Quilting? Jerky?

The Mr. makes wonderfully delicious jerky.  The Native Americans called this dried meat "charqui" (pronounced "sharkey"), which was later anglicized into "jerky".  Buffalo, deer, elk, antelope and other "wild" forms of meat dried in the sun provided nourishment for them.  We use beef now that we no longer hunt and for us it is a treat rather than a necessity. 

 After the strips are marinated overnight, they are placed on shelves and placed in a manufactured dehydrator "not the sun here" for several hours at a temperature of 155 degrees.

 This cat thinks she can sleep anywhere! The Mr. played in a Rocky Mtn. team pool tournament last weekend near Loveland and we took advantage of the opportunity to shop.  Just the girls!  My quilt buddies from Cheyenne and my friend from Brighton all met and shopped for quilt fabric at a wonderful shop in Berthod called the Laughing Ladies.  I was looking for fabric for backing and batting for both the above quilt as well as my friend's Dresden Plate quilt top.  I have started to quilt the redwork but I have discovered that Coalette sleeps on it whenever she can, even when I am trying to quilt it.  Bad Cat!

This is a Crown of Thorns plant given to me by a friend and never having seen one before, I had to do some research to determine how to care for it.  She told me that it blooms continually and even though I trimmed it severely as the research indicated, it is doing quite well.  It was an old plant and had gotten a bit leggy but it is so pretty and special to me since my friend trusted me with it.  However as it's name suggests, it is really thorny.

 I haven't blogged in a few days, so this is a mish/mash of stuff, trying to get caught up and more organized as there are many projects to start and complete in my constantly turning mind. 

Love

 Valentine's Day is tomorrow.  But yesterday was our 49th wedding anniversary...so this is what I got from my Valentine of 49 years.  We actually went out for dinner the evening before to a wonderful little Italian place here in town called "Bella's."  Yes, we do have some great places to eat here although we are a small community of 2000 or so.  Wine, flowers and a card from the proprietors along with wonderful food, including a decadent dessert made it a great dining experience.  So when I got up yesterday morning and began to make coffee, this is what was taped to the coffeemaker.  A handmade card in crayon....how special is that?  The Mr. and I have never been extravagant...no cruises, modest vacations, no high-end vehicles and in fact we are very content with how we have been blessed. So will there be another 49?  No of course not, but we hope to have many more years of love together.

One of our nieces lost a very loved pet this past week. Not all people are pet people, but nearly all of our friends and relatives are.  Unless you share a home with a pet, it may difficult to understand the unconditional love an animal can give.  This niece had grown to feel like this dog was a family member and gave her much comfort when she needed it most.  We are sorry for her loss.  This picture shows our furkids and how much they are considered our family.  They have the run of the house and this is our master bedroom.  (and theirs)  They do not sleep with us on the bed..there are too many of them and they all have their own beds...two in the hallway and the cat and white dog in our room on the floor.  This is one kind of love for sure.

I have been telling the story of my cousin, who was adopted and who, in her 70's was able to locate some of her birth siblings.  Her mother, Hilda, married a Mr. Spaulding shortly after the birth and together, they had 3 daughters.  They were later divorced and she married again in1942 and died in 1944.  Eventually all of Hilda's siblings were reunited and that was a good thing I am sure for my cousin to know.  As far as I could tell from the information I received, only one of her mother's daughters had any contact with her after being located and she had passed before my cousin became ill.   None of the others wanted to have a relationship with her. But because her father's family had been so receptive to her existence, that would be her half-sisters and cousins, she was able to develop a relationship with them and discover her paternal history.  Not much of that information was in the file as he had accordingly  broken off their engagement before the pregnancy was known.  So my father's sister and her husband, who were unable to have children, adopted this baby in 1926 and gave her unconditional love all of their lives and although I am a bit younger that she was, I can testify to that love.  I lost my only living grandparent, my paternal grandmother when I was about 10, and this couple who took Hilda's baby to be their own, accepted the role of grandparents and loved us as a grandparent would.

"The greatest pleasure of life is love." ~ Sir William Temple

Winter and more this 'n that

As the eastern part of the country is bracing for the monster of a storm, it has not yet begun here, and it has been a quiet February so far.  I did have to get my annual check-up this week and all is fine, but I did get a tetanus/pertussis inoculation, which is recommended for a lot of us now and it has been many, many years since my last one of those.  I was told my arm would be tender and to use it a lot so it was my right arm which received the shot.  As I waited for the dreaded needle, I was reminded of a time long ago when my father did something special for me and my father was an especially good "daddy".  When I was a child, everyone got smallpox vaccinations.  Smallpox was a horrid, dreaded disease as was polio.  I did not know anyone with smallpox, but I knew several children and adults who had contracted the crippling polio disease.  The smallpox vaccination left an ugly "scab" and we were constantly told not to touch it as it would leave an even uglier scar if disturbed.  But it itched much like chickenpox.  My dad fashioned a small piece of Plexiglas into a shield for my arm where the scratch-type inoculation was.  (It was not a needle inserted into the muscle, but a surface scratch with a needle type instrument).  It looked like a clear lifesaver candy and when taped over the small area, it allowed air circulation and kept me from bothering the "scab".  Most of the baby boomer generation and a few generations later will carry that scar as it ALWAYS left a scar.  My son was probably one of the last to get that, but his was given on his back...wonder who thought of that?

My, my, the snow has arrived and as I look out the window now the range land surrounding my home is beginning to turn white.  We will hunker down.

A little more about my cousin's story.  Her mother, Hilda, had several siblings.  When they were separated from their mother and each other, they all went in different directions.  One boy, who was placed in a home to be forced to work only, left when he was 15 and he began to search for his siblings.  He located one younger brother who had been placed in a home and adopted, apparently to loving parents.  However, they did not want him to know that he had been adopted and refused to let his brother contact him.  They moved often and the older brother followed them with each move in order to continue to keep track of him.  Two of the other young boys were adopted also.  There was not much information about the other children, except for Hilda and her older sister who had married a Steffen. Mr Steffen's brother, Frank was my cousin's birth father............more to follow.