Finding your passion

Well, we all know I've found mine (evidence crazy lady with 16 looms, or is that 17?)

But I love to watch a daughter find hers.

The weather held for the falconry lesson that was a birthday gift from her fam.

 

The British School of Falconry is in Manchester, Vermont, about an hour and 15 minute drive for us.

 

It was incredibly educational.  As the one guest allowed, I got to listen, and of course, I was the photographer (using that term loosely)

My daughter loves birds. We affectionately call her the "bird lady".

When that hawk first lighted on her glove, her face was radiant.

 And it stayed that way for the two hours we were there.

 This is Sprint.   They use Harris hawks, as they are more social, and will allow strangers to handle them.  They are found in the southwest, like Arizona.

 As opposed to the red tailed hawk that is common in this area.  They are much more a one person kind of bird.

I was amazed at all of it.
She took to it like she'd been doing it all her life.

 I lost count of how many times she had hawks landing on her hand.

 After the lesson, we went on the "hawk walk".
Dawn, the instructor, is amazing.  She knows falconry, and teaches it with such enthusiasm.

 

It was interesting, listening to one woman talking about her passion, and the student eagerly taking it all it,  two "bird ladies" chatting it up.

  All you have to do is look at their smiles.  Says it all.

 

The hawk walk was amazing.

The two hawks, one male and one female, followed us through the woods, from tree to tree, landing every couple of minutes.

What's totally incredible about these birds, is that no matter how it looks, they have no bond whatever with humans.  They "hunt and they fly".
It's all about the food.
It's all about the training, and them getting the food in the easiest way possible.

  They actually live much longer in captivity.
It's a tough world for a hawk out there.
Most of them don't make the first year.

 

I also didn't know that to have a hawk, one must go through some incredible steps.  There is a lot of study and two years of following a mentor, and being tested.

And then trapping your own hawk, a red tailed hawk.

 

And even then, the state will come to inspect his housing.

This is very well regulated to protect the birds.

 

Then after you've taught the bird to hunt, and had him for a few years, most people release them into the wild, where as an adult bird, he has a better chance.

 With all that's going on in our family right now, with my mother, we needed this day.

 

It was a such a special day, as any day is where you get to watch your child, grown or otherwise, shine their light.

 

And believe me, this girl's got some light to shine.

I could not love her more.

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Keeping up.

I wish I could say that life had calmed down at my house.
But the very next night after my last post, my daughter and I spend half the night in the ER with my mother.
She is back in the hospital, and things seem under control once again.
But it seems to be indicative of more to come.

We are lucky to have a great hospital nearby.

My two other daughters spent the morning with her, so I got to go to the studio for a while.

L and I had a finished rug on the Toika, but we had enough warp for another one.  We had the fabric all wound and ready, so the rug went quickly.

Here is the rug we wove on Monday.

 It's pretty, right?

We had two fans blowing directly at us, but it was still hot.

 

I think I might like this one even better.

 They are both 4'x6' approximately.
Which one do you like better?

 

By noon time, we had wrapped it up.   It was really too hot, and I had responsibilities.

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Dwell... a quilt from Simply Retro

I took advantage of the nice weather yesterday and my "quilt-holder" being home to snap some photos of my Dwell quilt. The pattern is from the new book Simply Retro by Camille Roskelley. I've had a simple house quilt on my to-do list for a while and I started cutting the day the book arrived!

It was one of those quilts where you make one block and then you just want to make another in different fabrics. I love those! Never get bored!

I found this wonderful house print fabric at one of our local shops - Janie lou. The colors were perfect and I bought enough to do a vertical strip along with a coordinating green on each side.

 When I got it home I realized that if I ran it vertically my houses would be laying on their sides. We do have tornados here - but I certainly didn't want to create that kind of vibe! I ended up doing some creative piecing and surprisingly ended with a big "H" for house :)

In the white background I quilted flowers since I have flowers behind my own house. After several complicated scenarios on how to quilt the houses themselves, I remembered what Camille had written in my autographed copy of the book...

So I decided to "Keep it Simple!" and did straight lines 1" apart on the blocks. Easy!

And finally it got a gray striped binding. This piece from Little Red Riding Hood is simply a wonderful binding piece. A good one to stock up on!

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WIP Wednesday! Another Sunburst!

I can't believe it's been a week since I blogged. I'll blame it on the lazy summer-time!

But I have been up to some sewing and finally it was nice enough today to take some pictures.

This is my third Sunburst quilt. I made it a little bigger by adding a few more rows of diamonds.

I also added a border on this one that the original didn't have...

The beautiful quilting was done by one of our talented local long-arm quilters - Terri Kanyuk.

I have loved every one of these quilts... it lends itself so well to almost any fabric collection. The pattern is currently available in this book (affiliate link to amazon.com)

I'm also excited because I finally finished my Lone Starburst paper pieced blocks at our St Louis MQG sew-in last Saturday. After lots of trial and error I came up with this setting and couldn't be more thrilled! More to come on this one!

Linking up today to Lee at Freshly Pieced!

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Breathing a sigh of relief.

I know one thing, I am too old to stay up all night. 
Good grief.
It wasn't my plan, but my mother was short of breath all night, and couldn't get comfortable.  I positioned myself downstairs, on the couch, and every time she moaned or got up or tried to find a better position, I heard her, and was up, too.
Made for about 3 hours sleep, interrupted.
Reminded me of those nights from hell when I had to work the midnight shift, and hated every single minute of it.  When I gave up nursing after 30 years, the thought that I would NEVER EVER EVER have to work the night shift, was priceless.

Yesterday, my goal in life was to get my mother  oxygen to use at home.  They should have discharged her from the hospital with it, but didn't.
Medicare, however, will not pay for it unless the patient has an oxygen saturation of 88% or less.  Never mind that they are gasping for air, look gray, and are frightened out of their mind with the feeling that they are slowly suffocating. 
Nope.  Let's go for the number.

My doctor's office is the best.  It's hers, too.  The staff there are exceptional.  They have seen me through two brain surgeries, and in fact, the PA there is the one who sent all my paperwork to the Chiari Institute and said, "Can you see her?"

And they've seen a lot of my mother lately.  
The goal yesterday was to see that magical 88.  We were there for two hours.   They tried walking her up and down the hall, she just hyperventilated and almost passsed out.
Finally, they said, "Just sit."
 My mother said it was mind over matter. 
Maybe she was right.

By 4pm, Lincare had been and gone, and we were equipped.

Happy Day.

In no time, she was smiling.  That look of a "deer in the headlights" was gone.
 In fact, for the first time in weeks, she sat and talked nonstop for about an hour and a half.
Relief.

 I know that the oxygen won't cure her congestive heart failure.  I know it won't save her from the inevitable.
But it WILL make her comfortable, and that's all that matters.

Speaking of comfortable...........Roy just wanted to say, he's got that down.

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Think I'll just eat dessert.

Sometimes you sense a subtle change in the course of events. You almost can't put your finger on it.
But there it is anyway.
You want to go back, to a time before, but that's not allowed.
You're in the here, and now, and this is what you've got.
Better buck up, and get ready.

My mother isn't home from the hospital for a whole day, and she's short of breath already.
Shower, shampoo, get her this, get her that, fix her meds for the week.  Look at the appointments.
I think I sat blankly staring at the TV until I had to go to bed.  I say that because now I have no recollection of what was on.  I didn't knit, wasn't reading.  My brain was toast.
That's ok sometimes, right?
I don't even like TV.

I am looking ahead at the summer, the fall, and trying to put myself in the mindset that will serve me best.
Care of an aging parent.
I know there are books out there about it, but can anyone really tell you how it's going to be?   Isn't it like any other place you haven't been?  You have to do it yourself?

When I went to the studio this morning, I tried to soak up some of the serenity that abides there.
I want to take it with me.

 

So far so good on keeping critters out of my little garden.

I'm hopeful.

I put it in late, but it can still produce.

 

If it doesn't do much, that's ok, I will work on it for next year.  I am going with the flow, in all things.  It seems like the thing to do.


Sometimes when I am  stressed, I bake.
So yesterday I made my blueberry pumpkin pound cake, and a new recipe, Strawberry Tirimisu.
I found it HERE.   Creampuffsinvenice
Now if only it tastes as good as it looks.

I'll keep you posted.

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Popping in

It never fails to amaze me how life whizzes past.  One day folds into the next and the next, and sometimes I wish I could grab hold of it and slow. it. down.
There are so many aspects of my life that pull me one way, then the other.

As much as I've dreamed of going to Maine for a couple of weeks this summer, it's just not going to happen.  My mother has been in the hospital three times now in the last five weeks.
It's just what happens, when you are nearing 90, and your body starts breaking down.
I wonder sometimes, what she would be like if she had changed her diet 20 years ago after she had a cardiac bypass, and if she had put a  walking schedule into her life.

Ah, but that's history.  She didn't change anything. She figured they "fixed" her, and she could just do what she wanted.  She became sedentary.  There's no other word.
She's also addicted to television. Has been long before she was old.  Movies in particular.  Some movies she watches over and over again.  So sedentary works for that.

Unfortunately, sedentary doesn't do much for arthritis.  And as many times as I've told her that activity DOES make the pain lessen, after you've worked through it, she won't.

I'm not like her.  Not in that way anyway.  My father's genes are firmly planted in my lifestyle.  I am always on the move.  It's not a bad thing.  I am getting older, but old age will have to chase me down.
That's the way it is.

I have 9 rugs done towards my goal of 50, but it doesn't seem like work to me at all.  In fact, I'm having a lot of fun with it.

I just try to get a little done each day.  It centers me, and keeps me focused.

In between the craziness, I savor moments of serenity;  with my knitting, reading a great book, walking my Roy boy, just driving in the car listening to Renaissance guitar.
I AM being better to myself, even in a difficult situation.

 

I give myself slack that I never did before.  I tell myself it's ok, when in the past, I would have gotten the whip out.

Pacing myself.

It's all brand new.

And this too shall pass.

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