Lighting Up the Library

The Friends of the Library's second big fund raiser (besides the book sales) each year has become Light Up the Library, with donations of trees, wreaths and other decorations from local businesses, clubs, and individuals.   This photo shows one of the two first floor reading rooms last year.  That's an inflatable snowman peeking out behind a tree.  I find them tacky, but the kids love them.

It looks a little different this year because we are able to spread out a bit more.  Last year, a friend put on a play of A Christmas Carol in the other side of the reading room and stored props there.  This year, the play is going to be at the Congregational Church across the street.

The library has been my home away from home this week as I've been taking in all of the items which will be raffled off in two weeks.  The fun of the whole project for me is meeting and greeting all the donors who are excited to be setting up their trees and other items in the library.  

This morning, I'm expecting two young women from a developers' office with their little tree.  Several people have mentioned what a challenge it is to drive with a fully decorated Christmas tree.  It's amazing that most things arrive intact on the trees!

Yesterday we managed to find a good spot in the children's room for a toboggan with goodies and gift certificates.  Today I also hope to set up a tree with tools donated by the local hardware store.  Then I'll run to the dollar store for paper goods for tomorrow's open house to start the season.  All this activity really does get me in the mood to do a few holiday things around the house, but on the other hand, I'd just like to take a nap today after all this activity.

Gift quilts

I have so many quilts and only two beds.  We use quilts in the living room, too, while watching TV or reading.  I rotate the one on the beds frequently.  Yesterday, when our power was out for 7 hours after a sloppy wet snow storm, we both hunkered down under our quilts to read.  

Whenever I can, I like to share my quilts with others in need.  This year I sent quilts to various charities and individuals such as fire victims on Maui, the local homeless shelter (Jane Austen at Home and the Bonnie Hunter mystery at left), my cousin undergoing chemo, and children moving to foster care.

Recently, a high school friend began living in a senior care facility.  He's been a good friend to me all my life, offering free legal and other encouragement over the years.  I am sure George and his wife Susie must have made this decision with difficulty.  We are all getting older and face tough decisions.  I went thought my stash of quilts and thought Bonnie Hunter's Dancing Nine Patch would be just the thing to make his space more homey.  While I tend to gravitate toward making floral quilts, seeing this picture tells me I need to create a few more that appeal to men.  

Post turkey day

We had a nice Thanksgiving - just Paul, Chris and me, as we like it.  The Macy's parade was on TV twice, and we caught a bit of the dog show.  I talked with my mom and one brother, too, which is always nice.  Last weekend we went to Paul's niece Amy's for the traditional meal which was very nice.  There were six of us and 9 dogs!  I had made rolls, and Amy made most of the food.  When we had the B&B and Paul's mom was alive, we had quite a few people at our house for Thanksgiving, and Amy made the turkey even then.  But I like the lowkey way we celebrate these days, too.  

Our menu included turkey breast cooked in the crockpot, mashed potatoes (grown by Chris), peas, pumpkin bread, and apple crisp for dessert.  I thought I had a jar of gravy in the cupboard, but when I looked at the sell-by date - 2015 - I decided to pass!  The guys don't like gravy much anyway.  Today's lunch will include turkey sandwiches with cranberry mayo - yum!  And tonight?  Well, I may make a little turkey tetrazzini which I love.  

No Black Friday shopping for me today.  I will try to get packages ready to mail - how to wrap a teddy bear is my challenge - and then settle in with a little sewing.  I may begin with a little gift bag for that teddy.  Then I'd like to get a few miscellaneous blocks, including the guild BOM, made before turning my attention back to the collage quilt.  It takes up the whole guest bed in my sewing room so is a constant nag.

Happy Thanksgiving

 

When I was a little girl, my dad always bought me candles for holidays.  For Thanksgiving there were Pilgrims and for Christmas there were angels.  I loved them, but I didn't like lighting them because the faces were always burned away first.  That seemed mean to me.   A few years ago, I saw some at a card shop in the mall and nostalgia made me buy them.   I get them out every year, and I definitely don't light them.   They still make the holiday a little happier for me.  May yours be fun, and may you leave room for dessert!  

Fun with technology

Monday was a day when it seemed everything was "off," literally.  I arrived for an 8:45 dental appointment only to find the office closed.  It seems they are now closed on Mondays, but they forgot to reschedule me when they changed hours.  They had a cancellation for next week, though, and I'm rescheduled for then.  

I returned home to find Paul on the phone with the cable company.  Last week he called them to reduce the number of channels we get.  We never watch about 95% of the channels anyway, but the cable is bundled with our internet and phone.  They sent a new modem and router which should allow us to use our Roku to access TV from now on.  OK...  We aren't fans of DIY technology upgrades, but Paul valiantly took a stab at it, almost immediately encountering problems with the online installation directions.  He had to call a service person and was told to disconnect and reconnect.  Nothing, including the phone, worked.  

Thank goodness we had a cell phone and, after a long session, managed to get everything up and running again.  Then we had to make our devices - laptop, Kindles, Alexa, iPad, cell phone - all recognize the new network.  It was worse than changing the clocks.  All this to reduce the number of TV channels we subscribe to!  Our phone worked for a while and then didn't work anymore.  At about 9 pm it rang once and then we had a dial tone.  Did some fairy godmother at Spectrum check on our connectivity?  We'll never know.   We're just glad that's over - at least until the next "upgrade."

Meanwhile, my cellphone was busy most of the afternoon as Friends of the Library called with one question or another about our Light Up the Library project.  Everyone is busy soliciting donations of holiday trees, wreaths, and other decorations which will be shown and then, after two weeks, raffle off.  In the middle of all of this busy-ness, I managed to applique three Dear Jane blocks.  What a soothing, relaxing activity hand applique is!

Reviewing what I've been reading

My friend Pauline, also a retired librarian, enjoys edgy Scandinavian mysteries, both in books and on TV.  She often recommends books to me, but I rarely do to her since I seem to be reading a lot of cozy mysteries these days.  I had lunch with my friend Sonia, also a retired librarian, a few weeks ago and knew that my recent reading wouldn't suit her either even though her all-time favorite author is the same as mine:  Georgette Heyer.  Sonia has recommended few books which I reserved as e-books at the library.  They are definitely cozier-sounding than Pauline's suggestions which can be pretty dark.  

So far, I've 46 books this year, and of those I've read nearly 20 books that feature Aunt Bessie. The author, Diana Xarissa Dunn, has made a book available free on Kindle every two weeks in 2023, and, because they are titled alphabetically, I am up to "T" now.  I enjoy these books because they are set on the Isle of Man, in in the Irish Sea off the coast of England, and Aunt Bessie is a feisty older lady whose common sense and island connections helps the cops solve their cases.  I got interested in this island when I learned about Manx quilts and started working on one.

For a change of pace, right now I'm reading the latest No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency book, which I wouldn't really call mysteries since people rarely die in them.   And one of the books Sonia recommended is queued up on my Kindle so I'll have to read that next.  It's due in two weeks.  

I know I'll go back to seeing what's up with Aunt Bessie soon.   I do hope there's a Christmas one coming, too, because I'm in the mood for that kind of book lately - only two weeks to Thanksgiving!

My old friend, Dear Jane

This week I'm happy to be back working on Dear Jane, starting with block #D-1.  I was pleased to find that I have made 36 blocks so far this year.  Of course, there are 108 left to make!  And then there is the triangle border, although at this point, I doubt if I'll make them.   

I really enjoy the challenge of making my own pattern for each block.  Sometimes that's frustrating, but other times, it works well.  There are a couple of websites with foundation piecing directions for individual blocks, but some of them just haven't worked out well for me.  

I'm learning to fuse the little bits rather than struggle with applique, with varying results.   I did hand applique block D-9 today with all the lights on in the living room.  It was pretty gloomy outside because it started snowing about 6:30 am and looked really pretty.  After it started warming up, it stayed gloomy and the roads got pretty slushy.   Winter's here!

Tonight, I'm going to try making a broccoli quiche with a potato crust.  Chris came over last week with a large box of potatoes that he'd grown.   I'm busy looking for recipes and hope they keep indoors OK.  The garage is too cold, and the house too warm except in the kitchen.   Potato soup or corn chowder may be next.

Precious Ramotswe

I think I have read all 24 of the No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency books, and I just started #25.  There is something so comforting about checking in with Precious and the gang when outside it's Stick Season and gloomy.  While the stories are simple and the writing so repetitious that I want to scream sometimes, I do like her wit and wisdom.  

Yesterday I cut out more flowers for the collage quilt and found I need even more.  I'm awfully glad Marie suggested putting some light blues behind the flowers to fill in gaps, too.  Today I'll move The Beast from the ironing board so I can do a little more fusing.  I may sew a little with my machine.  I haven't touched Dear Jane since June.

I know the collage is going to take quite a while to finish, but I really need variety in my quilting.  I'm not the kind of person to work on one project at a time.  I'm looking forward to my hand sewing group meeting Saturday - miss the fun chats we have.

The yard has been winterized.   The grill and hoses have been put away, and my bird feeder posts are ready whenever the bears finally go to sleep.  A big, noisy project is about to happen behind our house, courtesy of the power company which will be cutting down a long line of white pines that is beginning to die.  Our HOA will be replanting in the spring after the area is cleared.   Meanwhile, our backyards will be more exposed to traffic and passers-by.

A day off

Life has been so busy lately, that it's been a while since I last blogged.  I've been involved with the Friends of the Library annual meeting, the state quilt guild's fall meeting, and getting ready for the Genealogy Fair this coming Saturday.   Paul's brother Jim was here from Alabama all of last week, so we did some sightseeing and got together with family members twice.  Yesterday was, finally, a day "off" for me, and I enjoyed it immensely.

The morning started with fusing and cutting some more items for the collage quilt.  I have a lot of floral fabrics to cut for the treetops and am so glad to have those new padded Karen K. Buckley scissors.  I have some of the pieces scattered over my piece, but it will be a while before I am sure where everything will go.  Today I'll drive over to A Quilter's Garden to pick up the scissors I left behind after class.  We were all borrowing items from each other during class, and I couldn't find them when I was packing up.  They are quite sharp, so I was glad when Marie let me know I'd left them behind.  While I'm there, I may end up with a teensy bit more floral fabric, too.

Yesterday morning also found me finishing up the details for posters about the Friends' Light Up the Library project and its accompanying A Christmas Carol play.  They have been sent to the library for artwork and copying.  I wanted to get things out early as the staff is busy training the new director who I had lunch with Monday.  She seems very enthusiastic about our various projects.

After lunch, I made a big batch of oatmeal cookies for Saturday's genealogy fair.  They're to fuel the energy of the volunteers who'll be tabling (yes, that seems to be a verb these days).  We'll have tables for people to find out more about searching for ancestors from various countries and ethnicities, as well as learning how to use online resources.  I'll be introducing our special speakers and filling in at various tables for breaks and lunches.

In the late afternoon, while the furnace man was busy cleaning and getting us ready for winter, I finally found time to read the latest mystery, Home at Night by Paula Munier, a Vermont author who features Mercy, a veteran of the Afghanistan conflice and her dog Elvis.  This one takes place around Halloween so is just right for now.