Out and About in the Afternoon.

Oh how I love an old barn with a barn quilt!

I made a quick call to Martha yesterday, inviting her to ride with me to Sparta for lunch.  It had been a while since we sat down for a meal, the two of us.

And truth be told, there was more to this outing than just friendship.  I needed some moral support.  I needed to go by the vet to pick up Sadie’s remains and bring her ashes home.

I just didn’t want to do it by myself.  And if Martha came, we could go to lunch, fill the afternoon with news and catching up, and then the burden of picking up Sadie would be halved and shared.

I’m so grateful she said yes.

Winding roads and mountain backdrops.

I love this place in all seasons – and even in winter it has its beauty.  One of my favorite sights is seeing the cattle grazing on even the steepest of hills. 

One of our conversations revolved around the instincts of cattle.  They will not hike straight up a mountain, preferring instead to walk switch backs  across and up a bit, and back across and up a bit more, and across and climb just a bit and walk across…..they know that the route is much longer this way, but it is less taxing on them physically.

I knew there was a life lesson in there.  Sometimes we need to take the longer route, enjoying time with a friend, than run straight up the hill when your heart is at stake.

So after picking up Sadie’s ashes (which are in a lovely wood box with delicate carvings) and her plaster paw print (which made me cry) we took the longer road home while emotions settled.

Old abandoned house across the river, up hill.

I don’t know where the road is to this place – but no one has lived there for decades.  It’s just going to ruin!  When the trees are leafed out it is more difficult to see.  So there is one good thing about winter – things are revealed where they were hidden in summer.

I may have posted this house before.

It’s awesome!

More barns with barn blocks.

Once upon a time – a hub of community.

Now empty.

Walmart and Dollar General the next town over are the new staples.

The beautiful views and cool breeze on my face were lovely.

Cox’s Chapel, Mouth of Wilson VA

Part of the history that came with Quiltville Inn states that the bells of Cox’s Chapel could be heard ringing from the porch of the house.  I had never been able to find exactly where the church was located – but Martha knew! 

She also knew some folks buried here -

So we walked up the hill and soaked up some of the afternoon sunshine, though still cool – and enjoyed that blue blue sky.  The earliest grave here dates to 1878.

Driving down a dirt road -

Oh, you poor house!

What is the story with this former beauty?

There was once a lovely front porch with lattice work skirting.  It had electricity at one time – and someone had added a room on the back – a bigger kitchen space maybe?

From the front -

This house must have been a beauty in its time.  There are two grand chimneys built from site-made brick.  I am envisioning the lady of the house getting ready for Thanksgiving just a week or so away – what would she have cooked for her family?

There are many blackberry bushes all around the property and Martha and I have already made plans to come pick here next summer.

There is also a creek that burbles by next to the road – it was a lovely sound.

Oh house, what is your story?

A bit of holiday cheer happening at my own dirt drive -

I have always been one of those who DEMANDED that Christmas stay at bay until after Thanksgiving.  But with Thanksgiving happening at the dead end of the month this year – I am fighting a losing battle.

When I arrived on Tuesday evening, I saw that The Hubster had installed blinking twinkle lights on our entry gate.  How can you NOT smile?  It was a great Welcome Home gesture – celebrating the fact that my 2019 teaching year is over. (Well, except for a fun stitchery workshop with my Germany travelers in a couple of weeks!) These lights run on a battery pack – 6 hours on, 18 hours off on a timer.  I’ll take it.

In fact, when a Christmas song came through my playlist on shuffle yesterday – I didn’t even bother to hit skip.  I just let it play.  It’s futile.  You can’t stop Christmas from coming.  And it is perfectly okay if things overlap a bit. 

Let’s face it – if we were all Canadians, our Thanksgiving would be over by Mid October – and there wouldn’t be this fight of “too early, too soon!”

Life is just too short to keep the things we love at bay for the “proper season.”  Calendar police be danged!

Early morning with the string bin!

I am 5 placemats short of a dozen.

I’ve been up since 5:30am.  WAY too early.  But I can’t help it.  My brain won’t shut down.

I'm just feeling way more pressure right now than I should. Most of it is regarding the replacement passport (now we sit and wait) and the Frolic Mystery (coming up so soon!) and the Germany trip (Need to write that pattern for my travelers) and my dad coming next Saturday and Dave is going to Oregon next Friday for a funeral (He won’t be back until Wednesday, the day before Thanksgiving) and the retreat not being ready quite ready the way I want it is a bit stressful.

Oh and Sadie. Sweet Sadie.  I miss you so! But now that her last detail has been taken care of I can put my heart at rest.

So this is where I am this morning.  Deep breaths.  Time to head on over and dig in.

Did you see that The Quilting Company is running my Wanderlust Workshop again?  Click HERE for more info.

In this course I walk you through scrap quilting basics and beyond in this online workshop. You will not only be equipped to create my Wanderlust quilt, but take to making any scrap quilt!

Course Runs November 11, 2019 - December 13, 2019 (And there is time to dive right in!)

Sorry about the delay in getting the word out – It happened while I was teaching in Indiana and was buried under piles of other emails.

Quiltville Quote of the Day -

Give love and forget that you gave it, don't keep score!

And may I just add that this vintage string quilt has me all a-flutter and inspired!

Have a wonderful Friday -