A potpourri of Pictures

 I have some pictures that don't fit into any one category. I've put them all together and will say something about them as we go along. This is my son, Steve, and his lovely family. From left to right -
Janet, Steve's wife - a school teacher - wonderful mother and wife - Rio, 5, a real sweetie, Steve, my dear youngest child, Maddie, who has turned into a pretty young lady! and Nathan, who  has grown into a fine looking young man. The Pittaways live in Las Vegas, New Mexico - yes, New Mexico. It was there before the Nevada city. I went there for Janet and Steve's wedding and then again 5 years ago when Rio was born. It is a great town - there is an old neighborhood - very Spanish, Mexican, and a
new neighborhood with far less charm. It has a Wal-Mart. Need I say more?  :-)

The next two pictures were taken at Carol and Jerry's wedding. I have known Carol since 1985, when she came to judi's creative needle. She remembered Joan and me but we didn't remember her because she was younger than us and who remembers the younger kids when you are in high school?
Carol lost her husband, Bill and Jerry lost his wife, Pat, who was Carol's sister. Jerry and Carol started
seeing each other and Voila! they were married this past Saturday.

Aren't they a handsome couple!

 Many years ago I started stitching this huge sampler. It was a facsimile of a sampler done in the 1700's.
I soon lost interest in stitching on it - also thought it would cost an arm and leg to have it framed. My friend, Karla, suggested we pass the sampler around and let my stitching friends do bits of it and that way get it done. Then it disappeared! In March Karla was cleaning up her piles and piles of cross stitch and guess what she found? The sampler! We took it to Yarn Envy and asked Heather if she'd like it. She
said "yes" and it is now in her hands. I asked her to finish it in the next 10 years so I would be alive to see it.

 Remember the tree covered with snow? Here she is in full bloom, my lovely lilac tree. It is right outside my back porch and when the windows or door is open, you can smell the wonderful aroma of lilac.

I would like to introduce you to my dear friend, Marlene. I wrote of Marlene and her husband, Jim

in an earlier post. Once a month I go to Subway, get a healthy chicken sub, then to Marlene's with sub for lunch and a movie from Netflix. We sit in Marlene's "Mom's Cave" and enjoy the film and food.

One of these days I am gong to take photos of Marlene's prize-winning quilts and put them on this blog.

Joan Ackland - my sister, my friend 1931-2011

This is a picture of Joan, taken in 2010, just before she became ill. It sits in this flamingo frame that was hers. She loved flamingos - high class "flamgos", as we sisters called them - none of that plastic kind you
stick in the ground outside your house.

Joan donated her body to University of Toledo Medical Center. Every year the college has a memorial service for the families of those people who donated their bodies. I wrote a short piece about my dear sis and sent it along with this picture to be displayed at the service. This is what I said about Joan.

Joan and I were 13 months apart in age. We sometimes called ourselves "almost twins".
Joan never married but I shared my children with her and she loved them as I do. She filled her retirement years (30+ years with Ohio Bell - in Toledo - Columbus - Cleveland), playing solitaire on the computer (her favorite was free cell), watching the latest movies and reading English mysteries by her favorite authors, Ruth Rendell, Elizabeth George and P.D. James. (Notice they are all female?)
One of Joan's favorite things was making a house the personal expression of herself. When she finished decorating one she was ready to move onto another. Through the years Joan owned 8 houses.
I miss Joan very much, my beloved sister, my dear friend.
What I have put into parentheses are words I added just now.

These drawings of Joan's houses were done by our dear friend, Jim Polk. He is very well known in the Cleveland area and across the U.S. for his house portraits. Interested? let me know and I'll hook you up
 with him.
This is Joan's first Florida house - located in Cape Coral.
In the back yard was a huge avocado tree! A man came to the house one day and asked if he could pick them. He would give her x number of $s for each bushel. She sold them to him but asked him for 2 green ones that she sent home with me. Yummy, yummy!!

 
This is Joan's second house, located in Fort Myers, Florida. Notice the flora in both of these houses. Joan joined the Florida Native Plant Society and had her yards landscaped with native Florida plants.
She bought a huge generator that sat on a cement slab outside the house. She also had a double storage shed in the back yard. She had a reverse mortgage on this house and because she had to move away, ran into an unbelievable amount of trouble. (I am still dealing with the mortgage company). Sadly, the mortgage company did not look at Joan's lovely, updated house and soon the generator was stolen and then the shed. I'm sure the inside has been ravaged, too.

This is a house in Old German Village in Columbus, OH. When Joan was transferred (and probably promoted) with Ohio Bell she lived in this house, at that time broken up into 2 apartments. She eventually bought the house. It was her first purchase and she had a lot of trouble getting a loan. Loaning to a woman was unheard of and she really fought to get a mortgage. She won! In the yard was an apricot tree that produced wonderful, juicy apricots.

This house is located in Ohio City, an area much like Toledo's Old West End. Joan was transferred (and, again, probably promoted, to Cleveland) and lived with a cousin in Ohio City. One day, strolling through the neighborhood, she saw this abandoned house. She found the owner and worked with him a long time before he finally agreed to sell the house. She got it for a song!
She began to refurbish the house but..........one night three young men broke in and held her at gun point and robbed her. She quickly sold the place and moved on to................

......this house on the west side of Cleveland. I was now divorced and spent a number of weeks and week-ends here. 

After our mother died in 1982, and Joan realized she was not going to live forever, we bought a house on Main Street here in Sylvania. (The house is no longer there - was torn down for a condo site). This is the house where we lived when judi's creative needle was established. When we sold this house Joan gave the portrait to the new owners, thus no picture.

Joan moved onto a lake property that Jim never saw - and so no portrait. From the lake in Michigan, she went to Florida.

Joan became very ill in Florida and had to be on oxygen 24/7. Jim and I went to Florida to help Joan with a moving sale. She bought a trailer (manager would cringe when we said the word "trailer". He called them "manufactured homes" but they were double-wide trailers!) she immediately started to make this place her own by painting, decorating, etc. Sadly, she developed pneumonia, went to the hospital, was put on a vent, learned she would never get off the vent, went to hospice and died.

 

I wanted to share this with you viewers. Joan was such a dear sister and friend and she needs to be a part of my blog. 

TOPS Officers Election on March 26, 2012

 I belong to a weight management group - TOPS - Take Off Pounds Sensibly. I've been a member since 2007, doing my best to take it off and keep it off. Not an easy job!
In March, after offering a bribe to most of the members, I was elected leader of the group. I will now serve for a year and, if I'm stupid enough, may run for a second term.
I enjoy these ladies - 24 in all - and will do my best to help them on their weight-loss journey.

In the picture above are Penny Reder and Janice Mills, Assistant Weight Recorders, Aretta Adams, Weight Recorder, Pam Karn, Treasurer, Debbie Smith, Secretary, Sientje Vanderhoeven, Co-leader and yours truly. In this picture I have already removed my ermine cape and diamond tiara.

Here she is, Judi Pittaway, Leader of Sylvania , OH, Chapter 640.

Billy Corrections

This is the third time I have started this blog. I kept forgetting things I wanted to put in here. I went to Bill's e-mail and copied it. Now to start again and finish. Hope there are not two other half-finished blogs floating around here.
Bill sent me this e-mail to make corrections about the feature I did of him. They are as follows:
1. The river is the Grand, not the Green.
2. Bill never paid more than $1.00 for the bowling balls. Most cost $.80, NEVER $2.00!!
3. The house was built between 1928-1930. The metal cupboards were installed in the 50's. The cabinets
    are burgundy in color.
4. Yes, that is a pie in the oven. What kind is a question not answerable.
5. The stove is a GE from the 50's. Hard to get parts for it.
Bill added, "I am proud to be on your blog. Other facts about me: In july I will be 70 years old. I am a retired public school teacher. Taught grades 4,5 and 6. I am a gay gentleman and indeed your friend".

A bit more about the day - It is in the 50's. The heat came on. I am ok with the temp. That's what it should be! Enjoy your life, folks. Ciao!

A Weather Report from Sylvania, OH

 Look what we got here in Sylvania, Ohio!! Course, this happened earlier this month. Doesn't the lilac tree look lovely, like a fairyland tree. Can you see the rabbit tracks to the left of the tree?

I always look at the post on my back porch to see how much snow we get. This was 3", the most we got in one snowfall. I think we got 15-16" total the whole winter.  Notice the rabbit tracks under the
step railing.
I like a snow that is heavy enough to cover all the bare ground, all the brown. People will call me when we have a measurable amount of snow to be sure I'm ok and will ask if I need anything.......one of the
perks of white hair and age in the 70's, creeping towards the 80's. I tell them, "Got a freezer full of food, 3 boxes of wine, lots of books to read, yarn to knit and movies to watch".
So..............LET IT SNOW, LET IT SNOW, LET IT SNOW!!

My Knitting Friends

Colleen is a nurse, soon to retire (partly). She is new to our Saturday Knitting Gang. We met her, immediately liked her and look for her every week. If she's not there, we miss her.

My dear stamping, and now knitting, friend, Mary Lea. Those of you, especially you, Marilyn, have heard me talk about mary Lea for many years. We met at Bev's stamp store in 1997. We stamped together for more than 10 years, both gave that hobby up and both moved on to knitting. Mary Lea was new to the craft but it didn't take her long before she moved from scarves to sweaters. (I'm still working
on scarves!!)

This is me in my new glasses and new shorter haircut. I posted this so my friends far away could see the old broad!

 This is Karla, another old and dear friend. Karla worked with me @ judi's creative needle in the the late 80's and early 90's. Karla and I were reconnected after some years when we both took a knitting class and learned to make socs. Karla is a grandmother for the first time - Clayton is 6 months old and a real charmer. You'll soon see his picture here. I cat and dog sit for Karla and hubby, Jerry, when they travel. Get to watch HGTV for hours!!

 Linda is on the right. This is another friend that shopped at judi's creative needle. Shirley, on the right, is Linda's friend.

Take a look behind these pics and you will see yarn, yarn, yarn!

That's it for this post. Am going to close and will be back soon with some pictures of

the deepest snow we had this winter. Ta Ta!!

My Friend Bill

Hello, fellow blog readers. I am finally back. It has been awhile but my tutor, Heather, is one busy gal and I can't do this without her help. (The next time she comes here, I am going to chain her to the newel post on the landing, feed her bread and water, and make her work with me until what i need to know gets in my brain and stays there).
I would like to introduce you to my dear friend, Bill. He is the one who comes to see me 6-8 times a year, does my Honey-Do list, drinks wine with me and takes me to nice restaurants for dinner.
Bill owns a cottage on Green??? River near Ashtabula. He goes to garage sales while there and noticed an abundance of bowling balls for sale (never more than $2.00). He started to buy them and built himself a "Bowling Ball Garden". Check out the Garden. Aren't they fabulous!
Bill is standing in his kitchen. This house was built
in the '20's and you can see the older cupboards. Notice the pie in the oven??
I am sure Bill will edit this blog and tell me all the wrong info I have said here. That's ok. He's my friend and buddy!