Journal: Quilts, Cats, Squirrels, and a Camaro

 

Last Tuesday, I finally got in gear and printed out Power of Attorney papers for both health and finances for Larry and myself, listing names of several of the children to have Power of Attorney for us, if needed.  I filled them out as much as possible until the final signing.  Now, if Larry can just remember to sign them and have a coworker put his notary seal on them, we’ll be all set, should we both lose cognitive skills. 

I wonder if anybody ever pretends to lose cognitive skills, in order that someone else would have to take care of all his financial and health decisions?  Probably not a very good idea, if you like to climb in your car, go places, and buy stuff.  😉

Next, we need to make a will.  “Someone will have to buy a penny slicer, in order to divide things up evenly,” I told some of the kids.  😄

I’ve discovered that I like 4C cranberry pomegranate iced tea.  I like most of the 4C Tea2Go flavors: lemon, peach, and green tea with honey.  But I tried some ‘rejuvenating’ 4C tea that I did not like.  It was slightly carbonated, and I didn’t like that, either. 

Lura Kay once gave me a large tin of Bentley’s Green Teas:  Oriental Treasure, Blueberry, Pomegranate, Mango, Raspberry, and Minty Mint.  I take a handful of teabags with us when we go on vacation.  We like to have some at night in camper or motel.

Green tea is supposed to be healthier for a person, but many times it gives me a stomachache.  Black tea never does.

I looked it up once, and learned this:  “Green tea can cause stomachache due to its tannins, which can increase stomach acid and irritate digestive tissues.  This can lead to nausea and stomach pain, especially if you drink green tea on an empty stomach.  People with peptic ulcers or acid reflux should avoid drinking green tea in the morning.  It’s best to drink green tea after a meal or between meals.”

So then I wondered what in the world ‘tannins’ are, and looked that up.  Here’s what I found:  “Tannins are chemical compounds found in tea leaves and other plant-based foods and beverages that contribute to the tea experience in several ways.  Tannins give tea a bitter flavor and a dry, puckering sensation in the mouth after each sip, known as astringency.  Tannin levels determine the depth of tea color, from the rich hues of black tea to the soft tones of green tea.  Tannins may have antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects, but more research is needed to fully understand their role in supporting human health.  Tannins are polyphenols, which are naturally occurring compounds derived from phenolic acids, also called tannic acid.  They are large molecules that bind with proteins, cellulose, starches, and minerals.  While tannins are a natural part of every tea plant and contribute to its growth process, too much tannin can be a negative trait.  For example, if you’re iron deficient, your doctor may advise you to avoid drinking tea or only drink it between meals.  The tannins in tea can bind with iron, preventing your body from absorbing it.  You can reduce this potential negative effect by adding milk to your tea, which binds with the milk protein instead of the proteins in your body.  You can also eat vitamin-C-rich foods, like bell peppers, potatoes, cantaloupe, or oranges right before or after you drink your tea to neutralize the tannins.”

I like trying all sorts of different foods.  It helps me learn to make new faces, sometimes, though.  😜😝😖

I click ‘Food’ now and then  on the Wal-Mart ordering page, and then scroll... and scroll... and scroll... just to see new and different things.  I like going in little family-owned grocery stores in distant places, in order to get things I’ve never seen before.  Once when we were camped in a nice RV campground in Alpine, Wyoming, we found Huckleberry everything at a little grocery store nearby.  Honey... jellies and jams... lotion... lip balm... tea... coffee...  Mmmmm, it was all so good.  Oh, and a large huckleberry chocolate bar that we (that is, I) carefully rationed out to make it last three days.  (Larry wanted his entire share all at once.  I hid it.)  (He was glad I’d done that, though, on Day Three.  😉)

We also got a little package of huckleberry honeycomb.  I love honeycomb, and this was huckleberry honeycomb!  >>...swoon...<<

In a recent chat with Hester, I asked, “Has Keira ever seen the 3D Dahlia quilt and the matching curtains I made for you when you were 2?”

The first time I made that pattern, I’d never before used an actual quilt pattern.  When I put the templates back into the pocket inside the back cover of the book, I discovered what it said:  “Difficulty level:  High.  Not for inexperienced quilters.”

Hester showed the picture to Keira, then reported, “She thinks she likes hers better, but mine was also very pretty.  😄”

“I loved how soft the purple quilt was,” added Hester.  “I don’t remember where it went.  🤔”

“I have no idea where it went,” I responded.  “Maybe it got ‘all used up’, as you once said about one of your dresses that acquired several large tears in the fabric.”

Then, “Oh, look!” I said, “I made a quilt for you before you born – using the same pattern!  I really liked that pattern.”

Years later, somewhere around the year 2000, or maybe a little before, my mother gave me a quilt she’d received as a flimsy (just the top, unquilted) when she was married in March of 1936.  She had it quilted by hand-quilters in Kansas in the early 60s.  I was so surprised to discover it was the same pattern – 3D Dahlia.

I used it in a cute little pickup camper Larry and I fixed up some years later, and after he sold the camper, I lost track of the quilt, and was so afraid it had been forgotten in the camper.

Then in April of 2016, I happened to peek into a lidded tote in the basement to see what was in there — and lo and behold, there was Mama’s quilt.

This is a special quilt; I remember Mama covering me up with it when I was little.  Then  she put it away and saved it for many years, and I forgot all about it.  I was so pleased when she gave it to me one day a few years before she passed away.  I should make a label for it.

That afternoon, I finished filling out and copied the papers for the Best of County quilt and the Best of County pillow, then entered all eight items at the Nebraska State Fair online and bought tickets for us.  (We’re seniors, aren’t we?)  Last year, they let us in free, after I couldn’t find the tickets I’d printed anywhere.  I think they must’ve blown away when we climbed out of the pickup.  I will take my things to Grand Island on August 15^th.

There are crop dusters spraying fields nearby.  I like to watch them... and sometimes I pause and pray for the pilot’s safety.  And then sometimes I pause and pray for my safety!  Must they bank at 90° angles directly over my house?! 

A crop duster spraying fields out to the west hit power lines and went down last week, destroying the plane.  Authorities were alerted by the pilot’s iPhone signaling a crash.  Articles say he was transported to a local hospital with non-life-threatening injuries – and the very same articles say, ‘The pilot was uninjured.’  Skillful reporting.  🙄

I paid bills, did some paperwork for Loren, and then ordered groceries for pick-up the next night.

The more I looked at the design I made in EQ8 for granddaughter Juliana, the more I wanted to make it just like it’s pictured, rather than scrappy – which I’d have to do if I used fabric from my meager stash.  So I hopped up, grabbed my purse, and went off to Hobby Lobby. 

Yikes, I spent quite a bit, regardless of the fact that fabric is cheaper there than at most quilt shops.  Let’s hope I got a grand overabundance of fabric that I can use in other quilts later!  That should be the case, since I got 26 yards of fabric, and the quilt is only 86.5” x 86.5”.

Supper that night was leftovers of the previous night’s ham pork roast and baked potatoes, applesauce, lemon iced tea, and the rest of the watermelon I got from Daniels’ Produce.  Now I want another one.

Years ago, I bought several watermelons throughout the summer, and we were all enjoying watermelon on hot summer days – or so I thought, until one of the kids announced, “I’m all watermeloned out!”

I was totally stuffed – watermelon always fills me up – and yet I’d’ve been really happy if someone had’ve bought me a candy bar.  I’d looked and looked at them in the racks beside the checkout stands at Hobby Lobby; but I left them in the racks, more’s the pity.

After cleaning up the kitchen, I scanned some pictures my niece Christine gave Hannah and Victoria last Sunday.  Upon seeing a few photos that I liked and didn’t have, I just neatly confiscated the whole works.  “I’ll take those, thanks.”  Like that.

Well, maybe, with a ‘please, may I’ thrown in, just for good measure.  😉

I gave them back Wednesday evening after church, so I should at least get credit for that, don’t you think?

Here’s one of the pictures, of my nephew Kelvin holding Dorcas when she was about 2.  See why I wanted those pictures?

The sunflowers that the birds planted are blooming.  The sunflower plants are in the middle of my flower gardens, and some are growing beside the tall lavender phlox, and look quite nice there.  So I’m letting them grow.

Here’s the fabric I got at Hobby Lobby.  The kitten fabric is for the backing.  I thought it was extraordinarily cute fabric.  Larry had a comment or two about the kitten with the butterfly wings, though.

I informed him that it was just a giant butterfly that had landed on the back of a small kitten.  😂  

There is a Purple Emperor butterfly, after all.  It’s hard to find pictures of them in pretty settings, because, unlike many other butterfly species that feed on nectar from flowers, these butterflies prefer to feed on sap from trees or rotting fruit on the forest floor.

Below is the quilt image from EQ8.  The cat blocks are actual photos of the printed blocks daughter-in-law Amy gave me; she found them at a secondhand store, all sewn together.

Wednesday, I got started.  First, I printed 108 pages of blocks on thin newsprint for the Log Cabin foundations.  I would be paper-piecing them, as the finished size of the block will be 5 ¼”, and the finished width of each ‘log’ is 7/16”.  Paper-piecing is the only way to get them truly accurate.

That morning, I received word that a friend, Elaine Koch, had passed away.  She was 75.  She was Amy’s grandmother.  Perhaps you will recall that last year I finished a quilt that we believe Elaine had started years before, the Biblical Blocks quilt.  The funeral will be tomorrow.

Elaine was a generous person.  When our children were young, she often brought us produce from her garden, or nut breads or cookies she had made.

One time she came to retrieve a baking tin she thought I had, and I said I didn’t have it, and in order to prove it, I marched over to the cupboard where I kept things I needed to return to people, jerked open the door — and said baking tin rolled out onto my feet.  Elaine laughed soooo hard.

The next time she saw me at church, she started to greet me in her usual friendly manner – and then she snickered, straightened up, snickered again, and then just gave up and burst out laughing all over again.

I spent Thursday cutting fabric and sewing strips onto the foundation paper, working on the 36 pink and white Log Cabin blocks.

Supper that evening was pork ham roast, macaroni salad, red seedless grapes, mocha & chocolate Oui yogurt, and cranberry-blueberry acai juice.

Friday morning after about three hours of intermittent sleep, I woke up at 5:30 a.m., because somebody kept snoring, and it sure wasn’t me.  Larry left for work about an hour later.  Despite the fact that the aforementioned ‘somebody’ was no longer snoring, I couldn’t get back to sleep.  After a little bit of trying, I decided to quit wasting time, and just got up, showered, ate breakfast, and went upstairs to work on Juliana’s ‘Nine Kittens’ quilt.

Look what I found in one of the bird feeders.  That little fox squirrel thinks I put up a cute little private picnic pavilion, just for him!

Early that afternoon, I had a telephone conference with one of the head nurses from Prairie Meadows.  They’ve never done this before.  In the 2 ½ years Loren has been there, they have only called to ask me things – usually, for permission to treat him or have him transported here or there, or to tell me about specific health issues.  I surmise this change has been instituted by the new owners of the nursing home.

The nurse spent 13 minutes going through several pages of information about Loren, in such heavily accented English I could barely understand her, and telling me nothing that I didn’t already know.

But that’s okay; I appreciate their efforts to keep family members abreast of how the resident is doing.  This particular nurse has always treated Loren with much care.

I told her, “Two weeks ago when I was visiting Loren, you walked past, and he pointed you out to me, saying, ‘That’s a real kindhearted lady.’”

It surprised me, how totally delighted she was to learn this.  Her job is often a thankless one, I imagine!

Later that afternoon, I could barely hold my eyes open, so I took an hour-long nap, and felt much better.

Supper that night was cranberry-walnut-lettuce salad, baked Alaskan salmon, blueberry-cranberry acai juice, and Oui yogurt.

Here’s one of the 36 Log Cabin blocks in pink, for the Nine Kittens quilt.  When I quit sewing at midnight, I had one more ‘log’ to sew on most of these blocks.

That one little dark pink square at the top right corner of the center piece is sho’ ’nuff a-buggin’ me, though.  But if I start dabbing fabric paint on small dots that bug me... would there be any end to such madness?  haha

Saturday morning, I cut my hair, refilled the bird feeders, and prepared to go visit Loren.  By 11:00 a.m., it was 84°, with an expected high of 88°; and a degree or two higher in Omaha.

Here’s a restored 1969 Chevrolet Camaro I found under the front awning at Prairie Meadows last Saturday.  I wonder... did one of the residents fix that car up?  If so, I hope he had – and still has – time to enjoy it before he can no longer remember anything about it.

I found Loren in one of the back activities rooms.  There were about eight ladies in there playing Bingo, with one of the staffers calling the numbers and letters.

Loren was just watching.  I doubt if he could’ve worked out how to play the game.  But he did try to explain to me what they were doing:  “They’re trying to figure out their numbers...” he started, then paused to ponder the matter.  “Something about taxes!” he finished, giving me a triumphant smile.

There was a lady nearby in a wheelchair.  I thought she was a resident, but then realized she was visiting.  She had a cute little long-haired dog with big brown eyes with her.  The dog was about 13 years old, and just the sweetest thing.  I should’ve asked what breed it was.  Maybe a Lhasa Apso?  A Shih Tzu?

Okay, I just looked it up, and the little dog was most definitely a Shih Tzu.  I soon made friends with her, and she rewarded me with a couple of careful licks to the back of my hand.

I got home at 6:30 p.m., and hurried back upstairs to my sewing room to finish the 36 pink and white blocks and get started on the blue and white.

That evening, Amy sent this picture:  9 kids holding 15 two-month-old Anatolian shepherd puppies.  Here are Ethan, Emma, Lyle, Jeffrey, Josiah, Leroy, Grant, Warren, and Elsie.

Larry brought home nacho dinners and taco salad in an edible bowl for supper that night, so I didn’t have to cook anything, along with... ??  Lattes?  Mochas?  Something milkshake-like and coffee-flavored with whipped cream on top, for dessert.  I went from starved to stuffed in 15 minutes flat.

Early Sunday morning found me getting ready for church:  sipping coffee... curling my hair... listening to news on my tablet... and reading and answering posts from my quilting friends on my MeWe quilting group, Quilt Talk.  How’s that for multitasking?  

(Definition of multitasking:  the ability to do lots of things at once, none of them well.  ha!)  

It was 70° at 7:30 a.m., on the way up to 86°, and quite humid.

Look what my friend Roxanne Parrow used for the front of her Sunday pamphlet.  Be sure you read her remark at the top.

We had an afternoon lunch with Kurt and Victoria, and Larry made his scrumptious waffles.  Victoria cooked eggs and bacon.  We supplied Jif Natural Chunky peanut butter, butter-flavored Pearl Milling Lite syrup, and Smucker's Blueberry jam for the waffles.  Carolyn and Violet had never had waffles fixed like that.  I made sure the waffles were bedecked just right, and cut them into bites.  Carolyn polished off two entire sections of a waffle; Violet, a little more than one.

Carolyn, finally putting down her spoon, sighed.  “I’m not going to be hungry again for...” – she looked at the clock.

“Twenty years!” I supplied, making her laugh.

I’ve done a bit of cleaning, and refilled the bird feeders.  A red-winged blackbird was so anxious to get to the new mixed-berry suet block I put out, he kept landing before I was even done hanging the feeders.  I watered the houseplants and the potted flowers on the porch.  The weeds in the flower gardens are hale and hearty, but I’ll worry about them another day.

This afternoon I’ve been reading about a wildfire that started on Alexander Mountain near the mouth of the Big Thompson Canyon west of Loveland and east of Estes Park, Colorado.  In the last couple of days, I’ve been looking in that area for cabins and places to stay, should we decide to vacation there.  The fire is burning close to the Sylvan Dale Guest Ranch.  They’ve gotten their horses and guests out, but some people are staying for now, as it’s being used as a station for firefighters.  Many fire engines, planes, and helicopters are working to contain the fire.

Smoke was originally reported at 10:39 a.m. this morning.  By 7:30 p.m., the fire had grown to 950 acres.  By dusk, it was over 1,000 acres.  It is 0% contained.

It must be so hard to live with all that smoke in the air – and so awful for people who must evacuate, and have no idea if they will still have a home when they return.

This night photo was posted on X just a few minutes ago, taken from the east side of Lake Loveland, looking west.

Reading that there is a good chance we can see the Aurora Borealis tonight, I stepped out on the front porch and looked to the north.

I saw lightning flashes and heard thunder, despite the fact that the storm is some 60 miles to the northeast.  There was nothing that resembled the Northern Lights, however.

Bedtime!  Tomorrow is the funeral for my friend Elaine.

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