Journal: A Wedding, and First Snow of the Season

Last Tuesday evening, I finished quilting the placemats for our niece Olivia’s wedding gift, trimmed and removed them from the frame, cut the binding, and got it sewn onto one placemat before quitting for the night.

I chose these colors because Olivia has Fiesta ware in celery, light turquoise, cobalt blue... and everything in between in her kitchen. 

I was quilting away... happened to glance out into the hall where I’d carefully hung the 1936 Sunbonnet Sue quilt over the banister – and just look what I saw:

Teensy, making himself at home on that quilt!  Aauugghh!  By the time I went to get him off (gently, of course; he’s a nice kitty), he’d made himself even more comfortable.  I don’t want him on that quilt because, first, those are vintage blocks and irreplaceable; and second, I don’t want the cat to slip off the banister and fall.  It’s a long ways down!

Thankfully, he was nice and clean -- which is a wonder, since it was raining outside.

He sure looks like an unmovable lump, doesn’t he? 😃

I lopped the Sunbonnet Sue quilt over the back of a wooden rocking chair in the little library next door to my quilting studio, and shut the door.

Meanwhile, Tiger looked on from his Thermabed.  He hasn’t used that bed all summer; but it was rainy and chilly that day, only 44°.

Did I tell you that Larry got a fifth-wheel camper a few days ago?  He told me he was going to a small town about 50 miles to our north to get ‘a trailer’.  Now, he knows perfectly well that if he says ‘trailer’, I will assume it’s a flatbed trailer, because he uses those all the time while working for Walkers, and has a couple of his own.  So I didn’t question him.  The rascal!

It’s a 1998 or so, and he got it for $2,000.  It’s 28 feet long, and has a slide-out.  He’s been repairing a couple of broken water lines, and putting RV antifreeze in it, as the temperature dropped below freezing for a couple of days last week.

Last week, I ordered The Complete Vegetable Cookbook from Amazon to go with the placemat set.  Wednesday, I got a fat, softcover, adult romance novel in its place.  😲

When I checked the receipt in preparation to contacting the seller about the mistake, I discovered that the romance novel had come from Textbookx.com, not Amazon.  The cookbook was still on its way.  There was no record of any other book being shipped from Amazon.

The packing slip had my name and address correct, and they thanked me for my order.  There was no mention of the price.  But I didn’t order it, and I had never heard of Textbookx.com before this!

????

I found a link for customer service inquiries.  Did that book get charged to one of our credit cards or something?  Odd, it was.

An hour and fifteen minutes later:

Whoooaaaaa, good thing I investigated the matter!  Someone had not only charged this little two-bit romance novel for $1.50 to one of my credit cards, they’d also charged another book for $99 to it!  Sooo... there is now a block on the card, and I will be issued a new one.

And that used up an hour of my time.  😝

At least the thief was polite enough to send me the cheapie romance novel, in order to tip me off.  Wasn’t that nice of him?

Now, if they just follow the address to which they shipped the other book, they should be able to nab him red-handed.

I’ve already been issued a refund, and a new card is on the way.

Larry has one too, with a different account number; so I tried to check his ---- but Capital One has just purchased the accounts from Bank of America, and there’s a delay before I can look at his purchases.  I had to set up new accounts with Capital One for both our accounts.  That’s done... and I should be able to see Larry’s soon.  Switching gazillions of accounts from one banking company to another almost always results in delays and glitches in the system.  They should get those bugs all worked out before they roll it out to John Q. Public, but they rarely do.

My thumb/wrist is getting a little better, and now and then I can play a few bass octaves on the piano before I have to resort to one-finger runs, which is a severe trial for my ears.

When Keith, our oldest, was a tiny baby, 3, 4, and 5 months old, I’d put him on his blanket on the floor under a little swingset full of hanging toys.  Then I’d play the piano – and that baby would hum along – exactly one octave high.  Right on tune.

Wednesday night after our church service, we stopped by John H. and Lura Kay’s house, as she had some cat things to give us, since her kitty doesn’t use them.  One was this soft foam bed with a furry minky cover.  It didn’t take Tiger long to decide it was his!

We got home, had a light supper, and then I finished putting the binding on the placemats. 

Thursday, I went to Hobby Lobby and found a basket that was just the right size for the six placemats.  By the time I got home, the mail lady had brought the mail, and the Vegetable Cookbook I’d ordered was here.  I was a little disappointed, because it was supposed to be in ‘extremely excellent condition, just like new’ ----- but it wasn’t, exactly.  The spine isn’t real tight (though that might be an advantage, because it does stay open nicely on any page), and the jacket is slightly rumpled at a couple of the corners.  Also, there isn’t a color picture in the entire book!!  The pages feel like construction paper, and are a bit yellowed, especially around the edges.  That made a question mark hover over my head... so I turned back to the front to look for the copyright:  1994. 

I had no idea it was that old of a book!  😕  It has a price inside the front jacket flap:  $30.  It’s a big, thick book with hundreds of recipes, and they look really, really good.

Next time I order a cookbook for a wedding gift, I’ll find a listing that actually tells the copyright of the book!  And maybe I’ll find one that has the ‘See Inside’ option.

For years, we had no bookstore in Columbus.  Now we have only one very small bookstore in the upstairs of an old Victorian house that’s all fixed up.  The main floor sells antiques and curios.  Well, I guess there’s one other bookstore, but it’s mainly for church supplies.  Oh, and there’s the campus bookstore.

The nearest decent-sized bookstores are about an hour’s drive in any direction.

That afternoon, Hannah, along with Nathanael and Levi, brought me some yummy loose-leaf tea leaves from Sipology – it has apple bits, hazelnut leaves, pumpkin bits, ginkgo leaves, nettle leaves, lemongrass, St. John’s wort, etc., in it.  There was also a nifty little stainless-steel mesh diffuser to put the leaves in. 

Nathanael, 12, and Levi, 8, played my piano while they were here.  They’re getting quite accomplished.  I sneaked over there behind Nathanael while he was playing, then reached over and started playing the high notes in harmonies and trills.  Didn’t faze him in the slightest.  😊

Soon after they left, Hannah called to say there were sundogs in the sky.  I grabbed my camera and went out to take pictures... and discovered that there was also an upside-down rainbow almost straight overhead.

Sundogs are bright spots on one or both sides of the sun, often within a 22° halo.  They are caused by the refraction of sunlight by ice crystals, generally in cirrus or cirrostratus clouds high in the atmosphere.  A sunbow or sun halo is an entire rainbow ring around the sun.  This upside-down rainbow that I got a picture of is called a circumzenithal arc, also belonging to the family of halos.  The CZA is one of the brightest and most colorful members of the halo family.  Its colors, ranging from violet on top to red at the bottom, are purer than those of a rainbow, because there is much less overlap in their formation.

That night, I wrote an email to Hannah: 

Subject:  Tea!  Tea!  Tea!

(Remember that, from the Anne of Green Gables story?)

I’m sipping a cup of the tea you gave me, and it’s very good.  Smells scrumptious, too.  Thank you!

Keira rolled over the first time Friday!  Hester reported that she looked really pleased after the feat.  She’ll be six months old tomorrow.  She’s working hard at catching up!

Loren and Norma stopped by for a visit that evening, and shared a fresh pot of Banana Nut Cream coffee with us.  They even said they liked it!  They don’t usually care for flavored coffee.  😃

Friday and Saturday, I worked on labels for the Sunbonnet Sue quilt.  I finished the main label September 8; it has my name and location and hours spent on the quilt, and info about friends and family giving the blocks to my mother in 1936.  I wrote down what I wanted on the 18 labels for the 18 Sunbonnet Sue blocks – and then Larry informed me that we were going on vacation, and go on vacation we did!  When I got home a week and a half later, after getting everything from the camper washed and put away, I started making placemats for our niece’s wedding gift.  There were multiple interruptions from family and friends (including new grandbaby Violet)...  If they aren’t coming to visit, they’re inviting us to visit!  They seemed to have an idea that I needed to celebrate my birthday, you see.  😃

By Friday night, ten of the small labels were embroidered, and four were sewn onto the quilt, along with the large main label.  It’s a slow process to input all the lettering... let the machine save it... make sure everything is in its proper place (it often isn’t, and I am unable to tell it until the machine presents its final screen) (yes! I need a New and Improved embroidery machine!)... and then stitch it out.

I did get another page of pictures edited and posted while my machine embroidered.  If you’d like to see more of what the pretty little mountain town of Lake City, Colorado looks like, here’s the link:  Lake City, Colorado

Saturday was Caleb’s 25^th birthday... Caleb and Maria’s 5^th anniversary... and Teddy and Amy’s 16^th anniversary.  I’d gotten cookbooks in Creede, Colorado, for their anniversary gifts, and an LED lantern/flashlight and a package of socks for Caleb.

It was a pretty day, and Kurt and Victoria took advantage of it by trying out their new twin stroller with Carolyn and Violet.

One time when Victoria was three years old (she’s our youngest; she’s 21 now), I was taking her for a walk in her stroller.  It was autumn, and the trees were changing.  We went under a tree with the most unusual leaves – they were changing from the outside, in, in outlining stripes of first yellow, then orange, then red.  I picked a handful and gave them to her.

“Ooooo,” she breathed in delight. “You can REALLY tell God made this tree!” 😍

That evening, we had Subway sandwiches for supper (I had my usual BLT with everything on it, including the hot peppers), with Dairy Queen Royal Cheesecake blizzards for dessert.

After we got home, I finished embroidering labels for the Sunbonnet Sue quilt and sewed them on.

Sunday morning, we awoke to snow.  About the time we needed to head out the door to go to church, it was snowing like anything.

It was a special day that day:  Because our niece, Olivia, was marrying Leland Chamberlin, son of Pastor Daniel Chamberlin from Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, the Chamberlins were here, and Pastor Chamberlin preached the sermon for the evening wedding service.  Another friend, Pastor Laurence Justice from Kansas City, preached during the Sunday School hour.  And a third friend, Pastor Ron Crisp from Independence, Kentucky, preached for the main morning service. 

It was cold and windy that day, but Larry and the cats stayed nice and warm for their Sunday afternoon naps.  😄  Hannah finger-crocheted that soft, thick afghan under which Larry is snoozing. 

Here are Olivia and Leland:

StaffCo called at 8:37 a.m. this morning to find out if I was still looking for a job.  Eh?  It’s been 10 years since I went there!

Today I went to the bank, then took Loren and Norma a big sack of sandwiches, cake, and fruit that were left over from the wedding last night.  We went home with a big sack of food, too.  They had fresh pineapple, strawberries, grapes, and cantaloupe.  Yummy. 

Before coming home, I dropped off a bag at the Goodwill. 

I’m washing clothes and bedding, and putting the winter quilt and blanket on the bed.  The summer quilt is drying on the deck.  It’s sunny, but it’s only 46°, and it’s taking a long time to dry.  So everything else – sheets, blankets, clothes – are going into the dryer.  I mopped the kitchen floor, washed the dishes, and ordered groceries from Wal-Mart.

When the sun was a bit low in the western sky, I took pictures of the Sunbonnet Sue quilt labels on the back deck.  Here's one; you can see the rest of the labels here.

I took a big stack of summer clothes upstairs, put them away, and brought down a few winter things.  Before I bring down more, I want to totally clean our closet out.  I washed the older big cat bed; I’ll do the smaller one that’s in my quilting studio as soon as the big one is dry.  Sometimes the cats quit using the beds in the wintertime, but I only have to wash them to have the cats right back in them.  They like clean, good-smelling beds, just like we do! 

The clean sheets and blanket are back on our bed... and Larry brought the flannel quilt from a downstairs closet.  It’s heavy, and I had hurt my hand and thumb enough times today.

I shall now pour myself another cup of coffee (Bavarian Chocolate) and get back to work.  (My work; not StaffCo’s work, thankee kindly.)

,,,>^..^<,,,          Sarah Lynn          ,,,>^..^<,,,

Here’s the wedding party:

Back row:  Caleb & Maria Jackson, Kenneth Tucker (Maria’s brother & cousin of the bride), Katharine Jackson (bride’s sister), Olivia & Leland Chamberlin, Martin (groom’s brother) & Abigail Chamberlin, Amanda Jackson (bride’s sister), Benjamin Tucker (cousin of the bride)

Front row:  The children are all nieces and nephews of the bride.