Our maple tree in front of the house is a blaze of color - bright orange to bright red. Many trees in the Prescott Area are light to deep yellow, very little green left to see and even some trees have dropped their leaves.
It is always remarkable to me how the controversy in Washington (0ver the shutdown this time) just swirled in its own microcosm, and life just went on as usual here. Oh yes, they had professionally produced placards up the day of the shutdown (wonder if it was a pre arranged activity) that prevented people from going into the park system areas - but public activity at the Grand Canyon forced that attraction to open anyway.
The major activity we have engaged in recently,was when the carpet cleaners came. Talk about upheaval! Well we had to clean up the stuff around the house and the end result was that Goodwill and Catholic Charities won big - we just left our stuff off at the drop-off site and drove away. How freeing is this? It has spurred me on to go through the house and get rid of all kinds of stuff. Pretty soon we may just be looking at bare walls and shelves - but I seriously doubt if I can just throw it all to Goodwill. After all I do like to look at the various things I have made and that are loaded with lots of emotional content.
For one, there is the little Moose given to me by Sue in Maine - he looks so at home on my fireplace. There is the paper sculptured Swan given to me by the office receptionist in the Archives office - it is beautiful to behold and to just admire. I do know that one day I shall leave mortality and all this stuff, but at least I hope to have reduced the bulk of it by that time, and in the meantime I shall enjoy having them in my home.
I just found out that my Slot Canyon quilt, that has been touring around the state in celebration of the 100 quilts 100 years for Arizona centennial, will be coming home on November 30. That will be a very nice birthday gift for me. I have missed not having the quilt in the house. It has been gone since September 2011. If it could talk, I wonder what adventures it has had? I must add that I was very impressed at the way it was displayed in both the Museum of Art in Tucson and in Sharlot Hall Museum here in Prescott. I hope that it was appropriately displayed at the other locations. Someone asked me how I could bare to part with the quilt for so long, but I am heart happy that it has been on display for many people to see it - not just people who come to our house and see it on my wall.
The American Quilt Society is having a BIG quilt show in Phoenix in February and our guild is going to rent a bus to take us all down to it. I will be meeting my friend Desiree there. She lives in Bullhead City on the Colorado River. We have been friends for 14 years - I met her when I came to Prescott in 1999. She is a marvelous quilter and staunch friend.
On October 26, the Northern Arizona Genealogical Society is holding a Genealogical Conference at the church. I have been asked to teach a class in Roots Magic genealogy software. It will have to just be an introductory class because I only have on hour to talk about it. I have done this class before. Some weeks ago I gave a presentation to my beading group on Genealogy and as a result two of the ladies will be in attendance at the conference.
Today I dropped off 8 quilts to the CASA program at the court house. They are gearing up for the National Adoption Day November 23. They are expecting close to 70 adoptions to take place this day. It would have been wonderful when we adopted David and Sara if someone had given the children a quilt to remember the special day in their young lives. Instead, they handed me a baby in a diaper and that was that. The sleepers that they were wearing when we went to pick them up were not that expensive, and removed, but to be handed a baby just wearing a diaper was somewhat of a let down to introduce us to parenthood. Luckily, I had taken clothes with me to dress the little ones in otherwise they would have had to drive back to Johnstown clad only in a diaper. So I am glad that I head the compassionate service arm of the Quilt Guild and that I get to take the finished quilts to the various agencies to help alleviate the heartache or give joy to the recipients. There does not seem to be a middle ground.
I have sent my 3600 hexagon quilt to the quilter to have it quilted for me. It is king sized and it is beautiful and spectacular. It is also a mourning quilt - made while I dealt with the emotions that descended upon me when Sara told me of the limited prognosis for Jacob's life with his disease.
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