The World According to Maiden Fair

It’s been a long hard cold icy winter - I’ve been ready for Spring since November 1st - I really wanted a do-over for last year it was so horrible - but we only pass this way once - so I get a new chance every morning. But last Saturday morning I saw my first robin this Spring and if filled my heart with hope - March 6th is pretty early for my feathered friends to make their return north, but they usually know what they’re doing - so I’m taking it as a sign.

I took his picture anyway - in my backyard - to actually prove he was there, big as life with his audacious red chest!! There have been other signs of spring since I saw my robin on Saturday - warm days - melted snow - buds on my Maple trees - Thunder storms - and floods. I do think Spring has arrived!

Shy girl took a sewing class to make herself a pillowcase - it turned out really well and she is so very proud of it. Her little sister asked if she could have one too, so we went to the fabric store and she picked out her material so I could make her one.

While we were there they had to pick out material to make one for Grampa - I haven’t done it yet - but I did make two for me - as I use two pillows at night I thought it would be nice if they matched.

My February book list is:

The Christmas Quilt by Jennifer Chiaverini
The Lithium Murders by Camille Minichino
Bound by Dreams by Christina Skye
Circle of Quilters By Jennifer Chiaverini
The Red Lily by Nora Roberts
The Laughter of Dead Kings by Elizabeth Peters

All were great reads - I love Jennifer Chiaverini’s Stories of Elm Creek Quilts and Camille Minichino’s Physics heroine is one of my favorites. And what can I say about Elizabeth Peters - I love her books - I’ve read them all to date and it was so much fun to catch up with Vicky Bliss and John!!

Another sure sign of Spring is I landed in the doctor’s office yesterday with bronchitis. Hopefully I caught it early enough that it won’t slow me down too much, but I’m going to take it easy today - rest - and do nothing!! Have a great day and I’ll catch you later.

Well it is February 3rd - the day after groundhog day and the prognostication is for 6 more weeks of winter!! It was dark and dreary and snowing yesterday, but that little old groundhog managed to see his shadow - did someone use a flashlight to show him the way?? I didn’t get to go to Quilter’s Guild yesterday because of the snow - no we didn’t get a foot - we only got about an inch - but when you are terrified of falling because of knee surgery - well you don’t go where there might be icy or slippery walking - and lets face it - no one is going to pay to have a parking lot plowed for less than 3 inches of snow. So hopefully we will make in it March and maybe by then I will have a completed project to share.

My current project is a mystery quilt from the inspector’s club group - it’s supposed to be a Valentine Wall hanging but I will probably not complete it by Valentine’s day but I do have two sets of blocks finished.

These are Single Irish Chain Blocks


These are applique Heart blocks

There is one more set of blocks due in this week, and then the assembly and quilting - so hopefully it will be done by the March Quilt meeting.

I did much better with my reading in January - there wasn’t much else to do, and I was off the pain meds so I could actually remember what I was reading!!

Running Hot by Jayne Ann Krentz
Mistaken Identity by Lisa Scottoline
Knitting Bones by Monica Ferris
Dead Men Don’t Crochet by Betty Hechtman
Mariner’s Compass by Earlene Fowler
Fleece Navidad by Maggie Sefton
The Secret Wedding by Jo Beverley
Cockatiels at Seven by Donna Andrews
Died in the Wool by Rett MacPherson

I enjoyed all the reads - most of them were by old favorite authors. “Mariner’s Compass” stands out this month because it was so different from the previous books in the series - delving into a family mystery instead of a crime - excellent story. Of course “Died in the Wool” is another great fun story in the life of Torie O’Shea and “Cockatiels at Seven” is just a lot of fun. The new author that I read for the first time was Lisa Scottoline - she wrote an intriguing story that truly kept the pages turning and the what if possibilities and if only scenarios filling your mind.

Today I need to finish up the Little Princess Calendars - I know I’m late but I do have a valid excuse - you can’t make competent decisions on pain meds and you can’t type either!! Hubby is taking me to the mall to walk. Speaking of the mall - our’s is half empty - I don’t ever remember seeing so many empty or uselessly filled storefronts in my life - not even when things were so bad around here in the mid 1980’s. Whole wings of the mall are totally devoid of stores, there are stores with going out of business sales, and many are filled with tax preparation places so they will be empty in a couple of months - and I mean how many cell phone stores do you really need in the mall - 10 seems a little bit excessive to me. And when there is no place to buy a hamburger and fries in an American mall things have really gone beyond the pale!!

Did you know that last Monday - January 25th has been declared the most depressing day of the year. I suppose that is due to the fact that it is usually so cold - it’s been a month since Christmas (which to me can be an extremely depressing time) and there is still two months of this yuckie weather to go - and also all the bills from the plastic that everyone spent at Christmas are finally coming in and they are wondering how in the world they are going to get the money to pay even the minimum payment. I got out of all of that this year with the surgery to my knee - but I’m not sure I would do it again at this time of year. Of course this time of year was not my first choice for this one, but that was a story for an earlier entry!!

As to my knee - it is getting better - slowly - although the doctor’s and therapists think I’m doing amazingly well, I want to run and walk a couple of miles and hike my favorite trails - of course I can’t do any of that in the dead of winter with the snow piled high and the ice covering everything. Hubby won’t even let me drive anywhere that might have snow and ice covered parking lots - which actually is fine with me - the last thing I need is to slip and fall on the ice at this stage of the game. So I can drive - to church where the lot is clear - a couple of restaurants where the lot is clear and otherwise he takes me and drops me at the door. Even at the mall - where I need to go to walk - the parking lot is a mess. I never realized before how badly the lots are plowed and how little care these people seem to have for the safety of their customers.

Shy Shy girl and I are redecorating our Seasonal Corner in the hallway. I’m making a Valentine Wall hanging but it is not done yet so she “painted” a picture with glue and sand - and we hung it up yesterday.

It is Punxsutawney Phil awakening at sunrise on February 2nd to determine if we have an early spring or six more weeks of this dismal winter. She had a great time with the picture and hope you enjoy her creativity.

Well, the last time I wrote anything in the blog - I was preparing for my knee surgery, the Christmas Elves had come and decorated the house, and I had no idea what was in store for me. Well - I’m 5 weeks out of surgery and I have little memory of the time inbetween. You know I discovered that Percocet is one nasty drug. Yes it took away the pain and I was able to to the Physical Therapy - but I remember very little of the time I was on it - and the time it took to get out of my system. I’m not all the way back - there is still a lot of stiffness in my knee and some residual ache in the bone - and if I don’t sleep at night it makes it much worse. But I’m determined to get better - I have places to go and things to do and I’m tired of having to say I can’t do it!!

Hubby redid my computer for a Christmas Gift. I have no idea what is in it - my grandson the computer guru ordered the parts and hubby the guru’s second in command put it together - of course it took my son - the guru’s third in command to threaten to come over and do it for him to get it done - but it’s done. I still have some programs and drivers that have to be downloaded as it’s running Window’s 7 and some of the older stuff is not compatible - I’ll get it all sorted out soon.

Needless to say I didn’t get a lot read in December - I’m not even sure this is a complete list as I can’t seem to remember which book I had with me at the hospital - it might have been one of these, but I don’t think so.

Mrs. Miracle by Debie Macomber
The Tale of Briar Bank by Susan Wittig Albert
Malice in Miniature by Margaret Grace

Hopefully I will be back soon to keep you posted on my doings - by the way the Christmas Elves did appear again and took down and put away the Christmas Decorations - they were very nice Christmas Elves - I think we’ll go out to lunch one day soon.

Since I am having my knee surgery done tomorrow and I will be very busy with exercises and physical therapy, I had decided to forgo the Christmas decorations - the tree, the nativity scene, the tinsel and all of it. Anyway, my granddaughters visited Friday and spent the night. Yesterday, they came - together - and said they wanted to put up the Christmas tree - and they did!! They dragged out the tree (it’s artificial but in pieces) Grampa helped them get it together and provided “elevator” service for Belle to put the angel on top. With Grampa’s help they got the lights on. Then they dragged up the boxes of decorations and proceeded to put them on the tree. We forgot the tree skirt so an old sheet had to do. We put the Nativity scene under the tree this year, something I haven’t done since I was a kid and my brother got his train set which went under the tree. Shy girl took it upon herself to put the tinsel strands on the tree. If she had her way the entire tree would be a lump of garland and you wouldn’t see the ornaments at all. Then she redid the little seasonal table we have at the end of the hallway and put up the mini tree and the snowmen candles and hung the santa quilt that I just finished - actually it’s now quite finished, but I don’t have what I need to do that, so it can be completed later.

Santa Quilt completed 11/2009 - pattern came from a PSP graphic I had designed.

So Anyway I am ready for Christmas - thanks to two little Christmas elves named Belle and Shy and they certainly made their Grandma smile yesterday.

Today it is snowing - I guess December has arrived - it seems like the day I have plans for a party - a lunch out - or something fun in early December - it snows!! Oh well, get it out of the way this week and maybe I’ll be able to get to the hospital and get my knee fixed and get home before it snows again!!

Thanksgiving was a great time this year. On Thursday my brother and his family drove up from Kentucky to visit. They stayed with my other brother, but we went over and spent the day with them. Then on Saturday I cooked a turkey and had my kids and grandkids and my son’s girlfriend and her kids over for the day - 13 people I think. It really went well, the food was great and we all had a very good time. I guess my daughter is planning on having Christmas as I will be unable to do it this year. I haven’t even done any shopping or put up a decoration. I don’t know if I will. My surgery is scheduled for Monday and I have much I want to complete before then. We have to get the house de-cluttered - put away the throw rugs and get things cleaned up off the floor and moved away as I will be on a walker for a week or two and I really don’t want to trip and fall. I also want to get my son’s drapes at least mostly finished before Monday, and a couple of projects cut and organized so I can work on them while I recover.

I did finish a quilted wall hanging - a pumpkin - in October - I’m really pleased with the way he turned out. He’s hanging on the wall at the end of the hallway - guess I should take him down and put him away for this year, but I don’t have anything else to hang up. I suppose I could hang the santa face, but I’m not real happy with it - but I suppose it’d better than a bare wall - right.

Pumpkin wall hanging

I’ve also gone back to working on my miniature doll house - 1/12 scale. I really enjoy working on it - although it did sit in a corner for a long while because I couldn’t get what I needed to finish the living room floor - now I’ve decided I don’t like that floor anyway and found something I like better - so I’m working on it again. Pictures of the doll house are to be found HERE.

It’s also long past time I posted November’s reading list:

Where the Heart Leads by Stephanie Laurens
Betrayals by Carla Neggers
Rotten to the Core by Sheila Connolly
Dove in the Window by Earlene Fowler
The Grub and Stakers House a Haunt by Alisa Craig
Death Swatch by Laura Childs
Air Tight Case by Beverly Conner
The Sugar Camp Quilt by Jennifer Chiaverini

I have really been enjoying Earlene Fowler’s series with Bennie Harper and Dove in the window was one of the best yet. Of course Jennifer Chieverini’s Elm Creek books are always wonderful and Sugar Camp Quilt with all of it’s history was no exception. Air Tight Case by Beverly Conner was an intriguing mystery in two different centuries and I always enjoy a mystery romp with Alisa Craig.

Do you ever feel like your playing catch-up. Kind of like your life is going on without you and you have to run after it. I’m sort of feeling that way right now. It has been a difficult year, but I tend to block out the worst of the events in any given time space, so here I sit, it’s the 18th of November - Thanksgiving is next week, and I haven’t figured out where the rest of the year went. It’s one of those, it seems like it’s just yesterday that it was Christmas - but if I really stop and concentrate on what has gone on it seems like it’s been a hundred years. All this to say - I’m not ready for Christmas - or even Thanksgiving - AT ALL!! I did get groceries yesterday - including a 22 lb turkey - they had 26 pound ones - that was new I don’t ever remember one that big in the stores. WOW!!

I’m also starting on my herb classes. I’ll be making a tincture this week (actually it takes 6 weeks for it for be ready) and a healing salve. I’m pretty excited about it. I’ve been blending herbal teas for several month but decided it was finally time to take it up to the next level. Wish me luck!!

Books I have read - September was a little thin on reading but there were a few:

Mayhem in Miniature by Margaret Grace
2nd Chance by James Patterson
Mrs Jeffries and the Best Laid Plans by Emily Brightwell
Nightshade by Susan Wittig Albert

The miniature books by Margaret Grace and right up my alley since I love miniatures and granddaughters who love to help and get involved in your life. The Mrs. Jeffries books are always fun and I like James Patterson’s ladies of the Murder Club. My all time favorite is of course China Bayles, Nightshade being her latest adventure - with more to come.

October was a bit thicker on the reading:

Belgarath the Sorcerer by David Eddings
Greedy Bones by Carolyn Haynes
Goose in the Pond by Earlene Fowler
92 Pacific Boulevard by Debbie Macomber
The Third Circle by Amanda Quick
Born in Death by JB Robb (Nora Roberts)
The Helium Murder by Camille Minichino

With some of my very favorite authors like David Eddings, Carolyn Haynes and Debbie Macomber. I’ve found new friends in Earlene Fowler’s Benni Harper and I enjoyed the Helium Murder very much. Amanda Quick (Jayne Ann Krantz) is always good for a romantic, spooky, psychic adventure. I can’t say I was wild about JB Robb’s Born in Death - but it just might be because so much reference was made to books in the series that I haven’t read. - I’ll take that under advisement.

Went to a quilting class on Saturday to learn about English Paper Piecing. It sure makes creating hexagon shapes - like for the grandmother’s flower garden quilts a whole lot easier. I want to make a Christmas tree wall hanging using the technique - since I won’t be able to use my sewing machine for a while after surgery it should work out all right.

I’ve been quiet for a long time and I’m truly sorry about that. It has been an extremely difficult time in my life. I lost my mother back in September. On the same day we learned my Mother was in the hospital we got a phone call from a hospital in Philadelphia that my Sister-in-law was in a coma and unresponsive. I went to California on my own as Hubby had to wait to find out about his sister. He flew to Philadelphia the day of my Mother’s Funeral. I got home on Saturday and on Monday he called and needed me with him, so on Tuesday I drove east for two days to get there. During all of this I was supposed to have surgery to replace my knee, but as of today that has not happened yet. We were in Philadelphia for at least 2 weeks - She died on the day after I got there, and we had to take care of everything as she had left no instructions - no will, no power of attorney, nothing. It was truly overwhelming - especially since we had no idea she had been that sick. She kept telling us that everything was fine. But everything wasn’t fine and if things hadn’t been overwhelming us here for a different reason, we might have realized it. I wanted to go visit her this summer for a few days, but things just didn’t work out. At least with my mom there was all of my siblings there and my cousin came from Ohio. There was love and support from all around. I could not believe that anyone could so totally reject family who loved them and choose to live so totally alone.

It has taught me a few lessons - 1) don’t reject those who love you just because someone else in your family may have upset you. Draw close to those people who truly care about you and let them help you as you can help them. Life, family, love - it’s all a two way street. 2) don’t leave everything for someone else to do. Make the plans you want and see that they are financed - write a will and make sure the people you want to have your things actually get them. 3) don’t leave your next of kin hanging without the authority to make decisions for you. A power of attorney - a living will - and a will - plus access to certain funds and knowledge of safe deposit boxes and the value of items in your collections - make an inventory and an appraisal - and have it accessible. 4) Get rid of old papers and junk. You do NOT need to keep 50 years of tax paperwork, you do not need to keep every receipt or insurance paper that ever crossed the threshold of the apartment. You can say no if someone wants to give you something that you have no use for.

Needless to say, we are working on clearing out the things that have no value and continue to clear out the paperwork as it comes in. Computers are wonderful for this chore - taxes on the computer that can be called up on demand - and really you only need 5 to 7 years of it anyway - if you aren’t trying to cheat the IRS - what’s the real problem. Most of us are taking the standard deduction on wages, interest and unemployment. It’s all there. Those who run a business have a different set of problems. But this woman hadn’t worked in 9 years, she had no income beyond some savings and she payed no income tax but still we saved it all. It took days to go through everything - never finding what we really needed because those things didn’t exist. It made something so sad into a real tragedy - for her and for us too.

It has been beautiful here the last couple of weeks. Sunny. Warm. Dry. Perfect in a word. I’m trying to get out everyday and enjoy the lovely time - one day at a time. Yesterday I met my daughter in the park for a quick picnic and some conversation - it was an enjoyable time. Today I need to go pick up some things at the store and I hope the get a short walk in - very short - as my knee permits very little of that. I have decided that if I want to have a life, I really need to have this knee surgery. I’m not at all sure I’m looking forward to the surgery or the immediate aftermath - but I’m looking farther down the road - to being able to walk 3 or 4 miles again - to be able to go letter boxing and hiking with the girls and to go on Photo shoots with by DH and maybe go to the Grand Canyon or back to Yellowstone. I’m tired of being limited in how far I can walk - not being able to browse the quilt shop easily or even get the groceries without the aid of an electric cart. It’s time. Probably beyond time because for a long time I refused to even consider the possibilities. But De Nile is only a river in Egypt - it isn’t going to get me on with my life. So I’m working hard at building up muscle in my leg and eating iron and calcium rich food right now - I can’t take iron supplements as they make me sick - and preparing for my surgery on the 29th. I’ve been to joint surgery boot camp and the hospital, seek all my doctors and done all the lab work. I just need a visit to the Physical Therapist to learn to use the walker safely and I’m all set. I need to sit down one day soon and read all the paperwork and prepare my mind for what is to come.

In my research, I’ve found that oatmeal and nuts have a large amount or Iron along with pumpkin seeds and spinach. Now I hate cooked spinach but there is no reason to not put raw spinach on my salad in the evening - along with some nuts and sunflower or pumpkin seeds. I will get through this in some way. Going now to look for a good used treadmill. Don’t want to have to walk outside in the snow and ice.

Have a great day.

I can hardly believe that it is September - where in the world did the summer go. I just realized in the last couple of days that there are no robins about any longer - they much have all left for more southern climates. I’m not really ready for winter to come yet - I lost my summer somewhere along the way. I know it was a very stressful time, but it must have been harder than I realized for me to have lost the memories so quickly.

At any rate, I have finally broken over and scheduled the surgery for a knee replacement. After 8 years of on again off again pain - lately far more on than off, and the diminishing of everything I enjoy doing - it is time to take back my life and at least make a try to grab onto what I can of it. I want to go hiking and letterboxing again. I want to go on Photo-shoots and take trips and go sight seeing. I want to walk up and down the stairs without struggling and actually maybe enjoy going shopping again. I want to go on picnics with the girls and not have to worry about will I be able to make it back to the car. It is going to be a lot of work and probably painful - but there might be a light at the end of this tunnel - there was none at the end of the other one.

I have been busy with the quilting - working on my piano cover and my challenge quilt and a pumpkin wall hanging. I also made two tote bags. One is mine and when my granddaughter saw the finished one, she just had to have her own!! LOL

This one is mine

This one is my granddaughter’s

I also wanted to catch you up on my reading list for this summer - Since I write these down I do remember them - the problem is sometimes I don’t remember the story when the summer has been stressful. At any rate - Here’s the list.

April Book List

The Crystal Rose by Rebecca Brandewyne
Ghost At Work by Carolyn Hart
Trouble in the Town Hall by Jeanne M. Dams
The Crossword Connection by Nero Blanc
Almost like being in Love by Christina Dodd
Cold Pursuit by Carla Neggers
Summer at Willow Lake by Susan Wiggs

May Book List

The Winter Lodge by Susan Wiggs
Kiss the Moon by Carla Neggers
Mr. Darcy’s Dream by Esizabeth Aston
8 Sandpiper Way by Debbie Macomber
The Cinderella Hour by Katherine Stone
Blue Dahlia by Nora Robb
Cover of Night by Linda Howard

June Book List

The Tale of Hawthorne House by Susan Albert Wittig
Mrs Jefferies Appeals the Verdict by Emily Blackwell
Sew Deadly by Jean Hagar
Just the Way you Are by Christina Dodd
The Cat. the Quilt and the Corpse by Leann Sweeny
Bookmarked for Death by Lorna Barrett
Skinny Dip by Carl Hiaasen

July Book List

Goody Goody Gunshots by Sammi Carter
The Darcy Connection by Elizabeth Aston
The Black Rose by Nora Roberts
Nobody’s Angel by Patricia Rice
Wish Bones by Carolyn Haines
The Silver Needle Murder by Laura Child
The Blessing by Jude Deveraux

August Book List

Fat Tuesday by Sandra Brown
A Taste of Innocence by Stephanie Laurens
Hooked on Murder by Betty Hechtman
The Matters at Mansfield by Carrie Debris
The Last Templar by Raymond Khoury
Dyer Consequences by Maggie Shefton
To Catch a Thief by Christina Skye
Knock Out by Catherine Coulter
Dead Days of Summer by Carolyn Hart

I also had a wonderful surprise a couple of weeks ago - I entered a contest sponsored by Carolyn Haines who writes the wonderful Bones mysteries (not the bones on TV - but books titled Wish Bones and Splintered Bones). I love her books and I entered the contest - and I WON!! I won a copy of Greedy Bones and I am so looking forward to reading it!! Did I tell you the book is autographed!! So of course it is going on my book shelf with my other autographed book by Jacklyn Reding.

Anyway, have a lovely day - the weather here is awesome!! Sunny, warm but not hot, no rain, no humidity - great days to sit on the deck and do your own thing.