Journal: ♫ ♪ Up From the Grave He Arose! ♫ ♪

Last Monday, I finished editing my photos from the previous Friday’s trip to Calico Annie’s Quilt Shop in Fullerton, Nebraska:  Drive to Calico Annie’s

I really like this quilt shop, and Anne is so friendly and helpful.  I’m glad the floods didn’t mess up her lovely store.

Tuesday was a lovely day, and I worked in my flower gardens.  I had leather gloves on.  So... how do I wind up with sore fingertips and almost-blisters on my palms?!  It’s a pain to type!  Literally.  heh

After my mention of grackles last week, a couple of people wrote to tell me how they hate those birds.  One lady purchased fake snakes and laid them on their banisters to keep the birds off the porch. 

I understand why people might not like them, as there are often a lot of them together in flocks, especially when they’re migrating, and the bigger the bird, the bigger the mess.

But I really enjoy watching them and hearing them.  They are smart, a lot like the raven, their bigger brother, so to speak.  They can figure out complex puzzles... they have learned to use ‘tools’ (such as rocks, to break hard seed shells)... and they will actually ‘play’ – sliding in the snow, tossing leaves over their heads and then jumping out of the way before the leaves come back down on top of them, hiding behind stumps and then hurrying out and startling other birds.  Their eyesight is extraordinary, and they have all sorts of funny songs, squeaks, and noises in their repertoire.  It’s quite intriguing to watch them as they’re making nests, finding food, or feeding their young.  The working of their minds is more complex than one would think, and they’re very adept at doing all things necessary in their world.  😊

Some of my southern friends have roses blooming already.  I trimmed up a couple of my bushes that morning, and I have the scratched arms to prove it.  Next time I plan to encounter a rose bush, I shall trot downstairs and rummage up the ‘rose gloves’ my sister gave me.

My rose bushes came from roots at my mother’s house – I found them there, after the house was hauled off.  I would’ve gathered more flowers, but it was still wintertime, and not only would I not have known exactly where to dig, but I also hadn’t known they were hauling out the house and filling in the basement that day.  My nephew Robert called to tell me, saying I’d better get there quick... but it was already too late.

Anyway, I found a big root, and, not knowing exactly what it was, took it home, cut it into five sections, and planted it.  In the spring, tiny reddish leaves popped up in each spot – and I recognized them as Mama’s roses.  And she had gotten them, when I was just a little girl, as snippets from her mother’s rosebushes in North Dakota.

My roses haven’t even leafed out yet, but the branches are green, and there are leaf buds at the branch tips.

That afternoon, I got back to the beaded piping.  This is not a fast process, especially with sore fingertips!  But it was enjoyable, sitting in my second-story quilting studio, windows partway open, listening to all the birds in the nearby trees.

It was Baby Keira’s first birthday that day.  Her party would be Friday, but Hester sent pictures of Keira opening the presents they gave her.  Spooky the kitty was happy with the bags and tissue paper.  Keira was happy with the bows.

Andrew and Hester got Keira a cute little digital baby grand piano.  It’s shiny ebony like Hester’s grand.

Funny how baby and cat are often both intent on their own business, but give each other ‘what are you doing’ faces now and then.  😃  They’re good friends.  😻

Wednesday was similar to Tuesday:  garden work in the morning, beaded piping until church time, and a bit more after I got home.  Larry didn’t get home from work in time to go to church with me.  I feel like a pelican in the wilderness when he’s not there.  😉

I only got half of the next big flowerbed cleared out before it started raining. 

When I posted pictures of that piping on Facebook quilting groups, several people (even Bethanne herself!) chimed in to say that I was using Bethanne Nemesh’s technique, from her book The Devil is in the Details.

I knew Bethanne for her beautiful quilting, but didn’t know anything about her beaded piping or other edge-finishing techniques, or about her books or DVDs.  I’m afraid some thought I was ‘stealing’ her method without giving her proper credit!

But I saw it on a quilt at the Nebraska State Fair.  It was similar to things I’d done on little girls’ dresses, so I thought, Hey, that’s neat!  I can do that!

The conversion kit for my Avanté arrived that day.  I hope Larry can put it on this evening when he gets home from work.

Larry’s days are getting longer; he goes to work at 6:30 a.m. now, and often doesn’t get home until after 8:30 p.m.  No more working on the addition any time soon! 

It was too chilly to work in the yard Thursday morning, even though it was bright and sunny.  I went to Hobby Lobby for two more rolls of pre-strung beads, 40% coupon ready on my tablet – but the rolls were already 50% off.  That’s much better than the coupon, because the coupon can only be used for one item.  I dropped off a couple of bags of stuff at the Goodwill while I was in town.  

By noon Friday, it was a sunny 56°, with a breeze of less than 5 mph.  Astonishing.  (The breeze, that is; it’s rarely below 15 mph around these parts.)

I spent a couple of hours outside in the morning clearing out flowerbeds, cutting down volunteer trees, and transplanting peonies.  You should see the humongous heap of refuse I’ve carted down to the south property line, with all the old growth cleared from the flowerbeds.

When I finished for the morning, I tried out one of the orange bath balls Amy gave me for Christmas, washed my hair, and then dried and curled it while sipping piping hot coffee and reading email, news, and the funnies, not necessarily in that order. 

The Schwan man came that afternoon, so the freezer is once again full of yummy food.

I ate a belated breakfast, then went to town to a) drop off some things at the Goodwill, b) get birthday gifts for Baby Keira, and c) use a Wilke’s Garden Center gift certificate that my blind friend Rita gave me for Christmas. 

I like walking through their greenhouse; it always smells soooo good.  I chose a big pot of impatiens that I can hang from the pretty scrolled metal standing plant holder/hanger Hester and Andrew gave me a couple of years ago.  It had a huge, blooming Gloriana Petunia on it, then.  This pot has holes in the sides from which blooming impatiens spill.

That evening was Keira’s first birthday party.  About the time we should have been going, Larry was still in Cedar Bluffs having disagreements with the PTO on his truck.  So I went by myself, and he came later.

Keira is a bright little thing.  But when a flock of chattering adults descended on her quiet house all at once, she was sober as a judge, looking from one face to another, clinging to her Daddy ------- until Kurt and Victoria arrived with their little girls.  Keira looked Carolyn and Violet over good and proper, popped up from her position tight against Andrew’s shoulder, and was quite fine, from there on.

Keira’s lungs are well enough developed and she is healthy enough that they will be taking her out and bringing her to church regularly now.  The doctors say she will be able to ward off germs and bugs as well as any other baby.  Such a relief, to hear those words!

She’s such a funny little thing... a real girl:  She got some clothes for her birthday, and she grinned and hugged them.  Victoria and I both picked out dresses with kitties appliquéd on the front, though I picked pink, and Victoria picked black and white.  Keira liked those dresses – Lydia gave her one, too – almost as much as she liked her toys. 

Hester says she loves her closet full of clothes.  Hester lets her grab one – and that’s the one she puts on her in the mornings.  😊

After we got home, I worked for a while on the beaded piping.  Teensy came upstairs to announce that he needed his soft food, so I trotted downstairs to feed the cats and give Teensy his medicine... headed back upstairs to my quilting studio ----- and there was a bat flapping around in the upper landing!!!  AAAAAAAAAAaaaaa!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Larry heeded my call for help, took the tennis racket I had ready for him, went upstairs, and played Bat the Bat.  He swatted it down, captured it in a towel, carried it out, hissing (the bat, not Larry), and freed it.

Saturday, I got another large flowerbed cleared out, and chopped down a bunch of volunteer trees and wayward Boston ivy vines.  I have to take a pile of Kleenexes with me when I work outside in the gardens; I must be slightly allergic to... something.  

That afternoon as I was stitching away on the beaded piping, Victoria and Carolyn came upstairs and found me, bringing pretty framed pictures of the little girls – a gift for Easter.

Larry got off work about 5:00 p.m., and spent the evening replacing U-joints on his red-and-white Chevy pickup.

I went to bed earlier than usual that night, since we would be getting up early to go to our Sunrise Service.

You know, usually the only time I have trouble sleeping is when I need to get up early the next morning and go somewhere important.  And if it so happens that I actually do fall asleep, then Larry invariably launches into a good snorefest.  I will say that he snores a lot less, since having his bad teeth removed and getting dentures.

I managed to fall asleep, for once, about half an hour after going to bed.  But I woke up two hours later – and that was the end of any sleeping.

Ah, well; at least we weren’t late for the Easter service.

It started at 7:00 a.m. with beautiful music from the men's choir and the congregation, then Robert gave a sermon from the story of the resurrection in Luke... and an hour or so later we all went to the Fellowship Hall for a breakfast of scrambled eggs and cheese, boiled eggs, buns and breakfast muffins, sausage, ham, doughnuts, orange juice, coffee, tea, and milk (chocolate or white).  I decided this would be one time I would not get a stomachache on Easter morning, and had only some scrambled eggs, chocolate milk, and coffee.  And whataya know, I didn’t get a stomachache. 

For the early service, I wore a navy and white paisley skirt with tiny knife pleats going every which way, a white fitted suit jacket with a circular peplum and a pleated shawl collar, and a navy blouse with cut-out collar and cuffs.  Problem:  I didn’t notice until I donned the jacket shortly before it was time to go that the jacket had three-quarter-length sleeves.  The blouse had long sleeves.

Too late to do anything about it; it was time to go.

So I had the late 70s ‘layered look’.  heh

I’m in style! – just not up to date.  😏

Hannah sent a picture of Aaron, Joanna, Nathanael, and Levi in their new Easter duds.  She took the photo outdoors.

As soon as the photography session was over, Misty, their little Australian shepherd, decided it was her turn, and went and sat where the kids had been standing.

Misty’s such a funny little doggy.  Smart as a whip.

(Why did someone think a whip was smart?)

Our morning worship service was at 11:00 a.m., and we heard a medley by the horns.  It was a nice day, getting up to 79° in the afternoon.  The evening service was at 6:30 p.m.  We read the story of the two on the Emmaus Road, as they walked sadly along and talked about the Lord they loved and had lost.  Jesus joined them, though they didn’t recognize Him, and, as the Bible says, “beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.”

When they arrived at their house, they asked Him in.  It was not until He blessed the food and gave it to them that they realized who He was – and then He vanished from them.  They were so glad to know He was alive again, and to understand the things He had told them, that they hurried right back to Jerusalem to tell the other believers.  No longer sad were they, but joyful!

Our strings group played for church last night.  After the service, we had a luncheon in our Fellowship Hall, with buns, ham and cheese, vegetable trays, chips, doughnuts and muffins, and peach or strawberry pie. 

On our way home from church, there were bright flashes of lightning immediately to the west, and we got multiple severe thunderstorm warnings.  45 minutes later, the rain came down, and one or two small pebbles of hail fell.  The worst of it went around us.

No gardening today, as it was chilly and rainy. The rest of the week should be nice, though.

Aaaaaaauuuuggggghhhhh, there’s a wasp in the bathroom window, behind the blinds!  First indoors wasp of the year.  I hate those things (but not as much as I hate bats).

Time to stick the frozen Mexican pizza in the oven for supper.  Maybe, if we hurry, I can get the beaded piping done tonight.

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