Tea in Augusta Kansas

Today I got to have tea at the Historical Society's  C.N. James Trading Post in Augusta, Kansas.

The trading post was used as a general store and post office, and upstairs two different churches met and school was held. It was truly a community building.

It was built in 1868 and is wonderfully preserved by the Historical Society of Augusta, Kansas.

The tea is a fundraiser for them and it's worth every penny. In fact, it was a tremendous bargain.

Greg, Mia and I went. She is out for the Hutchinson Art Fair tomorrow.

I have to say that Greg is quite the sport when it comes to such things. He was the only man having tea. There were some other guys there helping out with the tea, but Greg was very pleasant about the whole thing.

A few years ago I was in Savannah with another friend of mine, Jim, and we decided we wanted to go get a little something to drink. I said, "Well, there's a tea room near here but I'm sure you don't want to go there." He said, "Why not?" I said, "Well, it's kind of a girl thing." He said, "So, why would I not want to be surrounded by women?"

We went to tea. The ladies who ran the shop fawned over him constantly since he was the only man there who was there willingly. We got a fabulous seat by the window. They kept bringing him more goodies and more tea. I was somewhat invisible to them as far as I could tell. But, hey, I can play the game. I just had Jim ask for whatever I wanted. It was a wonderful way to spend a couple of hours on a May afternoon in Savannah.

This afternoon in Augusta, we shared the room with a number of other tea goers. They seat about 40 at a time and it's a wonderful, cozy, intimate setting.





One of the great things about this space is there lots of windows. We were seated right by one, which gave us great light on our table and centerpiece.



That's a 1943 recipe for Dill Pickles, in case you're wondering. I love the fact that it was written on a piece of paper that had a postmark - waste not, want not.



If you'd like to make this recipe, you can click here for a larger version so you can read it.

One of the cool things about going to tea is meeting other tea-goers. Today was no exception - we met Carol Bates, who was perfectly lovely. There were two other places set at our table but those folks didn't show up. They really missed out.

Carol was delightful. We really enjoyed getting to meet her. She was teasing us, just like we were teasing each other.

She was infatuated with yet another recipe that was part of the centerpiece. It was rather interesting that no matter where you were seated, you had a pretty view of something. Greg and I were opposite each other and both taking photos so we got some different views. I didn't even realize until I looked at the pictures tonight that the pot in the centerpiece had a decoration on it from Greg's viewpoint.





Mia and I had wonderful seats, right by the window.



And outside the window was a lovely view, too.



They ask your name when you make reservations and have wonderful little name tags at each place so your seat is assigned. I couldn't have been happier with my spot. The tags are held in perfect little teapot shaped place card holdesr and done by hand by the director, Diana.



These little dolls hold a teabag and are fitted with a magnet so you can put them on your fridge as a little reminder of the day.



Greg, of course, could not resist having some fun with the little doll...



He was amusing his girlfriend, Mia...



and Carol...



I was busy taking photos, of course.

After tea, I couldn't resist snapping this photo of Greg's shirt pocket with the favors we got to take away poking up out of his pocket.

This is a lovely, lovely place for a tea. It's rustic and charming and cozy and intimate.

If you happen to live anywhere nearby, mark your calendars for next year. It's held the first Friday and Saturday in May each year, two seatings each day. They do a great job and I assure you you will not go away hungry.

They do a buffet style, which, as you know, is not my favorite way to do tea. However, because there are fewer people at each seating than at any other tea I've been to, the line moves quickly.

I always prefer tea to be served in one fashion or another, but this is a minor inconvenience. And, on the plus side, there was far more than you would want to eat. My usual pattern is "one of everything" and that was a heaping plate today and I could not possibly eat it all. They then brought around trays with extra goodies on them so I got to have three cucumber sandwiches. And I enjoyed each one, let me tell you!



Kudos to Diana, the director, and the volunteers who helped make this possible. It was fabulous.



You'll have some time before and after tea to look around the museum and there are some fun things there, too.

One last photo of the day - I loved this portrait of Greg in one of his "normal" poses. He often holds his camera this way and I loved capturing this moment. You gotta love a guy who happily goes to tea.

Wally Schirra

Wally Schirra died today at age 84. He was one of the original Mercury 7 astronauts - those with the "right stuff." Schirra died in California.

"With the passing of Wally Schirra, we at NASA note with sorrow the loss of yet another of the pioneers of human space flight," said NASA Administrator Michael Griffin in a statement. "We who have inherited the space program will always be in his debt."

Schirra was the only astronaut to fly on Mercury, Gemini and Apollo flights. He orbited Earth six times in an October 1962 Mercury flight, making him the third man in space.

Schirra never got to the moon, but his command of the Apollo 7 mission in October 1968 paved the way for the subsequent moon missions.

Astronauts are something of a "dime a dozen" where I live. The Kansas Cosmosphere and Space Center in Hutchinson attracts them to the area on a regular basis. But I've always had a soft spot for Wally Schirra.

Many years ago when I was a young TV reporter in Lexington, Kentucky I got to interview him - ever so briefly. His flight had been delayed and he was late for a speech, but he took a few minutes to speak with us in a parking lot and was pleasant, charming and witty. I was too young and foolish to fully appreciate the greatness of the man in front of me, but even I knew it was a moment I would savor in retrospect. And I have - many times.

Schirra once wrote, "We shared a common dream to test the limits of man's imagination and daring. Those early pioneering flights of Mercury, the performances of Gemini and the trips to the moon established us once and for all as what I like to call a spacefaring nation. Like England, Spain and Portugal crossing the seas in search of their nations' greatness, so we reached for the skies and ennobled our nation."

Condolences to his friends and family.

Kitchen News

While I was away, my flower bed went crazy with growth. My dianthus, affectionately known as "pinks" where I'm from, are just beautiful. Last year when they were down to a quarter a bunch at the end of the season I bought a couple more plants and stuck them in. Both of them have really taken off.

Of course, as you know, I am infatuated with having flowers in the house. I bring greenery in when I don't have blooms. And all my little vases I've been buying are now filled with sprigs on the shelf in the kitchen.



Part of me wants to be one of those people who does things in a minimal way, but I'm just not. I guess you can tell from the dozen plus vases, multiple teapots, French candy mold and Avebury, England postcard crowded together on the two foot long shelf. I like the look of greenery and little pink flowers on vases and knick knacks that remind me of special moments and the little jar to hold rings that belonged to my mother. I am a person driven by the things that trigger memories and I doubt that's going to change.

In other kitchen news... Greg brought me a wonderful surprise tonight. Sixty-four pieces of Taylor, Smith and Taylor Boutonniere dishes in the Ever Yours Shape. OK, truth be told, I really don't have a clue what all that means - I just looked at the bottom of the plate and then looked it up online. I just know it's pretty. I've been watching it for awhile and told Greg when it went half price to just buy it and I'd repay him. He's such a dedicated shopper when someone is on the hunt for something. Ya gotta love that about him.

This set has been at the local goodwill for more than a month. We've been speculating that it would go down in price. Finally, today, it did - right at closing time - and Greg was there to check on it and bought it for me. It was a great deal. It was a good deal before but it was a great deal today.

I will need to add some more pieces to it to complete the set, but there are a lot of dinner plates, saucers and cups. There are also some of the unusual pieces, including the salt and pepper shakers. I will put a photo on soon, but it's in the dishwasher at the moment.

Yeah, I know all about the evil ways of dishwashers. But I want to use this and I won't if I can't put it in the dishwasher. Besides, it's called "ovenware" - surely it can handle the light cycle in the dishwasher.

The creamer, shown here, wouldn't fit in the dishwasher so I snapped a photo of it. I love the fact that the inside is that beautiful robin's egg blue. It's almost enough to make me want to paint my kitchen that blue. But, hey, lets not go crazy.

Although I'm tired of this story, I still cannot talk. I'm sure there is a lesson in this for me. I am hoping I feel and sound better tomorrow.

Rainy Days and Tuesdays

The rain started here tonight and is supposed to continue for awhile. I don't really mind. We've had a lot of rain lately - my flowers are looking great in the front of th e  house.

The rain has made mowing difficult. While I was in Kentucky, someone mowed my yard for me. My guess is it was my next door neighbors, Bob and Ruth. They are fabulous neighbors. I haven't gone over to ask them because I can still barely talk, and if this is contagious I don't want to give it to them either.

I feel much better today and my voice is better, but it's still a struggle to speak for any amount of time. I don't know where I got this from, but I will be glad to be done with it. No one even recognizes me when I answer the phone. I'm about halfway between a whisper and "low talking" today - I could not manage a long distance phone call now with anything less than perfect signal. I have a list of calls I've been waiting to make because I can't talk loud enough for people to hear me on the phone without lots of repeating, which just wears me out - taking all the breath I do have.

Not being able to talk is really weirding me out, but there's nothing I can do about it. I have a meeting in the morning at 7. It's a good thing I'm not supposed to speak at it.

Thank goodness I don't feel as bad as I sound.

Best of Show in AQS 2007 Quilt Show in Paducah Kentucky

Sharon Schamber of Payson, Arizona, won Best of Show at the 2007 AQS Quilt Show in Paducah, Kentucky. There were 729 quilts entered, and 411 chosen for display.

Her quilt is called "Flower of Life."She won $20,000 from Hancock's Fabrics of Paducah and gave the quilt to the Museum of the American Quilter's Society (MAQS) in Paducah. It will join her entry from last year, which also won Best of Show.

I was lucky enough to get to interview Sharon, and her husband, Gene, on Saturday, April 28, the last day of the 2007 show.

If you'd like to see a larger photo, click here.

It was just as beautiful from the back.

If you'd like to see a larger photo, click here.


Sharon has 1000 hours in the quilting alone. And the quilting is where she starts the design process. She said she sketches out the quilting in complete detail first, and works back from that point. It's all drawn out, then she makes the other things fit the design she wants on the quilting. As she summed it up, "the quilting cannot be manipulated," so it has to be decided first and everything else works from there.



When I first noticed this pattern above the flowers here it struck me that it looked like stained glass windows in a cathedral. Just as I was thinking that, I heard Sharon answer a question someone had asked by saying, "This quilt is more of a spirit thing.. It's a cathedral." She told us that this piece was really from her heart.

Asked where she gets her ideas, Sharon answered in a way I've heard from many creative people, "Ideas really appear. They come from other sources," she said. She concluded by saying, "Creativity is a flow." She says she doesn't look at quilts at shows because she doesn't want to use other people's ideas unwittingly.

She had many, many questions about the unusual binding on this quilt. It is sewn on the bias, with cording, then knotted and attached. Her husband told me she will be putting information on this binding at her website, www.sharonschamber.com. She spent 45 hours making the binding alone.





If you are noticing the subtle gradations in color, and thinking it would be impossible to find that in your local store, it was impossible for her, too. That's why all the fabric in this piece is hand-dyed by Sharon, herself.

You may wonder how Sharon has the time to devote to such pursuits and still maintain a household. Well, she "does nothing domestic," she says. That falls to her husband, Gene, who does all the cooking, cleaning and other household chores while she focuses on quilting. He was a real charmer and is obviously devoted to his wife and her art.



It is obvious that Sharon was born to be a teacher, and she had no shortage of students this afternoon. People were firing one question after another at her and she was graciously answering all of them. She is a celebrity in the quilt world.



 I was not the only one snapping photos either.



One of the questions she had was about basting. She says one of the keys is to baste the old fashioned way. She is not a believer in the safety pin method because she thinks it makes the fabric crawl. Her rule on old fashioned basting stitches is about three fingers wide.



She started quilting in 1998, but lest you think she only picked up a needle then and has already progressed to this stage, don't despair. Prior to that her husband tells me she was operating a factory and selling clothes she designed for weddings and pageants, including for some Miss America contestants.

She has been sewing since before she was six. She joked, "I had a baby bottle in one hand and a needle in the other." It wasn't quite that early, but somewhere between the baby bottle and age six she was well on her way.



The quilters in attendance had all kinds of questions including how she ships her quilts. Just in case you have need of this knowledge because you, too, have been asked to exhibit your quilt, here's what Sharon suggests. She rolls hers on the bias to avoid wrinkles. She uses wool batting, which also cuts down on wrinkles.



Sharon had another quilt in the show, too. She won second place in the bed quilts, mixed techniques category. This quilt also uses hand-dyed fabrics.

If you'd like to see a larger photo, click here.

She used a variety of quilting techniques on it.



This quilt was hanging just a few feet away from the best of show winner, so Sharon was getting the occasional question about it as well. But the focus was on her "Flower of Life" quilt and how she did particular things. She was very patient - the consumate teacher.



Sharon spent about two years working on her best of show winning quilt. She said she doesn't know how many hours she has in the applique because she worked on it at various times.

She has seven quilts going at any one time and has about 35 completed quilts. By the way, she said some take longer than this one.

________________
Check http://www.patsyterrell.com/2008/04/aqs-quilt-show-in-paducah-kentucky-in.html for more about the show, including hundreds of photos of quilts and vendors from the AQS 2007 Show

________________
Check www.patsyterrell.com for the blog, art, and more.

Coming Home or Leaving Home

I am back in Kansas. I guess I should say, "I'm Home," but having just been to Kentucky, which is what I think of as "home," I'm not sure what to call Kansas, which is where I make my home.

Confused? Yeah, me, too. Of course, it's a somewhat natural state for me and one I'm used to. It may be disconcerting for others.

I'm also sick. I cannot talk above a whisper. Thank goodness I don't feel as bad as I sound. I am rarely sick, and this is  twice I've had need of antibiotics in about three weeks. I think I've been trying to be too many places doing too many things for too long. I am going to rest - mainly because I can't do much of anything else - and because if I don't really kick this this time I'll just be doing this again in a week or two. And none of us want that. I am not a good patient. I'm whiney and annoying and can barely even stand myself. Of course, it's impossible for me to talk, much less whine, at the moment.

Kudos to Greg who went and got me cough syrup in the middle of the night and then picked up my prescription. Driving long distances when one isn't feeling well just isn't fun.

It's amazing how when you're not feeling normal you suddenly can think of a thousand things you'd be doing if only you felt better. Then, of course, when you do feel better none of those seem all that important any more, and you fill your life with the usual stuff and never get around to those "big projects" that were so appealing when you didn't feel like doing them.

One thing about it, humans are infinitely interesting creatures. Our minds play these little tricks on us all the time.

All that said, I do hope I can speak at a normal volume tomorrow - or at least above a whisper. I could not even talk on the phone today. Me... not talking... for those who know me in person that will seem either very odd or very nirvana like. Or perhaps both.

Oh... and since it's after midnight... Happy May Day.

I simply adore Lily of the Valley and it's a flower exchanged among friends in France on this day so I always associate it with May 1. Of course, even if I had one right now I couldn't smell it so maybe it's just as well it come a little later this year.

Victoria Magazine

"Victoria" was my favorite magazine until its demise in 2003. I subscribed from day one and still have every issue.

You can imagine my delight to learn it will reappear on news stands in October of this year. I hope, hope, hope it's the same wonderful publication we loved for so long.

Mediaweek has the following story at the link below:

Hearst, Hoffman to Relaunch Victoria

Lucia Moses
APRIL 26, 2007 -

Hearst Magazines is partnering with Hoffman Media, publisher of the 655,980-circulation Cooking with Paula Dean, to reintroduce Victoria, the women’s home and lifestyle magazine Hearst folded in 2003.

Under a joint venture formed by the two companies, Birmingham, Ala.-based Hoffman will handle all editorial, production, distribution and advertising for the magazine, while Hearst will contribute the Victoria trademark, copyright, URL, subscription database, and access to historical editorial and art content.

Victoria will launch with a November/December issue and a heavy newsstand and online presence. It will publish bimonthly and carry a $4.99 cover price. The goal is to reach a distribution of 250,000 paid copies after two issues.

Launched in 1987, Victoria folded with the June 2003 issue, Hearst citing its "economic uncertainty." Ad pages through April of that year had declined 10.8 percent to 106, according to the Mediaweek Monitor. Paid circulation had been flat at 969,180 in the second half of the year prior, per the Audit Bureau of Circulations.

http://www.mediaweek.com/mw/news/print/article_display.jsp?
vnu_content_id=1003577030

Female Quilters and Male Mechanics

While visiting family in Kentucky, I took time to visit the 23rd annual American Quilter's Society Quilt Show in Paducah. I've been twice before, once many years ago, and once about five years ago.

I'm not a quilter - just an appreciator. But, this show is pretty amazing. Top prize is $20,000 and went to the same woman who won last year. Be watching this space for more info on her, as well as other quilters, who agreed to be interviewed for the blog.

One of my favorite pieces was called La Belle Rouge by Mary Chester of Rantoul, Illinois. It won an honorable mention. I loved all the different motifs she included.




I took many, many, many photos and will be sharing more as I go through them.

After the quilt show I came back to Jim's where he, Jackie, and Mattie's brother, James, were standing around the open hood of Jim's car. It was such a contrast to the very feminine world of quilting, although there are some men who are well-known in that world. But, I left the world of women to go to three guys standing around an open hood.

We were all teasing James, but he was the one who had offered to help in the first place. I just thought it was so typical and humorous to see three guys peering into an engine.

Jim was pointing out things he had replaced last winter...




And James and Jackie were nodding in approval.




It was a very male moment, although, frankly, Chrissy is a good mechanic... but she was working today so wasn't there for this.

Movies on the Barn

Tonight Mary Ann and Jackie hosted a movie night for everyone in their church. Probably about 50 people came. It was the brain child of their youth minister, Scott. I met him and his wife, Stacey, today. They're really nice folks. Scott did the setup, with a little help from Jackie, but it was really Scott's baby.

The backdrop for the movie screen was the barn.




Scott came out earlier in the day and set it up. It worked out really well. They had a great sound system and everyone brought their own lawn chairs.

Mary Ann popped three bags of popcorn.




Zona (in the white) and Janice (in the colorful sweater) helped bag it up as Mary Ann dumped out one panful after another. More than a couple of people had never seen popcorn popped in a pan.




I think everyone had a great time. The movie was good and it was a neat way to see it. Oddly enough, I had been out earlier in the day to take pictures of some old barns around. I'm glad I got a photo of this one before it had a movie screen attached.

Jackie, of course, was ready to supervise the popcorn making.




I may have mentioned here before that Mary Ann has tons of hummingbirds in the summer. They are just starting to arrive. The first part of the week there was one, the next day two, and now there's a small group of them.

At the height of the season, Mary Ann uses about 25 pounds of sugar a week to make hummingbird feed. They will empty all the feeders multiple times a day.

It was a little late in the day, and digital cameras are not quick enough to really capture them, but I did get a quick snap of a couple of them.

Home

Years ago I remember my friend, Mark, telling me, "Home is where the Mommy is." Mark's parents moved a lot in his early years and he did not grow attached to a particular place until his parents settled in Lee's Summit, MO, in his early teen years.

By comparison, I only ever knew one home. My parents bought the house in the late forties, long before I was born, and my mother lived in it until her death. I lived there until I was 17 and went away to college. The house still stands, and I drive by it to go to Jackie and Mary Ann's, but it is not in the family anymore. And, although it's bittersweet, it pains me less than I expected it to.

Jackie and Mary Ann's house has become "home" now. They made it clear to me after Mama died that I would always have a place there and I was grateful for it.

My friend, Jocelyn, once said that she always thinks of Hutchinson as home although she only lived there until she was 13. But it's where her family is and it's where she spent her early formative years, so it's home. That's how Ballard County, Kentucky is ot me. It's home and always will be, even though I own a home a few states away.

It's curious how we think about home and houses and what that means. I love my house (the one I own) and it is home to me, not in the same way that Kentucky is home. Kentcuky is an emotional home, I guess.

Mattie and Jim just bought a house in LaCenter. That's the town where Mattie grew up and of course it's the county where Jim grew up, too. They have lived in multiple places and I'm betting they have much the same feeling that Mark does - home is where the people you care about are.

One of the things I love about Mattie and Jim's house is the front porch. It's great to sit out there and watch the world go by. That feels like home no matter where you do it.

Sleep

I could not stay asleep last night. This isn't unusual for me, but it has been awhile since I've had a night as restless as last night. I went to bed about 12:30 and was awake in less than two hours, then again and again and again. At 5:35 I decided to get up and watch the sunrise. We didn't really have a sunrise - it just got daylight. But I sat on my brother's front porch and watched the pink creep into the sky while I journalled and snapped a couple of pix.



I had lunch with Cathy and Kim and then spent the afternoon and early evening with Jim and Mattie. Mattie's brother, James, is in. Also, our cousin, Jerry, came from St. Louis today to see Jim. I hadn't seen Jerry in a few years so it was good to visit with him.

Jerry is a real family oriented guy. He is one of the few cousins who makes an effort to be involved with the extended family, and I appreciate that about him. To top it off, now in his mid sixties, he has a new baby with his wife, Heather. There's a little over twenty years difference between me and my brothers. There's almost 50 years difference between this baby and his oldest sibling.

You gotta love Jerry's enthusiasm for life.

Piano

The other day I did something I haven't done in a long time. I sat down and played the piano.

I haven't had my piano tuned since I moved it to Kansas five years ago. You're supposed to let them sit for a year after moving them before tuning. I kept having it moved around in the house but I think it has a permanent home in the sunporch now so it's time to get it tuned.

And it needs to be tuned. It's not like I'm an expert pianist but I am better than it sounds at the moment. It seems like I'm hitting more wrong notes than is possible. So, the next time I'm at that passage I'm trying to remember which key is closer to tune. Needless to day, it's not always pretty.

It was good to play again. I used to play almost every day. I was reminded the other day what a great stress reliever it is.

There's nothing like banging out some hymns written with shape notes to relieve one's stress.

Fresh Eyes

I spent the day with my brother, Jim. We had some a really good conversation.

Jim and I haven't had the opportunity to spend a lot of time together because we have never lived in the same place since I've been an adult. We still don't but now that he's in Kentucky where everyone else is, I get to see him much more.

After visiting with him I came back to Jackie and Mary Ann's and spent some time in their backyard journaling. I sat where I could look out at the sunset. They have most of the chairs oriented the other way because they are early risers and are much more likely to see the sunrise.



And I had this lovely view...



It's sometimes difficult to see places you're used to with fresh eyes, but when you give it a go, you're likely to find things that seem new to you again. Jackie has always had  real appreciation of history.





Jackie and Mary Ann love birds of all sorts. In the summer she has hundreds of hummingbirds, but it's still early for them. There was one yesterday and two today. However, there are houses for other birds, too.



Last Sunday while they were gone to church, a large tree at the back of the yard fell over. It was probably rotten for some time and finally fell.



It's just a few yards from this tree, which I think has a cool shape. It's also where some of the tools make their home.



There's a great view of the tobacco barn from there. No tobacco has been in it for many years, but barns are incredibly useful things. It's a pity we don't have them in town - we'd probably all be able to get our cars in the garages if we did.