Another Group of Creches

The interpretation of the scene for the birth of the baby Jesus is widely varied. This one was painted on white-washed wood, and is lovely in its simplicity. I thought that this set was made of clay, but when I enlarge it, the texture looks like some kind of felt fabric. This Mary, Joseph, and baby Jesus was enclosed in a large evergreen wreath. As you can see, the lighting did not help with the photography. This charming home-made set fits in nicely with the counted cross-stitch sampler. These figures were hand-crafted by a friend of mine. She said that when her children saw them, they begged for a similar set, but she felt that "once is enough". Each figure was between six to eight inches tall, and the stitching on the hands and some of the details can't be seen in these pictures.

Creche Display for Christmas

This afternoon, we enjoyed a cantata performed by about 140 teen-agers with a sprinkling of adult singers to bolster them It was beautifully done, solos and all. As a part of the two-day celebration of preparing for Christmas, there were 235 creches on display. It was a breathtaking display, and a very diverse interpretation of the Nativity. People who live in this valley may seem provincial, but, amazingly, they have lived in Africa, Europe, South America, Central America, on Indian Reservations, and almost any place you could think of as they served missions for our church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Here are a few of the nativity sets in the group. I do not have the histories of all, because, although they were written out by each set, it is a feat of memory that I don't possess. This decorated gourd, hollowed out, and prepared with a special Nativity scene, came from Africa.

Winter Doesn't Wait for December 21st

Our little boy garden statue looks very cold, indeed. He is holding a frog that is covered up with snow. Not to worry - when spring comes, he will warm up again. Note the snow embedded in the brick wall - the wind did blow hard that way, but that's probably snowblower snow. This is a picture of the sundial last week - before more snow fell. It's too cold to go repeat the picture today. A neighbor from the Big Horn Basin were we Blood children grew up was complaining that it never snowed so much in Wyoming - I seem to recall a few snowstorms of mammoth proportions. Snowed all day today, but finally stopped, so Ron has gone out to blow the snow off one more time - the third today. Isn't winter fun?

Updates on Rylee

We have been getting ready for the cold weather here in Bend, It sure came early this year!

Rylee sure loves to wear her daddy's hat.

Rylee started crawling at 5 1/2 months and started sitting up at exactly 5 months. She is already climbing things, getting into trouble, and falling down hurting herself. She is 8 months old and took her first step on Friday Nov. 19 2010. Shes such a big girl!

She also has been sick the 3-4 weeks. She kept getting ear infections while her top 2 teeth came in. Now she is on antibiotics for the sinus infection she has. Poor girl!

Snow on the Mountains

We've had a couple of snowstorms so far - both on days when we were supposed to go to Salt Lake for appointments. The mountains look cold and beautiful - and the autumn foliage still on the apple trees is a nice color foil for them.

Visitors to Preston

We recently had a visit from Ron's sister, Evie and her husband, Dick, from the Lake Stevens area north of Seattle. She is, without doubt, a human dynamo. Family is very special, and we had a great time together. Evie used to paint pictures, but her passion for the last 10+ years has been in gourding. It has become an incredible art form, and she is a member of the Washington Gourd Society Board - Gourders travel all over to take and give classes, and learn more about the art. She tried to get me involved some years ago, with the result that I have a big number of dried and cleaned gourds, and have completed a very few into some sort of an art form. There are so many things of interest to do in this world, and sometimes I am greedy and want to do them all. Oh, well, I might have a quarter of a century left. (My two new dental implants are guaranteed for twenty-five years, and the roof on our house for 30 - do you think we will make it?) Anyway, it stirs us up to have people around us who love to do different things. The world is full of possibilities!

Fall is Fading Fast

These bushes are now gone - but their beauty lay in the fall color. I don't know what they were, but they became a trash bush, so some of the neighbors came and helped Ron pull them out, leaving the north side of the house a little bare. I'll miss the color and the little birds that enjoyed the berries; controlling the wildness is a good trade-off. Now, we are trading them for the snow that has come and is coming. The mountains are white, and at 17 degrees F this morning, we don't expect to have a warming trend any time soon. Glorious October has verged into chilly November, so we gird up for winter.

The Glories of Autumn

The Sedum Autumn Joy is in full bloom. And, the frost comes almost every morning, sprinkling glittering diamonds everywhere, and making fallen leaves look like something very special. This is certainly a miracle. This planter sits in the corner by our front door. Amazingly enough, after many nights of upper 20's temperatures, these plants keep on giving. They are certainly not cold-hardy. We appreciate the extra days of beauty, knowing that soon they'll succumb to the cold nights.

The Big Carrot Harvest

I laughed when I pulled this huge carrot. Perhaps it grew for Harvey? Last year in my square foot garden boxes, which were only one box high, my carrots formed 45 degree angles, as the root hit the bottom and then grew sideways. This year, Ron increased the height of my box, and I had the greatest carrot harvest yet. But this big root was amazing. I laid the foot-long ruler by it so that you can see the size of this thing. One carrot alone would make carrot pudding. Victory!

October

After an early frost this fall, we have enjoyed beautiful weather - chilly nights, bright days with blue skies and lots of sunshine until this last week. As I was planting some spring bulbs this past week, I found this iris speciman. Evidently this plant, which I had not cut back, got tricked by the warm October days into thinking that it was spring again! The strange shape of the stem gives it away - the poor plant is mixed up. But there is a blossom at the end, and that is all we need to appreciate the plant's perserverance. Of course, the other plant we appreciate in the fall is the burning bush. As it slowly turns a bright red in the fall, it lights up our home's landscape. Mother Nature gives us many gifts at this time of the year.

More Winning Quilts From Our Local Quilt Show

This quilt won Judge's Best of Show. It was so perfectly sewn, and the machine quilting was appropriate. I loved the colors. This quilt was made by a lady from Paris, ID. She is one of the few hand quilters left in our show. The old-fashioned fabric and pattern appealed to lots of people. This quilt was also hand quilted. However, this quilt, made by a member of our guild, didn't place any ribbons in competition, but one of the judges chose this as her favorite, and it won Viewer's Choice, which means that in voting for a favorite quilt, this one got the most votes. This is another look at one of my favorites in our show - the hand-sewn Grandmother's Flower Garden. And my neighbor made this quilt - it is a Buggy Barn pattern - the cats were hilarious. I love quilt shows because of the variety of ideas that people have as they create their quilts.

My Storybook Farm, completed

The completed quilt - be sure to click on each of these pictures so that you can see the details. The quilting on this quilt was fun, but tedious. I learned a lot about quilting on my home sewing machine. (When in doubt, buy another book on the subject.) I began this quilt on April 10th, and finished it in the first week of October of this year. I worked on other things in between, but finishing this quilt has been a main focus. I am showing these pictures with the permission of the designer, McKenna Ryan. Three-dimensional clothes, including a little quilt, are on the clothesline. Holstein cows were a part of our childhood on the farm. We didn't have a scarecrow - I think this one is classy.

The Quilt Show

Ann, This quilt was done all in rectangles with blanket-stitched hearts - this lady was using up her quilt pieces and scraps. I especially liked this Grandmother's Garden quilt. The woman who made this quilt had never made a quilt before. It took her five years to completely hand-piece the quilt. It was quilted by a long-arm quilter - so appropriate. I liked the embroidery in this quilt - This Dresden Plate with folded rays was a favorite of mine. I've made a smaller version of this quilt, and it's difficult to make everything work just right.

This last week, the quilt show has been all-time consuming. From the checking in of the quilts on Tuesday evening to the take-down late Saturday afternoon, many members of my local quilt guild, the Preston Piecers, have been extremely busy. We had 74 quilts come in, and managed to show 69 - really too many for the library community room, but we made it work. About 230 people came to visit the show, including sister Louise and niece Cheryl. (That was special). Some men came on purpose to see the show, and some came to accompany their wives.) Now, it's back to business. More pictures later.

Watermelon and the Optimistic Gardener

Gardening is such an "iffy" avocation. Multiply the problems and uncertainty of success, and you have the life of a farmer - the life that my parents lived for so many years. Did we plant at the right time? Did we have the correct fertilization, watering, weeding, etc. regime? The farmer is the supreme gambler. Gardening is farming on a smaller scale. Who knows when the last frost of spring will come? Or when the first frost of fall descends? We lived through a dark, dismal, cold June this year, so most plants were unhappy, and growth was slow. It frosted around the 9th of June, nipping many of the plants and retarding their growth. After that frost, I planted three more watermelon plants and hoped. In the past, we have planted Sugar Babies, which grow to the size of a soccer ball, and usually sweet and delicious; perhaps each plant giving us three melons. This spring's plants were the real thing, though, and promised to produce larger melons. Ron took over the chore of mulching, watering, and fertilizing these plants which grew and grew and grew. We looked in vain for melons under the lush foliage, and then one day, Ron came in so excited because he counted 15 melons - and they were growing. As I commented before, all seven neighborhood kids (6 boys and 1 girl, ranging in age from 3 to 7), who consider Ron their close friend, kept watch with him, and were appropriately impressed with his watermelon growing skills. Each child had his watermelon picked out. The first one was picked too soon, and wasn't ripe enough, but then things got better. The last one left with the 4-year-old neighbor boy bringing his own wheelbarrow to get his melon (sorry I missed that picture). Now, there are five left in the garden, and Ron has gifted most of the neighbors. No frost yet! We lucked out, and experienced a gardening triumph. Thank you!

Blue Morning Glories

I finally grew blue morning glories. Once summer in Penrose, when there was still a small pole gate at the far side of the front yard, Mother planted some blue morning glories, and they were tough enough to grow up and over the poles. I loved the pretty blue, but have never tried to grow them again. I hate the bindweed with the white flowers that grows in the field, but this is really a plant of a different habit - I hope.