I'm Fine

Today I took my first ambulance ride, first trip to a Springfield hospital ER and had my first CT Scan.
All to learn that except for an orbital tissue contusion (black eye, in lay terms) I'm fine.

The top picture is to show you all the pretty colors (I hear they'll be more glorious tomorrow) and the bottom depicts how far the gory thing protrudes. Both serve to show you how much I look like my mother.

How did it happen? I tripped over a curb and fell flat on my face. Nice people helped me and Steve picked up my car and brought me home. I'm fine, really.

Top This

I'm still sewing every spare moment, but not finishing much except the themed table toppers I've been making each month. Here are Spring Flowers, the third set. My goal is to make twelve, we'll see if I stick with it. I've been having a good time helping a friend make a T-shirt quilt as a surprise for her son's graduation. It's her first quilt and we're both pretty stoked about it. Part of my excitement comes from the sewing machine she borrowed from her mother-in-law. It's a 93-year old Singer (electric, not treadle). It's gorgeous and runs beautifully. It sews only a forward straight stitch, very even and balanced. What a gem!

The wild weather this weekend bypassed us for the most part. Lots of rain on Saturday didn't keep us us from having our planned garage sale and it didn't keep the buyers away either.The boys did the selling and got to keep whatever money they raked in. We plan to hold several more sales until we have some of the clutter in the house under control. When Ben and Logan realized that sales equal money in their pockets they became much more enthusiastic about disposing of stuff. I think we are finally making a dent in it.

Crystal Bridges

 Yesterday's great escape took me to Crystal Bridges in Bentonville, Arkansas. Friends Sharon, Sue and I drove through gorgeous springtime Ozarks country to the new (November 2011) facility funded by Alice Walton of Walmart fame.  The building was designed by architect Moshe Safdie, who according to his firm's website is . . ."committed to architecture that responds to human needs and aspirations and is informed by the geographic, social, and cultural elements that define a place." It's a slightly strange string of connected pods that appear to have been extruded into the landscape. A couple of the pods resemble armadillos. Yet it is quite beautiful and a wonderful museum. The interior space does a fabulous job of displaying the art. The works are at the right height, with plenty of viewing distance, and great lighting. And very attentive guards who make certain you do not violate the 18 inch invisible barrier between the viewer and the art.

As a museum building and art collection it is world class. I get muddled when I find my thoughts drifting to what it took to acquire the great wealth necessary to build and sustain this fabulous place. How many sweat shops, how much child labor, how many ravaged rain forests, how many small businesses forced in to bankruptcy did it take to make merchandise available to the people of WalMart? Many people were visiting the museum the day we were there, a mid-week, off-season, non-holiday week. But they did not look much like WalMart shoppers or employees. In a way, it felt like another layer of creating wealth for a certain class of people from the efforts of a poorer class, and I feel a bit elitist and guilty for enjoying it. And at the same time I feel gratitude for the effort to support, maintain, and share this civilizing element of our culture. I'm so confused! 

As wonderful as the museum was, the company was even better. Spending the day together was a wonderful treat.

Easter

Easter was hard. It was the eleventh anniversary of the attack on Robin that resulted in her death three days later. I want to move beyond recognizing the anniversary dates of tragic events, but I'm not there yet. I tried in clumsy ways: drinking too much wine and then dropping and breaking the glass candy dish Bernice had given me as a birthday gift. Maybe next year will be better.

Saturday afternoon, I fell into panic mode, realizing I had planned nothing to celebrate the day with the boys. So, I rushed out to the candy store and got them each an Easter basket. That helped a little bit.

We gathered with the Maples clan Sunday noon for dinner. As always, Julia had a nice meal -- for me the highlight was the fresh asparagus from her garden. Prepared with prosciutto and Parmesan cheese, it was divine, darling. This is the third year for her asparagus and it's now yielding enough to serve at a family dinner. Wait till next year! We celebrated March and April birthdays of me, Nick, and Alicia. Alicia's ten-month old twins, Isaiah and Xavier, who are living with her in Buffalo, made their first appearance at a family event. In the picture, great-grandma Julia holds Isaiah (I hope I got the right name attached to the right baby). They appear to be thriving. 

Summertime in the Ozarks

 

Same dog, same day.

 

 The dogwood is glorious -- a full three weeks earlier than any previous year. The tips of the blossoms are just starting to turn brown, it's just about finished for this year.

And the cows have already begun using the ponds as wading pools. Notice not quite every tree is in leaf, but it is very green. A late frost would be devastating. Here's hoping it doesn't snow on the dogwood this year! Roses are blooming, dandelions have already gone to seed, yellow oak pollen sifts over every car left outside for a couple of hours, and kleenex sales are up. 

Big important news! Ben has been accepted to GLADE (Green Leadership Academy for Diverse Ecosystems). What that means is that he gets to spend a week at the Missouri State University Field Station at Bull Shoals Lake working on habitat restoration and preservation. He labored all last week over his application, essay, and project proposal and learned yesterday he has been accepted in the program as one of 16 high schools kids from Southwest Misssouri. Here's the text of the letter of recommendation from a former teacher (actually librarian):

  I am writing to highly recommend Ben Maples for the GLADE 2012 session.  

Ben is exactly the kind of candidate I believe is a great fit for the environmental features of the academy.  As a young man he has planned for quite some time to pursue a career in entomology and already has a great appreciation for the subtle changes in environment and the impact that will have on future generations.

Ben is a very quiet, introspective young man.  He excels in many areas but particularly loves not only his “bugs” but high school band as well.  He has excelled in the high school band program developing leadership qualities in this program.

Ben has a gentle spirit and is very kind.  He shows kindness in many ways, especially to his grandmother, who is his primary caregiver.  It gives me hope the future generation is both caring and compassionate.

I have seen many young people pass through my life as a school librarian.  Ben is one of the outstanding ones, who will make a difference in this world.  I am proud to highly recommend Ben to an outstanding program which will help on his journey toward making a difference in the world.

 

Pieces of a Life II, III, and IV (Joan Miller) and Pieces of Our Lives

Joan Miller left behind lots of scraps of material. These pillows are made from bits of upholstery scraps found in a shoe box. I have no idea what she intended to do with them, but here's my shot at it. The  

scraps are on the front and I used dark olive green corduroy for the piping and backs and incorporated a photo printed on muslin into each. I hope someone will like them.

Here's a little crib blanket. Joan had sewn little squares into rows. I put the rows together (top photo) and then used some of my scraps for the back (bottom photo). I also used some squares of dark purple satin from a piece given to me by my friend Sharon. She suggested that babies love the feel of satin and that it might make good binding. It's really hard to work with as a binding, so I took an easy way out and put some satin squares on the back. I like the idea a lot and as long as the supply of satin holds out, I'm going to work a patch into each baby quilt I make.

Today was volunteer day for Ben and Logan. Working with the high school's chapter of the National Honor Society, Ben volunteered at a community-wide event held, of all places, at the community center. He helped run a bean bag toss game. Logan volunteered as a judge at a Junior High School speech tournament. He must have brought them good luck because Ozark won the sweepstakes and came home with a giant trophy and a very pleased speech and debate teacher. Nice going, Natalie and kids!

I made mac and cheese for dinner tonight, guess which kid decided to stir some leftover kale into his? I like kale, but I still have a hard time getting my head around the idea of a kid choosing to eat it!

Season Finale

In the middle of this picture, the red-headed section leader of the front line plays his part on the vibes. Because I was at ground level when I took the picture, you can't see the drum line carrying on behind the keyboards. It was a good show, but not their best -- wait till next year!

Saturday's show was the season finale and regional championship competition. Drum corps' from all over Missouri and parts of Kansas descended on our little town and left behind several thousand dollars to sweeten the coffers of the Ozark High School Band and to fund much of next year's activities. This one day effort sure beats selling Christmas wrap and frozen cookie dough! And it was very well executed thanks to some great parent and student volunteers.

With Winter Drum Line and Speech and Debate season at a close, my taxi service goes into semi-retirement. The trio of activities demanding after-hours practice remaining on the calendar -- off-season football training, the spring Chorale Concert, and Woodwind Symphony (Ben plays tympani) -- have yet to wrap-up, but for the most part we have begun the long gradual slide into summer. Then we'll launch into band and football camps and summer school. Hopefully, by then we'll have a second car.

Today's gorgeous weather means I have to make a trip to Lowes' for weed killer. Everything green thing in the Ozarks has erupted during the past couple of weeks of warm and wet weather. Mowing season is back with us, bird nests are all over the place, and the bugs have returned. Ben hates the mowing and weed-killing -- he sees it as the destruction of insect habitat. I like it for the same reason!