Mountain Musings

Holiday Living Show ~ Guest Blogger: Granny

Last Friday Hannah, Sarah, and I loaded up the van and drove three hours to South Boston, Virginia, for the Holiday Living Show.

With the help of some of the 4-H group, we unloaded and got our tables all set up that evening, and it looked very pretty we thought. The next morning on Saturday we headed to the show arriving around 8:30 a.m., making sure everything was in place before the crowd came in at 9 a.m.

After I sold a basket, I told the folks to go over to Hannah's booth and buy some soap to put in it! Lots of them bought her soap: Our booth was swamped with people through the day, and they seemed to like the baskets. We had fun talking to everybody and met lots of my old friends. It was a busy, busy day, and we were ready to leave by 5:00 p.m. We were tired! The girls packed up all the soaps since they were just doing the Saturday show.

The next day was Sunday, and we went to my church where I've attended 55 years.  It was good to meet all my friends at church that I've known for so long. We enjoyed being there.

I finished up the afternoon show, packed up all the baskets that were left, spent the night with my sister-in-law, and we headed home the next morning.

I'd like to thank everyone for buying my baskets and hope they enjoy them. We had a good weekend. If you weren't able to attend the show, you can still buy a basket here on the blog.

Also, thank you to Deb's blogging friend, Lisa at Shady Grove Journal, because she bought four of my baskets and several of Hannah's soaps. You can read her blog about it and see the photos she took after they arrived at her house here.

~ Granny

NCFIC Gospel-Centered Marriages Conference ~ Part 1

This past weekend our family traveled to Asheville, NC, to attend the Gospel-Centered Marriages for a Glorious Church conference, sponsored by the NCFIC (National Center for Family-Integrated Churches), held at Ridgecrest Conference Center.

This was our first time to attend a family conference at this location, and we enjoyed it tremendously! The conference was designed to bring parents and their children together to consider the biblical doctrine of marriage and to prepare the rising generation for gospel-centered marriages.

Here we are waiting for the opening keynote session on Thursday evening and chatting with our friends, Mike and Ginger:

Some of the session titles we heard included: Principles of Courtship, Equal Yoking (one of my favorite talks and very practical), How Fathers Qualify Suitors and Receive Daughters, Friendship in Marriage (another favorite), What is the Role of Romance and Emotions, Wedding Ceremonies and Covenants, and many others.

The cds of the conference are now available for order here. And more posts and photos can be found on the NCFIC blog (scroll down).

Next up: NCFIC Gospel Centered Marriages Conference ~ Part 2 ~ People at the Conference!

~Deb

An Early Anniversary Get-Away

In just a couple of weeks Tom and I will celebrate our 31st wedding anniversary. So....

Last week we planned an early getaway and spent a few days in the southwestern part of our state and attended the Virginia Highlands Festival in Abingdon--very interesting area to visit and one we'd never traveled to before now.

Our agenda included stops at quilt shops (three of them), country stores (I lost count), antique shops (a couple), a yarn shop, eating at little out-of-the-way places, and attending a play at Barter Theater (below):

Tom went fishing one morning at Holston Lake...I watched him fish while working on one of my UFOs. Very relaxing.

This area is well known for hiking and biking the Virginia Creeper Trail. I had never heard of this trail and actually had no intention of getting on a bike...much less biking the 17-mile-downhill trail. Famous last words...

Tom rented us both bikes. Uh-oh.

We were shuttled to the top of Mount Rogers, and from Mile Marker 33 down to Mile Marker 16...we biked 17 miles...with many rest stops and many aches and pains between here and there.

Fortunately for all of us, there won't be pictures posted of me riding on the adult trike...thank you for asking though. :) Here's my favorite scene along the route:

On our last evening there we went on a guided historical walking tour of the city, and here's my favorite house below...the boyhood home (1820) of Rev. Robert Sheffey, "the Saint of the Wilderness."

Sheffey was a legendary, circuit-riding frontier preacher who gave up wealth and social position to spread the Word of God. We've seen the Sheffey film many times so this was very interesting to us.

We had a wonderful time! It's good to be back home though and settling into the routine again. Both my Bernina and my computer need dusting off so I can get back in the quilting and blogging business!

~Deb

A Backward Glance at 2010

Happy New Year, Everyone!

We're celebrating not only the beginning of a new year but the beginning of our 7th year of blogging!

Oh, my, it is hard to believe that we received Typepad as a Christmas gift back in 2004, and after 1,550 posts we're still at it! We're thankful to have made so many new friends in the process. Thanks for reading and commenting and being one of those friends!

We're taking a look back at 2010 in photos and thanking the Lord for the blessings He's given us throughout this past year:

January, 2010 ~ The Blessing of Friendship

Last January I met my friend, Dorothy, at Wintergreen Ski Resort (blogged about here), and Tom and I met our friends Fred and Chris in Richmond for a lunch date at Ukrops. We also met as couples again in September (blogged about here). I'm thanking the Lord for special friendships!

February, 2010 ~ Delivering a Cake

Sarah, our diligent dessert maker, takes cake orders by word-of-mouth advertising, and if Dad needs a cake for any of his work functions, he knows who to ask(blogged about here).

March, 2010 ~ Making Melody

March ended up being the month for music. Hannah and Sarah practiced for the upcoming Hymn Sing in northern Virginia.

April, 2010 ~ New Garden Fence

Jonathan and Erich worked hard to get the posts in for the new fence (blogged about here). And (below)Tom and Hannah unload all the pickets. I love new fences! This spring we'll be painting it white.

May, 2010 ~ Geo-Caching

This is a local waterfall that we never would have known about until we followed the geo-cache coordinates and clues. What a beautiful spot at the end of a hike!

 ~ Photography Boot Camp

Tom, Hannah, and I traveled to Fairfax Station to participate in a photography boot camp. It was an excellent time of learning (blogged about here). 

Also in May we spent a week at my sister's in South Carolina. See days 137-142 in Hannah's photo album.

June, 2010 ~ Our Friends Moved Away

Our church friends moved back to Chicago, and we still miss them.

June will definitely be remembered for the hospital trip and major surgery; I spent the summer recuperating, and I'm thankful the Lord brought me through that rough time.

July, 2010 ~ Celebrating a Birthday!

I love birthdays, and this family really spoils me! Fun!

August, 2010 ~ Opening the 30th Anniversary Quilt

What a surprise this was (blogged about here)!

~ Anniversary Trip to Canada 
August was all about our 30th anniversary! Here's the link to the post that sums it all up with links to each day's adventures in case you missed them.

September, 2010 ~ Baskets Everywhere!

The month of September: baskets! Here's the link to Granny's series of guest posts.

October, 2010 ~ Travels from North to South!

~ Family trip to Connecticut to see Tom's side of the family

Jonathan and his cousin fished from the backyard dock at Tom's sister's home in Niantic while Grampa and Hannah watched. We enjoyed visiting the Connecticut relatives before heading north to Saratoga and on to Niagara Falls.

~ Niagara Falls, New York

This was our first time at Niagara Falls--what a powerful force in God's creation! Jonathan posted another picture of the Falls on his blog here.

~ Satellite Beach, Florida

We returned from Niagara on a Friday afternoon...the very next morning Granny, Hannah, and I left for Florida! What a whirlwind of travel! But so very fun! Here's a link to all the posts on our Florida trip in case you missed them.

November, 2010 ~ Jonathan turns 25!

Sarah prepared one of Jonathan's favorites ~ Turtle Cake.

November will also be remembered for soap making classes and visiting friends at Thanksgiving.

December, 2010 ~ Baking Cookies

Baking gingerbread cookies for Christmas...this was before the oven malfunction which means the oven broiled instead of baking the cookies!

~ Uh, Oh...

Why do bad things happen to good gingerbread men??  We're waiting for the repairman to show up--hopefully this week to fix the problem.

~~~~~            ~~~~~            ~~~~~            ~~~~~           ~~~~~

Well, that's been our 2010...and we didn't even mention quilting and gardening and all the other things that make up our lives here at Mountain Musings. But if you stick around in 2011, I'm sure we'll be off on more adventures with plenty of pictures to share!

We hope your 2011 is a good one!

~Deb

Canada Part 4 ~ Thursday Thirteen

Thirteen Things I Loved About Our Canada Trip

1. I absolutely loved flying! This picture of the clouds from the window seat on our plane was one of the first things on our trip that I thought was amazing.

 

2. Attending the Indian River Festival Concert at Historic St. Mary's Church in Kensington was something interesting and different to do. The concert was presented by Viva Voce, a vocal ensemble dedicated to classical repertoire. The first half of the concert was sung in French (we couldn't understand a thing!), but the songs after intermission were sung in English. The second half was much more enjoyable. Here's the church below:

 3. One morning we toured The Citadel in downtown Halifax. It was the only day of our trip that it rained a bit, and the weather seemed quite appropriate to the surroundings.

I'd never heard of this historic place before...but if we go to quilt shops on vacation, then it only stands to reason that we go to historic places, too. Actually, it was quite interesting.

 Tom liked seeing and hearing the bagpipers, and I enjoyed the piping hot Chicken & Barley soup and homemade bread.   

4. Just about everywhere we went we saw Canadian flags flying. The familiar white background and red maple leaves were everywhere we traveled. I loved seeing the Canadians' patriotism.

5. A full day of experiencing firsthand Anne of Green Gables. First, at Avonlea Village. There were many beautiful flower gardens to admire as we walked the streets, a chocolate factory where we watched candy and chocolate-coated potato chips being made, and a Wee-gospel singer in the village church to hear.

6. We enjoyed watching characters in various parts of the Village act out many scenes from the Anne of Green Gables' books. Left to right on stage below: Marilla, neighbor Mrs. Rachel Lynde, Anne Shirley, and Matthew in the rocking chair.

7. Next, that afternoon we toured the original site that inspired L. M. Montgomery to write the Anne of Green Gables' books.

8. To finish up our whole day devoted to Anne, that evening we attended Anne of Green Gables ~ The Musical at the Confederation Centre of the Arts. It was WONDERFUL!!! The actress who played Anne Shirley was outstanding and perfect for the role!

9. The parade celebrating Old Home Week just happened to take place during the time we were there. The floats, bagpipers, clowns, horses, Mounties, and giant balloon characters were great. I love a parade!

10. Seeing moose signs like this one in New Brunswick was exciting although we never saw a real moose! But the signs certainly kept my eyes glued to the road with my camera ready just in case! 

This was as close to a moose as I got. I thought I should take advantage of the opportunity while I could!

11. Ditto for not seeing a whale...we scheduled a whale tour; it was cancelled because of fog; we rescheduled, it was cancelled for the operators' family emergency; and then we changed plans so we could take a different whale-watching tour boat on the last day we were there.

The ride waaaay out in the ocean in hopes of spotting a whale was really nice, but no whale tail to be seen. Here I am below ready to get on the boat.

12. Bay of Fundy ~ Hopewell Rocks ~ World's Highest Tides are here!  We stood right down there on the ocean floor at low tide. It was amazing to think that in just a few hours everywhere we walked would be underwater!

13. The most fun thing of all was being with my sweetie and celebrating 30 years together!

I hope you've enjoyed these past days of posts and pictures of our trip to Canada. Now, when will I get around to scrapbooking these 1700+ pictures?!

~Deb

Also in this series:

Canada Part 1 ~ Meeting Island Sparrow in Real Life!

Canada Part 2 ~ Bloomin' Tuesday, Halifax Public Gardens

Canada Part 3 ~Work in Progress Wednesday ~ Mahone Bay

Canada Part 3 ~ Work in Progress Wednesday ~ Mahone Bay

One of my favorite days of our trip was the morning we drove to Mahone Bay, a beautiful, quaint, little maritime town about an hour from Halifax, Nova Scotia.

The day was quite foggy as we started out. However, the beautiful trees along the way drew our attention--there were so many of them! Canada seemed full of dense forests of balsam firs. We found out that the area we were traveling through was known as the Christmas Tree Capital of the World. I could definitely believe it!

By lunchtime the fog had dissipated, and it was a beautifully sunny day. As you can see from the picture below, Mahone Bay is very quiet and scenic. I loved strolling through the town.

Here's a scene below that I could just sit and look at all afternoon...that is, if the cutesy shops weren't loudly calling my name.

Our excursion to this area was planned mainly because there's both a yarn shop and a quilt shop located here. And you know...quilters and knitters look for those "gotta go to that shop" sites when planning a vacation, right?

Below: Have a Yarn shop on Main Street in Mahone Bay.

This shop sold some colorful Linie 14 Cedro ribbon yarn that came home with me. You can also see on the counter a sample of a scarf made from the yarn to entice customers to purchase a skein--it worked!

Here's my work in progress so far. I've posted the pattern below.

The handcrafted birch needles were purchased in the shop also. They're size 9 mm Canadian which is size 13 in US sizes and were made by River John Needle Company. They've been finished with a fine wax coating, and I've enjoyed working with them.

On to the quilt shop...which was very colorful and inviting...but it was exactly that--a quilt shop with quilts for sale but no fabric for sale. I was disappointed, but Tom was probably thinking that it worked out just fine that way!

Later that same day we toured Peggy's Cove, which boasts a classic white and red lighthouse, took in another "quilt" shop in Tantallon, went on a dinner cruise that evening around Halifax Harbor, and fell into bed exhausted that night!

I hope you've enjoyed this brief tour of Mahone Bay. Oooh, what a fun day it was!

~Deb

Also in this series:

Canada Part 1 ~ Meeting Island Sparrow in Real Life!

Canada Part 2 ~ Bloomin' Tuesday, Halifax Public Gardens

Canada Part 2 ~ Bloomin' Tuesday ~ Public Gardens

For this week's Bloomin' Tuesday I'm taking you along on our trip to Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island.

I was very impressed with the flower gardens I saw all over Canada. The gardens were quite colorful and very healthy and well nourished...definitely flowers that weren't subjected to temperatures of 90+ degrees like we've had here in Virginia this summer.

The afternoon that we strolled around the Public Gardens in Halifax, Nova Scotia, was great! Tom was very patient with me as I was taking pictures of every flower in sight!

The flowers here are from regions all around the world; I didn't know the names of a lot of them. The gravel paths wind throughout the entire area--beautiful but not quite the best walking when wearing Crocs on a pebbly path. Hmm...

Also, there is a gazebo that was built for Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee. The Public Gardens feature over 16 acres of trees, flower beds, fountains, and a duck pond.

Here's another shot of the gazebo:

The dahlia garden was especially popular and and boasted quite a variety of blooms. I loved the dark rich soil, much different from our hard clay. Every area was well-maintained.

The collage below shows some of the individual dahlias.

I hope you've enjoyed touring the Halifax Public Gardens on our Nova Scotia trip. This post is also part of MsGreen Thumb Jean's Bloomin' Tuesday. Go here to see more flower gardens across the country.

~Deb

Also in this series: Canada Part 1 ~ Meeting Island Sparrow in Real Life!

Safely Home from Canada!

Thank you all so much for the anniversary well wishes...both in the comments and emails sent to us. Tom and I just arrived home last night after a 10-day trip to Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, and New Brunswick, Canada, to celebrate our 30th anniversary!

It was wonderful!

We were so blessed to be able to travel on this trip, and we saw some beautiful scenery. Here's our first glimpse of Prince Edward Island from the ferry:

As wonderful as the trip was, it's always good to come home and see everyone again and sleep in your own bed!

I'll post some highlights after I wade through almost 1,800 pictures...including meeting a blogging friend for the first time!

But right now...unpacking and laundry are at the top of the list! I'll check in later...

~Deb

Quilt Odyssey ~ Hershey, PA

Well, yesterday was a very fun, full, and tiring day! It was the day I'd been waiting for with much excitement--attending Quilt Odyssey!

Our two buses, full of chattering women (and a couple of husbands), left from Patchwork Plus, my local quilt shop, and headed to Hershey, PA, for an all-day quilting and shopping extravaganza.

I signed up and paid for the Quilt Odyssey trip weeks before I even knew about my June surgery date and still didn't cancel after I found out...hoping that I'd be well and recuperated enough to travel. Thursday's 6-week checkup with my doctor confirmed that I was ready for an adventure. Well, maybe not raring to go quite yet but willing to give it a shot!

We arrived at the Convention Center around lunchtime with temps nearing 100 degrees. Most ladies went inside to look for eateries, and some of us found tables outside for our bag lunch--amazingly, a breeze made it quite comfortable.

Here's the lobby area with raffle quilts being displayed. We were allowed to take pictures of the quilts being judged in the show (except the antique quilts), but we are not allowed to post any on websites. I so wish I could show you the beautiful quilts I saw!

And guess who I met? Pat Sloan!

When I asked if I could take her picture demonstrating free motion quilting on George, the long-arm APQS quilting machine, she asked if I was one of her Facebook friends. I told her, "No, I'm not on Facebook, but I do read your blog, and I've won one of your giveaways!"  It was fun meeting a famous quilting author, teacher, blogger, and radio host.

Pat's blogging each day of the Quilt Show if you'd like to see more pictures of the Hershey area and Merchants' Mall. You can find Day 1 here, Day 2 here, and Day 3 here.

Here's one of Pat's patterns which she packaged as a quilt kit. She told me the pattern will soon be listed on her website for free. I held the package of beautiful patriotic fabric for the longest time deciding whether or not to buy it. I ended up leaving it there, and now I wish it had come home with me. I know the perfect spot on the wall for it! 

Here's a picture of the booths and shoppers at the Merchants' Mall.

I almost brought this June Bugs pattern home with me but didn't. This booth had patterns for each month of the year for 12x12 quilt blocks. The July pattern was a patriotic scene with a watering can! I loved them all! My family must be very proud of me for the money I didn't spend!

I  had a wonderful time in Hershey! The bus pulled back in to the Patchwork Plus parking lot at 10:00 p.m. It was a very long but very fun day! Wish you could have been there with me.

~Deb

Headed Home From Panama!

Well...thankfully, Jonathan left Tocumen International Airport tonight and is winging his way back home from Panama City, Panama, and he's in the air right now, hopefully arriving here by 3 a.m. 

It's a dark and stormy night in Virginia with heavy rain predicted so we're praying he'll make it back safely.

Seeing as he was needed to repair Sky Connects and ELTs on several planes located in Panama, Jonathan traveled this past weekend from Dulles airport outside of D.C. and flew on a direct flight to Panama as we tracked his flight via Flight Aware.

We'll be tracking his flight again tonight as soon as his plane gets into track-able airspace. He's actually on a Mexican airline which is run by Continental--so the plane pictured above probably doesn't look quite like what he'll be arriving in.

Sarah has been chatting with him online a couple of hours each night, so we've learned:

• there were armed guards at his hotel and at the grocery mart where he shopped for peanut butter, oreos, and bottled water;
• he's seen drug runner trackers all over the airport where he's been working; 
• he was touring the Panama Canal today before leaving;
• it's been 96 degrees, and he's coming home to temps in the 40's;
• I'm now known as Mamasita!

We've missed him (and his humor) all week long! Who knew the house could feel so empty with five other people here but only one Jonathan missing?? :)

~ Mamasita Deb