Saturdays are different now that the nest is empty. In fact, the reason they are different is that they are not all that different from any other day of the week. Just as the seasons seem to just gently slide into one another so,too, do the days. There aren't the typical family activities to do; no one is going to school, so school holidays don't have much meaning. One day follows another with only occasional breaks in the routine. It is a lifestyle I have come to cherish. With aging parents and growing grandchildren, each day is a precious gift.

This particular Saturday is different though. Today is my husband's 60th birthday. We are having a family celebration at my daughter's house this evening. I just took the cupcakes out of the oven. MMMM...the house smells good! She is busy baking away too. We want to make this day special for him. He is the kind of man who gives so much of himself to everyone else. Just yesterday we went to visit my parents and he brought along the weed eater so he could work on my Dad's yard. It was 100 degrees yesterday! It's the kind of thing he is always doing. What makes it even more special is the fact that because of health issues he is never really feeling well, but he just keeps on going with faith and strength that just amaze me. It is his constant faith that encourages me and gives me great hope.

His birthday always falls very close to Father's Day - so we will have a double celebration. We'll honor all the other Dad's in the family as well - from Great-grandpa down to my youngest son. I will bring my camera to the party and promise to put up pictures soon.

I have been decidedly uninspired in the writing department lately. I'd like to blame it on the heat, but I really think it's just my tired, little brain. I have been being creative in another way though....I've been doing the hand quilting on my quilt and am now more than half way finished!! I'm posting a few pictures at Dawn's request:











It's difficult to get the whole quilt in the pictures because it is a king-size quilt. It is my very first attempt, and I decided to make a sampler quilt so I could experiment making different patterned squares. I picked out the patterns and then chose the fabrics. I love all the different colors and shapes.

I sit with this huge mass of material on my lap in the evenings and take tiny stitches all around the patterns and then quilt a design in the blank squares. I have a permanent callous on the middle finger of my left hand where the needle comes through as I try to make those little running stitches. It was difficult to take more than one stitch in the beginning, but I'm improving. My stitches are not nearly as uniform or tiny as my Mom's, but they're getting better. I have had to take my perfectionist self by the throat and say don't worry about every little mistake. At first I would rip out every stitch I didn't think measured up. At that rate, the quilt wouldn't have been finished until the next century! So I am learning as I go and enjoying it much more this way.

I am also spending a bit more time on my piano - trying to get this tired old brain to learn new things is a challenge :-) I really do love it and wish constantly that I hadn't been so lazy when I was a teenager. It came so much easier then (sigh), but I am making progress. If I could just get triads and chords and diminished 7th's and that sort of thing straightened out in my mind.....

Have a blessed weekend. Happy Father's Day to all the dad's in your lives.

Blessings,