You CAN Go Home Again

Yay! The Minneapolis skyline! Minneapolis is a beautiful city, full of beautiful city.  We were lucky enough to spend a long weekend there earlier this month. While there, we attended a small, informal class reunion in my hometown of Delano.

This is my friend, Vicki.  We were high school classmates, and while we were not really close friends, we met again on facebook, and planned an impromptu class reunion.  How could two such young-looking friends be having their 40th class reunion???

Another good friend, Bob.  Our last names both started with "H", and we had our lockers together for all 4 years in high school.  We were also both in band, took lots of the same classes, and I recruited him to be Captain von Trapp in The Sound of Music.  One of my proudest achievements!

Here I am with Stephanie, who I thoroughly enjoyed visiting with! She is as beautiful inside as out.  It just makes me sad, because we live so far from these great people. It would be so great to get together with them more often.

I pretty much knew who would be at the reunion, from the responses on our facebook page.  It was a complete surprise to see Rob walk into the room!  He is a pilot for American, and lives in Miami.  It was pure chance that he was in Delano that day, and that he also ran into Bob, who told him about the event.  Rob was a very good friend in school - it was really a highlight to get to see Rob.

Main Street, Delano - looks like a scene from an old movie or something, so cute and quaint.  The Crow River runs right through town, just to the left in this  picture.

Couldn't have a visit to Delano without checking out the old family homestead.  Nice to see it well cared for, a nice garden in the back, and the owner has a little day care business.  

A Grand Night for Singing!

Prescription for a lovely evening!



Start with great company - daughter Hannah, above, in the gorgeous Millenium Park gardens, with the amazing Pritzker Pavillion, designed by Frank Gehry, in the background.   No hint that that we were about to be rained on for about 10 minutes! No matter...



After our brief shower, we were damp, but our spirits were high! We were about to hear the Grant Park Symphony performing Rodgers & Hammerstein favorites, aided by 3 top Broadway soloists.  Dinner was easy - carryout sandwiches, and a bottle of red (and white for me). Delicious!



It was fun to share the evening with Hannah and her boyfriend, Danny.  Danny doesn't have the same musical background that we do, but he is an eager and willing participant.  We had a wonderful evening!



Happy 4th!

My Super 8



Our whole family got together last night to celebrate Gen's birthday - the first time we had all sat around one table at the same time! So special! Family times are the BEST.
Shown above are MY "super 8":  Matt, Gen, Nick, Danny, Hannah, Scott, me, and Emily.



Finishing touches

Finally got around to adding a sleeve onto this quilt - good to time catch up with some shows too.  I finished this quilt months ago, and had already delivered it to the recipient - but they wanted a sleeve, so they could display it.  You can read the story of this quilt here.

Do you use a thimble?  I do when I do bindings or sleeves - easier to push the needle through all those layers.  And less chance of injury, too!  I use the leather thimble with a metal tip inside, and a little space for your fingernail to peek out - if you have nails longer than I do, that is. :)

Another finishing touch - fresh flowers from my garden.  Lovely!

Modern art? and dinner in Chicago

What does this say to you? Every piece tells a story...this one tells MANY stories, actually...

These have been my painting coveralls since 1999!  I am the painter in the family, partially because I enjoy painting, and the instant gratification that a freshly-painted room brings!
But tonight we took a night off from painting, to head into Chicago - first for a short errand, and then, since she's in town for the summer...

...to grab a quick burger with our daughter Emily!  Always a treat to see her!

No sewing weekend!

Must start with recent photo of lovely daughters - on their Chicago summertime day-of-fun! Shown at Buckingham Fountain:  Emily, Hannah, Genevieve.

Still recovering from our April flooding - I have been painting and painting, on the home stretch!  This shows my pantry in the stairway, a necessary item because of my teeny 1950s kitchen.  This is all freshly painted, but the color is all wrong - it's actually called Aged Beige, a grayed beige color. 



Looking down the stairs, tricky to paint our old, funky curved stairwell.  We will replace the carpeting as the final step in our post-flood remodeling.




This shows the current awful mess on my dining room table - all of the pantry contents had to removed, in order to paint.  And this is only half of the mess.




Second half of pantry mess, which also shows my teeny kitchen.  Someone recently told me they couldn't believe I had a double oven in such a tiny kitchen.  I hope to have all of this back on the shelves by Wednesday.