Quilt Barn

The Quilt Barn idea evolved out of Ohio and can be found all over Kentucky and Tennessee. Most are eight foot by eight foot in size. There are some quilt barn trails but I have not done that yet and just enjoyed them when I come upon them. One problem is that they come up fast and the narrow roads do not always make getting a photo possible. Thanks to Todd Smith and his turning around several times so Joan & I could get some recorded.

The one above is on Rt 66 between Manchester and Beverly KY so I pass it very often.The one above is near my friend Patti's home in Johnson City, TN


Above is in honor of the Kentucky Wildcats

I think the geese probably land on this pond

Grandbaby

Ruthanne Elizabeth

arrived Wednesday, May 19th at 12:05 am.

She is a blessing and I love her soooo much!

Here are some of my favorite pictures from my visits

with her and her parents Doug & Catherine

Hospital 05/22/10Daddy stripping her down to help wake her up to nurse.

She was jaundice so she & mom stayed an extra day in the hospital but came home during my visit.

It was so hard to leave her -

I knew she would change a lot by the next time I would get to see her. Second visit June 19 - One month old! All dressed up for her first Church service on Mother's Day - she was so good hardly made a peep. She has found her thumb and likes her whole hand as well. At one month still has all the dark hair she was born with. Catherine and Doug went out Sunday afternoon for a little while and I got to have a little alone time with her & they got home just when she was ready to nurse.Third visit Sept 3rd - four and one-half months old and she sure has changed.

Most of the black hair is gone and she has a little hair that Great-Grandma Stoughton is sure is RED. I gave her two baths on the kitchen table in her little tub - she laughs and kicks her legs - we had a lot of fun and got water all over. She "talks" and "sings" especially likes to copy you when you sing la la la. She smiles and drools all the time - a very happy baby and sleeping quite long nights. Still likes to suck on her thumb and hand. We went to the Amish market on Sat and she enjoyed that but likes to be on the move in the stroller not just standing around. She likes to lay on her back, kick her legs, play with her feet, look at everything around her. When you are holding her she likes to stand and bounce on her feet. She doesn't like to be on her stomach so may crawl or turn over just to be able to get on her back or see more things.

Oh, did I say I love Ruthanne & she is wonderful!
I could stand & watch her sleep for a very long time.

She smiles a lot but this was the best I could catch.

She loves her Mom!

Mom was at the MD State Fair showing some cows for a few days and I think Ruthanne was glad to have her home, though Grandpa and Grandma filled in - she is so good that she did not complain that we did not know what the routine was.

Rocking with Grandpa Yetter
Grandma's sweetheart!

Cardinals, Arch

Wed, April 28 I flew to St Louis for a training day and to help with the RBM booth at the UMW Assembly but first things first - I attended a Cardinals / Braves evening game with a friend from the mission. Had a great St Louis barbecue hot dog dinner and watched a fun game that the Cardinals won 6 to 0 - it was so fun to watch a major league game! Note arch and the hotel I stayed at in the background.

After a training day on Thursday I took a walk taking pictures and met up with Mark & Linda Lemons (from Henderson Settlement) - we enjoyed a nice evening walking around town, fancy deserts at a sidewalk cafe, and walked right by the arch in the dark.

I helped Tim Crawford, the Development Manager, in the booth at the United Methodist Women's Assembly. We met lots of women and shared with them about RBM. The women in this picture did some training in the Clinic and has fond memories of her time of service.

I attended the opening worship Fri night with a large group attending from the RBM Missionary Conference. Between 5 and 6 thousand were in attendance at the assembly.

Shaker Village

Mom, Dad, and I had a very good lunch in this building at Shaker Village.

The redbuds were out everywhere we traveled. This building had two of these beautiful staircases.Dad had a nice visit with this gentleman with the oxen.While we waited for our lunch reservation time and for the wagen ride we took after lunch we walked aound enjoying the dogwoods and apple trees in full bloom.Our driver on the wagon ride told us a lot about the Shakers and we got to see a lot of the village. What a beautiful day we had to spend at the Shaker Village.

KY Bourbon with Mom & Dad

Dad has long enjoyed Wild Turkey bourbon and has a couple of turkey decanters in his collections. We enjoyed the tour in Lawrenceburg KY.The warehouses that hold the barrels for years were huge and many of them. If you have dairy or beef cattle in this area you can pick up the "waste" for free. Our guide was good and we learned a lot about bourbon making.In the summer the windows are open in the warehouses.

Mom & Dad arrived for a visit

Mom and Dad came to visit me in KY. I moved from my apartment to a house on Mon, April 5th with the help of a work team that had everything in by 11:30 am. Wed the 7th our long time friend Patti picked up M&D in Knoxville and drove them to Red Bird. We had a great dinner together and enjoyed lunch together at RB Senior Center before we thanked Patti for the airport shuttle service from a great friend. More to come about our travels around KY.

Cousin visit

Thursday, March 4th I met Frank and Mabel Brucknack and their daughter Kathy Morgan-Thompson in Pineville and we had a wonderful lunch at Pine Mountain State Park. The Mountain View Restaurant has beautiful views of the mountain tops.

There are bird feeders next to the windows with trees & bushes close by for the birds to perch in. We thought this one might be a purple finch or a redpoll.

Kathy got a lot of nice pictures of the all the birds, they came up close to the windows and filled the branches.

After lunch we all enjoyed a tour of Red Bird Mission given by Tim Crawford that I work with. I had not been on an official tour so even I learned some new things about RBM. We enjoyed a relaxing evening together visiting. Fri Kathy, Mabel and I took a trip to the craft store and then drove up to the Beverly Church, Senior Center, and site of the original campus. It was so good to have family visit and share meals.

Valentines Weekend in TN

After returning from my holiday visit to NY it was back to work Jan 4th and little time off working on the new accounting software system, closing out 2009, board meeting preparations. This winter has been much colder and snowier than is normal. Valentine's weekend I had a wonderful time visiting my friend Patti Fox in Kingsport, TN. Kingsport is only 2 hr from Beverly and I was lucky to get dry roads both ways. I have know Patti since we were children and she lived in NJ and our families visited each other during the summers. Patti is newly retired from her carrier in the air force and bought a home in TN this fall. Patti and I enjoyed dinner out Fri night and then went back to her home to watch the opening ceremonies of the Olympics. We had such a wonderful relaxing Sat morning just hanging out in our PJ's, watching Olympics and catching up. We headed out for some antique shops, a fun hot dog lunch, and getting some things purchased on my shopping list. We went out for dinner and watched some more Olympics. Sun we relaxed again in the morning and then I made us omelets for brunch. Thanks so much to Patti for the very relaxing weekend that I was in great need of. "Old" friends are such a blessing when you can reconnect and enjoy each others company. I am looking forward to living near to Patti and hope we can spend time together often.

Thanks Patti for a wonderful weekend!

New Years *#~*&^

Home to snowy Newark Valley for New Years Eve and our Christmas celebrations.This year we spent New Year's Eve and New Year's Day celebrating.

Joan and Audrey in wonderful hats cooking molton chocolate puddings as a midnight treat. Ike and Jewel - hats and noisemakersSeveral hand of Shanghi Rummy were played - Nana knows the rules by heart.Audrey likes Faiths new American Girl new doll.
Eric and Ike relaxing Mom, Deb, and Karla - it was so good to see everyone for the holidays.

SNOW & Christmas

Fri, Dec 18 it started to snow with the biggest flakes I think I have ever seen. RBM Christmas party was cancelled so I went home and started to decorate my tree. I was putting on the third string of lights when the lights went out!

I lit a group of candles and kept on decorating the tree. Chris & Karen Klimecko stopped over with to check in and see the tree in the candle light. I went to bed in hopes that the electric would be back on in the morning. Morning came with and I finished the tree and wrapped some gifts (no electricity needed). In the afternoon spent a little time in a travel trailer with a group getting warm. Plans for the night were made to go to an unoccupied house on campus that had a fireplace. Ten of us slept in the house for the night - most of us on the living room floor - I fed the fire for the night. Sun Karen K and her Mom (visiting from San Antonio) went to Lexington for a hotel room and shopping. Chris & went to stores in London looking for anything to heat with. We found & purchased a small bottled gas generator. When we got back to campus the electric was still not on so I packed a bag and headed back to Manchester to the BEST Western for the longest hot shower and the heat turned way up - after a wonderful nights sleep and another show I headed back to campus. The generator for what use to be the hospital was working now and the rooms were filling up. Hospital rooms of old have been turned into guest rooms for people to use when dropping things off at the mission - now were home for two nights. Computer room became my office with my laptop and jump drive with work files on it. Learned a new card game hand & foot. The electric came on for half of campus (we are split down the middle using two companies - end the line for both??) so I went back to the office to work. Electric had been on during part of the day at my apartment and then went back off around 5. The girls dorm had electricity so we moved to the girls dorm - moved in - had another group meal - the electric came back on that evening but most of us watched a little TV together, waited to see if it would stay on, and gave our homes a while to warm back up. After FIVE days the electricity was back on and we all went home. Spending this time together with RBM employees and their families was a time of getting to know each other better, eating together, and playing games together.

Christmas Eve candle light service a lovely and a group came over to my home for a glass of wine. Christmas we joined together again for a festive meal at the girls dorm.