Saturday, April 4, 2015

Spring!


Easter Eggs by Joan Coats

From snow and cold to wind, sun, and springtime so fast my head is spinning!  Happy Spring to everyone, hope your Easter weekend is wonderful.  We are loving NO snow, getting around easily, spring coats....whoever thought it would feel so good to put on a light pretty spring jacket?  I thought I was doomed to live in my puffer parka forever.  Argh......!

I haven't been quilting, as "other things" took over my life recently.  Some eye problems which are doing better now, lunches with friends, getting new smart phones and learning how to use them while trying to activate them, not a recommended procedure.  However, I now know my little sweet phone so well, and am glad I finally took the plunge and feel like an adult with my slim cool phone tucked in my purse.  It is truly amazing what it can do.

Then......we got rid of our phone land line!  It was scary, but it is very freeing not to have that phone ringing all day, early in the a.m., during meals, during evenings, during showers, drove me crazy.  It is blissfully quiet now, and if you must contact me, please use my usual email:  dianequilter@sbcglobal.net 

I did have to figure out and hook up our new high-speed internet, but that went well too.  I also had to face the spaghetti of cables and wires and confusion behind our tv when the DVR from our cable company just decided to quit working right and wouldn't record.  

Detective work on my part indicated our DVD player sitting beneath the cable DVR was not working, but it was all looped together in a maze of scary cordage.  I mapped out all the connections, drew a picture, pulled cables out of the DVD player, re-hooked pertinent cables to the DVR and tv using common sense, and voila, it worked perfectly!  Whew......needed some coffee and chocolate after that day.

It has been stressful but I feel the demands of modern day technology either require someone in your life who does it for you, professionals coming in and doing it and making you feel like the old folks on the sofa, or learning how to do it yourself.  I chose the latter and am happy everything is perking along fine.


Oliver helped us do the taxes one weekend, sat on the calculator, rummaged and messed up the stacks of papers, and finally left to take a power nap upstairs in peace and quiet while we added, listed stuff, and double checked.  He is so handsome and gets sweeter every day.  He goes in for his yearly vaccination this week so we're not looking forward to that.  

And......we celebrated our 46th wedding anniversary, photo below.  I lost all our wedding photos in a house catastrophe over 20 years ago, but last year we got my mother-in-law's photo of us with her other two children, framed and on her dresser her entire life.   I dug it out of the cupboard recently as it was so faded I didn't want any more light on it, opened the frame to take a photo with my new phone (fantastic camera and I can edit right on the camera.....who knew???), and there, stuck behind the photo she displayed, was one of my husband Alan and me, faded but not too bad.  


It was 1969 and Edwardian style was in.  I had very short dyed dark brown hair after a swimming pool in college turned my light hair a pea soup green.  The large cabbage ribbon thing on my head covered most of it!  The sleeves and bodice were sheer, and there was a lovely lace applique down the entire center to the hem, with tiny buttons.  How young we were, hard to believe we didn't even know it. 


I just finished making this plate of deviled eggs for our grazing day of eating, as we are going out for Easter dinner tomorrow.  The card is from a friend who sends me pretty postcards every now and then in the mail, brightening my day each time.  This one was left on the counter and I discovered the rabbit's eye was missing after Oliver checked it out.  I found it down in the grassy stuff on the card, which fortunately was not eaten.  

Hope all of you are enjoying spring, getting out to spend time at quilt events, and doing some quilting.  I hope to get back to my quilting soon and will post some updates on my adventure into working with feed dogs.

Keep quilting!  It is the most relaxing meditative thing I have ever done....happy spring,
Diane


9 comments:

QuiltShopGal said...

Happy 46th Anniversary to you and Alan. Very special in deed. You definitely sound like you have had your hands full with electronic challenges and come out of that experience with your mind in tact. I get so befuddled having to deal with such.

Wish you, Alan and Oliver a very Happy and healthy Easter.

QuiltShopGal
www.quiltshopgal.com

Diane Gaudynski said...

Thanks QuiltShopGal! Happy Easter to you too. I seem to have less time for quilting now that we are both retired, hmmmmm.......
Diane

Quilting Babcia said...

Happy Anniversary and a blessed Easter to you both! Your photo made me smile because we just unearthed a photo of my younger sister in her wedding gown and it looks pretty much like yours, cabbage rose veil topper included! I'm pretty sure it was 1969 though it might have been 1970. Funny how the quilting time decreases when hubby retires, isn't it. Have been finding that out here this year. Looking forward to seeing your future quilty posts!

Anonymous said...


Happy Anniversary!
Oliver is so sweet and beautiful. I hear you on the less quilting time now that you are retired. Both my husband and I are now retired and it seems like we have so much to do and less time to do it in!

Wishing you, Alan and Oliver a happy Easter.

Kathy

Laura T said...

Happy Easter and a very Happy Anniversary! How special to find a wedding photo!! I also look forward to your posts and finding out what your Oliver is up to:-) off to do some quilting today. I finished up the binding on a quilt my daughter-in-law made 5 years ago and she never got around to doing the binding. It is one of the things I love to do.
Enjoy the day!
LauraT

Diane Gaudynski said...

Thanks for your comments! I do find less time now for my own quiet work. Laura T I wish I loved to bind quilts, absolutely hate it, and have so many finished small projects that cry out for binding but that's not going to happen.....sigh.

Oliver is busy watching a young rabbit on our front step, so exciting. And that's about how exciting it is at our house now,
Diane

debbe said...

Happy, happy anniversary to you both. I love your book and blog . I am hoping you could teach in south west Florida or western caroling- please publish your schedule it you are up to it.
Thanks,
Debbie @thequiltjournal.com

Diane Gaudynski said...

Thanks Debbie :-)
I don't have any teaching scheduled now, and if I decide to do more I'll add it here to my blog.
Diane

California Fiber artist and composer said...

Happy anniversary. 46 years is a long time. there are people who will restore photos if that helps you.