tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-90709697442627196582024-03-05T13:24:23.680-08:00The Magic of Ordinary DaysIdahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15037652466751762191noreply@blogger.comBlogger70125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9070969744262719658.post-7287093994685191792015-04-24T11:33:00.003-07:002015-04-24T11:33:36.287-07:00TGIF - trust, gratitude, inspiration, and faithHave you read this book? It's awesome. Seriously. So much good stuff.<br />
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I love the chapter on Joy and Gratitude in which Brene mentions that she used to do a TGIF post every Friday on her blog. She would write about what she was <i>Trusting, </i>what she was <i>Grateful </i>for, what <i>Inspires</i> her, and how she was practicing her <i>Faith. </i>She did this because gratitude has to be a practice in order to bring us joy.<br />
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I LOVE this idea. Unfortunately I came a little late to the party and she hasn't done those posts in a couple of years. But I thought I would start doing them here on my blog. So in the spirit of being authentic and brave, here is my TGIF:<br />
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<b>Trust - </b> I am trusting that a person I have gone to for help will actually be able to help me with an exhausting and heartbreaking struggle.<br />
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<b>Gratitude - </b> I am profoundly grateful today that my college daughter was not hurt in her car accident this past week, that my sister was there to help and comfort her, and that my dad (whose car she was driving) was so kind and generous about the whole thing.<br />
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<b>Inspiration - </b>Quilting is inspiring me right now. Associating with so many talented people, both in person and over social media has really helped me aspire to improve my skills and express myself more fully in this medium. (If you are wondering where all my quilting posts have gone, I've moved them to my new quilting blog - <a href="http://idaratherbequilting.com/" target="_blank">idaratherbequilting.com</a>.<br />
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<b>Faith - </b>I am practicing my faith by studying the gospels and finding new insights in the stories and parables. Not taking these familiar texts for granted but really looking at them to see how they might challenge me in my day to day life and understanding of Christ.<br />
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I would love to hear what your TGIF reflections are.Idahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15037652466751762191noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9070969744262719658.post-74958498068980079522015-04-03T00:30:00.000-07:002015-04-04T16:54:32.921-07:00Twin House QuiltsOnce upon a time Debbie Grifka of Esch Quilts posted a Moda Bake Shop <a href="http://www.modabakeshop.com/2012/08/neighborhood-charm-quilt.html" target="_blank">tutorial</a> for this quilt:<br />
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It's called Neighborhood Charm and is such a great modern baby quilt. I love the bold graphic design and the movement of the negative space.<br />
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Some time later, both my parents and my sister Michelle were moving. And while moving is a common occurrence in my life, the rest of my family is fairly stationary so it was kind of a big deal. Since I was far away in Turkey and couldn't help with the packing/unpacking or the extensive remodel that my sister's new house required, I decided to turn this cute baby quilt into two twin-size matching quilts (doesn't that make them twin twins?).<br />
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My graph paper and I got to work extending Debbie's little neighborhood of houses into a whole suburb. And then armed with a handful of Moda's Juggling Summer charm packs, I started building houses.<br />
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Putting the white corners on each charm results in some waste triangles. But with an extra seam I found I could create tiny one inch HSTs which I pieced together to make a border.<br />
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And after making rows and rows and rows of houses with carefully spaced empty lot white squares -<br />
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I got them both put together. They are identical except for the color of border and what I quilted in the empty squares. My sister's had a deep purple border and I stitched a picket fence and flowers in the empty space.<br />
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My parents' had a rust red border and I quilted trees into those blank spaces. I don't have as detailed a picture of that one but hopefully you can see them well enough here:<br />
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Hmm... hard to see because this shot was taken after a washing but I tried several different types of trees.<br />
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Here's Helga (my Viking) quilting away on Michelle's:<br />
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I waited until our family reunion instead of sending them in the mail just because I wanted to see them open them. (That is pretty much the best part of giving away a quilt, right?) So here are the twin twins:<br />
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For the backs I used some wonderful Turkish fabric I had picked up in my final <a href="http://myordinarymagic.blogspot.com/2013/08/fabric-hoarding-i-mean-shopping-in-old.html" target="_blank">fabric shopping spree</a>. Turkish fabric is 90 inches wide and makes amazing backing. Right before I left I found several fabrics with English text on them.<br />
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The text is more visible in these label shots:<br />
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I used some pre-printed quilt labels I had ordered and just a raw edge applique before quilting. I'm not super happy with the result and in the future will attach a finished edge label <i>after</i> quilting. My sister's is called, "Keep Calm and Re-model On," and my parents' is "Hearth and Home."<br />
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I have <b>never</b> made the same quilt twice. And I'm not sure I will again but I'm glad I did it this way - both at the same time. And that I quilted both the negative space and the borders uniquely for each quilt.<br />
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After our fun family reunion, both quilts went home to their new houses - to live happily ever after.Idahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15037652466751762191noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9070969744262719658.post-40249813273930856322015-03-31T09:30:00.000-07:002015-03-31T09:30:02.225-07:00Another small finish- improv scrappy quilted pillowI decided to try my hand at another popular non-quilt project in the quilting world - pillow covers. And since I had an awesome baby sister with a birthday coming up AND some darling scraps from my current big quilt project, I figured that the stars were aligned.<br />
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Here is the sister:<br />
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She's the second from the left and the youngest.<br />
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And here is the pillow:<br />
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The fabric line is Bluebird Park by Moda. It has the cutest little hedgehogs (which is the sole reason I bought it.) Look closely - see them in that orange piece in the bottom left quadrant? There were hedgehogs in Turkey that lived near the base housing and once you've seen those little spiny potatoes, you just can't NOT love them. We used to go looking for them at night. You can see a picture of my mom holding one in <a href="http://myordinarymagic.blogspot.com/2013/05/my-totally-awesome-globe-trotting.html" target="_blank">this</a> post.<br />
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For my big quilt I'm using a jelly roll and layer cake of this line for a fun envelope block quilt using a Missouri Star tutorial. I'll post it when it's finished. I did a piano key border for the quilt and the leftovers made a great backing. I was even brave enough to put a zipper in. (Yay me!)<br />
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I used straight lines and a large spiral swirl for the main block and then did some fun mini swirls and pearls for the negative space. I was pretty pleased with the way the quilting turned out. It's nice to see improvement! (See the hedgehogs?)<br />
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This sister has never received a full size quilt from me although I did make her a fun wall quilt when she moved to Texas. (Hey, I guess this one was actually my first mini. Hm... Didn't realize that.)<br />
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So although this isn't a full quilt either, (someday Wendy, I promise) it was fun to give her something quilty for her birthday. My mom was visiting us and then visiting her, so she was my delivery girl. So via two airports and a plane ride, it got safely to its new home.Idahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15037652466751762191noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9070969744262719658.post-8731939480324849382015-03-29T12:40:00.001-07:002015-03-29T12:40:45.498-07:00Quilted name tagHave I mentioned that I'm serving as the Vice President for my local modern quilt guild? No? Well, it wasn't exactly intentional but after I<strike> got roped in</strike> committed to it, I've found it very rewarding. I started attending this guild in January of 2014 when it was held in Henderson at Quiltique. It was a fairly robust group then. But through the months and a location change to the Christmas Goose on the west side of town, the attendance dwindled until at last December's meeting there were only 5 of us. Thus the 'nomination' to the 2015 board.<br />
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But I'm happy to report that things have really turned around for the guild. Our membership has exploded and we're almost standing room only in our meetings. I love all the ladies on the board and am really enjoying being a part of leading this vibrant group of quilters. I'm in charge of membership as well as swaps and challenges for the group. Our first challenge was to make a name tag. Here's what I did:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6qoRMfb4uvp-GgSsGkq-2T7jtiw3ieW4VF7Kcu96tvt6-m7KpVw587tFr5BYf0N5yysAuc6SXCKA9A8wiM7QHUulGJxGfA26XDJBFAw-nBKNo5pUL7Mh_vMYEGvlpsS9hD4USnOEFQd0/s1600/IMG_20150210_093854.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6qoRMfb4uvp-GgSsGkq-2T7jtiw3ieW4VF7Kcu96tvt6-m7KpVw587tFr5BYf0N5yysAuc6SXCKA9A8wiM7QHUulGJxGfA26XDJBFAw-nBKNo5pUL7Mh_vMYEGvlpsS9hD4USnOEFQd0/s1600/IMG_20150210_093854.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
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I started with a small quilt sandwich of white fabric, batting and black fabric. I didn't want to piece or applique the letters and had some metal letters left from my paper scrapbooking days so I tacked those on. Then I raw edge appliqued some small square scraps from Geoffrey's black and white quilt along with a fussy cut from my favorite Turkish fabric. Don't you just love those tulips in the bicycle basket? This effectively quilted the layers together. I added a thin binding of red polka dot. Thin binding is harder to work with my usual 2.5 inch binding. A couple of my mitered corners are less than perfect (by a lot). But it is good to try new things right?<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsQ8LEKH7bwgiRXgtkHv-AadLG3g8VcoL89v6l9wRJv7FK2XcOS7-ohP9wbEagw1IEa1fbQimoKrFYHPlYzkHUKpFF_Bl-Os4OXjL56CLud-H_TCWCjJtSxXWrwR1MbAEPBgf6XECJghc/s1600/IMG_20150210_112055.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsQ8LEKH7bwgiRXgtkHv-AadLG3g8VcoL89v6l9wRJv7FK2XcOS7-ohP9wbEagw1IEa1fbQimoKrFYHPlYzkHUKpFF_Bl-Os4OXjL56CLud-H_TCWCjJtSxXWrwR1MbAEPBgf6XECJghc/s1600/IMG_20150210_112055.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a></div>
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I thought the letters needed something to finish them so I added a small knot of ribbon to each one. Then I made a double fold strap out of scraps and attached it to the back. I am glad that I attached the straps to each corner rather than the center like a lanyard because it lays flat and straight when I wear it.<br />
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I presented the challenge in our February meeting and showed mine as an example. The members who wanted to participate brought theirs to show in the March meeting. We even had a special raffle drawing for those who made a name tag. Here is all our tags up on the design wall together:<br />
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I loved seeing all the different ideas and creative techniques.<br />
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P.S. I started chatting with a couple of ladies in the check out line at Kohls the other day. The subject of names came up and one of them was bemoaning how she didn't like her name - Ann, because it was so old-fashioned. I shared that my name, Ida LaVern, was even more so. She agreed and commented that my parents had really screwed me up! Ha ha! I forgave her because she let me use her menswear coupon which got me two ties for free. :) And I've never hated my names or thought that my parents were unkind in giving them to me. And with my new nametag, I think my name looks pretty darn modern!Idahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15037652466751762191noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9070969744262719658.post-33475515271938153742015-03-26T15:19:00.001-07:002015-03-26T23:07:16.005-07:00The Meaning of Military Life.. . at least, my military life. I find myself living mostly among civilians again. And being the new girl in town, I often hear myself repeating that totally insufficient explanatory phrase, "We're a military family." Usually it's in response to an inquiry of why we moved here, what we were doing living in Turkey before that, or why we only expect to be here in Vegas for two years. Sometimes it's in response to the question of what my husband does.<br />
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I often wonder what people think when they hear that I'm a military wife. I'm sure of one thing, though. They have no idea what those four words mean. They might think they do, kind of like the captain of the Titanic thought he saw something in the water ahead. But they don't.<br />
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So with full acknowledgement that I don't represent military wives or families and that everyone's experiences are different, here are a few thoughts on what it really means to be military.<br />
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It means my life is lived in segments book-ended by moves. Any memory of any event must first be retrieved from the segment to which it belongs. This happened in Turkey, that birthday was the one in Utah. And I can't always easily remember where we were living when this child was baptized or when we attended this event. Locations too. Sometimes a place will be mentioned, a store or restaurant, and the image that comes to my mind will be from the wrong mental map. The sushi place in Florida rather than the one in Texas, for example.<br />
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Being a military wife means making friends over and over again. I've never had much trouble making friends but as I get older I find it harder to muster the energy to build yet another temporary friendship. Friendships with other military women are easier to create. They understand that time is always short. The natural evolution of a friendships has to be sped up. Military women have room in their lives for new friends. They are almost always living away from extended family and their BFFs from high school just like I am. And they know a successful assignment means building a support system, even if you just did that two years ago at your last base.<br />
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Non-military women are harder. They rarely intend to be unkind but they often take long months of casual acquaintanceship before they really notice you as a potential friend candidate. And they often are firmly rooted with fully developed family and friend relationships already filling their lives. These women do not <i>need</i> your friendship. Even when they figure out that you are friend material, they are hesitant to invest in a friendship that will only end. I don't blame them for this. I can't promise a worthwhile reward on that investment. But it can still feel like rejection.<br />
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Moving also means re-building the lives of your kids. Every time. There is no possibility of them staying with the same piano teacher, baseball league or anything else for their whole childhood. Not only do your kids need to make new friends at each assignment, which may require your facilitation, but they also need to make a new life. Not all opportunities will exist in all places. Just because I found an amazing theater arts group for my daughter in Utah doesn't mean I'll be able to find something similar in Florida. Sometimes they have to give up something they really like just because it just doesn't carry over well into the next location. And it means that they probably won't become the child expert/champion/overachiever that is so lauded in today's society. <br />
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After our third Air Force move I made the decision to primarily homeschool my kids. Honestly it was and continues to be the biggest sacrifice I have ever made. I did it for a number of complex reasons but one of those reasons was so that moving would not involve the pain of changing schools over and over again. I wanted to give my kids as much stability as I could create in a lifestyle largely devoid of it. I wanted their peers and buddies to be their siblings instead of 30 other kids their same age who they won't see again after the next PCS cycle. Ten years later I can look back and see that my decision has made a positive difference. But it has also meant that my kids don't have the assistance of public school life and its opportunities to help them rebuild their lives each time. So that responsibility largely falls on my shoulders. Sometimes I'm great at it. Sometimes I'm not. Either way it feels heavy. There is a lot of guilt. <br />
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Military life means that you are a small part of a massive entity. In some ways this is wonderful. I've mentioned before that an F-16 screaming overhead doesn't sound like noise pollution to me, it sounds like freedom. Being a part of the force that maintains that freedom is meaningful. We are patriots, the lot of us and we are proud to make the sacrifices as individuals and families that keep this country strong. But the military is infected with that disease common to all large entities - bureaucracy. We have a bad case of it. It is hard to sufficiently describe how frustrating the bureaucracy of the military can be. And we have to deal with it all the time. <br />
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Being a military family also means that our entire lives revolve around my husband's job. For non-military families, the job is just the thing that finances the rest of life. For us, the job dictates most of the rest of life. Again, it's hard to adequately describe this. Obviously it dictates where we live and how long we will live there. But there is more to it than that. I have trouble committing our family to any event more than three weeks away because I never know what is going to come up. Unexpected TDYs, late nights or just more than the normal amount of stress can pop up anytime and those thing always take priority. Even things as important as a family reunion a year away get a maybe from me. Flexibility is vital for a military wife but sometimes the other side of flexible is wishy-washy. <br />
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When my husband and I go out on dates or weekends together we spend 90 percent of our time discussing his job, both the current assignment and what his best options are for his next assignment. And when the stress level at work is high it always carries over into marriage and family relationships. I'm not even talking about scary stress like PTSD or abnormal stress like re-integration after a deployment but just the normal stress of an overworked, underfunded, undermanned Air Force. It's the biggest enemy to military families and it's hard to conquer.<br />
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Another tough one is the very very fine line I walk between being independent enough to cope without my husband while still helping him feel a part of the family. I have to be able to function through deployments and TDYs and those times when he is here physically but not mentally. If I'm not able to do this, it creates a distraction and hardship for him and makes my children's lives unstable and scary. But like many military wives I've spoken with, I struggle with the flip side of that coping ability: your husband ends up feels unneeded and disconnected. Just a paycheck. There are whole volumes that could be written on this one but I'll just say it makes navigating the marital landscape much harder.<br />
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Most of all, I guess, being a military wife means that I am a different person than I expected to be. The experience of being married to an active duty military member has shaped me. A lot of that is good and I'm grateful for it. Some of it isn't. I've had amazing experiences that would never have happened without the military life. I've met wonderful people and experienced life in multiple places. I've raised kids who are resilient and incredibly close, both to me and to each other. And over and over I've learned about sacrifice and felt the soul stretching that comes through it.<br />
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All because I am a military wife.<br />
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<br />Idahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15037652466751762191noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9070969744262719658.post-56535635684933412252014-05-15T12:30:00.000-07:002014-05-15T12:30:23.470-07:00Sunshine and Mustaches I just love the instant gratification that is a baby quilt. Long projects are great but sometimes they are just so.... well, long. A quick baby quilt project (or two) can be a great boost when my patience and perseverance on the bigger quilts is running low. <br />
Fortunately for me I know some pregnant people!! And some recently pregnant people. Always nice to have a convenient pregnant person around when you want to make a baby quilt. Plus they really make the coolest baby shower gifts ever. (The quilts not the preggos.) <br />
Baby quilt number one is called Scattered Sunshine and was made for my newest niece, Savannah.<br />
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I tried out a great technique described by Jenny of Missouri Star Quilt Company in <a href="http://quiltingtutorials.com/all/amazing-jelly-roll-quilt-pattern-3-dudes/" target="_blank">this tutorial</a>. It's a variation of her pinwheel block tricked up by 3 Dudes Quilting. Anyway, it's really easy but with the high contrast of the fabrics and the smaller block size I used, the quilt top turned out quite busy. There wasn't anywhere for your eyes to rest. So I added a wide border of yellow, which I liked but then it was way too yellow.<br />
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So I bought some giant ric rac, something I'm been dying to work with, and stitched that over the narrow white border. It took me a while to figure out how to do the corners but I think it worked to bring the girliness back a bit. <br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I LOVE love love the backing to this. All the fabric were from a kit I bought from Stitches and Sew Forth months and months back. But I didn't love the pattern so it was no hardship to use it for this quilt instead. <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJ59tKuPo8IjwJFaxnalqbYnhYhg8GzAV_0zAEvShYPTtrYUBVgwgfrqPRlS3F_RyVpfmP2ag67-0xDpD0F9t7Br2RSqfLrBWh6ZOKQR7ctyB5bMAvNjKnhd1eMyjIGv3KtjWOExvhJV8/s1600/IMG_0583.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJ59tKuPo8IjwJFaxnalqbYnhYhg8GzAV_0zAEvShYPTtrYUBVgwgfrqPRlS3F_RyVpfmP2ag67-0xDpD0F9t7Br2RSqfLrBWh6ZOKQR7ctyB5bMAvNjKnhd1eMyjIGv3KtjWOExvhJV8/s1600/IMG_0583.jpg" height="400" width="400" /></a></div>
I have promised to put labels on all my quilts now so here is the label I did for this one. Still trying to decided if I like putting the label on before the quilting or after. Once it was finished and washed up nicely I put it in the mail for Utah, where it will live at my brother's house.<br />
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Quilt number two was for a cute young mom at church. We discovered one day that her mother and my mother grew up in the same little town in Arizona. And my grandpa was her mom's bishop. Small world.<br />
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For this quilt I tried another technique I've had my eyes on. After looking at <a href="http://modernmaterialgirlsblog.blogspot.com/2013/01/mustache-quilt.html" target="_blank">this quilt</a> by Modern Material Girl and <a href="http://artgalleryfabrics.typepad.com/weblog/2012/07/fat-quarter-gang-must-dash-little-lap-quilt-by-im-a-ginger-moneky.html" target="_blank">this quilt</a> by I'm a Ginger Monkey, I came up with this:<br />
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You can see my block dimensions are different. I was working with leftover layer cake squares - the Comma by Zen Chic line. And I didn't have duplicates. So if I wanted to have a mustache and a matching solid block, I would have to make the blocks rectangular instead of square. I cut three inches off each ten inch block. That was enough to use the mustache template provided by I'm a Ginger Monkey.<br />
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I was afraid that the colors weren't masculine enough so I added a few more greys to the mix and kept all of them in the center diagonals of the quilt. The backing is also grey, in a delicious chevron striped minky I bought at Quiltique, my sort of local quilt shop. The chevron stripes are not heat pressed into the fabric like the raised dots on some minkys. They are sort of shaved in, if that makes sense. So they won't disappear with heat or wear. <br />
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I also tried a new binding technique. (Baby quilts make an awesome venue for trying out new things.) It's called Susie's Magic Binding. You can find the tute <a href="http://www.52quilts.com/2012/05/tuesday-tutorial-susies-magic-binding.html" target="_blank">here</a>. The technique is not hard but I still managed to misread the directions and ended up with grey binding with a tiny green flange instead of the other way around. Oh well, I like how it turned out. <br />
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The green is easiest to see on the label, which I attached <i>after</i> I was done quilting. I think I like that better but I'm not sure it will be as sturdy.<br />
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Due to a scheduling conflict I wasn't able to go to the baby shower. But Cynthia loved the quilt and the mustache pacifier I ordered from Amazon to go with it. Have you seen those? They are stinking cute!<br />
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I'd love some feedback on the label question - when to you attach it? And any fun new techniques you've recently tried out, on baby quilts or otherwise. Idahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15037652466751762191noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9070969744262719658.post-53235605633592311232014-03-02T18:13:00.000-08:002014-03-02T18:13:29.701-08:00Quilting again - Thank Heaven!One thing I have learned from this whole long drawn out moving and re-settling process is how much joy I get from quilting. I could go into the why and hows of that but I know that for those of you who understand no explanation is needed and for those of who don't no explanation would suffice.<br />
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But while I was without my own Helga for four months (and missed her very much) I did get a chance to sew on my mother's Viking while I was staying with her. Her machine is about the same age I am. She bought it while my dad was finishing his PhD at Purdue and she paid for it mostly by teaching machine embroidery classes. This was back when machine embroidery did not involve software and was much more like free motion quilting or thread painting. Anyway, the machine is a rock. 40ish years later and it's still going strong.<br />
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My mom is an accomplished seamstress but hasn't done much quilting. Inspired by a certain daughter she decided she wanted to make a quilt for her first grandchild's wedding. We chose something simple since we didn't have a lot of time. I had been wanting to try the giant star quilt <a href="http://www.incolororder.com/2011/08/giant-vintage-star-quilt-tutorial.html" target="_blank">tutorial</a> at In Color Order and I loved <a href="http://www.diaryofaquilter.com/2013/07/giant-indie-star-quilt.html" target="_blank">this variation</a> with the great borders at Diary of a Quilter. We also thought it would be fun to use Jake and Laura's wedding colors, which were midnight blue and sage green.<br />
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I have to say that this pattern is awesome for putting together a quick but impressive quilt and with Jeni Baker's great diagrams showing layouts for 8, 4 or 2 colors it's so versatile. We had a great time choosing fabrics and the quilt top went together quickly and fabulously.<br />
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I love the polish that the scrappy border adds to it. We took turns free-motion quilting the different sections. Each section has a different pattern with the whites all being a large stipple. My mom's machine embroidery skills served her well and she's on her way to becoming a great free motion quilter. <br />
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The back is black and white sheet music. Particularly appropriate since both Jake and Laura are in vocal performance choirs at their college. The binding is an awesome, funky geometric fabric that has both the green and blue in it. My mom wasn't sure about this one but I knew it would make a great binding. It keeps the quilt fresh and modern. And just makes me happy. <br />
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We split the backing up with a thick strip of bricks and a tone on tone black. The quilting shows up well on the black and you can see the various stitch patterns we used.<br />
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I didn't get exact measurements of the finished quilt but it turned out about queen size which is equivalent to a snuggle couch quilt for my 6'8" nephew. <br />
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My sister wanted them to open the quilt before the reception so we could hang it behind the gift table. It looked pretty amazing since it matched all the wedding decor. My mom has decided to make this a tradition for all her grandkids. She has quite a few of those so it's a good thing her machine is so immortal!<br />
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As for me, I've finally gotten Helga unpacked and settled in a corner of my bedroom. I'm making progress on my two matching quilts-in-progress. And just to cheer myself up during a dismal week, I've started a new quilt. Idahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15037652466751762191noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9070969744262719658.post-89187296071323732832014-01-19T17:30:00.000-08:002014-03-02T21:28:02.093-08:00The Candy Bomber - Visit with an American Hero Have you ever met a celebrity? I have to admit that the idea has never really appealed to me. There are very few media-famous persons that I have any desire to meet. But a hero, now that is a different story. Perhaps the best event of our recent homelessness was the chance to meet Lt. Col. Gail Halvorsen (Ret.) aka the Berlin Candy Bomber. <br />
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Colonel Halvorsen flew during the Berlin Airlift and after seeing a group of German children peacefully share two sticks of gum he had given them, promised to drop some chocolate from his plane on his next run. The identifying signal, a dip of his wings as he came in, earned him the name Uncle Wiggly Wings. And that initial drop of chocolate bars turned into a huge months-long operation which gave hope back to Germany's children and helped to heal the wounds of war between the two nations.<br />
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This fall a new book was released by Shadow Mountain:<br />
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The book is very well done with beautiful illustrations mixed with old photos. The enclosed DVD is not an audio version of the book, it's a video recording of a Tabernacle Choir concert during which Tom Brokaw reads the book. Impressive. So when my mother decided to purchase a book for each of her children I was excited.<br />
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And when she asked me if my family would be interested in meeting Brother Halvorsen (yes, he's Mormon) and having our book signed, I was almost giddy. Miley Cyrus? No thank you. Hilary Clinton? Pass on that one too. But a chance to meet the dashing young captain who broke the rules and talked his buddies out of their chocolate bar rations so he could chuck them out the plane windows tied to hankerchiefs? I might swoon. <br />
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Colonel Halvorsen lives about an hour south of Tucson and somehow my mother knows someone in his stake who could get us his phone number. One phone call later, during which he called my mother 'sunshine', we had a date with a hero.<br />
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We planned it for the weekend Geoffrey came down to bring us the Excursion. I think he was as excited as I was.<br />
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Here is Col. Halvorsen signing the seven books my mom brought with us. Don't you love his shirt? He's the sweetest old cowboy you could ever meet. You wouldn't know he is in his nineties. He had us all laughing the entire visit. He was excited to learn of our military service and asked us many questions about our recent year in Turkey. He even thanked us for our service and my children for their sacrifice. <br />
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He mostly talked to my kids, which I really appreciated. They were very attentive and I kept thinking, "Remember this! Remember this!" (I have wished before for a Permanent Record Button for my children's memories. This is one of those times it would have been useful.) He talked about great things coming from small things - two sticks of gum leading to improved international relations. He told the story of being called in to his CO's office and expecting a severe reprimand but getting a go-ahead instead. And how it went from cajoling other pilots and crew to give up their candy bars to being sent crates of candy parachutes from schools and charity groups in the U.S. <br />
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He told us of returning to Germany years later when a school was named after him and meeting a man who as a child had a candy bar drop down through the clouds to land at his feet. And hearing how that chocolate bar gave him hope that things would get better.<br />
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He was happy and joking through most of our visit. But he got choked up just once. That was while telling our kids to never pass up the chance to give service. He told of being left home once as a teenager while the rest of the family went on day trip. The family was late getting back so he went out to begin the evening milking. He was able to get all the cows milked by himself before his father returned. Telling us about this one act of service for his father was what brought him to tears.<br />
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Here is the crew with Brother and Sister Halvorsen. <br />
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And one of the two Lt. Colonels together. Geoffrey wants this one in his office.<br />
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Colonel Halvorsen is the kind of hero I want my kids to be. The kind of hero I want to be. He took the small means that were available to him, two sticks of gum and some chocolate bars, and used them to share love and goodness and hope. That small act made a huge impact in a time of great hardship. <br />
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Doctrine and Covenants Section 64 verse 33 - Wherefore, be not weary in well-doing, for ye are laying the foundation of a great work. And out of small things proceedeth that which is great. <br />
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I have a secret belief that someday in heaven we will be shown the effects of our actions, the ripple effect that our small choices to be be kind or selfish have had throughout others' lives. My guess is that Col. Halvorsen will have a lot to watch. Idahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15037652466751762191noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9070969744262719658.post-61608297439003286952013-10-24T15:05:00.000-07:002014-03-02T21:30:37.110-08:00Visiting the Hive - a week with my sisterI haven't blogged in almost a month. Not because I haven't had things to write about but mostly because my laptop keeps getting stolen by my children. As their desktop computer is still on a boat, my laptop is their only connection with the online world. So I keep having to confiscate it back from them. It makes me grumpy. <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The most amazing women on earth.</td></tr>
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But I just spent a week with my older sister - she's the one on the left - preceded by a short visit with one of my two younger sisters - the one to the left of me. And that is enough to cure any grumpiness. It's hard for me to put into words how I feel about my sisters. But this picture sums up our relationship pretty well. <br />
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Last week Dieter F. Uchtdorf gave a wonderful talk in the LDS General Conference. His topic was inclusion in the church; the idea that no matter your background, your doubts, failings, or differences there is room for you in the church community. That is how it works with my sisters.<br />
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We are different. Two of my sisters work as teachers, one a full-time kindergarten teacher and one a part-time preschool teacher. The third is an amazingly talented photographer who works when opportunity and her schedule allow. I haven't had a paid job for 14 years.<br />
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My oldest sister has lived in the same small town for 20 years. When we go grocery shopping she knows everyone we see, down to the bagger boys. Both my younger sisters lived in the city we grew up in until fairly recently. One of them now lives in Texas, far away from family for the first time. The other moved to a really small town an hour away from both my parents and the oldest sister. The last time I lived within 2 hours of my family was in 2000. My baby sister served a mission in Australia and then took her husband back for their honeymoon. The other two sisters have been only to Mexico. And I've been to more places on the globe than I ever imagined I would. <br />
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Three of us have five children each and one has two children with one more angel in heaven. Their ages range from grown and out of the nest (or nearly) to three year olds. Our husbands' careers include computer programmer, Auto shop teacher, Air Force doc and Border Patrol agent.<br />
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But we are the same. Do you see that smile up there? It's the same one- just on four different faces. Our husbands call us The Hive because we think alike and can understand each other perfectly with minimal communication and effort. One of the pillars in my ever-changing, always crazy life is that my sisters will always get me. They will understand even when they can't relate. They will always support me, love me and accept me. It's a given. A blessed one.<br />
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So my time with my sisters this past month has been wonderful.<br />
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My kids have enjoyed it too. They've enjoyed spending time with their cousins and being able to walk outside and do this: <br />
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One of the great advantages of living on the outskirts of a small town is that there is space. Space for planting a garden, space for projects, and space to ride an ATV all around the property and down the dirt road and over the jump into the wash. My boys were out on the 4 wheeler every chance they got and would come back inside with dust covered grins.<br />
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My sister and I worked on her oldest son's upcoming wedding plans. She is in charge of most of the reception and is a bit stressed about it. She is also deluded in her estimation of my talents and asked me to help arrange the flowers. So after a day's work we had this to show for it:<br />
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We also had bouquets for the bridesmaids and bride and other arrangements for the display tables and the lattice backdrop. It was an enjoyable day and felt good to flex my creative muscles a bit.<br />
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The big event of the week was the county fair. We took all the kids on ride bracelet day and it still cost me a packet to get bracelets for all 5 of my brood.<br />
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They all enjoyed the rides but I think if asked, the highlight would have been either the life-size, blue-ribbon-winning Tardis made by their oldest cousin, Jake:<br />
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Or this chicken and all his fuzzy headed compatriots:<br />
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The crowning jewel on our week there was the smoked ribs and pork shoulder created by my brother-in-law. He let Carson help him prepare and smoke the meat, thereby earning the title of Coolest Uncle. This is pretty hilarious since years ago my oldest two though he was the Meanest Uncle. But I digress. I'm not a super huge rib fan but these were the best I have ever tasted. OMGosh delicious!<br />
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They went so fast it I almost didn't get a picture! We devoured three full racks of ribs for dinner and had the pork shoulder shredded with sauce for sandwiches the next day. SO good.<br />
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As I'm writing all this I'm realizing that I didn't take any pictures with me or my sister in them. I guess that is typical. We are the moms, always behind the camera. Both of us tend to be overly critical of ourselves in photos. But I need to be better about taking shots of more than just my kids. Because I want to remember the times I spend with my sisters. Those memories are more important than a thick chin or a bad hair day. <br />
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<br />Idahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15037652466751762191noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9070969744262719658.post-76037944556878643752013-09-24T21:27:00.000-07:002014-03-02T21:34:18.935-08:00Arizona Beachfront Property <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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My good friend Juli and have a code of sorts. When one of us is having a horrendous day or is under a lot of stress, she will call up the other and ask, "I'm running away to Mexico, wanna come?" <br />
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Let me assure you that being in the middle of a intercontinental move qualifies as being under a lot of stress. So after being back in the United States for one week, the kids and I decided to leave it once more - to go to Mexico. My parents had a week scheduled at their shared condo and invited us to go with them.<br />
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We've been going to Rocky Point since I was a teenager. First camping at Playa Bonita and then later staying in the condo. My husband has never once been able to come with us. Initially because of school demands, then because of deployments and now because active duty members can not go into Mexico. But if you know me, you know I am pretty independent and don't stay home just because Geoffrey can't accompany me.<br />
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The last time the kids and I were all at the condo was in 2006 while Geoff was in Iraq.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Here's my cuties 7 years ago. Rory was just a baby.</td></tr>
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I visited a few years later with all my sisters and some cousins for a great girls trip. And during our move from Utah down to Texas, my oldest two spent some time with my folks and got to visit the condo then. <br />
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But it was great to be all together again. We did all our favorite things - eating pollo asado (roast chicken) with fresh corn tortillas, cabbage and limes. Buying warm tortillas from the tortillaries by the dozen and making quesadillas with chihuahua cheese. My kids though this was hilarious and immediately renamed it puppy feet cheese. And of course we had to go buy paletas nearly every day. Paletas are Mexican popsicles. They are good sized, come on a rough thick wooden stick and are available in flavors like mango, lime, coconut, strawberry with chili and pistachio to name a few. They melt quickly because there is nothing artificial or weird in them and they are delicious!<br />
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And of course we spent lots of time at the beach.<br />
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The water was warm and shallow. It took us a few days to figure out the tide schedule but once we did we went tide pooling and collected crabs, slugs, tiny fish and weird worms in a bucket.<br />
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My mom and I took long walks on the beach in the morning. One morning we came home with this:<br />
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As I was still doing school with the kids whenever we weren't at the beach or in the pool, we turned it into a science lesson. Gotta love homeschool.<br />
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One Saturday we went shopping in an area we call Shacks Fifth Avenue. Years ago it was really just shacks along a dirt road but lately its been developed with pavement and sidewalks. It's still the best place to find souvenirs. I bought a hammock chair, hoping our new house has a back porch. Delaney, Brannick and Carson all bought hats. Carson's was a bit unusual but he loves it.<br />
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For those of you who watch Studio C, we decided he could dress up as the Awkward Avoidance Viking for Halloween. Evan got a necklace and Rory settled on a back scratcher. Yeah, that was a weird one but whatever makes him happy. <br />
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My most interesting find was these bracelets:<br />
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Yep, that is the Turkish nazar boncuk and a khamsa!! But what are evil eyes and the hand of Fatima doing in Mexico!! Mexico has its own set of home guardians and superstitions but they don't include these. We asked the shop keeper about them but she didn't know much about them. I got the impression they were just another bead she could buy to make bracelets out of. Crazy, huh? <br />
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Sunday we went to church at the local branch and tried to sit quietly through the Spanish service. A little boy in front of me was fascinated with my Kindle. I had it out reading through a Sunday School lesson. He could not take his eyes of it. When I handed him a pen and a piece of paper from Evan's notebook he drew a perfect replica of it, right down to the small icons on the bottom of the screen and the cut out of the case for the speakers.<br />
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Monday Mom took the older boys and I to a shrimp place for lunch. Delaney and the younger boys don't care much for seafood. We sat on the top patio of the restaurant and watched the pelicans dive into the water and engulf huge beakfulls of tiny fish. The seagulls pestered them, picking at their mouths as they slowly let the water escape. Then the pelicans would throw back their heads and gulp down their meal, wagging their tail feathers in satisfaction before taking flight to repeat the process.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">No, that's not a margarita. It's just the world's best lemonade - which in Mexico is made from limes.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My hot lunch dates.</td></tr>
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After we got back from lunch, the whole crew headed down to the beach one last time. We were leaving the next day and had decided that our final hurrah would be to take a banana boat ride.<br />
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Here we are, all loaded up and ready to go. We ended up paying $5 per person for a 5 minute ride. That's a bit steep but it was a fun and made a great memory.<br />
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Tuesday morning we packed up and cleaned, got our last hits of pollo asado, fresh tortillas and paletas and then hit the road. Adios and via con Dios!<br />
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<br />Idahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15037652466751762191noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9070969744262719658.post-66340494862985310042013-09-20T09:58:00.001-07:002014-03-02T21:33:58.660-08:00Cochem Castle - Last visit to Germany<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Yes, I am back in the United States preparing to lead a much less
adventurous life in Nevada. But things moved so fast at the end of the
summer that I never got to blog about our last trip to Germany. And as
my new life is going to be depressingly devoid of European travel, I
have to maximize the memories. <br />
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Back in early August I took Brannick and Delaney up to Germany. We flew up in a C-130 - their first time doing a Space A hop in a military plane. Delaney had been invited to attend Girls Camp with the Kaiserslautern Stake and Brannick just needed to get off base for a bit. We were able to stay with our good friends Mark and Karen Bowen, who had just moved from Incirlik to Spangdahlem. Since we arrived a few days before the camp started, the Bowens took us to a castle festival they had heard about. <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPha34LDUDgi8z4f-kHVE3boJoDSGWQrQrZm0ciu4MZ0g8Xni0S1rP3zD2TcA2iHyhkEMfJ3lViLKHl5qq1pJ8ylW4mwEdDr4ZmnKNxxphcv-q-zfZlIQQBNgddqUAPQ3uuqYcKc3t6dY/s1600/IMG_3716.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPha34LDUDgi8z4f-kHVE3boJoDSGWQrQrZm0ciu4MZ0g8Xni0S1rP3zD2TcA2iHyhkEMfJ3lViLKHl5qq1pJ8ylW4mwEdDr4ZmnKNxxphcv-q-zfZlIQQBNgddqUAPQ3uuqYcKc3t6dY/s400/IMG_3716.JPG" height="400" width="300" /></a></div>
This is Cochem Castle. It's a darling castle on a hill overlooking the Mosel River. It was built around the year 1000 by a count. That nasty Frenchie - King Louis XIV, aka the Sun King, pretty much destroyed it in 1689 and it lay in ruins for almost 200 years. Then in 1868 a German businessman named Ravene bought it and rebuilt it in a Neo-Gothic style. As was the fashion, he used it as a summer home. Can you imagine? Forget a villa, or a beach cottage, let's go summer in a <i>castle</i>. Since 1978 the castle has been city owned and every year they have great little Medieval type festivals. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0YgvQoR3CybN07jkV5ipLmD0EoQ9pAN96xAfIAIGM1oFs3tk3Mg9jug2bf_K3Q4Ux7H7XGNHkCCRInNmMUYBNbMTIa2BsG9Bmeyzac1dmDHQqjf3-kl-5adC_25gKrOcwofdIEVeTQXQ/s1600/IMG_3720.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0YgvQoR3CybN07jkV5ipLmD0EoQ9pAN96xAfIAIGM1oFs3tk3Mg9jug2bf_K3Q4Ux7H7XGNHkCCRInNmMUYBNbMTIa2BsG9Bmeyzac1dmDHQqjf3-kl-5adC_25gKrOcwofdIEVeTQXQ/s400/IMG_3720.JPG" height="400" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Me and my peeps. </td></tr>
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To my everlasting disappointment, there were no knights skipping around banging coconut halves together. (Is it wrong that my image of history is influenced by Monty Python?) But they did have these guys:<br />
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The cheesiest sword fighting you can possibly imagine. We decided that WWF wrestler rejects get jobs as festival swordsmen. Not only were they completely unbelievable but in manliness they were a pale second compared to these guys:</div>
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Bare chests, long leather skirts, big drums and bagpipes. Yep, it doesn't get more masculine than that. Brannick loved them and I'll admit the music was pretty rockin' even in another language. Too bad they weren't selling CDs. </div>
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Eventually we took a tour of the castle, which advertised an English tour guide. I have no doubt that he <i>could </i>speak English but the tour was most definitely in German. He gave us a paper with a short English description of each room and left us on our own. </div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNdaOUa22145FziGIy184T96DI3stA3XncaaQHOSaDAPnaBdqeRsU8OPitDfd90_O9WkYgC-wRR7J9PexQSF7wkGaVKa5H2lz4GV8YpMT8bZXGYIUvUFBwpGJD-GzzQK-u59aAIOJVOQY/s1600/IMG_3726.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNdaOUa22145FziGIy184T96DI3stA3XncaaQHOSaDAPnaBdqeRsU8OPitDfd90_O9WkYgC-wRR7J9PexQSF7wkGaVKa5H2lz4GV8YpMT8bZXGYIUvUFBwpGJD-GzzQK-u59aAIOJVOQY/s400/IMG_3726.JPG" height="400" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Boy armor.</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiktcjW54gAPgwikYitgiGNfhfv_cKaQ2LUynNKnKdgVqdBYKZjpWRLGKZOBEN0DZIzMItCTTJswTRZE3__YJX-dRy9umw6pmrJoxalehnHF9nfmxRht2FTk2dYfKjQggGdAE7-eA80Uk0/s1600/IMG_3727.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiktcjW54gAPgwikYitgiGNfhfv_cKaQ2LUynNKnKdgVqdBYKZjpWRLGKZOBEN0DZIzMItCTTJswTRZE3__YJX-dRy9umw6pmrJoxalehnHF9nfmxRht2FTk2dYfKjQggGdAE7-eA80Uk0/s400/IMG_3727.JPG" height="400" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Girl armor. (Just kidding). </td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiO0QZsIE21AktFQLIR5OpENFDQjkoCU-H2tfF3TGfivAmalddEun8A7tx2g8yRNxNsl2ngrcFS3adEQEgBwgzRuTum-30jJMvLO_Bz-8MbnotlPushBBPqWNF5LZtseJTZQ9O4VlBm6OQ/s1600/IMG_3729.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiO0QZsIE21AktFQLIR5OpENFDQjkoCU-H2tfF3TGfivAmalddEun8A7tx2g8yRNxNsl2ngrcFS3adEQEgBwgzRuTum-30jJMvLO_Bz-8MbnotlPushBBPqWNF5LZtseJTZQ9O4VlBm6OQ/s400/IMG_3729.JPG" height="400" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">And Goliath's armor. </td></tr>
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Seriously, that guy was tall. Too bad there were no pro basketball teams in the Middle Ages. Maybe it would have been too hard to dribble a basketball and bang your coconuts together at the same time?<br />
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We really enjoyed the festival. It was a beautiful day, good company and good fun.<br />
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Here's the crazy part. Stay with me cuz it's a bit convoluted. Last October the whole family visited Burg Eltz (<a href="http://myordinarymagic.blogspot.com/2012/10/catch-up-part-two-germany-with-fam.html" target="_blank">this post</a>) and for Christmas Carson found a small resin plate depicting Burg Eltz at the base thrift store. He was so excited to give it to me. Then just in time for Mother's Day he found a similar plate with another castle on it. I hung it on the wall next to the Burg Eltz one. After I got back from this trip I happened to look at the plates and realized that the Mother's Day plate was of Cochem Castle!! How's that for a coincidence?<br />
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Finally - just to prove that I really am in Arizona - here's a picture of two javelina we saw in Saguaro National Monument one morning. Kind of a smaller version of the one the boys shot in Pozanti. And see those mountains in the background? Those are the Catalinas, an indelible part of my childhood mental landscape. They say 'home' to me. Idahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15037652466751762191noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9070969744262719658.post-64124983736253316922013-09-12T14:52:00.001-07:002014-03-02T21:34:44.150-08:00Back in the Good Ol' <br />
A long time ago I heard about a funny bit published in Reader's Digest. A travel-tired little girl lay on a pile of suitcases in an airport while her military daddy saw to the details of yet another flight. A nearby woman sized up the situation and remarked, "You poor dear. You don't have a home, do you?" The little girl sat up and replied, "Yes, we do. We just don't have a house to put it in right now." <br />
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Such is our state at the moment.<br />
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This house was merely a container for our home this past year. As containers go, it's a pretty good one. I liked it. But it's time to say goodbye.<br />
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Goodbye house. Goodbye friends. Goodbye Turkey. <br />
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Our 'home' has been on its way for a few weeks now. The family left Incirlik on Wednesday, September 4th. We were one of only four families who made it out of Turkey that day. A problem with the cargo weight resulted in almost everyone who was booked for the rotator to Ramstein getting kicked off the flight. For some fortuitous reason, my 7 person 10 suitcase family wasn't kicked off. The delay meant we didn't get into BWI until after 2 am, turning our planned good night's sleep into a three hour nap but at least we were back in the country.<br />
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Did you know that there are lovely people who show up to greet returning soldiers at BWI no matter what time of day or night? It may have been the sleep deprivation but I will admit that when we were met with a handshake and a "Welcome back to the United States," I got all teary-eyed. <br />
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Two more flights from Maryland through Chicago to Vegas and we were done with planes for what we hope will be a very long time. Hello Vegas!!<br />
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Geoffrey's dad, Leo, picked us up at the airport. We had asked him to rent a 15 passenger van or something comparable for the drive down to Phoenix. He showed up with one of those bus style RVs. My kids were over the moon. After being strapped down in airline seats for over 30 hours they could lounge and move around and get snacks and drinks out of the fridge with out waiting for an airline attendant's cart. And since this grandpa drives trucks and buses for a living, I passed out on the rear queen size bed for some catch up sleep with no shred of anxiety. Well played, Grandpa.<br />
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We had a great reunion taco dinner with Geoffrey's family which he and Leo were very late for. They had gone to return the RV and came home two hours later with a motorcycle. Have I mentioned that Leo can be a bad influence on my husband? Actually, the bike is exactly the type he's been wanting, was a great price and its purchase means I won't have to listen to months and months of motorcyle research.<br />
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The next day my parents drove up from Tucson to bring the crew down. We had dinner with my oldest sister, Treisa and family that night and with another sister (Michelle) and brother (Traver) and respective families the next day. It was fabulous to see everyone again. And both Treisa and Traver brought party packs of Eegees. Best welcome home gift ever.<br />
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Sunday we celebrated birthdays - Grandpa Riggs, Cody - Michelle's 3 year old, and Evan - who turned 11 the day we drove down to Phoenix.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKdIIjVw4sHCMOdi9iTc2EUckfgQe_sIIvXujxp3XdhWS6NIESpPHLwqmMjDTJdkPVDWFNlN03bJ8ETqsHnjbV8-lw3pQq6O0LkOrf-6uv-n8DDfLTHnVd7CRsV47MI9nkMIfH8M_F4ik/s1600/IMG_4027.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKdIIjVw4sHCMOdi9iTc2EUckfgQe_sIIvXujxp3XdhWS6NIESpPHLwqmMjDTJdkPVDWFNlN03bJ8ETqsHnjbV8-lw3pQq6O0LkOrf-6uv-n8DDfLTHnVd7CRsV47MI9nkMIfH8M_F4ik/s320/IMG_4027.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Yet another bypassed birthday make-up.</td></tr>
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On Tuesday Geoffrey left for Vegas via Phoenix. He had collected his Jeep from Treisa whose talented husband Ed has it running better than when we left it with them. A small trailer for his acquisition and his golf clubs later and he is on his way. He will stay in a relative's home until we find a new container for ours.<br />
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Meanwhile the kids and I are hanging out in Arizona. My parents have three extra bedrooms and lots of patience. They have a week at their Mexico condo and a week at their mountain cabin that we will take advantage of. My sisters have both invited us for visits. So being 'houseless' is not so bad. Because I'm feeling right at home.Idahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15037652466751762191noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9070969744262719658.post-25611677339089348042013-08-28T13:46:00.000-07:002014-03-02T21:35:52.120-08:00Fabric hoarding, I mean shopping, in Old Adana and two quilts in the wingsHelga, my sewing machine (she's a Viking) is all packed and on her way to Nevada with all our other household goods. We are neck-deep in that lovely paperwork/busywork quagmire they call out-processing. And I am really missing the stress relief and therapy of sewing.<br />
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So what does a girl do when she can't sew? She goes fabric shopping of course!! It was actually on my list of things-to-do-before-leaving-the-country to go buy more Turkish fabric. If you remember from <a href="http://myordinarymagic.blogspot.com/2013/03/frilly-skirt-fun.html" target="_blank">this post</a> and <a href="http://myordinarymagic.blogspot.com/2013/06/teacher-gift-quilt-gateway-to.html" target="_blank">this post</a>, Turkish cottons are 96 inches wide and make really fabulous quilt backs and binding fabrics. I compared wide quilt back fabric prices online the other day and the cheapest I found for 106 in wide fabric was $20.00 per yard. And I can get 96 in wide fabric for 10 Lira per meter which works out to $5 per meter (yard) and sometimes even less. Gotta love that!!<br />
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So my daughter and my friend Linne and I headed to Old Adana's fabric district on a sweltering hot day to see what pretties we could find.<br />
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Here we are contemplating yet another purchase.<br />
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See that pile on the counter? You can't look at the fabric yourself here. You have to point to the one you like and they will unroll it on the counter for you to examine. Then they just pick up a meterstick, do a rough measure in the air and then cut or sometimes tear the fabric. No exact measurements and no 'cutting table' here.<br />
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Here is what we ended up with:<br />
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I already have the top one in black and red but had to go back for the brown and red. Love the vintage look of both of these. I bought 2 meters each which is plenty big to back any size quilt. Kinda crazy that these fabrics are made in Turkey but have English text on them. I never saw that when we got here a year ago but now there are in almost every shop.<br />
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Delaney, my pianist, picked the music one. The ships are on a map background. I love finding nice masculine fabrics that aren't cheesy. Two meter pieces again.<br />
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Some awesome solids and tone on tone plaids for bindings. I bought half meter pieces of each color. Making binding is a breeze when each of your 2.5 inch strips is 96 inches long! <br />
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So all these will go in a box and be mailed to Nevada to await the arrival of Helga. And someday they will be used in a quilt and remind me of my year in Turkey.<br />
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I did keep one quilt out. Well, two as I am working on two quilts at once from the same pattern. I'm hoping to borrow a friend's machine and get the rows assembled into complete tops before I leave here. Here's a sneak peek:<br />
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These HSTs are really really small. They finish at about an inch. That's the smallest I've ever worked with. I've always thought pieces that small were just too fussy to be worth it but these are a bonus block from the main charm square blocks and I just couldn't throw them away. The pieces strips will become a top and bottom border on the finished quilt. <br />
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Here is one of the ten rows, finished, pinned and labeled in duplicate. The fabric line is Juggling Summer by Zen Chic. Great colors! I can't show you more than that because the future owners of these two quilts read my blog. But as I have missed being able to have a finish for Amanda Jean's Finish It Up Friday, I will content myself with linking to Freshly Pieced's <a href="http://www.freshlypieced.com/2013/08/wip-wednesday-better-late-than-never.html" target="_blank">Work in Progress Wednesday</a>. Cuz just knowing that I have two lovely quilts patiently waiting for me to finish them helps me keep a little happy space in all the craziness of a trans-oceanic move. <br />
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<br />Idahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15037652466751762191noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9070969744262719658.post-8840965336650631622013-08-23T08:48:00.000-07:002014-03-02T21:36:12.655-08:00Shaking in my custom made baby seal leather. . . jacketsLast year we arrived just before our stretch of birthdays and I was scrambling to try to make each birthday special with little advance planning. This year we had lots of time to plan for birthdays - and then plans changed. So once again, my kids' birthdays are sneaking up on me and happening right in the middle of moving chaos.<br />
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Delaney's birthday was this past weekend- sandwiched between agricultural customs inspections, the boys' boar hunt and lots of lots of pre-packing, out-processing stress. And it's her sweet sixteen. I wish we could have made it more special for her. She's such a great girl and deserves to have a wonderful celebration. But life is life. We did the best we could. Berry breakfast cake in bed, some presents from each of her brothers, chicken alfredo for dinner and peanut butter cake with peanut butter frosting for dessert. A long game of farkle in the evening with me, her dad and brothers.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">It was SUPER YUMMY!</td></tr>
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I felt like I was fighting anxiety/panic all day and not as joyful as I would have liked to be on her special day. But we must have done okay because just before going to bed she came in our room to thank us for making it such a wonderful day for her. Actually, that is probably more a reflection of her kind, thankful heart than our mediocre efforts.<br />
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But I did have one epiphany about these birthdays that turned out rather fantastic. One of the things you can get here in Turkey is leather. And the place to get it is <a href="http://popsleather.com/" target="_blank">Pop's Leather</a>. They've been around forever and all the pilots know them. You can get flight jackets here but they also do purses, bags, cowhide rugs, holsters, and leather jackets. They have plenty of jackets to buy off the rack but if you want something different or one to fit just right, you can have a jacket custom made. So I took Delaney there about a week before her birthday to pick a jacket.<br />
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Brannick came along too. His birthday is next week - the day we move out of the house and into the temporary lodging. Great timing for his big 18th, huh?<br />
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After trying on nearly every ladies jacket in the store, Delaney found one she liked. Well, she found one zipper style and a different waist style and a third leather color. And because its Pop's, she could have all of those combined into her very own unique jacket.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Doesn't it look fantastic?</td></tr>
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Brannick had been eyeing a cowhide rug and I had planned on that being his birthday present. But then he saw a Harley Davidson jacket that just called to him. After some debate, he chose the jacket over the rug. I think it was a good choice. Girls aren't all that impressed with a dead animal skin on the floor but we are going to have to drive them away with a stick when he wears this:<br />
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Shorter sleeves were all the adjustments he needed for his jacket.<br />
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We picked up the jackets the day after Delaney's birthday. And because the kids couldn't bear to let the movers pack them, we kept them out. It's still deathly hot here and will be in Arizona and Nevada but we will mail them to Las Vegas on the off chance that it will cool down before our HHG shipment arrives lest they miss a chance to look this cool.<br />
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And although my birthday isn't for another two months, I decided to get myself a jacket as well. After all, I won't be here in October. Here is mine being modeled by Delaney:<br />
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It has a zip out hood that I totally love. And frankly, it looks way better on me since my short hair is framed nicely by the hood rather than being pushed up in my face like Delaney's is.<br />
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Geoffrey also got a jacket, along with having the knit cuffs on his flight jacket changed to leather ones and buying a fur snap on collar for his flight jacket as well. His birthday is long past so I don't know what his excuse is.<br />
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Here's Brannick showing off Geoff's. Again, this jacket is nice on Brannick but my hubby rocks it!! It's just his style and looks so classy. He had it tailored to his measurements and it fits him like a glove! <br />
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The cool part about having your jacket custom made (or altered) at Pops is that they sew a label inside that says:<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Custom Made for Ida Ewing by Pops Leather</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
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Pretty awesome, huh? And when I went to pay for our purchases (feeling slightly guilty that my family is solely responsible for the deaths of a small herd of bovine), they had discounted the total to the equivalent of one whole jacket. Happy birthday to my checkbook! The owner called it a going away gift. Very nice of him.<br />
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One last photo - my favorite one. I love these two kids. I love that they are good friends. I love that they are good people. I don't claim to have much mothering wisdom but somehow I figured out years ago that while these two dislike being <b>told </b>what to do, they will leap over tall buildings if I <b>ask</b> them to help me. So through the years of deployments and homeschooling and moves and all the other craziness of military life, we have become a pretty great team. Delaney is my assistant mother, cook, organizer and everything else. I could not manage this family without her. Most of it she can now do better than I can. Brannick is my strong man, my lifter, mover and reacher. He has been the man of the house through many dad absences and fills that role well. He never allows the younger kids to be disrespectful to me. I know without a doubt that he has my back. They both do. And there have been times when that fact is what has allowed me to sleep at night. They are a blessing I don't deserve. Idahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15037652466751762191noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9070969744262719658.post-22336171211020892432013-08-18T01:16:00.002-07:002014-03-02T21:37:47.772-08:00Moments of a Move - and a Big Dead PigA few snapshots of life inside a military move.<br />
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Friday and Saturday we spend all day outside in the muggy heat - pressure washing everything that had been stored on the porch, in the shed or in the outside storage room. Monday we have a customs inspection and everything must be free of dirt, spider webs and snails. We put it all on the driveway and back porch and surround it with a thick line of salt.<br />
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While emptying the storage room, Geoffrey remarks, "I've learned something from this move. I need to stop trying to make every house we live in into a homestead." Bwa Ha Ha Ha!! If you knew how many pre-moves I have spent suggesting, begging and encouraging him to get rid of his stuff you would understand how funny this was. I try to contain my laughter long enough to give him a hug and tell him that I am proud of his epiphany.<br />
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In Geoffrey's heart of hearts, he would like to live on a farm with large animals and a big garden and a huge workshop. He would have every tool and keep everything that might be useful again someday. He would spend hours teaching his children the many practical skills he knows. He would be prepared for any type of apocalypse the world could throw at him. It kills him that he can't be that dad.<br />
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Three hours after that admission, he took the oldest two boys boar hunting with a Turkish friend named Mustafa. At 1:30 am in the Tarsus Mountains near Pozanti, his sons shot a boar. He teaches them how to gut the beast and they spend the night with their friend, coming home the next morning with coolers of meat, puffed out chests and big cheesy grins.<br />
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So he gets to be <i><b>that</b></i> dad. <br />
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Saturday evening after the boys left Delaney is sitting at the computer planning the menu and shopping list for her birthday dinner the next day. We have been too busy to do this before but the commissary is open for another two hours so we can still make it. She is singing along to a Montgomery Gentry song.<br />
<i>Yeah, this is my town.</i><br />
<i> Where I was born</i><br />
<i> Where I was raised</i><br />
<i> Where I keep all my yesterdays. </i><br />
This kills me a little. This proud, grounding sentiment won't ever apply to her. When someone asks my children where they are from they hesitate and look at me for the answer. Where are we from? It should be an easy question to answer but it's not. They have no hometown. Their identities are not tied to one place of permanence but to many places of experience. <br />
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Sunday morning Evan and Rory wait with me in the kitchen for the breakfast cake to finish baking. They woke me this morning determined to keep up the birthday-breakfast-in-bed tradition for their older sister. Evan talks about the move.<br />
"The bad thing about moving is having to unpack everything again and again.<br />
But it would get really boring to stay in the same house your whole life in the same town."<br />
(Pause) <br />
"I'm really glad we got to live in Turkey."Idahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15037652466751762191noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9070969744262719658.post-82070146558502182422013-08-09T00:45:00.003-07:002014-03-02T21:37:58.057-08:00Lucerne - Last Switzerland Post, I promise.So I've been holding off on that whole announcement thing for a while. Yesterday felt like the right time and I'm glad its posted and out there. But I still have one more day of Switzerland to blog about. I considered skipping it but it was too awesome not to share.<br />
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After trolling all around Lake Lucerne and its surrounding mountain peaks for several days we spent our last day in the city of Lucerne before heading to Zurich to fly back to Adana.<br />
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Just a tiny aside here - one evening we rented kayaks and paddled around a portion of the lake. I really enjoyed it, we saw the schamncy vacay homes and the tiny beaches people climbed down to from the hills above. The water is a gorgeous turquoise color and the shoreline has so little development on it due to the height of the banks. We also saw a couple of naked people. Old people. Out on their boats just enjoying the sun shining where it normally doesn't. Now ask yourself, if you are a retiree who enjoys going au naturalle while on your boat and you see some kayakers approaching what do you do? Do you <b>stay seated</b>, maybe casually throwing a towel across your bits and wave? Or do you <b>stand up, turn around </b>and<b> bend over</b> to retrieve something that really could've stayed on the floor for a few more minutes? Yep. You just can't unsee that. And not to press the point, but if you are another retiree of a similar mind-set and you are enjoying an evening swim off your boat without the encumbrance of swimwear and you see kayakers approaching, what is your best option? Do you stay <b>in</b> the water until they pass? It's not like we were kicking up dangerous wake waves. Or do you climb <b>out </b>of the water, stand on the platform in all your shriveled glory and <b>then </b>pull on your speedo? It boggles the mind.<br />
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Anywhooo. . . . Lucerne. A pretty awesome city.<br />
We stashed our big backpacks at the train station luggage check so we could walk around unencumbered. (But with clothes on. Definitely with clothes on.) <br />
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This bridge is called KapellBrucke or chapel bridge. The lake pours out into a river here at Lucerne and the bridge crosses this river and leads to, you guess it, a church. It is the most photographed site in all of Switzerland and was built in the 14th Century. (I know some of you are thinking that I'm crazy, rivers pour into lakes, not the other way around. But I'm not. Well. . . anyway, the lake really does drain out through this river. It's a gravity thing.)</div>
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I'm sure it's lovely any time of year but the spring flowers made it so picturesque. Inside the bridge's roof are triangular paintings depicting "important events from Swiss history and mythology." They were semi-interesting but not nearly as cool as the paintings in this smaller bridge down the river a ways.<br />
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This one is called the Spreuerbrucke. Built in 1408 (33 years before Chris Columbus made his mortal debut) its paintings are called <i>Dance of Death</i> and depict how the plague affected all levels of medieval society. The plague is represented by a skeleton in all the paintings. They were creepy and amazing. </div>
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After the bridges we walked on the intact city wall for a bit and just wandered the city. At the cross roads of two streets we came across this little shack. Can you see the date on that big dark stone? 1689.</div>
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And it was somebody's house. No kidding. There was a sliding glass door in one side with hanging blinds and a tiny entrance on the back end complete with a pair of wellies sitting by the door. But there are dorm rooms bigger than this. It's like an ancient chicken coop and some guy lives there. <br />
Europeans are the best recyclers I know.<br />
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Our last stop was the Lion Monument. This 10 meter long sculpture was carved into a rock wall in 1820 to commemorate the Swiss soldiers who were killed defending King Louis XVI during the French Revolution.<br />
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The lion has a spear tip in its side and is dying. It's hauntingly beautiful. Mark Twain called it the "saddest and most moving piece of rock in the world." Yeah. Idahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15037652466751762191noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9070969744262719658.post-85811717319976444352013-08-08T14:43:00.000-07:002014-03-02T21:39:34.505-08:00We interrupt this adventure for an important announcement. <br />
My husband has this habit of beginning a statement with, "Well. . . (pause)." I know that whatever comes next could be as innocuous as, "I think we need new tires." Or it could be as momentous as, "It looks like I'm going to Korea for a year." So I always hold my breath until he finishes the sentence.<br />
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A couple of weeks ago he came home from work and said, "Well. . . ." I immediately got a gut feeling that this was going to be a big 'well'. It was. The rest of that sentence was, "How would you feel about PCSing in September instead of next summer?" <br />
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Oh. My. Lanta.<br />
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That's really not a question I could answer as I was in shock. We were 11 days shy of our halfway point in a two year assignment. We had already made the hard decisions about who was homeschooling and public schooling and part-timing for next year now that we know the school and the options well. We've only visited about half the places we want to see - haven't even made it to Istanbul yet. I am just now able to drive around Adana without breaking out in a cold sweat. We love our little neighborhood with its gang of little kids running amok and washing everyone's cars willy nilly. We are <i>settled </i>here<i>.</i><br />
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My mother-in-law Robin used to say that every big change in life felt like being handed a sealed envelope. You have to rip it open and deal with what's inside. Here's a synopsis of our envelope's contents. Instead of being reviewed for a command position this fall and possibly being given one to begin next summer, Geoffrey was selected for a command position a year early. The position needs to be filled immediately but as we are overseas and the assignment isn't, we were given a few weeks to deal with all the details of moving <i>back </i>across the globe. (Seriously, it feels like we just did this.)<br />
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So now its been a couple of weeks and I've had some processing time. We've told the kids to varied responses: <br />
Brannick - overwhelming joy to be returning to the good ol' USA<br />
Delaney - cried, but mostly from shock and is okay about it now<br />
Carson - disappointed that he has to leave his friends<br />
Evan - okay with it<br />
Rory - completely non-reactive other than asking if they speak English where we are going<br />
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Resiliency is a word you hear discussed frequently in relation to military kids. Yeah, there's a reason for that.<br />
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But how do <i>I</i> feel? I'm very happy for Geoffrey and proud of him too. I'm excited to live close enough to family to go home for holidays and reunions and sisters weekends. I'm glad for all the places we got to see and sad for the ones who won't have time for. I am grateful for so many of the experiences we've had and the friends we've made. Living at Incirlik has been a completely unique experience in terms of being in a military community. I've never felt this sense of community anywhere else. It was life in a small town as done by the Air Force. I'm not sure we will find that again. <br />
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Of course, I'm also completely stressed about the logistics of making this move happen as we are going to have accomplish in days what most people take weeks and months to do. And since there's no option of sending our household goods and car 3 months ahead of us, we will be waiting that length of time on the other end for them to catch up with us. Bleh. And the timing means that all five of them will need to homeschool this year since it will be well into the school year before we are permanently settled. Bleh. Bleh. <br />
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I always tell people that I don't mind moving, except for the moving part. If the Air Force had a giant finger snapping machine that could instantly transport us and all our things into our new house at our new assignment, I'd be willing to move once a year. But if such a machine exists it must still be classified and I see movers and paperwork and suitcases in my near future.<br />
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By Christmas we'll be settled again. It will all be good. A good assignment and a good location. Oh, did I forget to mention that part? Well. . . . . viva Las Vegas!<br />
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<br />Idahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15037652466751762191noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9070969744262719658.post-36999378341376467782013-08-07T00:08:00.000-07:002014-03-02T21:39:48.009-08:00What are men compared to rocks and mountains? - Lake Lucerne and surrounds<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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See that room on the top left with the balcony? That was our room in this cute little hotel in Vitznau. I'm so glad we ended up staying in this darling little town instead of in the much larger Lucerne. The hotel was right across the street from the bus stop, the ferry dock and the cogwheel train that ascended Mt. Rigi.<br />
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This was the view from my hotel window. Don't you just want to breathe in that mountain air? <br />
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This is the electric cogwheel train we rode up the mountain side of Mt. Rigi. <br />
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It was a short hike from the train station up to the summit. Despite how it looks in this picture, we did opt for the young man (steeper) trail. <br />
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The scenery was green and gorgeous and we could hear the sheep and cow bells from animals fathoms below us. It was so peaceful at the top that we actually snoozed on the grass for a bit.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Seriously, why does my hair have to look so horrible on vacation?</td></tr>
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After we went down the mountain on the other side we took the ferry back across the lake. The views from the lake looking up were just as breath-taking as from the mountain summit looking down.<br />
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The next day we tackled a different peak - Mt. Pilatus (which is pronounced like pilates with a tus on the end.) This is the famed Golden Round trip which includes a ferry ride, two cable car rides (one much steeper than the other, and a very steep cogwheel train ride back down the mountain.<br />
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We stopped halfway up to do this:<br />
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You sit on a sled like the one below. I loved it because that red joystick in the middle controls your speed. We went down two times. The first time I was fairly cautious - I'm not a fan of uncontrolled speed. Geoffrey was much faster. The second time I was braver and faster. And Geoffrey maxed out his speed, never using the brake at all. It was a blast. If you ever get the chance to do one of these courses, take it!<br />
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Her's a portion of the course. It was pretty long. When you reach the bottom you get hooked backwards onto a tow rope and pulled back up the hill.<br />
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The top of Mt. Pilatus is rockier and less lush that Mt. Rigi. We took an invigorating 45 minute hike from the observation building to a summit look out. The view was different but you could still hear the bells from sheep so far below they were just specks on the hillsides. But the clanking jangling bells came up through the air unmuffled. <br />
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In the cogwheel train going down we chatted with a group who had hiked the mountain in just over 3 hours. It was a great day for it. But I glad we had taken the cable cars. <br />
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I like being on top of mountains. I'm not a mountain climber by any means but growing up in a family whose vacations usually involved mountains gave me an appreciation for the peace of a mountain top. Standing on the summits of these two Alps reminded Geoff and I of standing on the peak of <span class="st">Huayna Picchu</span> in Peru. Literally being 'above it all' helps you keep perspective. And I'm tickled to have the bells to remember too. Like listening to the underwater whale song while snorkeling in Hawaii years ago, multisensory memories just stays richer and stronger in my head.<br />
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I love that line from Pride and Prejudice. What are any of us compared to the majesty and vast permanence of rocks and mountains?<br />
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Edited**** Today in Rothenburg I bought a bell that sounds just like the sheep bells on the mountain. I clanged every bell in the shop and only one had just the right sound. Can't wait to find the perfect place to hang it. Idahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15037652466751762191noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9070969744262719658.post-67850181253406792472013-07-28T00:59:00.001-07:002014-03-02T21:40:09.439-08:00Food of the Gods - Chocolate and Cheese - Switzerland Day TwoDid you know that the Swiss eat more chocolate per person than any other nationality? Yep, it's true. And our mission on day two of our visit was to find out why. With the help of a friendly train station attendant we purchased tickets to get us to the Cailler Chocolate Factory and for the tour inside. Since we had checked out of temple housing that morning, our travel was encumbered by our large backpacks but we managed. In about an hour and three trains later we arrived here:<br />
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Well, not really. But this is a pictoral representation of the factory's strategic location in the mountains of Switzerland. The tour was impressive and unexpected. I anticipated following a tour guide who droned on about the secret processes of chocolate making. What I got was more like the Pirates of the Caribbean Ride at Disneyland minus the moving boat. We walked through lavishly constructed rooms through which the history of the cocoa bean played out in audio and visual. The Aztecs used it as a pre-war energy drink, the royalty and aristocracy of Europe used it as an aphrodisiac, and finally a few geniuses combined it with cocoa butter and cream from Swiss cows and made the confections we love today. <br />
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Once we were through the smoke and mirrors portion of the tour we did get to see the more mundane nuts and bolts of the thing. Big sacks of cocoa beans and a whole room of running machines churning out small chocolate bars were explained by placards along the walls and windows. <br />
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But this - this was the cherry on top. The tasting room. I'm not sure what heaven will be like, but I do know they need one of these. <br />
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That lovely man in the middle just kept refilling the glass trays. The only rule was that you couldn't take any chocolate out of the room. But you could taste all the varieties as much as you liked. <br />
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They were all so divine. And brilliant as a marketing strategy because we exited this room into the retail store where we all immediately purchased our favorite morsels from the tasting room. Yes, this was definitely a highlight of the trip. If I lived here I think I could do my part in keeping up the nation's chocolate consumption figures. <br />
After purchasing enough chocolate to gorge ourselves on and still have enough to share with kids and friends when we got back to Turkey, we got back on the train and headed to our next destination - Gruyere. <br />
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Getting there was a long story involving a missed train stop and a "one minute walk" that turned out to be forty uphill minutes all while carrying our big backpacks. But we did make it. First to the chateau and quaint village on the high hill and then to the cheese factory itself. <br />
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Look at all that cheese! Once again we did the tour, which this time was a less flashy audio guide walk through. Geoffrey purchased a wedge of two different kinds and some bread which we snacked on while we waited for trains to take us to Lake Lucerne. That forty minute hike was probably fortuitous considering all the delicious calories we consumed in this one perfectly glorious day!<br />
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<br />Idahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15037652466751762191noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9070969744262719658.post-66840651015761127092013-07-25T06:22:00.003-07:002014-03-02T21:41:52.064-08:00Bern - the city of the bear<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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So I'm finally getting to blog about our trip to Switzerland. I'm a bit late as we've been back over a week now but you know how life gets super busy. The morning after Geoff finished (and passed, yay!) his ATLS course, we got up early and took a taxi to the train station in Landstuhl.<br />
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Our train riding experience is limited aside from the Frontrunner in Salt Lake so it was a bit of a learning curve. Example: the very first train we got on was the wrong one. It was going to the right city but would making more stops along the way. So had we stayed on that train we would have arrived at Manheim too late to catch our high speed inter city train to Bern. <br />
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Luckily, Geoffrey figured out our mistake fairly quickly and we were able to change trains at the first stop. Our second train ride took us into Switzerland in about four hours and with one more small change at the Bern train station we arrived in <span class="st">Zollikofen, the suburb of Bern where the LDS temple is. Our Google maps walking directions from the station to the temple turned out to be WRONG but we didn't get too far off course before Geoffrey saw the angel Moroni on the spire of the temple. </span><br />
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We checked in to the temple housing - which turned out to be very affordable but very basic accomodations. The clerk asked me if we needed a two bedroom. I responded that one bedroom would be fine. Then I realized what he said was a two. bed. room. And that pretty much summed up the furniture of our very narrow room. <br />
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We had just enough time to change and make it to the 3pm session, the last session of the day. This session happened to be in Italian, so we got to wear headphones for English translation. Mine were stubborn and only spoke to me in French no matter how much I turned the language dial so a kind French speaking sister traded with me. It felt so nice to be back in the temple. We feel blessed to have a little branch to worship with each Sunday there in Incirlik but we've missed being able to attend the temple. Sitting in the (very small) beautiful celestial room was so peaceful and I felt some of the worries and anxieties that I've been carrying around this summer finally lift off my shoulders.<br />
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After the session, we still had plenty of daylight so we took the train back to Bern and walked around the old town. We visited the high rose garden park with its amazing flower beds, then walked down the steep valley side to the river which winds through the city.<br />
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The name Bern means bear and the city keeps real brown bears on display. Until a few years ago they were kept in a small pit that I'm sure angered the PETA people to no end. But the bears now exist happily in a large riverbank habitat which even connects to the old bear pit in case they ever get nostalgic for the old pit.<br />
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We ate a hearty but expensive dinner at the bear pit restaurant and then walked around the charming old town. <br />
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Every building had window boxes filled with red geraniums. Every window. Every building. At first we thought maybe they were fake. I mean, what kind of city maintains mass floral compliance? This city, apparently. We started seeing the red petals on the ground under the windows and realized all the flowers were real. <br />
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The old town had several fountains depicting various people and scenes. The above fountain is my favorite. I wish you could see it better. Its called the Ogre fountain and its a giant. Eating children. Around the bottom tier march a row of Bern bears, guarding the ogre and his pediatric feast. <br />
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We wandered until it got dark and on our way back to the train station we saw this. In a city of famous (and infamous) fountains, this water works topped them all. The metal structure spanned the whole street. Every ten seconds or so droplets of water would fall from the cross beam. They were lit from above and released in such a way that they spelled out words as they fell. Words from all languages. It was beyond cool.<br />
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With a bit more familiarity, we managed the train back to Zollifen just fine. We did get a scolding from the temple housing night guard for being an hour past curfew (we plead ingnorance) but all in all it was a fantastic day.Idahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15037652466751762191noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9070969744262719658.post-92058136282217463342013-07-19T00:20:00.000-07:002014-03-02T18:14:28.937-08:00A Big Bear Hug!!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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My poor long-suffering middle child finally has a quilt to call his own. This quilt has been in the works since before Christmas but has been put off for baby quilts and a teacher quilt. And if I'm honest, because I just didn't enjoy working on it. Carson picked some wildlife panels that were so not my style and that I had no idea what to do with. And it didn't help that several of them were printed off square. So it was slow going. <br />
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I finally decided to cut some of the panels apart and made some stars with fussy cut centers. These are my two favorite. The other two were a rock and a tree. Not as exciting. <br />
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This is the center panel. Now that it's done I'm not loving the grid quilting. Like his older brother, Carson requested minimal quilting but I felt like I couldn't leave that big space entirely unquilted. Oh well. It's fine. <br />
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The only sort of pattern I used for this whole quilt was Scout by Cluck Cluck Sew for the borders. And even that I changed to make the feather portions thicker. I did some bricks around the center panel. And because I am not a quilting math genius none of the corners pieces, neither the stars nor the wolf/elk panels, match up exactly with their respective borders. You can see that pretty well in the above picture. It frustrated me to no end while I was working on it but now that it's done it doesn't bother me as much. <br />
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The back was a lovely soft flannel plaid that Carson had picked. This is the first time I have backed a quilt with flannel. I had a few small problems with puckering but I love how soft and cuddly it is. I wish it had turned out a bit longer. Its plenty wide enough for his bed but he is a tall boy and going to get taller so it should have been longer. Eventually I'll make him another one. But this time I think I will avoid panels and follow a pattern!<br />
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I named it Bear Hug. Carson is the middle child but he is the biggest. He outweighed all his siblings by 2 pounds at birth. And he has passed everyone but his dad in height at age 13. He has a great smile and sense of humor and reminds me of a big teddy bear. And he does give pretty great hugs.<br />
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I finished this quilt while he was away at scout camp. And Geoff and I left for our Switzerland trip the day before he got home. So I laid it out on his bed for him to find. He was pretty excited.Idahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15037652466751762191noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9070969744262719658.post-84395347394569756592013-07-18T23:49:00.000-07:002014-03-02T21:42:13.902-08:00Germany Rhine River CruiseWe didn't have much free time in Germany. Our purpose for being there was so that Geoffrey could take an ATLS (Advanced Trauma Life Support) re-cert course. He has to do this every 5 years and its a pretty intense class. BTW - don't browse through the ATLS manual unless you are prepared to see photos of steak knives protruding from chests and guts spilling out of stomachs. Bottom line is that Geoffrey spent a lot of the first two days studying for the class and the second two days at the class.<br />
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But we did take Saturday afternoon for some sight seeing. We rented a car at Ramstein and drove up to Bingen where we caught a river cruise boat.<br />
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The weather was gorgeous. Warm in the sunshine with a cool breeze. We sat on the top deck and watched the castles go by on either side. Lots of them.<br />
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Ready for a pictorial run down?<br />
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Okay technically this one (above) isn't a castle. Its the ruins of a church. But its gorgeous!<br />
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Did you keep count? Me neither. And that didn't even include all the other cool churches and hotels and such along the river. Having toured and climbed around a fair number of castles both here in Germany and Turkey, I have to say that I really enjoyed just sitting in a deck chair and watching them glide by. Seeing so many in such a short time was awesome.<br />
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Apparently in the Middle Ages (Do you always have to capitalize that? And am I the only one who visualizes Monty Python Knights with coconut halves in their hands?) the owner of each of these castles would stretch a large chain across the river and collect tolls from anyone who wanted to pass by. So while its a great stretch of river for the tourists of today, it was a rather pricey stretch of river for anyone in the Middle Ages.<br />
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We ended our cruise at a town called St. Goar. As we disembarked we walked past huge crowds of the retiree set, all waiting to take evening cruises. Rhine in Flame was that night and there would be fireworks from river barges and from the castles. We walked along the lovely water front for a while and even got our toes wet a bit. See?<br />
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It was <strike>chilly</strike> refreshing. After a bit we took the train back to Bingen and drove back to the base so Geoffrey could get some more study time in. We kept the car overnight and in the morning drove to Idar-Oberstein to attend church with Frank and Crystal, our dear friends. Once again we surprised them with our visit and they were still kind enough to have us over for Sunday dinner. Geoffrey studied, Krystal cooked and Frank and I walked around their beautiful hill top neighborhood. The whole weekend was slow and relaxing which was just what I needed.<br />
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<br />Idahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15037652466751762191noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9070969744262719658.post-24321514107512733232013-07-17T11:54:00.002-07:002014-03-02T21:43:04.703-08:00View from the Cockpit<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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This is what Venice looks like from the cockpit of a C-130.<br />
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This is what I look like in the cockpit of a C-130.<br />
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"Uh, roger that."<br />
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So what exactly is going on here? Well, last week (ish) Geoff and I flew space A up to Germany. We took a C-130 that had some open seats. Geoff was hoping to fly as crew and get the flight hours (he is a flight surgeon and has mandatory crew flight hours each month). But due to a paperwork issue that didn't work out. But he was able to get us up in the cockpit where we could hang out with the pilots and get a view that most people never see.<br />
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C-130s are loud. You have to wear earplugs the whole time except when you are wearing headphones. The interior can be hot while on the ground and cold at altitude. And the bathroom - well, there is one. Enough said.<br />
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On the other hand, you can get up and walk around without having to crawl over anyone. You can lay down on the seats or on the floor if you bring your own sleeping pad. You don't have to worry about your luggage getting lost as it is strapped down to the floor right in front of you. And boarding and de-boarding takes about 2 minutes. All in all, its a pretty great ride. <br />
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One last photo - <br />
This is a flag being flown on the dash of a C-130. (Kind of a cool shot, dontcha think?) Did you know that flags are flown in planes as well as on flagpoles? This flag was for one of the pilot's families. My kids each have a flag that was flown in a F-16 over Iraq and the paperwork to prove it. Idahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15037652466751762191noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9070969744262719658.post-51711925891485383462013-06-25T10:54:00.002-07:002015-04-03T20:43:31.322-07:00Kizkalesi Castle in the sea - a Turkish fairy tale<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Once upon a time a king lived in a beautiful castle by the sea. (See above). Eventually, he was blessed with a lovely little daughter. But a prophecy told of a tragic future for the princess. Someday she would be bitten by a serpent and die. Even the king himself could not change this fate said the soothsayer.<br />
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But the loving father was determined to try and so he built another castle out in the ocean (see above) and sent his daughter to live in it. The two castles were close enough that the father could visit his daughter and bring provisions to satisfy her every need and whim. All went well for many years. But one day, the princess received a basket of delicious looking grapes from the mainland. As she reached in to pluck a grape she was bitten by the snake hiding inside. And because this isn't a Disneyfied version she died, leaving behind a heartbroken father and two magnificent castles. <br />
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If you didn't like the snake bitten maiden story there is another one involving pirates. And a third, and possibly more accurate one about the castle being built after the First Crusade. Whatever version you choose, it's a great place to visit. These castles are about 2 hours from where we live. We've been there twice before but never had the chance to get out to the maiden's castle.<br />
But recently when a new friend came to visit, a group of us went back again for a day at the beach. A Turkish beach is an interesting place to people watch. You see everything from bikinis to full Islamic swimsuits. The beach itself was shallow and calm, a perfect place for the little kids to splash and the older kids to play frisbee. And while we were there, we rented a couple of paddle boats and paddled out to the maiden's castle.<br />
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Due to illness and other commitments, I only had my oldest and youngest with me. But we had brought along some darling young ladies. So my 17 yr old son found himself sharing a paddle boat with three cuties! He did not complain. <br />
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In fact, here he is doing a happy dance on top of the castle wall.<br />
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The boy has moves!<br />
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And here he is with his harem. They were all a lot of fun and had a great time. I managed to suggest that we put all the little kids in one car and all the big kids in<strike> my</strike> the other car. So if you know my son at all, you can imagine that he had us laughing all the way back to the base. <br />
We had a wonderful day in a wonderful place with good company. I love the ocean and I'm up for a day at the beach any day. But I have to admit that when its the <i>Mediterranean </i>ocean and there is an ancient sea castle to explore, that does up the coolness factor by several notches. So I was doing the happy dance too.Idahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15037652466751762191noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9070969744262719658.post-68567412184700296832013-06-14T10:30:00.002-07:002014-03-02T18:16:26.064-08:00Teacher gift quilt - "Gateway to Imagination"<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Ta-da!! Here it is - the coolest teacher gift I have ever pulled off! When I saw this <a href="http://www.modabakeshop.com/2013/03/read-with-me-quilt.html" target="_blank">Moda Bakeshop Tutorial</a> I knew I wanted to make this quilt. The recipe calls for a jelly roll but I thought it was a great way to use my 2.5 inch scraps instead. And since my youngest son Rory (the only one in public school full-time this year) had an amazing teacher, it was easy to decide who to make the quilt for. I enlisted the help of my friend and fellow quilter Lisa whose daughter Astrid has the same teacher. So after a giant joint fabric pull and a division of blocks, we created this in a relatively short amount of time. <br />
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Lisa also does beautiful cross-stitch so she created this for our label. I left the naming up to her and she came up with "Gateway to Imagination." I love it. The backing fabric you see there is Turkish fabric. I love it for quilt backs because it comes double wide - no seam backs are awesome! We used a few solid Turkish fabrics on the fronts but as they tend to curl weird when pressed I tend to avoid them in piecing when I can.<br />
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We split the blocks up. I think we each did 8 blocks. Lisa sewed them into rows. I did the applique word strips and sewed it all together into a quilt top. Then Lisa enlisted a friend of ours to machine embroider the titles of Rory and Astrid's favorite books on several of the book spines. (By several I mean like 35 or so).<br />
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These pics were taken before we washed it so some of the marking lines are still visible. <br />
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Knuffle Bunny trilogy, Mo Willem's Pigeon books, The Stinky Cheese Man - this is some great literature here!<br />
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She also stitched Rory and Astrid's names into the top left hand block.<br />
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I was in charge of the machine quilting. I loosely followed Melissa's quilting ideas in the original tutorial with a few additions. My castle is a bit shorter and has a yellow brick road and a bridge.<br />
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I stitched an ocean with a little boat along the bottom border.<br />
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And the right border was a magical bean stalk ending in the clouds.<br />
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I was worried that I wasn't going to be able to pull off all this fancy FMQing. But the quilting gods smiled on me. I didn't have any trouble with timing and only the green thread broke on me a few times. Speaking of thread - I am generally a white or black thread quilter. Lucky for us, Lisa had an amazing collection of variegated Sulky threads in lots of colors. Lisa also attached the binding, using this great fancy scallop stitch, and she made a hanging sleeve for it so Ms. Harvey can hang it in her classroom next year. <br />
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We were even done a day early - how amazing is that? Rory and Astrid did a great job keeping the secret from their teacher. All she knew is that we were taking her to lunch on the last day of school (which was a half-day). <br />
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Here we are presenting it to her. The kids are so excited. And so are the adults!<br />
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They had a great time showing her where all their favorite book titles were. (Incidentally, Astrid is the friend I made the frilly skirt for in <a href="http://myordinarymagic.blogspot.com/2013/03/frilly-skirt-fun.html" target="_blank">this post</a>.)<br />
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Here is one last shot of Ms. Harvey with her students and her new quilt. If you are only here for quilt eye candy, you can stop reading now. If you want to know why Lisa and I went to so much effort for a teacher appreciation gift, hang in there for one more paragraph.<br />
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Ms. Harvey is one of those teachers you pray for. She had infinite patience, creative ways to manage the chaos of a room full of little people, and a particular love for squirrely little boys. She was fabulous. And talking to her at lunch just increased my admiration for this woman. She has been teaching for DoDs schools for 36 years. She started in Berlin when it was still a divided city and her phone lines were bugged. She then taught in Italy for a number of years. She has lived and taught here in Turkey for over ten years. Have you been reading the news about the protesting and rioting in Turkey recently? Here on base we are pretty isolated from it. But Ms. Harvey lives downtown. Her 9th apartment floor apartment balcony overlooks the park where the protestors are camping out. She told us stories of watching the police fire water cannons and rubber bullets. Of listening to the Turkish people bang on their tea kettles and flick their lights on and off to show support to the protestors as they marched down her street. She could see them calling to the young people, telling them which way to run to avoid the police. One night the tear gas was so bad that even nine floors up it hurt her eyes. She has a front row seat to the history that being made right now. Makes for a fascinating lunch conversation. And one awesome teacher! Now I'm just praying that the principal decides that she needs to teach 2nd grade next year!<br />
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<br />Idahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15037652466751762191noreply@blogger.com18