Peaches

What a pleasure: eating fresh, off-the-tree peaches, that were not picked unripe to go to market.  Palisade Peaches!  Remembering our orchard in Bountiful, Utah. We decided after the first season, not to pick our crop early to ship to market. We only sold direct to customers     From our garage fruit stand.

And I love it that you love all that! I think that our traditions have made our life full and interesting! I wish that everyone would respect that and not get offended or wigged out because we happen to believe something different than they do. I am not trying to convert anyone to the way I was raised and please don't try to convert me but respect me!
I think one of my favorite songs is "Tradition" sung by Topal in "Fiddler on the Roof"

Moon Landing

Feeling a little weepy while watching TV coverage of the Apollo 11 moon launch. In 1966 I had a summer job as a student intern with Boeing in Huntsville Alabama as part of the Saturn 5 project. The following summer I worked for NASA at the Marshal Space Flight Center with the same project. I can’t say that I did any important work there but it was amazing to be a tiny cog in the work along with thousands of other men and women including my Dad. 50 years ago as newlyweds we watched with millions of others as that rocket took the three men to the moon. The following year we followed another of President Kennedy’s dreams by joining the Peace Corps.

testing

Mommy and Me sweaters

The year Ruth and I bought "Mommy and Me" sweaters for us and our girls! (Rachael Kari didn't want one!) We all went swimming at the Indian Springs Pool in Idaho Springs on Christmas Day.

Church bank

Received from my Sunday School at the Hickman Mills (MO) Community Christian Church. My Dad was the Sunday School Superintendent and I think he made these for the students.

Athena Craig high school graduation

My mother, Athena Craig (Berg)'s high school graduation picture: Yuma Colorado, 1934

Comments from the FB posting:

Susie Schaap Wow, she lived in the heart of the dust bowl!

Arlene Lipman Yeah! I always thought she loved gardening because she lived on that farm as a girl but found out that her mother didn't let her do the garden, instead she learned to sew and majored in Home Ec when she went to college. She went to 4 different colleges because she stayed with her older brother and helping with his kids. She attended Colorado Normal College (now UNC), Colorado Aggies (now CSU), the University of New Mexico, and the University of Utah.

Susie Schaap Any one living through the dust bowl would appreciate gardening!

Arlene Lipman True

Delena F Previd Grandma Craig wanted our mother to get an education. They had helped my uncle Dock get an education so said you help Athena........ families did that and she got an education. She taught school, and loved to sew. Mom and Dad had a garden to make the income stretch. ......

Snowflakes

I found mine at Michael's on sale. They were also at JoAnn's. I couldn't resist (you know I love snowflakes!)
Did you know why I love snowflakes? When I first graduated from college, I got a job in the Atmospheric Sciences department at the University of Wyoming (my alma-mater). The Professor I was working with was the "snowflake" expert. We were trying to see if we could increase the snow-pack in the mountains with selective cloud seeding during the winter. So every-time it would start to snow we would go outside and collect samples. By using a plastic which was disolved in a solvent, we were able to study the flakes and their properties under the microscope and take photo micro-graphs of them. I still have some slides with those "fossilized" flakes from those years ago.
Anyway when I got back from Peace Corps, I bought some ornaments and hung them from the ceiling in my dining room. And of course when I started collecting cookie cutters, I naturally bought all the snowflakes I could find (at a reasonable price). Elenna has given me several that she was experimenting with too.
I have a number of books with photos of snowflakes in my library. And as a Girl Scout leader, my nickname was "Snowflake"!!
The other day it was lightly snowing, and catching some flakes on my coat sleeve, I was delighted to see they were the beautiful dendrites that I love.
Arlene

Big Rivers Mini-Vacation

From 2015
I had a wonderful time on my mini-vacation to Minneapolis and the Big Rivers Cut Outs meeting. Thanks to Carole Anderson and Barbara Douvier who picked me up from my stand-by flight from Denver and took me to Stillwater where we had lunch and went shopping where I found a new animal multi-cutter. Then I spent the night at Carole's house. The next day Carole and I went to the Swedish Institute for a wonderful tour with the most knowledgeable guide. Dinner with cookie cutter friends (Joyce & Al Moorhouse; Gary Oldenburg & Louise Juliani; Nila & Steve Phelps; Leah Day; Carole & Barbara;  Ruth & Loyal Nystrom; and me)  at the hotel, then sharing a room with Leah Day completed Friday. 

Saturday was a fun meeting with food writer Eleanor Ostman as the special speaker. After lunch Joyce E. Moorhouse and others shared multi-cutters and cube cutters and Elizabeth Cukla showed us how to roll out perfect cookies.  I was lucky to win the special door prize North Woods cutters that Betsy brought. I also bought some cutters from her and from Kitty Latane´ (I got this year's Baby Grace cutter).  Kitty also had some of the beautiful stamps from Tim Hartzell so of course I bought a new snowflake one.  Joyce had some of the extra cutters being sold by the CCCC museum and I got one by B&S Gerlach and one by Gene Valasek.

Dinner with Nila and Steve Phelps and Leah Day finished out the great day.  

Steve took me to the airport on Sunday morning and I made my flight back on the first try.  

Remembering moving across the country

I remember moving from Kansas City to Bountiful, Utah with our dog, bird, Mom's plants, two girls and a car full (a 1952 Nash) when I was 12. My sister Delena F Previd was 14. We stopped in eastern Colorado to visit our Grandparents on the way. It was before the Interstate hi-way system was completed.

Loosing it!

I lost my watch months ago but I finally found it in the bedroom because it has a random alarm set for 3pm that I haven't been able to figure out how to disable!  It was beeping the other day and I was able to track it down!  Now I have two cheep watches because I had to buy a new one after I couldn't find the other one!

Reading

I have always been a "book-a-holic". I used to get books every month from the Mystery Book club but I have stopped buying them recently. I have a book shelf in my bedroom with many of those books on it that haven't been read yet. [This is my Goodreads ID photo] I walk down the book shelf when ever I go to the store to see if there are any new books I can afford and want. There are several authors and series that I just buy the next book in line (although I hope I can find it at a discount). I love browsing at a library book sale. I worked one year for a school book fair company and I got a lot of YA books with my employee discount that year. I borrow books from my quilt club library. I trade and borrow books from my friends. (We had an informal book club called "The Bingo Ladies and Jay" when a club I belonged to was doing bingo every week.) I now work at an airport and all of the gate agents, ramp agents and airline crews usually have books to read on breaks or during slow times during the schedule. They leave books in the break room and sometime passengers even give us books. I uset to subscribe to Ellery Queen and Alfred Hitchcock short story mystery magazines and always have one in my bag for those minutes I may have to wait in a line. When my Mom died, I brought home most of her library including a set, "The World's Popular Classics". My husband is also an avid reader, but often he reads non-fiction that I am not interested in. Once in a while we do read the same books. My younger daughter got me onto Goodreads and we often share books.  And now I am also sharing books with my 16-year old granddaughter and her younger sisters.
So with all that, I just pick a book that I have that tickles my fancy at the time and read it. Sometimes I will go for all the unread books by a particular author and get on a kick. I recently joined the Goodreads group "Pick a Shelf" and that is helping me focus on a theme each month. Basically, I don't usually know what I am going to be reading next and that's half the fun. My friends and family will tell you that I am always reading.
I have started downloading audio books and am listening to them in the car on my way to work.

Meeting Thelonious Monk

Yesterday I was working at Customer Service at the airport when a gentleman came up because he had missed his connection to Memphis.  I took a look at his boarding pass and remarked on his name, Thelonious Monk.  "Are you related?" I asked.  He replied that the famous jazz musician was his father.  In chatting with him while I tried to find a way for him to get to Memphis, I found out that he is also a jazz musician, a drummer.  It was nice to be able to help him get to his destination,  sorry that he would be a little late.  Later when I mentioned meeting him to a co-worker they didn't recognize the name.  I suppose that is normal since last fall when there were some "aging" rock stars waiting for a plane at a gate I didn't recognize the name of the band that they played with but several of my co-workers did.
Last fall I was thrilled when I was checking passports for an international flight, I got to meet one of my favorite authors, Alexander McCall Smith.  There was only one flight attendant that I told who knew who he is.  Even several years ago when I helped a gentleman named Winston Churchill, few recognized the name (my passenger was the grandson of the English PM).
C'est la vie!

Being Published

This book was published back in September, 2011. I got my copy at a book signing at Tattered Cover. It is one of the set printed to celebrate "Peace Corps at 50".  I was honored to be included in this volume with my story:  "Of Girls and Dogs and Cats".  This was edited from my two submissions that I printed here and here.  Of course what was in the book was 4 pages.
Here is a photo of me and my friend Bruce McDonald who had a story in  one of the other volumes along with Jane Albritton from Fort Collins, Colorado who conceived the series and was the editor of our Asian collection.

The other books in the set published as Peace Corps @ 50.

The Little Book of Snowflakes

The Little Book of Snowflakes by Kenneth Libbrecht

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


This beautiful little book by Kenneth Libbrecht is absolutely stunning. He has added quotes and poems to photos of snowflakes in a wonderful way.

I love snowflakes, especially since I was a snowflake collector in a previous life (real snowflakes). I worked at the University of Wyoming for the Natural Resources Research Institute as a research assistant to the professor who was the snowflake man in the group. We were studying ways to increase the snow pack on the mountains because this is the water supply for this desert state. I discovered Snowflakes in Photographs by W.A. Bentley while I was working there and also found much of his early work in the National Geographic magazines and other publications of the early 20th century. I believe that Kenneth Libbrecht is a worthy successor to W.A. Bentley.

I have added his other books to my "wish list".



View all my reviews

Bookshelf Crash

So on Monday I was trying to pull a book off a shelf in my bedroom when the whole shelf started to tip! Ack!!!!! Then since it was a backless shelf, some of the books on the top shelf started to slip down behind, making it impossible to right the shelf.

Now I think I need to explain the shelf: it is made from 4 2x4s that have holes drilled up the wide side, pegs are put in the holes and 2x2s with holes are put onto the pegs, the shelves are set onto the 2x2s, there are screw in attachments on the tops of the uprights that make it so you can adjust them against the ceiling, there are no nails holding it together. I guess I didn't have the screws tightened against the ceiling and when it started to come down, it did. So there I am trying to keep from being smashed by all those books on the top and trying to let down the uprights slowly so they don't crash into the window. Tuesday I had to get up at 4am to go to work a double and didn't get home till after 8:30pm so there all the books stayed, blocking the closet door. Wednesday was my day off so I spent the whole day putting the shelf back up and getting the books back on it. I decided that while I was doing that I would catalog them, so I took my laptop up to the bedroom and created a new shelf on my Goodreads list called "bedroom shelf". Basically, all the books on that bookshelf are ones I have acquired that I haven't read yet, so they are really TBR but I wanted to have them separate. I was amazed that there are 244 books there. I think I really can't justify buying any new ones! lol
Now I can maybe relax and read a few chapters from one of my "currently reading"!!

Day 311, 312, 314 - Sunrises and Storms

Day 311

11/07/2010

A spectacular sunrise at DIA.

Taken from the employee parking lot, featuring the blue horse!

Day 312

11/08/2010

Two days in a row! I took a photo of this one the next morning.

The end of daylight savings time put me into the parking lot at the right time.

Day 314

11/10/2010

Driving home into the storm.

Day 310, 327, 328 Cookie Molds

Day 310
11/06/2010
Becca found this cute mould in Hong Kong and bought it for her Mom!

Day 327
11/23/2010
Another cute set of moulds that Becca found in Hong Kong.

Day 328
11/24/2010
Becca also found this cute chocolate/ice cube/jello mold in Hong Kong. I love the smiling frog!

Day 307 - Horizon

11/03/2010

The Museum of Outdoor Arts has a display in the round park in front of

Englewood's (CO) City Hall. One of the sculptures is these funky horses called Horizon.

Day 304, 305, 306, 308, 309, 325, 326 ---------------------- Souvenirs from the Philippines

Day 304

10/31/2010
One of the souvenirs I bought on the trip to the Philippines was a wonderful bag. This is a close-up of the fabric it is made from. (the fabric is probably from Indonesia) I love this type of printed cotton.

Day 305

11/01/2010
Some of the bracelets I bought at Davao's Aldevinco Shopping Center. This is well-known for its boutiques that sell indigenous souvenir items and is one of my favorite shopping destinations. It was great shopping with my "niece" Shingay who is a gifted bargainer! I will be selling them at the FACC fiesta next year.

Day 306

11/02/2010
We also found these cute little bags in Davao. Becca immediately decided to use one for her iPod. The ones that I have left will also be for my booth at the FACC fiesta.

Day 308

11/04/2010
We also bought some of these colorful "magic" bags that unzip into larger tote bags. They also are to be sold at the FACC Fiesta in June.

Day 309
11/05/2010
I told Becca I needed a fan and a hat for the Philippine sun. We found these fans that turn into hats and ended up buying a package of them. The ones we don't keep will also be sold at the Fiesta.

Day 325
11/21/2010
A selection of river pearl bracelets from the Philippines to sell at the FACC Fiesta in the spring.

Day 326

11/22/2010
A few of the macrame and shell necklaces that I bought in Bohol, Philippines to sell.