LOOKY!

God is so good! I didn't pray that he return my camera to me, but I did ask that he not let me stress out and fuss and fume all night over having lost it. That if I was to have my pictures of the trip that in the light of morning and not being so tired it would turn up and look!!!!! When I thoroughly unpacked the tote bag with fabric pieces and new sewing machine pedal I had purchased look what I found wrapped in the folds of nice soft padding fabric at the bottom of the bag next to the pedal. I am one happy photographer right now and ready to take off to snap pics of and enjoy cherry blossoms! (I had better get dressed first though!)


While I am gone here are a few photos of Lancaster County, PA for you to enjoy. These are pictures of things you see all over the county. Amish buggies mixed in with trucks and automobiles, beautiful farms and of course the ever present porches lined with wonderful quilts made by the Amish . Many Amish homes have signs out front indicated that they have quilts for sale and please stop in. This was one home in town that we stopped by to visit. The quilts are wonderful, but way out of my price range. At one time Amish quilts were very identifiable by there use of solid fabrics and use of grays, navy blues or blacks as a base color. You could even identify the part of the country the quilt came from based on the color palette used. Those are now highly valued quilts by collectors. In the 1990's the American buying public (ie tourists to Amish communities) began asking for quilts made with print fabrics and being astute business people the Amish women gave them what they wanted. Now very few new Amish quilts are made in the traditional fabrics which I find very sad as they were absolutely stunning and a wonderful showcase for the amazing quilting designs the Amish women use. These fine stitches tend to get lost in the patterned fabrics they now use. Don't get me wrong their quilts are still wonderful, they just aren't as differentiated from quilts of other amazing quilters like they used to be.

It is now time for me to get moving we have lots to see and do today!

Easter

I love Easter flowers. We don't have a lot of them at our church on Easter morning. Not so many that people with allergies are miserable and sneeze through the service, but enough to make things look like it is Easter and also spring.

Here are two pictures of the flowers around our altar on Easter morning. We weren't sure there would be many blooms. Easter was so early this year that the florists had a hard time pushing the tulips and daffodils into flower. When we picked the plants up on Friday non of them had bloomed. The mums and Easter lilies were fine. We were surprised and pleased that on Sunday morning all the daffodils had opened and s few of the tulips had.

We used to have hyacinths also, but they were banned several years ago when half the congregation sniffed, sneezed and scratched their eyes all morning long. Not being allergic to flowers this banning made me very sad as I loved the wonderful smell the had. But I do understand the problem they caused others, especially my DH who is allergic!

MARCH 20: IT'S SPRING!

Ah, the first day of Spring. Another winter survived! I shouldn't complain as it was a very mild winter, but sometimes I think I would be happier with REAL WINTER....but that isn't in line with my word for the year "contentment" is it. I should be happy and content that we didn't have a disruptive winter and it sure sis seem to go by FAST!!!!!!!!

It seems like we were just celebrating Christmas and now all of a sudden this Sunday is Easter!

The weather is not particularly warm today for the first day of spring, but I think that is more because it is so windy! As my picture for today shows though the flowers are saying it is spring. These are some hyacinths that I planted last year after Easter that are coming up! The tulips and daffodils are also coming up, but no sign of flowers in them yet. So there are definite signs of spring and I want to say WELCOME!

SMALL TOWN AMERICA BY TRAIN

I just though I would share a few of the photos that I took from the train window on the trip down to NC. I love watching the small towns go by. You get a much better feel for where you are going and how you are getting there when traveling by train. It is such a different view than when traveling by airplane or even by car.

All too often when traveling by car these days we travel only on the highways. You don't se much that way. Definitely you miss the small towns or at least what is at their heart.

I do enjoy traveling by plane for long distances. Some of my favorite images are of flying over the plains states and seeing the patchwork quilt made from the roads and farm lands. There are so many wonderful patterns and the ground is so flat that it really does look like a patchwork quilt.

Lets face it I just love to travel. I dream of what it would be like being able to afford to travel and record my travels both in film and word.

I hope you enjoyed some of the small towns I traveled through. Can you hear the sound of the train on the track and the whistle as you go though the towns.....listen carefully, and imagine!

FEBRUARY 28: ON TO NORTH CAROLINA

This was just the beginning of a fun train adventure. Heading down to North Carolina to spend a week with my mom. I have discovered I love taking the train. It's so relaxing and much more enjoyable than the quick plane ride. It does take a full day, but I enjoy watching the little towns go by and I had a lot of time to read, work on my computer and watch some DVD's. By the time I arrived at the Durham train station I was already in vacation mode. I will share some more pictures of the train trip as I get them processed.

FEBRUARY 26: BIRTHDAY LUNCH

Okay, Okay....I know it is no where near February 26 at this point. In fact it is March 8.
obviously this picture a day is not going to continue for 365 days. I found it was becoming more of a chore on some days then fun. After a couple of months lets face it some days are just like others. So rather than stressing out over this I am going to use this as a type of photo journal of events and activities I want to remember. Some days something fun and unusual might strike me, but I don't want this to become a chore rather than a delight.

So what happened on Feb 26th that was of note looking back? A good friend and co-worker turned 50 and a group of us from work took her out to one of our favorite restaurants in town. It's Greek and the food is wonderful. I am a bit biased I guess. One of the owners is a friend who also is the father of an ex-boyfriend of my daughter. Mythos....used to be Vasilis, but there was some name confusion with another restaurant on the other side of town.

FEBRUARY 20: SNOW DAY????

This morning I woke up early without an alarm. Good news for the feeling ill. I am at least getting rested and caught up on sleep. I also woke up to a forecast for afternoon snow. Will it or won't it? That was the question of the day. We have not had much snow at all this winter.

It is however cold and that means a nice hot cup of tea would be wonderful and relaxing. So the kettle is on.

I was pleased with this picture. I was intrigued by the steam and wondered how it would photograph. I think it did well. AND the tea was wonderful. AND about 1pm it did begin to snow....lightly no more than a dusting at first, but by night fall the ground was all white and it should last till morning since it is below freezing. Unfortunately because it is cloudiy we will miss the total lunar eclipse tonight and now will have to wait till 2010 for the next one!

FEBRUARY 19: CABIN FEVER STRIKES

IT may be a dreary winter day, but cabin fever has hit big time.....It's only been two days in the house, but I need to get out. The window framing is beginning to look like bars imprisoning me. This does not bode well with my word for the year "contentment". I am not feeling very content so I will go do some errands...run by work to pick up my keys and see how I do. Still tired, but making progress.

FEBRUARY 18: PRESIDENT'S DAY--NO HOLIDAY FOR ME!

I am not a good patient....I do not like being sick. I have way too many things I want and need to get done. It may have been a Federal Holiday on Monday, but I was supposed to work...I did not plan to take a holiday, but then I didn't plan on being sick either. These are items my day revolved around. The sinus and cold tea I purchased when we went to the National Pow Wow that was in the District last summer. Normally I do not like herbal teas, but this was wonderful and I think it did help. After I started drinking it was when I began feeling a little bit better. May be a coincidence, but I prefer to think the Native Americans know what they are doing with herbal remedies. I've often wondered why we are so convinced that modern chemical concoctions are so much more effective than natural remedies that people have been using with success for centuries. Here is a link to the company that sells the tea. It's called Native and Natural.

FEBRUARY 17: SICK DAY

We made it home from Philly fine, but the trip took its toll on me. I mentioned to DH on Saturday when we went to bed that I wasn't sure I would make it up at 6:30am to get ready for church.....good thing I did. I vaguely remember hearing him getting ready to go and thinking I'll get up in time to make it to the 10am service. WRONG! I woke up about 10am. Got up made myself a cup of tea, propred myself up in bed and read till about 11am, decided my eyes were tired, closed them and woke up at 1pm after DH was home from church, changed and I think had lunch. So this is a picture of where I existed on Sunday. I didn't think after sleeping most of the day that I would sleep at all Sunday night, but believe me it was no problem........

FEBRUARY 16: BIRTHDAY DAY AND PHILLY

We had a wonderful breakfast at a cafe and then headed into Philly. Our first stop was st the Mutter Museum. A very very strange museum. It is a museum dedicated to medical oddities. My husband labeled it a legitimate freak show. Which in some respects does describe it well.

After a few hours there we walked to Di Bruno Bros. for lunch. This is a delightful Italian market on the first floor and then upstairs is a small cafe and restaurant. We had wonderful pizza in lovely thin crispy crust. After lunch when we wouldn't be so tempted we wandered around the market. This could be a very dangerous place for me if I lived near it!

By now it was about 2:30 in the afternoon and since neither Jerry or I were feeling all that great we decided it was time to wish the birthday boy a farewell and head home. So we took him to the 30th Street train station and he headed back to Malvern where his car was parked at the station and we got lost finding our way out of town. But we eventually made it and had an uneventful drive home arriving tired and in time for dinner.

FEBRUARY 15: TO PHILLY

Okay I am playing catchup again....This time due to illness slowing me down....do I have excuses or what!

Anyway....Friday afternoon we headed out for a drive up to the Philadelphia area to visit with son and to celebrate his 25th (YIKES!) birthday. He lives in a small borough about 30 miles west of Philly. It's called Malvern. We had a delightful drive up, once we got out of the Baltimore area that is....traffic is always nasty and slow around there. It took us a little over 3 hours to get there.

We checked into our Comfort Inn in West Chester, about 10 miles south west of his house, and then went to pick him up for dinner. The restaurant was his choice and so we went to Cheeseburger in Paradise. I had never hear of this chain, but despite my not being sure I could eat anything (I think I was already getting sick) I did. I had 4 little cheeseburgers and I mean little, but they were yummy.

After dinner plans were made to pick him up again in the morning to go to breakfast together and then into Philly for the day. Then it was back to the hotel and some much needed sleep.

FEBRUARY 14: VALENTINE'S DAY

Not much special going on for Valentine's Day here. DH made me a cup of coffee in morning to help pry my eyes open. Had limited success with this. He also gave me the chocolate heart.Then he headed off for hospital for last day and I headed off for dentist. Not my idea of fun activities on any day let alone Valentines but that is our life today. I then went in a caught up on some over due work and then headed home to crash....The coffee as limited as it's effect was had worn off by now...I think I even fell asleep on the couch around 4pm.

Dinner was small, but nice and well...this evening while DH napped I caught up here. Now it is almost time for bed...not exactly an exciting Valentine's Day but probably about all we could handle this year.

I am so far behind with everything I just this evening found the cards I made for family and never got mailed.....I am so pitiful.......forgive me!

FEBRUARY 13: A DAY IN OLNEY

After a very icy and late night at the polls, and a shot nights sleep DH and I headed out for the third of his treatments. Living in a metro area there are many hospitals in our area. He has been going here. It's a relatively small (for our area anyway) hospital about 25 minutes from our home. It's really cool that when a baby is born at the hospital they play a few bars of Brahm's Lullaby over the PA system. That shows you how small it is cause it doesn't play very often....
The ice is melting though still cold and very rainy. Some slippery spots, but at least un like getting into the house last night; getting out was easy as it was going down hill.....I took advantage of being at hospital for most of the day today and relaxed by watching St. Peter on my lap top. A movie with Omar Shariff as St. Peter. The movie was very long--over 3 hours but Omar was wonderful!

FEBRUARY 12: CHINESE NEW YEAR

It's the beginning of the year of the rat! Today is the start of the Chinese new year. I'm not sure which year number it is. but the seem to focus more on what animal it is anyway and I do know it is the year of the rat.

Two weeks ago I attended a stamping group meeting at our LSS the Rubber Chicken and we made items to help celebrate the new year. I made two red gift folders. Red is the color of celebration. The lady who showed us how to make these said they are used very often to give gifts of money or other small flat items. We also stamped and made small Chinese carry out boxes. Then she gave us some chocolate Hershey's nuggets to carry out in them!

Oops I just discovered I am 5 days late. Though my earlier searching indicated the New Year began on Feb 12 now when searching for a link for information on the year I am finding out it was Feb 7. Did I mention a few posts back life has been wacky lately????? Enough said. Oh well here are some rat facts anyway...
Rat Years: 2008, 1996, 1984, 1971, 1960, 1948, 1936, 1924, 1912, 1900

You are imaginative, charming, and truly generous to the person you love. However, you have a tendency to be quick-tempered and overly critical. You are also inclined to be somewhat of an opportunist. Born under this sign, you should be happy in sales or as a writer, critic, or publicist. Some Rats: Charlotte Bronte, Truman Capote, Catherine I, Mata Hari, Wolfgang Mozart, William Shakespeare, George Washington.

Oh today was also the Presidential Primary in MD. I worked the polls, but it was also a night of Ice and so I choose to forget all of that......

FEBRUARY 11: SLEEP

Today began a series of treatments that are truly tiring out DH. This is becoming a favored spot and event that will continue through out the week. I wish I could do the same, but if I were to nap at 8pm I definitely would be writing more about insomnia after bed time!

FEBRUARY 10: IT'S PANCAKE SUNDAY!

I've been puzzling today over how to photograph wind....boy is it windy!!!!

Since I haven't come up with anything that works well you will have to settle for some wonderful tasty pancakes. The youth at our church hosted their annual pancake breakfast to raise money for their summer programs and trips.
YUMMY!!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks guys. Great job.

FEBRUARY 9: STAMPFEST

It's Stampfest Day! Here are some new friends working on their projects. If you would like to learn how to make one go to my companion BLOG Stampin' & Kwiltin'

I'm not sure who will plan future Stampfests since our leader is moving with her family to FL in another month. They are so much fun though I hope someone does.....

FEBRUARY 8: GETTING READY

There is a lot of work in getting ready for a stampfest. Not the least of which is coming up with an idea of what to teach the attendees to make. Once you have your idea a model or two must be made, that's the fun part. Then there is cutting and packaging all the kits. Due to the limited amount of time people have I usually do all the cutting and scoring. Finally all the tools needed must be gathered together and the part I like the least should be done....the writing of directions! In my picture for the 6th you can see the project we'll be making on the left and the packaged kits on the right. The tools are scattered around. What about the directions you ask???? Oops!!!! I forgot to do those.........

FEBRUARY 7: MY KIND OF EXERCISE

This picture is for those like me who neither enjoy nor seem to find time to exercise as they should. Thanks to a friend who shall remain nameless (actually has to remain nameless since she is my current Secret Sister whose identity is unknown to me) I now can get my daily exercise of "walking around the block" without even leaving the warmth of my home.

I may even begin walking around the block five or six times....well after I practice a bit. I would hate to fall on my face and break something due to being out of condition and getting dizzy!!!!!!!!!