Past, Present and Future

Past - Here's a quilt top 5 years in the making (60" x 60"). I finally finished it at Cindy's Up-North Quilt Retreat. Baptist Fans keep calling out to me for the quilting. I don't think I want to hand quilt it though. Not sure how I would go about it on the machine.

Present - Claire is very adamant about not decorating or listening to Holiday music or any other acknowledgment of Christmas before the day after Thanksgiving. This past weekend she admitted that it was just too beautiful to waste the good weather. She decorated the front of the house with lights and bows and garland. The lollipops are a new addition this year.

Future - not very far away now-unless you're 6 years old - then it's forever! This is the "real" Santa at Van Atta's Holiday Open House.  Cubby is hoping for a very Batman Christmas.

National Library Week

Happy National Library Week everyone!  Here's a photo of my sister in California and her two collies, Matthew and Timmy supporting the Burbank Public Library.

I was at a jobs networking meeting last week and a woman said that she's always been interested in being a librarian. An IT geek said something negative about books being on their way out.... so I told him there is SO MUCH more going on at libraries than just books.

Check out your local library this week!

Great Weekend

On Saturday morning we packed Mr. Energy in the car for a trip to the Apple Butter Festival at Fenner Arboretum. It was very cold but the sun was shining. Seems like it's been a long time since we've seen the sun. We saw Jackie B and Pam A (and another quilter that I didn't know) quilting on behalf of the CCQG. Cubby wasn't too interested in stirring the apple butter, I think the fire and smoke was too scary. But he loved the music and actually sat still for a song or two.

This is his "I'm at the top of the stairs and I'll be gone by the time you can get up here" smile. Gamma Gamma needed a nap by the end of the day...

On Sunday I drove to Kalamazoo to the Log Cabin Quilter's Show. Cyndee was too sick to go so I drove alone and made a side trip to see my parents. Saw Kari and Dan at the show too. Bought too much hand-dyed fabric from Windberry Studio but I couldn't resist.  The show has moved from the hotel to the fairgrounds. Easy access off of the highway but unfortunately not much improvement in the lighting which was my biggest complaint at the Raddison. Nice show. About 300 quilts. This quilt is by Billie Gunderson and uses Jane Sassaman fabric.

I have quite a stack of Jane fabrics that I have collected. Maybe it's about time...

Saturday - On the GO!

On Saturday, Claire and I and Cubby went to Van Atta's Fall Festival. Under blue, cloudless skies and Cubby fresh from his nap, we were all set! They had a number of activities for the little ones, including an inflatable obstacle course. Still a little small to make it up the ladder, Cubby gave it a try. There was also a bouncy tent, a clown and some slimy-type animals from the Potter Park Zoo.

Cubby found a wagon used for hauling  plants and was off so fast I could barely snap the shot.

The wagon was bigger than he was! He loved looking at the flowers.  I bought a grass plant and he carried it around for me. Working in marketing, we're always discussing how to keep the next generation involved in gardening. This event is a great idea.

Mystic Shake, one of my favorite local groups played on an appropriately decorated stage and there was also a craft show too. What a wonderful way to spend a fall afternoon!

Fire and Rain

Yesterday, I braved the rain to go to the Lansing Symphony Orchestra Chamber Concert at Plymouth Congregational Church. After 4-plus inches of rain, I probably wouldn't have gone if I hadn't already purchased a ticket. I wondered how many others would show up.  I wore my knee-high barn boots prepared to splash through the puddles. It turns out there was a good crowd to listen to the Beaumont Brass.

Beaumont Brass is the faculty brass quintet from MSU. They are all EXCELLENT musicians and each play in the GLSO or Grand Rapids Symphony.

They played two pieces with "Fire" in the title hoping to 'evaporate' the rain.  One of the other featured pieces was "Seasons", written by John Stevens in 1984 (the year my son was born). It was very modern (I guess I expect brass quintets to play more baroque music). The piece was very interesting and enjoyable and painted a vivid picture of the four seasons.

The Beaumont Brass closed the program with John Philip Sousa's "Stars and Stripes Forever". It was definitely  not a march.  I have never heard it played any faster. There was no piccolo so the trumpet had to take over that part.

A gloomy, rainy, sodden Sunday afternoon with exciting music filling a church with incredible acoustics. I'm glad that I didn't let the weather keep me hostage.

And the Band Played On...

You missed a toe-tapping good time!  Tonight Cindy and I went to hear the New Horizons Band Spring Concert. The solo oboe for the group is our own Carol Seamon!  Composed mostly of those over 50 (oh my gosh, that's my age group now!), the band consists of those who haven't played an instrument in a long time or have decided that they want to take up a new instrument. Carol decided she wanted to play the oboe because she like the sound of it and it just so happened Irene had one to loan her. Kismet! Carol is one of the members who have been with the group since the beginning in 2003. Way to go Carol!  As they say, the rest is history...

 

I saw the band poster earlier this week at Apple Market (Carol had actually posted it on the board) and we decided to go. We didn't tell Carol ahead of time because we didn't want to make her nervous. She was very surprised and pleased to see us. The music was very good including a clarinet ensemble playing Danny Boy, a flute ensemble playing The Entertainer and also compositions in Jazz and Dixieland. There were even opportunities for the audience to sing along. And what better way to end a concert that a rousing Washington Post March by Sousa?

Quilts turn up all over!  One of the pieces was The Band Played On. This quilt was given to the group by Jane Scandary who used to be in our guild. She is no longer with The New Horizons Band but gave them this gift in memory of her time spent making music.

Busy Weekend

On Friday and Saturday night we danced an Israeli folk dance as part of Sistrum Women's Chorus' Spring Concert. Pictured here are the "Adama" dancers, Irene and Abby, who choreographed the dance and Cynthia and I, willing participants. We learned the dance in less than a week. The greatest compliment we received was that we looked like we were "having fun" dancing.  We were! Sally Potter was the featured guest artist and the energy in the Mollygrove Chapel was amazing. Sistrum performs a holiday concert in conjunction with the Lansing Gay Men's Chorus which is awesome. Don't miss it.

Of course, this was also East Lansing Art Fair weekend. Cubby enjoyed his visit to the MSU Dairy store and especially all of the dog-dogs on 'parade'. I overheard one little boy tell his mom that he had "counted 63 dogs". I bought two pair of earrings. Samples can be seen on lavender-pie.blogspot.com and kuhlquilter.blogspot.com.

Cubby really enjoyed the music. Below he is applauding Jen Sygit and Spare Change. Next year I'm sure we won't be able to keep him in the stroller and he'll be the first one up dancing. As it was, he was tuckered out and came home and took a very long nap at Grandma's.

The weather at the art fair is always a gamble. On Sunday, Cindy, Irene and I tried to help kids create quilt blocks from construction paper at the Capitol City Quilt Guild booth.  It was cold, it was windy (not conducive for working with little pieces of paper) so we switched to crayons, (which melted when the sun sporadically appeared). We were relieved when our shift was over and commend Irene for her dedication as coordinator in sticking it out for the whole day.  I was very thankful to see that Jean and Jan had arrived to help her shortly after our shift was over.