Quilts

Momma could sew. Buddy could she sew.  When I was little she would sometimes sew clothes for me until my teenage years when her clothes weren't cool anymore.  Often my "Decoration Day" and Easter dresses were handmade. 

Two of Momma's favorite things to do were reading and sewing.  Grace Livingston Hill books were her favorites.  Seemed like she had hundreds of the Hill books.  She would find them at a used book store in Maryville which was the only book store she would shop in.  Sometimes Momma would find a used Grace Livingston Hill book or two.  Sometimes not.  She was very excited when the sometimes happened instead of the sometimes not.

Momma loved to quilt.  I supposed she loved it.  I never really asked her.  Maybe it was just something she had learned as a child because her family had to make quilts or have no blankets.  Momma worked in a few sewing mills from time to time when Daddy had layoffs at TVA.  Daddy took me to the mill a time or two for a visit and there was a soda machine at the main door of the warehouse.  Grape Nehi's were maybe a nickel and Daddy always bought me one.  The mill was the only place I would drink a Grape Nehi.  For some reason the sewing mill was the only place it tasted good.  Perhaps because it was the comfort of being near Momma.  Perhaps because the Nehi was just different than what I normally would drink.  Funny how your mind works.  While typing this I can almost hear the hums of the sewing machines, smell the smell of fabric and heat form the machines, and taste the cool grape of the Nehi.

Momma often quilted with a neighbor who had quiling frame which stretched the quilt top into one large square. The frame hung from the ceiling. Momma and her friends would start stichting on opposite corners and roll the quilt until it then meet in middle to finish off the last few stitches.  

The photo to the right is an example of a ceiling hung frame they used. 

Momma had mentioned for years wanting a large quilting frame of her own, a smaller one than one hanging from the ceiling to stretch the whole quilt top out at once but one larger than the lap square she used. Quilters have their own style for a stitch and the length of stitch varies from person to person. Momma liked having her own frames because she preferred, like most quilters do, quilting her own quilt.  Working on and finishing your own quilt made the blanket more uniform and perfect in your own hand.  Daddy had a stand up, lap type quilting frame made for her for Christmas.  She loved it.  The new frame was much better than the small lap square quilting frame she used to stretch small sections of the quilt top. Photo below is a quilting frame like the one Daddy had made for Momma.

One time I decided it was time for me to learn to sew and quilt.  I chose to make a Fan Quilt.  I picked out my fabric scrapes and sewed them together on the sewing machine.  When my squares were finished and ready to be sewn together for the quilt top....well, it was horrible.  Momma had to take the whole thing apart and start from scratch.  I never tried quilting again.  She finished the Fan Quilt and it was beautiful.  The way Momma took care of my messed up creation reminds me of the way she was forever cleaning up my messes and mistakes in such a loving way.  Not just cleaning up but repairing so that things were finished and lessons learned.  I have no idea where the old Fan Quilt is today.  It was around 1983 or so when I had my hand at it.  I'd say Momma gave the quilt away to someone in the family but it's the one quilt I wish she had kept.

When I was in high school one of my teachers convinced Momma into making a quilt for her.  It's the only quilt I remember Momma sewing to sell.  All the others, during her lifetime, were given to family and friends or kept for our use.


Some of Momma's Quilts:



One of my favorites Momma quilted.  Made 1970's.  
I'm snuggled in it right now.

Momma had always talked about sewing a Dogwood
quilt for years and finally did mid 80's.  
She did an amazing job.



Momma's pride and joy. Her Dogwood quilt.  She was
always excited when a quilt was finished.  But I still
remember her expression and the way she talked about
this particular quiltwhile she was creating it and then
when it was finished.



The four quilts I still have of Momma's.  
The leaf quilt is my favorite.  
All are used. Except the Dogwood.

Original photo of Momma's Dresden Plate Quilt
taken around 1986?  My niece Jessie and nephew 
Tanner are standing on each side Momma always
spread her newly finished quilts out on a bed
and took a photo. Her quilts were to be used,
not hung on a wall.  So I guess she wanted
 a photo before they became ratted and tatted.



Original photo Momma took of her

Dutch Girl quilt.  Another favorite of mine.  I'd say

she made the Dutch Girl mid to late 1970's.



My cousin, a photographer, was visiting from North Carolina and wanted to snap a photo of Momma and I together.  The skirt in the photo is the last thing I remember Momma making for me before she died in 1990.  I had bought the sweater and realized later I had nothing to wear with it.  Momma and I found the fabric and a pattern and she made the skirt.  I thought the match was perfect and wore the outfit a lot.  This photo was around 1985-1986.





War Horse

Horses are born with individual markings and cowlicks/hair whorls. These unique markings are like thumbprints on people. 

The most interesting marking is a shoulder indentation on some horses. Indentations on horses often look like a scar from an injury or illness.  Indentations can appear on any part of a horse.  Even though there are some indentations caused by injury or illness, most horses with an indentation are born with it.

Many stories exist about why horses are born with what some call "God's Thumbprint" or "Prophet's Thumbprint".  Those tales are easy to find by searching Google.  They are also better know tales than that which is my favorite.

About 20 years ago a veterinarin and I were talking about shoulder indentations.  The horse I owned at the time had a large one on the lower part of her neck.  The veterinarin told me about a Native American legend of neck wounds, warriors, and horses.

Some Native American tribes had a belief that a horse with an indentation in their neck, along the bottom, near vital aorta and veins was the mark of a horse with a brave spirit and heart.  Only the bravest and best warriors earned the right to ride those horses because those warriors led the battle.

The horse with a neck indentation was believed to have died in a previous battle in a previous life.  The indentation was the mark and scar of the deadly blow from a spear or arrow.  As a result of the death in battle the horse was exceptionally brave, would never shy in battle, and could not die in battle which in return would help lead the tribe to victory.  The horses with the marks could only be bred to the chiefs band of mares.

UFC Shorts

I'm thinking the kind of shorts chosen by a UFC fighter, 
baggy or tight, is stratedy.

Bald River Falls Over Flows

East Tennessee has had an enormous amount of rain the past week.  Bald River Falls and Tellico River are overflowing.  Here is a video from You Tube of the Falls taken by Amye Lynn. 

 I'm hoping to go see myself this weekend.

Bald River Falls summer 2012 with average water level

Scoop Me Up

While watching "Beastly" the guy scoops up the girl in his arms and carries her to safety. I asked Chris, "What if a bear or wild boar charged us when we were mountain biking. Would you scoop me up like that and carry me to safety?" Chris, "Well, you know my elbow is shot. I'd show you the way though."  Awww....thanks Superman.

Mountain Biking 2008

Tattoos at Weigh Ins

UFC fighters, boxers and jockeys have to be very careful with their weight before a fight or horse race.  Up and down the fluctuations go.  Seems more and more athletes are getting tattoos.
Wonder how many ounces those tattoos add at weigh ins? 
Those aren't removable at the scale.

Cousins wake boarding day-Millsaps neat tattoo

Mouser

Tada! This is our new mouser barn cat.  I really, really didn't want a new cat after having to put Judy down New Year's Eve.  But Chris got her.  

Nobody can say that animals don't have different personalities.  This cat is so different than Judy. This girl is slinky and silent whereas our 17 year old Judy didn't have a sly bone in her body.  Judy was a non-stop meow box. I've not heard one meow out of this one but she is a purr box.  Judy never purred. She plays unlike Judy (who was 3 or 4 when we got her so was past kittenhood.) 

Chris doesn't like cats but has had this one in the house two times!  Quite a hand full this one is going to be.  Barn cat?  I'm not so sure she'll fit that bill.  Diva she might end up being.  The first night Chris brought her in the house to introduce me she started exploring.  The cat slinked into the dining room and jumped into a window seal.  Well, I have my windows lined with pots of my ever delicate growing rosebushes I've been working with for a year.   I heard a crash and she pulled three of my budding rosebushes down when she jumped on top of them.

Tonight the dogs were going crazy on the front porch.  I heard something crash through the fence and into the woods next to the house.  Chris grabbed the spotlight while I got Diesel and Ada in.  He hollered at me that there was an owl on a log about 100 feet away at the edge of the trees.  I was pretty excited and looked toward where the light was pointed.  I said, "That's not an owl.  That is that cat!"  The cat had came to the house and the dogs had ran her the opposite way of the barn.  Judy never came to the house.  Not until the day I knew it was time.  Judes followed me up the drive to the house when I drove in from work.

Chris went to the fence and called her.  He has never been a cat fan and has no idea how to call for one.  But he tried and tried until he got her to saunter across the field finally like a princess. That's when I snapped this pic of her. 

So......that's a little about her and personality. What should we name her??

Horses, Bees, and Grapes

We ought to do good to others as simply as a horse runs, a bee makes honey, or a vine bears grapes season after season without thinking of the grapes it has borne.

                      Marcus Aurelius



Our weanling quarter horse "Arya"



                                                

Stare Down

My niece Amber, me, my niece Jessie-Fight Night 2010

Chris and I watch UFC quite a bit.  Well, a lot actually.  Stare downs are apparently extremely important at the weigh in and then in the middle of the ring before the fight starts.  Chris said I could stare down any UFC fighter and win.  

Since middle school I can remember stare down contests with friends.  Where did they start?  Way back  in the early 80's there was no UFC.  I don't know why or how but I do remember being pretty good at it.  The little contest we started ended when the first person looked away or smiled.  Most people tried to cheat.  You know, subtly move their lip or eyebrow or some muscle in their face to try and make their competition break.  Ashamed to say but I might have tried that as well, a time or two. Especially when faced with stiff competition.  But that was rare for I was the stiff competition.

If a UFC fight winner was determined from the second two fighters met in the middle of the ring.....well, I'd win at that moment, because of the stare down.  Luckily.  Because I'm one of the most horribly uncoordinated un-athletic people ever created.  If the fight advanced because of a tie in the stare down I'd just have to take a knee as soon as the referee walked away.  You know, kinda like a team winning the football game during the final minute or so. (Which by the way I think is a horrible way to play.  People pay a lot of money for a ticket. Play to the end!  Like in hockey.)


Wrestling, but not the "real" kind, was very popular when I was growing up.  A lot of ole timers I knew never believed tv wrestling was entertainment and not "real".  I fought that notion for a long time.  About as long as some other myths taught to me as a child. (Spoiler alert! Nah, I'd not do that to the lil ones.)

Did wrestlers in the 70s and 80s have stare downs in the middle of the ring before a fight?  I can't remember.  But I do remember my favorites.  One was Kevin Sullivan.  He wrestled at Madisonville High School one Saturday night when I was in 6th or 7th grade.  Wow, I'd never been that close to a celebrity!  Hmmmm....come to think of it that was the closest I've ever been to a celebrity even till today.  You know, 500 feet.  That seemed pretty close to a 7th grader.  Well, come to think of it, that seems pretty close today too.

The glory days of wrestling.  Kevin Sullivan, Randy Savage and Elizabeth, (loved Elizabeth although now looking back the drama was pretty heavily damsel in distress kinda romance book stuff), Andre the Giant, the snake guy, Ric Flair, Bret Hart, Junkyard Dog, and so on.....  Hulk Hogan and Lex Luger were pretty cool.  But I had outgrown the drama of wrestling by the time they came into their own.  Grown right into the great world of the soap opera, "Days of our Lives" with Bo and Hope, "Another World" (which my niece complained about when I wouldn't play with her. She called it "Another Universe" and I believe she really thought that was the name of the show), and "Santa Barbara" were my soaps of choice.  My friends and I would play outside in the morning but go our separate ways around 1:00 because our soaps weren't the same.  There was no betrayal in soaps.  Once you committed there was no straying to another network.

Okay then.  This little writing here has gone further than I intended.  The excitement of Saturday morning wrestling fever took over just a minute as well as afternoon soaps.  But my computer is tired now.  My stare down has won.

UFC Fight Party backyard winter 2010-Brrrrrrr

(My husband and my niece just text to say "Bo and Hope? We don't get it." Amber is only 25 so of course she wouldn't know.  And back then Chris was too busy busting up his arms and legs on motorcycles and BMX bikes to know. So many of you may not either.  Bo and Hope were on "Days of our Lives" in the early 80's and had the biggest ever soap opera wedding. At least in those days. In fact, that wedding was one day you were allowed to cheat on your soaps if you were not a "Days" fan. Wonder if the other soaps even aired that day?)

My Life

I'm not rich but my life is full.  I've been blessed beyond measure with more than I need.  I don't have a lot of shoes or clothes but love to collect Fiesta Cookware.  I can't do splits or cartwheels or sing but I can draw and love to read.  I can't ride my bike with no hands but I can ride my bike down a mountain.  I never mind telling anyone my age.  I love to go to eat with my husband and to the movies.  Unplanned, last minute date nights are the best.  I celebrate being dingy and silly.  I used to hate to eat but now love the taste of food.  Dollywood dip dogs are a reason all into itself to go to the park.  I don't want lots of stuff but do like nice things.  I always try to remember that my attitude is my responsibility and colors everything in my life.

Horsewoman

You know you are a horsewoman when you can't walk through a pasture 

without stumbling but you can ride a horse.

Bald River Falls

Bald River Falls is a gorgeous water fall in Tellico Plains, TN in the Cherokee National Forest.  Thousands of people have visited the falls throughout the years. Feel free to join and share photos of your trips to Bald River Falls.  It's interesting to see the states represented during the visits.  Monroe County is the place to be! We have the mountains, trout fishing, hiking, mountain biking, lake, wake boarding, water skiing, tubing, Bass fishing, horse back riding trails, golf.  What a wonderful place I was born and raised. I love Monroe County and can never imagine living anywhere else.













Visit and join the Facebook Group for Bald River Falls.  And while there share your experience and a photo or two with the other members.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/baldriverfalls/

Misleading Little Boogers

Hummingbirds. What neat little creatures. By the end of summer I have so many hummingbirds I have to have two feeders. One on my front porch and one on my back.  Hummingbirds seem so serene and peaceful and ummmmm.......misleading.  Hummingbirds are extremely territorial, viscious little fighters. Watching them go at it is like having a free pay per view boxing match between Manny Pacquiao and Juan Manuel Marquez or a UFC fight between Ortiz and Liddell or watching Shea Weber slam Zetterberg's head into the boards during the Stanley Cup Playoffs.  The only difference is the entertainment value.  

When my hummingbirds fight I get mad and I feel like a teacher having to separate kids on a playground.  Birdwatching is supposed to be relaxing however in the fowl world it's not going to be that way with hummingbirds.  Maybe I need to switch what kind of birds to feed this year. Oh wait. I have had thistle bags for finches but their bright yellow feathers drew in their chief enemy, a Cooper's Hawk.  Drawing the song birds in also draws in predators.  But I love birds of prey as well.  Ahhhh, nature.

Cooper's Hawk on our front porch on the lookout for dinner:

Barn Cat Judy

We had to put our old barn cat down New Years Eve. Judy was 16 or 17 years old. She was a neat, extremely talkative, weird, strange, interesting cat. For the past 6 years or so, much to Chris's dismay, she liked to use the bathroom on our barn roof.  I feel bad that I didn't put her to sleep a long time ago but it's a hard thing to decide.

I wrote this about Judy this past summer when I thought she had passed:

When we moved to the farm around 1997 we needed to have some barn cats.  It's just not a farm without a cat in the barn.  We tried to raise some kittens through that first year. They never seemed to last long, always getting under tires, in engines.... 

I decided an adult cat is what we needed. I called a humane society only to be told I couldn't have a cat as we were putting it in the barn. (Um, our cats get high quality flea meds and live quite the life, hence why Judy is 16 and Tommy was about 14.) A friend had three house cats-one was Judy, who was probably 2 or 3 at the time??? Judy had started peeing on her stove. Obviously Judy was tired of being a house cat. I said they might not stay at our barn being older, used to the house cats.

Judy's name at that time was Princess.  When she arrived with the other cats we opened the crate and to no surprise they fled. But Judy showed back up a few days later. Meowing. And hasn't stopped since.

Judy has always been a strange cat. Chris renamed her Judy after a lady he knew as a child who was crazy. Always talking, never wanting to be held or petted for very long. One summer, about ten years ago, Judy disappeared. Chris had left for a horse show in Harriman and when we noticed she was gone immediately thought she had gotten carried off in the trailer.

Three months went by.  Maybe four. I was cleaning stalls and started hearing meowing from the rafters.  There was Judy!  Talking away.  I managed to coax her down and gave her some water.  She drank, stopped, talked, drank, stopped, talked, on and on for probably 15 minutes.  I told her I knew she was telling me all about her grand adventure but that she needed to hush, drink and rest her hip-she was limping badly on it.

For the past few years the strangeness has shown itself even more.  About four years ago, only during the summers, Judy would climb onto the top of the barn and the arena roof and meow and meow and poop on the roof.  There were little piles EVERYWHERE on the roof all summer long.  Chris would get SOOOOO mad at that crazy cat!!!!

Tommy, our other barn cat, came to us from Chris's momma's friend about a year or two after Judy.  He was around 9 months old.  Poor Tommy was never liked by Judy though he tried.  I don't think he tried very hard, in a good sort of way.  Playing like a kitten with her.  Nope, she'd have none of it.

Tommy disappeared about three weeks ago.  I'm sure he has slipped off to pass somewhere.  He was around 14?  I've missed him.  He liked to talk to you too.  Tommy learned that from Judy I believe.  But never was the talker she was.  And he liked to be petted and held unlike the aloof Princess girl.

So today when I saw poor old Judy in the hay I burst out crying because I thought, "this is it."  And then I felt guilty. I've been telling Chris for about three years I wanted to put her down-in a good, quite way.  The way with a needle.  The winters are cold and the summers are hot for old barn cats.  I cannot stand to think of strange, ole weirdo Judy suffering.  But I never really pushed for the end either.  The end has not come.  Not quite yet.  Not today.

Coins

Coins. I love rolling them. Those machines take all the fun out of stashing away change. However....it's frustrating to need one nickel. To look through your current pocketbook, the one before that, then through your husband's change on the dresser, through your car and the whole house and then through your pocketbook yet again and still need one nickel that you cannot find to finish the roll of $2....but kinda fun too when you find five pennies you weren't thinking about in all that searching to fill the last .50 cent roll.

Chris turns 40!

Chris hit the big 40 on 1/4/13!  

Several of our friends met us at the Smoky Mountain Brewery in Maryville for dinner.  

Food, Fun and Friends!  Great fun!



Niece Amber and cousin Sarah




Friend of ours Rusty




Two great friends! Brittany, expecting a baby in 12 days, and Kelley




My sister-in-law Bridget and Kelley




Brittany and Kelley




My niece Amber and cousin Sarah




Friends....Kelley, me and Brittany. Can't wait to see Brittany and Hank's baby.
They will be great parents.





Cousin Sarah and me




Chris doesn't like the restaurant's Ranch dressing.
So he takes his own, as you can see in my camera bag....




Cousins Sarah and Jeremiah




Me and birthday boy




Me and Chris. 40 year old man...




Friends Elisha and Michael




Missy, Brent and Bridget




Kelley and Rusty




Brent and Missy, so happy together




Brent and Missy




Amber trying to carve Chris's CH into the cake





Amber was having a hard time caving the CH




She got it right the second time





First 20 candles are on!




Chris and his cake




I was worried about the sprinkler system....and candle wax on the cake by the time they were all lighted.





Wow. What a deep breath!




And they are out!





Chris isn't the greatest at cutting cake.





Amber and Bryce. He did good on her ring!  Nice.





Chris and his niece Amber.




Sarah, Chris and Jeremiah




Sarah, Chris and Jeremiah. Wake boarding buddies and cousins.




Chris and Packy




Rusty and Chris




Bryce and Amber




I don't know what was so funny?




Chris and Packy. Packy was Chris's best man.




Funny?  Maybe what Bryce is looking up on his phone?





Funny I guess?




Chris's fork trick. He hasn't done this in years.
Had a hard time with it that night. Out of practice.




Chris just couldn't get the forks right for the trick.