams cat food and drinking lots of water. Over the years the cats became friends and brothers; with Ditto living up to his name when he invariably shadowed ChoCho around the house.

ChoCho and Ditto sparring

A week ago on Tuesday, when we came home from dinner with DIL Jennie, Ditto was not there with ChoCho to greet us at the back door. He didn't show up all evening nor during the night. Joe looked everywhere he could think of and found no trace of him. Noone turned him in to the Humane Society. Of course, both cats had collars with name and phone number tags. I kept checking the back sliding glass door to see if he had appeared; I missed him terribly. ChoCho kept looking for him and sticking closer to us than usual, needing extra attention and petting.

This afternoon after an appointment with my eye doctor, on a whim, I stopped by the Humane Society to look at the cats. I looked at them, murmured sweet nothings to them, and seeing nothing to interest me, I went to ask the guy at the desk if they ever got any Siamese cats. He said they had a 5 month old one and led me to the proper cage. There was a gorgeous little lynx point Siamese cross kitty curled up in the litter box. They handed her to me, and I was hooked. So I brought her home for a weekend test, to see if she was the one for us.

Little Kiddo staying close to under the bed

As soon as she was let out of her carry home kitty box, she hid under the couch. Joe got down on his tummy and managed to convince her to come out. She checked out the house, I showed her the location of the litter box, and she headed under my bed. Ditto had been shy and spent a lot of time under that bed, also, especially when we had visitors. I fixed her food and water dishes and her new box bed in the corner of the bedroom and went in the living room to read and watch TV. Eventually she came out from under the bed and started exploring. I put a smidge of the kitty tuna on her nose and she dived into the dish to eat it. In addition to their Iams dry food the cats also share a small container of kitty tuna each evening.

Little Kiddo discovers she likes tuna

Later she came into the living room and did more exploring and finally checked out my recliner and climbed up and made herself at home on my lap. I think we have bonded. She and ChoCho are curious about each other but still in the hissing at each other stage. For a while I had them both on my lap, back to back. I'm sure they will become friends in the near future.

Joe was right when he said that I had already made up my mind to keep her before I brought her home on a trial visit. Monday I will take her back to the Humane Society for the formal adoption, they will send her to be spayed at the vet clinic we use, and she will be able to come home to live with us.

I know what happened to Ditto. He showed up unexpectedly and he left unexpectedly. He was a guardian angel sent from heaven to help ChoCho look after me and when the time was right he went back to heaven, over the Rainbow Bridge. Now ChoCho has the help of little Kiddo (a cross between kitty and Ditto).

Home Grown Tomatoes

2009-08-25T15:06:00.002-06:00

Here is my latest harvest, in spite of the hail. Note the hail damage to some of the tomatoes, and the yellow crookneck squash. The zucchini, patty pan squash, and pumpkins are growing new small leaves at their centers and the corn seems to be standing straighter. If frost waits long enough I might have more garden goodies. The will to live and procreate is amazing at times.

Hail, Hail, It All Fell Here!

2009-08-18T21:16:00.008-06:00

This afternoon, as I was preparing to go out to pull bindweed and cut down elm seedlings the clouds got dark gray and threatening, wind began to blow, rain to fall, and hail began to clatter on the roof. I started watching it from the front door and then hurried to get my camera. It kept me running from frontdoor to backdoor, taking photos and videos, as the rain and hail got heavier and heavier. The noise was deafening. ChoCho sat up from his nap on my bed and looked with alarm toward the window. Oh no! My poor garden!

Please check these photos against those I just posted earlier today.

Scene from the sliding glass door of the sunporch.

My corn and pumpkin patch, taken 4 hours later; the hail still hasn't all melted.

Joe came in and told me that the raccoons wouldn't eat the corn this year.

These were going to grow baby pumpkins for the kids for Halloween.
The Black Eyed Susans survived the falling limb but not the hail.

This is almost more than a poor old Granny's heart can take; what's left of Evan's beautiful sunflower.

But, as I told Joe, it's not as if we had to make our living from these plants, like the farmers do. [As a kid I saw what hail did to farmers and that is why I refused to date the farm boys and end up watching each storm with fear that there would be no harvest that year. I didn't realize that you can take the girl off the farm, but you can't keep her from loving to dig in the dirt.] We can clean up the mess and enjoy what remains. Our cars and house survived because these were not the golf ball or baseball sized hail stones that have fallen recently in other parts of Colorado. This is part of the gamble that every tiller of the soil makes each year. Some years you win and some you lose, but the rewards to being a tiller of soil are worth the risk.

Garden Bloggers Bloom Day August 2009

2009-08-18T16:32:00.006-06:00

Our cable internet server was out of service for over 24 hours [ oh, internet fits!] and this is the first day I have been able to get back online. This has been frustrating because I had lots to blog about. I'll go ahead and post August blooms, which were due on the 15th, because it is germaine to what happened today.

Jupiter's Beard in front of Russian Sage in the Prairie Border. These are both great plants for our hot, dry climate. They make a beautiful show without requiring much water.

The Butterfly Bushes are putting on a good display and drawing many butterflies; I've seen Monarchs and Mourning Cloaks partaking of the nectar, not to mention the Broadtailed Hummingbirds.

I purchased my first small Blue Mist Spirea bush from Brady's Nursery years ago when I was roof gardening downtown and it began reseeding itself in other pots and even in the dirt in the rain gutter; which I proceeded to transplant into another pot. I brought them with me when me moved to Toad Haven and they also do very well in our climate.

These Black Eyed Susans brighten the Prairie Border and survived having half of the Russian Olive Tree blown down over them on July 31, my 71st birthday.

The year I began creating this garden, 6 years ago, I planted seeds of these red sunflowers and each summer I have had a few volunteer in the prairie border.

I do not limit my flowers to flower beds and borders. Here is the newest raised bed in the vegetable garden, which was built and planted late this summer. I have marigolds and cosmos planted with the corn and pumpkins. The large leaves at right front are Borage, which I plant for the gorgeous blue blossoms; come on Borage blossoms.

This is the first zinnia to bloom from seeds also planted in the above vegetable bed.

These Bells of Ireland were seeded in front of the Sugar Snap Peas in the vegtable border bed behind the raised beds.

These are Tomatilla blooms and fruit in one of the old raised beds to the south of the new bed. Tomatillas along with Cilantro, tomatoes, and chili peppers make a best salsa. I grow them all. I grew up with Gramma Hernandez's Mexican food and still love it. I can still see her patting out tortillas and cooking them on the pristine top of her old fashioned wood burning range.

In addition to pots of red Geraniums (Pelargoniums) I like to grow Scented Geraniums; this is Citrus Scented Geranium in a pot on the back dooryard patio.

This Dill plant in the bed with Chili Pepper and Eggplants has absolutely glorious blossoms, in addition to being a great herb for cooking.

I finish off with the most treasured flower in the whole of Toad Haven this summer. My grandson, Evan, gave me this plant, that he started in Kindergarten last spring, when it had only 2 leaves in a decorated styrofoam coffee cup. I transplanted it into a large pot and moved it to the garden to Become. This is what it Became, isn't it gorgeous?

To see what is blooming this month all over the world check out May Dreams Gardens.

Temple Canyon

2009-08-12T23:45:00.004-06:00

Grape Creek Canyon is between the first ridge and the rock formations in the rear.

Our daughter-in-law, Jennie, is back down here to study at the DOC Academy this week. After her classes, yesterday evening, we picked up chicken dinners at KFC and went to Canon City's Temple Canyon Park for a picnic.

Very old native Juniper (sometimes called cedar by the locals) with a small Pinon Pine and Pegmatite rocks.

Temple Canyon is in the foothills pinon/juniper forest a few miles southwest of the city, up a narrow winding gravel road that is in bad shape in places due to all the heavy rains we've had recently; but it is worth the bumping to get there. The Temple is a natural cave formation in the rock cliff of Grape Creek Canyon just before the creek joins the Arkansas River. In the old days a railroad ran up Grape Creek to Silvercliffe when the silver mines were active. Like most of the early railroads through mountain canyons here, it washed out in a flash flood and with the silver collapse there was no reason to rebuild it. When we were younger, Joe and I used to climb down the near side of the Canyon, wade across the creek, and climb back up the other side to get to the Temple. We did this several times with youngest son, Chris, when he was a kid. I can't even conceive of doing it 20 years later.

Local pegmatite rock with native flora, including a variety of blue/gray fringed sage (Artemisia Frigida).

The scenery here is gorgeous, with interesting native plants and flowers surrounded by mountains and canyons with wonderful rock formations. We originally discovered the Park, before we moved here, from a Colorado birding book. The evening sun and sunset made it even more beautiful, but we couldn't see much of the scenery driving, in the dark, out the back way, which connects to the back road to the Royal Gorge, which is another City owned park further west.

Continuing Tree Saga

2009-08-03T14:18:00.009-06:00

Poor Echinecea, just at the height of their bloom. I hope they survive the trauma.

Here is a video of Joe and Evan removing the broken half of the tree.

Back to normal with half the Russian Olive missing.

Why we still need to prune the tree. Rather grotesque, don't you think? It will be a nice small tree again when we get rid of that tall, lopsided limb.

Here is what the border looks like now with the broken limb removed. The plants are mostly standing back up but don't look as good as before. At least when we had a bit of hail one day it did not do much damage to what was left. Notice the drunken looking sunflower in the center. ChoCho still seems to admire it.

Happy Birthday to Me

2009-07-31T23:58:00.011-06:00

I tried to post this on July 31, but Blogger had a mind of it's own and wouldn't let me arrange the photos where I wanted them, so I am posting late. ( Edited to say: I see that since it was saved as a draft on the 31st, it is dated then, although it wasn't published until August 1.)

July 31 was my 71st birthday. I was happily surprised by the arrival, about noon, of my daughter Kat, Greg and Evan, to help me celebrate this weekend. Evan, age 7, entertained me by blowing up a balloon and letting it go to fly all around. He would also blow it up and then hold the end tightly to let the air squeal out while he giggled and wiggled.

Kat, Evan and I picniced at Centennial Park on the Arkansas River in Canon City, where Evan fed the pond ducks and threw rocks into the river until the wind started blowing so hard everyone rushed to our cars and left the park. We had planned on picking up my Mom from her assisted living home to go celebrate with ice cream, but it was blowing so hard we were concerned about taking my tiny, fragile Mom out in it, so we went to a drive thru and took the ice cream treats to her in her studio apartment. She told us about what happened on the day I was born and other old memories. When we arrived we noticed that one of the patio tables behind the home was broken.

When we got back to my house we started to drive into the driveway and were shocked to see that the far side of the carport was filled with half of the big Russian Olive tree from the front yard. We had noticed quite a few small limbs and branches that had blown off of trees, on our drive, but had no idea of what was waiting for us at home.

When we moved here 6 years ago this had been a very small tree laying on the ground in the front yard with the root ball half out of the ground. When we began to remove it, a neighbor told us that a dust devil had blown it down the previous summer, but it had continued to stay alive with green leaves. We waited until Spring and it began to leaf out, so Joe pulled it upright and staked it so it would stay in that position until the roots that had pulled out of the ground took hold again. It so enjoyed being watered and fed and generally loved by us and the birds that it grew fast and furiously. Last summer Joe was able to take off the wires and stakes.

It had gotten so tall that I wanted to get it pruned back and keep it a smaller tree. Earlier this summer the tree trimmers who trim trees that grow into the power and phone lines came by and trimmed the half of the tree that impacted the lines. This left it quite lopsided and we then realized that we needed to get the other half of the tree pruned by professionals when the season was right. Todays wind took care of half of the remaining tall limbs so now will have fewer limbs to be pruned. I just hope that there is enough there to make an attractive shape.

I know that many people consider Russian Olives to be noxious weed trees because they have begun to naturalize along our creeks and rivers, but they are an attractive tree with their silvery green leaves and the sweet smelling spring flowers (which I am happy to say, I am not allergic to) and the birds love this tree. Since I have planned this garden to be attractive to the birds and critters, that makes the decision for me.

I wasn't able to post the following before because of a vexsome virus that infected our computer, in spite of Norton. Our computer guru, son Greg, has managed to take care of it for us:

The late summer monsoons have given us some amazing weather; this past week we have had three late afternoon severe thunderstorms with heavy rains, flash flooding, winds, and damaging hail in the area, in addition to lesser thunderstorms the other afternoons.

Our daughter-in-law, Jennie, who is a librarian has just accepted a position with the state prison at Limon, which is close to Byers, and has been attending the Department of Corrections (DOC) Academy in Canon City, so we have been showing her the area during her time off. Last Sunday afternoon we took her to the most well known attraction in the area, the Royal Gorge, with it's "world's highest suspension bridge" over the 1000 foot deep gorge, and many other attractions.

When we were halfway across the bridge (it is a long bridge), walking, a high wind and thunderstorm hit us from the west. We were soon soaked to the skin but pushed on valiantly to the south rim, where we and many others took refuge in a t-shirt shop until the rain passed over. I had heard that when the wind came down the canyon the bridge undulated, but had never seen it. Believe me, it undulates.

With my weak legs, I had taken my mother's old walker with a seat and basket (it was way too high for Mom so we got her one fitted to her small size), because I didn't feel that I could manage that much walking otherwise. It worked well with my oxygen in the basket, and the seat when I became fatigued. I was pleasantly surprised that I managed the whole escapade much better than I had feared. Joe does all the refrigeration for the eating places at the Gorge so he knows the maintenance and facility supervisors, and one of them wanted to get me a ride back across the bridge with a Park Ranger, but I wanted to continue walking.

On the way back across the bridge we heard the sound of rushing water and looking over the east side of the bridge we saw a large gully running full of runoff water from the entire south rim. It was full of mud and rocks and bright red, since that is the color of the earth here. It rushed down the whole 1000 foot cliff, bouncing from crag to crag until it fell in a huge waterfall into the river at the bottom. We then saw one of the rafts coming down the river from the west. When they saw the waterfall, they stopped and the guides checked it out and then they went ahead and paddled on down the narrow area where the water was running into the river. With a lot of skill and know how they got thru just fine and continued on toward Canon City where they would disembark, probably at Centennial Park.

We were so wet and cold and could have grumbled that the storm had ruined our outing at the Gorge. Instead we were exhilerated and glad that we had a chance to experience something that most people don't get to see. I managed to get a short video clip of the rushing water with my Canon Elph camera. I hope this works, I've never posted a video before.

Fledgling Day School

2009-07-18T00:07:00.003-06:00

On the 14th I blogged about the Western Kingbird fledgling in our yard. The next day it was joined by 2 siblings perching on the line and squawking loudly. The 3 were huddled together for comfort in the big frightening world outside the nest. Mom and Dad flew back and forth calling to them and feeding them and attempting to get them to make short hops from one part of the line to another.

By the next day the parents would bring bugs and sit a short distance from them in the Russian Olive tree and tempt them to come get the bug. First one and then another would bravely fly the short distance to be rewarded with a yummy bug. Those parent birds are wise and patient in their training of the young ones; it has been a joy to watch. I wonder how long it takes till they become independent. I intend to keep watching as long as they hang around Toad Haven.

I did manage to get this photo of the 3 youngsters on the line; I could never get in position to photograph the fledglings with the parents since they didn't hang around very long. It takes constant flying trips to catch enough of those bugs out of the air.

Garden Bloggers Bloom Day July 16, 2009

2009-07-16T21:08:00.004-06:00

Sorry to be late; I was overbooked on the 15th. I took some photos last evening with the Canon Power Shot Pro but the lighting and my tremor didn't make them turn out well enough to use. Today I went back to my faithful little Canon Elph.

During June we had an inch of rain, which for us is good, but July has been hot, dry, and windy with dry lightning storms. I spend the days running out to change the hoses and sprinklers often, and sympathize with the plants for being dessicated. Last Friday we had wildfires both north and south of us. Luckily, the fact that there had been rains kept the fires from growing explosively, as they did during our recent drought years. The northern fire was on Fort Carson land, was contained quickly and threatened no structures. The other fire was just south of Florence at the base of the Wet Mountains and 200 homes had to be evacuated in several subdivisions. The fire was contained by the end of the weekend with no structures burned. How we appreciate our fire fighters in this area, most of whom are volunteers, with help from the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), which has a facility in Canon City because there is a lot of BLM land in Fremont County.

Given that introduction to our climate, here is what is blooming at Toad Haven today.

Wine Cups Mallow and Blue Vernonica in prairie border. These both do very well in our hot, dry climate.

Trumpet Vine in the north prairie border. I remember playing witches fingers with these as a child in Granny's garden.

Small Prairie Zinnias in the northwest corner of the prairie border next to the driveway where it has the gravel it prefers.

Echinacea and yellow Yarrow in the west prairie border. They put on a great show in the summer and I leave the seedheads over the winter for the birds. The grass behind this border is the Blue Gramma grass which is native to Colorado's prairies and makes a great lawn with far less water and cutting than the usual Blue Grass that our pioneers felt they had to have to remind them of home, which has been one of the causes of water shortages in the state. I consider myself Granny Gramma Grass Seed.

This patch of Sweet Rocket on the north side (front) of the house, was one of the few plants that had survived the previous occupants of our house, who didn't water, weed, or care for the yard in any way. When I go out front to change the sprinklers on the small patch of blue grass, the fragrance of these flowers brightens my day.

I'm particularly attracted to these Decorative Oregano flowers in the backdoor patio garden with the Lavenders and California Poppies.

Gaillaridas blooming in the corner of the dooryard patio garden. I've also just planted some Gaillarias, yellow Yarrows, and silver Artemesia in the narrow, hot bed along the south side of the house on the other side of this garden and patio. I'm trying to find something that will survive in that hellacious climate.

A volunteer Queen Anne's Lace blooms next to the Germander that borders the driveway edge of the Herb Garden.

I realize that these are not blooms, but they are the fruit of previous blooms. This is the first harvest from my tardy veggie garden. The large Eggplants are not even bloooming yet, but I am personally fond of these long Japanese fruits. Come on Zuchinni and Tomatoes!

Check out what's blooming all over the world at May Dreams Gardens

Leaving the Nest

2009-07-14T22:54:00.004-06:00

This noon I saw a pair of Western Kingbirds on the phone line running along the street. We have seen them often this summer sitting, then flying off to catch a bug, and coming back to sit for a while. But, this morning the difference was they had a slightly smaller version of themselves on the line with them. The parents would take turns flying to catch an insect and then return to feed the fledgling, which awkwardly hopped to look one way and then hopped back to look the other way, between accepting the gifts of love from his proud parents.

Since I didn't get a photo of the birds in my yard, I borrowed this one from the internet. Thank you, Terry. I would love to take bird photos that were this good.

This seemed particularly apropos because this morning my granddaughter, Mandy, flew away from her home in Byers (by way of Denver International Airport) on her way to the Job Corps facility in Clearfield, Utah. When Kat called me, just before noon, to tell me that Mandy was gone, we both cried, reminded each other that it was a great opportunity for her, and then cried some more. When Joe came home for lunch I cried when I gave him the news.

Mandy with her brother, Evan.

Kat hadn't been able to go through the search process at DIA with Mandy because she is still in the wheelchair after her second knee surgery, so Greg went with her until she got to the final gate, and he said he cried also. And wouldn't you know it, Mandy's number was picked and she had to go into the bomb booth in addition to the usual search process.

Since she flew into the Salt Lake City airport, before being taken to Clearfield with several other Colorado kids, her Aunt Sharon met her by the baggage claim area to hug her and wish her well on her trip to adulthood. We're happy that she will be able to spend some weekends with her aunt and cousins. She will be able to spend 2 weeks at home for Christmas.

Fly away, little bird, may your wings grow strong, and may you enjoy the wonderful wide view from up there.

Happy Independence Day!

2009-07-04T01:31:00.003-06:00

The 4th of July is my kind of holiday since I love history and fireworks!

In the Rotunda of the U. S. Capitol Building are a series of paintings of the history of the United States of America.

This one, by John Trumbull, is the representation of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1976. The 5 gentlemen standing in the middle, presenting the draft document to Congress, are John Adams (MA), Roger Sherman (CT), Robert Livingston (NY), Thomas Jefferson (VA), and Benjamin Franklin (PA).

Roger Sherman is important to my family because he is an ancestor of my children through their father's Buck family line. "He [Roger Sherman] was the only member of the Continental Congress who signed the Declaration of 1774, the Declaration of Independence (1776), the Articles of Confederation (1781), and the Federal Constitution(1788)." "[He] was also a prime mover behind the Connecticut, or Great Compromise, which broke the deadlock between the large and small states over representation. "This is why we have both a House of Representatives, which chooses the number of congressmen based on a states' population; and a Senate, which allows each state to have 2 senators.

I find that it helps me interest the youngsters of the family in history, when I tell them about their distinguished ancestor. It seems to help them to relate to what could look like a bunch of boring dates and actions. What a shame that something as exciting and vital as our own history often seems to be taught in such a boring way. It must take a lot of work to turn excitement into boredom. But then, I adore history and spend a lot of time reading and researching it. I hope some of it wears off on the kids.

Hope you enjoy the fireworks as much as I will. We don't set off our own any more, because of the fire danger in our dry climate, but we plan to watch the public display set off on top of Skyline Drive in Canon City.

Small Town Summer Concerts

2009-07-01T23:49:00.004-06:00

Each Wednesday evening, in the summer, there is a concert in the Pioneer Park Pavilion in Florence. Local people of all ages show up with drinks, picnics, chairs, dogs, etc. to enjoy the music and visit. The Senior Citizen organization even barbeques and sells hot dogs, hamburgers and popcorn at very low prices.

Tonight a local old fashioned country gospel group, The Coffee Family, provided a rousing selection of bluegrass, and other styles of gospel music to a happy crowd, in spite of wind and spitting rain (the rain never got to the serious stage but we did get some wind blown spatters where we were sitting in our own camp chairs under the pavilion).

Jim and Star Coffee, their son, Mark, and daughter, Grace play many instruments, including guitars, bass, fiddle, banjo, mandolin, and tambourine, as well as singing. They even wrote some of the pieces that they belted out. They used a microphone and amplifier, but had powerfull voices that could probably be heard without assistance. They travel to concerts around the country and you can often see their motor home parked next to their home on Eight Mile Creek where it flows out of the Pikes Peak Massif, north of Florence, on it's way to the Arkansas River.

Joe and I so enjoyed their music, and it was also fun to see all of the expressive faces of our neighbors; a great place to people watch. While the adults sat and listened (and some did needlework), the little ones tended to run, crawl, climb and ride bikes all over the park.

I wish I could provide some of the Coffee's music for your enjoyment, but at least her are some photos I took. Excuse the fuzziness, my little Canon Elph doesn't seem to take very clear digital zoom photos any more, and my tremor is getting worse. I seem to do better with the Canon Power Shot Pro, but it is too big to carry in my pocket, and I am still figuring out how to use it.

These concerts are one of the benefits of living in this small town; we have lots of community events throughout the year, based on history/antiques, art, music and holidays. Little did we guess, when we moved here 21 years ago, how this community was going to develop into such a great place to live and/or visit.

Garden Mysteries

2009-06-21T01:01:00.007-06:00

When a backyard birdwatcher sees this on the patio what does it tell her?

That the brilliant Bullock's Oriole has been drinking at the Hummingbird feeder again. Since his bill is so much bigger than the Hummingbirds bill, he pulls off the little yellow mesh pieces from the feeder and drops them on the ground. As of this evening only 2 remain on the feeder and I haven't been able to find the other 2. In past years he just dumped them beneath the feeder but this year I found one way out in the middle of the back driveway and the other on the sidewalk in front of the back sliding door. Maybe he has figured out that if he doesn't take them far away, I will just pick them up, clean them, and reinstall them in the feeder. Mrs. Oriole also eats at the feeder, but I haven't seen her as often this year. When the young birds fledge she brings them to the hummingbird feeder also.

So far, Mr. Oriole has refused to pose for me, I hear him and hurry to see him on the feeder, but all I get to see is the feeder swinging back and forth. When I do see him, he is too far for me to get a good photo, so I borrowed this one from the website for Birds of Washington State. Photo by Jerry Rome.

According to an article in the Pueblo paper earlier this week, we are having a much larger migration of Ladybugs in the area than usual, probably because the weather has allowed for more aphids (Ladybugs' favorite food) than usual. I knew I had seen quite a few in garden, but was really amazed when I sat down beneath the blooming Catalpa tree and looked up at the under side of the large leaves. There were red Ladybugs everywhere. I've never seen that many in one place before. The red really popped against the green leaves. So, of course, I had to run (walk really, I am not able to run any more) to the house for my camera.

Now my mystery is: In the past I have used a product, recommended by my nursery, that is watered into the ground under the trees and shrubs infested with aphids, it goes up into the sap and kills the aphids when they suck the sap. If I use this now will it also kill the Ladybugs when they eat the aphids? I know that insecticidal soap will kill the Ladybugs as well as the Aphids. I only want to get rid of the aphids, not the Ladybugs.

Years ago, before I realized that this tree was so attractive to aphids, they caused the leaves to shrivel up and turn yellow and fall off, which was a real mess, not to mention all the sticky stuff they exude dripping, and the ants crawling all over the tree (the ants "farm" the aphids so they can eat the sweet sticky stuff.)

If anyone knows how I can get rid of the aphids without killing the beneficial insects, I would love to hear from you.

Garden Bloggers Bloom Day _ June 2009

2009-06-14T23:12:00.006-06:00

On the 15th of each month a group of gardening bloggers post photos of what's blooming in their gardens. We manage to have blooms, even in winter, with some of us resorting to house plants when the ground outside is frozen and dead looking, but really only sleeping. Check out participating blogs at May Dreams Gardens.

Now that June is here, Toad Haven is looking quite lively and colorful; and with the long, light evenings, I am able to garden at that time when there isn't a thunderstorm. It is often too hot during the middle of the day.

The above photo is of Lavender, California Poppies, and Feverfew in the 2 years old Dooryard Garden. It was designed to be a Lavender garden with the golden poppies and white German Chamomile, but, the poppies came up and took over while the Chamomile never germinated, so last year I transplanted a couple of Feverfew plants to provide the white; I've never had the Feverfew grow so tall before. I'm now going to try seeding the Chamomile in other parts of the garden. I am quite fond of Chamomile tea, plus I love the look and fragrance of the plants.

These are Goblin Gaillardias blooming in the midst of the poppies. This is a great native plant for our hot, dry climate.

This is a prairie Globe Mallow that happily seeded itself between the Dooryard Patio paving stones and the landscape timber edging the Dooryard Garden. When we moved here there were a couple of these Sphaeralceas growing in the middle of the seldom used back alley. I loved them and wondered if I could transplant them and get them to grow in the garden. Then this surprise popped up when I was constructing the patio and garden and I couldn't force myself to pull it up, even though it was in an inconvenient place. It gets so top heavy that I have to tie it up so it doesn't sprawl all over the patio and garden and I trim it back after the first big bloom, it keeps putting up small branches during the rest of the summer.

This section of the Lilliaputian Prairie border has Stella d'Oro Daylilies, Ice Plant, Coreopsis, and Yarrow blooming. I wish the purple Veronica would bloom a little earlier here. Although I appreciate the self seeding surprises of native and some garden plants, that healthy dandelion is not appreciated and will be cut off down in the root.

The veggie garden in it's raised beds was planted late this year, due to my health challenges and the weather, but it is beginning to take shape with some transplanted plants and some seed. I am still in the process of making a new 8 foot square garden divided into 4 smaller squares ( I was greatly influence by the book "Square Foot Gardening" a number of years ago, but am not always planting as intensively as that book teaches. I hope that means I am not as compulsive as I used to be.) This new bed will be seeded with corn, pole beans and pumpkins (living succotash).

I wish this was a clearer photo of the Eggplant blossom, they are so gorgeous! I grow them as much for the blossoms as for the eggplants.

These blossoms are on one of the various tomato varieties I planted, while there is a label in the bed, I am not going to try to go out in the dark and check it. Especially since my right leg is still black, blue and purple from ankle to knee from 2 falls I've had in the garden in the last 3 weeks. Gardening while dragging around oxygen apparatus, a garden cart, and tools, gets frustrating at times, but I will not give up my gardening!

Here are bell pepper blossoms and even a small pepper.

I fell in love with Marigolds when I was a small child and still can't have a garden without them. I put them around the vegetable beds to discourage bugs; however, since they were one of the first things gobbled up by our grasshopper plague a few summers ago, I have been known to doubt that they are effective, but it's an old habit I can't give up. I love the smell of the Marigolds on my hands after I touch them, so I am a faithful deadheader.

I hope there are many lovely blossoms in your gardens of life.

Peony Fields Forever

2009-06-06T01:24:00.004-06:00

Here is one of my favorite local sites at this time of the year. This gentleman grows the Peonies to sell to people to decorate graves on Memorial Day. It is one of the few flower fields left in the area. Before WWII there were many kinds of flowers, as well as vegetable, fruits and apple orchards in the area. It started in the 1860s with the pioneers growing food for the miners in the mountains. A dear departed friend of mine told me of working in the flower fields in the Lincoln Park area of Canon City. I was amazed when he told me that they were packed in crates and sent in refrigerated railroad cars to Chicago.

When I was growing up in the Rocky Ford area, further east along the Arkansas River, there were many fields of Zinnias being grown for a local seed company. Some fields were all one color and others were in a mix of colors. I'm not sure if the seed company is still in business and farmers still growing zinnias down there. Maybe I should do a research field trip later this summer to find out.

That area is losing a lot of farms due to the irrigation water rights being sold to big cities like Colorado Springs and Aurora. It doesn't look like the same place when I drive along the old, once familiar roads, and find the former fields going back to prairie grass and the farm houses that we and our family and friends lived in are no longer there. This is one of the reasons that I am a missionary for native, low water landscaping. I resent farms being dried up so that people can have their large, water slurping blue grass lawns, that have no business growing in a desert. I love my native Blue Gramma Grass lawn, my mini prairie. It takes one fourth of the water and only needs to be mowed a few times each summer. Why don't people understand that an attractive landscape that needs less work and less water is the way to go?!!

June is Busting Out All Over!

2009-06-02T00:33:00.005-06:00

I always sing that old song in my mind on June 1. All my life I've been a singer and sang as I did my daily tasks. Unfortunately, since being on oxygen for a few years, I am no longer able to sing, just croak. It is very disappointing, but I do keep my surround sound radio on all day, tuned to listener funded classical station KCME from Colorado Springs, and can sing along in my heart. Sometimes I just have to croak out loud from the joy of the music.

It appears that we are moving away from years of drought to a more normal climate (I hope, I hope, I hope!) for this area. I did hear that La Nina has disappeared and that could be the reason. We had about a week of upslope moisture, that we normally would have had in March; and now we are having sunny, warm mornings, and then clouds and afternoon thunderstorms. That was the weather pattern when we moved here 22 years ago, then around 2001 we started into the extreme drought pattern that has left us with hot, dry, windy weather and caused water shortages and wildfires. I am celebrating the return to the rainier weather, even though that only gives us between 12 to 14 inches of moisture in a year. It sure beats 5 to 7.

Today, between the late afternoon sprinkles and black clouds and the late night rain, I managed to transplant various types of tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, and marigolds into a couple of the raised vegetable garden beds. I was finishing up at 9 o'clock when it was almost completely dark. When the rain started late tonight I was so happy that I got them in when I did. I noticed that there was some new snow up on the bald top of Greenhorn Mountain, but there really doesn't seem to be any danger of freezing nights any longer. It was too dark to take any photos, but some will be forthcoming.

The second Peony plant, with lots of buds, has bloomed out in a darker rose color than the pink plant with only one flower. I am so happy that after all these years of pampering they finally bloomed. As I drove to and from Canon City today, I noticed huge, old clumps of Peonies blooming in so many yards; mostly pink and white doubles, but there were a few single blossom plants as well. The reds bloomed about 2 weeks ago and have already shattered.

Celebrations!

2009-05-26T22:49:00.011-06:00

My "adopted" granddaughter, Amber, graduated from Florence High School on Friday night. She has been accepted by Adams State College in Alamosa and has already signed up for her classes and dorm room for next fall. We are so pleased that she has received a very good grant to make it possible to get a college eduation. This summer she is enrolled in a job training program with the Colorado Job Corps and will work as a landscaper at a local golf course. It must run in the family, since my grandson, Jason, has worked as a landscaper each summer while attending CU Boulder. He will graduate in December as the fourth generation of his family to get a degree from CU.

Amber's younger sister, Makayla, graduated from the Florence Middle School this evening, and will be a Freshman at Florence High School next fall. She appears to be a bit happy about her graduation. She is wearing a crocheted throw that I made several years ago and gave to her recently.

Here are Mandy (right) and her friend Amanda (would you believe they are both named Amanda Marie?) at the Prom earlier this month. It tickles me that girls are self confident enough, these days, to go together, when they do not have dates, and enjoy themselves. Remember that old adage, "A woman without a man is like a fish without a bicycle."

This is grandson, Evan, (Mandy's brother) in his Kindergarden photo. He is not as studious as the glasses make him look; he is all boy!

Grandaughter, Samantha, was a seventh grader at a Salt Lake City area school. She didn't come to Denver for Memorial Day weekend, but DD Sharon says she has definitely become a teenager with all that entails. She is a very talented dancer. She is thrilled that her braces came off since this photo was taken.

Sam's sister, Rachel, was a fifth grader and did spend the weekend with us at my daughter, Michal Ann's, in Wheatridge (a western suburb of Denver) with her Mom and little brother, Alex. Rachel is into sports and is a definite brain; the computer game she was playing this weekend was about physics!!? and she played it while watching funnies and music on the laptop, simultaneously. She was also making origami pieces for us and keeping us laughing at her great sense of humor.

I got to visit with all 4 of my children and 2 of Joe's son's and lots of grandchildren and greatgrandchildren over the weekend. It rained a lot and so much of the time the kids had to play, very noisily, in the house. They did get out into the back garden in the intervals between rains.

Here are Miles (GGS), Rachel (GD), Evan (GS), and Kaylee (GGD) playing in the playland corner of Grandma Mike's backyard. It was wet, but they didn't care.

Alex, from Utah, plays Hungry Hippos.

Shaun (greatgrandson) wants to go downstairs where the bigger kids are playing. He doesn't understand that the steep steps are not safe for him to go down by himself.

Granddaughter Brook with Olivia, who will be our sixth greatgrandchild in September.

These are some of the other flowers blooming in our world.

Spring Bliss

2009-05-21T22:47:00.005-06:00

At the first of the week we had three 90+ degree days with hot, dry sun and wind. Yesterday it cooled a bit to the 80s which was still a bit hot for this time of the year. However, the lady from Sun City, Arizona, who was ahead of me in the Subway line, thought it was cool compared to what she was used to. A pleasant cold front came in during the night with up slope moisture and it was only up to 60 degrees with quite a bit of rain this morning and later in the afternoon. After running like the dickens keeping the hoses running on the drying greenery in my yard, it was a relief to see the plants drinking up the natural showers. Thank goodness, the weatherman expects seasonal temperatures for the weekend and next week.

Here is what the Toad Haven Herb Garden looked like after the morning rain. Not much blooming yet, but look at all those lovely shades of green. And it smells heavenly!

When we moved here six years ago, the landscaping had not been watered or weeded for several years. I found a couple of stunted Peony plants near the back door growing in dirt the texture of concrete. I transplanted them to the front sides of the garden shed and have babied them with water and fertilizer. The plants grew bigger but never a bloom appeared. I had no idea what color they would be if or when they did bloom. This year one plant had one bud and the other had multiple buds so I've been holding my breath and crossing my fingers. This morning I was rewarded with a pink blossom from the single bud. It was worth the wait and I look forward to seeing the other buds blossoming soon.

I love Peonies, and every May Joe delivers a large bouquet of red peonies to me from an older gentleman in Canon City who grows them to sell for Memorial Day. He has a huge field of them wrapped around his Victorian bungalow, and Joe works on his flower cooler when he starts it up each spring. My Dad had wonderful red Peony plants at the house in Fowler and this August I am going to dig one up to transplant into my garden.

My quilt muse has been pretty much absent since my health challenges last Summer. It has taken me so long to regain enough strength and energy to do just the absolutely necessary housekeeping tasks and shopping, as well as looking after Mom's affairs. I am able to do a bit more gardening now and am getting it in shape with the assistance of yardman Carl. I don't know if I can manage to garden and make quilts at the same time, but I have finally been gifted with a concept for what I want to do quiltwise, and am beginning to dream and sketch some ideas that I can work on next winter, when the garden is hibernating. I am so excited about the history of this area where we live, and want to do a series of quilts about Fremont County, beginning with the Dinosaurs and working up to the present. I don't know what size they will be, yet, but they will be small enough to make it possible for me to manage them with my sewing machine, and yet, large enough to present the subject matter well. I don't enjoy working large.

I plan to encorporate my photographs of the County into the quilts. This concept has been working in my mind for several months and is finally beginning to develop. It's strange that the history series idea just took shape suddenly yesterday, and I immediately thought, "Aha, that is exactly what I can get my teeth into," and the creative energy began to flow. It is good to feel excited about a quilt idea again. Now to take my new camera off the shelf and start learning how to use it.

What's Blooming

2009-05-16T23:53:00.004-06:00

I can't ever seem to remember to post "what's blooming" on the 15th. Here's what's blooming at Toad Haven in SE Colorado at the foot of the Rocky Mountains.

Old Fashioned Bleeding Hearts on the north side (front) of the house; this clump has gotten huge.

I finally planted a Blaze Climbing Rose in the middle of the front fence; I've wanted one since we moved her 6 years ago and couldn't resist this one at Home Depot with so many blooms.

Basket of Gold Allysum and wild Blue Flax in the Liliaputian Prairie border.

The first bloom on the Austrian Copper Rose this spring. The ashes of my beloved cat, Yul Brynner, the King of Siam, are buried under this bush. It does him justice each spring.

A volunteer Bachelor's Button (Cornflower) at the driveway edge of the Prairie border. I've loved this flower since a child and I also love most volunteers, although some become pests.

These Chives bloom in the Prairie border instead of the Herb Garden because they came in the same pots as some of the other perennials from my previous rooftop garden and got planted here before the Herb Garden was designed or constructed. I should move one of the clumps into the Herb Garden.

A tiny pot of Ice Plants was planted on the edge of the Prairie Border several years ago and have spread into a large mat. They bloom in the mornings and close up later in the day. A great plant in a dry climate garden.

One of the old fashioned Iris that were along the front fence when we moved in. It took 2 years of nurturing to get them to start blooming after being neglected for so long.

Creeping Phlox at the base of the front porch, with a Chinese Elm seedling (the bane of my existence) and some unknown vine that transplanted itself here by putting roots into the soil where it trailed out of a pot.

One of the many volunteer Violets that have begun to travel all around the front porch from the seeds of one transplanted clump a few years ago. This is another variety of volunteers that I love.

How I enjoy the new blossoms of spring after the dark and dreary winter! I still think I was designed to hibernate in a very luxurious fur lined cave during the cold, dark time.

Hey, Dude!

2009-05-12T22:48:00.003-06:00

Just to cheer up your day. When Mom and I walked out of the Medical Building in Pueblo today, this is what met our eyes. I immediately fell in love and asked if I could take a photo of this very coooooool dog, Blanco, and his companion Joe. Joe raised Blanco from a puppy and he always wears his sun glasses when out and about. Not only is he cute, he also has a sweet disposition. He sure cheered my day considerably.

The Merry Month of May, Hooray!

2009-05-08T01:13:00.003-06:00

Here are consecutive views I caught at the north end of our street, on the way out of town the other day; snow covered Pikes Peak behind my favorite apple orchard and the Arkansas River bluffs. I love this orchard, and have photographed it, and one old gnarled tree in particular, many times over all seasons. As I turned the corner and drove past the edge of the orchard, I saw an old man and woman setting out the irrigation pipes for the summer, so I stopped and told them how lovely I thought their orchard was and that I appreciated their hard work at keeping it looking so good. [Click on the photos to get the scope of the scenes.]

Wow after a couple of 80s degrees days, Joe had to turn the water into our swamp cooler, aka evaporative cooler, which we use in place of a refrigerated A/C in this dry climate. Today while shopping in Canon City I saw 91 degrees F on a bank sign! Sorry, that is just too hot for this early in the year, but we have a couple of cool fronts coming in for the weekend with the possibility of more rain. While working in the garden this evening I heard and felt my first mosquitos of the year. I love the moisture we've gotten, but I'm not crazy about the mosquitos. Especially after what my sweet DIL, Robyn, has gone through due to West Nile Virus with Encephalitis (sp?).

I knew I was feeling tireder, weaker, and slower since the 2 mini strokes last summer, but today when I went to buy compost for the vegetable garden I wasn't able to lift the heavy bags of compost onto the cart and had to get a staff member to help me. Last spring, I lifted my own bags, but that was before.... I'm just so glad that I am still able to do some gardening, even thought I have to have a little help from my friends (yard men Dave and Carl).

It was rather nice, when I was ready to plant the new Blaze climbing rose at the front fence, I didn't have to dig my own hole, I just showed Carl where I wanted it, and he dug through the broken and burned chunks of concrete and brick that are down about a foot beneath the surface of the yard. This is the debris of the old oil refinery that blew up here in 1926.

The Florence area had the first oil wells and refineries west of Pennsylvania, before Texas and Oklahoma. We only have a few oil wells and no need for a refinery here now. While the price of gas was up so high there was some more exploration in the area, but I haven't heard any more about it since the price dropped.

Today I picked up quite a few flowers and plants to transplant into pots and the garden. It's supposed to be a bit cooler tomorrow so I hope I won't have to wait until evening to do my gardening tomorrow. I'm going to have to sweet talk Joe into unloading the compost bags from my car trunk to the veggie garden tomorrow so I can dig it in and get some seeds planted. I haven't had the nerve to put out frost sensitive tomato, pepper, or squash plants yet. There is still snow on Greenhorn Peak (named for Cerno Verde, a Comanche chief who caused grief for the Spanish military in the pioneer days) to our south and the old timers around here say that is how you know when it's warm enough to safely put out those plants. Lots of others are already setting them out, so maybe it is safe. I'll at least wait until the weekend cold spell is over.

Farewells Are So Hard

2009-05-01T15:12:00.007-06:00

Joe and I lost two dear loved ones this week and will attend two memorial services on Saturday.

Robin

(Wife of Joe's Nephew, Ron)

birth 3 Jan 1957

BrynMawr,,Pennsylvania

death 23 Apr 2009

Denver, Denver, Colorado

photo with husband Ron at Disney World in December after her diagnosis with pancreatic cancer.

Robin's late father, Thomas Monnett Davis, was the first American ambassador to Israel.

Ralph

(Husband of Joe's late cousin Marjorie)

4 Apr 1916

Edmond,,Kansas

26 Apr 2009

Strasburg, Adams, Colorado

This photo of Ralph in his cowboy persona was taken by his daughter, Star, about 5 years ago.

"Earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust; in sure and certain hope of the resurrection unto eternal life, through or Lord Jesus Christ."

[I've edited this page 3 times and it refuses to print the way I arranged it! I do get frustrated with this problem from time to time.]

Ultimate Eye Candy

2009-04-29T00:53:00.004-06:00

I wanted to share a gorgeous slide show of pretties from the New York City garment district that was sent out on "The Quilt Show" e-letter today.

This is one of the reasons I love being a charter member of "The Quilt Show".

We ought to all just charter a plane and go look at this wondrous place together.

April Garden Bloggers Bloom Day

2009-04-15T23:43:00.007-06:00

Along with many other gardeners throughout the world, I am sharing what is blooming today at Toad Haven at the foot of the Rocky Mountains in SE Colorado. Check out May Dreams Gardens for the list of gardening bloggers taking part.

Outdoor blooms are still scarce at Toad Haven as we are having our typical April weather; warm, sunny 60/70 degree days interspersed with cold, cloudy snowy days. Because it has been such a dry winter we are overjoyed to have the moisture, even in the form of snow. "April (snow) showers bring May flowers."

Here is a photo of the dooryard garden and patio today, to show what the typical garden looks like in this climate in April. I left the turned over chair the way it was to show you how much the wind has been blowing. Every time I go out it seems that I have to put the chairs upright again.

There are a few flowers poking thru the green grass and dried plant material, such as these Scillas.

In an old whisky barrel the Grape Hyacinths are popping up. This batch of plants originally came from my Boulder garden; some were transplanted to Dad's garden in Fowler, when my kids were still kids; then transplanted into a whisky barrel in my downtown Florence rooftop garden, La Playa Brea; and 6 years ago the whisky barrel was moved into the prairie border here in Toad Haven. This is the one batch of plants that I never transplanted into the garden soil, but they seem quite happy to bloom in the barrel each Spring, where they encourage many lovely memories.

A batch of small Daffodils are blooming through the Creeping Phlox plant, that is not blooming yet. Daffodils always seem like such happy flowers and it thrills me to have a few in my garden. As much as I love them I don't know why I haven't planted more. Maybe this will be the daffodil bulb planting fall.

Here and there throughout the garden are self seeded Violas. This tiny little guy is growing between the pavers in the Herb Garden path. Other than fresh green shoots of Marjoram, Italian Parsley, Oregano and Sage this garden is still pretty much straw colored. I did pick up 6 pots of Cilantro to plant the other day, but with a major snow storm expected it will be a few more days before they can leave the Sun Porch.

A pot of fragrant purple Hyacinths are blooming on my front porch to welcome visitors.

In the dining room the red Phaelanopsis Bonica Orchid is still blooming and the blush white Phaelanopsis Mount Beauty x Stope New Candy Orchid buds are about to pop open.

The Lipstick Vine has done so much better since it moved into the south window of the new Sun Porch a couple of years ago. Right now it is covered with bright red blossoms. Watching the blossoms develop from bud to full bloom is always fascinating.

I should have a lot more flowers to share in another month. Check it out on May 15.

Busy, Busy Time

2009-04-14T00:03:00.007-06:00

This month has been rather insane. We started with a trip to the ER, by ambulance, for Joe with chest pains, which was finally determined to be a bad case of indigestion from a huge Mexican burrito dinner the night before rather than a heart problem.

The next day Amber had major oral surgery, in Colorado Springs, with her jawbones broken and reset to properly align her teeth. A couple of days later she had a seizure in the shower with her Mom, because she was too weak to do anything alone, and she was sent to the ER where the doctors decided it was caused by the heat of the shower acting on the narcotic pain medicine she was on. She is so brave that after less than a week she went to her Senior Prom, with nurse Mom accompanying her, while barely able to walk and unable to open he mouth or talk. She is doing so well now that the bands were removed from her braces and she is able to eat a little soft food instead of having liquid squirted in with a syringe. After two weeks she was able to go back to school today, but didn't make it all day.

On Friday, I was in Urgent Care for one of my chronic complaints which required antibiotics.

Saturday, April 4 was Mom's 89th birthday and we had a party for her in the dining room of her assisted living home with a chocolate cake with 3 sparkler candles, one for past, one for present, and one for future. My brother, Steve and his new bride, Gwen, celebrated with us. We adore Gwen and are so happy that Steve found her, living nearby, when he moved back from Reno to live in Mom's house in Fowler. We think they are an adorable couple.

On Sunday, when Mom got home from church, she took off her coat and laid it on the bed and as she started to take the few steps to her recliner, she fell flat on her face and shook herself up royally. She didn't think she needed to be checked out at the ER but the next day she called me with pain in her neck and back. Since she has severe Osteosporosis, I feared she could have a broken bone. It turned out that she was having muscle spasms from a Cervical strain so she was sent home with an RX for a muscle relaxent and Extra Strength Tylenol. For the few days she took the muscle relaxent she was not allowed to walk anywhere without assistance because of the danger of falling again.

During this time granddaughter Mandy was staying with us and she was at the hospital with Amber when she had her surgery. She found 3 pieces of vintage plaid fabrics with reds and blacks in my stash and sewed a simple six block top for a pillowcase and made the back out of another piece of plaid.

Then when Amber's sister Makayla stayed with me, while Amber had followups with her Oral Surgeon, she found some black and white fabrics with gold stars which she pieced in a four patch pillow top which she backed with a matching red and stars fabric as a gift for her recuperating sister. Luckily I had a big bag of stuffing material in the closet for that project. So while I haven't really been able to get into quilting since those small strokes last summer, at least I am still able to help the girls learn how to sew and piece.

Kathy and Greg came for Easter weekend, with little Evan, to take Mandy home after her three weeks with us. We made a big pot of chili con carne for Saturday supper and went to a restaurant for Easter dinner. My son, Carl, drove down from Niwot to visit with us because Robyn was in California with her mom and aunt. Unfortunately, when we went to pick up Mom to go to dinner, we found her still in bed. She had had another dizzy spell that morning when she got out of bed and fell backward onto her bed, so didn't get up to go to church or go eat with us.

We went back to her room after dinner, with a piece of lemon meringue pie for her, and she was feeling better and able to sit up in her recliner and visit with us. Since all 8 of us didn't fit into her room, Mandy and her friend Jack took Evan out to play in the hall where he made friends with the Manager, who had him hunt Easter eggs in the dining room. He had an indoor egg hunt earlier in our house because our wonderful Easter surprise was rain and wet snow. When I woke up and saw the snow falling it was so exciting that I started singing the Hallelujah Chorus from the Messiah in my head. Normally I hope for a sunny, flowery Easter, but this year the moisture is more appreciated.

Evan brought me the best Easter gift a Grandmother could have, a seedling Sunflower that he had grown in his Kindergarten class, in a small plastic glass with a hand colored label with about an inch of dirt for the seed/plant. Today I transplanted it into a pot with more soil to grow a bit more before I transplant it into the garden. I promised him I would send him a photo of it blooming in Toad Haven.

So today Joe and I and the two cats have the house to ourselves again. The snow melted off and it was 70 degrees and sunny outside this afternoon so I was able to do some more clean up work in the herb garden and refill the little pond and get the fountain spraying again. And, as usual, when I work in the garden I get breathless and have to rest often, so I put up the table umbrella on the dooryard patio and read as well as enjoyed watching the birds feeding at the newly filled bird feeder stations. There were 2 irredescent Grackles making pigs of themselves, numerous little red headed House Finches singing their lovely spring songs, not to mention the multitudes of Eurasian Collared Doves and English Sparrows (darn those introduced pests!). The Robins happily hopped across the grass finding worms in the damp soil, a Red Tailed Hawk flew from Elm Tree to Elm Tree across the RR tracks and a couple of our Turkey Vultures circled in the blue sky to the south. Hopefully, the rest of April will slow down for us so we can enjoy watching spring come in.

Hooray! Snow at Last!

2009-03-26T23:11:00.006-06:00

It is snowing, the wind is blowing, the temp is zero with wind chill factored in, and we are smiling and giving thanks. It has been so long since we've had any moisture and we've been so concerned about wildfires, etc. that we are thrilled with a blizzard.

All around us it is a major blizzard with winds up to 50 mph and drifts up to 5 feet, but here in the "brown spot" we have around 6 inches on the ground, the wind has died down, and it is still snowing. Often when those around us get rain or snow, the weather maps show our area around Canon City and Pueblo as a dry area brown spot. This is due to our position in a double rain shadow with the Rocky Mountains to the west and the Monument Divide to the North.

I normally consider snow to be a four letter word, but tonight I am as happy as I can be. In a drought I'll take any moisture I can get. It sure beats dust and wildfire. The best thing is that this is wet snow with good moisture content. This will help turn our brown prairie into green with colorful flowers.

Bird Photographer Wannabe

2009-03-17T23:05:00.005-06:00

Since my brother Steve gave me the new camera, I have been intimidated by it, so it sits in the bag on a shelf in the office. Today with 70 degree, sunny weather, without heavy winds, while working at cleaning up the garden for Spring, I had the joy of hearing and seeing a Curved Bill Thrasher in the Toad Haven trees. I girded up my loins (can women gird their loins?) took the camera from the case and decided I might as well see if I could get an identifiable photo of Mr. Thrasher.

He hasn't been around since last spring, when he sang his heart out trying to lure Ms. Thrasher to join him in creating a nest in the very healthy clump of Cholla cactus along the fence, north of the mini prairie. Unfortunately, Ms. Thrasher evidently had other ideas so he left us and hasn't returned until today. I wish you could hear his lovely aria. He even got Joe's attention early this morning with his gorgeous voice.

With this Canon Power Shot Pro in my hands I feel so ignorant and awkward; but I managed to turn it on, open the viewing screen, crank up the zoom (why I needed a camera other than my comfortable little Canon Elph, which had no optical zoom and couldn't capture birds, even not on the wing) and click the button. Wow! the shutter works a lot faster than the Elph. After following Mr. Thrasher from the front yard Russian Olive tree to the side yard Locust tree in the herb garden, I managed to get several shots.

I then rushed to the computer, opened my quick guide to "uploading photos to the computer" and they actually uploaded. I saved them, printed some just as they came from the camera, and then did some simple Adobe Photo Shop experimentation in improving the contrast, and cropping photos and here are some of the results. I was pleased to find that when I cropped to close ups of the birds and then blew them up in size, I could actually see some details instead of blur. Maybe if I keep experimenting I will get comfortable with this camera. And even better, maybe I will get some great bird photos.

[Be sure to click on the photos to enlarge them]

From this photo with lovely blue sky but the birds are not very clear

to this that sets off the birds from the limbs and sky.

To this single House Finch cropped from the right side of the large photo with the Curved Bill Thrasher in the lower middle.

What's Blooming?

2009-03-17T00:18:00.006-06:00

I forgot to post a photo of what was blooming in my garden on the 15th, since I was out of town visiting family in Byers, Colorado.

Actually, nothing is blooming outside right now. I did have some snowdrops earlier but the blossoms are gone now and most of the garden is still very tawny and stiff. I have had a few days when it was warm enough and the wind was not blowing everything away to begin removing last years dead plants, that I leave all winter for the birds to forage for seeds. I can't begin to describe how much and fiercely the wind has blown this late winter. We've only had close to one quarter of an inch of moisture all winter and the dust blows in each wind, and every day we hear of wildfires here and there around us. We are supposed to have a big share of our moisture in the form of up slope snows in March and April, but it is not happening this year and I am worried that once again we will have no green grass or flowers on the prairie this spring.

Anyway, the blossoms I am posting are on one of my orchid plants in the south dining room window. I have had good luck getting my orchids to bloom each year and the blossoms last so long. I love them! There ought to be a way to make a quilt from the design of these orchids.

Edited to say this is in response to May Dreams Gardens' Garden Bloggers Bloom Days.

The Times They Are A Changin'"

2009-03-01T23:11:00.004-07:00

It's a sad time in Colorado with final publication of "The Rocky Mountain News" in Denver.

In 1859, along with the hopeful gold seekers, came William Byers with a printing press which he set up on the banks of Cherry Creek, Kansas Territory, and printed the first newspaper on April 23, in what was to become Denver, Colorado. The "Rocky Mountain News" has reported all the important events of the region, country, and world to those of us who lived in Colorado. The "Denver Post" later came into being and the two newspapers carried on a lively competition through the years, but "The News" has always been my favorite.

Joe's hometown, Byers, was named for the original publisher and editor, who was also one of the movers and shakers getting the railroad to Denver, and naming a town for him was a way the railroad showed their appreciation.

The final edition, which came out just short of the 150th anniversary of the paper, showed famous headlines from the years as well as facsimiles of the masthead as it changed through the years. Most of them pictured the Rocky Mountains and a lighthouse shining light into the region.

The front page is pictured here with the goodby superimposed over the very first edition of the paper. It interested me to read the advertisements from businesses in Nebraska and Iowa since there was only a rough mining camp with few businesses to buy an ad in the area, yet. He must have sold ads to places he passed on his trip to the "diggings". Please click on the photo to enlarge it so you can read the ads, also.

I love the internet, which makes it so simple to gain information and news, as well as communicate individually, but it is heart breaking to see this historic newspaper, that grew up with the territory and state of Colorado, go out of business. It has been one of the biggest stories in Colorado media this weekend.

Mom Doing Better

2009-02-27T16:25:00.004-07:00

I am happy to report that I was able to take Mom home from the hospital after the internal bleeding stopped and none of the tests could find a cause for it. After doing a pelvic cat scan to check the kidneys and colon, her bones looked so bad that the doctors were concerned that she had bone cancer, but further checking found no cancer, just severe Osteoporosis. She now takes a medicine for that that is sprayed into her nostrils and we have to get her a foam egg crate mattress and chair pads to protect her fragile bones.

Mom with her sisters, Rachel and Emmy in around 1937. Look at

those jodphers and boots, just like Hollywood!

She was able to go on an outing to the Florence Senior Center dance with staff and residents of her home, where she enjoyed the live music and even made a sweep of half the dance floor before her legs wore out. When younger, she and Dad went dancing every Saturday evening and were quite good at it.

Here are a couple of photos of a younger Mom that I found in my family archives. I wish I had a photo of them dancing.

Prayers for My Mom, Please

2009-02-10T23:52:00.003-07:00

I haven't been able to think about quiltmaking for a couple of weeks due to running Mom to doctors and for tests. Finally, today I had to take her to the ER and she was admitted to the hospital and had a cat scan and an endoscopy to check her kidneys, lower abdomen, and stomach. We now know that she has no kidney stones or kidney tumors, and her ulcers are not bleeding, but we still don't know why she is in such pain, is losing weight (she is so tiny she has no weight to lose, unlike her daughter) and is having black blood in her stools. She will probably have a colonoscopy tomorrow, but if she needs surgery, the doctor doesn't know if she can survive it. She is so weak she had a fall a few days ago.

Here is a cute photo of her as a girl and a recent one to show that she is still cute. She always wants to dress just so, with jewelry and nail polish and looks like a little doll. She is frail but has a very big and tough heart.

Where Did January Go?

2009-02-03T23:06:00.002-07:00

During the dark, short, windy, days of January I did very little quiltmaking. The obsessive, compulsive Granny finally got around to sorting and organizing my bedroom/sewing studio, and office. There was so much stuff piled everywhere that it made me tired just living with it, and I sure don't want my kids to have to do something with this mess when I'm no longer able, so I have sorted, boxed, thrown away, and hauled trunk loads to Goodwill.

Some of the business files in storage boxes were old enough to be thrown in the dumpster(they took up a lot of space) and previous year files have been put into plastic tubs that can be stored in the backyard storage shed, until they can be disposed of in future years; multitudes of books have gone to Goodwill for someone else to enjoy [it is so hard for me to give away books but too much is too much], and many trashbags of clothing, that I no longer wear, have gone to the thrift shop. I even sorted out a lot of old fabrics, from my Mom's sewing days, that I probably won't use for quilts [hopefully some lady out there will be overjoyed to discover them].

A very large portion of boxes that were taking up needed space consisted of memorabilia from Joe's family. I actually found more photos, more than 100 years old, that I don't remember ever seeing before. Some of these were scanned for use in family history books and most of the photos and small pieces like funeral cards, wedding and baby announcements [individual, not in the same envelopes], and graduation invitations will be placed in more albums. Joe's mom, fraternal grandmother and great-grandmother were all savers of these family momentos and I am fortunate in finding tons [I've always exaggerated] of material for the family histories, after sorting thru tons [doesn't seem like exaggeration, it has taken me 20 years] of junk to find the treasures.

And then, of course, as I find more old family photos I am drawn to Adam Dell (my computer) to do more genealogical research, and when I get started making finds I am drawn to spend more and more time researching. It must be similar to the way those old prospectors with their burros felt, but instead of a burro I have Adam to accompany my travels. Joe and I are planning to take a trip to Harlen County, Nebraska this spring to search out distant cousins, old homes, and headstones in tiny cemetaries in small farming towns. If any Vansyocs, Perkins, Ransdells, Burkes, or Clausens from that area read this, please e-mail me.

I've also finished tops for crib quilts for the two new great-grandsons which I now will send to a machine quilter, since I've determined that I enjoy making the quiltops, but not quilting them. In addition I have made a resolution to get my WIPs (UFOs?) quilted because I am not able to rest easily with them calling and sobbing from their storage places (in my bedroom). I also have some ideas rolling around in my mind for new pieces, but I feel guilty to start them with so many WIPS (um UFOs).

Quilt tops from top to bottom:

GGS Brendan's "Water Creatures"

GGS Adam's "Noah's Ark"

GS Alex's "Nine Patch Animals"

GS Shaun's "Mythical Horses"

Daughter Michal Ann's "Waterlilies Bargello"

Mom Evy's "Family Album"

My Brother's New Photo Website

2009-01-17T21:33:00.006-07:00

For those of you who have enjoyed seeing my brother, Steve's, nature photography, you'll enjoy his new website; the music he has chosen to back up his photos is lovely and prints of his photos are available for purchase.

Here is a recent sample of his work, taken this fall on the east side of the Sangre de Christos. This is all that remains of the historic cabin of a friend's family, which was built on one of the original Spanish land grants, before this was a part of the United States. The land south of the Arkansas River did not become part of the U. S. until after 1846, long after the Louisiana purchase brought in the land north of the river. Steve is working on collecting photos and history of early Colorado settlers for a book.

JPG Magazine, where Steve had his photos displayed online, has announced that they are going out of business, but a campaign has been started by fans to try to save it.

Photo copyright: Steve Metzner

"Pick yourself up,

2009-01-04T22:48:00.008-07:00

brush yourself off, and start all over again."

That old song keeps coming back to my mind. A new year, a new start. One of the blessings of being human.

Joe and I spent New Year's Eve and Day in Byers with some of the kids. I was getting over, and Joe was coming down with, miserable head colds, so we dragged home on Friday and have sort of hibernated in the warm house this weekend. It was quite cold and snowy outside so it was a good time to hibernate. Having the new HD TV, that we gave each other for Christmas (the old one was about 16 years old and getting blurry, as are our eyes, so it was a good idea Joe had. Plus we got a great deal on it.) made the hibernating enjoyable, as we watched lots of old movies, which we love better than most new ones.

We especially enjoyed seeing the new babies; our 2 new great grandsons Brendan and Adam, as well as Jayden, the second son of Joe's kids half sister, Shannon. Though Shannon, Bryce and Jayden aren't really our family, they have always seemed like family. I guess they are kids and grandkids-in-law, like Joe's first wife, Frances, is my wife-in-law. Can you believe that a man would actually marry two women named Frances Marie?!!

These two photos were taken at the Mexican restaurant in Strasburg on New Year's Eve.

Mandy (horrible photo) in her funny rabbit skull and crossbones on barbed wire shirt.

Mandy with Jayden. He had his first surgery for cleft palate and lip the first week in December. He has several others to go in the next few years.

Here are some blurry photos; scans from a photo collage that daughter (new grandmother) Lori made for us.

Cody and Breanne with Adam, and Brian and Tabi with Brendan, at the hospital after Adam was born.

Close up of Adam, who looks like his mom, Breanne.

Brendan, who looks like his dad, Brian.

Puppy, Cooper. Remember her from the Labor Day camping post.

Some of these photos were taken with my new plaything; my photographer brother, Steve, gave me his Canon Power Shot Pro camera that he no longer uses. It is going to take me a while to get comfortable using this one. I didn't realize just how idiot proof my little Canon Elph was, but this one has many more pixels as well as OPTICAL ZOOM, so it is well worth "doing poorly until I learn to do it well." Watch out birds, here comes Granny Fran.

I will be posting my quilting plans for the year in a few days and sure hope I manage to be more productive and creative this year. In 2008 just surviving seemed to take most of my time and

energy.

Happy New Year

2008-12-31T00:12:00.002-07:00

May each of you have a happy, prosperous, healthy, and creative 2009!

TQS Legend of the Year 2008

2008-12-30T23:47:00.004-07:00

I just saw The Quilt Show webcast of their Legend of the Year Jinny Beyer and am overwhelmed!

Her gorgeous home, her gardens, her shop, her quilting history, and most of all her color theory are something that every quilter should see for both the visual impact and the educational impact! Her short demonstration on the use of color in quilts is invaluable. This is a show that I will watch over and over to let it soak in deeply.

I have been a member of Alex Anderson and Ricky Timms' webcast from day one and it has been very helpful to me; especially since I haven't felt like going out to quiltshows or workshops much in the past year. Here in my home I've been able to learn from some of the top quilters when it is convenient for me.

If you are a member, you need to watch this webcast. If you are not, it is worth your time and subscription price, just to see this one show.*

[*I really am not receiving any compensation for this endorsement; and no animals were endangered in the creating of this blog post.]

Blessings of Love and Light to You

2008-12-26T00:45:00.007-07:00

I found this beautiful Christmas card and immediately knew I had to post it for Debra and Barbara, the Madonna Idea quilters.

More Christmas Decor

2008-12-23T21:05:00.002-07:00

I especially like this Nativity in lights seen in a neighbors front yard this evening.

Here Comes Santa Farmer

2008-12-22T22:26:00.003-07:00

I've been so busy researching genealogy and putting together family history notebooks for Christmas that I haven't had time to blog, or much of anything else that doesn't absolutely have to be done.

But today Joe told me to check out a photo opportunity on Raynolds Avenue. It was so cute I just had to share with all of you.

SNOW Is a Four Letter Word?

2008-12-09T22:54:00.008-07:00

This afternoon when I sat down at the desk for work on my Mom's finances, my 10 Key Adding Machine had suffered Cardiac Arrest and wouldn't compute. Thinking about it, this might still be the machine we had when we moved to Florence 21 years ago. Since I can't function, mathematically, without my 10 key, we had to take an unplanned trip to Office Depot in Canon City and get a new one. It is quite beautiful and the display is much easier to read than the old one. It even has a clock and calendar and memory, if I ever decide to take the time to figure out how to use them. All I want to know is the bottom line, which I will then probably type into a Microsoft Excel file.

Unfortunately, one of the things that is keeping me away from creating quilts, is the amount of time I have to spend on handling Mom's finances. Luckily, Joe handles most of our personal and business finances and I just input the info into Quick Books and generate reports. While a major portion of my career was handling the agencies' budgets and finances, I was never good at handling my own finances, too emotionally involved. Like not acting as one's own Attorney or Doctor. Other peoples' money is like Monopoly money to me and I can handle it very logically.

But I digress!

I am posting about the snow storm we received yesterday. The storm started as rain in the late afternoon, while I was shopping in Canon City. As I started the drive back to Florence in the dark and rainy evening, it was quite difficult for me to see and I had to drive between 45 and 50 mph on Highway 50. By the time I got to the Florence turn off, it had begun snowing big, fluffy wet flakes and I nearly turned off the highway into the barrow pit before I caught myself and saw where the actual turn off was located. The snow was swirling around hynotically in the head lights and it was almost impossible to see where I was driving. Most of the time I could see a tiny bit of the white line on the edge of the pavement, and stayed on the road at around 10 to 15 mph across the hill and down the slope into the Arkansas River valley. Once into town the street lights made it easier to see to stay on the streets and find my house.

This morning it was quite cold and gray but by midday the sun came out and made everything sparkle, even though it remained cold enough for the snow to stay on the trees as well as the ground. The view as Joe drove me to Home Depot was glorious, with the sun low in the west, shining on the snowy prairie and on the mountains, below the clouds that still covered their peaks. Of course, I had Joe pull over on the verge of the highway, while I got some photos. It is a good thing for me that Joe is a patient man, since I'm always asking him to stop for a photo session.

Here is what we saw. This is the hogback and Cooper Mountain, to our north, in the Pikes Peak massif. Normally, I think of SNOW as a four letter word, but there are exceptions. In addition to being beautiful, we desparately needed the moisture. [Be sure to click on the photo, to better appreciate the effect.]

Family Thanksgiving 2008

2008-12-02T23:01:00.008-07:00

Thanksgiving is always a big holiday for my family and this year we had a wonderful time, again. Last year, Dad was in the hospital so Mom, Joe, and I spent the day with him; the kids had their traditional dinner at Carl and Robyn's and then all came to visit the hospital on Friday and were able to have time with Dad before he passed on early Sunday morning. So this year we were really feeling the need to be together.

Derek and Lindsay being greeted by Greg as they arrive with the fantastic soup and flowers.

Joe and I drove Mom to Michal Ann's in Wheatridge (a western suburb of Denver) on Wednesday evening. We now stay at her house since she has two ground floor bedrooms; the stairs at Carl's are too much for Mom and a challenge for me and my oxygen apparatus.

Joe supervises Sharon and Samantha as they prepare Carl's German Chocolate birthday cake.

We have the Thanksgiving meal at Carl and
Robyn's, and since they are vegetarians, Michal Ann cooks the turkey and trimmings, Sharon does desserts and Carl's birthday cake (he was born on the 23rd so we celebrate his birthday with Thanksgiving), Kat makes homemade rolls and sweet potatoes, Robyn does a yummy cashew loaf and fruit and veggie salads, and I fix the whole cranberry sauce and other veggie dishes. This year Lindsay and Derek made a delicious sweet potato and green chiles soup, which was new and a big hit. There were 21 of us at the two tables, from 15 months to 88 years.

Carl and Jason moving second table into foyer, next to the dining room to the right.

Three year old Alex, from Salt Lake City, plays Aunt Robyn's baby grand piano.

In the evening we watched the movie, "Iron Man", which was much more enjoyable than I anticipated. Jeff Bridges did a great acting job in this one; so much so that it took a while to recognize him. The kids have a great time together and make a lot of noise.

On Friday evening we got together at Michal Ann's for a lasagna meal. The children had a great time playing with the family heirloom dinosaurs and jungle animals, that have lived for three generations with Gramma Evy and Grampa Fritz, and have now taken up residence with oldest granddaughter, Michal Ann. Carl presented his Power Poiont show on his trip to Canada this summer in his historic Waco biplane, known affectionately as Old Bar-B-Q in the Canadian northern woods, where it supplied the people at mines and fishing camps on the lakes (on floats in summer and skis in winter) during the 1940s. Part of the presentation was a video of the trip done by the Canadian version of our PBS. He also showed some of his old family photos of us when we were much younger, and some of our forbears who have been gone for decades.

Mandy and Rachel reading together on Aunt Mike's couch. The quilt on Rachel's knees is the one I made for Kaylee when she was born; and she is holding "The Quiltmaker's Journey" which Joe and I gave Kaylee for her birthday this year, to go with "The Quiltmaker's Gift" that went with the quilt. The quilt was made of Quiltmaker fabrics. Kaylee likes to wrap up in the quilt and have Gramma Michal Ann read the books to her.

While this was going on it started snowing and continued all night. It is the first snow we had seen this fall. About a month later than most years, we usually get our first at around Halloween.

Charlie (ex), Sharon (spouse), and Mom at Giuseppe's
On Saturday we drove to Colorado Springs to meet my kids' father and stepmother for lunch at Giuseppe's in the old railroad depot. The seventeen of us had a small room to ourselves and were fortunate to have a great waitress, who took good care of us. We have an interesting family in that Joe and I get along with our ex's and their spouses and have family get togethers that include us all. Time has a way of softening the earlier emotions, and we do share a number of children, grandchildren and great grandchildren. (And hopefully, we gain wisdom!)

Carl and Robyn at Giuseppe's (out the windows you could see the coal trains running south full, and north empty. (There goes more of Wyoming!) Alex, Shaun, and Kaylee loved watching the trains.

We drove home from the Springs (through fog on Monument Hill), and the kids drove back to Denver (my ex and his wife now live in Pueblo). I am so glad that we didn't wait for Sunday to drive home, because it snowed heavily and made for slow, dangerous, stop and go driving on Monument Hill, on I-25, between Denver and the Springs. Sharon and her little ones had to stay over an extra day in Denver and drive to Salt Lake City on Monday. Here in Florence, we had enough snow early Sunday morning to turn everything white, but it stopped and melted off by noon.

I am so blessed to have such a wonderful, loving family (even if some of us agree to disagree on politics)! That's what Thanksgiving is all about.

Have a Happy Thanksgiving

2008-11-25T22:58:00.002-07:00

We Miss You, Dad

2008-11-25T00:02:00.003-07:00

One year ago today our beloved Dad passed over. Here is the tribute that my brother, Steve, created using a photo that he took near Fowler a few days after the memorial service, and a photo that my son, Carl, had taken of his grandfather. A giclee print of this photo hangs on my bedroom wall and has been a great comfort to me during this difficult year.

We love you so much, Daddy!

Altered Threads

2008-11-15T00:15:00.005-07:00

I was fortunate to be able to get a fast trip through the Altered Threads exhibit at the Sangre de Christo Art Center in Pueblo, today, in between taking Mom to dentist and doctor appointments.

The show was wonderful and now I hope to go back and spend more time looking and reading the details of construction and materials from the gallery note book.

Seeing these art quilts confirmed to me what I've been thinking lately; I don't want to make traditional bed quilts (as much as I love them), I want to make small art quilts. As I have less and less energy these days, I want to expend what I do have on creating quilts that excite me and that I love doing. I also feel a lot better about myself not liking to sandwich and quilt my pieces, after hearing Eleanor Burns tell Alex Anderson and Ricky Timms that she doesn't like to quilt, she only quilts by credit card. I've had this feeling that I should make quilts for each member of my family, before I could go back to making my art quilts. But driving home today I realized that I can make art quilts that are specifically designed for my loved ones, instead of making them snuggle quilts. Of course, this does not refer to the babies, who need snuggles. "Don't should on me!" as the T-shirt of an old friend stated.

Here are a few of the quilts from the show and you can see the titles and artists names as well as more quilts at my Webshots album:

"Altered Threads Front Range Contemporary QuiltersKing Gallery November 1- January 17

Altered Threads takes quilt making into the realm of contemporary art. These amazing fiber art works stimulate the mind and extend the horizons of stitchers, painters and manipulators of fabric. Front Range Contemporary Quilters is a membership organization that began in 1988. The group now has more than 200 members and is devoted to contemporary innovative quilt making and fiber art. It is a forum for exchanging ideas and methods, for encouraging creativity and broadening the horizons of art quilters. "

I just wish you could each see the richness of these quilts in person. Be sure and click on the photos so you can see a little more detail.

Trick or Treat in a Historic District

2008-10-31T23:11:00.006-06:00

Late this afternoon, as I sat in DeRito's waiting for our to go chicken calzone with green chili, I had the fun of seeing the children and parents of Canon City making their Halloween Trick or Treat trek through the Main Street Historic District. For a small city, we have hordes of children; and were they ever cute! The older I get, the more I appreciate the little ones. I'll share some of the photos with you all.

That's DeRito's Roman Centurion statue looking right at home with the trick or treaters.

The old clock tower, from the Victorian County Courthouse that burned years ago, has been recreated on Main Street across from DeRito's. Some of the kids were tired from their walk and chose to sit and rest at the base.

The first settlers from further east in the U. S. arrived here in 1859, with the discovery of "gold in them thar hills". A few cabins were built, but when news of the Civil War came, most packed up and went back to fight in the War. Some were Union men and some Confederate. We still have a Confederate section in the old graveyard, and for the Memorial Day services, both sides are honored. When the war was over, they came trooping back and began making a living by selling home grown food, and other necessary supplies to the miners in Leadville, way up the Arkansas River in the high mountains, which started with gold mining and then also discovered silver. Baby Doe Tabor, of the Ballad of Baby Doe opera, married her rich miner in Leadville, and died there, a pauper, waiting faithfully for another rich vein to be discovered, as instructed by her dying husband.

The Leadville riches and later in the century, the Cripple Creek gold riches, allowed Canon City to build lovely commercial buildings along Main Street, and many grand homes, including a full blown mansion on the River at First Street. Colorado Governor Peabody's Victorian brick home on Royal Gorge Boulevard, has been restored and is now the office space for the local Chamber of Commerce.

The view east down Main Street, full of Halloween revelers. See the great old historic store buildings. Here is a close up of the old bank building with the fantastic tower, that is a favorite of mine. The bank that grew from this one has recently become affiliated with Wells Fargo after being home owned for over a century.

During the Colorado Territory years, a deal was made in the legislature, which awarded the university to Boulder and the penetentiary to Canon City. Today the old Territorial Prison is still operating on the west end of the City and the Colorado Correctional Complex, with about 9 other prisons (including the Women's Prison), is on the east side. The Colorado Department of Corrections is the largest employee in Fremont County. So, only in Canon City, would you see the Dept. of Corrections passing out treats; do you suppose they had prisoners handing them out?!

Special bulletin:

On Wednesday we got the message that granddaughter Breanne had gone into labor and was in the hospital and yesterday we got this photo from Grandma Lori's telephone. Little Adam (our 6th great grandchild) was close to 7 pounds and seems to have his mom's hair. Breanne was about the cutest newborn I've ever seen, so I'm anxious to get a good look at Adam.

Luckily, we are making our October pilgrimmage to Byers, this weekend, to celebrate the many family birthdays and our 24th anniversary in this month. And now we have another one to celebrate. Adam made it the day before Halloween and our first great grandchild, Kaylee, was born on Halloween 7 years ago. Hopefully, we'll have a better photo when we get home.

I have Noah's Ark fabric to make Adam's quilt. Brendon's top is done and now I have to sandwich and machine quilt it. Hopefully, he will receive it before he starts kindergarten.

Have a Happy Halloween weekend!

Prayer for our Country

2008-10-19T20:20:00.005-06:00

(My Mom and daughter, Michal Ann with the flag quilts I made for them after 9/11.

Given the grave concerns of those of us who are citizens of the USA, I decided to share this e-mail message from my cousin, Liz, in Albuquerque. Let us join together on what we can agree on, and not fight over what we do not agree on. The greatness of this country is that we are allowed to disagree and dialogue. Dialogue works only when we don't go for the jugular.

“In the upcoming days before the election, we are bombarded by all sorts of messages. The Prayer Committee of First Presbyterian Church , Longview, has printed an excellent way for all of us to get through this time. Prayer.”

[This was originally set up to start on October 19, but we can prayer these prayers between now and the election.]

Monday _ “Pray that the Lord will empower and enable the man of His choice in any area of weakness_II Corinthians 12:9”

Tuesday_ “Pray that the Lord will search the heart of our future president and purge him from all self-seeking motives_Psalm 139:23-24”

Wednesday_”Pray that God’s choice for our president will listen with discernment, seek knowledge, and receive wise counsel_Provers 1:5-6”

Thursday_”Pray that the man of God’s choice will be given wisdom and ability from the Lord to overcome any obstacle or difficulty_John 16:33”

Friday_”Pray for repentance for yourself and for our nation, and that God will hear our prayers_James 1:5”

Saturday_”Pray that the Lord’s choice for president will have special strength and unusual ability from God_Philippians 4:13”

Sunday_”Pray that the Lord will do something that will utterly amaze us and give His servant victory_Habakkuk 1:5, 3:2”

“Remember II Chronicles 7:14: “If my people who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.””

That's My Kid!

2008-10-15T23:17:00.007-06:00

Here are links to a couple of news articles about my son, Carl, and his old Waco airplane. He and Robyn celebrated their 23rd anniversary making a trip to the north woods Canada in his Waco. We laugh that while I research our family history, he researches the history of his pride and joy biplane.

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/saskatchewan/story/2008/10/06/plane-north.html

http://www.paherald.sk.ca/index.cfm?sid=177704&sc=13

He was born just after Sputnik took to the skies. We took him flying in a friend's small plane, at Fowler, when he was just a toddler. His Dad built model planes that we flew on control lines (pre radio control days) with friends on weekends, and when Carl got old enough he made his own models and flew them. He learned to fly when he was about 14, and at 17 bought his first antique airplane, a 1947 Aeronca, in pieces from a wind storm back east, and pulled it in home in a trailer and rebuilt it, with the help of his mentor, an antique airplane pilot and real estate developer in Boulder. He then built a single engine experimental little biplane that was designed by the head of Ball Brothers in Boulder, who was a member of his flying club. Only 7 of them were ever built. He still has it, but he did sell the Aeronca to buy a modern two engine plane to fly the family in, while he was working at the Jet Propulsion Lab (JPL) in Pasadena, California. I think getting the Waco was the fulfillment of his airplane dream.

Carl and the Skyote at Pawnee Buttes in the 70s. Look at that hair!

When he was in high school, my friends asked me if his flying didn't scare me. I answered that I would be more scared if he was running around on a motorcycle; the statistics were much better, his teacher insisted on his following all the safety guidelines, and Carl has always been very level headed.

He may not be a rocket scientist, but he is a rocket (aerospace) engineer!

When I was a girl, in the fifties, I dreamed of going to Annapolis and being a Navy pilot, flying planes on and off of carriers. Alas, I dreamed too soon! Girls couldn't do those things in those days. I was overjoyed when women were accepted at the Air Force Academy, but by then I was married with children. So now you know why I am so excited about my son becoming a pilot and having such fun with his planes. I'm also a NASA/JPL groupie, thanks to Carl.

My Quilt/Our History AAQ Contest Quilts Website

2008-10-13T20:32:00.004-06:00

Be sure and check out the new website for the Alliance for American Quilts (AAQ) that has a show of all the small quilts from the "My Quilt/Our History" contest that are going to be auctioned off on eBay soon. I fell in love with some of the quilts and especially with the stories of the quilters.

It is especially exciting to see a quilt that we all know well from watching our sister blogger, Allie Aller, create it earlier this year, "The Home in the Garden" , on the front page as the 1st prize winner!

Fall Activities

2008-10-12T21:45:00.009-06:00

Fall has gotten serious this weekend, in 40s and rain yesterday (brrr), and warmer (70) today with strong winds and it gets almost to freezing at night. I went out yesterday afternoon and picked all the ripe and ready tomatoes, squash, peppers, and tomatillas and then covered the plants with old blankets and afghans because I was afraid it would frost; but it didn't. It probably will tonight, so I left the covers on (forecast says 40s again the next two days). It will warm up again in a few days and I can still have veggies for a while until a killing freeze occurs.

Since I have so much zucchini, I picked up several aluminum foil loaf pans and tonight I made 2 loaves of zucchini bread. I planned to make a lot at one time, but found I didn't have enough eggs, so I'll do the big batch later. I can give some away and freeze some for later. I have enough Tomatillas to try making a big batch of Green Salsa, if there is enough I will can some. Can Salsa be frozen, does anyone know?

I also picked up a batch of this year's Jonathon Apples (my favorite) and will make a pie for us and one for Amber's family. The only time I make pie is during the short Jonathon season each fall. I love being able to buy apples that were grown by one of my distant neighbors. I see that the Corn Maze and Punkin Field is open again this year, but the girl that is earning her college tuition, so I hope we can go and enjoy again before Halloween.

Amber and her 13 year old sister, Makayla, spent Thursday night with us, while their parents attended parent/teacher conferences and had dinner out by themselves. Makayla was excited to tell me that she helped tie a quilt at school that day. She watched me sewing on baby Brendan's crib quilt and asked if she could learn to do that. So she picked out some pretty 5 inch squares of rose designs and coordinated fabrics and learned to sew a nine-patch, which we stuffed and made into a pillow for her. She did quite well sewing on the machine for the first time. The white shawl on the back of the chair is one I crocheted several years ago. She was talking longingly about Amber's black shawl, so I pulled this one out of the closet and gave it to her. I think she liked it because she wore it the rest of the evening and the next day until I returned her to her mom.

Last Saturday night was the Homecoming Dance at Florence High School. Amber and her friends didn't want to pair up, so they decided to go as a group and dance and visit with each other. She bought a new dress with her Burger King paycheck and Joe and I took her and her friends, Bre and Brendan out for dinner and then dropped them off at the school to meet the rest of the gang. Luckily, we were not the ones that had to pick them up and take them home after the dance. Amber is on the right, she won't smile because she doesn't want her braces shown on a photo. She really is having a good time and they are laughing all the time when the camera is not aimed at her.

I love having the young people around, whether birth or adopted grandchildren. Without them I would be completely out of touch with what is going on in the culture these days; they teach me about cell phone usage, music, and current slang. I try to pass on a little knowledge about the history I've seen or read, and the music, movies and books that I think they need to know about. I try to give them a foundation and they try to keep me young.

Autumn in the Rocky Mountains

2008-10-05T22:50:00.007-06:00

We went for a drive to see the Autumn colors today, in spite of the cloudy skies and weather prediction of snow in Cripple Creek and Victor, which are north of Florence and Canon City, on the flanks of Pikes Peak. We looked out of our windows and decided that we could see the Peak so the weather could not be too bad up there, picked up Mom, went to Big Daddy's for lunch and then drove north of Canon City, through historic Garden Park (where the historic dinosaur quarries are located) and up the Shelf Road, along Four Mile Creek (also known as Oil Creek as there was an oil spring on the bank of the creek in

pioneer times, and the first oil well west of Pennsylvania was drilled here before anyone thought of drilling in Texas and Oklahoma).

Shelf Road was built as a stage coach and wagon road to the gold mining towns of Cripple Creek and Victor in the last decade of the 19th Century. It is a narrow, rutted dirt road built as a shelf on the canyon wall. When 2 cars meet it can be kind of scary until one or the other finds a slightly wider spot where thay can get past each other without falling down into the canyon. But the spectacular scenery makes it worth the effort.

Be sure and click on this one to see the hole in the
top of the rock wall.

When I was taking this panorama of Cripple Creek it was snowing on us. The palest mountains in the back are the Sangre de Christos, about 50 miles away. The medium blue line of mountains are the Wet Mountains, just south of Florence, then comes the Arkansas River Valley, where we live, and then in the foreground is the Pikes Peak Massif, with the Peak behind us.

After decades of economic recession, when most of the gold mines had shut down, Cripple Creek is now humming as one of the legalized gambling towns in Colorado. The fronts of the lovely old Victorian red brick commercial buildings on Bennett Avenue have been spruced up while retaining their authentic architecture, but the backs have huge modern looking additions added to make more room for the casinos. I have never been a gambler, and when I see how much money people have to be losing to pay for all those brick monstrosities, I am glad I am not tempted to lay

my money down there. In the old days it was a fun place where you could stroll the streets to look at the old building, browse antique shops, and visit an authentic old soda fountain at the drugstore. Now it is pretty much wall to wall casinos, cars and people, not to mention the buses that bring people from many Colorado towns and cities.

I have been driving below this mine tailings log shoring for at least 55 years and it must have been there for 50 years before that, but in spite of my misgivings, it is still holding back the tailings.

At the top of this Aspen covered mountain you can see an old mine edifice and old mine tailings, and behind that you can see the modern mine tailings gi-normous mine tailing pile. Now instead of digging the gold out of the ground they are processing the old mine tailings with new technology that rescues the gold that couldn't be gotten out of the ore in the old days. Who says you can't build your own mountains?!

Just down the road is the town of Victor, which did not choose to become a gambling town. It has the same old flavor and lots less money to maintain the great old buildings. They do still have a real community spirit and the street corners were decorated with straw bales, pumpkins and scarcrows.

We found a small cafe and ice cream store in one of the run down old buildings, where we had floats and malts, admired the old photos of the mining days, and listened to music from an antique player piano. There was an original theatre curtain painted with an Italian lake scene and surrounded by ads from local businesses. Joe liked the ad for a Florence gas station with "bronze gas for 18 cents a gallon. (Of course, back then, Florence had oodles of oil wells and 2 refineries. With gas prices the way they are, we have had an oil company drilling exploratory wells south of town again, for the first time in decades. Hope they are successful!)

We drove home down Phantom Canyon on the road made on the bed of the historic Florence and Cripple Creek Rail Road, which at the turn of the 20th Century, hauled gold ore to several processing mills in Florence. In July 1912 a huge flood roared down the canyon, ripping out track and 12 bridges. The mines were not producing as much now as in the past 2 decades, and there was another rail road to Colorado Springs, so it was not economically feasible to rebuild the F&CC RR. This is now part of the BLM's Gold Belt National Scenic Byway, so the road is in fairly good condition and the bridges have been rebuilt. 55 years ago, the Phantom Canyon road was horribly primitive, when I originally went there with my parents.

Because of the beautiful gold color of the Aspen trees in the fall, this area is very popular for outings each autumn. A few of the groves have a more red color, the scrub oaks turn tawney, and the woodbine vines are brilliant scarlet. In the lower canyons, the narrow leaf Cottonwoods and Willows are also gold. Toward the bottom of Phantom Canyon there were sections of the rock walls and trees that were covered with wild grape vines.

This is such a spectacular canyon, but my battery went dead and there is not enough room in this blog to show you all the wonderful things we saw.
It was evening by the time we made it back to Canon City to take Mom home, and she was very tired, and a little car sick. She has wanted to take this drive since she moved here but I'm afraid it is getting to be too much for her and our future jaunts will need to be shorter and on paved highways, rather that rough gravel with lots of tight curves.

It becomes quite frustrating for a photographer on a drive like this. Every turn reveals another gorgeous scene which is next to impossible to frame or get a clear photo from a moving vehicle, and the battery goes dead too soon. Joe is great to stop when there is a wide spot, but many of these scenes don't have a place for stopping and it would take us weeks, if I stopped for every photo opportunity. Now I understand why my brother, Steve, goes on most of his serious photography trips alone. We drive everyone else crazy!

More Photo Fun

2008-09-21T23:12:00.006-06:00

I've been busy taxiing Mandy and Amber around (as you can see they are not children any longer) and have 5 of the 6 giant 9 patches done for greatgrandson Brendon's quilt, but haven't found a suitable fabric for the lattice stripes locally. I've done some searching online but haven't found just the right yellow fabric yet. I had hoped to match the yellow center block fabric, but I'm afraid it isn't available any longer. I have to travel to La Junta on some business for my Mom and will stop at The Stitcher's Garden in Pueblo to see what they have in stock.

I've had a couple of days when the fall weather, colors and clouds (and rainbows) got me excited about taking photos again. I am seriously researching for a camera that will do more of what I want; as much as I love my little Canon Elph, I'm afraid I've outgrown it. I need more pixels and quite a bit of optical zoom. I love the results that I've seen from digital single lens reflex cameras, but they seem a little complicated for where I am at this point. I think I will probably work my way up by going with a Canon Power Shot until I outgrow that.

I always love the look of the mown hay in windrows to dry it so it can be bailed and stacked. The red tractor was perfect with the red woodbine leaves and green hay.

[Be sure to click on the photos to enlarge them so you can see the details better.]

Aren't these red stems and purple berries on the woodbine (also known as Virginia Creeper) great against the still green leaves?

The grass hay, and sometimes alfalfa, grows well on the lowlands between the Arkansas River and the dry prairie bluffs. I am very drawn to the lush green areas in dry climates. The contrast is visually exciting and also makes for good birdwatching. Here we have numerous native plants and grasses, as well as red Woodbine, growing in front of cattails in a wet section along the fence next to the road.

Here is a natural garden with a sculptural weathered stump in the fenceline gate corner of the pasture where the hay was being mowed. The white flowers are some type of wild aster that my brother and I have always called Ironweed because when we tried to break off branches for bouquets for Mom, the stems were too tough to break. Now I know I have to cut them with garden shears. I'd love to get a clump of this native plant growing in my mini prairie.

A rainbow in an ominous black cloud that was full of rumbling and lightning and dropped copious amounts of water on us for about 10 minutes.

New Great Grandson

2008-09-09T14:28:00.005-06:00

Our grandson, Brian and his wife, Tabi, have blessed up with our fourth great grandchild.

Meet Brendan Raymond Thomas ... all 8 pounds and 2 ounces of him, shown here with his proud father. Sorry, this photo e-mailed to us by his grandmother, our daughter Lori, is not very clear. But we know he is adorable and brilliant, and all the things our grandchildren are.

I am working on a crib quilt for him in cute, bright fabrics with fish, frogs, turtles, bugs, and ducks on them. It will be large 9 patches to show off the fabrics. I hope I can find more of the yellow for lattice, borders and backing. These were all fat quarters that I had in my stash. Mandy has offered to help me with the machine sewing so it will be a joint effort.

I can't wait to see and hold little Brendan.

A Camping We Did Go

2008-09-07T19:01:00.008-06:00

I'm finally feeling up to reporting on our "much looked forward to" camping trip in our new Retro camper over Labor Day weekend.

My bed is the permanent one that is a daybed during the daytime. I share this space with Brave Heart, a Care Lion. I got the retro fabrics with just a touch of lizard. Right outside of the window, at the head of the bed, is a fantastic view of Lake Creek.

Although I didn't have the curtains all completed (I had to order more fabric) we put up the ones

we had, loaded up and went up to Lake Creek Campground on the side of the Sangre de Christo mountains around noon on Friday. We found a great site for our camper and son Greg's tent, and another site for other son, Doug, across and down the road (I do mean down literally). Greg, Mandy and Evan joined us a couple of hours later and we set up the camp kitchen and enjoyed the gorgeous scenery. Doug and Jennie would come up on Saturday morning.

Joe's bed makes up where the table stands in the daytime. He got the southwestern lizards.

It rained so hard and long that evening, that we cooked the hamburgers and ate in the camper. That is the best benefit of a camper; when tent camping we couldn't cook inside the tent.

We were tired from all the packing and unpacking and settled into our camper bunks early. Joe woke me up between 3 and 3:30 am with chest pains and very high blood pressure. I had my ever present medical emergency kit and gave him 3 nitro tablets at 5 minute intervals; I had him drink a bottle of water, in case it was altitude sickness; and then put him on my oxygen, while I switched to my shoulder pack. I had slogged thru the wet vegetation to wake Greg and while I nursed, he called 911 on his cell phone. Thank God we had service. I was amazed at how fast they got an ambulance to us to take him down to the hospital in Canon City; Greg followed them

down and I stayed in the camper with the children.

The grate was so uneven the guys had to put flat rocks under the pans to keep them from sliding off.

Joe went thru the usual tests and was kept over Saturday night. Doug and Jennie went to the hospital before coming up to the campground with Greg on Saturday afternoon. They brought their new 3 month old Pug, Cooper (short for Mini Cooper). Joe insisted that we all camp that night, since we were already set up. Luckily the tests found no indication of a heart attack, so he was released on Sunday and Greg picked him up and brought him up to camp with us for Sunday night. Needless to say, we all enjoyed Sunday night, with him, a lot more than Saturday night, without him, and worrying about what the doctors would decide.

Joe said he felt all right and went right back to work on Monday. The Stress Echo Cardiogram he had this Friday found nothing wrong with his heart. So the doctors think it was a combination of indigestion complicated by high altitude. Joe had so looked forward to camping since we weren't able to go for the 4th of July, as we usually do, and then had this happen.

I told Joe we needed to have an exorcism for the camper, since I went to the hospital the first time we stayed in it, and he was hospitalized the second time. We need to find out if the precious owner sold it because it was inhabited by bad spirits. This is all said with tongue firmly in cheek. We still love that little camper and Mandy came home with us and is sleeping in it in our back yard. It makes a great guest house for the grandkids. They even make s'mores on the gas stove burner.

In spite of everything, we enjoyed the lovely landscape of the Wet Mountain Valley and the Sangre de Christos; and ate great meals prepared on the campfire by our sons and daughter-in-law. Jennie even bakes biscuits in a Dutch Oven with coals from the fire. And I learned to appreciate our kids even more than before. I don't know what I'd have done if they hadn't been there with me during this time.

What do teenage girls do on camping trips? They text their friends when they aren't collecting flowers, acorns, leaves and berries to decorate the picnic table.

What do kindergarten boys do on a camping trip? What don't they do, I have multitudes of cute photos! Here he is in Cooper's portable kennel with Cooper's bone.

Happy Labor Day Weekend!

2008-08-29T00:17:00.006-06:00

The early color of the sunset from the Village Inn Parking Lot in Canon City. This is Fremont Peak; can you see the sleeping indian that the early settlers saw in the shape of this mountain?

We are taking off for the campground first thing in the morning and will meet son, Greg with Mandy and Evan, and son, Doug, with Jennie, there. I am so excited to get to go camping, even tho I've had to trade my tent for a camper. The pillowcases are all made, and half of the curtains are ready to hang (we'll have to do that at the campground, tomorrow, since we ran out of time today); I have enough to cover the windows flat, without any gathers, those will wait for the other half of the curtains to be finished. At least we will have privacy and color, instead of the hodge podge in there now. I've ended up having to buy bits of fabric here and there, where I could still find it available. I didn't remember at the beginning that I needed to do two lengths for each window and when I needed more fabric, the original quilt shop was out. I finally got all the fabric at three different places online and locally.

In the few minutes it took to drive to the top of the hill, east of Canon City on US Highway 50,
the color became this brilliant.

These are some photos I've taken in the last few days, ending with a spectacular sunset this evening as we drove home from Canon City, after shopping for groceries and supplies, and having skillet dinners at the Village Inn.

This is the reflection of the sunset on a thunderhead East of Canon City.

The herd of llamas [just some of our "native" fauna] on Department of Corrections land [state and federal prisons are the biggest employers in Fremont County, around 10 state prisons, and a Federal 4 prison complex; including the Administrative Max Prison that holds the worst of the worst, such as the original World Trade Center bombers, the Unabomber, Gotti, and the Oklahoma CityFederal Building bombers, until one was taken elsewhere for his execution. I can see the lights of this complex from my kitchen window, about a mile away to the south], north of Florence. Note the green grass, the first we've seen all spring and summer. Up till the 5th of August this all looked like dead straw. Hooray for the Monsoons!

Here is more green prairie off to the Wet Mountains in the South. That dark greenery, down in the Arkansas River Valley, is Florence. See how we snuggle down between the bluffs. The deciduous trees of the prairie grow only in the river and creek valleys. Those dirt mounds are prairie dog holes. I could hear them barking alarms while I took the photos, but couldn't get any pictures of them.

I was happily surprised that I had walked over 5000 steps today, the most I've been able to do since the first mini stroke in July. That could explain why I am so tired and need to get to bed so I can get up early in the morning.

Hope you all have great weekends!

Triplets!

2008-08-22T14:16:00.002-06:00

I have to share this precious photo that my daughter, Michal Ann, sent me this morning. These are the new babies of her friends in the Denver area. They were able to go home from the hospital this week. We are all so thankful that the babies, Mom, and Dad are all doing fine.

Congratulations Paul and Kristi!

Fabric and Color and Pattern, Oh Yes!

2008-08-21T22:57:00.006-06:00

Here are the rugs, towels, washcloths, and fabrics that I've put together for our vintage camper.

I still need to find turquoise kitchen towels, and pot holders; turquoise is evidently not "in" for kitchens currently, at least, not at the local WalMart. I need to visit the Pueblo Target to see what colors they have.

The turquoise and brown fabrics were from the July fat quarters bundle, and the minute I saw them I knew they were just what the camper needed. However, Denise of the Canon City Creative Cloth Closet has been sending out lots of e-mails about new fabrics coming in, so I had to stop by and look and them, and Voila!, a turquoise fabric with colorful southwestern style lizards all over it, which adds the needed Pop to the scheme. Before I received the vintage style fabrics, I had considered doing a Southwestern theme, so now I have melded the retro and the Southwestern.

That all over diaper pattern fabric is what most of the curtains will be made from; and I'm just certain that at some time my Granny had curtains, made from a similar pattern, in her kitchen. Every time I look at it I get deja vu shivers.

The mattress on the permanent bed, in the camper, is also vintage, in that it is a three quarter size, rather than twin or double. Have you tried to find sheets for a three quarter mattress lately. The few places I've found online want a fistful of dollars for their scarce bedding. Since we will be using our sleeping bags, instead of regular bedding, I am going to find a heavy duty tan fabric and make my own fitted mattress cover (slip cover) for the mattress, and have pillow cases made from the various turquoise fabrics to brighten it up. I get the main bed and Joe uses the bed that is made by dropping the table top down into the bench seats. We are too old and large to share that very narrow three quarter bed.

I suppose that when we take our vintage camper for it's maiden camping trip, with us anyway, over the Labor Day weekend, we should take along some bottles of champaign to christen it with; my idea of the best way to christen it, is to drink the champaign. Too bad our local Abbey Winery does not make a champaign.

While looking at the new bolts of fabric at Denise's, I found these on a table in the back classroom space; they hadn't made it to the shelves up front yet. They stopped me dead in my tracks. I have a major thing for Art Deco design, and these are a very modern take on Art Deco in scrumptious rich colors. The purple on the left side is not nearly that dark in person. I don't know what I'm going to do with these, but I've been thinking that I need to find a quilting pattern that looks kind of Art Deco. Maybe something with the Drunkard's Path circles and squares would work.

Here are the fat eighths of Moda's Prairie Paisley, that I mentioned in the previous post, for a quilt for my bed.

You really need to click on these photos to enlarge them to see the colors and patterns better.

It was sunny and hot (94 degrees) again today; our monsoon rains seem to be over for the year, and when I went out to set the sprinklers on the grass in front of the house, I saw several butterflies gathering nectar from the Butterfly Bushes, in the western shrub border that I planted to screen our place from the neighbors. I really wanted to get a photo of one of them with their wings open to show the brilliant orange color, but they only opened them when they were flying, and I couldn't photograph them when they were moving so fast. I've also got a couple of Rose of Sharon bushes and some old fashioned Sweet Rocket blooming now, and there are always butterflies and hummingbirds enjoying them. There are also a couple of old fashioned rose bushes in this border, but they bloom earlier in the summer. The old roses only bloom for a while in the late Spring or early Summer, unlike the modern roses, that bloom all summer long. I would like to get some climbing roses along the front fence that will bloom all summer. I also crave at least one of the fantastic, eye catching big, bright, hardy Hibiscus that I see blooming
now in some yards in Canon City. It is amazing to me that these tropical looking flowers can survive our winters, but the hardy ones can.

If I had the space and money, I suppose I'd have a botanical garden of my own with an integrated arboretum. Every plant I see, I want. I'll have one of those, and one of those....well maybe one in each color...

Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head

2008-08-18T00:09:00.007-06:00

Miraculous! We have had rain and cool temps for three, count them, three days in a row. It has drizzled, thundered, lightninged, and/or downpoured on top of the monsoon rains that we received last week. After the hot, miserably dry spring and summer we've had, this is fantastic! No more dust, shriveled and burned vegetation, not to mention dehydrated skin and hair. The world looks washed, and sparkley. No more red flag fire warning days with smoke hazing the sky. And even though the prairie never greened up in the spring, we now see a shade of green spreading over the hills and gullies; and when the 90 degree temps return later in the week, I am sure the green prairie grass will leap out of the moist earth.

The prairie grasses and flowers have adapted to our hot, dry climate by going into "hibernation"
(actually, animals hibernate and plants do something else, but I can't come up with the proper word at this particular time) during our periodic droughts, ready to spring back into life when the moisture finally returns. The average moisture received here is 12 inches a year, so you can imagine how dry it gets during a drought year. Prairie species have to be tough!

My garden is refreshed and so am I. I even went out during one of the brief dry spells in the early afternoon, fed the birds, and pulled some gigantic weeds that were trying to take over the herb garden, until Joe shooed me back indoors before I could wear myself out. Noone can pull just one! Those deep roots pull out of the moist soil so easily and satisfactorilly (I'm not sure that's really a word, but I tend to like speaking colloquially, even if I have to invent the colloquialisms.)

We are enjoying the vegetables from our garden, they taste good as well as looking good. I chopped up zuchinni, eggplant, peppers, tomatoes, garlic from the garden with purchased onion, and made my version of Ratatouille; grated cucumbers into herb flavored yoghurt; and sprinkled celery salt onto juicy sliced tomatoes for meals this weak. Home grown tomatoes actually taste like tomatoes and, as Joe puts it, they don't crunch when you bite them, like what they sell as tomatoes at the grocery stores.

I actually started sewing the new retro curtains for our vintage camper/trailer this evening and found some light and dark turquoise towel sets, while shopping this afternoon, that go with the curtain fabric perfectly. When I sat down at the sewing machine, I was even able to remember how to use the poor neglected thing.

I'm also contemplating making a quilt for my bed using the bundle of Moda's Prairie Paisley fabrics that I purchased from Grandma's Attic Quilting. Since I love both paisley (Persian Pickles) and the prairie, I was intrigued from the time I read that they were coming out with the Prairie Paisley patterns and was overjoyed, when I saw the photos of the fabrics, to find that they were in the shades of blue that I adore. I am very fond of the blue English country floral comforter I've had for ages, but it is beginning to show signs of use by me and my cats. I'm afraid that one more trip to the laundry will shred it.

You Can't Keep A Good Granny Down

2008-08-08T18:27:00.006-06:00

Our month long heat wave finally gave way to 3 days of cooler, wet, Monsoon here in Florence. It helps me and my dry, suffering garden feel better. I managed to walk around Toad Haven, without falling down,with the help of my gorgeous Aspen walking stick, handmade for me by granddaughter Mandy. I took lots of photos and even got to pick some ripe tomatoes, eggplant, squash, cucumbers and lettuces. The Romaine lettuce was great as the base of a lemon- dill tuna salad.

Thanks to Dave and Carl, the yardmen who I finally gave up and hired to help me when I couldn't get out to the garden this past month, the worst of the weeds and elm seedlings are gone and I can sit and admire and enjoy the garden without feeling overwhelmed by the work that needed to be done.

It's wonderful to be happy and hopeful again instead of so beat down as I have been. Hopefully, this weak, shaky body will be able to come back from the terrible punishment it has had, due to medication side effects, the past 15 months. I have lost 30 pounds and my clothes are beginning to hang on me. Ain't it Wonderful! Now only 65 more pounds to go. It is much easier now, to not want to gobble the junk I had been stuffing down. I think I was craving more energy and, somehow, thought that more food would help. Of course, it didn't.

I even managed to drive to Canon City today to shop at the health food store and City Market for a few things, and drove home the back way and took lots more photos of the refreshed countrside and the fantastic monsoon thunderheads in the sky. By the time I got home and carried the 2 bags of groceries in, I was shaking and had to collapse to recuperate a while, but it was worth it.

Before the "you know what" hit the fan in early July, Joe and I purchased a vintage, small travel trailer from a neighbor. It is so old it actually has real wood paneling, instead of pressed board or
plastic. Outside it is white with a retro turquoise band around it. June's fat quarters packet of the month from Grandma's Attic Quilting consisted of lovely retro looking turquoise, brown and
cream prints that I thought would be perfect as curtains and pillows for a refurbished camper, so I ordered enough to replace the odds and ends that the fisherman who owned it before scrounged up to cover the windows. Now I have to get Joe to tear out the hideous orange shag carpet and put down something more suitable. As soon as I feel up to sewing again, I will turn that little camper into the cutest thing you've ever seen. [The camper was where I was sleeping the night I had the first mini stroke; and I reveled in the luxury of a bed instead of a camp cot in a tent, even though it wasn't very attractive, yet.]

Maybe we will be able to go camping in the mountains with some of our kids over Labor Day weekend. It's wonderful to be human again, even if tottering!

The first landscape is of a great thunderhead building over Pikes Peak with Castle Rock (next to the Arkansas River) in the foreground. This photo was taken from the back road into Florence from Canon City.

The second landscape is of Florence, down in the River valley, behind the Southfield Coal Mine sign. This bluff has been mined out underneath the ground. We no longer have an active coal mine in the area because the cost of underground mining is prohibitive and we don't want open pits. Wyoming can have all the open pit coal mines they want out in all that empty land. For 150 years good quality coal has been mined in this area and we still have retired miners with Black Lung disease.

You really need to click these landscapes, to enlarge them, to really get an idea of what you are looking at.

The not so great side of the August Monsoons is that there is quite a bit of flash flooding and lightning along the whole front range corridor. On Wednesday, lightning hit the 90 year old steeple of the Catholic Cathedral in Pueblo and started a fire. They are now in the process of determining whether it can be repaired or will have to be removed. I'm hoping they can save it as it is a beautiful, historic feature of Pueblo.