Hiatus

Hiatus. I'm taking one. I'm following the wise advise that if you have nothing good to say you should say nothing at all. Lots of stuff going on. Hard stuff. Whiny complaining stuff, stuff you don't want to hear about, stuff I don't want to tell you about. I don't know how long I'll be gone but I'm sure I'll have something to say again sometime. Thanks!

Rug Punching

Last week I took a class at a local shop to learn rug punching. Very fun night with some girl friends. I'm definitely buying this tool and making some of my own pattern! This is mine (above) and here are a couple the owner of the shop has made (below). She fills them with fun things to hang on the wall.

So far, Grace just uses the one I made as purse. I'll hang it and fill it eventually. Here are a couple other items in the shop:

These are stuffed and they stand - very cute!

And these are cute little egg pillows, seasonal or year-round.

Fun stuff! If you ever get a chance to rug punch, do it! It's super easy and fun. I can't wait to make my own stuff. Next I'm going to try needle punching, which is the same thing, except you use a smaller needle and embroidery floss and the stuff you make is super cute to frame.

 All of us with our completed projects.

A Few of the Things I Should Have Said

My Gram called me last month and said, "We are moving today to the Cities. You might never see us again," and though I knew this was coming, I have been thinking more and more about them, their impact on my life, and how I love them. This is in response.

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You have loved me so well. You have been part of my life before I knew you, before you even knew me. Almost 90, you are still so important to me.

I remember:

• Preschool at Zion Lutheran Church. I only learned a year or two ago that you paid to send me there.
• Winter coats
• Penmanship books at your kitchen table
• Picking the sweetest raspberries
• Making raspberry lemonade
• Picking flowers, cattails and pussy willows
• Exotic seashells as gifts
• A shelf made for seashells, lovingly installed in my bedroom
• Learning to catch and pin insects
• Winter ski passes to Pine Valley
• Summer swimming passes to Pinehurst Park
• Tennis lessons
• Tennis raquet
• Having an identity wherever I went in Cloquet when I was growing up. "Are you related to Ray Dolan, the Biology teacher?" was frequently asked, and still is, when people learn my maiden name.
• Trip to Alaska to see my dad
• Camping our way across Canada
• Those caramels in the red plaid box that can only be found in Canada
• Grampa making me try a cherry tomato at a restaurant in Alaska and almost getting sick. tomatoes are now my favorite food.
• Gramma picking me up from grade school and junior high to go see Grampa at the high school
• Getting chased by a goose who wanted the bucket of grain I had
• Grampa rescuing me from the goose
• Watering plants at the high school
• Attending Grampa's retirement party at the high school. I remember being so proud that so many obviously liked and respected you.
• An A+ on my biology leaf collection - the only one in the class, thanks to my biology teacher Grampa
• My education
• Preschool, not just daycare, for both Micah & Grace
• Van transmission
• Underwear, Vaseline lotion, Chapstick & toilet paper for Christmas every year
• Chocolate chip cookies at my back door
• Angel food cake and that fluffy icing that I still can't make
• Cranberry pudding
• All the fixings for rice krispie bars at my back door
• Dried flowers
• Ranger Rick
• National Geographic
• Snowmobile rides
• Trips to the cabin
• Trips across the big lake, hang man's island
• Loving me enough to have hard conversations with me, about God, getting married young...

And most of all I remember how you have always loved me. Even after my mom and dad were divorced and Mom & I came home without him. You never made me, or her, feel like a second class citizen - and others did. I remember Gramma describing something someone else was doing, her disagreement apparent, but disapproval never articulated, saying, "That's just what they do." From this I learned to accept people and loving them even while disagreeing with their actions.  You have always been there for me, in all these ways and more. I have never been very good at staying in touch and thank yous as I should be, but I want you to know that your love, kindness, wisdom and support has not ever gone unnoticed. I love you more than I can say. Thank you for loving me back.

 

Counting towards One Thousand Gifts

# 155-194