New Day and New Chapter....

My front yard....I like this little girl  on my gate...she makes me happy....our rose arbour was so pretty this year...  mark likes taking care of the grass and I like the flowers and tomatoes.....

Below Mark sits with his peeps as he calls them. It is such a blessing to have them here as they are so easy to love and they give love back in a beautiful way.

 

Front yard ...I love our flag here and there...it makes me happy

I love my huge hosta, my garden gives e great joy and a chance to reflect....

 

My daughter in law made a poster for Mark on the day he came home from the hospital. I drew in the faces...now it is colored and adorable...I will take a photo...the Grandkids colored it and we all loved it. Mark was very touched.

 

 Here is the whole poster.and now it is very colorful....looks good on our livingroom wall

 Connie, my neighbor took fabric I had chosen for a flower swap we had going on Yahoo. She made 20 of these flowers to swap...so fun. Isn't she good? It is a blessing to have a neighbor who is so good to me. I am blessed.

We went to Cancer Care Northwest this last week and met two of the Drs. One is a radiologist/oncologist and he looks about 16 years old....he has had all kinds of experience and came from the Mayo Clinic. The other Dr is a hemotologist/oncologist and he is a cute guy with dimples who Mark said "is a brain." I liked him the best and Mark liked the kid that looks like he just got his drivers license. We learned alot and they have nutritionists and counselors etc. He is starting to have a little anger in that he resents having to go all of these places and have me drive. He used to drive everywhere. He is going back and forth between wishing he had a corvette or a cadillac. I would be wishing for a sewing machine or something...but that is me.
    People have asked what they can do. Mark loves postcards. If you could get an interesting post card of where you live and mail it, he would LOVE it.  The address is 1521 N.Argonne #276, Spokane Valley, WA 99212.
    We could use prayer also for Mark to get into a trial....he may not be able to get in because he had prostate cancer last Fall. I told the Drs. I was having people pray and that I thought that would work. :0)
     Thank you sincerely for your sweet comments. Mark has GBM cancer stage 4 and the tumor will be back and he is terminal. I hope to enjoy what time her has left. I am praying that I can get our last bills paid by my working. Family has offered to stay with Mark so I can do this for awhile.
     I am waiting to see what each day brings and as my friend Laura said "stay on today's page, you don't go straight to the back of the book, after today's page, you turn and see what tomorrow brings.
I love YOU my blog friend....hope you are counting your many blessings.
I am

A New Day

 

 

 

 

 

Today Mark called early to bring a t-shirt and shorts so he didn't have to wear a gown.
He has been wearing a beautiful robe that Mel gave him the last cancer surgery that he had in November. He is enjoying ordering his meals but hates being hooked up to so many machines. I am amazed he is not sleeping more. He is alert and interested in everyone who works at the hospital and knows all of their names, how many kids they have, where they live in town etc. This is him!
Tomorrow night, he gets to come home and Friday we get his lab results and then get our schedule for radiation and chemo.
I am making plans on how to pay the bills and am hoping to get three more jobs this year and a few the beginning of next year. Before, I bought groceries and things for the house and mad money. Those days are gone. It is OK because I have Mark.
He had to quit his job yesterday and he is still kind of sad about that but relieved too.
We are learning about social security and medicare. Wow. This all happened three days ago and our lives are turned upside down.
We have put our hope and Fatih in God and know that He can help us in everything we need. Please pray for us. We are going to need prayer for sure and hope our friends will remember us.
     Life is beautiful and we have no promises. It is green and fresh outside after the rain. I am enjoying Mark's brother Rich who is here and has worked in hospitals for years. He knows so much about all of this. And the best part is he loves his brother so very much. Me too!
     Count your many blessings today...there is so much to think about and be thankful for.....

Count Your Many Blessings Today

It's a new day and Mark was chatty and so enjoying visitors that stopped by.
He got two greeting cars with nice messages and when people were not around he opened them up a couple of times and got very teary.
He called his boss today and said he would not be back....he said that was bittersweet. he has always been such a good worker and wanted to take total pride in how hard he worked. I am going to teach as much as I can for the next year to help out. Please keep me in mind if your guild or group would like a class. I have new things I am doing and can teach as well as the regulars.
     My kids are beside themselves but are so thankful that people are praying.
Thank you most sincerely for your lovely prayers...this means so much to us.
So many changes have happened in the last few days...wow! Our lives turned upside down! We are now living each day for itself like it should be.
I am thankful for little things still....
My husband reaching for my hand
birds beautiful songs, my poppies in bloom
 someone who held the door for me today
a hug from my two Grandchildren
a hug from my daughter
nice inlaws for my son
my husband's honesty and a few tears
A couple of close friends who offered a nights stay if we drive across the US...
food in my fridge because I had just gone to Costco
hand lotion for my purse at the hospital
a pile of fabric on my table
quilting friends
green grass
the hand soap at the hospital
clean clothes
my own bed...
    Count your blessings please...it feels so good

Prayers for Mary Lou and Mark please.....

 Today my husband is in the hospital having brain surgery. Yesterday we went to emergency for what he thought was a stroke. They found a golf ball sized tumor on the right side of his brain. I am putting every bit of my being into God's Hands to look after him and guide the physician. Life as we knew it will be different I am sure and I am asking for prayers from you, my dearest friends.....thank you.

The photo above was four years ago for our 40th wedding anniversary....the others are just two photos of Mark with his two different Granddaughters whom he adores...he is such a nice man

JOHN C> CAMPBELL offers up great experiences as People Still Make Things!

 

Jan came back to the school to do her story since she had her border done. Janis from Tulsa and she and her husband come together. He takes blacksmithing and he is awesome at it. His class was doing chickens and he decided to do a peacock.  After some sewing and figuring Jan decided to make a peacock too. The body is now cheddar...guess who suggested that color...

The theme of John C.Campbell Folk School is "We are still making things." So she did this above her peacock. Now the family has a wonderful large metal one for the garden and one for the wall too! Isn't this awesome?

If you would like to take a five day workshop in a beautiful place (Brasstown ,North Carolina) then this is a good bet! The food is wonderful and the people who come are really great. You go away on a cloud of happiness...there's a story for you.,

Also, if you do not get their catalgue, you are missing out. Just type in "John C. Campbell" into google and you can sign up for it. It is kind of like how it used to be when you got your Christmas catalgue as a kid.

Here is Jan's husband's peacock....it is fab and has blue beads set into it....

Above are a couple of chickens from the Blacksmithing class...I wish I have better and more peacock photos

Below is Charlotte's quilt called "Music to Paint by". It is her husband painting and his nephew playing the sax as he worked. I often tell people in my lectures that if you do a story quilt about a man it is their favorite quilt. After saying this in class, Charlotte talked to her husband on the phone and he said "did you show Mary Lou that quilt of me painting?" "It is the best one you have ever done." We had a good chuckle over that in class. It is a NEAT quilt...wish you could see these in person.

 

Charlotte lives in Florida and Laura her sister lives in Texas and they come and take a story quilt class almost yearly to be together. They are hilarious and they have so many stories. They are good about sharing ideas and even fabric with other classmates. I love this when people share and have fun with each other in class.

Charlotte's story quilt about her family at the beach was wonderful to see as the characters came to life...the lady with the hot dog is her Mother and the little girl in the water is laura her sister and I think the girl with the hotdog is her....Super!

Here is a border all ready for the quilt story...I love the butterfly don't you?

This darling lady is Laura's Grandma in her two Grandma's story quilt....darling!

Here is the other Grandma...isn't the birdbath wonderful and the dogs? This is going to be such a wonderful story quilt too. Laura and Charlotte have done many story quilts and their family is so lucky...they will have all of this history.
      I heard from a friend yesterday that one of my students who is just wonderful has brain cancer and she is some institution and her friends finished her story quilt about her husband and she has it on her wall to comfort her. Isn't it nice that she has such a quilt. Have you done a story quilt? Maybe you should consider it.

Here is the beginning of the hen house

Here is the lunch box at the beach on Charlotte's quilt...fun! She is making a rickrac pie crust when it is quilted.....

Didn't this lady do a good job with her chicken?

Above is the beginning of my John C.Campbell garden and I add more leaves to my chard and leaves to my beets....below is the real garden...

I am looking for the rest of my photos which are somewhere in my computer...do you ever feel this way?

I took this photo while sitting on the porch...isn't this beautiful?

This reminds me so much of West Virginia's Cedar Creek where I also teach for five days....

This iron work is on the outside banister of one of the dorms....it is so beautiful and each twist is another shape....there are bits and pieces of beautiful folk things all over this campus and it is a place to go and forget about your cares and really get into the process of creating. If you think that sounds good, please sign up for my workshop next year in May. You won't be sorry.

I fly into Atlanta and drive 2 1/2 hours to Brasstown and the drive is wonderful

Sad Days and Glad Days....Count Your Blessings

I love this photo because I remember well when I used to do this with my daddy.

These last couple of weeks have been unbelievable in a way. I just found out today that a good quilting friend who had a darling house and all of the energy and talent in the world has brain cancer and is in a bed away from her darling home, waiting. Last week I found out another dear sweet sweet friend who is just darling has been diagnosed with an inoperable cancer and is going to go through chemo therapy...I so pray for both of them that they will get the miricle that they need. Two other good quilting friends have been heavy on my heart with serious illness's and I just feel so sad. I have prayed everytime I think of one of them. It is hard not to just sit and pray all day long and to leave it to God to work. Do you know what I mean? I just want the best for those that I love. I am home and cleaning and sorting but have the time to sit and pray and think.
Thankfully it is sunny here and I will get to see some of my Grandkids soon and that makes me feel so much better. Little ones always have so much wisdom and so much love.
     The happy news for me is I finally found a sofa that I like...I got rid of one of my toile red and cream sofas and the other one will soon be on it's way out when I can find one I like that sort of goes with the Country French theme of the room.
I found a nice Christian thrift store that can use the things I am purging and it feels great.

Here is a closeup of the fabric which I love....my big chicken fit perfect in the corner of the sofas....very fun. Mel gave me a fabulous Paris pillow a couple of years ago and it is now on there too. I am going to get silk cream colored drapes I think for my window.

SA couple of weeks ago I did a hunt online for Fiestaware. I bought six sets from Macy's and I knew I could do better even though I bought them on sale. Hooray, I found a site that I could get two plates for the price of one plate at Macy's. I bought another twelve plates in all different colors.

Some of my dinner plates are in the dish washer....I just love pulling out the new dishes...the colors make me so happy and they aren't chipped like my old ones.
     I have been srpaying my plants for aphids today....boy they do love my yard! I wish I had more lady bugs coming to visit me. My poppies are in full swing as is my rose over my arbour and some of my beautiful purple lilacs...I just love seeing things bloom. Planted tomotoes and hope for a BIG crop for gazpacho which I adore...I think mine is the best!

I am ending this with a photo of Queen Elizabeth who I love when she smiles...and she seems to smile more and more. I guess that is the secret, we only have today so keep smiling friends...and count your many blessings.
OH one more photo of my friend Sandy....we usually split a huckleberry Milkshake when she comes to my retreat from Davis California...I am thankful for her and for huckleberries...they are delicious!

Come next year and you too can have a milkshake like this one!

I used to live next door to some wonderful people when I was five that I ate vbreakfast with each day. I told my Mother I was not hungry and I ran across the alley to Mrs. Foley's. They would fix me breakfast and listen to me when I sang. Roy, Bonnie and Ray Foley were in their late 70's and they laughed at everything I did and said. I loved it there naturally. I will never forget Mrs. Foley's delicious banana cake she made for her husband Roy. This hopefully will be a story quilt one day. That is one of the fondest memories I have as a child.

 

Mrs. Foley's BEST Banana Cake for Friends and Family

 

2  cups flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 4 tablespoons butter,  room temp
• 2 tablespoons veg, oil
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 large egg white
• 1 teaspoon REAL vanilla extract
• 4 large ripe bananas
• 1/4 cup whole milk
 Cream Cheese Frosting....
• 4 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
• 1/2 teaspoon REAL vanilla
• 1 & 1/2 cups powdered sugar
• 2 tablespoons chopped  pecans

375°OVEN . Grease 8-inch square pan

 

Mix together flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.

Now Mix butter, oil, and sugar. Beat in eggs and egg white, 1 at a time, mixing well after each addition. Add REAL vanilla.

In new bowl, mash bananas with milk. Set aside.

Now mix in half of dry ingredients into butter mixture. Mix in bananas. Add the rest of the  dry ingredients. Pour cake batter into greased baking pan.

Bake 40-45 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into center of cake comes out clean. Now cool cake. 

Frosting....

Using an electric mixer on medium speed, beat cream cheese and vanilla. Reduce speed and gradually add powdered’ sugar.

Spread frosting on cake. Sprinkle with pecans.