Scared Cat

Last Sunday as hurricane Irene passed over us, Ms G was so frightened that she hardly came out of hiding at all. After the initial pass we were then subject to the back side winds and they were the heaviest and most fierce. As they began to wind down, we began to relax a bit. As I took to the couch to rest, I hoped Ms G would finally come out and snuggle. it took awhile but here is the process. At first she kept looking at me, begging for me to stop the gusts, ears rotating as she remained on full alert.
I was trying to catch her with the ear rotated toward the nearest window where the curtains were billowing from the winds. Still very nervous.
Finally, she began to settle down and snuggle in but you can see that skeptical glance toward the window behind her.
Ahhhhhhhhh.
This has been the most beautiful end of summer week....one of the reasons we love Cape Cod so very much.
We're still concerned for our New England neighbors who are suffering so much from the flooding. The losses are staggering - crops are devastated, as well as all personal belongings. Now we watch to see what will happen in Louisiana today. May they be spared a flood!
I am off to help friend, Sue make a memory quilt from shirts, similar to what I'm doing with Debbie. Such fun. Love to all.

S & S

Now that the beautiful post-hurricane air has re-energized my mind, I'm wanting to catch up with some recent fun times....
A great evening and dinner was enjoyed with daughter, Sara and granddaughter, Samantha.
Samantha is growing so fast and more beautiful everyday....she's a great conversationalist, as well!

We are looking forward to Labor Day weekend this week. It will include some delicious alone time with my LM, a visit with best friend, Sue to consult on a new quilting project, and at some point, I will share some rare alone time with LM's daughter, Meg. She is having a milestone week with today being the first day of nursing school. You have no idea how hard she has worked, and the odds she has faced, to get to this point at 27 yrs of age! It has been a very hard row for her to hoe and she has made it to the first day. This afternoon I received a very excited phone call from her as she told me about the first day and the excitement of learning. Love it!
More catch-up posts to come!
Love to all.....
PS. Do stop by at Happy Days to see the progress on Debbie and Barney's quilt. She is doing a wonderful job, and Barney's help is felinity (new word) at its best!

Update

Thanks for all the concerns, everyone. A little note here to say we are fine. Power is coming back on gradually everywhere, although some may be out for as much as a week. There are so many broken trees and branches, and in other areas of our state and New England, the flooding is catastrophic. Really awful, especially Vermont.

Back to work, and I will post very soon with some pictures of Ms. G.

From the Front

We have had a rather unusual dry hurricane/tropical storm, and it continues to rage with very powerful winds. The howling is about continuous right now. Ms G is so frightened and is cowering or hiding under the bed. She has tried to go to the doorway in a lull to look out but quickly darts back to safety as there are lots of branches and leaves blowing around outside.
We've had a nice day inside and power has been on and off many times.
The western areas of MA are hit very badly with flooding as are VT, NY and other states.
We still have tonight's huge tidal surge to come in 2 hours so the wind will continue to intensify through that time we think.
The police are fire departments are overwhelmed with calls.
That's it from our little corner.

Waiting for Irene

As we prepared to go to bed last night, we found our little friend, Ms G, on "her" chair in the kitchen, all hunkered down. (the lighted globes in the background are solar lights we brought in from the garden to save them from the coming storm) I love her "go away paparazzi" look.
We were up very early this morning to make the final preparations before the storm. Her royal highness is seen surveying her territory from the kitchen door at 6 am.
We are as ready as we can be for for the hurricane. Even though Irene has lost some punch, she is still a very powerful force of nature and will be arriving here tomorrow morning. Errands are done, final yard work is underway and I am so happy to have a quiet day at home.
My son-in-law David arrived on Eleuthera yesterday and their house has survived Irene with only a few battle scars and a little water. He'll be there for a few days to help others and attend to repairs. We are all so relieved.
This afternoon I will be talking on the phone with Debbie of Happy Days. We are about to embark on an exciting project together. I'm going to help her make a quilt using shirts belonging to her late father. It is a meaningful journey, and one of which I am thrilled to be a part.
Love to all and be safe in the storm if it's coming your way.

Cautions for the Wind

We are preparing for Irene here. The company is busily getting each site as tight as possible, and LM and I are planning to spend the weekend together, as usual, but we'll work to get his house secure and plan to be without power, just in case, beginning late Sun. I will stay with him through the night Sunday rather than come home to be alone. So far, there is not much variation in Irene's path, and we are forecast to be east of the eye and where the highest winds will be. The wait seems interminable, as the moisture heavy air and heat attempt to stifle us.

All our attention has been on waiting for news from Eleuthera. The storm has passed over the island, and tropical winds and tidal surges have lashed our favorite place of fragile beauty. Communication from the island right now is very limited and only a few photos have come our way showing flooding, and a turned over airplane at the local airport....waiting feels endless. SIL David will go over as soon as he can (UPDATE: He arrived around 2 this afternoon, as far as we know) to be of help to neighbors and friends, and to check on the status of their house.

I will let you all know when I hear any news. This morning early we heard that the winds were very damaging, and that many home are destroyed on the south part of the island and surrounding small islands.

Otherwise, I am ready for the cleaning company to come in this morning to undo the damage I did in the smoothie disaster on Monday. It will be so nice to have all my rugs cleaned. Next I'm having the windows cleaned inside and out. Glad I waited until after the storm as much salt spray will be kicked up this weekend!

Love to all, and for anyone else in the storm path, take care!

Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin On!

So yesterday morning, I began my day by making my usual morning smoothie with lots of spinach, protein, blueberries, strawberries, oat bran and yogurt. It nearly fills my blender and really jumpstarts my day. As I made my way into the sitting room with the blender container and a glass, I tripped, the container hit the floor and it splattered EVERYWHERE! Everywhere includes all over my outfit for work, my chair, the carpeting, a quilt, the walls, you name it! After I stifled the tears I just began laughing and cleaning it up. A second shower of the morning was on tap for me, and with a clean outfit on, I was out the door to work....aha, the universe is not done with me yet. I'd left all my car windows open and the car seats were soaked after a lovely night of steady rain....I quickly pull a large bag from the back seat and cover the driver's seat and head to work. As I leave the car, I realize there is red all over the seat of the car AND all over the seat and legs of my beige pants! Into the office bathroom I go, take off the pants and scrub out the red stain, put the wet pants on and sit at my desk that way for 3 hours as they slowly dried out. A truly auspicious start to my day! I've called a disaster clean-up company and they are coming Friday to clean the rug. The rest of the cleaning and some preliminary rug cleaning are up to me.

Today had a better start, the smoothie was consumed and enjoyed without any spilling and I've been at work since 8 without a major event, until 2 pm when the building started moving, my chair was moving, my computer moved, everything shook and rolled as the window blinds moved quite dramatically in their frames. I froze, thinking I was having some stress related reaction to yesterday, then other staff began coming to my desk to ask if I felt building move. As we were all standing there exclaiming that we had, I received an e-mail from my brother in Baltimore to say there had been an earthquake and he struggled to stand up during the event. Sounds like there have been no injuries or damage. Let's hope that remains so!

Whew, I was not losing my mind.....but really what is going on here?? Now we can go back to following the hurricane track. Not sure my son-in-law, and daughter, for that matter, are going to recover from the stress of worrying. Irene really is a ferocious storm! Take care all in its path!!

Good Night Irene

Irene, it is time to turn off your fury and go to sleep....please leave our beloved Bahamas (Eleuthera) alone and don't imperil any more lives!
Even though the hatches were all battened down when they left last month, my daughter and husband are very worried about their precious haven, their friends there, and the natural beauty that is Eleuthera.

While we watch the weather reports closely, we are happy to feel the beginnings of Fall here. The last week brought us some very high humidity and heat and it nearly did me in on Sunday....still recovering from a trek around Provincetown.

Be back later in the week with some recent photos....meanwhile, off to work and a busy evening to come as LM will be by to help me rid my house of some unwanted/unneeded items....I'm gearing up for a big move within the next two years and want to be ready for the move to take place easily.
Love to all!

All the Senses

Just a little post here tonight as my senses are keenly aware and sated with the joy of living so near to the ocean on the beautiful elbow of land I call home. The air is heavy with the ocean's brininess. As I sit in my chair the salty breezes keep lifting my spirits even higher. I've just come from a lovely evening with daughter, Sara and her sweet Samantha. We stopped by LM's favorite beach for some kisses and the sunset, to find him pursuing his favorite passion, casting line after line into the creek as the tide recedes, and catching snapper blues in the early evening light, happy as a clam, so to speak.
How fortunate I am to be surrounded by so much love, and now to be able to drift off to sleep on this cool summer evening, as the lovely sea-scented air fills my senses.
Love and soft summer breezes to all!

Friendship in Stitches

Back on line!!
At last I can share with you some of the wonderful quilts I saw last week at the Bayberry Quilters Guild show in Harwich. Years ago, I belonged to this guild, but downsizing during a divorce and lack of time found me not able to quilt as much, and not having the time. It was so inspiring to see how the guild has grown and that many of the same people are still so active.
Each year there is a challenge project, and this year the theme was a celebration of the 50th birthday of the Cape Cod National Seashore. Living here, appreciating the Seashore as a national treasure, and living daily in gratitude to President John F. Kennedy for saving this outer area of the Cape, made these miniature theme quilts very special.
The first one to draw in my eye, is this depiction of a heron, sitting on the bank of a marsh searching for food, no doubt. It is a sight seen nearly daily here, and the colors were much deeper than my cheap little camera captured.
The three sisters are three beautiful lighthouses keeping navigators safe along our outer Atlantic Coast. "My" Chatham lighthouse is there! The outer beaches of the Cape almost all have very steep cliffs, and I adored the fanciful mermaid sisters here.
The three-dimensional fun of this piece was hard to capture, but many of the tinier sea creatures - clams, crabs and other tiny creatures, were beautifully done.
One of my favorite Cape Cod walks is through the Great Atlantic White Cedar Swamp in Wellfleet....it wends its way through what feels like primeval forest with boardwalks over the swamps. This little quilt has such depth and perfectly captured the color and feel of that walk.
Now, on to the full sized quilts....this quilt was made by a grandmother for her grandchild living in Africe. The animals were so lifelike.
An old-fashioned pattern with beautiful contemporary fabrics set into a black background for effect.
We loved this quilt as it was done entirely with batik fabrics. Stunning!! The quilting was also exquisite and witness my dear friend, Sue, showing the back and the beautiful stitches.
This was one of my very favorites! The story behind the quilt made it all the more special, not to mention that it was done with circles and perfect points. A mother and HS aged son collected the fabrics over a 2 year period, then the mother sewed the quilt for the son to take when he left for college. Truly a masterpiece.
That blue quilt at the end really caught my eye
Sure enough, up close the use of color and shading was perfectly captivating!
A beautifully feminine circle wall hanging ( from a guild workshop)
This tribute to the Boston Red Sox and Fenway Park was amazing and such fun. The center contained player autographs, and the baseball themed fabrics were great.
A Christmas quilt made by many, many tiny off-kilter log cabin pieces

This chicken farmer's daughter was completely captivated by this rooster wall hanging. Even the breed type was hand embroidered atop each beautifully designed bird. The feathers were perfect, too, and they each had a unique personality and their own flower.
Jenni - this one is for you....a sweet three-dimensional sheep created from a photograph. Detail was wonderful, including the piece of fine screen mesh to duplicate that in the photo.

This piece reminded me of my current type of quilting......simple with very interesting fabrics.
There were some beautiful Baltimore Album quilts....
A close up from another Album quilt....the flowers were exquisitely done with ribbon.

An old and loved Cape Cod-themed quiltSpeaking of Cape Cod, this magnificent and fun creation is the combined efforts of many guild members and was raffled at the end of the day. It has so many wonderful Cape Cod landmarks and many fun details of life here.
The Chatham area of this elbow in the ocean
The 3 bridges which cross the Cape Cod Canal (one is a railroad bridge) were so meticulously created.

As I stood close to study the work on this quilt, the air was filled with the gasps of so many. It depicts an English cottage garden and each of the flowers are created from silk ribbon. Spectacular!
Seeing the show with two dear friends was such fun and so inspiring. Lunch followed and we all felt so committed, once again, to pursue our individual artistic passions! Thanks Sue and Gini!

A Brief Announcement

My home computer unceremoniously stopped working on Monday. LM, has advised he believes it is the power cord. I have a new one in hand and am headed home to test his theory!
Hope everyone is having a great week. We have the most glorious cool clean, sunny air here on Cape Cod today....hope it is nice in your world, too.
With lots of faith in my sweet LM, I will be back on-line soon to post some great quilt pictures from last week's show!

Joy

On July 30th there was a dual birthday celebration for son, Jason (41) and moi (35 - how did that happen?). The day was a picture perfect Cape Cod summer day and Jason and Alison hosted a lovely and simple celebration on their deck.
Dear sister-in-law, Trish admires the cousin love-fest between Samantha and Teddy. Trish is making an incredibly wonderful recovery from recent rotator cuff surgery and inspired me to go forth with my procedure....maybe in Oct.
When we arrived, Teddy came running full-speed to LM's arms, saying, "Woo, Woo" (his interpretation of LM's name, Lou) as he excitedly begged to be hugged. Of course, dear, Woo, is very popular as he always several forms of technology to be played with. This time it was a police scanner that Teddy thought was the highlight of the day. Well, he did love the cake.
Woo, the scanner, Teddy, brother, Sam, Alison and Kristi
Ahhhhh, bliss.
Kristi was so happy to spend time with her dream-man, Sam. They are great pals.
Friend extraordinaire, Sue, joined us for the celebration, and she brought bubble blowing equipment to entertain S & T. Great fun!
Alison cooking up our delicious fare...fancy hamburgers and lots of other goodies.
Soon it was time for the birthday cake....made by a certain 35 yr old...to appear.
Teddy and Samantha rushed in to help blow out the candles. (this really shows how tall Samantha is getting!)Teddy contemplates his first bite of cake, but not for long....it was consumed with gusto, a man after my own heart.
Finishing off their desserts
He's growing so much!
Time for more play with the scanner, as Sam reads one of my presents to Jason - a history of the Town of Bourne compiled in 1974. Jason has a great collection of Bourne memorabilia and this added to it nicely.
A wonderful time was had by all, and you may notice there are no pictures of the 35 year old (and sadly, none of Sara, as she was the photographer of the day). The birthday girl was sitting on a recliner recovering from yet another ridiculous fall. I'd gone to take a garden walk with Trish and Sue and, on the return, when I went to climb over the deck baby gate, I caught my sandal and went down in a big thud, nearly wiping out Teddy and Sue in the process. Of course, it happened in front of everyone there and I can still feel the sting of embarrassment. Nearly two weeks later my left leg from knee to ankle is green and the knee still very swollen. I was very lucky, though and got lots of love, concern and ice packs. Poor LM is still so upset about watching me fall and not being able to move quickly enough to stop me.
Nonetheless, it was a perfect family day and I am forever grateful for my great children and grandchildren.

Summer Scene

A morning at LM's house would not be complete unless we awoke to the sound of our neighbor's geese and the crowing of another's rooster. We love it. The geese happen to be the guards in a delightfully quirky flower garden, so here is a little peek for you. I love to walk over in the summer to buy flowers at the little wagon.
Customers are invited to "take the vase and bring it back when you have a chance."
Looking in to the garden there are all types of quirky little buildings and an abundance of wonderful flowers.
The geese usually come running to the fence, necks lowered and squawking at us.
Aha, do you see someone standing in that garden???
There he is all decked out in his farmer duds, Mr. Scarecrow. I wonder if he is necessary with all those geese? We love all the little wagons and buildings scattered about. The owner is renowned for his construction of fairy-type buildings in many Cape Cod gardens. It's on my list to check out an enchanted garden he made at a nearby lavender farm. It is near Sara and Samantha's house so will be a fun surprise walk one day soon.
On the morning I visited recently, he was building a new fence along the front of the garden and I was enchanted by his work wagon seen here. Typical of touches throughout the garden.
Later in the same day, LM and I went over to the northside of the Cape to have an al fresco supper by Sesuit Harbor. We love to watch the boats coming in off the water at the end of the day, and the little cafe has delicious food.
These delicious fried clams may or may not have been eaten by a certain writer.
Several weeks ago my first husband, Allan, father to daughters Anne and Sara, was here visiting from FL. We had a nice early dinner Mashpee Commons and then a little walk around. After all these years not much has changed.
Sweet Samantha loved seeing her Grampa.
One night last week, a co-worker and I were invited to have dinner with clients with whom we've both become good friends. Their house sits over Aunt Lydia's Cove which is Chatham Harbor. The view is east to North Beach Island, a barrier beach, and then to the open Atlantic, certainly one of the most beautiful spots I know. Note the gulls following the fishing boat returning home at the end of a day's work, and also the fish chairs from which we could enjoy the view.
It's taken me weeks to make this post, due to Blogger issues. I certainly hope to be back sooner.
We are doing really well right now, just had a fun birthday celebration last weekend, and tomorrow I will be attending a huge quilt show....hope to be back soon with pictures.
Summer is fleeting away, and it has been beautiful here.
Love to all!!

PS: Click on any of the photos to enlarge.