Fanciful Quilts

This morning one of the many emails I received contained a link to an U-Tube video. I'm not a huge fan of U-Tube but as this dear lady posted "I am proud of our service men and women", I knew I had to watch it. It is a simple video with beautiful photos and a haunting music track. Air Force, Navy, Marines, Army - all these men & women simply doing their jobs so we can continue to have the freedom we've taken for granted. We live in a country that allows each of us to express our views publicly. We live in a country that allows freedom to worship without fear. We live in a country that generously helps other countries fight against tyranny and repression. Yet, the gratefulness is not expressed through the written and spoken news media. I don't think I will ever understand how anyone can say this war is wrong and we shouldn't be there. Just ask our deployed soldiers - many of whom are on their 2nd and 3rd tour - why they're there. This video pre...

On the 16th of June, a pre-Father's Day picnic was thoroughly enjoyed by myself, dear husband, my sister, dear son and his son. Three generations of men - but for me, the attention was focused shamelessly on our grandson. We held the picnic at Riverscape - a beautifully landscaped area next to the Miami River (not the most picturesque river - but it is moving water and it does hold a strange fascination for ducks). One of Riverscape's attractions is a unique "square" of shooting fountains - perhaps twelve of them. At times, all twelve fountains shoot straight up - and then one by one, turn off - and then they come back again, one at a time - or two. You just don't figure it out - you just merely hope you can run through it when it's dormant. Grandson managed to do it once and claimed victory by jumping up and down with his hands raised. Such a glorious victory dance for an almost-three-year old. The second attraction is the little fast food shack that h...

On Thursday, the 7th of June, sis & I loaded up a rental car at 9:00AM and started the long drive to Oshkosh, WI. Oshkosh is home for a multitude of our relatives: mom, dad, brother and his wife, several nephews, a niece and her husband and aunts & uncles. The purpose for this trip was to attend our nephew's wedding - our brother's oldest son. Several months of emails went back & forth about the wedding - and it resulted in just sis and I going as my dear husband had a chess tournament to run during the weekend. Four hundred and seventy-three miles is a long trip to make - and sis does not drive. As I get older, I find the driving a little more tedious than in years past. I had made a quick trip to the library to stock up on music CDs and books on CD. This helped a little - but I noticed that we made more frequent stops than previous trips. An older woman once told me that her solution to long trips was to first pray for a safe trip and would ask God to show her som...