Day 18: 2018 Review J-F-M

Time to look back a bit to where my year went. Here is a pic review and then some other posts to look back on.

Top row represents January into February.
I did so much appraisal shadowing these 2 months that I was very thankful to have time to go to St. Louis for a quilting retreat with friends from when I lived there.
This Blog Post discusses the retreat from a few years back when we were younger:)
Pics on top row are 1. View on the way to the airport to fly to St. Louis, 2. an aerial view of STL, and 3. my St. Valentine's Day Décor at home.

Second row: 1. My very first appraisal booth all on my own. What a fantastic day!  
2. My baby girl finishing nursing clinicals!! I am a very proud mom and she shines at whatever she puts her mind to and she has worked so hard for this!
3. We had a bit of a warm up late in February and so my husband and I took a rare moment to go sit by the water and have a beer together:)

Bottom row: 1. I finally met Kay:)  You have heard me talk of her in my Heritage Architect stories and it was great to meet her and go see her ice dye exhibit.
2. We lost a dear friend to cancer this year.  When we lived in NC, Paula and Sharon lived down the island a bit from us.  I met them through a business meeting and they owned the Wood Gallery that I exhibited in for awhile.  We spent many weekends at their place for oyster roasts which I had never heard of before them:)
We  moved and they moved but we were able to visit them in New Hampshire-WOW!  Their new gallery was even more amazing!!
Being with them was a joy with lots of laughter and love.  Our hearts break for Paula and are thankful she has family near to help her.  We love and miss you Sharon!!
3. I finally got to take a Brazilian Embroidery class. That pic is the class sample and it is gorgeous!!  Good to keep learning even when you think there isn't anything else.

In March we also had the annual COC charity auction. Click on COC to read about my donations. 

I do keep very busy. I wonder what my bullet journal would have looked like that first quarter??  Maybe we will see this upcoming year:)

Pop over to see who else is blogging...

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Fall in New Hampshire Part 2

While in NH, I made a trip to Keepsake Quilting. What a great shop.  It is a lot bigger than I anticipated and I also didn't realize that Knitworks is a part of them.  My mom would have loved that:)

 

We spent an afternoon in Meredith, NH and that was a cute little town....  Very picturesque on a lake!

 

At Loon Mountain they hold the largest Highland Games in the country.  We were there for the 37th annual games.  The setting was beautiful, the food was good, and the music was just wonderful!

When we arrived that morning, the mist was still hanging in the mountains and it was chilly and overcast.  By 11am the mist had cleared and it was sunny and 70's---Beautiful!

Here is the Caber Toss.  It is pretty amazing to see them run and throw this huge telephone pole! There was much grand standing:)

This was the moment that brought me to tears!  There were hundreds of pipers assembled and annually they pay tribute to friends and loved ones they have lost during the year.  This is done by playing Amazing Grace on the pipes:
One lone piper starts the song followed by a dozen more in the second round with the rest joining in on the 3rd round.  That song gives me goose bumps normally but hearing hundreds of bagpipes in unison put me over the edge. It is extremely moving!

So I wanted to go north for the color and although not peak, it was still so beautiful and invigorating to me!  I love taking rushing river pics too so I had a fabulous afternoon doing just that.

I can't possibly explain how much this environment does for my brain and my creativity.  I always feel like someone put me into high gear.

This particular river only had one lone red tree but it made a great focal point.  And it wouldn't be any fun to be here and not climb out on a rock in the middle of the river and take some action shots, right?  I could have sat there all day listening to the water!!!

Our day finished off with some real Maine Lobtahs that our friends had done for us when we got back.  This was my first lobster as an adult.  I didn't think I liked lobster......I DO:)

Fall in New Hampshire Part 1

This year for our 24th Wedding Anniversary we took a great trip north.  Autumn was just arriving and I was lighthearted and merry.  Those of you who know me well, will understand that Autumn is my absolute favorite time of year and I sorely miss it here in Florida.  The mornings were crisp and humidity free-it was wonderful! We packed a lot into 2 weeks so the adventure will be broken into parts with today being part one.

 

Florida to New Hampshire is a LONG drive so we broke it up over 3 days stopping in Savannah, GA and Baltimore, MD along the way. 

The stained glass was in Savannah and it was lit so beautifully.  I really should have taken a picture of this earthquake bolt I saw.  Have you heard of these?  They are the decorative stars you see on really old buildings and I always wondered what they were. In Savannah I saw one in the shape of a spiderweb-very cool.  Of course the question is were they real or a scam??

 

The Baltimore stop was convenient but also sentimental.  Jim and I met and were married there as well as our first daughter being born there.  Whenever we stop there we can't help having those, "remember when" conversations.  The Harbor has really grown and it looks like the city is making a real effort to bring it back. Yay!

 

While in NH, we stayed with some dear friends.  They own a wood turning gallery there by the name of Birch View Barn.  The work is phenomenal! 

Back in September I showed a piece I was working on here.  Now here it is in the gallery waiting for someone to come purchase it.  It looks so beautiful in that setting.

 

Our friends had a few days off so that we could get the complete tour of New England including Nubble Lighthouse in Maine.  It was perfectly picturesque!

 

The lighthouse is out on a rock island and the only way the caretaker could get there was on these lines you see.  At the far end you can see a small boat that the caretaker would get into and wench himself back and forth from main land to island.

 

I love this picture partly because it is so hard for me to get Jim into one:))  He is the love of my life and I am thankful he let me have this one for our anniversary!

 

We also took a day to head into Portland, ME.  There was a time we were almost stationed there and we had some curiosity about what we missed.  All of New England is so pretty in summer and fall....just not sure if we would have loved winter there.

 

Of course you can't go to New England and not do some antique shopping.  There couldn't have been a more perfect antique for me to find than this wonderful whalebone needle case.  The needle case part is obvious but I also love the basketweave design that reminds me of the Irish Belleek porcelain.  Plus, I have been fascinated with scrimshaw, etc. ever since 6th grade history class when we spent a portion of our year studying whaling.  What a perfect treasure for me:)