Detour

With our list in hand AppleJack and I sat off with our things to be accomplished:  Apple Store (my phone died) Macy's lingerie department (someone should have prepared me for the serious price increase in a decent pair of undies) Williams Sonoma for cookie dispenser, baby blanket for a friends new baby, lunch at The Picnic Cafe, new blooming plant to brighten up the dining table, etc.

To avoid the gosh awful bumper to bumper, horn honking, hand jester traffic, we often take detours and side roads.  When I saw these barn quilts hanging on these out buildings, AppleJack slammed on the brakes and we jumped out of the car to take a closer look.  I'm a sucker for HST's.

One man's trash is another man's treasure.  Someone with an appreciation for the past had been collecting advertising signs.

Does anyone remember purchasing this brand of gas?  Or paying this price for a gallon of gasoline?

How about this one?  This one is beginning to show its age.

This was a real blast from my past:  a Farmall tractor.  Growing up on a farm, I learned to drive a tractor before I attended school.  Whether it was hauling hay, picking corn, or grinding feed there was always work to be done.  Our Model H Farmall tractor was a work horse!

Farming was hard work and we were sometimes treated to an RC Cola and a moon pie.  Anyone remember these?  I treated myself to a glass of fruit tea and chess pie from The Picnic.  Sometimes it's good to choose the road less traveled.

The Big Squeeze

It's that time of year again, time to schedule the annual mammogram.  I am a glutton for punishment, I schedule my annual physical and mammogram on the same day and if possible I also schedule my dental cleaning.  I dread each and every one of these doctors and procedures and try to schedule them on the same day so I only have one day of dread and misery instead of three. 

If the anticipation of the big squeeze mammogram isn't bad enough, I'll share my last two mammogram experiences.  In 2014 while having the mammogram, there was a fire alarm which sounded.  I didn't hear the alarm, just the pounding on the door and being told everyone had to evacuate the building.  The tech starts pushing me out the door in all my glory.  This was not the way I had planned to leave.  I had arrived at my visit fully clothed and I had every intention of leaving the same way!  "No time to get dressed" she said so I grabbed my yellow rain slicker and prayed the zipper was working.  Now, if a case of nerves of having a mammogram isn't bad enough add the evacuation of a building, throw in not being fully clothed and just for interest toss in the rain outside.  Not one of my better days or moments. 

Fast forward to mammogram 2015.  Sweet AppleJack having heard about my 2014 mammogram experience decided to drive me to the appointment to help take the edge off.  All was going well, the two of us sat in the waiting area quietly reading the Wall Street Journal and chatting with others in the waiting area.  My name was called and I went back for the big squeeze.  Whew!  No fire alarms, no evacuating the building, nothing eventful just very routine stuff. 

As I was leaving, I noticed there were no other patients, no other nurses, no techs, no office staff, no one in the waiting area and no AppleJack.  There was no one!  There was no one to ask and since I had left my cellphone with AppleJack no one to call.  As  I tried to wrap my head around my situation and figure out what I needed to do.  I decided to walk outside thinking there might have been another emergency and maybe another evacuation.  Sure enough there stood a parking lot full of people.  It wasn't a fire which caused the evacuation this time, it was a disgruntled patient who had become so outraged, he started making threats to the staff.  Security decided it was in the best interest of everyone to clear the area.

So. . . for those of you who have scheduled your annual mammogram, I understand your anxiety and hope your visit for the big squeeze is uneventful. 

Transition

Life at Miss Callie Mae's Cat Cottage is in a state of transition.

The daylight hours are getting shorter, the temps are getting a bit cooler.

Pumpkins are beginning to make an appearance in garden centers, cookies and Starbucks coffee.  Heck, they have even made an appearance in front of the old dry sink.

It's time to bring out the quilts,

and to start planning for fall parties and Halloween costumes.

Shhhh don't tell anyone but I think if he weren't for changing the decorations my house would never get dusted.

Inspiration

Our local NPT station has been airing the Ken Burn's film about the Roosevelt's--Theodore, Franklin and Eleanor.  Of course, my love for history has had me glued to the screen.  Such a complex family, so many challenges, such a legacy.

One of Eleanor Roosevelt's remembered quotes is:  Do the thing you think you cannot do.  Like many in this busy, fast paced world/life, I have felt overwhelmed.  With a three day week end to enjoy, I am going to use Eleanor's quote to guide me and face some of the things (projects) I think I cannot do. 

Gone Fishin

Snow Day Sew Day

Mother Nature and Old Man Winter joined forces yesterday and gave us another dose.

It began as rain, turned to freezing rain, sleet and then snow.

My poor daffodils, they keep reminding me Spring is in fifteen days!

I turned the snow day into a sew day.

Sewing more blue stars for the cheddar quilt.

I started another sampler for the Grandmother Shultz/Shults wall.  This is Margaret Cottam by La D Da. This sampler will be for Great Great Grandmother Margaret Ferguson, Great Aunt Margaret Shultz/Shults and cousin Margaret.  The linen is a coveted piece of 32 count 18 Century Brown by R & R.  

Snow Day---Sew Day

The snow is beautiful and good for the earth, I will remind myself of this day in August when I am pulling weeds and everything has begun to turn brown.

Thinking Spring

In spite of the weather (ice and snow) freezing temps, piles of laundry, and wet boots at the front door, I am turning my thoughts from winter to spring.

Daylight Savings Time begins on March 8 and I am ready to spring forward into longer day light hours.

March 20 is the first official day of spring. I am ready for seeing blooming daffodils and birds building nests, green grass, and digging in the dirt.

To help drive the winter blahs away, I treated myself to fresh flowers from the garden center.

Spring will soon be here and I will turn my thoughts from snow and ice and cold temps to visits to the garden center and planting flowers and fretting about the rabbits eating my flowers.

David Bates, owner of the garden center reminded me next weekend is The Lawn and Garden Show--a great way to see and experience spring!

Ice, Ice, Baby

Last week when the weatherman began to make his forecast about doom, gloom and Armageddon the incoming winter storm front, I had visions of a light dusting.  To my friends in Boston and the upper peninsula of Michigan I tip my hat.  Respectfully, they have weathered storm after storm with snow accumulations between seven and twelve feet!  The original forecast was between three and five inches of snow.  This was revised to ten inches.  The reality of February storm front 2015 was sleet, freezing rain and ice!  When the weatherman tells the hockey team they can practice in any parking lot in town I knew there were serious road conditions.  The governor declared a state of emergency, the mayor tells everyone to stay home, three of the four major interstates have been closed and sadly there have been fatalities.  

Fondly I remember snow days--there is the usual:  stay up late, sleep late, movie watching.  There has been extra cooking and baking (AppleJack's favorite part).  Choosing a book from the growing stack sitting on my bedside table and enjoying a good read.  There is also extra laundry from the layers and layers of clothing to keep warm.  The sounds coming from the neighborhood and tires crunching through the ice, neighbors chipping ice off their cars, children laughing as they negotiate their sleds.  

My needle has been busy with the Colonial Gatherings piece and there has been extra time to surf the web and locate those designer sneak peeks for the upcoming needlework market.

Winter 2015 has more in store for the week.  Yes, snow is forecast for this evening.  Ice topped off with snow topped off with freezing temperatures.  Let's hope it's really snow and not more ice.  

From the looks of the icicles hanging off the rosemary--I think she might be a goner.

The sweet little tracks in the snow were made by robins.  Grandmother Bessie used to say robins were a sign of spring.  These robins came to feed on the remaining berries on the Holly bushes.  

Ice Storm 2015: shall I quilt or hook or stitch?  

Fall at Thistle Manor

Slowly but surely fall is making her way South.

The knockout roses will bloom until we have a killing frost--some years they have still been blooming as late as Thanksgiving.  This might be one of those years--the weatherman has temps forecast for the eighties next week.

The dogwoods are one of the first trees to start showing color.  The tree is loaded with berries and the birds love feeding on the berries during the cold winter months.

The parsley was planted near the kitchen backdoor in a protected area.  Fingers crossed, without a killing frost, I might have fresh parsley to use for Thanksgiving.

Ahh, Miss Oak Leaf Hydrangea you steal my heart with your big beautiful cinnamon leaves and bronze flower heads.

Replacement Rosemary is looking good.  Hopefully she might also adore some dishes at Thanksgiving.  Now might be a good time to prepare the herbs for winter.

A beautiful time of the year.

Black Cats

Fall and black cats are synonymous.

Black cats take interesting disguises.

They learn to blend into their environment.

Master the art of napping.

Learn how to give you "the look."

Even when she's up to mischief.

 Miss Callie Mae Calico, my favorite calico black cat.

Finding Fall

The calendar says it is fall, I'm not sure the thermostat agrees.  The mornings are cool with temps in the low fifties, by the afternoon, the temps soar to the eighties.  

I am underdressed in the mornings and over dressed in the afternoon.  I took a trip to the local garden center to find fall. The garden centers are filled with mums and pansies and pumpkins!

With the hot temps, I have been a little slow in changing the decorations from summer to fall.

Nothing says fall like acorns and black crows.

An oldie but a favorite goodie--Blackbird's Autumn Song.  Seeing the colors on these leaves, reminds me to look outside the windows and see the leaves on the dogwood tree turning to a brilliant red and the leaves on the tulip poplar turning bright yellow.

The inside of the box is lined with very fallish fabric and filled with crow needle minders and acorn thread keeps.

A dough bowl is filled with some fall smalls.

I'm off for a trip to the apple orchard to purchase apples--Mutsu and Winesap.