Can you mourn trees?

We had a terrible storm Monday night.  It was so hot and humid all day long.  Our house does not have air conditioning so we were trying to get some breeze into the house. The kitchen window was open as was some of our upstairs windows.  I had been to Grand Forks to get my oil changed in the car.  I ran into some bad weather (heavy rain and lightening) just outside of Reynolds, ND.  That was short lived and I could see off to the north lots of black clouds and lightening.  I got home and started to make dinner since it was almost 7 pizza was on the plan.  David just got home as well and we were discussing our day as the power flickered on and off.  The scary part started when the all of sudden the wind that had been blowing just died and the birds were quiet.  We went and looked out at the clouds.  The clouds were all going the same direction.  That was the good news.  So we thought we just might make it through the storm without getting anything bad.   We were wrong. 

 

We were eating our pizza finally.  Then I heard David say "Here it comes!" and went running upstairs to close windows.  I got up to see what he meant and looked out to see branches flying from somewhere and a wall of rain and wind coming into the yard. I started to hear trees falling and wind roaring.  I yelled for the boys to head into the basement.  I ran down the stairs to the basement trying to decide where we would be safest.  Once the boys were in the basement with me, I decided we were fine anywhere in the basement.  I hear David upstairs trying to close the kitchen window with some trouble. Everything in the dish strainer and on the frig was all over the kitchen.  Finally David joined us in the basement for a bit and then we couldn't find Gizmo.  The back door had flown open too.  We feared he had headed outside into the storm.  Once things started to quiet down,  David checked for Gizmo and still couldn't find him.  We gradually started to venture upstairs as the storm seemed to abate.  I did find Gizmo between the recliner and the wall.  He likes to hide there sometimes.  He had his collar  looped over the recliner's footrest lever.  I had to take his collar off to let him move.  He didn't come out for about an hour after we assured him it was all right.  We could hardly see out for the moisture on the windows.  We could see the trees in the backyard that were down as well as all the branches that were strewn across the yard.   David checked up in the attic to see if we had a roof left and found our cover to the top of the roof gone.  He checked on the top to see what else was gone and noticed our chimney had fallen over.  We got some information on the weather and heard we might have some more rain to come.  We started looking for some materials to make a cover for the roof.  Luckily we had a piece of wood that would work and some other things that would work to secure it but no rope or cord to do that.  We knew things were in the Quonset but that was a walk and littered with branches and it was dark by now. David and I braved it; As we ventured out to the Quonset, we did notice that our power lines were down and dead so we knew it might be awhile before we had power back. We got a ratchet strap that would work to secure it. After we got the hatch cover in place and started to think about what else we might need.  David and Jacob went back out to the camper and got more flashlights.  They also went on a tour of the yard and discovered that our grain bin was gone.  At that point, we glad that the house was secure and we were all okay.
All in all it came it the best it could have and all our neighbors are safe just lots of trees down. 

Driveway before

Driveway after
 

I am just so sad at all the lost trees that were probably at least 60 to 70 years old if not older.  Someone planted those trees years and years ago as protection against the prairie winds. I am glad we have a lot of young trees to take their place and they will have the room now to do that but it won't be the same for a very long time.

Side yard with a big limb
 

You can just see what is left of the chimney and some bricks
 

This is the backyard.  My grill is wrapped up in a tree branch. It was located just a few feet from the back steps to the house. This at least 3 old growth trees.

This a little to the left of the previous picture. This is another at least 2 trees that fell.

 

 

This is all that is left of the grain bin. the concrete pad.

  Go HUG a tree!

This is the grain bin.

Winter doldrums....

This is what I woke up to this morning.  The Sundogs are back.  It was only -4*F but it was windy.  New drifts piling up....and others being sculpted by the wind.  It is like an ocean of white with waves of snow frozen in motion.  It is strange the shapes the snow can create.  It must be this way in the desert too.  Oh well, spring will be here soon. 

I

I ventured to Mayville on my lunch "hour" under the guise of taking the bank deposit to the ban in Mayville.  I really went to return something to the quilt store and get something new.   I needed some tropical colors and these batik fabrics fit the bill.
I hope to make a journal out of them.  I was poking around on pinterest a while ago and found a journal made out of paper but with dimensional houses on the front.  I thought at first it was fabric but I contacted the original pinner and asked her.  She it was all paper.  I mentioned that it would be cool in fabric as well and she encouraged me to make one in fabric.  I have given it a lot of thought so we will see what happens in reality. I have preliminary plans thought up.  I am not sure what binding  stitch I will use I have few from all the binding classes I have taken so we'll see what I can come up with to make the binding interesting.

A quilting I will go....A quilting I will go....

Life has been busy the past few months.  I have been traveling around the Dakotas a few times.  It is interesting that every where I go there are differences and similarities as well.   Corn piles in every town and ice fishing everywhere.  I also saw a lot of campers traveling about the highways.  Some were even headed north.  I don't know where they were going but I wish them luck if they were going camping in -20 degrees. 
I know winter has been around a long time when I go outside and think it isn't so cold....then look the thermometer and see that it is -10 degrees.  We are supposed to get above zero soon.  Looking forward to that. 
I have getting things ready to start some quilting.  I even found time this weekend to shopping for my crafts.  I stopped in Fargo on my way home on Saturday from my meeting in Wahpeton. There were a few stores that I try to stop at when I can.  I went to the Joann's in Fargo first.  They were having a sale on some fabrics that I wanted to get and I thought it would save a trip to Joann's when I was with the boys.  The Joann's in Fargo has so much more than Grand Forks.  I might have to make a point of going there more often.  It was quite busy but I gathered all the fabrics I needed cut and grabbed a number and waited.  I got everything cut and was out of there in about an hour.  The traffic in Fargo is something else these days.  It took me about 5 minutes of getting out onto the 13th before I took a side street to head downtown.  I am so not used to traffic.  Downtown is always a little interesting parking wise but I know where the stores I want to shop and where to park without too much of headache.  Art materials is the only art store in North Dakota.  It has just about everything art available.  I got my favorite paper there and it was on sale.  I was glad to see that as I usually find it only online.  They have started stocking acrylic paint markers by Liquitex.  I got a black and white one for doing eyes.  Got a few other things a colored pencil stick and some pan pastel tools.  I always enjoy browsing there seeing all the different things they carry.  Then I had heard about a new little fabric shop not too far away from Art Materials.  I got to park right at the front door.  It is a wonderful little shop.  I didn't buy much fabric there but I did get a great book.

This is a book about using scraps from regular quilting and maximizing your investment in fabric.  I love quite a few in there so I bought it.  The author is even coming in March for a workshop.  I might be taking that.

  On Sunday I did go to Joann's in Grand Forks because as I was getting my fabric together for my Playing the Scales quilt I noticed I needed another fat quarter of dark fabric.  I also wanted to get some invisi grip for my rulers.  I picked up a sewing box.  It is more like a tool box but it holds all my sewing supplies together.

As I was gathering all  my supplies I noticed that I didn't much thread left.  I used a lot in Allison's quilt last year.  I figured I better get some more as I intend on completing at least two quilt tops in the next few weeks. I went to my local quilt store Faye's Henhouse Quilts.  She always has lots of interesting kits and fabrics.  I could spend hours there but I did a quick wander thru and got my thread and a few fat quarters.  I also picked up a quilt kit on sale called Sunny Days.  It is a wonderful yellow color.  Looking forward to getting that one cut up and ready to go.

So I have a baby quilt that is all cut and ready to sew.  It is a kit I got from Quilter's Eden in East Grand Forks, MN back in November.  It is a lovely very classic quilt I am excited to see how it turns out.

Here is my fabric for the Playing the Scales quilt.  That will be the second quilt to be sewn. 

  Right now my sewing room is my dining room table.  I have to clean out my bedroom I think to put my sewing things there for a while.  It is always something going on around here.  I think I will be sewing for a while in the next few weeks or months. 

 







Memories of Christmas Countdown

I have many memories of different ways I have counted down in childhood.  But none of the memories are very clear or complete.  I don't remember many details.  I know as a young child that Mom would take me to Mentor mall and we would wait in line to talk to Santa.  I have several pictures of these times. I know we usually shopped Black Friday at the Mentor mall too.  It was the only mall that was close within 40 miles.  I remember one year we went to Cleveland's Euclid square lighting of the Christmas tree.  It was very pretty and it wasn't too cold or much snow yet.    But that is about all the memories I have of shopping for Christmas etc.  I remember more the years we went and cut our own Christmas trees but that is another topic. 

Since I moved away from home when I was 18 years old.  David and I have changed our countdowns.  We wanted our kids to know that Christmas wasn't about presents but about Jesus and his reason for coming.  Now we pick songs to sing in church for Christmas eve service, doing our parts for the local area nursing homes (Nativity play), and getting ready for the Live Nativity.  We also get our horse drawn sleigh ride when we do the Live Nativity.  Yes, we do the play even if it is -20 outside.  People actual do still come. 

We do presents but they are not the most important part of our Christmas. Our kids now look forward to doing all the giving things at Christmas and the most important welcoming Jesus into our lives. 

So what do you do in your waiting part of Christmas?

The Artist's Way

I am trying embark on  a journey of self discovery and letting some inner troubles go.  I have read parts of this book before(The Artist's Way by Julia Cameron). It causes you to look at yourself and free yourself from whatever is keeping you from accomplishing what you want out of life.  I am also reading another book A Million Little Ways by Emily Freeman.  This one explores how our creativity is derived from God and how he wants us to be creative individuals.  It is interesting to see how both these books start with looking inwardly and seeking what is really there within us.  

It seems I have always wanted to create something whatever that may be.   I watched my sister Charlotte crochet afghans growing up and my mother doing some things when I was small.  My dad was also creative.  He made macramé chairs out of old lawn chair frames.  I know when I was small I really wanted to paint a picture.  It was very hard for me because of I couldn't draw a straight line.  I can remember people always telling me that a picture I made was okay for a child.  So somewhere along the lines I heard you are not a painter.  You can't do anything like that.  It have never really been voiced but that is what I felt I was being told.  As youngster, I was often sick and when I was really little I had seizures a lot.  I have very little memories of being really little.  I think my memories start at around age 4 or so.  My kids remember things from when they are 2 or 3 so that is amazing to me that I could have had memories from that age but they are lost to ether because of my health.  I was not a very coordinated child either so everything I did was physically was very hard for me to do because it took twice as long for me do something than it took anyone else.  So I was always the kid that was picked last for any game at school.  I was always struggling to keep up.  So I became the book kid.  I was always reading something.  It really helps now that I am an adult.  I am really good at trivia games. (Now I am finally picked first for teams where trivia is involved.)  But there was always this need to create something.  My first craft was embroidery.  I remember going to Thompson's store not for the candy so much as the stamped embroidery and floss they sold.  I taught myself embroidery one summer.  My mom helped as she could because she really couldn't see what I was doing but was able to describe the steps.  So many summers when I didn't have a book I was stitching something too.  Junior high and High school were just busy with homework and band and life.  I think I started some counted cross stitch during this time on and off.  That for me was like painting pictures.  I figured it was the closest thing to being a Painter as I was going to get.  But now I have taught myself numerous crafts. I finally started taking online classes about painting pictures and portraits.  It has been so freeing to paint on an actual canvas and feel like that is a good painting.  I have working on one canvas for a few weeks now.  I have to finish it soon just because it gives me a great feeling of accomplishment.  The bonus is I really like how is it taking shape.  Maybe I will share when it is done.  It is my faith combined with art that I think I like the most.

Well, I hope I can make myself take the commitment to go on this journey to find some truths that I have searching for a long time. I am not sure what I will find but I think it will worth it.

Thanksgiving preparations

As I was jotting down my list of Thanksgiving items to gather and check on amounts etc.  I was thinking how much it has changed since my childhood.   In my family, it was always a chaotic time and lots of food to feed an army.  The trick was to see how many people we could seat a table.  I think we had close to twenty people at one time. 

Now I live far from family so I have adapted the huge Thanksgiving meal to just us five.  It took a few years but I now have a great meal and time to enjoy the family too.  My Thanksgiving dinner begins with getting the turkey drunk okay....I beer brine my turkey.  I found this recipe  from Emeril on Good morning America in 2003.  I have been making it every year since.  David was skeptical the first year and now he can't eat any other turkey.   This starts the day before so turkey can be ready for his debut on Thanksgiving dinner.  I have modified this recipe over the years so it is similar but not quite the same.  I also use a turkey cooking bag.  It always comes out great with no extra work involved.

 Our family is also not a great fan of the typical green bean casserole.   The menu from 2003 also had a green bean recipe that had bacon in it.  Who doesn't like bacon?  No one in our family so that has become our vegetable entrée.  I sometimes make Grandma Rita's rolls but haven't had the time in a few years but might try to do

 that this year.  We will see.  I also make the usual Ray style mashed potatoes, stuffing and gravy.  I have been using Stove top the last few years just because nobody eats enough for a traditional batch of stuffing.  The last few years I have been making pecan and pumpkin pies.  I do make the crust for these from scratch.

• This our meal:
• Emeril's Beer Brined turkey
• Bacon green beans
• Stuffing
• Mashed potatoes
• gravy
• Pumpkin pie
• Pecan Pie
• Ice cream
• Whipped cream
• Rolls

So if you were coming for Thanksgiving this is what you would partake of at our place.  What are the changes you have made to your Thanksgiving?

Traveling families

I have been thinking about this topic a lot lately.  I think since we may be moving in the next year or so.  It is on my mind more than usual. I have been taking a look at my family.  I am the last of 7 children.  When you take a look at where we all have been in our lives it is interesting that 6 of us have left home at one time or another.  I am surrounded everyday by people who have lived in a small town all their lives with maybe an exception of going to college in one of the bigger cities in North Dakota.  Here people are very tied to the land and family businesses.  I suppose that is probably true for most people wanting to remain where they know everyone and know the area.  Our family seems different.  We have all gone our separate ways, followed dreams or just being with our husbands.   

At age 18, David and I decided to get married. He joined the Air Force and I finished high school.  He was stationed here in ND.  I came out to visit 2 weeks after my high school graduation and we got married at the court house here in Grand Forks.  I stayed my week and returned home to plan a wedding with family and friends.  We felt it was important to have our families to be a part of a special time in our lives.  So after our wedding we left to move 1100 miles away from all we knew.  I don't remember being very scared or unsure.  It was a time of freedom and possibility. We somehow made it work.  I did go to college and received my bachelor's degree in Business administration.  But I don't regret living in North Dakota because I found a place where I could reinvent myself. I love living here because it is a safe and quiet place. Sometimes it was hard to be so far from family but it is worth it for the security of my children.  We found a place to grow and become something together.  Our marriage is better for the fact that we had to rely on each other.  We weathered storms both nature and with people.  But we have enjoyed our home with our transplanted roots here in ND.

In my family, all of us enjoy traveling and seeing new places.  I have wondered if we are genetically disposed to wanting to travel whereas other people are genetically disposed to staying in the same area.  It seems wanderlust is usually relegated to one person in a family but it seems in ours we have quite a few who have learned to enjoy the new experiences that traveling or moving to another area brings.  What does this mean?  I don't know but I like to think we are resilient people and strong people.  A lot of this traveling is not a "Let's live a new place all the time" kind of thing.  It is more of a once or many times moving because of either a job or an education opportunity.   I think we have learned to embrace change because really that is all there is an assurance of is change.

As my daughter starts to look at her options for work and living places in the next few years.  It will be interesting if she will move far away or stay close.  I am fine with what ever she decides to do.  How could I not be given that I moved far away from my family when I was much younger than she will be.

What do you think?  Is it a striving to see a new place or just new possibilities?  Is this what made the pioneers move to uncharted territory?  New possibilities? I suppose it is always a hope of a better life for your children not matter what that might mean.