Rain, Rain, more rain

Wednesday was class day -- everyone attended and I picked up a new student from Colombia.
She's only been in US for 2 months but is doing well. We worked on vocabulary and pronunciation the entire class period. The most frequent comment I hear is . . "It's hard!" Yes, I know it is hard to learn another language, but practice, practice, practice is so important.

After class it was a trip to the dentist that took up my afternoon -- I had a bad crown that was worn through and needed to be replaced. I have the temp on now and will get the new crown Nov 18. Such fun!

Thursday was house cleaning -- I started off doing some grocery shopping. I managed to get home and have my groceries unloaded before the rain started. It rained off and on all afternoon so I just stayed in and cleaned. Sweetie and I were going out to Olive Garden for dinner but the rain was just too heavy to make it safe so we turned around and went back home. We had soup for our dinner. Tonight we are having stuffed Poblano Chilies -- I've already cooked the chicken and have cut up the part I'm using tonight. I have enough chicken cooked to also make Quesadillas, perhaps for Sunday lunch.

I still need to blog some about the camping trip but don't have time right now. More cleaning to do! Take care, all, and have a great weekend. I'm going to sew!

Home Again, part four

Monday morning we ate breakfast and then decided to take a ride/drive up into the mountains. Our destination . . . Queen Wilhemina State Park. The boys rode their bikes, but L and I rode in my car. It was a bit cool outside but a really beautiful day. We stopped at the park entrance and bought postcards, then we continued up the mountain, stopping here and there to look at the fall colors and the beautiful vistas.

At the top we saw the beautiful Queen Wilhemina Lodge -- this is about the 4th building that has stood on this spot since the original building was built in the 1890's and named for the new Queen of the Netherlands, who was crowned in 1898. The lodge contains guest rooms, a gift shop, and a dining room which features a popular buffet.

The foyer of the Queen Wilhemina Lodge, featuring a native stone fireplace.

There are wonderful views from the front of the lodge.

A miniature train provides rides at times but it was not running while we were there. Later we read that they were featuring a Halloween ride that was supposed to be scary. Too bad we couldn't be there for that!

Back at camp two more of our group arrived and set up their tents. We fixed the last pre-planned evening meal -- minute steaks, rice, and green beans. Tuesday morning we fixed breakfast for all (oatmeal with raisins) and then I announced that everyone was on their own for future meals -- my kitchen was closed! (Once the rally opened the dining room was available for meals, or we could go into town to eat.)

Home Again, Part three

After arriving, we found a relatively flat place and set up camp. We are the brown tent in the middle -- a Coleman canvas tent made in 1974 -- M is on the right and M & L are in the "Bunkhouse" trailer tent on the left. Later, the area where I'm standing was full of tents and this view wasn't possible.

Our first night went really well. I had planned a quick dinner for arrival night -- soup that I made beforehand and froze. After eating we sat around the fire and visited before turning in for the night.
Sunday morning we ate breakfast and then went to church. We chose a small church named Lake Side Missionary Baptist Church, in Mena, and went to the 11 am service. We were all dressed in our denims, matching chapter shirts, and vests (the vests were covered in our patches and pins, and had the "colors" on the back.) The people of the little church made us very welcome -- such a friendly group!

Sunday was my Sweetie's 65th birthday and Saturday had been M's 50th birthday so L and I planned a special meal. We went to La Villa Mexican Cafe and were joined there by 6 of our friends who had also arrived early. The 6 friends actually brought a surprise birthday party with them -- cake, balloons, candles, etc. It was a fun event!
The birthday boys are pictured below! (In this picture they are dressed as they were for church Sunday morning.)

Home Again, part two.

The little town of Mena was about 8 - 10 miles away, along a lovely winding road.

We made the trip often -- one visit a day to Walmart seems to be a tradition!

The old Mena depot is an interesting building -- the train goes through every day but I don't think it stops in Mena anymore. The depot is used for offices and, I think, a museum.

An old police car can be seen at one end. Remember when police cars looked like this one?

Home Again, part one

Sweetie and I are home again -- we were away for about 9 days, attending the "Changing of the Colors" annual rally of the Christian Motorcyclists Association. (CMA) This was my first year to attend and I admit I had some reservations. First of all, I don't ride motorcycles. Second, we were going to camp out for 8 days & nights and that takes a lot of planning and "stuff." I just couldn't figure out what I was going to be doing all that time while the others were on bikes.

I'm happy to say that it all worked out! "Colors," as the rally is called, was a really wonderful event and I enjoyed just about every minute. Oh, there were time when I did wish that I was somewhere else -- like at 4:30 am when I needed to go to the restroom and it was 1/2 block (uphill) away. Or when it was raining -- all evening, all night, all morning, and my tent was getting wetter and wetter! But, we actually had a minimum of problems, and I believe the rewards far outweighed the downside.

This event was held at IRON MOUNTAIN -- a place owned by CMA, in the Ouachita (pronounced Wash-a-taw) National Forest, in the state of Arkansas. It was beautiful in this hardwood forest -- the leaves were beginning to change colors. Most of my camping experience has been in pine forests so this was a new experience. There were many, many oak trees and also some that we were told were hickory trees. When the wind blew the acorns and hickory nuts would rain down on us. I'm told the hickory nuts hurt when they hit you but they always missed me. The acorns were too small to be a bother, however, except they often landed where they weren't wanted, like in your cup of hot chocolate!

Rain, Rain, Rain

Oh, am I repeating myself? We arrived home last evening -- clear sailing all the way. Started raining here sometimes during the night. I was sleeping snug in my real bed and it didn't bother me at all. Still raining, however, and roads, and especially intersections, are flooded. Supposed to be this way all day -- we got out in the truck and went grocery shopping. The people in the store were pathetically happy to see customers -- I think we were the only ones in the store!

Rain, Rain, Rain!

Started raining last night -- 7 pm (in Arkansas)
Still raining
got some water in tent
Went to Walmart at 5:30 am for tarp -- spread it on the top
That will help
Otherwise, enjoying the fun and fellowship and fall colors!
Wonderful service last night -- over 2,000 people! Great music, three alter calls with heavy response -- lots of renewal going on. Praise God -- this is a blessing.

Sleeping on an airbed in a tent -- temp 34 deg -- Sweetie got a bit cold! Second night we had an elect blanket -- slept 9 hours, warm as bugs in a rug!
The trees are turning and we are having a great time -- Celebrated Sweetie's b'day -- friends surprised him with cake, balloons, etc.
Having a wonderful time!

Greetings from cool Katy! It is a lovely 66 deg F this morning, with a little breeze. The "cold" front arrived during the night and we will have some lovely weather for a while. Sweetie and I are planning some fun events for the next few days so I may not have much time to post. We'll see -- we will have a laptop to use if time and circumstances allow.

Yesterday I attended the Houston International Quilt Show! It was great, but oh, so tiring. My feet felt really happy to be home after it was over!! We saw some lovely quilts and pictures of some of them are already uploaded to the computer, but I don't have time to blog them so you quilters will have to wait a few days to see them. There was a lovely exhibit from Russia and I really enjoyed seeing their colorful quilts. I saw Alex Anderson and Eleanor Burns -- they are almost always there. Didn't see Fons and Porter this year, but they may have been there. Since I only had one day to attend this year's show I probably missed some things.

Take care, everyone, and send me lots of comments and e-mails. I love hearing from all of you!

Another class day. We had a full room -- M, my former student from Iran, returned. She had been back in her native country for the past 4 month and only returned the end of last week. Today she came bearing gifts -- a box of chocolates to share with the class, and from Iran a pound of walnuts and a pair of shoes for me. The shoes are sandals and they fit! She says they are very comfortable and I know she wears hers when she is taking a walk. I've received many gifts through the years but it was a first to receive shoes. However, I know she is proud of her country so I accepted her gift graciously.
---After class my Korean student asked if she could take me to lunch -- to a place of my choosing. We went to a place she didn't know about and she was delighted with the food and prices and thanked me for telling her about it. We had a nice visit during lunch -- got off on the subject of quilting, and I believe she will start coming to The King's Quilters in November. She said she had bought herself a machine but she didn't know how to use it. I told her, just bring it along and I'll teach you. She is excited.
------Today we studied the structure of sentences. We started with one subject (noun) and one verb and built from there. It is hard, especially for my Spanish speakers, to get the noun/adjective order the English way, so while we added words to our basic sentence we were able to practice putting them in the right order. I was very pleased with their journals today -- they were much better than last week as far as sentence structure was concerned. F finally brought his homework and he is very good! I made a few corrections but, basically, he did a good job. Well, actually they all did.
---------We also studied capitalization. I gave them 7 rules and then we read sentences, underlined the capitalized words, and gave the number of the rule that applied. Most of them were right in step. I gave them a few sentences to bring to the next class. I didn't read the directions to them beforehand -- I want to see if they do the right thing.
------------F asked for a special class on the pronunciation of English vowels. Many of my students have studied English in their native countries and already do a good job pronouncing English words. However, I don't mind scheduling such a class somewhere in the future.
----------------M unknowingly fell into the theme of our previous writing on colors by describing a wedding she attended in Iran. The bride had two dresses (the wedding lasted 2 days) -- one was white and one was red. The students found that interesting.

Well, it is warm and it isn't raining so I'm going out a little later to mow the grass. It has really grown in all the rain we've had.

Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta 2007

Early morning -- the balloons are being unloaded and inflated


The Thomas crew are working on Bobbin' Along, Bob Thomas' balloon. This is the balloon that I rode in for my first and only balloon ride. It is necessary to hold the balloons down during this process, to prevent a premature departure sans crew!

She's up!

I think the balloons look beautiful against the blue morning sky.

A reflection caught in the Rio Grande.

The sky is filled with balloons!

Bobbin' Along shot from the basket, looking up into the envelope.

Many of the balloon designs would make good quilts!

Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta 2007, Special Shapes

The special shapes are a favorite part of every balloon festival.

The Darth Vader balloon was a big hit with the young people......

Especially since some of the crew members came in costume!

After a day of flying, the afterglow is always enjoyed. All balloons are tethered and their heaters are turned on to create a colorful glow.

The 2009 Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta was troubled with weather problems. I decided to share the 2007 pictures that my daughter took because they reflect just how beautiful the balloons can be in a good year.

Seems like the days are just whizzing by! Can't believe I haven't posted since Wednesday!
Saturday I treated Sweetie to breakfast out, and then we drove south a bit to visit the grand opening of a new Kroger grocery store which also sells furniture. Seems a bit silly to me and I didn't see much furniture, but they did have some nice things in the housewares department.
Then we stopped by Walmart and did some shopping for us and for YD who has worked a few hours but still has no pay check from new job. Oh, my, this could be worrysome if I was one to worry about things like money, loss of job, etc. But of course, I don't worry about things like that! Nope, not me!! LOL.

It is 62 deg F and still pretty wet -- has rained off and on all day. I'm loving the cooler weather but the weather man promises that the heat -- high 80's -- will be back next week. Oh, well.
We will take what comes and be happy.

OD has posted some of her balloon fiesta pictures (from 2007) on Facebook and I'm going to ask if I can share some of her pictures with you all here on my blog. If you have never been to a hot air balloon festival you don't know what fun you have missed. We were there one year and thoroughly enjoyed the sights. I've only been up in a balloon one time, and it was an experience, but it is very enjoyable to see the multitude of balloons that attend the Albuquerque Fiesta.

Thanks to my faithful few that make comments on my blog. I look at the visitors I've had and I see that people are stopping by, but most of them are quiet. Oh, well, I don't always comment on every blog I read, either, so I guess I can't complain.

Homestead Heritage

A friend told me about a place called Homestead Heritage. It is quite near us -- well, relatively.
A few hours drive north and west. It is really interesting so I'm giving you a link to this site.
Click here if you want to see what it is about.

I thought fall was going to take care of our hot weather but it is still hot and humid at my house. Yesterday it was in the 90's and today it is now in the high 80's (F) with high humidity. Showers have been popping us around us and a few have dropped a bit of moisture on our yard. Always welcome, but it does make the humidity go up!

• Today was class day -- Again, I had 3 students, all Spanish speakers. My Korean student called to say that she was not feeling well and wanted to stay home. Of course, I said that would be fine. We are all trying to avoid people who don't feel well to avoid spreading the flu in this area.
• In class we studied naming customs, specifically those involving people getting married. There are many customs about brides taking or not taking the last name of their new husbands. I took my husband's last name when we were married and all of my friends did the same when they married. However, that is not the custom in all of the world. I think that there are many countries, especially Asian countries, where the woman does not adopt the last name of her husband.
• What did you do when you married? Did you take your husband's last name or did you keep your birth name? Why? Did your wife take your last name?
• We also talked about colors -- For instance, what colors are traditional wedding colors?....funeral colors?....do clothing colors change seasonally?, etc. It was an interesting conversation. In the USA white has been a traditional wedding color for many years. Today's weddings, however, may have a bride wearing beige, or some other color. There are now black and white weddings where one or more of the wedding party wears black. I spoke with a woman in a local fabric store, who was looking for black buttons to put down the back of a white wedding gown. The bridesmaids were wearing black trimmed in white. Not quite the traditional look, but something that is now often seen. What are wedding colors where you live? Funeral colors?
• My Iranian student has not returned to class this semester. I hope she was able to return to the USA after her recent visit to Iran. There has been some political unrest in her country. I also have some concerns about my Taiwanese student who is visiting Taiwan for 6 months. There has been some severe weather there.
• My thumb is healing and I am now able to use it without pain. I still have to be careful to keep the wound clean, however, as it has not closed. I think I may be left with a small scar following my careless mishap.
• Take care, my blog friends, and please write to tell me about the colors in your world!

Good morning everyone,
I had a busy day yesterday. It was quilting day but I elected not to sew because of my sore thumb. Hauling my machine and my tools, fabric, etc., was just too much. I did stop by to say hello. A new person stopped by and indicated that she wants to learn to quilt. She's young and we need some "young blood" in our group!

I awoke very early yesterday, and I don't know why. It gave me a lot of time to get things done, however, I don't want to make a habit of being awake THAT early! First I worked on some sewing that I'm doing for Sweetie. Then, I started sealing the grout on the new tile floors. I am not sure there isn't an easier way than the one I'm using, but we'll see how this goes. I started in a smaller area.

YD went to work! Praise the Lord. She will be working less than full time, but I'm sure her hours will increase as the year draws to a close. She is to be trained as the Asst. Mgr of the clothing store where she is working.

V stayed with me yesterday afternoon-- she had a sore throat, so she wasn't in school, but had no fever. If no fever this morning she will go to school. She was bored here since I had loads of things to do. After Sweetie got home we played a short game of Attack Uno and she had a great time.

Yesterday morning, around 6 am, I turned on the TV to get the news and weather. Alas, no cable. That means no TV as we do not have any type of antenna necessary to pick up signals.
I reported the outage and was assured that workers would be on the job around 7 am. I checked back with the TV off and on during the day, but the cable still wasn't on. Oh, well, I was busy so I went about my chores. I missed it, however. I missed keeping up with the news. I missed the sound because it provides a bit of company to me during the day. Last night Sweetie both read after dinner, but I missed hearing the news. Now it is another day and the cable is still out. This has made me realize that I have developed a habit of TV watching/listening. Sometimes, when I'm busy, I listen to what is on instead of watching. Funny, when we camp I don't miss the TV at all. Never think of it. But here in my house I do expect it to tell me things -- to inform and entertain me. It has become my daily companion.
Where you live, do you listen/watch the TV during the day? Please share with me.

Rain, Rain, lovely slow, steady, lovely rain! Most all night and then again this morning. Stopped sometimes early afternoon. We certainly needed it! Just the right kind, also. Not one of those flash, boom, here and gone, but a gentle soaking rain! Thank you, Lord!

Fingers are still sore but much better -- Sweetie made me put a thumb cage on yesterday evening -- wore it until after church today. It protected my thumb -- I had been hitting it and not only did it hurt but it would start bleeding again.

Was posting receipts and check today -- cleaned out my purse and WOW -- found a Barnes and Nobels gift card that was a Christmas gift! Remember, my Mom broke her hip two days after Christmas so that wiped out any memory I might have had of receiving it and we had totally forgotten we had it. It is for a considerable amount so we will go and shop and be happy! Love books!!

Test over and I got a clean bill of health! So happy to have that behind me -- my Dr. said I could wait 10 years for my next test.

However, on Thursday morning I was using my Olfa circle cutter (which is a wonderful tool) and I was careless and cut my thumb quite badly. Actually, I cut my thumb and my index finger but the index finger isn't too much of a problem -- just sore. My thumb bled and bled and bled -- actually, seemed to just pour blood, until I just said, well, perhaps I should go to ER. Decided not to drive so I called YD and she came over in a panic and took me to ER. No stitches, just a tetanus shot, steri strips (glued on) and a bandage. Boy, did I ever feel dumb!

Now, one has to be smarter than the tools they operate -- right? The circle cutter is wonderful and the cut was entirely MY fault! One cannot be careless when using something that sharp!
Quilters -- may I remind everyone that our wonderful cutters make life easier, but can also make life very difficult when we don't use them wisely. Take care!