Me, Myself and Memories

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  Noreen 4:19 pm on November 27, 2018 Permalink
  Tags: Lorraine   

  I am not one to be on the phone other than acknowledging appointments . . . or if I recognize the number of a family member. The computerized calls are awful. They don’t honor holidays or Sundays. We do not answer them. Thankfully, someone who does need to get ahold of us will leave a message. If I hear a message beginning, I will pick up the phone and thank them for being patient in me getting to the phone.

  Last night the phone rang and it was a number both Dennis and I know. It was aunt Lorraine in Arizona. She was having a very bad day. Due to eye problems that cannot be corrected with lenses, she had to give up her driving that day. Lorraine is 87 and comes to see us every summer and stays for several days. She has been able to use a car of one of the kids to motor around Minnesota. That was until last year when neither of her kids offered a car and Dennis and I didn’t question it. We picked up Lorraine at Chris’ and delivered her to Mark after our visit. Lorraine’s son, Mark, lives in Hastings. Daughter Chris lives in Lakefield. We visited for almost an hour last night and it gave her a chance to vent and share. What more could I do than give her positive support. No one likes change.

  I have no doubt this will be a challenge for Lorraine. Who wouldn’t want to remain mobile at will. It wasn’t Lorraine who finally made the decision. That made it hurt a bit more.

  Dennis and I talked about when Mom gave up driving. One day out of the blue, she told us that her car was going out to Michael’s for them to use and that was that. She was living in an apartment house in Hutchinson at the time. She had realized many of her friends in Park Apartments used the city transport. There was no moving the car when it snowed and all she needed was to step out the front door and she could continue doing errands. I believe Mom was 88 or 89 when she let the car keys go. Come to think of it, that is exactly the same way Mom decided to move off of the farm and take that apartment in Hutchinson. We all came for a Mother’s Day and she made her announcement. She perhaps knew in her heart what her limit was with what had been usual and customary all of her life. She was a trooper.

  I admit I don’t drive as much as I used to when I was working or when Megan and Nicholas were small and I would travel to the metro to help out when needed. It’s one thing to only drive once in a while compared to not being able to drive that “once in a while.” Actually, tomorrow is my “once in a while” to do some banking and grocery shopping here in town.  Snow is forecast and I hope to be ahead of it.  I don’t drive at night. My depth perception is not good. Car lights, reflective road signs all have a halo around them and it is quite difficult to remain focused. If I can’t get my crap together and get it done in daylight, it must not be very important. In the recent past, Dennis has even commented that if we go somewhere, he would like to be home before it gets dark. For us older ones . . . smart move. Yup, we continue to get smart to protect what we have for a wonderful life right here on Stauffer Avenue.

   
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  Noreen 5:41 pm on July 23, 2018 Permalink
  Tags: Lorraine   

  Today I traveled north to pick up Mom’s sewing machine that I had taken in for repair. Repair people for sewing machines are much like your family doctor. You know them, you trust them, and when you have a good one, you make sure to give them your business.

  I knew Hwy 4 would have a detour as they are putting in a round-a-bout into one of the heavier traveled intersections. I decided to take the detour. Oh my gosh. I was taken from Renville County to Redwood County and then through a portion of Brown County before I was reunited with HWY 4 back in Renville County. I felt as if I had been traveling for days.

  The sewing machine has been retrieved, I got some good tips from the Bernina gal and I walked down the sidewalk and checked out the quilt shop. I had taken several fabric swatches with and picked the creative juices of the gal. She was very helpful and it will make my time here with my aunt Lorraine next week go quite smoothly. Interestingly enough, the quilt shop is for sale and my Bernina people are trying to work with the city’s Economic Development so the Bernina Shop could move down the block a bit and purchase and combine the quilt shop with the Bernina Shop. Each of these businesses have added much to the small town on Hwy 212. I hope it works out for each of them.

  When I returned home I drove within a mile of the detour and took several miles of gravel roads to work myself around the detour. In that area, there seems to be very few roads that go around sections of land squarely, but meander. My detour on the main detour was still an experience, but it worked.

  It’s great to be back at home and enjoy what seems to be several nice days coming.

   
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  Noreen 4:20 pm on March 21, 2018 Permalink
  Tags: Dennis ( 40 ), Lorraine, Mark   

  As gray days go, it’s not all bad. I had several things to try out with the embroidery unit. It’s one thing to have designs to stitch out, it’s trial and error as to what stabilizer needs to be used with different types of fabric. A few trial samples to keep for myself and nothing goes to waste.

  I won’t be doing any quilt piecing for awhile. No one is wanting nor waiting for a quilt so I will continue with embroidery and an occasional mending. My aunt Lorraine in Arizona has sold her long arm and it will be picked up from her home the day after Easter. As per our telephone conversation last night she needs to get two quilts long armed each day to take care of the stash of unfinished quilts. Have I mentioned her love of quilts? When her son Mark spent time with her last year at Thanksgiving he helped her organize her stash of finished quilts. It was over 300 and he organized them by size and color in various totes. Since that time she has been piecing to beat the band and now needs to make use of that long arm before she will be looking at doing them as I do . . . under the needle one stitch at a time.

  Dennis said I could sew, quilt and embroider to my hearts content a long as I find homes for the items for others to enjoy and use. I thought it was a very fair outlook and I totally agreed with Dennis. Smart old cowboy.

   
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  Noreen 1:53 pm on September 10, 2017 Permalink
  Tags: Dan ( 4 ), Lorraine   

  A Day of Piddle 

  Sunday is the day of rest and then there is the old saying of “No rest for the wicked.”  I am not wicked just in need of having something to show for my day.  

  Much to my surprise I did get all of the videos and photos of the day we spent on the farm with the threshing event loaded on a flash drive to send to cousin Dan.  I had never attempted that process and it went pretty darn well. I have it ready for mailing.

  Aunt Lorraine mentioned to me in a phone conversation that since her visit here in June, she would enjoy some extra items that I have in my fabric stashes.  Why not share!  I have the box ready for mailing.

  There are days that I regret taking down the sewing studio to the bare concrete walls as early as I did.  I felt that if the target date for the window installation came about and something had caused me to not be ready, I would have felt crushed.  God forbid if someone else came in here and touched and packed up my stuff.

  There is a beef roast doing a slow roast in the oven for supper and the extra time drove me down into the naked sewing studio.

  I was able to get to a tote that held numerous old embroidery hoops either of plastic or wood.  Re-purposing is my all time favorite thing to do.  I have been able to have enough room in the sewing studio for the minimum square footage for the sewing machine and the embroidery unit. I have enjoyed piddling.

    Today with the extra time and energy I decided to put the embroidery projects into some of the hoops for the ability to have them as accents on a wall.  In time to come I know I will find the perfect ribbons from the “Kersten Stash” to use as the hangers themselves. 

  By the time the roast is done for supper, I will have burned off enough energy to enjoy a sit-to on the patio with Dennis.  Unfortunately the last several days have brought about mosquitoes and they are the smallest stinging buggers ever, but still not as bad as the black flies.  All in all it was a great piddle day.

   
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  Noreen 6:21 am on March 7, 2016 Permalink
  Tags: Dan ( 4 ), Dorothy, Janet ( 3 ), JoAnn ( 2 ), Lorraine, Michael ( 11 )   

  A Phone Call Away 

  It has been a week of multiple phone calls coming to Stauffer Avenue, with most of them going over 45 minutes.  I find it quite satisfying that I have three aunts from my Dad’s side of the family who enjoy chatting over the phone when visits in person are not possible.  Dad’s sister Janet is 83; Dad’s sister-in-law Lorraine is 85; and Dad’s sister-in-law Dorothy is 93.

  I so hope I am as sharp as Dorothy when I reach the age of 93.  Dorothy lives in an assisted living in Glencoe. An example of one of her concerns is that she knows the instructions that come with her medication indicating when they are the most effective.  That does not mean they should all be dumped into one cup and her being expected to take them in one gulp. She is able to visit about the politics of the election to a great degree better than I can.  Her and I take turns calling each other. With her keeping in touch with her six children and their families, I feel honored when I receive her calls.

  Aunt Lorraine lives in a mother-in-law unit of her daughter’s home in Arizona.  Lorraine called last night as she just was not in the mood to do any sewing.  I did ask her if she was sick.  At the age of 85 she could outfit the Holiday Inn rooms with beautiful pieced quilts.  She is one mean quilting machine.  I enjoy snuggling up to my Santa Claus quilt twelve months of the year as I close my evening watching some television.

  Aunt Janet has never had children and lost her husband early on from a diabetic attack.  Janet helps her bachelor nephew, Dan, on his farm with some baking, and when Dan butchers his pork, beef and poultry.  Dan still makes his own summer sausage and Janet helps him can meat.  Dan is living the heritage on the farm that is the great, great grandparents homesteaded.  Dan has several hired hands to help on the dairy farm and crop acres and the canned meat always comes in handy for a quick meal.  Janet called to ask me if I would put together a Wendlandt family gathering this summer for all Wendlandt-connected individuals.  Dan purchased the church in the next township when it closed last year.  My grandparents, their eight children and many of their children attended this church.  Dan thought the church basement would be a great place for the get together.  The church is just as it was when the doors closed for the last time.  Amazing.

  

  Free motion quilting is called “meandering.” Wandering from point to point and doing it often will give me more confidence.

  For me to spend a lot of time on a phone is totally out of character.  Since retiring, I am more likely to swipe the dust off of our phone than to use it.  The one phone call that came in, always ends up having me sending up a special prayer of thanks.  My brother Michael called and said he made it through the latest scan and is deemed free of the cancer that he battled several years ago.  Esophageal cancer is very difficult to come through with a quality of life.  He came through with flying colors with the help of his wife, JoAnn, a surgical nurse, now retired.

  In between times this week, I mustered the courage to tackle a 46″ x 52″, doing the free motion quilting on my sewing machine.  My fingers and hands can no longer hand stitch quilts or tie them with yarn.  I am not pre-judging whether I can do a large quilt.  For now, I am tickled that I tackled this crib-sized quilt.  Many squiggles of various shapes.

  You can’t fail unless you try and you can’t stay up to date with family members if the phones are not in use.

  A spring type week is in the forecast and it is now the season of mud.

   
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  Noreen 4:02 am on August 17, 2015 Permalink
  Tags: Dennis ( 40 ), Lorraine, quilting   

  Settling In 

  The older ones on Stauffer Avenue have had a whirlwind of items on the calendar.  After each appointment or event, it pleases us to check it off and say, “Well done.”

  Last night the telephone rang.  Not even looking at the caller I.D., I had an inkling who it might be.  My Aunt Lorraine from Arizona does call on a Saturday evening about the 9 p.m. time.  Our visit last night lasted for a full hour.  Lorraine is 84 and lives with her daughter after my uncle passed away.  Lorraine is a retired teacher from the Jackson, Minnesota, area, who taught children in need of speech therapy.  Our bond is family ties as well as the love of fabric and quilting.  Each year as Lorraine visits her remaining three children in Minnesota, Dennis and I are always graced with a day’s visit from her.  I feel very honored.

  Through family connections, Lorraine has found a friend.  Dick is a widower, about the same age as Lorraine.  Lorraine and Dick enjoy going out for coffee and he enjoys taking her to various quilting shops to the degree that he is trying his hand at a project or two using her tools and sewing machine.  A teacher and her student.  It makes me smile.  Lorraine’s son is a young widower and works in Hastings at a large printing company.  Mark is on his feet for the entire work shift, and while Lorraine was visiting him this passed summer, Mark took her to several quilt shops in his area.  As it turns out, his wife had been a quilter and he has a good sewing machine.  Lorraine was happy to report that Mark has finished his first queen-sized quilt.  Working with multi-colored layouts has given him an eye for color combinations. Being on his feet all day, the relaxation sets in as he whiles away home time sitting at the sewing machine being creative in his own right.  Lorraine has managed to encourage two special fellows in her life to share her passion.  Now there is a subtle, persuasive personality.

  

  This scrappy quilt will be using more of what has been left over from previous projects. It will lend itself to more of the pastel colors, as Dennis’ quilt had the darker hues.

  I have appreciated Dennis’ help in the sewing room, helping me to herd large quilts under the sewing machine needle as I put bindings on.  This summer he tackled using a quilting tack gun to hold layers of the quilt together.  Who knows?  Perhaps Dennis will find himself being pulled into the world of lint, fuzz and threads.  Not!

  The calendar is clear for some time of appointments and events and I am ready to settle in and begin on my next scrappy quilt projects.  I will be able to use many lengths of scraps that are two and a half inches in width, quite a bit larger than the ones used for Dennis’ scrappy quilt.

  Balance in my day is what brings joy to my life.  Checking out the flower gardens every day on a walk with Butter Ball comes first with a cup of coffee.  As I type, we are in for some rain that will be coming out of the very dark clouds, insuring the gardens won’t need to be watered.  I have an idea the sewing machine will be humming tomorrow.