The New Year

I'm back home and trying to get unpacked and organized.  I left a huge mess.  I pulled out every box I could find to ship stuff, and left the extras piled in the kitchen.  The garbage folks won't like me this week!

I didn't take a lot of pictures when I was home because it was so blasted cold outside!  I think my blood has thinned living in SoCal.  It's supposed to get really cold in Louisiana this coming week, so I guess I left at just the right time!  The flight home was uneventful and passed swiftly.  Not so with the flight going over.  We were grounded for three hours in Dallas because of weather, and then had an exceptionally nasty flight on the little American Eagle to Louisiana.  My legs were rubbery when I got off the plane.  I'm usually not bothered by turbulence but was this time!

I drove my brother's Jeep around while I was there.  The farmers were harvesting their sugarcane, and those trucks were dumping huge amounts of mud on the roads.  We had just enough rain to make everything real slick, so I was driving very carefully.  Of course, his Jeep got very dirty.  I should have washed the mud off before I brought it back to him, but it was too blasted cold for me to fool around with water hoses.  And I forgot to put gas in it, too.  Sorry!  I promise it won't happen again!

I did take one trip while I was there back to the town where I grew up.  High school classmates were meeting up at a seafood restaurant for dinner and I decided to join them.  It was wonderful visiting with folks I haven't seen in more years than I care to remember.  I also visited with my mother's first cousin while I was there.  I spent a lot of time with her family in the summertime when Mom was working, and have such fond memories of those times.  She is the best cook!  It was a 2.5 hour drive each way, and I felt a little beat up driving the Jeep, but I'm really happy I went.

The old quilt I finished for my sister-in-law made her cry.  The top was really challenging as it was all hand pieced, but I managed to get it flat and square and then grid quilted it in one direction.  My friend, Sally, made a gorgeous quilt label for it which she shipped to me in Louisiana.  I thought I had packed all the quilting supplies I would need but forgot hand sewing needles.  I ran to WalMart there on Christmas Eve, and I found one of those variety packs.  Let me tell you, those were some dull needles, but I managed it to get it sewn on in time.  I had queried Gail about who made the quilt and when because I knew I wanted to label it.  She didn't know I had finished the quilt, and asked me why I wanted to know.  I told her I always wonder about the quilter who made these old tops.  Well, she sure was surprised to see the label with her grandmother's name on it!  I was so happy that I could finish it for her.  I love you, Gail!

It's confusing reading the label because Gail's grandmother had the same last name as our family name.  No relation, though!  That's a real common name down there, kind of like Smith or Jones!

Penny was SO happy to see me when I picked her up yesterday.  Two weeks must seem like a lifetime to animals.  She's adjusted very quickly to being home, but is keeping me in her line of sight.  If I disappear around a corner, she comes running to find me.  It was a long two weeks for me, too, without her!

I'm going to try to swing another trip in the summer.  I'm already homesick!