THE CALM BEFORE THE STORM

Clouds

On October 30th the air was very warm because a big rainstorm was going to hit. I spent almost an hour outside watching the clouds and enjoying the warm air.  The storm did come in and we did get a lot of rain for Sequim.

It was rainy for Halloween and a little into Sunday. Halloween did not turn out to be a great day for Donna and Leif but that is their story to tell.

GETTING READY FOR HALLOWEEN

My wonderful daughter and son-in-law

Donna and Leif posing in the costumes they will be wearing for the Church "Trunk and Treat" on Friday and then on Halloween they will be participating at the big "Trunk and Treat" at the Ford Dealership in Port Angeles. They did that last year and really enjoyed it. I will be here at the house handing out candy to the Trick or Treaters in our neighborhood. We did not have too many last year. It gives me a little more time to work on my counted cross stitch as I sit by the front window and can see people coming up the street.

NICE WEEKEND

Friday Donna, Leif and I went to the Kelly's (Rachel's parents) for lunch.  We ended up spending the day. We went to the Joyce country store and then to a park. It was fun being with everyone.

A picture of the small gifts we gave the kids.  Donna made the green bags with each of the girls names on them and a Thomas the Train pillow for Henry.  On the table is the small quilt we made for Noah.  I picked out the Dinosaur fabric. There was only one left in the store we went to.  I knew it was for Noah.

Pattern of counted cross stitch that I am working on now.

Now that I finished my Wolf picture, I had to have 
something to do. This one won't be as easy as it looks.  
All the bird seed is going to be done with French Knots.

I have a start on it

SUNNY DAY

Pictures of our house and neighboring yards.

It was such a beautiful day.  I took a short walk and then took these pictures before I went inside. There was a long vapor trail which showed up better than I thought it would. These Smart phones take amazingly good pictures.

Dan and Darrell at Dan's Tire shop

They do more than tires.  They repair cars also.  Darrell does a lot of the car repairs.  It is wonderful to see my sons working together.

LAST OF THE SUMMER PICTURES

Virginia City, Nevada These pictures were taken from my car.

We did get out but I was busy looking at everything and forgot about taking pictures until I got back in the car.

MUSEUMS

Spruce Goose

Car Museum in Reno

On the way back home we also stopped at the Car Museum and then we also went to the Museum with the Spruce Goose.  I had only seen a picture of the Spruce Goose in the film they made years ago showing it's short flight.  What an impressive sight that was. I knew it was large but it was much larger than I imagined it would be. One of the volunteers gave us some background on the Spruce Goose.

SOME MORE PICTURES FROM SUMMER

Truck that had caught on fire outside of Reno

We were close to the turnoff to our hotel in Reno when this happened and we ended up for two hours on the freeway as all the cars were crawling along, sometimes complete stops. We finally made it and we were so tired. 

A city in the desert

We were able to meet up with Debbie for one evening.  We stayed in the same hotel so were able to have dinner and breakfast with her. It was so nice to spend a little time with her.  She was there for work.

Coming into Reno
I had never been to Reno before.

WHAT I DID THIS SUMMER

Fun at the Zoo

Picnic in the park

Noah  giving his sisters and me a demonstration about Dinosaurs.



Catching up on my blogging.  Early this Summer Leif and I took my car to Idaho to watch  Michael and Rachel's darling children while they had a nice get-away to Hawaii.  Donna was still teaching so she flew in a couple of days later and we all spent the week taking care of the children.  I just put these pictures on as a reminder of  some of the things we did.  There is a very nice park by their house that we went to several times.  It has a swimming pool.  The kids really had a great time.  After Michael and Rachel came back, Leif  flew home and Donna and I took my car to go back home by way of Reno.  I will put some pictures of that on in my next blog.

PICTURES FROM DONNA

On the return trip from Ocean Shores we stopped at a park and everyone backed their cars in line. Donna took this picture. The owner of the truck belongs to the club. I forgot to mention what a great job Donna did driving the Mustang.  It was fun to ride with her.  That car is so powerful.  I can see why guys like those cars.

My counted cross stitch Wolf picture.  This picture is hanging upstairs on the wall by the stairs.  It looks so nice there.  Donna took this picture.  She e-mailed a copy to a student she has that is drawing a wolf.  Now I am working on a counted cross stitch with birds.  I haven't done much on it yet.  I am not really enthusiastic about it yet but I guess once I get going I will like it.

Surprise! I am posting.

The Mustang group. I am in the picture.

Some of  the beautiful cars.  

The Mustang Club took a trip on September 19th and 20th.  Leif couldn't go so I got to go in their beautiful red Mustang with Donna. (It used to be Kyle's. Kyle bought a new one and Leif bought this one.) I really enjoyed the trip. Everyone had walkie-talkies and it was fun just listening to everyone. We drove to Ocean Shores and spent the night there. The weather was not great but it was fun anyway.

I wanted to let you know the reason I have not posted for so long.  I put Windows 10 on my computer and I could not get pictures to go on my blog.  It was very frustrating.  I tried everything I could think of and finally gave up.  I called Diane a couple of days ago and this afternoon she had time to work with me. She and I had a "Conference call" and she was able to see my computer and work with me. Two hours later and after much work on Diane's part, she finally solved the problem. I am so thankful to her for getting the problem solved.

   Isn't it a marvelous age we live in.  Diane was in Atlanta and yet it was just like she was at my desk with me.  The other thing that has been so marvelous in my life is the cell phone. No more wondering where someone is. No trying to find a phone booth when you had car trouble. That is something that this generation of children cannot even imagine.

   I love this generation.  I am so happy that I have lived long enough to enjoy the technology that we have today.

COMING HOME FROM THE RETREAT

Windmill in the gardens

Beautiful flowers and shrubs

Lilac bushes

On the way back from the Retreat Donna and I stopped to see the Lilac Gardens in Woodland, WA.  These pictures don't really show how large the gardens are.  There are many other shrubs besides Lilacs.  There are rows  of Lilacs with name tags for each kind.  The gardens are only open for a short time each year.  We couldn't tour the house because it was not open when we went there.  There were even tables where you could eat your picnic lunch.  The gardens are incredibly beautiful.  Maybe we can stop and see them next year when we go to the Retreat. There must be Honey Bee hives near by.  The Honey Bees were everywhere.

QUILTING RETREAT NEAR VANCOUVER, WA

The sewing room at Our Quilting Retreat

We had our Quilting Retreat from May 14th through May 17th.  I just realized I have been going to the Retreats for six years now.  It is so nice to get together once a year. The girls are talking about adding a day next year.  Donna is making a King size quilt for her bed.  I just brought my counted cross stitch.  Everyone admires my counted cross stitch.

We draw names to give gifts at the Retreat.  It is a secret pal exchange.  It turned out that Donna had my name so I got this pillow back that I made and one of the bags that Donna made.

My Secret person was absolutely thrilled with her pillow and the bag. I don't think Donna and I will work that hard next year.  Everyone was supposed to bring a handmade item but not everyone did --so now the new rule is you can bring a handmade item if you want to.


SURPRISE THIS AFTERNOON

A dozen Roses for me

I haven't taken the time to write about our quilting retreat but thought I would put this picture on first.  Yesterday a gentleman and his son-in-law were looking at the property next door.  Donna and Laif had gone to town so he was asking about the neighborhood and things. We probably visited about 15 minutes and I was just giving him Donna's phone number when Donna and Leif drove up. Leif showed him our yard and explained some things to him. They were such nice people  we were hoping they would build there but they changed their minds.

Just a few minutes ago the doorbell rang.  There were these Roses for me and a thank you card with a Costco gift card for Donna and Leif.  What nice and thoughtful people they were.  Wherever they build someone will be fortunate to have them for a neighbor.

GETTING READY FOR THE QUILTING RETREAT

Counted Cross Stitch pictures for our Retreat.

Donna made these darling bags

We are putting the pillows in the bags.

Donna made these pictures I did  into pillows.

We are leaving for our Quilting Retreat on Thursday and will not be back until Sunday afternoon.  The Retreat is near Vancouver, Washington.  We always have a good time.  It is fun to get together with everyone. Donna is going to be working on a quilt at the Retreat.  I can help her with it.  I am bringing my Counted cross stitch to work on too. I have about a fourth of the Wolf Picture done.  It is still going to take me awhile to finish it.  I usually don't work on it while David is down for the winter.  I may get this one done before Winter as this picture is not as big as the others I worked on.

TWO FUN SATURDAYS

This is the Outfit I modeled for the Fashion Show

Museum on Fox Island

Donna and I had signed up to model clothes at C.J. Banks in Silverdale. We went to Silverdale on Saturday, April 11th to pick out the clothes we were going to model for the Fashion Show on April 18th.  It did not take us long to pick out clothes so Donna decided we would spend some time driving around. Somehow we got to talking about Fox Island.  Fox Island is a small Island across the water from Tacoma. When Donna and Laif were younger they had started to build a house there with "House My People", I think it was.
     I told Donna that I had been to Fox Island in 1950 when I was pregnant with her brother, David, my first child. We went there because Horace and Sue, my brother-in-law and his wife were trying to buy a run-down Resort that had a few cabins. Donna decided we should drive there and look around just for the fun of it.  I said we are going to have to take the ferry, aren't we?  Donna said no, there is a bridge.  I did not remember a bridge and it confused me because I was sure we took a ferry.  I looked on my phone and found that the bridge was not built until 1954. That made me feel better.  That was why I could not remember the bridge. Actually, on the internet, it said the bridge is now in need of repairs.
      So we took off to go to Fox Island and crossed the bridge to Fox Island. It is a very pretty Island.  There are trees everywhere. There are some very gorgeous homes. Donna found the houses that were where she and Laif had been building. The Resort that Horace and Sue had was right on the water. When we were driving around, we spotted the roof of what looked like the Lodge building that they had. You could tell it was a really old building.  We could not go down to the water.  All the driveways are private now.
      Then we went to the Museum on Fox Island.  It is really a nice little museum. We looked at the map they had there and it showed where the Ferry used to dock. There were a lot of interesting things to look at.  I enjoyed that little trip a lot.

Then, Saturday, April 18th, we left the house about 9AM to drive to Silverdale.  The Fashion Show was 11am but we were supposed to be there an hour early.  I wasn't even going to buy the outfit I modeled because I am not sure where I would wear it. After I went through the line, several ladies came up to me and said how nice I looked in it and that I just had to buy it. So I gave into peer pressure and bought it.  I do like that pants. They are a silky feeling material and they feel so good and fit so nice. I did buy some other clothes too.  As usual, I spent too much.  At first I hesitated about signing up for the show, but I did really enjoy it.  There were two more shows on Saturday but we wanted the early one.  I know they will have shows in the Fall. I could not believe how many people came besides the "models".  I stood in line a long time to pay for my clothes.

LABOR OF LOVE

"Born to Shop, forced to Work"

"If it wasn't for the Last Minute Nothing Would be Done"

I finally got my two small counted Cross stitch pictures finished.  Donna and I are going to use them as part of the gifts we will be bringing for our Secret person for our Quilting Retreat in May. I did all the cross stitch so now Donna has to do her part and make them into little pillows or something like that with maybe lace around the sides.  Next year I am going to think of something that is not as much work.  We will be bringing other items for our daily gifts for the Retreat.  We are each supposed to bring one handmade gift.  Donna and I got that started last year. Everyone thought it was nice to bring a homemade gift so now we are supposed to each bring something homemade.

 I am going to give myself a little rest from counted cross stitch and then I will work on the Wolf picture.  I just opened it today and got the threads ready. I have really been looking forward to doing this picture.  I am not particularly interested in wolves but this picture just caught my eye.

SPRING IS HERE!

Orange Star Plant. I saw this at Walmart and the color is so pretty I just had to buy it.

My Shelf of Plants

It is so nice to look at all the yards with their Spring bulbs and plants.  I cannot work in the yard like I used to so I have to bring a little Spring into my apartment.

I am glad that Spring is here because that means next is my favorite time of the year----

Summer.

I took this picture of plants from a neighbor's yard last Fall.  I have not been able to make it up that hill yet this year.

FIRST POST FOR 2015

My Counted Cross Stitch kit that was lost for months.  I can hardly wait to start on it. Right now I am working on two small kits for our Quilting retreat in May. 

Here we are going into the third month of this year.  I have not written on my blog since October 28th of 2014 when I took pictures of Donna and Leif's Halloween costumes. It isn't that nothing has happened.  I guess you could say I was just into a lazy mood during the winter.
     David came down in November to spend the Winter with us. We had a nice Thanksgiving with a house full of family. It is always so enjoyable to see everyone.
     Christmas vacation Donna and Laif were gone but David and I were not alone. Dan and Heidi came for Christmas and we had a nice Christmas dinner, which David and Heidi cooked. After Dan and Heidi left, Diane and her friend Annabelle came to spend several days with us. Diane had fallen and hurt her foot so she couldn't drive and that is why she brought her friend.  We had a nice visit.
      In May of 2014, I had ordered a Counted-cross stitch kit with a Wolf's head surrounded by leaves.  It really appealed to me. I was working on my Oriental picture and when I was finished I could not find the Wolf kit.  Donna and I looked everywhere and we couldn't find it. After Christmas I did find it .  I had some Manila envelopes with some pictures my cousin in Ennis, Montana had sent me. The Wolf kit was also in a Manila envelope and I somehow got it mixed in with the other envelopes.
     My cousin and I talked a lot on the phone after she discovered my phone number from another cousin. My cousin, Jean Baker, was the daughter of one of my dad's sister.  We only talked on the phone for a few months.  She passed away in  last Spring.  She was almost 90 and had been on Oxygen for 10 years. I am so glad I had the opportunity to talk to her and she sent me some pictures. At the time I talked to her She, my sister, Elsie, and I were the only ones left in our generation in the Vetter family. Now it is just my sister and me. I was just a small girl when I saw any of my cousins so I didn't remember any of them. Jean, said she remembered seeing us.

Heidi bought this Kalanchoe plant for me for Christmas.

Natural color

Dyed Orchid

Last year my neighbor gave me an Orchid plant for babysitting her plants while she and her husband went on a trip in their Motor home.  The picture on the right is how it looked when she gave it to me.  It was a dyed Orchid. Stores sell them that way because they think the plants are more attractive.  Anyway, to my surprise, it bloomed again this year. The picture on the left is the natural color of the plant.
     My plants seem to survive in my basement apt.  It is much cooler downstairs but they all seem to stay alive.  I still have my Snake plant, my Bamboo plant that Scott gave me years ago, the Orchid plant, The Kalanchoe plant, and a Philodendron plant that Donna gave me.

Philodendron plant Donna gave me is now starting to spread.