end of the semester

wow, this has been an amazing semester...from ice to really hot and some scary weather near-by (knock wood, not here)...and some beautiful flowers so far this spring.  the fringe tree (genus: Chionanthus) is fringing : )  we bought a new re-blooming daylily - it is red and very pretty and flowering as we speak.  I also acquired some cinder blocks from the property and then we bought some topsoil and mulch and now we have a garden that hopefully will be producing: carrots, beans, nasturtium, lettuce, spinach, and "big boy" and "super sweet" (cherry) tomatoes (yuck, but my sweety likes them, so...).  the neighbor has managed to acquire a new kitten : /  we are not happy, but we can do nothing but encourage her to get it neutered sooner rather than later.  we are not happy, because she does not seem to be concerned with them until she wants them and then if they can't be found, there is some, apparently minor, concern, but she made 0 arrangements for them over the winter, so we had 2 1/2-kitties for the winter...when the temps dropped below 32*F.  I guess we may be a bit over-protective, but I just can't stand the idea that we could help and didn't. the cats didn't choose to be outside-only cats...AND they are trying to eat my birds : /  I want to discourage that, but I am not sure how to do so, beyond keeping them inside.

photos will follow sometime after I replace the laptop that failed on sunday...it is now Tuesday, and I am *really* missing it...I am amazed at how dependent we become on technology.  oh, did I mention that I am teaching an online class?  yeah, that makes it really frustrating to try to communicate when there is limited access...I am currently typing from school and I have to go to work in a few minutes...I keep breathing, applying to jobs, and try to keep myself busy and off the streets : )

peace.

snow days

hello all, we had some "snow" here...in reality it was more like 2 days of ice - sleet and freezing rain, and now I know the difference (thank you fonda, for getting me to look it up)...


we ended up with campus closed on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday...and Friday morning, but that was not really a big deal for me, as there are no lab classes on Friday.  on Monday afternoon, school was announced to be closed on Tuesday and Wednesday for the Early College High School students (all the K-12 schools in Brunswick County)...we were supposed to have a test on Tuesday - grrrr...oh, well.  so BCC ended up closed as well and then I went out to clean off the car on Wednesday - not too bad, but very cold, so...it took about 20 minutes to clear my car of all the ice - car on and me actively scraping the ice (about 1/2 - 3/4 inch with some "snow" between the layers).  it was thicker on the ground - and it was THICK! when I step on the ice and it doesn't even "think" about cracking, it was thick...and to add to that: it was COLD! especially for *here* but the cats were inside and we had enough propane and we took advantage of Monday to do our (regular, I swear!) grocery shopping.  so because the car was clear, it allowed me to go out on Saturday to the local coffee shop and get coffee and grade some labs that I had been procrastinating in grading...


the students were not happy to come back to the exam, but they (mostly) did OK, at least the ones that took it yesterday - we shall see about the ones that took it today...and I will post about that later. 


that being said, we may be heading up to ohio again soon, fonda's sister is not doing well and is currently in the hospital -  stage IV lung cancer.  we found out about it on NYEve, and didn't realize how far along she was in the illness...no one knew until she called cathy in the middle of the night and was "talking crazy" - apparently she is having some "sundowner" kind of dementia and wakes up not knowing where she is and is not cooperating/combative (in the hospital) and so she has been restrained and then not known why...it is not a good situation, and we are just having to wait and see....no fun...


enough for now - and the battery of my laptop is about 20%, so I need to finish up and power-down.  peace to you-all.

new quilt update...

 

this is the last picture to end the mystery quilt from new-years day : ) this is with borders and I think it complements the quilt nicely - I really like the "cheddar" or what fonda calls "orange" final size was 81.5" X 70" - a short twin-size : )

my most recent quilt-top

this was done through a mystery quilt challenge - apparently more then 1500 people did the quilt.

my chosen fabric... I chose to do it in a "scrappy" format...

I messed up with the cutting - cutting the "darks" in squares and the "lights" in rectangles, instead of the other way around : )

then I got to make some cool one-seam flying geese (too cool method that I am gonna keep in my repertoire)!  the only "bad" part was that there were 120 of these puppies and then I had to iron all of them : /   I then had to wait to get the next clue...I wasn't sure how it was going to go together

then the next clue, we had to put 4 together in sets - 30 sets : )

then the long-bits were put together...the blue-green bits were mom-fabric...the yellow is also called "cheddar" haha...

 

then...how were they put together? the double columns are put with the sets of flying geese, in alternate ways - 1/2 of the geese went up and half down - and then arranged as so:

of course, it ended up being 5 squares by 6 (there were 30 sets)...I really like it, I rearranged the light/dark bits of the columns because I mixed up in the original cutting as stated above...I think it would not be as striking if the blue was the ribbon and the yellow was the broken ribbon, but I am not sure - I think it would look good either way : )

I had a good time and it was neat to see other people's color-combos

this is the main thing I did over break...weird, I know...oh well...I had thought to have done more sewing...I did make blocks for another quilt, but it needs a bit more and I ran out of one of the colors - so now I need to find some dark calico fabric to make the missing blocks - I need about 1/2 yard to make it OK - I gotta ask fonda for some assistance in the color-choice.

there is another one that I have been working on for a while - but I am kinda stopped until I get some time to sit down with it and process with it a bit...it is a variety of 5.5" blocks that I am making...so far, I have ~30 blocks and my goal is ~100.  time will see - I have a "map" of blocks that I wanna do and these flying geese have given me an idea for how to do one of the blocks...we shall see : )

there is another one that is very small (baby-blanket-size) and now I need to figure out a backing for it...

enough for now...there are other things going on in our world, but I am not going to discuss them now...maybe later...for now - happy new year and...

peace

so...

here it is a few months later and I tried to go up the light with my sister and my nephew (they came in October for fall-break)...didn't happen, again.  but we had a great time playing around SE NC : ) 

thanksgiving was not as hard as in the past, but still...we hid at home and didn't answer the phone. I felt a little bad, but really didn't want to talk.  no one really knows what thanksgiving was like for us when mom was alive and the drifty-ness of not having that anymore.  we plan to arrange our own new traditions - similar to what we did with mom, but not yet.  we need to be more settled and less feeling like we are in a temporary situation.  *I* am not ready yet.

so now, classes are almost over for the semester...here it is December 2 and classes are over on the 16th...time flies

frustrated on the job search...but I will not give up.

on another note

 

 

we have a half-cat - he is really the neighbor's but she will not let her cats inside because of her leather couch.  he is a yellow-tabby kitten and he is very sweet, and we feel bad that he is outside on really cold nights...the neighbor knows that he sometimes hangs out in our house and has come looking for him on occasion.  don't know what we will do if he gets hit by a car or attacked by a another animal...been thinking about spending the $$ to get him checked out to be sure our kitties remain healthy, too.

 

ok, enough complaining for now...

 

peace.

well...you know...

stuff happens : ) 

my sister pointed out that it had been a long time since I had posted...I didn't realize how long! it has been since may! wow, how time flies...summer was too long, but too short.  my dad came to visit and we had a really good time.  we went to oak island and visited the light house http://www.oakislandlighthouse.org/ it is a really nice light and they give free tours (donations accepted, of course) with some advance notice and all wearing close-toed shoes.

this is the oak island light (not taken that day)

this is an "arty" photos with all the clouds and a bit of rain (taken that day)

 

dad with my umbrella (not grey skies to the north (left of dad) - we weren't sure we would be able to go up, but it stopped raining and there was no lightning - so we were able to go...

this is a colonial tunicate (some species are called "sea squirts").  it looks like a rotten orange, but it really is an animal, I swear! haha

this is what the inside of the lighthouse looked like : )

looking up

 

this is the inside of the lighthouse - looking down from the second level (there is an elevator, but it is for the use of light-maintenance only, not people!)...this is as far as *I* went - I just couldn't stand stopping on the stairs - it is "ship stairs" not a spiral stair...I decided that I had gone far enough (there is a total of 127 steps, I think. I forgot the real number)...dad bravely continued on : )

 

there was one other person who wimped out but we were both OK with doing so...better to say you should not go than to get to the top and say that you cannot get back down! haha



this is dad from two levels further on - peace-out dad! 

 

the view from the top, looking west (ocean to the left, sound to the right) (photo by dad-kleber)

the view to the east, the mouth of the cape fear river - looking at bald head island and out into the Atlantic ocean beyond (photo by dad-kleber)

and dad (from the ground) looking down : ) 

 

we really had a good time doing this and I can't wait for my sister and her son to come and let me try again : ) - I may still wimp-out, but I will try again!



 

 

OK - enough for now - more later : ) enjoy the pictures

 

peace.

tomorrow is the last day...

of the semester...sigh.  and I am still waiting to hear from 3 places about work in the fall - and I am assuming that no news is bad news for me...good news for someone else, but not for me.  I had such big hopes and it has been very frustrating doing this job-search thing for all the time I have been doing it.  I want it to end...but I guess I will continue to search. 

what do these people want? I have no clue as to what they are looking for.  do they want me to be more-better than I am? I can work on that.  I certainly hope that it is not that I am fat, though I understand that it might cause them some consternation of health-issues...but I am healthy, able-bodied and capable, my weight should make no difference, but I am afraid that the last place I interviewed it might have been an issue - I am not sure if the assumptions were because it was a rainy day or because they did not think I could walk the distance without having an issue.  I can and did walk around, up/down stairs, etc.  I didn't have a problem...except for the stupid sweat/hot-flash stuff...frustrating because I had no control over the sweating, even if I had been in an a/c bubble I would have been sweating - grrr...oh, well.  they will never tell me if that is the issue because they are supposed to be non-discriminatory (eye-roll)...oh well. 

ok - just needed to vent a bit...I know it will happen someday, but I wish it would happen more soon.

getting ready to quilt and craft and prep for fall at BCC...summer...

peace.