Celebrate! Celebrate!!

A real celebration day. It's time to sing "Happy Birthday" to Calvin. 18!! And it seems like just a week or so ago that we took that picture of him and Abby on the porch in Chicago. Happy Birthday, Calvin.And.....It's St. Patrick's Day. This doesn' seem to be such a big deal around here. Maybe there are just fewer self-identified Irish here. But we did see Chicago's dyed green river on the news last week-end.I brought Barbara home yesterday. We'll stay here until Monday when I'll take her back for a Tuesday doctor's appointment to get her staples out. I have a lovely photo of her incision, but she says I can't put it on the blog. Maybe if it was on her arm she'd feel differently.We had snow on Sunday night in Topeka. But then it was over 70 yesterday. Just a little spring trick.Sandy visited us on Saturday and brought lunch from my all-time favorite Chinese restaurant which is in Topeka. (Go figure!) There was so much food that we ate for the entire day and then some.Sandy is coming here this afternoon after her meeting in Wichita. We'll have a girls night like we used to have so frequently when I was sick.

The Recovery

Yesterday I brought Barbara home from the hospital. She's doing quite well and is much more mobile than she was 4 days after the last hip replacement. My friend Donna made enchiladas that I brought up with me. Here is Barbara enjoying an enchilada dinner last night and looking quite perky.And here she is with her "get well" quilt.It began with some fabric I got when we were in New Mexico 6 years ago. The religious images are reflective of European and southwest traditions. They are called "retablos" and Barbara has done lots and lots of paintings in this style. Which, of course, is what I thought of immediately when I saw the fabric!This is a shot of it on the design wall. The photo below shows a detail of the fabric images and the quilting.I worked with the quilter to design a stitching pattern that included a cross in order to complement the images. All in all, I loved doing this one, mainly because there was no pattern and no plan. It just evolved step by step. What fun!

New Things

Barbara has a new hip. She got it on Tuesday and is doing very well. She thinks this time things are going a bit better than the last time, but getting a new hip is no picnic at best. I was going to go up today, but instead I'll go up in the morning and pick her up from the hospital when I get there.This isn't new!! No, but I thought I'd remind you of my old coffee table. And then show you my new one. It arrived today in a huge box. I was challenged with the uncrating and assembly for which they recommended two people. Oh, well, I am only one.The notion is that Toby cannot chew the corners on a glass and metal table. But that didn't keep him from claiming it for his own as soon as I got it put together.What a boy!

March-ing Along

It's March already, and that means the Garden Show. Barbara and Joe the Lawn Boy came down on Friday and we did the show.On Saturday I went back and did a 2 hour shift in the Master Garderners booth and a 2 1/2 hour shift at the Quilt Guild display. It's always so nice to be among the green and growing things when we're all so tired of winter and eager for spring. Lots of inspiration. But the weather continues to be cruddy, so no gardening yet.

Now the thing with Toby is, he LOVES his water dish -- so much so that he now has a second water dish that stays in my shower where he can't make water messes. Of course, I have to take it out each time I get into the shower. So, on one particular day, I took his dish out, put it in HIS sink, and forgot to take it out. I figure that nap time came and he couldn't get into his sink, so he went looking for another one.He has now claimed all three bathroom sinks as "Nap Zones."
Today is Barbara's Day, but NOT her birthday! She's getting another new hip this afternoon. Stephanie is with her for the surgery, and I'll be going up on Thursday afternoon to bring her home from the hospital on Friday morning and be nurse for a while. All good thoughts for Barbara today.

It's HER Day!!!

Warm up your pipes and sing "Happy Birthday" to Linda. It's her day to turn over the numbers.Actually, she doesn't have to feel older for another 15 hours or so. She didn't greet the world until after 11:00 p.m., as I remember. But then, it was a while ago, and my memory is a bit faulty with age. HAPPY BIRTHDAY, LINDA.

The Week that Was

It seems like it was a busy week. Mom had a follow-up doctor's appointment -- the continuing process to moderate her blood pressure. This time she had a cut-ish new medical boy who was new to Dr. Klassen's practice.I finally finished the puzzle that the Barkers gave me for Christmas. It was easily a month long project and probably one of the two most difficult that I've completed. A real challenge, and I loved it.More with the Cox boys this week. Seems that I wore out the fast forward button on my remote. While he was here I had him fix the cable remote for the new TV so that it adequately controls the volume. Now....only one remote in the bed with me at night. Yea!!On Friday I had three quilter friends over for a day of quilting. Here we are at lunch break.Barbara was here last night and left this morning. She charged my new-ish I-pod for me, got me registered into I-tunes, and showed me the ropes of being an I-pod owner.Not that I would have bought a bright magenta I-pod, but since that's the one that fell out of the downstairs rocking chair when I moved it on Tuesday, that's the one I have. Funny thing, it's registered name is "Samantha Anne." Now I have to go get ear buds and a USB cord. Then I'm all set. T's best guess is that this is the I-pod that Sam lost when everyone was here for Papa Bob's funeral. By now, of course, it's been long replaced. Thus my claiming of it.

And after more than a year, I have put the Autumn Splash quilt on my bed along with the pillow shams that I just now finished. This was my most fun quilting project to date, and I'm finally enjoying it on the bed.And a new week begins tomorrow.....

Birthday Boy!

(Imagine a lovely melody....) Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday dear Logan. Happy birthday to you. And many, many more.Birthday love from Grandma Cheryl.