Still trying

Still trying to recapture the thrill of the Atlantic Ocean after all these years. We took the family down to Southern Shores again this year. We weren't close enough to the ocean to see it from our deck and it was about a quarter of a mile up the road and Jack could only make it to the bench twice. I made it to the beach itself to have the waves lap at my feet and to help Caleb jump the waves

Crazy Quilting for better or worse

November 14, 2015

I found something new to "blog" about.  I've been embroidering since I was a young girl. And in the seventies I made and embroidered shirts for my husband and his best friend. They were well done from patterns I found in magazines. I had gotten quite good at it. Then in the eighties I switched to cross stitch and then to quilting. But during this time Jack and I were always trying to get me back to embroidery. I always dreamed of making a beautiful crazy quilt from velvet and satin and silk. I've still got what a started back then and someday would love to see it finished. But I never understood crazy quilting like it is nowadays. There's so much more to it than fancy embroidery on the seams. I've been trying to get there and I've taken my first step. I'm taking free internet classes from Kathy Shaw and I'm learning design and color and planning and ribbon work and motifs and the use of lace and buttons. So very much learning to do. But this time my squares were so much better, I could feel it. I know they are just a beginning, and I will go much farther than this if I keep trying, but I wanted to blog about my progress. So here they are. I'll post again when I put them together.

Family

     When I was young, the crowd I grew up in was large. We were very close to my Mother's brother's family. Their group had grandparents and cousins and five kids of Mom's brother, my Uncle Bud. And everybody loved and liked everybody else. We had everything in common. Church and friends and vacations and picnics and of course swimming. It was a blast. We grew up, of course, and went off in different directions and lots of us are dead. But it was fun and we were happy.
     When Jack and I moved to Virginia, we were all alone. We had visitors and family, but we were an exclusive group. The closest we came to family was with the Daubermans. They were here and alone like us. We at last had a familiar relationship.
      At this point in our life, as our children raise their families, we are lost. There is no relationship that we are ready to share. We just can't pull off what I had in my youth. Maybe it takes a brother and sister who want to share their lives.  Maybe it's just that Jack and I have not participated in much, by choice and now we don't know how.
     I do find myself envious of those families who can enjoy each other and have time for family and know what is important. I'm guilty. It's something I wish I wanted enough to get.  Hey, at least I had it once.

Last Year I Got Old

On December 16, 2014, I turned 65. I think it was the Government that made me old. Medicare and Supplemental insurance bombard you with so much information about making sure you are taken care of that I'm going to blame it on them. Every nap I take, every groan I make, every change I fake, is their fault for making me believe that I am old, old, old. And then I had to watch my "never gonna change" husband get old too. Luckily for him, in October they made him get the coverage too and then he really needed it and now he's in the system and obsessed with it. Ugh!

Being an old lady made me look at things differently. Like my husband. I look at him and remember how much we loved each other when we were young and beautiful and it makes me smile. I didn't realize how much I loved him still through all those years since I turned 55 and thought I was still young enough to change myself and the world. Now I know better. I won't see change unless it is forced upon me. The husband always knew that.

I've also come to understand that though I love spending money, there is nothing I need to spend it on. Why get a deck after all these years when the backyard is fine like it is? Why buy new knick knacks when you have enough to dust now and don't dust them? Sometimes I consider shopping in my own house.

So, thank you, Medicare, for making me aware of my own vulnerability that I didn't have until you reminded me of it. Yeah, thanks a lot.