Happy Thanksgiving

I have been watching the weather from Wyoming and goodness people....I do not miss the snow, ice, cold and wind.  Today I went for a walk with only a vest on and the sun was shining and there was no WIND, although the temperature was only in the high 40's.  I do miss my friends, but I am trying to stay in touch. 

Today is my sister, Joan's birthday. I won't say how old she is but she is only a couple of years younger than I am.  I called her today as she is living in another state and sharing a residence with our other sister.  Because all 3 of my siblings are living and doing as well as most our age, I am lucky and blessed.  We are not without our aches and pains, but we are good.  Part of that I contribute to our parents. I worked with a gal who once told me that she and I were mutts...in other words, we have no fancy pedigree and it has made us strong and and able to overcome adversities. Our father's mother came from strong pioneer stock and and lost her mother as a small child  and although our mother's father was murdered when she was a child, she survived what must have been a difficult childhood.  We grew up without much money, but had two loving parents.  We raised our own beef, grew our own vegetables and were surrounded with family.  Thanksgiving at our house was bustling with people and always lots of food.  We never went hungry.  I am thankful for all of the wonderful memories of Thanksgiving as a child.  I am cooking the bird Thursday and our daughter and her husband will be sharing the meal with us.  It has been a long time since we had family for this holiday and I am so looking forward to it. 

If you are dining alone, or sharing this day with family or friends, be thankful and remember those less fortunate. 

'Shrooms anyone?

 When we looked for homes here, and read the information on this home, it noted that it was near a "soon to be removed mushroom farm".  The "soon to be removed" was a plus as apparently the odor was not very pleasant.  Since fall is officially here and the weather is cooler and more humid, our yard has become a forest of these toadstools.  That is what I remember calling them when I was a child.  My family did not have access to mushrooms I guess as I don't recall ever having a mushroom until I was in high school and the first Pizza Parlor opened in Greeley.  Anchovy and mushroom were the toppings I remember first and pepperoni came later.  I also remember the first McDonald's there and it was a walk-up only fast food place. Yep....I am ancient I suppose.

 I can't even begin to count the number of these and the middle one above is larger than my outstretched hand. Some are small and button-shaped and some are white and round, but these are abundant in my back yard. They are fascinating actually.  I wonder if some of the spores from the farm blew over and deposited themselves here?  Probably not. (I don't know if they are edible but am not going to test them.)

On Sunday afternoon, the doorbell rang and standing on the step was a young mother with a baby peacefully sleeping in a pack snuggled on her chest.  She carried a carton with a dozen eggs.  We invited her in and she is the gal who lives behind our next door neighbor.  Our street backs up to a greenway of trees and some of the houses are tucked back against each other while others have the green area behind them. From the day we moved in, we could hear chickens behind the fence next door.  It was funny to hear them clucking away on occasion and there were no roosters.  She offered the eggs to us and introduced us to her 2 month little girl, Charlotte, still sleeping.  We had a great visit and I have actually begun a quilt for Charlotte with sunflowers on it.  I offered to pay for the eggs, but she told me she just gives the extras away to neighbors.  We have the best neighbors and they have all been so welcoming.  There is a master gardener who has offered me plants, the neighbor next door loaned us chairs for weeks as we waited for the mover and he brought us a wonderful bottle of wine. The neighbor on the other side gave us a lot of wood and the grand daughter, Lisa has walked the dogs and she and her friend have made cookies and delivered them. 

"Life is too short to stuff a mushroom." ~ Shirley Conran

No rain

According to the experts, this has been the driest stretch here without rain since 1957.  I am still waiting for the moss to start growing on my back.  At least that is what my quilting buddy said would happen if I moved here.  Wyoming and the Rocky Mountain region has always been high and dry.  Perhaps we brought it with us.  At any rate I am not complaining about that!  What I have been complaining about and it may explain the lapse in my posts is my age and what comes with it.  Sure, you can get lots of discounts for being a senior citizen, but as your age increases so do the aches and pains.  I can remember my dad saying "just wait until YOU get old", when he would complain with joint issues.  Well, Dad, it is happenin!  I have one leg shorter than the other as a result of an old injury when I was a teenager and I am having sciatica issues.  This past weekend when we were shopping for groceries, I was ready to climb into the grocery cart and ride.  REALLY!  So ice, and meds were relied upon and with very little relief.  Yesterday was our first visit with our new Dr. at Kaiser and I was holding out so that I could visit with him.  We had started to look when we first arrived here, but after checking with 3 different clinics, we were told that either did not accept Medicare or else that weren't accepting new patients.  So we put that on hold until September.  So far our experience has been great with Kaiser and the Dr. we saw yesterday was terrific.  He spent a lot of time with us and scheduled some follow-up appointments that we needed.  There was NO wait time for our appt either.  And in addition to the check-up and prescribed treatment for my sciatica, I have already seen improvement. Enough about that.

Above is a Wedding Ring quilt that was started last year using the "Go" machine and I actually began to quilt it this spring, but of course, it got packed so finally I have finished the quilting and am stitching on the binding.  I also only have 4 more 17" blocks of the blue and white squares to complete.  So, I am sticking to my goals to finish some of the UFO's before beginning another project although I see new projects that are tugging at me. 

We removed our dishwasher as it is an old one, maybe original to the house and are expecting a new one to be delivered in a couple of days.  We couldn't figure out how to make it work anyway, and in addition, our master bathroom floor is in a state of demolition.  The Mr. is actually starting to replace the backer board with new and then we will replace the ceramic with vinyl.  The floor is a wooden floor and was not constructed for ceramic so it had a new floor, but the tiles were not sticking and the floor allowed a little enough movement for them to loosen.  Removing them was a mess, and the toilet is sitting in the garage.  That's right, we were NOT going to get a fixer-upper, but I have eaten my hat before.......