Nothing special....

Went to see The Bucket List this afternoon. The movie was good, but so much sadder than I anticipated. True, it was funny in places, but I fully expected the entire movie to be more of a comedy. Don't get me wrong... I liked it. I just wasn't prepared for all the tears.

I'm in slow gear this week. Likely it is because I am dreading Friday. I am scheduled to have a surgical procedure done that day in an attempt to determine the cause of my recent hospital visits. I am not looking forward to it.

I have no pictures to share today. If I come across anything as the day progresses I will edit them into this post.

Until then....

Monday Blues and Blahs

This has been a very gloomy day. It was *supposed* to get to 70 degrees and be sunny. Ha!! It is lucky to be 58 with a gray, drizzling sky. To keep my mind off the gloom, I'm thinking ahead to more pleasant topics.



Got to wondering when the annual Quilter's Guild of Dallas show will be. It is always in March, so I looked up the exact weekend. Here is the flyer from their website. I've been a couple times. It isn't as huge as "the" show in Houston, but for a guild show, it is a decent size. The vendor area has grown steadily over the past several years. I always enjoy the section featuring quilts that are not being judged. I can relate more to them than I can to the heavy preponderance of "art quilts" vying for the handful of ribbons. I prefer traditional, pieced quilts.

For more information, click on the picture.

Until another time.......

Great fun

Our adventure yesterday was terrific. We found all our connections with no problem and walked miles at the Fort Worth Stock Show. My body aches today. Don't know if it was from all the walking or if it is simply the cold dampness seeping into these ever-worsening arthritic bones.


Life in the big city is colorful at best. I am amazed at the audacity of some people. We were standing on the train platform, marveling at how helpful one particular man was being to the travelers and tourists. Each time a person wondered aloud how to find this or that, this guy had the answer. I was beginning to think he worked for the rail system. Turns out, as we were boarding the train he decided to approach us and ask for a dollar to augment the dollar in change he held in his hand. Why did he pick us? We didn't ask him for any directions. Did he ask all the others to whom he was being so helpful?

Here is the train before we board.

It was interesting to see the city from a different perspective. One of the first sights I recognized upon departure was the now infamous Grassy Knoll at Dealey Plaza where President John Kennedy was assassinated. The building to the left is the equally infamous Texas Schoolbook Depository from which Lee Harvey Oswald allegedly took the fatal shots. It is no longer called the depository, but is now referred to as The 6th Floor Museum. Oddly, as a citizen of Dallas, I've never been to any of these attractions. Ah well.... when I lived in Fort Worth I never got to Billy Bob's. Still have never been to that honky tonk!

On the return trip we stopped at Mockingbird Station, a restaurant and night-spot within walking distance of the rail station. (Hence the name..Mockingbird is the name of the street. It is near the SMU campus). One of our favorite restaurants is Rockfish. We ordered our "usual" Cream of Jalapeno Pepper soup. If you ever want to know what heaven tastes like, this is it. To my dismay, I've tried to duplicate this recipe many times in my own kitchen without success.

Ever predictable, the last leg of the journey had us approached by yet another upstanding Dallas citizen who prefaced his conversation this way, " I'm not a bum or anything, but do you think you could help me get home with a couple dollars?" I wonder what his definition is for "bum". Thank goodness my traveling companion is 6'3" and burly.

Now I plan to make some more BOM Dash of Christmas Spirit blocks. It is gloomy outside, there is no football on TV (although we did miss watching the Aggies beat OSU in basketball last night!), and my son has to work this afternoon. My agenda includes church, sewing, laundry, and perhaps an attempt at yet another variety of soup. (I am basically living on soup these days. After the 2 recent trips to the hospital with intestinal problems, I am steering clear of bulky, high-fiber meals). I made some superb Tortilla Soup the other night. It turned out so well I even surprised myself! However, it was a "dump this, add that, add a little of this". In other words, there is no written recipe and no doubt I'll never again be able to achieve the same excellence. Isn't life funny that way??

I'll see everyone in the blogging world later.

The weekend begins

Good Saturday morning!!! I've been up since before 6 a.m. I don't understand why I can't sleep late on the weekend. I have to take Ross to work before I can leave for Fort Worth. Figured I'd put the spare time to good use.

I've been sewing some of the BOM blocks this morning. I cut a couple of them out last night and then decided I was too tired to piece them. After a good night's rest they were a snap to put together. You are right, Cindy! The larger blocks go together faster than the small ones. Now my goal is to finish the remainder of this installment before Monday morning.

We have very dense fog this morning. That won't lend well to watching scenery from a train window, I'm afraid. I guess it will simply be motivation to take the ride again on a clear day.

So off I go for a day of stomping through cattle barns. It will be a blast. Harry says I am a redneck in disguise. Perhaps I am. I do enjoy the sights, sounds, and smells of livestock. My childhood memories of my great-grandparents' farm are vivid!

A wonderful day to all.....

And that's final !

I made a decision. After spending most of the afternoon trying to find all the old pictures of quilts I've done in the past so I could share them on this blog, I decided I will simply start new and post only pictures of new projects I am sewing. I learned that most of the photos from previous years have been safely archived on CDs and not worth the time to reload back to a hard drive.

So, that said...... here is the unassembled center of a Christmas BOM I am doing. Cindy is also doing this with me. This is not seamed together so that is why the blocks don't quite "fit". I merely wanted to get something NEW posted to my blog so no one could accuse me of not really being able to piece quilts!! LOL

Now I need to get motivated and work on more blocks.

Okay....

I think I am getting the hang of this! I've played with gadgets and widgets. Some work better than others. A person could go crazy with the toys in the sidebar, but then they might get detracted from the real content of the pages and posts.

I got a new computer last week (both the desktop and the laptop decided to quit working on the same day!) and still need to transfer files to the new hard drive. Most of my photos are still on the old computer and therefore I don't have much to share in my posts when it comes to photos. Perhaps I will have a chance to complete the transfer process soon.

Tomorrow I am going to Fort Worth to the annual Stock Show and Rodeo. This year, rather than use gas in the truck (the Stock Show Arena is about 50 miles from my house), fight for parking, and then pay for parking, we are taking the rail system. We get the commuter train a couple miles from my house and then ride to Union Station in downtown Dallas. We change to the TRE (Trinity Rail Express) to ride to Fort Worth. The best part about the TRE is that the cars are double-decker with panoramic viewing. I've been wanting to ride this train for ages.

My 16-year-old son, a junior in high school, has FINALLY started thinking about college. He is now signed up to take the SAT in a few weeks and has filled out the paperwork to visit Texas A&M University (whoop!! I am an alum of TAMU) in March when the school hosts a visit for Dallas area high school juniors and their parents. Ross wants to double-major in some Engineering disciplines. We will be taking a bus chartered by the university. The best part is that same day the Aggie basketball team is playing Oklahoma State in College Station. My "special other" plans to make the trek with us so we can watch his alma mater get slaughtered by my alma mater. LOL

I think I've rambled enough. I am trying to fill up space that eventually can be devoted to photos. In the meantime, this is practice for getting into the habit of posting here rather than to the email lists.

Hope anyone who reads this has a wonderful day. I know I will... it is Friday and the weekend is here at last. It's been a loooong week!!

Gena

More Frustration??

I'm so envious of my friends who have wonderful blogs. This blogging thing can't be *that* difficult, but for some reason it frustrates me. I want mine to be fancy and have cool stuff on it. I can't even figure out how to adjust the size of the title font!! Bear with me as I learn...... perhaps some day this blog will actually be worthy of a visit.