Thursday, April 26, 2012

I think I have it ...

Yesterday I got in here and really 'rooted around' in Blogger ... I think I figured out just about everything I need to know to continue blogging here.  I must say that the opening screen is a mystery and once again tonight I sat and looked and looked trying to figure out how to post.  But I found the icon finally.  They hid that really well!  (DUH !  To me it is still not as user friendly as the old version.)  But as with most new things, I'll get used to it.  I was just feeling frustrated in my last post.  I think sometime this summer when it's real hot and I'm stuck in the house I'll remodel this blog.  It needs a new, fresh look.

Been extremely busy lately.  Last week especially; let me tell you about my week...  Monday I baked brownies for Wendell's lodge degree work and did LOTS of laundry (how does that happen?).  I also aired lots of my quilts on the porch railings and while the washer & dryer were running paid bills online and caught up with email.  

Tuesday I worked in the garden in the early a.m., then went to Bloomington for a haircut and to do some shopping/errands.  Stopped in Spencer on the way home at 5 p.m. to help set up the meeting room for the next day's Extension Homemakers International & Cultural Arts Day.  Boy was I tired after schlepping tables and chairs for an hour!  Went home and made homemade Russian dressing and cleaned greens for a salad for the next day, after fixing dinner.  

Wednesday I loaded the food and my rug in the car and went to Intl. Day at Our Father's Arms Center in Spencer.  It was a good day.  Our club's featured country was Russia (mainly Moscow).  The countries chosen by the other three clubs were Siberia, The Netherlands, and Greece.  There were very nice displays of items about and from each country, and a good presentation by each club's rep about their country.  The lunch was SUPER!  Food of each of those countries.  I ate and ate (so what else is new?)!  The cultural arts items were judged and my hooked rug "Scrappy Squares" (below) was voted county winner!  It will go to the state conference at Purdue in June to compete in the needlework division.  Wish me luck!  This is the second year my item has gone to state (last year it was my log cabin quilt) so I think next year I won't take anything ....


But the most rewarding thing that happened that day was, I donated a small hooked piece called "Touch of Spring" as one of the door prizes.  Just watching Amanda's face as she opened that gift was the best part of my day.  She was pleased and so was I!

Thursday had lunch in Worthington at the new Mexican restaurant with (coincidentally) Amanda's mother, Barbara T.  It was a real treat to just sit back for a while, talk and talk, and relax with a friend.  After our 90 minute lunch (I said we talked ...) I took some ads for the Hoosier Hills Guild's fiber fair around to some of the antique shops.  (Don't waste a trip into town I always say!)  When I got home we mowed the yard and trimmed.  Bump, bump, bump ... (that's my butt dragging). 

Friday Margo and I went to the Fiber Event in Greencastle!  FUN!  Biggest disappointment was that Teresa B. couldn't make it as planned.  She stubbed her toe seriously and just couldn't walk well.  We really missed her!  It was a good day and for a change didn't rain.  (Seems like it rains for that event every year.)  I bought yarn and yarn and yarn.  We ran into an old friend and got to talk with her for a short while.  I met some new people, too.  Talked and talked with Margo; that was the best part.  We had a wonderful lunch at Almost Home; their Key Lime Pie is to die for .....  When I got home I had to bake a carrot cake and frost it for a UMW event the next day .... zzzzzzzzzzzz  yes, I was getting there.

Saturday I went to the West District United Methodist Women's spring meeting in Spencer.  It started at 9:30 but I was back home by 2:00.  Actually it was at the same location as the Home Ext. International Day.  It was the first UMW conference event I've been to.  Very interesting!  Our speaker was Judi Purvis, the West District Superintendent of the UM Church in Indiana.  She will be retiring in July.  She sure was a good speaker, very motivational.  She seems too young to retire (does that make me sound old?)  Our unit (Freedom) won the prize for largest percentage of members present!  Yeah for us ... there are only six members but five of us were there.  We won a book (which I took home to read ... very good so far!) called Amish Grace.  It's about the shooting at the Amish school in PA last year.  I'm not through with it yet but I already can say I recommend it.

Well, to say I just died Sunday would be an understatement.  Went to church but not much else and Wendell took us out to dinner that night.  zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz  Life is good.

Tuesday, April 10, 2012

And then something beautiful appears ...

I was having a bad week recently.  I guess it showed ... But then something good always comes along, doesn't it?  To wipe out those bad times.

A week or so ago Wendell and I went for a drive.  As we were wandering along, looking at work on the new I-69 near Petersburg, we wandered further west and there along highway 65 was this sign saying "Azalea Path Arboretum".  (It's near Union, Indiana and has a Hazelton address.)  We took the lovely twisty, turny road and in a couple miles there it was!  What a gem in the country!  I urge anyone in the area to go take a look.  There is a website and I'm putting it here to help you.  


Since we've had such an early Spring, things there were blooming earlier than usual they told us.  (Very nice people work there!)  But they have lots of varieties of azaleas that bloom at different times in spring.  So it surely would be something to go see for at least a couple more weeks.  Here are some pictures I took there ...  [And BTW we ended the day in Warrenton at the Log Inn for dinner ... chicken livers for me ... YUM!]

This lovely wisteria is framing the patio where you can sit a spell.
One of the trails through the pines.
There are some architectural salvage pieces worked into the landscape.
One area has a lot of chainsaw sculpture.
And other pieces of sculpture are there also ...
There are a couple of lakes and a waterfall.  Just a lovely place to walk, observe, listen to the birds, and just contemplate how life really is good after all!

This past weekend was Easter and I'm going to write about it later in the week.  Everything's good ....