After an uneventful, though extremely tardy arrival, I arrived at the house and Mom whispered "look!" and gleefully pointed in the direction of a shadowy corner of the kitchen/dining area.
A dog crate?!
Mom and Dad had lost their last terrier two years earlier and had talked of getting another dog for some time. They were waiting for just the right one, and not making any sudden decisions.
"A dog?", I whispered back..... remembering at one time they also had a beloved cat, and thinking maybe that was a possibility too.
My Dad said, "Joy?" to get my attention and then held up TWO fingers. TWO???
My first glimpse:
Boxers! They had owned them all of about four or five hours before my plane arrived. And with that, the fun began. It was so relaxing to just sit and adore the squirmy little puppy bellies and laugh at their antics. We didn't go anywhere, except out to eat to our favorite Chinese buffet, and to Walmart for a few items. The rest of our time together was spent enjoying puppies, sewing, inhaling the delicious food Mom made, and playing in the snow. Yes, SNOW!
Here are some pix of (L to R) Javelin (meaning: graceful spear) and Jaeger (meaning: hunter). Years ago Dad named the home we lived in as kids the "4J Ranch". (All four of our names, parents and kids, started with J). He ran the 4 and the J together, using the vertical portion of the J as the vertical portion of the 4, so the 4 had a J "within" it..... He had a stamp made and a sign for the house, etc. When my sister and I married/moved away - we still referred to it as the 4J Ranch but now, there are four J's living there again. :)
Someday, he won't be able to get even one into his lap comfortably!
We love our chef - she makes great puppy food!
But I want to go play in the den! It looks like fun over there!
Okay, fine! I'll play 'pull the sock" with Mom.
....Until I'm tired....
Big yard, tiny puppy!
After a few days, playing in the big yard was NOT an option. We got snow, which delighted me immensely. As usual, it drifted from 5 inches to 30+ inches in various areas of the yard, so Dad got to play with his new snowblower. If he had not, I'm not sure I would have made it out of the driveway to catch my flight home. I suited up and shoveled and took lots of pictures.
Snowpants are "hot" and not in a good way!
If you click on this, it may "embiggen" - that is my 80-year-old Mom shoveling heavy snow!
Dad's new toy - cutting right through the heavy snow!
Sillouette's stable (Mom's much-loved geriatric mare, now over Rainbow Bridge). Love the morning light on the hills behind it.
The snow drift was as tall as the snow blower.... but it did the job!
Embiggen these if you can - it's so pretty up there.
Love this "berm" of snow, almost looks like a wave in the ocean!
If you look closely you can see the "diamonds" in the snow - I love this!
Sewing did take place while I was there. And this is where I need to say "thank you" to my quilting friends.
Jenny gave us a quilt for the Women's/Children's Crisis Center home. It only lacked a binding and I put that on while I was there. It is beautiful, and the director of the home was SO grateful to get it for one of the beds there. A quilt can make a strange place seem so "homey" for someone going through a bad time.
I believe the fabric for this next quilt came from Ellen. She had given me a zip log bag with strips, all 3-1/4 inches wide, left over after a project. I decided to just make simple 9 patches, pairing the strips with a white-on-white I had, and I backed it with a simple white Minkee.
This made an extremely warm quilt (I was getting hot quilting it!) and I think it will be appreciated by someone in very cold Wyoming! I left it up to the director to choose whether it went to a young girl, or an adult who could use a lap quilt to keep warm.
The next quilt(s) are made from fabric that I think is from Beth. My quilting friends blessed me with fabric and it got all put together and now I am not certain what is from who! The pattern was in a bag with a few blocks, and almost the whole jelly roll. I'm really glad Beth decided she didn't want it any more! :)
First, Dad and I finished the one that was started..... We made it child sized, and we abandoned the pattern pretty quickly as we were totally confused,. We just took the basic idea from the cover picture and worked with it until we were pleased. It went together really quickly and I love it!
After we were done, we realized we had an awful lot of that jelly roll left over, so we made a simple rail fence for a second baby quilt! And then there were a few tiny pieces left and we decided to throw them together willy-nilly and make a changing pad.
I brought these tops home to quilt.... I am packing up my life/sewing room/house for our move to Tennessee next year, but I hope to clear the dining room table and quickly quilt these tops. After that, there will be no quilting, I expect, except for my "Ode to the Thirties" quilt I am making along with Yvette. Until after the move, there's just too much to be accomplished!
A few other random pictures:
I get my "cook a lot at a time" from Mom - here she had just made their next month's granola supply, four flavors. I sneaked a bowl - soooooooooo good!
One of my favorites of the snow.
It was a fun trip and I can't wait to go back.
When I do, there will be NO lap puppies there! Javelin and Jaeger will be big boxer girls by then!
