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.