hopping

We came home from an appointment this morning to find a dead chicken in the turn lane. I imagine some parent was running late and flying either into or out of the school and the chicken was crossing the road. So we lost a bird, but then this afternoon Bobby came to get me. A hen that has been sitting had abandoned the nest, and with her was one chirping, black ball of fluff with a white spot on its backside. I left the remaining eggs the rest of the day, but the mother never returned to the nest. So this evening when I realized she had totally abandoned everything but the biddie, I pulled out the incubator and placed the remaining eggs inside. I'm hoping she'll adopt whatever hatches. I really don't want to prep the brooder box and go through all that again.  Of course, there's always the possibility that nothing else will hatch. I know 4 of the eggs are less than a week old (I marked the newer eggs about a week ago). So I'm putting Oct 10 on the calendar as disposal of any unhatched eggs and clean-up date of the incubator. Those marked last week may go out next week if unhatched.

Somehow the last week I've overlooked a piece of okra. Today when I found it, it was about 10" long. Probably to hard to eat, but if so, I might save it as seed for next year.

Green beans continue to put out in an amazing fashion. I think they're as excited about the cool weather as I am.

We replaced two blueberry bushes today (hoping they survive), and planted a fig tree and one ornamental crepe myrtle over the weekend. I can see my father-in-law shaking his head over the last one. He thought every plant should produce some type of food or it was a waste of time and energy.

I'm officially finished with making grape jelly. There's still a little bit of juice in the fridge, but not enough to fool with (plus I'm out of sugar).

Hopefully tomorrow I can actually work on my fair quilt. I did go to the longarmers for three hours last Thursday and have most of it quilted. I still have the borders, the poison ivy, and the turtle left to quilt, and I may do some handwork embellishing the fish eyes. Then there's the border. I'd really love to have this finished within the next week. Deadline is the 8th, so it's starting to loom over my head and not just in the back of my mind.

We have appointments every day this week, plus I need to prep for 1st-6th graders on Sunday morning. For some reason I was thinking it was in November that we had all of them, but it's this month instead.

And I'm hoping tomorrow to get an assessment on my clarinet. It's in desperate need of a "spa" treatment. If the price is too high to replace all the pads and some of the corks, I may look at some used student instruments. We'll see what the cost is.

Bobby's sister Brenda received very good news back on the biopsy they took from her tongue, and my friend Joni came home from the hospital today. They won't know until all her tests are back, but they think they got all the cancer.

And Dad's hand continues to heal from his surgery. Returns to the doctor in a month. So all is going well on the front. They went to vote in AL's primary today after the doctor visit, and the entrance door was jammed with a chair and wouldn't open.  They finally saw a note that said to use the side entrance, as there was a yellow jacket's nest in part of that door frame that had been sprayed twice and they still had not gotten all of the insects. Dad was more than happy to oblige once he saw the note.

And that is all I can update on now...Hope to have lots to share next week.

the die is cast

Thursday night I went online and submitted a form and printed out a receipt. I am now officially registered to enter a quilt in the state fair, and it is due at the fairgrounds no later than 5pm Oct.9.

And as I finish typing that sentence, I feel like I am back in a dorm room at Free Will Baptist Bible College my freshman year, and Charity Van Winkle has walked in the door to see how I've finished my Ancient History timeline that is due the next day. She had been working on it for WEEKS, and I had no clue we even had such a project. She looked at me strangely, and informed me it was on the syllabus. I remembered getting one of those the first day of class, and it simply looked like a class outline. Silly me didn't realize that it actually listed assignments and due dates on it.  I stayed up almost all night working on that project, and I was quite pleased with my C, and no one other than Charity knew it was a last minute frenzied free-for-all. The next day after classes she drove me to Target (I didn't own a car) and helped me pick out something called a "planner". When we got back to campus, she stopped in my room and showed me hers, and how to list everything from every syllabus AND to backtrack several weeks and write in when to start working on it. At the time I thought it was just another bump in life, but four years later I was still using that method to keep up with things. And for the most part, it worked.

And unlike those days, I actually have STARTED this quilt. I've even scheduled an appointment at the shop that rents the long arm quilting machines. That appointment is this coming Thursday. I estimate I'm about 2/3 finished with the top, and I have a few hours tomorrow and half the day Monday and Tuesday reserved to work on it. So there's no turning back. No more thinking about patterns and colors and ideas. It's now do or die. Okay. So it's really not THAT severe. If I don't finish it'll just mean they'll have an extra spot reserved for a quilt that doesn't show up.

I will probably always be one of those people rushing to meet a deadline. It seems to be how I'm wired. I think the day I actually have a project complete more than a day ahead of its due date might very well be the day the earth stops spinning on its axis. Or else it will make my "do it immediately the second you know about it" husband have a heart attack.

So if you don't hear from me much the next two weeks, you'll know why. And with that, I'm off to applique a catfish.

turning a corner

Back in August one my many cousins was admitted to the hospital with pneumonia. To be honest, I didn't think too much about it when she was first admitted. I figured a day or two in ICU with breathing treatments and she'd be home within 3-5 days. But then the texts and calls and e-mails got progressively worse. One lung no longer contained infection but was severely damaged from the infection. They were concerned if she picked up a secondary infection it would kill her. All visitors outside of immediate family was banned. I cannot even begin to fathom what her husband, who is a pastor, was/is dealing with as he tries to see about the congregation as well as make the 45 minute drive to B'ham to see his wife.

Fast forward three weeks:
Earlier this week doctors informed the family that if she continued to progress, she might be home by the middle of October, though Thanksgiving might be more realistic. They ended the conversation with a comment along the lines of "We didn't expect her to make it." Today they removed the vent for the first time with the plan to leave it off as long as she could handle it, and as of supper time, it was still of. They also put in a piece that would allow her to speak...a first in three long weeks.

She's not out of the woods yet, but just that little ray of sunshine today was huge. My prayers go out to this dear family who has suffered SO much heartache the last several years. They've seen God work miracles; they've seen God say no. My prayer is that soon she'll be singing with her family again, and testifying yet again that God has sustained her through yet another trial.

May you run and not be weary, Angela!

Cambridge bound

My niece and her husband are moving to England today.

Zach has been accepted into Cambridge. He plans to spend 9 months getting his second master's degree, then apply for the doctorate program. I think this degree will focus on a comparison/contrast of the Hebrew writing and Greek translation of the book of Ruth (his first master's degree was the same thing but on the book of Amos). Then his doctorate program would involve learning Aramaic, Urdu, Sanskrit and either French or German as part of understanding the translations of the early Scriptures. I think his ultimate plan is to teach at a Christian college, but at the moment that is many years down the road.

We spent Saturday with them since this week is full (I'm teaching today and doctor's appts tomorrow). I'm sure their departure will not be forgotten, as their tickets had to be credited due to Irma impacting flights out of Atlanta. So last night they headed to Washington DC so they could fly out from there today. They'll arrive in Heathrow, England at 7:30am, then take a bus to Cambridge. Someone from a Baptist church there will meet them in a "people carrier" (we think that's a minivan, but aren't sure), and then will drive them to another member's house where they'll stay for 2 weeks until they can move into campus housing. They have to come early to sign paperwork, but the dorms don't open until October. Someone in authority wasn't thinking through those logistics very well if you ask me.

And 2017 is staying true to fashion, and we had another flat tire (but no blow out!) halfway home. We called AAA at 4:30. A little after 6 someone showed up, only to look at the van and all its modifications and tell us we needed a tow truck as there was no jack that could elevate our van enough to change a tire. And of course with it being 6pm on a Saturday night every tire place nearby was closing or closed, so there was nowhere we could be towed. And since Bobby isn't legally supposed to stay in a van while it's towed (shout out to all the common sense tow truck drivers who shrug and say "we can make that work") and I'm not able to lift him high up into a tow truck and stick the chair back in a loaded van and secure it, we were grasping at straws. When the AAA guy came back after spending about 40 minutes on the phone trying to find options, and the best thing he had involved the police, an ambulance medical transport AND a tow truck, I started making my own phone calls. No way I was going to pay $700 in transport fees and then have to pay for a new tire on top of that. Thankfully my sister knew someone who had an accessible van, and an hour later they were there, Highway Patrol helped us get Bobby's van to a location where he could load and unload, and then we sat for another hour and a half waiting on the AAA guy to get back with a tow truck. I was not the happiest camper to find out he was taking other calls while we were sitting on the side of the road waiting. He loaded up the van and took it to his shop, and delivered it to our mechanic in Garner Sunday morning. I felt really bad for my sister and brother-in-law, as their time with Em and Zach is very limited, AND they then had to turn around drive back home and return the van to their church member. So by the time I climbed into bed from tending to Bobby's medical stuff in the wee hours Sunday morning, they would have just been arriving home themselves. I think it will be a weekend none of us will forget, and my thoughts and prayers are with Em & Zach today as they start their new adventure.

fowl mornings

I've never actually seen the heron catch a fish, but I know it does as it leaves a pile of scales in the area where it perches.

And much closer to the window, one of our little hummingbirds. These three birds are on their third container of nectar this summer.

class # 2

I feel like I sneezed and August was here and gone. My allergy med quit working, grapes began ripening, I hurt my back (and still struggling some), began training stuff with Board of Elections, and fall gardening. Oh, and the quilt class I signed up for back in January arrived! (I try to take one or two classes a year.) Jacqueline de Jonge, from the Netherlands, was teaching her methods of paper piecing at the state fairgrounds for 2 days (organized through Wish Upon A Quilt store in North Raleigh). Below are a few of the quilts she displayed during one of the breaks (called a "trunk show" when done during a quilt fair or show). Our teacher is the lady on the left and the one hiding her head on the right is Cathy, the owner of "Wish" (what many local quilters call it)

I think this was one of her earlier patterns, but I think it's just as fabulous as the newer ones.

One of her new patterns, which I'm almost tempted to purchase!!

Several of the more advanced students were working on this pattern, and it was amazing watching it come together.

The teacher with the Alabama crew

During a break on one of the first days, I heard Jane, in the beige sweater (the lady I shared a table with) talking to Ella (the girl in white next to us) about where they were from. I almost dropped my scissors when I heard Ella say "Forestdale, Alabama" and heard Jane reply "I know where that is! I lived in Alabama for 7 years" and then proceed to name a lot of small power plants located in small towns. On day two of the class we discovered one the girls working on the pattern above was an Auburn graduate!! I think there was one other lady who lived in AL for several years, but I don't think it was something she enjoyed or wanted to talk about. Ella grew up in NC and actually went to UNC but has lived her adult life in AL, which is where her husband grew up. Talk about a small world!!!

And hopefully by this time next year I'll have my quilt top finished and quilted. I think it's going to be gorgeous, though it is a lot of time consuming work. She may be coming back in 2019, so I'm seriously keeping that in the back of my mind as a class possibility!