Off on a trip again

These are four of our eight great-grandchildren, Jacob, Evan, Lillie and Maddie.

We're just about ready to start on another trek or advemture. We leave tomorrow morning for northeastern Colorado and my youngest brother's home. We go to visit my sister and husband with him, then to Kansas to visit a friend and a cousin (well, she's a friend, too) and then to Arkansas to see our two daughters who live there. It's been two years since we visited them, so we are really looking forward to that. By now the weather has moderated some there. We'll almost be in time for the fall colors there.
I finished the king size quilt for Tammy and started on another one, this time for grandson, David, who just turned ten. I am almost ready to start the final assembling of that one.
We just had a reunion/reception on Sept. 20, with nearly 40 attending. Our oldest daughter, Connie, graciously lent her house and yard for this. Tammy and Mike who are getting married Nov. 1 were the honored guests. Also it was Kylene's second birthday. Lots of fun and visiting was enjoyed.
As usual, the last two weeks turned into a circus, with trying to see everyone we know for the last time. It isn't possible.
The weather is moderating in southern California and we are thinking about arriving back there in about a month. Doesn't see as if the summer trip is almost over already.

I finally got done with the quilt I was making for our daughter, Tammy. It took away longer than any other one has so far, almost ten months. Since I make them mostly by hand, they do take longer, and this was a king size one. Besides running into a glitch of needing to make it bigger than I started to and not being able to find a fabric to match. I had to make do with what I had, but it set me back nearly a month. Ah, well. Such is life. It is really pretty, but not to everyone's taste as it is bright colors in batik prints. When I am finished, I don't have to put it into a quilt frame and quilt it. I do each piece complete, so when I am done, it is finished, both sides. I am including pictures of both sides here so you can see. As it is king size and I had to be rather far away to get it all in the picture, it looks small, but really it is HUGE!
I finished it on August 8, but had to wait until after August 23 when we had a wedding shower for Tammy. We displayed it as a surprise for her.
I have already started on a new one, a twin size for grandson, David. It is going to be interesting as it is mixed colored flowerettes on one side and hodge podge (no pattern) in beige prints on the back side. I want it to be more masculine for him, so really had to choose fabrics carefully. So many fabrics are floral and very girly. I really enjoy quilting, as you can tell. Planning a new quilt is lots of fun and sometimes a challenge.
We got a lovely surprise Sunday. We had a concert along with the church service at Bonell Senior Apartments in Greeley and had some friends from Vancouver, WA come in to worship and visit with us. They also live in Desert Hot Springs CA in the winter like we do. It was really great to see them again. The season is beginning to wind down now. Not much time to visit family and play music before we head out again.

I've really been goofing off lately and haven't written here. We have had a great summer so far. It started off with a wonderful week on Lake Powell on a houseboat. Our friends, Hal and Dee own it and had invited us a couple years ago to join them this year. We are so glad we did. It was a completely relaxing time, with nothing to do except watch the absolutely gorgeous rock formations go by, eat (with a gourmet cook, Dee), sleep, read and swim. I also got some quilting done. We heard no news, watched no TV, although we could have, and really enjoyed ourselves. What a vacation! Usually you have to go home from a vacation to rest up, but this was not the case with this vacation. We can't say enough thanks to Hal and Dee for their wonderful hospitality. We had a ball!!!

Then we went to Rocky Ford CO for a few days, which we spent with our friends, the Gragerts, who pastor a Southern Baptist Church there. We were included in a huge garage sale, which since I didn't have to organize it, was great fun. Also we did a concert and a sing-a-long while there, and took part in a neat potluck dinner. Old friendships were renewed while there and we made new friends, too. What a good visit!

Next on the agenda was the trip back to northern CO to where our trailer was stored for the winter. Our gracious hostess, Carol Lontine, welcomed us and took us in until we could move our trailer to her property and get it set up. We are southwest of Kersey, CO. Since the Robels, where we stayed last year, are building a new house, they had no utilities available for us, so we had to move out. But at Carol's, we have 14 llamas, a dog, three cats and a turtle for company, besides Carol. We are helping her with the animals and allowing her to be away sometimes. She went to her 50th class reunion in Denver at East High shortly after we got there.

We have done a lot of concerts, mostly at Senior Centers, since we got here. Things are going well for us here. Already tho, we see the end of this season here coming.

Back in Lodi again

I haven't been very good again. We have been in Lodi CA for almost two weeks and leave tomorrow morning. We go to Tonopah, NV, tomorrow night, then to Lake Powell the next day. We'll stay on a houseboat with friends from our mobile park in southern CA while we are there. Sounds like fun to me. A complete rest for a week. I think.
It has been really very pleasant here, not too hot. We've done seven concerts or special music things already and have another this afternoon. The time has flown.
I will be offline for a couple weeks, so can't update this until after we get to CO. I hope to have a lot of pictures from the Lake Powell trip by then.

Where we are now

I realize this is way late. I haven't been updating my blog for a lonnnnnng time. Sorry. We are still in souuthern CA at Rainbow Spa Park until June 15 when we head out for northern CA and do several concerts there and visit friends and relatives. Then to Lake Powell to spend a week on a houseboat with friends. Finally after that, we go to Colorado for a couple months.

We had a few days of HOT weather, 113 and 114, but after that we had a week or so of unseasonable cool. Now it is back up to almost normal, which is 90s. It is 84 right now. We like this better than triple digit stuff. That was toooo hot.

We are dog sitting for a couple weeks with a darling little shiatsu named Candy. We haven't had a dog since we went on the road, so this is a real experience for us. We are having fun with her.

New Schedule for Summer 2008

New schedule:
June 23, concert 2 p.m. at Hampton Care Center, 442 Hampton, Stockton CA. 466-0456
June 25, concert 3 p.m. at Sunbridge Heritage Care Center, 9107 N. Davis Rd Stockton CA
June 26, concert 1:30 p.m., Ashley Place, 1321 S. Fairmont Ave, Lodi CA
June 27, potluck 5 p.m., concert 6 p.m. Berea Baptist Church, 4957 Quashnick Road Stockton CA
June 29, short concert, 11a.m. Berea Baptist Church
June 29, concert at 6 p.m., Berea Baptist Church
July 13, special music, 11 a.m. Washington Ave. Baptist Church, 909 W. Washington Ave, Rocky Ford CO
July 13, concert at 6 p.m. Washington Ave. Baptist Church, 909 W. Washington Ave, Rocky Ford CO
July 23, 10 a.m. concert, Johnstown Senior Center. Johnstown CO
July 25, 12 lunch with concert following, Milliken Senior Center, Milliken CO
July 27, 2:30 p.m. concert, Birchwood Manor 2830 27th St Greeley CO
July 29, 11:45 lunch with concert following, Ault Senior Center, 204 1st St. Ault CO
July 31, 11:30 lunch with concert following, Kersey Senior Center, Kersey CO
Aug. 5, concert at Evans Senior Center, 10:45 a.m., Evans CO
Aug.7, concert at 4:15, Greeley Place, 1051 6th St Greeley CO
Aug. 10, special music, 9 a.m. Galeton Community Church, Galeton CO
Aug. 17, concert at 9 a.m. Briggsdale Community Church, Briggsdale CO
Aug. 17, concert at 11 a.m. Hereford Community Church, Hereford CO
Aug. 17, potluck following church service, then Hereford Day, Hereford CO
Aug. 20, concert 11 a.m. Eaton Senior Center, at Evang. Free Church bldg. Eaton CO
Aug. 24, special music,10 a.m. Bonell Good Samaritan Home, 708 22nd St Greeley, CO
Aug. 27, concert after noon luncheon, Windsor Senior Center, Windsor CO
Sept. 7, concert at 10 a.m. Windsor Christian Church, 6th & Walnut, Windsor CO
Sept. 15, concert at 11 a.m. at Ft. Lupton Senior Center, Ft. Lupton CO