September 20 – December 31, 2010

When we returned back to Indiana we kept very busy. After we unpacked all of our boxes for the house I had started to sort through the boxes marked “Quilting”. I also read a book about cutting squares and having them ready to sew in between other things. So I began to sort and sort. I had to press the fabric and then I cut strips 1 ½ inch, 2 inch, 2 ½ inch and 3 ½ inch wide. It the strips were the fabric width or at least 15 or so inches long I saved them as strips. All other pieces I kept and I then cut them into squares. Now I have 4 boxes of cut squares and I can begin to make quilts from them.

I taught a class at Heritage Pointe for the folded star ornaments that my cousin Sandy taught me. It was fun to do. We went to the Pulse Opera House in Warren to see Blythe Spirit and drove to Fishers to watch the Hamilton SE Marching Band competition. The first weekend in October we stayed at Wyndham Fairfield Glade and attended the South Asia Conference which was held on the west side of Knoxville. It was wonderful to reconnect with so many of the folks we served with overseas and learn about what they are doing and how to pray for them. As we left we stopped back at Deb’s in Nashville for one night, rented a u-haul trailer and got our piano to take back to Indiana.

I started attending a Scrappy Club at the Engine House Quilt Shop in Berne which is the first Thursday of the month. Of course I can only go a few times a year but I try to when we are home. Taylor Homecoming was the second weekend of October and this was the 40th year for Coleen’s class. October 16 my cousin Sandy and her husband Frank came to visit my dad and we got to visit with them. They live in New Jersey and we don’t get to see them very often. On Monday I went with Heritage Pointe on a trip called volunteer visitation day. We visited the Warren Food Pantry, Love Inc in Huntington and the Lutheran Children’s Hospital. Items are contributed to all three of these from Heritage Pointe.

We ordered our last piece of furniture from Smith’s Furniture in Huntington and went to the townhouse/villa luncheon. Friday night October 22 we had dinner at our pastor’s and had a nice time of getting to know their family. Saturday, October 23rd found us packing again. It seems hard to believe that the month at home went by so quickly.

Sunday, October 24 we checked into Wyndham Smoky Mountains, Sevierville, TN. We attended the Celebration Conference for senior adults sponsored by Phil Waldrop Ministries. It was really a wonderful time of worship. On Thursday we checked in at Wyndham Nashville and spent until November 7 there. We were at Deb’s house much of the time. She wanted some of my patterns but I had things already cut out so I sewed three shell tops and then a quilted t-shirt jacket for her. She was working during the day so that gave me time to sew. We helped her rearrange the living room and sitting room since we had taken the piano. We were even able to get her antenna hooked up to her TV so she has more channels. Most of the time we have been in Nashville we have spent working with her but this time we took a trip to a National Park on both Saturdays.

Fort Donelson National Park is close to the Tennessee Kentucky border along the Tennessee River. Mary Lois was able to go with us both times. After watching the film in the visitor center we followed the driving tour.







Stones River National Battlefield is in Murfreesboro. We rented a tape here and drove to the sites. Then we had lunch in Murfreesboro.





We also spent one late afternoon and evening with the Sammons. We had found shirts for all of the kids and I made pillow cases for each one of the kids.



We left Nashville on November 7 after attending early church with Debby and lunch at Red Lobster. We spent one night in Little Rock and then checked into Silverleaf Villages in Flint, Texas on Monday. Tuesday our good friends from Grand Prairie came to spend one night with us, Jo & David Glazener.

It was a great time to catch up and we spent the next day with them in Tyler.

The end of the week found us at lunch with Johnny and Diana Norwood who lived in our apartment building in Chiang Mai. They now live in Longview, Texas.

We then had dinner with Greg and Betsy Martin who also live in Longview.

We traveled from Flint to Montgomery, Texas which is right north of Houston. We stayed at Sweetwater at Lake Conroe. The unit was nice but there was nothing there at all to do. The pools and hot tubs at the country club were closed. We did walk part of the mornings and we also did some more visiting.

We drove to Bryan/College Station to see Glen and Marvella Thompson who also served overseas with us.

We met Kevin and Malia Myers at a Mexican restaurant in Houston. We were really glad that we could find a time when both of them were available.


One other evening we met the Crews family for dinner in the Woodlands.

The end of the week we drove to Katy and visited with Coleen's cousin Jim Castles and his wife Mary Ellen.

Thanksgiving week we went to Phil and Susan’s in Waco.

We didn’t do anything special but just visited. It turned quite cool and Phil built a fire in the fireplace. Susan put up one of their Christmas trees.


We had a non-traditional Thanksgiving dinner since James didn’t want turkey and “all that stuff”. We had steak, twice-baked potatoes, asparagus and rolls with cheesecake for dessert.

We left Texas on November 27 and returned home Sunday November 28.
December 1st was our first snow.



We put up the Christmas tree that we bought in October


and then got another small one for the library. I worked on quilting during the month and often I found Bob "working" on the computer.


We went to some of the activities at the home during December. Saturday December 4th we awoke at 3 am to find half the house (the kitchen side) flooded with over an inch of water. A hose under the sink had come off and the hot water tank was emptied and water coming out was cold by then. What a mess! It took us over a week to get it all taken care of and I was very glad when the fans were turned off. They were so noisy. We sang in our Christmas Cantata at church and also at a nursing home in Huntington. We so enjoyed spending time with folks at church and getting to know them better.

I baked over 10 kinds of cookies and 4 kinds of candy. We used some of the cookies at the soup kitchen and gave others to some neighbors. I had a great time since I really hadn’t baked since 2003 for the holidays. Debby came up for the Christmas weekend and Dad came over every day. This is the trek from the garage with all the cookies.


We had cinnamon rolls for Christmas breakfast.

Somehow Santa forgot the stockings as they were empty.




One of the quilt items I had been working on was for Deb. Here she is with the blocks I gave her for Christmas.

Maybe by her birthday I will be able to finish it. We played games and looked at old slides.

New Year’s Eve we spent playing Tic with Dad. The party at the home was canceled due to the flu outbreak. We didn't stay up to see the new year in but it seems to have arrived anyhow.
This is the first quilt I made from the squares that I cut out.

Wisconsin Dells - September 2010

I have to be very honest, we didn’t research anything about the Wisconsin Dells and didn’t really know what to expect. And I don’t know what I expected but it wasn’t what I did expect. I sure hope that makes sense. We stayed at the Wyndham Glacier Canyon Resort in a very nice room except for when the ceiling was leaking. It took them 24 hours to determine that there was a small pin hole in the water line to the refrigerator in the condo up above us. It had leaked long enough that there was lots of water in the ceiling and down the walls and it dripped in two spots in our bathroom and one in the kitchen. This was after Labor Day and even though the weather was beautiful they close the outdoor pools right after Labor Day.

Now what we really found in Wisconsin Dells was water parks and water parks and more water parks. I think there was one connected to every hotel and resort. There were three at our resort. It was very busy and hectic on the weekend but became much quieter during the week. We did go to the water park one day. I did the lazy river which is really just my speed and I enjoyed it. Bob tried one of the slides but did not do well afterward so he won’t try that again. It whipped him around too much in the tube.

We explored the downtown area, stopped at fudge shop and a popcorn shop and stopped at a couple of cheese and wine stores. We were looking for cheese curds but they were really high priced.

The highlight of the week was our trip to the House on the Rock located about 1½ hours from where we were staying near Spring Green, Wisconsin.







I loved the gardens and the plants. I don't think I had seen Chinese Lanterns before.


Coleen’s dad and her brother Eric were there last year which is how we found out about it. Dad talked about how exhausting it was and we hadn’t been there more than 15 minutes and we could understand why. By the time we finished 5 hours later we were tired but utterly amazed at the enormity of what is there. It is something we would recommend that everyone see but we don’t think it is good for children. They would become too bored.

The House on the Rock originally opened in 1959 and is a complex of architecturally unique rooms, streets, gardens and shops designed by Alex Jordan, Jr. The house is atop Deer Shelter Rock, a column of rock approximately 60 feet tall and 70 feet by 200 feet on the top. Many additions have been made to the original structure and other buildings have been added over the course of several decades.

First we toured the museum which gave the history and explanation of the house. Then we toured the house itself.

It has actually never been lived in but could be. There was a very nice kitchen and the house consists of room after room, some up a couple of steps, some in small nooks and others with walk through passages.



The walls in one area were filled with books. Another area had stained glass lamp shades.



Most of the walls were still rock. It was just unbelievable. And then there was the Infinity Room which is designed to seem like it goes on forever.

It is actually the part that protrudes from the building with no external support.



Bob was not comfortable being here to have this picture taken.


After the house we toured The Streets of Yesterday which is a re-creation of an early twentieth century American town.


Then there was The Heritage of the Sea which had nautical exhibits and a 200-ft model of a whale-like sea creature. There is a huge collection of automatic music machines that still play. These were extremely fascinating and fun to watch. With your admission ticket you received some tokens to play the machines but could also purchase others or if you were around some other folks you listened when they played them.




There was a large indoor carousel with over 200 animals none of which were horses and all of which were original pieces.



The walls around it were filled with horses. It was lit by more than 20,000 lights.

Even the bathrooms were decorated with strange objects, including mannequins and flowers.




There was also a doll carousel and 250 doll houses. We decided that anything that could be collected could be found here. I couldn’t count the number of organs in the music building.


I still just shake my head as I think of all that was there. What a sight and a very unusual place.

We left Wisconsin on the 18th and stopped for one night in Bartlett to visit with Cindy, Ron and girls. We thought we would get in a couple more softball games but the weather didn’t cooperate and we headed home on Sunday after attending church with Cindy.