Toward the end of July 2023 we met up with dear friends on the Oregon Coast. I am doing a series of blog posts about our adventures on the Oregon Coast – check out the blog category – Oregon Coast Adventures– for the other posts (note when you click the link this current post will be the first one that shows but keep scrolling).
After flying into Portland, Oregon, renting a car, and stopping in McMinnville, Oregon (see post Oregon Coast Adventures: First Stop -McMinnville, Oregon) we drove to Depoe Bay, Oregon and spent the night at a little motel right on the bay. We came in a day before our friends we to arrive so we could do a little sightseeing on our own and leisurely make our way toNewport, Oregon to meet up with them.
The motel itself was nothing to “write home about” but it had a tasty free breakfast included and some amazing views.
This was the view from our motel room window:
And here are photos of the beach area a little bit down from the motel where we did a little exploring before heading to a delicious fresh seafood dinner.
And of course I had to take a photo in B&W:
I love this photo! Looks kind of mysterious and moody!
Next post in this series I’ll share our adventures when we got to Newport, Oregon to meet up with our friends.
Recently my sister and my nephew visited us in Colorado for 4 days. Here are some highlights of their trip which included a visit to the Night Bazaarin downtown Denver, hiking at Castlewood Canyon, and making homemade Ramen.
THE NIGHT BAZAAR
I liked calling it “The Night Market” (it sounded more mysterious) and we stumbled upon it when visiting downtown Denver one evening.
My nephew, who likes trying out eateries he hears about on viral Tik Tok videos, asked if we could visit Dave’s Hot Chicken (which they do not have available in Virginia where they live). It is a “fast food” type of eatery but one of the founders trained at Thomas Keller’s French Laundry (one of the world’s most famous three-Michelin star restaurants) and it shows in what I would consider a masterpiece of “fast food” eatery chicken.
daveshotchicken.com
So we ventured to downtown Denver where one of the Dave’s Hot Chicken locations was located and across from that eatery was the Night Bazaar. After our visit to Dave’s we headed over to the Night Bazaar.
We had so much fun wandering through the vendor booths as the sun was setting. Mike the Miniature Schnauzer was in the backpack and got to enjoy some sightseeing in downtown Denver:
John was continually stopped as we wandered through the market and then the Platte River Plaza bridge area with questions about Mike in a backpack. In the photo above he is chatting with a large group of people who want to know how Mike ended up in a backpack (the other dogs were being walked on leash through the market).
My sister and nephew found this cool sidewalk art with very wise words and took this cool photo:
THE CANYON
My nephew loves Colorado and wanted to go on a hike while he was visiting. We decided to take him to Castlewood Canyon which is not too far from our home and has lots of hiking options based on desired activity level. Here are a couple photos from our hike:
I’ve learned to wear a hat (I am the sister in the hat) when it’s hot and you are hiking – it helps in the Colorado sun!
At the Visitor Center, where I stopped to use the bathroom, I met a Park Ranger that had a rescued Bull Snake wrapped around her waist. The snake was recovering from an illness and she was “babysitting” it by keeping it on her all day at work!
Now that is dedication to the park’s wildlife!
If you’d like to see more photos of Castlewood Canyon check out this post I did in April 2020 – And on the 8th Day…Part III.
THE RAMEN
John’s loves to cook and always wants to challenge himself and experiment with making foods outside his comfort zone. A couple weeks ago, after much YouTube watching, he began making Ramen soup at home. He was using pre-packaged air-dried noodles (much higher quality than the instant ramen you eat in college) along with his fresh ingredients.
Well he wanted to take it to the next level and learn how to make his own Ramen noodles from scratch. My visiting nephew also loves to cook and was game to do a “Ramen Night” one evening for dinner and make Ramen with handmade noodles.
It took them two evenings to complete the dish – you have to let the ramen noodles sit for a day before you can use them. You also have to let the prepared chicken thighs for the ramen sit overnight before cooking the chicken so it will have a nice crust on the skin.
After all their hard work, they served us Ramen for dinner on Sunday night:
Their Miso based broth was amazing and I thought I was at an authentic ramen eatery!
So those are some highlights from their visit.
I’ll close this post with a couple bonus photos from their visit:
1) My sister brought a kimono for me as a belated birthday gift. She has connected with a woman with in Thailand that makes these kimonos with fabric sourced from Japan. She plans to import some of the kimonos to sell in the US. Here I am modeling the kimono she gifted me:
2) My sister and nephew adore my dog Mike, they are dog people…and cat people (they have two cats and two dogs) and Mike went on a lot of road trips with us. Here is Mike acting as a granny square crochet square rest as I crocheted sitting in the back seat of the car with my sister during their visit:
(I work on crocheting granny squares when I am a passenger in a car for a long car ride…keeps my passenger-in-a-car anxiety under control!)
3) My nephew and John played tennis at the tennis courts in my neighborhood and had a blast.
John didn’t do too bad playing someone like 1/3rd his age. (Both had played on tennis teams in junior high school but there was quite the difference of years since those experiences!)
I was randomly thinking about this memory the other day and thought I would re-post it. If you’ve been following my blog a very long time (at least since 2016) you might remember the post – The Ladies Friendship Circle (1931).
In 2013 I facilitated the completion of a quilt started in the 1930s and given as a gift to someone 80 years later (who was alive when the quilt was first started). Here is the story:
THE LADIES FRIENDSHIP CIRCLE (1931)
82 years ago in 1931 (note this post was originally written in 2013) my friend’s MJ’s grandmother and her group of friends made a quilt top for MJ’s mother (the new baby in 1931). The quilt was never finished. MJ wanted to finish this quilt for her 82 year old mother who had kept it packed away in a chest for 80+ years and surprise her for Christmas.
After searching several quilt shops, MJ and I found the perfect backing and binding fabric at one of our wonderful Central Oregon quilt shops. Then we had the quilt professionally longarm machine quilted.
MJ and I spent an evening sewing down the quilt binding to finish it. We were both snuggled under the quilt as we each worked on sewing down one end of the binding. MJ planned to surprise her 82 year Mother with the mind blowing Christmas gift of a lifetime – a quilt top put away since 1931 that has been turned into a quilt!
Something very special about this quilt: MJ’s Mom is the only person living from this time period of this dear group of family and family friends – so when she gets the surprise quilt for Christmas she will see the names of the long-passed very dear people she grew up with.
I warned MJ – when you hand your Mom the quilt at Christmas, it is going to be a “blow out the tear ducts moment”!
MJ presented her mother with the quilt for Christmas in December 2013 and yes there were many tears of joy. Imagine receiving a completed quilt that was started when you were a child, by people who loved you and are now are long gone.
MJ’s Mom passed away in mid 80s and I am so glad she got to enjoy this quilt before she passed.
Quilts are love (as most quilters know) and this quilt contained the “spirits” of the departed loved ones entwined in the quilt’s hand embroidered stitches. I liked to imagine these “spirits” being very pleased that their quilt was finally finished and given to the intended…even if it took 82 years…
I had a couple brief updates and I thought I would spread them out into a bunch of brief blog posts but I am lumping them all together.
GO BOLDLY
An update on the quilt (which might end up more wallhanging size) that I mentioned in the post What I’ve Been Up To and What’s on the Design Wall, which I named “Go Boldly“: I am now sewing the blocks together. There are 64 blocks and each need to be sewing into blocks of 4 to make them into 16 blocks to then sew together.
I am currently debating whether to make the quilt larger (I have enough leftover blocks to make 1 – 2 additional quilts or wallhangings) or leave as it is. I think I am going to just sew the 16 blocks (4 mini sections to make a block) together and then decide.
The longarm machine quilter (Sew Colorado Quilting) has finished quilting it and sent me some photos, here is one of them.
I actually picked up the quilt today from her and will do a post on it with more photos once I get the extra backing and binding trimmed (I like to do my own trimming) and decide on a binding. I am thinking about doing a “facing” on it (like you would do with an art quilt) as I plan to hang it on the wall.
COLOUR WHEEL
A quick follow up on this post The Colour Wheel Quilt is Done, about the color wheel quilt I made to use as a teaching aid when I give a workshop next year (September 2024).
By the way I will share more information about that workshop including the venue once that venue gets ready to publish its online catalogue listing the workshop. If that doesn’t happen before October 2023, then I’ll go ahead and share as I’ve shared it with the Quiltfolk article writer for Issue 28 that comes out in October so it will be publicly revealed then anyway!
I had put the quilt away until next year for the workshop but then I decided to find a place for it in my studio so I could enjoy it before then – here it is now on a wall in my studio that I rearranged to make room for it:
VARIOUS RANDOM INFORMATION
John who loves to cook, tried making Ramen for the first time the other night and it came out pretty good!
My yellow rose bush in my front garden is finally taking off and here is one of its lovely roses:
And finally, here is Mike and his “cousin” Goose both trying to via for John’s laps (Goose won) when John was visiting his Dad the other day.
Hmm, I just realized that technically Goose is Mike’s “uncle” not his cousin – ha!
As I shared in Part I (if you are just joining us, see Quiltfolk Magazine Photoshoot, Part I), I was invited to be part of Issue 28: Colorado in the October 2023 issue of Quiltfolk Magazine.
I had an amazing Zoom video chat the previous Friday with Dr. Sharbeon Plummer, one of the Quiltfolk Magazine writers who will write the article about me; and then a very fun photoshoot inside and outside my home with the Quiltfolk Magazine photoshoot team.
I thought I would share some “behind the scenes” photos from the photoshoot that I took while the photographer was getting set up and/or the stylist was doing her styling magic.
Inside My House
The photo above is not a grouping of quilts to be photographed together, but rather a selection of quilts the photographer wanted to do individual close up details on. The first photo in the series of images above shows some of the photographic equipment they unpacked for the photoshoot.
Outside My House (Front & Backyard)
So that’s about it for now about this incredible opportunity.
As we get closer to the release of the October 2023 issue of Quiltfolk Magazine I’ll have some type of “social media” package with a preview of photos from the article I can share as a teaser and a discount coupon to share on my blog and Instagram for followers who would like to purchase a discounted copy of the issue.
The photographer and stylist set up some really cool photos and I cannot wait to see the outcome of the photoshoot. I also cannot wait to read the article of course!
If you’d like to see some additional behind the scenes photos check out the Instagram feed of the stylist @kimberleezacek (see her “Quiltfolk” reel) as well as the IG feed for Quiltfolk Magazine – @quiltfolk – which has a reel called “Issue 28” showing the amazing road trip by the photographer (Melanie) and stylist (Kimberlee) as they travel through Colorado meeting with quilters and photographing their homes and studios (as well as the beauty of Colorado).
I was invited to be featured in the October 2023 issue (Issue #28) of Quiltfolk Magazine.
On Friday June 16 I had my Zoom interview with one of the Quiltfolk Magazine writers; and and on Thursday June 22 I had a photoshoot at my home with one of the Quiltfolk photographers and one of the stylists.
So where do I begin? How about with a little background/history?
Quiltfolk Magazine is a quarterly magazine which features interviews and stories about quilters and quilting communities in a specific US state or region.
image credit: quiltfolk.com
I’ve been reading it and subscribing to it (on and off when I feel inspired to pay the annual subscription fee) since it’s first publication in October 2016 – which featured quilters and quilting communities in Oregon, the state I lived for 14 years before moving to Colorado.
First issue, image credit: quiltfolk.com
And I’ve been working on a quilt similar to the one on the cover since 2016! This cover inspired me to try out English Paper Piecing (EPP).
(I now have around 68 rosettes done, so I am getting close to the 99 to finish the EPP quilt.)
I love Quiltfolk Magazine, I have collection of past issues and each one feels like a beautiful ode to the art of quilting.
Check out this link to see the beautiful covers on these issues – Archive – Quiltfolk.
Okay so with that background perhaps you can imagine my shock, surprise and honor to have received this e-mail from the Editor in Chief of Quiltfolk Magazine on May 24, 2023 (excerpted and text condensed):
I am writing to you today because our team is currently in the process of planning an upcoming release, Issue 28: Colorado, and we came across your name and amazing work. We would like to know if you would be interested in being featured in our next magazine issue? First, a little about us: Quiltfolk is a 164-page, ad-free, print-only quarterly publication for quiltmakers and quilt lovers. We are a travel magazine as much as we are one about quilts. We go on the road four times a year to find America’s quilt stories, covering one state per issue. I’ve attached a PDF of our most recent release so that you can see how dedicated we are to producing a first-rate magazine for the national quilt community that we love. We were founded in 2016 and have been steadily growing ever since, now reaching tens of thousands of quiltfolk across the country. If you are interested in being featured in Quiltfolk, Issue Issue 28: Colorado, (and we hope you are!) please confirm by responding to this email. Then, next steps are as follows: One of our writers will reach out to schedule an email, phone or Zoom interview with you within the next three weeks. We will also be in touch to coordinate an in-person, socially distanced photo shoot with our crew. (The photography team consists of one photographer and their assistant. Occasionally, a writer may join them.) We are currently planning photo shoots between June 19th – 28th.
I stared at the e-mail for quite a while before my brain fully registered all the words! Quiltfolk Magazine, friggin’ Quiltfolk Magazine, which I’ve loved and read for years is inviting me to be in it!
I’ve been behind in writing blog posts and reading blog post. I’ve been prepping for my first magazine photoshoot! For now I’ll need to keep you guessing but soon I will reveal what publication and what issue.
I had a Zoom interview last Friday with the article writer and yesterday (Thursday) I had a photo shoot with the photographer and stylist. I made them some homemade shortbread cookies, fruit, coffee and tea for their morning photo session with me:
The photographer and the stylist were so awesome and it was a fun (and a little tiring) morning posing for photos and helping them style what they wanted to at my home. Photos were taken inside and outside my house and lots of quilt photos. I have some “behind the scenes” of the photoshoot to share once I can reveal the publication. If you follow me on Instagram (@tierneycreates) you’ll probably find out first as I am just waiting for the stylist to post their behind the scenes photos to Instagram.
The “What’s On The Design Wall” part of this post is related to the photoshoot.
But the set of circle blocks that my friend D sent me a couple years ago (see post What’s on the Design Wall: Pride) for a colorful quilt she began in a class but decided not to finish, came to the rescue!
I started making the existing blocks into a quilt in summer 2020; and making additional blocks from the pattern and templates she gave me. I was going to name the quilt “Pride“, but I got distracted by other projects, took the quilt off the design wall and put it away.
Now it is back up on the design wall, just in time for Thursday’s photoshoot:
Yes it’s a little wrinkly but I was short on time before the photoshoot to re-iron the blocks before putting them up.
As part of the photoshoot I even sewed two blocks together, so I guess I better now work on sewing the whole thing together!
I changed the name of the quilt to “Go Boldly“. It is going to be wallhanging size and I do have enough leftover blocks to make a second wall hanging or even a quilt if I use up the extra fabric D also gave me to make more blocks (I have very generous quilting friends!)
Oh a quick update on Scrappy Autumnal Splendor – the binding is on and it is sitting in its new home in my home library. I was happy to get it back from the long arm machine quilter and get it bound (or “binded”? SpellCheck tells me that is not a word, ha!) before the photoshoot.
And I will close out this post with a couple photos of John (napping) and Mike enjoying the new hammock (actually intended for camping, it is a portable and fits in a small bag) we picked up on clearance at a sporting store. We got a break from all the rain we’ve been having in the Denver Metro area and they got to enjoy some hammock time!
It’s the 15th of the month and time for my “ScrapHappy” post as part of the ScrapHappy group I belong. At the end of this post I have a link to the other blogs participating in this monthly event in case you’d like to check out their ScrapHappy posts.
It starts today with two of my friends attending and runs to Friday where they will fly home. I only have enough space for two other quilters at the table in my studio and in the accommodations in my home (unless I install bunk beds, ha!).
My sew table is set up for the retreat, I pulled out my other Bernina sewing machines – my QE 440 with 7 million stitches (see post7 Million Stitches+) and my little 215 that I take to classes.
In case you are wondering what the zippers are – I have a lot of red zippers and thought I would share in case we want to make any scrappy zipper bags during the retreat.
I am calling our retreat a “Scrap Happy Retreat” because we are going to work on projects using my fabric scraps (though they are threatening to bring some of their own to unload).
I got my scraps already sorted by color (or type as I keep Batik fabric scraps separate) and they are ready in their wine crates:
I’ve sorted my fabric scraps into these color groupings:
Next year when I teach the 6 day workshop I am slated to teach (more on that later when the venue complete the class catalogue and I can officially announce) I am going to bring this whole lot of scraps with me to let the workshop participants use them if they like. I just have too many fabric scraps, even after donating several bags of them to charity thrift shops.
At the retreat this week, which runs Monday to Friday, we are going to work on improvisational piecing log cabin quilts (I will review the “log jamming” technique I first learned in a class at the Stitchin’ Post many years ago) like the one share in yesterday’s post:
Here is a YouTube video on “log jamming” by the Stitchin’ Post if you’d like to see the technique. I’ve adapted the original technique to a process that works better for me but it is still essentially the same concept.
And here is the fabulous Jackie who taught the class I attended and has a pattern she’s published on Modern Log Jam (I miss the Stitchin’ Post so much, a lot of wonderful creative memories while living in Central Oregon happened there):
In addition to working on improvisational log cabin quilts, we are also going to try our hands at piecing scraps onto adding machine tape. I have a bunch of adding machine tape I bought from a thrift store for $2:
Here is the YouTube tutorial we are going to use (I have a small TV in my studio and we can watch and try it together on our machines):
Wish us luck on this new technique for us!
I’ll update you on the progress on our projects at the retreat!
I finally put to use something I learned years ago when I was obsessed with Minimalism and was reading everything I could get my hands on about it (if you want to see my posts related to this obsession they are filed under this blog post category – My Minimalism Journey ).
I read somewhere that if you are struggling with getting rid of something sentimental, that does not really add anything to your current life but you are just keeping it because it holds memories, you can take a picture of it to remember it, then let it go.
While John and I were purging our mega junk drawer and countertop area above the junk drawer which had become a hot bed of clutter, I was faced with making a decision on what to do with this mug that I created like 25 years ago in one of those “paint your own ceramics” classes we attended for a friend’s birthday party.
It was such a fun memory of painting that mug with friends and my late husband.
I was never really clear though if my finished mug was really “food safe”, ha, so I used it for years as a pen holder. It was actually a poor excuse for a pen holder as the mug is too small to hold very many pens, but I kept it around for sentimental reasons.
Well this weekend I did it: I took a photo of it and let the mug go! It was a big thing for me.
I’ll close this post with some recent photos John took while over his Dad’s house of Mike and Goose, his father’s miniature Miniature Schnauzer (who needs a haircut but is so adorable!)
We are never sure if Mike is actually happy that his “grandpa” now has his own Miniature Schnauzer. Mike liked that days when he went to stay at his “grandpa’s” house and it was just him getting all the attention!
Still recovering from my left ankle nasty break after slipping on ice (not a good Winter sport…) when walking my dog Mike; and subsequent surgery to repair my fractures in mid-ish January 2023.
I am still spending time horizontal (though not as much as previously as swelling is nearly completely gone) as part of my recovery. So I can justify another installment of “The Horizontal Diaries”.
I spend a lot of time the upstairs guest room/my office as I do not want to hang out in my regular bed all day when elevating my left leg.
It’s cheerful and sunny, has a small TV mounted to the wall; and Mike the Miniature Schnauzer likes to hang out in the corner of the bed where he can catch sun and watch for any suspicious activity in front of the house (like those dastardly UPS, Amazon Prime, and FedEx drivers who like to ring the doorbell and run off!).
John wanted to make mornings easier for me (and himself when he is working…he telecommutes from the basement) and he repurposed an extra little refrigerator in the closet of his bar area (for chilling glasses) into an upstairs breakfast and snack bar for me.
Now I don’t have to slow “slide” downstairs to the main floor to get my breakfast (I have my new knee scooter on the main floor and a used knee scooter we found on the Nextdoor upstairs). Nor does John have to take time out of his workday morning routine to make me breakfast and bring it up.
So far so good – I can turn on the electric kettle, make myself a cup of tea and put together some yogurt and granola for breakfast. I also have snacks during the day (healthy and naughty) if I get hungry; and a selections of beverages to quench my thirst. It is sort of like my own apartment upstairs – ha!
Speaking of “snacks” (and other fun stuff) – more awesome “Get Well” surprises came in the mail over the past week – two care packages with various goodies; and a wonderful science fiction book from three different family and friends.
Here is Mike with the cool laser cut iron on appliqué schnauzer included in one of the gift packages:
It’s funny, a surprise always seems to arrive in the mail when I am feeling especially down and discouraged over my lack of mobility. I struggle to remember a day in my recent life when I haven’t gone on a daily walk prior to this injury. Daily walks seem part of my existence and always center me!
But the healing continues and I have more energy and can even participate in some household tasks now (on my knee scooter of course!)
I did have a special treat last week – John took the knee scooter and I out to dinner at one of my favorite restaurants in Denver – Hillstone. I just had to take a photo of the delicious roasted chicken and kale salad (loaded with cashews) that I had for dinner. They do a beautiful job of preparing the kale so there is no bitterness just sweetness.
It was so special to go out to dinner and the crowded restaurant was awesome about accommodating my knee scooter.
I came across this quote randomly online (perhaps a reminder from the Universe) and I am trying to keep it in the back of my mind if I start to feel whiny that I am currently not able to walk around:
We spent this past Sunday doing a major purge of “the junk drawer” in our kitchen, discovering that most things could go elsewhere or be donated or tossed.
John found on the web, a special “drawer charging system” which allows you to turn a drawer into a “charging station” by adding an outlet to the drawer. This special system has a swinging arm that holds the cord from the plug which mounts inside the drawer, so that you can easily open and close the drawer.
image from dockingdrawer.com
John did some wiring to set up an outlet in the back of the kitchen cabinet, cut a hole in the former “junk drawer” and created a charging station:
In addition to clearing out the “junk drawer” we also did a major purge of the countertop above the junk drawer area.
We have something fun planned our newly cleared countertop…will share at a later date.
While I was writing yesterday’s post The Horizontal Diaries, January 30, 2023which included a little tour of the Tattered Cover Bookstore, I decided that I needed to add a new “blog post category” Independent bookstores, as I’ve written more than a handful of Independent Bookstore tour blog posts over the years; and adding them to a blog category would make them easier to find.
In order to tie all the previous blog posts about trips to indie bookstores, I needed to search for all my old posts using the WordPress search tools. While searching I came across this post from June 2018 – Beastie Adventures: Sisters, Oregon about a day trip I took with my late husband Terry, Mike the Miniature Schnauzer and the tierneycreates Beastie to Sisters, Oregon. That day trip is a wonderful in a lifetime of wonderful memories of my life with “Terry the Quilting Husband”.
Here is a photo from that blog post from June 2018:
Look at the right side of the photo – there is the SAME kit a wonderful friend recently sent me in the mail as part of a “get well” package (see blog post The Horizontal Diaries, Continued):
I was absolutely floored (I gasped) when I discovered this. It was obvious that I liked this hat kit as I took a photo of the tierneycreates Beastie with it in June 2018 on a wonderful day (and now memory) with my late husband Terry.
Once I realized this serendipitous occurrence, I immediately texted my generous friend who had sent me the kit, to tell her of this magical occurrence along with the blog link and the photo of the tierneycreates Beastie with the kit in June 2018.
Here is what she responded (paraphrased):
Oh my goodness! That is crazy! Well…I think you should consider it a gift from Terry if that isn’t too painful because here is what happened… I went to the yarn shop… I already had the Noro yarn for you and your box was pretty much full so that is all I was going to get. That kit caught my eye from the register and I couldn’t quit thinking about getting it for you. I walked back and forth, brought it to the register and then put it back several times. Finally I just couldn’t leave it there and walked out with it for you…There was the same kit with neutral colors in it and I kept swapping which of the two I was going to get you. I thought the neutral one looked more like you but for some reason I couldn’t bring myself to it it. I had to buy this one!
A little magic from the Universe? Pretty awesome! Now that kit has an additional meaning/significance (beyond a wonderful gift from a friend) and I cannot wait to make this hat!
Sharing some updates and I am continuing to use “The Horizontal Diaries” as a blog post title (like I did in the recent posts The Horizontal Diaries and The Horizontal Diaries, Continued) because it semi describes my current reality.
I am doing much better as I recover from my left broken ankle and subsequent surgery to repair it (I got “screwed” and “plated”!) and all the swelling has gone down from my foot and lower leg as I behaved and spent a lot of time horizontal! My swelling went down so much (foot/leg returned to normal) that my splint/cast has gotten sort of loose. Good thing I have an appointment with the surgeon tomorrow – looking forward to finding out what comes next…and when will I be ready to compete in the Olympic Gymnastic Trials?!??
I’ve been knitting non stop (just like you suggested @mariss/fabrications) and I am nearly done with the replacement hat for the one I lost during my trip to Ireland in October 2022. I am at the point of decreasing the stitches for the top of hat (soon it will be time for my favorite part of hat knitting – the double pointed needles). I think I will get it done today – yay!
Perhaps with the leftover yarn, that I harvested from the matching scarf I never wore, I can make a second hat…or perhaps a small (quite small) scarf – ha!
I mentioned in the previous “Horizontal Diaries” post that I was working on an irritating English Paper Piecing (EPP) Project. It’s the one I’ve been working on for years (feels like I’ve been working on it for decades). Here’s what inspired the project – the first issue of Quiltfolk magazine:
I need to make 99 hexie rosettes (each rosette is composed of 7 EPP hexies), and I am happy to report I now have 75 done (I’m going to actually “do math” now and report that I only have 24 more hexies to make)! I’ve been working on the rosettes while horizontal, they are a fabulous (if not tedious) hand sewing project:
I’ve made more in the past week than I’ve made in the past 6 months! 24 more and I can start to think about the fabrics to set the blocks in – each rosette is appliquéd to a square of fabric (but I will probably use my sewing machine to do that so it isn’t actually DECADES before I finish the quilt – ha!)
It’s interested to see how my EPP hexie assembly progressed from when I began the project is 2016 (gasp). My first EPP hexies were basted with thread to keep the piecing in place:
Then I learned from a friend that I could baste with fabric glue stick instead which saved a lot of time!
I think I’ve struggled with completing this project because the late “Terry the Quilting Husband” punched out many of the hexies for me as well did a lot of the glue basting of the hexies (he was like a master at it after a while!) for me. I would say he helped me make 60% or more of the hexies for this project. I’ve finished after he passed in December 2018 other projects he started such as The Last Baskets, The Last Quilt and The Ball of Yarn (which eventually became a hat) , but for some reason this one was dragging on.
But 2023 is a YEAR OF FINISHES (I might write a separate post about that later) and this project is on the list to be finished!
To get out of the house the other day, John took me on an errand with him and then took me (and my knee scooter) to the Tattered Cover Bookstore in Littleton, CO (near where his errand was). I love independent bookstores and I had a brief but wonderful wander is this old bookstore in knee scooter!
I wonder if they have a music night where someone plays the piano in the center of the bookstore. If I wasn’t injured and needing to return home to my “horizontalness”, I would have grabbed a stack of books and nestled in one of the chairs. This bookstore has a large collection of both new and used books.
I did pick up two cool new stickers for my older laptop (my newer laptop is fully covered with stickers now) at the Tattered Cover Bookstore:
Well that is this installment of “The Horizontal Diaries”, thanks for reading!
Although my blogging buddy @mildlygranola commented on my previous post The Horizontal Diaries, that the title of the post made it sounds like it was a naughty blog (and I nearly spewed my tea across the room laughing), I thought I’d use this blog post title once again! (Even if I could not stop giggling as I typed the title for this post, ha!)
No, sorry, this is not a salacious post about my time in an alternative (but perhaps quite lucrative…or not…not sure if there is a “kink” for middle aged women with broken ankles on knee scooters…but you never know…) career. I am just sharing some updates in my life with my leg elevated since my left ankle break and subsequent surgery (boring, right?)
Mike, with his cone (see post Guest Blog Post: It’s All Fun and Games Until Someone Ends up in a Cone) and I have been just hanging out, knitting, working on some hand sewing (a pesky English Paper Piecing project I’ve had forever), listening to audiobooks, watching television and of course napping.
Good news on Mike – he is practically completely healed from his minor surgical procedure. I took his stitches out yesterday (I might as well occasionally do some nursing since I am a RN) and tomorrow we take off his cone. He has fully accepted his cone and when John takes Mike’s cone off so he can eat, Mike immediate comes over to the cone after he finishes eating to have it put back on!
We call him “Cone Boy” or “Schnauzer in a Cone” and he loves to come over to have us reach into the cone and get face and neck pets and scratches (since he can’t scratch his face or neck with his back leg with the cone on.
I continue to work on knitting a replacement hat for the hat I lost in Ireland (see previous post) and I am slowly making progress (it is always slow for me at the beginning when I have to start with smaller needles for the rolled edge and then switch to larger needles for the body of the hat):
I did get to do something fun the other day after a doctor’s appointment – John took me and my knee scooter to a local thrift shop and I got to wander the aisles for a bit. It was a little awkward navigating the tight aisles of the thrift store so I didn’t last too long shopping, but I did have a fabulous find:
Over three yards of ArtGallery Fabric fabric – two pieces from an older line and one piece from a newer line – for $1.99 each! I do appreciate when people donate wonderful high quality quilting cottons to thrift stores AND the thrift store staff price them to move (smile)! I was happy to help the fabrics “move” to my fabric stash!
Yesterday brought two awesome surprises in the mail (the timing was awesome as the “immobility blues” was hitting me hard) from two very thoughtful friends.
First a collection of delicious Oregon (I used to live in Oregon) based Moonstruck chocolate bars:
And then another package from another friend filled with all sorts of goodies (it seemed like the goodies would never end as I was unboxing them…):
Included in this mega gift package was this:
Hmm…is someone trying to tell me it’s time to try a new hat pattern? Ha! I am looking forward to working on this hat kit after I finish the hat I am working on now.
Well back to finding something to binge watch. Recently I binged the first 3 episodes of the AMC show The Mayfair Witches; and I’ve been watching very silly science fiction and horror movies (they are great to nap to, ha!)
I’ll close this post with this card I came across that made me laugh:
I am recovering from a broken ankle after fall on ice and subsequent surgery to repair the fracture (with lots of fun stuff like screws and plates inserted into my ankle). I’ve been unhappy about my sudden immobility and I’ve been trying to be as independent as I can in daily tasks with not much success. I have to rely on my partner John more than I want.
I noticed today that I still have some post operative swelling in my toes that I think I should have gone down by now, but I’ve been naughty in regards to not completely following my post operative instructions to keep my leg elevated above my heart.
Shortly after realizing my limited compliance with post operative instructions (and I am a nurse and should know better!), I came across a blog comment by one of my New Zealand based blogging buddies (@cedar51) on the other side of the world on my post Sheep to Brighten My Day:
The more your leg is horizontal – the faster it will heal – and yes it will be annoying but then when it’s all better – you will be back doing all those things that you love.
– @cedar51
Yes, she is right and I know it. So spent most of today horizontal instead of trying to busy myself on little tasks around the house in my knee scooter.
And the swelling in my toes has begun to diminish.
I guess I need to keep this horizontal existence up for now.
While binging all sorts of strange things on YouTube (like how to can a year’s worth of food; how to crochet baskets; living in a van; and being a digital nomad) I’ve started working on another knitted hat (yes same pattern of course, ha!):
The hat is being knitted from yarn I recycled by unraveling a scarf I was not using. It is the yarn that my beloved knitted hat my friend who taught me how to knit hats made me. Unfortunately I lost this hat while I was in Ireland in October 2022.
I had that hat forever (at least 10 years) and I wore it all cold weather season long. It was sort of like my security blanket. Here I am in 2015 in the hat when I appeared in an advertisement for SAQA in the FiberArts Now publication:
I was so heartbroken when I lost my hat; but so happy when I returned home and realized I could unravel the matching scarf that I never wore and knit myself and new version of the hat.
In addition to working on the hat and binging YouTube videos, I’ve been listening to audiobooks and snacking on delicious coffee cake. Another thoughtful friend sent me a get well package, that I received yesterday, of some delicious jasmine tea and gourmet coffee cake mix. John made me the coffee cake the same day the package arrived!
Well that was enough sitting up to write this blog post. Headed back down to full horizontal to take some more pain medications and dose off to yet another YouTube video…
Currently I’m sitting around, doing some handwork (will share when I made more progress) while I recover from my left ankle break and the subsequent surgery I had to repair the fracture (see post 2022 in Review: A Year in Travel). The other day I received some mail from one of my dear blogging buddies that really brightened my day: sheep themed linen cotton fabric!
What a thoughtful surprise and I cannot wait to make something with it – like a cool knitting/crochet project bag! Maybe one like this Noodlehead pattern – Firefly Tote that I made in December 2021:
As promised, here is a blog post about all my travel in 2022. But before I dive into that, let me share why travel in 2023 will likely not be the same volume as 2022.
A nasty slip on the ice on January 11, 2023 led to an ankle dislocation and a tibial fracture. I was just taking Mike out for his morning walk and SURPRISE! It looked pretty bad when I first did it but the surgeon I met with today said it was a common ankle fracture.
I have surgery on Thursday January 19 to get some delightful plates and screws inserted into my ankle area and rebuild me. It will be a 6 month recovery. He said a couple weeks post-op if I really wanted I could travel but I likely won’t be feeling it for a while!
I had a dental appointment yesterday and my dentist did share that he had the same type of injury a couple of years ago, recovered fine and is now running again and snowboarding. He is near my age and really active. Right now all I am thinking about it how much I will miss my morning walks with Mike the Miniature Schnauzer while listening to audiobooks. Also a couple fun trips 2023 got cancelled – we were headed next week to Atlanta, GA for a conference John needed to attend; we had a trip to Cabo planned; we had a New Mexico roadtrip with my sister planned; we had a family trip to Barcelona Spain (with a side trip to Lisbon Portugal to meet up with some friends of John’s there); and a little weekend trip to Las Vegas. Maybe the Universe was telling us to slow down as we’ve gone a little crazy traveling post pandemic!
Well enough on my new found reality. let’s talk about all the travel I did in 2022, good memories (queue Barbara Streisand singing…)
2022 A Year of Travel
John and I went a little crazy with travel in 2022 in a post pandemic explosion of saying yes to most travel opportunities presented our way. For domestic (U.S.) travel we had the SW Airlines Companion Pass (that we had earned in 2021 for 2022) and so I could fly for basically free ($11 fee each way) whenever John flew.
We had a busy combination of personal and business travel within the U.S. and a trip to Ireland. Here’s where we went:
Chicago, Illinois (three visits)
If you count our short trip to Chicago at the beginning of January 2023, we visited Chicago three times in less than 3 months. Our trips included two business trips for John and one trip to meet up with my brother and his family in Chicago as my brother was there for a business trip. Here’s a blog post link about one of the 2022 trips to Chicago – Chicago in Black and White
In 2022 we went to Austin, Texas twice on business trips for John. It is a very cool city and I had an amazing time at the downtown Austin library (a magical place!). Here is one blog posts related to some of our Austin, Texas travel in 2022 –Peaceful Oasis at the Austin Central Library .
Las Vegas, Nevada (three visits)
We visited Las Vegas three times in 2022 for fun – twice on our own and once with friends. On one of the trips I took a bunch of black and white photos on “old downtown Las Vegas” – the Fremont Street Experience area, and shared them in this post –Downtown L as Vegas in Black and White
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Atlanta, Georgia (one visit)
I probably should have written a post about our visit to Atlanta, Georgia in November 2022 as I took a lot of cool photos, but I’ll share some of them here. The airport, Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, is really cool and we loved the art to include a simulated rainforest at night experience in one of the main moving walkway areas; and a wonderful tribute to the late U.S. Representative John Lewis:
We spent time wandering about the Krog Districta really cool shopping and arts district. They had another tribute to John Lewis as graffiti on a building (they had lots of awesome graffiti art in the district); as well as a display of some amazing recycled metal parts (including automotive parts) sculptures:
Portland, Oregon (one visit)
I blogged about my awesome trip to rainy Portland Oregon in December 2022 in the post A Little Reunion in Portland Oregon. Although it was cold and rainy it was fun to visit Powell’s Book and other cool places in the Pearl District of downtown Portland.
We spent a day in NYC before heading overnight to Dublin, Ireland. Perhaps I am cheating but I will go ahead and call this a visit to NYC!
Omaha, Nebraska (one visit)
We had a brief trip to Omaha, Nebraska for John’s business meeting in October. I was bummed to learn after the trip that we were not to far from one of my knitting goddess blogging buddies @mildly granola who lives in Iowa, and we could have met up for an adult beverage!
I could have done a post on the Omaha visit but I was distracted from travel and then too much time passed and I forgot about blogging about the trip. So here are some photos of the fun we had one afternoon in Omaha’s Old Market:
Fun shops we visited in Old Market included the Christmas store Tannenbaum(which had the most unusual and perhaps disturbing Nativity Scene I’ve ever seen); Raygun(which had a hysterical sign on the front window); the Imaginarium ;as well as the Monster Grub Pub (a horror themed pub!):
St. Petersburg, Florida (via Tampa, FL) (one visit)
We had to travel to Wilmington, NC for a work conference John needed to attend. We flew into Raleigh, NC, rented a car and drove to Wilmington. Here is a blog post about time in Raleigh –Trip to North Carolina: Fun Evening in Downtown Raleigh.
So currently all my 2023 travel plans have been cancelled and I am adjusting to my new limited mobility reality. But my ankle will heal and I’ll be back traveling later in 2023.
I’ve seen a bunch of posts where my blogging buddies are sharing galleries of crafting projects they completed in 2022 and I thought it would be interesting to do the same. I am a little nervous writing this post as I think I am going to be disappointed on how little crafts I made compared to how many I had planned to make!
But here goes…
replacement gray hatdrawstring bags as holiday gift bags“diamond painted” bookmarkTula Pink 100 Block City SamplerDrawstring/Project BagDrawstring/Project BagDrawstring/Project BagDrawstring/Project BagDrawstring/Project BagDrawstring/Project BagNew green hat for meMemory Quilt of my friend’s late mother’s clothesStonehenge fabric scraps quiltCards for John’s teamDenim scrap quiltPin cushionknitted hatDrawstring/Project BagDrawstring/Project BagSasquatch Quilt for JohnBucket bag with drawstringknitted hat for John
Hmm…it is worse than I thought…I didn’t make very much in 2022 except for small projects. Well I do have an excuse – I think I traveled the most I’ve traveled in one year in 2022. I’ll have to write a post about that next!
I was Chicago part of this week with John for one of his business trips and on Friday we met a friend who lives in the Chicago area for breakfast at the amazing Starbucks Reserve Roastery on Michigan Ave (The Magnificent Mile), and had one of those hours long deep and thought provoking conversations on life, life changes and making major life decisions.
Our friend was looking for some inspirational reading for the new life path he is exploring and I mentioned I had lots of non-fiction/self improvement books reviewed on my blog and would send him some links.
Searching for my posts led me to come across this post from July, 14 2018 Soulful Simplicity and the Mexican Fisherman and I thought I would repost it. Note, I do mention my late husband in the post, little did I know when I wrote this post I was less than 5 months away from losing him and my life changing forever.
I do think my readings and my journey into Minimalism did help me tremendously when I had to deal with the physical possessions he left behind.
I had a Saturday of Soulful Simplicity and did some purging in my closet of more items for donation.
Soulful Simplicity and the Mexican Fisherman
(Re-posting – originally posted July 14, 2018)
What does the phrase “Soulful Simplicity” mean to you?
The last several months I’ve listening to some awesome audiobooks from my public library while I go on daily walks, sew, or do errands. I plan to share highlights from the audiobooks in upcoming posts and I thought I would begin with my current listen: Soulful Simplicity: How Living With Less Can Lead to So Much More by Courtney Carver.
image credit: Amazon
Here is the summary of the book on on the Deschutes Public Library website:
Courtney Carver shows us the power of simplicity to improve our health, build more meaningful relationships, and relieve stress in our professional and personal lives. We are often on a quest for more, giving in to pressure every day to work more, own more, and do more. For Courtney Carver, this constant striving had to come to a stop when she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. Stress was like gasoline on the fire of her symptoms, and it became clear that she needed to root out the physical and psychological clutter that were the source of her debt and discontent.
In this book, Carver shows us how to pursue practical minimalism so we can create more with less-more space, more time, and even more love. She invites us to look at the big picture, discover what’s most important to us, and reclaim lightness and ease by getting rid of all the excess things.
The audiobook is read by the author (which always adds a high degree of authenticity to the listening for me) and focuses on “being more with less“.
I am 2/3rds through the audiobook and wanted share one of my favorite stories (that the author shares in her book) about what really matters in life. As the author states, there are many versions of this story. Here is the version from her website: Be More With Less.
The Mexican Fisherman
An American investment banker was at the pier of a small coastal Mexican village when a small boat with just one Mexican fisherman docked. Inside the small boat were several large yellowfin tuna. The American complimented the fisherman on the quality of his fish and asked how long it took to catch them.
The fisherman replied, “only a little while”. The American then asked why didn’t he stay out longer and catch more fish? The Mexican said he had enough to support his family’s immediate needs. The American then asked, “but what do you do with the rest of your time?”
The Mexican fisherman said, “I sleep late, fish a little, play with my children, take siestas with my wife, Maria, stroll into the village each evening where I sip wine, and play guitar with my amigos. I have a full and busy life.”
The American scoffed, “I am a Harvard MBA and could help you. You should spend more time fishing and with the proceeds, buy a bigger boat. With the proceeds from the bigger boat, you could buy several boats, eventually you would have a fleet of fishing boats. Instead of selling your catch to a middleman you would sell directly to the processor, eventually opening your own cannery. You would control the product, processing, and distribution. You would need to leave this small coastal fishing village and move to Mexico City, then LA and eventually New York City, where you will run your expanding enterprise.”
The Mexican fisherman asked, “But, how long will this all take?”
To which the American replied, “15 – 20 years.”
“But what then?” asked the fisherman.
The American laughed and said, “That’s the best part. When the time is right you would announce an IPO and sell your company stock to the public and become very rich, you would make millions!”
“Millions – then what?”
The American said, “Then you would retire. Move to a small coastal fishing village where you would sleep late, fish a little, play with your kids, take siestas with your wife, stroll to the village in the evenings where you could sip wine and play your guitar with your amigos.”
In the version I heard many years ago, the Mexican fisherman states at the end of the story: “Why would I go through all that to get what I already have?”
The first time I heard this story it deeply resonated with me. As I have discussed in my series of posts on My Minimalism Journey, I’ve been working on appreciating and enjoying the life I have; taking care of my physical, emotional and spiritual health; and curating my possessions to only those things I truly love (but darn it, I love all my crafting books and magazines!)
In my pay-the-bills health care job, I’ve been offered the opportunity to attend my employer’s leadership track nine-month program to move into a leadership position. I declined the opportunity as although it would be more money, it would be much less time doing the things I love such as blogging, crafting, spending time with my husband and dog, enjoying nature, etc., etc., etc.
I am already happy with my job, salary and work schedule. I do not need to climb the “corporate ladder” to become happier.
Actually I think climbing the corporate ladder at this point in my life would be the path to less happiness as I remember a lot of stress in my life when I was previously in leadership for 8 – 9 years.
Terry the Quilting Husband (TTQH) fully supports this decision as he remembers his very stressed wife during her years in a leadership role.
I am quite content in my life’s version of a “little fishing village”.
Fear less, hope more; Eat less, chew more; Whine less, breathe more; Talk less, say more; Love more, and all good things will be yours! – Swedish Proverb
November and December are always challenging months for me and John and I work to make these months as fun as possible, adding distractions here and there. In November we added a very awesome distractions – a couple days staying at my favorite hotel in Colorado – The Broadmoor. (here are a couple previous posts on our visits to The Broadmoor – Weekend at The Broadmoor, Breakfast Buffet and Confused Deer)
The image above is how it looks in summer and it from the resort’s website. Here is how it looked in November when we visited:
It was still beautiful, just icy on the lake (and pretty chilly outside especially in the evening).
One of my first stops when I arrive at the hotel (after settling in our room) is a visit to the hotel’s library to borrow a book to read during my stay:
I like to spend at least an hour (or more) in that library each visit, sitting near the fireplace and browsing through books. This time I selected a book I also had in my library at home so I could start the book while at The Broadmoor and then pick up my book when I got home.
Armed with a book, I was able to drag John to one of the many cozy nesting/seating areas in the resort next to a fireplace and settle in. First with a gelato and the book and then getting starting on knitting a new hat (this time a gray hat):
It’s very difficult to leave these cozy nesting areas but eventually John and I put on our bathing suits and then our robes provided by the hotel and headed to the hot tub:
John has been very busy at work so it was nice for him to just sit around and relax in the hot tub. Plus we had it all to ourselves on a beautiful day. It overlooks the golf course and if you ignore the scattered snow on the ground it was quite idyllic. (I had to spare you me in a bathing suit so you only get my toes, ha!)
My second favorite part of going to the hot tub at The Broadmoor (sitting in the hot tub is my favorite), is the refreshing walk back to your hotel room in your bathrobe! It is so fun to walk around the resort grounds in your bathrobe! It was chilly but a dry and refreshing chilling. I like to pretend I am at a spa/resort in the Swiss Alps!
I know I read somewhere that it is good for your metabolism to be in radically different temperatures every so often.
The Broadmoor has discounted rates for “off season” (which I think is October to March) and you can golf for free on a modified version (10 holes) of their world class golf course. We tried but it had recently snowed and the golf course was closed. Oh well, we’ll try again next time we visit in the off season. The regular green fees for their golf course is outrageous, so we like free better – ha!
It was a lovely getaway and I am looking forward to my next visit. They are “the Longest-Running Forbes Five-Star, AAA Five-Diamond Resort in the World” and their impeccable service definitely supports this status. The staff is so wonderful and everything is so gorgeous and well appointed there!
While we were there, they had started decorating the hotel for the holidays and I close this post with photos of their decorations in progress:
Over the past couple of months on Instagram, I’ve been posting images of the project bags/drawstring bags I’ve been making in preparation for holiday season sales on my Textiles & Smiles (textilesandsmiles) Etsy shop.
Here are some of the cuties I’ve made:
And I had a lot more planned…
The bags are super cute in person and they have interfacing throughout the bag so they have a good heft and stand up on their own, I love them so much and I was excited to offer them on my shop (I sold out of the batch I made last year for the shop).
But, alas, that darn grief has taken ahold of me this holiday season/pending Winter again and as I approach the 4th anniversary of the passing of my life partner for 30+ years, Terry the Quilting Husband.
And I am not up to fulfilling orders this holiday season so I am putting my Etsy shop on hold for now.
This widow thing is a curious journey, you never know when you will suddenly be gutted with grief…
Thanks to everyone who has supported my Textiles & Smiles Etsy shop since I reopened it last November. Also thanks to those who were enthusiastic about the Project Bags (the photo below = a bedroom closet with some of the completed bags I was going to sell) I’ve been posting on IG that I was getting ready to offer on my Etsy shop this holiday season.
I was taking forever, and it did not make sense, to get the photos of the items and the listings up on Etsy. I finally figured out was was paralyzed with grief and could not bear fulfilling orders, etc. I had a recent sale on Etsy of the spools that John had made (see post Handmade Spools) and it was pretty excruciating to get that order completed.
Who knows why last year during the holiday season I could offer stuff on my shop and fulfill orders but this year I cannot. Grief is a mysterious weird thing.
I think of a wonderful card my friend Wendy sent me awhile back with with a reminder to “give yourself grace”:
I keep this card along with a matching candle I found while thrifting right before the card arrived (!) on my bookshelf to always remind me that sometimes I need to just take a breather…
So giving myself some grace, I’ve put my Etsy shop on hold for now and I am going to work on what is calling my heart – working with recycled materials and creating a new body of work of my art quilts.
Andwhat will become of the existing project bags? I will put the completed ones away for now and then decide whether to just finish up the ones in progress or put them away also…
I will eventually return to posts on my recent trip to Ireland (either by me or by the tierneycreates Beastie…smile) but I thought I would share a recent musing in this post.
When I travel by airplane I like to listen to music when the plane is taking off (it calms me) and I usually listen to Pandora which has on offline option (when no WiFi available or device in “Airplane Mode”) which plays downloaded stations.
Well on a recent flight as the plane was taking off, the song “Closer to Fine” by the Indigo Girls came on…
At first I gasped as I’ve been trying to avoid for the past nearly 4 years all songs and performers that my late husband Terry and I listened together, especially if they were his beloved groups such as the Indigo Girls.
Terry passed suddenly and unexpectedly in December 2018 (I am approaching the the anniversary of his loss) and he LOVED singer-songwriter music. Our favorite bands (that we enjoyed together as we also had music that we enjoyed separately) included the Indigo Girls, Dave Matthews Band, Jack Johnson, Gov’t Mule, Ben Harper, Joan Osborne, David Gray, and other music similar to those artists. We’ve seen also those artists in concert (some many many times) but the group we’ve seen in concert the most times was the Indigo Girls.
The Indigo Girls were Terry’s favorite singer-songwriter group and he knew the words to most their most popular songs including “Closer to Fine”. We’d go to their concert and he’d sing along (quietly) to most of their songs. But the song he really loved, knew absolutely every word and would sing at the top of his lungs along with the other audience members was “Closer to Fine”.
Over the years I guess the Indigo Girls made “Closer to Fine” a “sing-a-long song” with full audience participation expected. And Terry would always sing along at their concerts (which we attended at least yearly). One of my favorite Indigo Concert memories is when they had a concert in one of Bend’s neighborhoods – NorthWest Crossing. I guess they story is they were visiting friends who lived in the area and decided to just have small concert at the neighborhood monthly festival! Not a lot of people knew about it and it was a small audience crammed into a little neighborhood space watching the Indigo Girls play with a smaller version of their band. Sort of one of those once in a lifetime experiences! So glad I got to experience that with Terry.
Before I go further, let me share a video of the album version of the song if you’ve never heard it before:
And here are the lyrics to Closer to Fine by the Indigo Girls (courtesy of Google):
I’m trying to tell you something ’bout my life Maybe give me insight between black and white And the best thing you ever done for me Is to help me take my life less seriously It’s only life after all, yeah
Well, darkness has a hunger that’s insatiable And lightness has a call that’s hard to hear And I wrap my fear around me like a blanket I sailed my ship of safety till I sank it I’m crawling on your shores…
And I went to the doctor, I went to the mountains I looked to the children, I drank from the fountains There’s more than one answer to these questions Pointing me in a crooked line And the less I seek my source for some definitive (The less I seek my source) Closer I am to fine, yeah Closer I am to fine, yeah
And I went to see the doctor of philosophy With a poster of Rasputin and a beard down to his knee He never did marry or see a B-grade movie He graded my performance, he said he could see through me I spent four years prostrate to the higher mind Got my paper and I was free
And I went to the doctor, I went to the mountains I looked to the children, I drank from the fountains There’s more than one answer to these questions Pointing me in a crooked line And the less I seek my source for some definitive (The less I seek my source) Closer I am to fine, yeah Closer I am to fine, yeah
I stopped by the bar at 3 A.M. To seek solace in a bottle or possibly a friend And I woke up with a headache like my head against a board Twice as cloudy as I’d been the night before And I went in seeking clarity
I went to the doctor, I went to the mountains I looked to the children, I drank from the fountains We go to the doctor, we go to the mountains We look to the children, we drink from the fountain Yeah, we go to the Bible, we go through the workout We read up on revival, we stand up for the lookout
There’s more than one answer to these questions Pointing me in a crooked line And the less I seek my source for some definitive (The less I seek my source) Closer I am to fine Closer I am to fine Closer I am to fine, yeah
And if you are curious, here is what the concert sing-a-long version of the song is like:
I get chills (and tears) when I hear the audience sing acapella: “we stand up for the lookout” and then sing loudly with the Indigo Girls the last couple lines of the song together.
I can still hear Terry singing along with the audience the last three lines:
Closer I am to fine Closer I am to fine Closer I am to fine, yeah
At first listening to this song again, I was overwhelmed with sadness and despair (over what was lost – a lifetime with my music/concert buddy and amazing life partner/best friend) but then I turned it around in my mind and realized that over the nearly past 4 years I’ve gotten myself:
CLOSER TO FINE
I’ll never be fully “fine” and I accept that. I will always be a widow who lost the love of their life (even if I am so blessed to have my wonderful partner John in my life, who is a widower and deeply understands my journey and the heartbreak I carry around) but I am at so much better a place than I was a couple years ago.
And better than I was last year.
I get a little more “closer to fine” as the years progress.
If any of you are on the same journey as me (dealing with a life changing loss) I hope you getting a little “closer to fine” everyday even if you gain only millimeter of distance each day.
Thank you Amy Ray and Emily Saliers for your amazing song and lyrics…
Indigo Girls, image credit The San Diego Union-Tribune
Postscript
I think one of the things people do not realize about widows and widowers, is that they did not just lose the person they (likely) loved most in this world. They also lost their entire life with that person – all the history they shared, things only they knew, the memories and experiences they shared, and most of all (in many cases) their deep bond and friendship. You lose the person you shared your deepest secrets, your partner in life. For many (like happened to. me), they also lose their identity and have to create a new one.
As my grief counselor said: “You have to now go out and create new experiences and memories on your own” (and yes that is unbelievably difficult to do)
Thank goodness I had a wonderful grief support group and continue to know and interact with amazing people who are on my same journey and understand the depth of the loss. I am also thankful to those who do not understand the experience of the loss but are kind, patient and supportive with me on my journey.
If you know someone who is grieving such a loss, please be patient and kind to them – their loss is more than you can imagine.
We’ll continue with stories from the tierneycreates Beastie on our trip to Ireland (see post Guest Blog Post: Beasties Return to Ireland!) but I’d like to pepper in some posts that I as drafts before I went to Ireland, planning to schedule them for posting while I was overseas, but forgot about them (distracted by Ireland!).
I love sunflowers, so much that I have a category on my blog on posts about them – Sunflowers!.
Summer is over and we are now deep into Autumn but I wanted to share some of the sunflowers in my garden this season that made me smile. Also I learned how to properly harvest sunflower seeds (thank you YouTube).
Here some of my favorite sunflowers from my garden (to me they are glorious…to you you might wonder: “why is Tierney using up some of her blog’s image limit on these pictures”, ha!):
This year I successfully grew a giant sunflower. Yes ONE giant sunflower, but when it finished blooming and go to the seed maturing phase of its existence, I figured out how to harvest the seeds for next year:
I am pretty excited as I think there are over 100 sunflower seeds in that jar. Just think if every seed became a giant sunflower and then I harvest each of those – I could have a “Sunflower Empire” at my house! (No worries of this happening, I do not have the garden space to achieve this…unless my neighbors let me use their front lawns also….)
MY FANTASY:
image credit: Lone Star Travel Guide
Okay I will be happy with 5 instead of just 1 giant sunflower next year.
Speaking of fields of sunflowers, I do have a wonderful memory of actually sitting in a field of sunflowers. I did this in 1998 during my first visit to Italy. Here is a photo I took of a photo in an old scrapbook:
I wonder if my partner John will mind if I pull up the grass in our backyard and turn it into a field of sunflowers…
I love sunflowers so much I have them around my house. Here is my upstairs guest bathroom which is decorated in a sunflower theme:
Recently I brought home a new enamel tea pot and cups from Ireland and I had my first pot of tea with them and used my sunflower tea cozy!
By now you are likely tired of sunflowers so it’s good it is the end of this post (smile).
But then I went to the Garden of the Gods, the national natural landmark in Colorado Springs, CO (my 4th visit) this weekend while my brother and his family were visiting.
And I stood here for a while gazing at the 300+ million year old rock formations across the grassland and got very reflective…
Then I stood here for a while and got even more reflective:
I starting thinking about an Instagram post I did a couple months ago and how I feel “truly alive” in Colorado.
My third anniversary of living in Colorado came and went without any fanfare but I’ve been thinking about it today.
I arrived in Colorado from Bend, Oregon (a truly magical place to live that I would’ve lived the rest of my life if life changing disaster had not struck) around April 20, 2019 to start a new life after being surprisingly widowed in 2018. Little did I know what glorious adventure awaited me in Colorado, the next chapter of my life.
I have this framed advertisement in the wall of my sewing studio. Two months after my husband suddenly died and I was sitting in my Oregon home strongly doubting my decision to move to Colorado, and I randomly opened a magazine and this ad was the page that opened! OK universe I hear you…
I am the adventure that will replay in your mind. The story you’ll tell for years and years. The invincibility you feel, if only for a moment. One beautiful, breathtaking moment. I am Colorado. And I’ll show you what it’s like to be truly alive.
Colorado.com
Whoever wrote the copy for that Colorado visitor guide advertisement I’d like to give a huge hug to.
“Truly Alive”, that is what I felt when I was wandering around the Garden of the Gods on Saturday.
I spent time with the group wandering around; and at the picnic we had on one of the over 300 million year old elevated rock formations. Here are photos of my brother and I hanging out as well as a haphazardly snapped photo of our picnic among the ancient rocks (while I was trying to balance food on my knee and take a photo):
I also spent a bit of time alone, allowing the group to wander off on their own. Here is a video I took as I looked upon a scene (which I’ve seen 3 times before) that took my breath away:
Here are a couple more select photos from the day but nothing compares to being there in person. It was a gloriously beautiful day in a spiritual sort of place.
And of course, here are some photos in Black & White:
…I am Colorado. And I’ll show you what it’s like to be truly alive.
Thank you Colorado. (And thank you to me for being brave enough to move here for the next chapter of my life adventure).
Postscript
If you’d like to see much higher quality video footage of the Garden of the Gods, here is a video I found on YouTube that I think captures some of the beauty I saw on Saturday:
My partner John has been busy with a bunch of home improvement projects (I have helped a tiny bit) and I thought I would share. I have nicknamed him “Project Man” because he loves staying busy with projects (though I’ve been working with him on just relaxing and not always being busy).
SOFA TABLES
We like to hang out and watch movies on the sectional sofa in our basement (and it is right near John’s bar so easy access to cocktails too!) but we needed some additional options on where to put our popcorn and drinks.
But we constantly had to lean over to access our snacks and beverages while movie watching.
So a little research online and John and I found a style we liked for a table that would slide under the sofa and make our snacks and drinks quickly accessible.
Here is John working on the first of the two tables he ended up making, it was his first time making “dovetail joints“ for furniture:
Here is the first table in use:
Sometimes we set that table between us and sometimes John just uses it on his side of the sectional sofa (we each have our own areas that we “nest” on the sofa).
After that table I was made, I thought – “what about a bigger version of that table that I could sit under and working on my laptop or eat a meal on?”. So John made a bigger version and here it is in use:
It also works well as an end table:
John made sure the two tables could nest together out of the way when we are not using them:
We’ve definitely enjoyed them on a couple recent movie nights!
SCREEN FOR SWING
One of the things I loved about my backyard in my previous life in Oregon was my backyard swing. Last year we found a lovely swing on sale and installed it in the backyard.
Last summer (2021) John made a screen for the backyard patio area to make it more cozy:
Recently, I asked John if we could repeat the concept he used last year for the patio screen, for the section of the backyard with the swing. So a couple weeks ago, John made a screen for the swing so you can feel super cozy when relaxing on it:
It is now a wonderful place to read a book! (And if I bring a couple pillows over from the patio seating, it is a great place to take a lazy afternoon nap!)
I continue with more projects in Part II of this series of posts, but let me close the post with pictures of Mike the Miniature Schnauzer at one of his favorite places – a home improvement store. He loves to ride around in the cart (we call him “Mike in the Box”).
He was helping us buy toilets for the projects I will share in the next post.
A nasty slip on the ice on January 11, 2023 led to an ankle dislocation and a tibial fracture. I was just taking Mike out for his morning walk and SURPRISE! It looked pretty bad when I first did it but the surgeon I met with today said it was a common ankle fracture.
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