er… I mean indigenous people’s day! When I was in grade school, we always had this day off from school – not a random Monday! This was special to me because

there was always a school holiday for my birthday.

I just realized that I must update my profile and I am getting awfully close to 70 ?¢‚Ǩ‚Äù why don’t I feel like I am that old?

Later today Mark and Jayme are arriving. Mark is going to transform our front landscaping. Tomorrow, while he and Mr C are working, Jayme, Steph, M & M and I are going to Sauvie Island to partake of the annual pumpkin activities. M & M have no school tomorrow. Tomorrow night, M & M are staying overnight because their Mom and Dad are going to a concert. Then, finally, on Saturday, we will celebrate my birthday.

I love a party. There have been times in my life when I had so many different groups of people that I dealt with that I have had 3 or 4 birthday parties. These days, I am lucky to get one!!

Yesterday, I arose at 1 am East Coast time to make my flight back to Oregon. I flew from Syracuse to Chicago and then on to Portland, arriving at 10:30 am ?¢‚Ǩ‚Äù amazing! I watched Prairie Home Companion and Cars, both delightful, and knitted with the occasional break to nibble on my $5 snack box (what a rip off!).

To say I was totally out of it after I arrived home, is the understatement. I checked in with both of my girls, checked the mail and took a nap. Speaking of my girls, Stephanie had a difficult situation happen with photos of Mia taken from her blog so she has closed Little Birds to all but family and now has Little Birds Handmade. The new link is on the right side of my blog. Stephanie had an extremely popular blog with thousands of visitors a day, including Martha Stewart employees! This really opened up exposure of the kids to a wide and diverse population. For now, I don’t think my meager readership poses a problem so will probably still continue to feature M & M, occasionally.

Back to my lost day, Mr C and I went to Trader Joe’s, where I purchased ingredients for pizza, including cornmeal pizza crust. After a pizza supper, I crashed with my knitting and stayed awake to watch The Amazing Race and Desperate Housewives (HILARIOUS) and then I crashed.

I must go back to opening the mail. There was a big priority mail envelope from this person. Inside, I found this: (Typepad is driving me crazy – I can’t get it to show the whole quilt, so click on it to read the abc’s)

This includes a wonderful ABC’s of Aging. I can follow all of them except for Going Grey – no way. Anyway, Judy, Thank you for the early birthday present. I love it and it will soon be on my Quilt Wall of Fame.

I had a wonderful time visiting my family and saying good-bye to my sister-in law. I leave you with some views from my sister’s deck which overlooks Little York Lake. Here is the morning view:

Here is the sunset view:

(Branch of Bittersweet found along the driveway.)

Coming back to the rural area where I grew up has been filled with sorrow, wonderful memories and sometimes, hilarity. I arrived here on Wednesday night and had a lovely dinner with my sister, Carole and family. On Thursday, I spent the day doing errands with Carole and even ended up in Walmart (horrors!) where I bought some great sunglasses. I lost my prescription sunglasses and was complaining about the glaring sun. Carole handed me an extra pair of sunglasses that fit over your prescription glasses and have a sort of lid and side pieces that totally keeps the sun out of your eyes. They are quite cool. So I had to go to Walmart and get some of my own. Please pardon, the hair ?¢‚Ǩ‚Äù I haven’t gotten dressed for the day! But, look at the sorta smile!)

Thursday night was calling hours for my Carolyn. This is a part of the culture here that I have not seen on the West coast. My brother, Frank, niece, Karen and her partner, and nephew Kevin and his wife formed a receiving line near the open casket of my sister-in-law. The casket was surrounded by bouquets and arrangements of flowers, some in shapes of hearts and crosses. Many, many people passed through ?¢‚Ǩ‚Äù neighbors, classmates, co-workers, relatives. There were children playing and laughing. They were very comfortable with the deceased body as they went up to the casket to have a better look. I’m thinking that this is a very healthy way of dealing with the death of a loved one.

I saw relatives from my father’s side of the family that I have not seen in some time. I reconnected with Carolyn’s sisters and met their families. We sat around and talked about our memories of Carolyn.

Yesterday, was the funeral. My niece, Robin, who is an ordained Presbyterian minister, did the service. It was beautiful. We cried and laughed as she told stories from our past that included Carolyn. She mentioned how high strung the Jordan’s are (my maiden name) and how Carolyn was just the opposite and always had a calming influence when she was with us. As the mother of a gay child, I have always been comforted by how accepting Carolyn and Frank were when their daughter came out to them.

After the service, we enjoyed a big meal together at a local restaurant. Back at home my sister’s and my nieces and I imbibed in too much wine and that is where the hilarity happened. So good to spend time with them ?¢‚Ǩ‚Äù my tribe of strong-willed, high strung women.

Today, the sisters and their spousers are at the Syracuse football game. I am hanging out with the nieces and the dogs. It is a glorious, perfect and spectacular fall day. I took a long walk with my camera and got these wonderful photos. You can click to see a larger image.

This was a walk down memory lane as I saw milkweed, thistles, burdock and sumac, dress in their fall finery. Here is a close-up of milkweed pods and an even closer shot of the ladybug I found on the milk weed.

I have finally had the peace and quite that I needed to get started on a sweater for Miles. I bought the yarn earlier this year. This gets knitted from the neck down.

Now, I will enjoy some more quiet as the girls have gone to the Pumpkin Festival. I declined the invitation so that I could blog and knit. Will get myself cleaned up soon and go out to dinner with the family after they return from the football game.

Yesterday, I spent some time adding the 3rd layer to one of the round robin collages. I told the group that I might be very tardy and not sent mine in until later this month because of the death of me sister–in-law. But, I had an idea and it really was therapeutic to be in the studio, playing with some images to add to the collage.

This is what it looked like when I received it:

This is a painted paper background with tyvek flowers and some Angelina fibers. I saw a mysterious and sort of secret garden emerging. To me, it needed some contrast in images and some structure. I was so focused that I forgot to take pictures of my process.

First, I ironed some silk organza to freezer paper and printed two images on it. One was an iron garden gate and the other was a woman with a head full of flowers and fruits for hair. I colored in the fruits and veggies and her skin with fabric ink pens. I then collaged these two images to the background using Golden Gel Medium.

As usual, I felt the need to do more. I looked through some magazines and found some photos of garden paths and some evocative text. I tore these and collaged two areas with the garden photos and the text: Inspired path and secrets to share.

When it was dry, I used some black ink to antique the paper pieces and to blend them in to the background. I love the way these look. Here is the whole piece:

This has 8 more layers to go so I hope someone has fun adding some elements to the gate.

I must go pack for my journey tomorrow. i wanted to show you my own version of “Men in Trees”.

This is the back of our house. We are having all the deadwood trimmed and the remaining trees trimmed to look better. We now have a view of the golf course across the street. They also took out all the overgrown shrubs in the front of the house and garage.

My sister has wireless so I will take my laptop and check in. I want to say thanks to everyone for their condolences and good wishes. It is much appreciated. When I come home next week, my son, Mark, and Jayme, are coming for my birthday and Mark is going to help Steve with relandscaping our house. It will be a great week.

I’m feeling sort of melancholy. My brother’s wife, Carolyn, died this morning. She had a 2 year battle against cancer. We were not that close. You know how when the male person in a family, be it brother or son, gets married, they tend to spend more time with the wife’s family. Anyway, I struggled this morning about whether to fly to New York state for the funeral. Then, I called my brother, and that sealed the deal. He seemed to really want me to come. Family matters.

I fly out on Wednesday and return on Sunday. So I am bustling around trying to get a bunch of stuff done and in the mail, bills paid and food in the house for Mr. C.

This past week-end, M & M spent the night and then went to church with us on Sunday morning. We had a good time. Here are some gratuitous cute pictures of Miles, Mia and Maggie. Because, family matters.