Day 1 - Barcelona

So this is the trip I gave myself as a retirement gift.  A 12 day cruise of the Mediterranean.  We arrived in Barcelona the day before the cruise left.  I flew from Detroit to JFK and then 2 hours later flew from JFK to Barcelona.  We arrived at 5:30 am on 8/17 in Barcelona.

Part of the pre-cruise package was transportation from the airport to the hotel and then in the morning from the hotel to the ship.  Craftours threw in a bus excursion of Barcelona to help us get over our jet lag. And because our rooms wouldn't be ready until 3 pm.

Barcelona would well be worth another visit some time.  Lots of interesting architecture.  All the wrought iron balconies reminded me a lot of Paris.

We drove through lots of the city, but a lot didn't soak in because by then I had been up 20+ hours.  We went up to an old fortified part of the city that gave us a great view. I liked some of the items they added to decorate the paving in this area.  Here are some photos.

The views of Barcelona.  A bit hazy, probably because it was almost 100 degrees.

View toward the port.

 

 

 

After my roommate for the cruise arrived from Germany we went out and walked around a bit. Deborah and I were matched up through the tour company.  Months ago we began exchanging emails to see if we would be compatible.  She was an absolute delight to have as a companion on this trip.

The Barcelonans do a lot of strolling, especially after it cools off.  I realized that my fitbit couldn't be changed to European time and my phone couldn't be changed either, so I needed a watch in order to be sure I would be back to the ship on time from any excursions I went on.  So Deb and I took a stroll, past the Bassilica a block from the hotel and around to the next street where we found lots of shopping opportunities.

 

                                                     Tile floor in a dress shop.

 

                                           Where have these been all my working life!

More to follow about our morning before we left to board the ship.

 

The other June trip

I have a friend from high school, Christine Hubbard, who lives in Columbus Ohio.  She is always asking me to come for a visit, but the last time had to have been at least 8 years ago.

Now with no vacation leave or work schedule to worry about, I decided to pay her a visit.  She always finds the most interesting things to do.  We have quilting in common and one of our favorite areas to visit in the Amish area on south eastern Ohio.  We went down to Charm and Berlin on a day trip.  Fabric, Amish cheese factory, farmer's market, flea markets etc.

 

This piece, made from an old sewing machine was at one of the antique malls.  Very original, but maybe a waste of a good old machine.



 

 

At one of the shops in Berlin they had this sewing machine by the front door.  This is a hard to find National Two Spool machine.  I have heard of these but had never seen one.  You use one spool on the top and another whole spool fits in instead of a bobbin.  Think of the hours of sewing without a bobbin running out.  Why can't they do that with modern machines??

 

 

We also visited the botanical gardens in Columbus.  They had Chihuli (sp) glass and a wonderful bonsai exhibit.

 

 

 

They also had sculptures based on origami designs.

 That's enough for now.  More pictures later

 





 

 

The other June trip

I have a friend from high school, Christine Hubbard, who lives in Columbus Ohio.  She is always asking me to come for a visit, but the last time had to have been at least 8 years ago.

Now with no vacation leave or work schedule to worry about, I decided to pay her a visit.  She always finds the most interesting things to do.  We have quilting in common and one of our favorite areas to visit in the Amish area on south eastern Ohio.  We went down to Charm and Berlin on a day trip.  Fabric, Amish cheese factory, farmer's market, flea markets etc.

 

This piece, made from an old sewing machine was at one of the antique malls.  Very original, but maybe a waste of a good old machine.



 

 

At one of the shops in Berlin they had this sewing machine by the front door.  This is a hard to find National Two Spool machine.  I have heard of these but had never seen one.  You use one spool on the top and another whole spool fits in instead of a bobbin.  Think of the hours of sewing without a bobbin running out.  Why can't they do that with modern machines??

 

 

We also visited the botanical gardens in Columbus.  They had Chihuli (sp) glass and a wonderful bonsai exhibit.

 

 

 

They also had sculptures based on origami designs.

 That's enough for now.  More pictures later

 





 

 

Well, that's been a vacation. . .

I guess I need to back up a couple of months.  I retired on May 13.  I had a really nice going away party from the Law School.  About 80 co-workers, and professors came by to wish me well.
I and my mother had planned the next week to leave for a trip to South Carolina to see mom's sister, Patricia.  But during that week we had 2 uncles pass away.  Leo Waterman (pink shirt) and Mitchell (Butch) Bennett (2nd from right).  Unfortunately that means all my mom's surviving sisters are now widows.

Mom's bd Nov. 2015

 

 So our trip was delayed by a week. Pat came up from SC for the funerals and we left just ahead of her to go to SC.

 

I took a different route this time to stop at Mary Jo Fabrics in Gastonia NC.  A much talked about store for quilters. Only I had forgotten our altered schedule so we were there on a Sunday.  There webpage didn't have Sunday hours listed so we didn't bother with the detour.  We did hit it on the way back north and I got lots of fabrics for my veteran's quilt project.

 

It is amazing to me as I travel around how much this land changes in such a short time.  Michigan is nice rolling with lots of forests. Northern Ohio was flat.   Then you slowly starting hitting the hills.  Bit of a change for me.

 

 

 

 

We had a wonderful time visiting with Aunt Pat and members of her family.  A couple of days after we got to Edgefield, we left for Hilton Head.  It was nice but a tropical depression blew in while we were there, but wasn't much worse than some of our thunder storms.  We got to the beach a couple of times.  Here is what a couple of 80+s look like. 78 degrees in the condo and they're cold with the air on. They couldn't understands why I didn't want to cover up too.

 

 

All in all it was a wonderful visit.  And we really appreciate my aunt's hospitality.

 

Safe trip there and back, but were glad to get home.

 









Contemplation

Well, it has finally arrived.  RETIREMENT! 

I consider myself luck in that I have always had a job.  When I was 8 or 9 I started babysitting. Took over my uncle's law mowing before I was 16.  Once I was old enough, I worked as a waitress and then as a grocery store cashier, back when you had to punch in all the prices and give out S&H green stamps.

When I was in high school I wanted to be a veterinarian in the worst way, but my father said that was no kind of job for a woman.  I also realize now no one had every explained to me the correlation between good grades and college. 

So what were my choices: homemaker, teacher, nurse or secretary.  Secretary it was.  After I graduated from high school I started at Lansing Business University to be a legal secretary.  In just 6 short months I fell into my first full time job.   I started working on a federal grant to look into the needs of the elderly in the tri-county area (Ingham, Eaton and Clinton).  We were able to start the first meal on wheels program and transportation services as well.  That was my first 6 years with Dave, Roxanne,  Dorothy and Marion..

But after awhile you get tired of wondering every year whether your grant will be renewed.  So I started looking.  Since we started out as a federal grant administered by the City of Lansing I was able to sign job postings from the City.

And I landed with the Lansing Police Department with many different jobs over the 12 years: Clerk on another grant program, matron in the jail, stenographer and finally as a secretary for the Uniform Division.  I worked with a lot of good men and women over those year.  But I hit a point where I was working daily with one really unhappy guy who made my life miserable enough that I moved on.

I spent the next nine years were as Secretary/Administrative Assistant to the City Treasurer.  I think there were at least 3 of them during that time. I was finally able to retire from the City of Lansing.  But since I had started working so young I still needed to work.  My final move, Michigan State University College of Law.  Since I had enjoyed working for the police and having dealings with the City Attorney's office and the Prosecutor's office I thought why not give it a try.  I will be just 2 months shy of 14 years at a faculty secretary when I retire at the end of this week.

This was a whole different world for me from government work.  People said thank you for your work and appreciated you efforts.  It was interesting to hear some of the conversations in the halls between professors and students.  All in all it has been a great place to work.

Now there will be time to travel, time to quilt, more time to spend with mom. Yippee!

Chicago International Quilt Show 2016

This year I was able to get on the bus that Pam Henrys organized to go to the Chicago Quilt show. This is a HUGE show.  This year it seemed like there were more vendors than quilts, I guess unless you count all the quilts on display in the vendor's booths.  We left Mason about 6:30 am and returned about 12 midnight. 

It was nice for a change to not be in charge of the bus.  I could just go and have fun.  Bought relatively little fabric and made by 10,000 step count for the day.  Here are some of my favorites.

detail of quilting

 

This would have been a appropriate one for Wren!

 

 

 

detail of above quilt

Happy Quilting!!

 

 

 

Retreat fun for 2016

We, the Variable Stars, were back at Turk Lake again the weekend of March 10. Just 6 of us this time and one day timer.  Lots of projects to be worked on.

Personally I took: 1. Scrappy mountain majesty to true up blocks and finish the top; 2. Clark's Stars to get the backing done to take to the quilter on Monday; and 2  quilts I started in Bonnie Hunter's last workshop at guild.  Would like to have tops pieced before her next workshop on March 17. Hopefully that will keep me busy for the 3 days.

I got the backing for Clark's quilt done and delivered it to be quilted the following Monday.

I got this much done on my Bonnie workshop quilt but found I had neglected to bring enough neutrals with me. This will probably be one of my veteran's quilts although my nephew has said this graduation quilt is getting pretty worn out.

 

Becky finish 2 tops.

 

And Jo got busy and finished 2 tops as well.

 

Barb played with triangles that I think she had left over from a project.

And Carol finished her log cabin made strictly out of men's recycled shirts.

And Pam came just for 1 day and brought some handwork with her.

So all in all a very productive weekend.  Can't wait until the next one.