A Few Happy Photos.......

As I'm sure you can tell, my "creativity" has been derailed this month, but I thought I would share a few of the great photos that Jim and Linda are sending us from Colorado Springs where they are distributing the "canyon fire" quilts to those affected by the wildfire blazes.

It makes me happy to know that someone else has some warmth and friendship to count on, even in the midst of their personal trials.  These connections run deep and are comforting right now.

Even though our quilting business has languished, Guy took the time to finish two Quilts of Valor that were here, and we sent them off, too, last week.  Doing for others is part of the healing.

Have a wonderful week.....enjoy the last of these summer days!

Kathy

Quilts Arrived in Colorado!

I just thought I would let you know, despite the turmoil that has existed here in the last two weeks, my dear friend Jane swept all the quilts I had collected off the bed, and mailed them to my friend, Jim, in Colorado Springs.

He will be distributing them to his neighbors and friends who lost their homes in the Waldo Canyon fire.  It is satisfying to do for others, and I thought I would include a few pictures so you can see the wide variety we were able to mail:

All told, we collected and mailed 21 quilts; many thanks go to my good friends and quilting buddies:  Jane Moll, Josephine Millett, Janet Stultz, Christine Ratliff, Deanne Moore Quill, Carol Rogers and Wanda Shoemaker.  Quilters have huge hearts.......

Maybe I'll get back to my studio this week; I've got an urge to go pet some fabric.

Thanks to all of you for your outpourings of support over the last few weeks.  It always helps,   Kathy

Life does seem a little unfair....

To all my blogging friends.....my beautiful son, Patrick, died early yesterday morning.  My heart is hurting, my granddaughters are grieving, and I am coping with the loss of a friend....we had a wonderful relationship.  He was ill for quite some time, and when he ended up with a perforated ulcer, septic shock, and renal failure, he had no resources left to fight.

I cry sometimes, when I think about my losses; otherwise I am focused on doing what I need to do to be strong for the rest of my family, and for his children. I am working to be the strong mother that he always believed I was.  He was so funny....he always thought I knew the answer to everything.  He would call and say, "Mom, what do you think about the economic situation, and why is the stock market failing?"  He was totally aural.....and not very focused on analytics........give him an answer, and he would believe it until something else piqued his interest.

We cooked together, for a long time.  He was bound and determined to surpass my culinary library with his own.  He was a true chef.....came to visit, trashed my kitchen, and was totally surprised when there was no dishwashing staff to clean it up!  But he loved my garden, loved sharing culinary surprises with me, and loved to call and tell me about some incredible meal, or some incredible chef that he had discovered.  He was my entree into the culinary world that I longed for.  He was a great mentor to young chefs.....he recruited people for his restaurant from the Culinary Institute of America where he trained, and he imbued them with the same love and respect for food that he learned there....it was his "army" training, and he was a better man for the discipline he learned there.

Please hug your children tonight.  You just never know when they might leave you.  Patrick was 38, he was beloved by all his friends, and his co-workers. He delighted in his daughters, and had no restraint in his love for them.  His brother was with him almost every day in the hospital.....thank you Jon for being there for him at the end....

He was funny, stubborn, bright, and infuriating.  He lived life to the utmost......he gave his stepfather fits for 27 years......Guy wonders who on earth will argue with him about the best football team, Michael Jordan, John Elway, or the latest hot shot to hit the basketball courts.  We will both miss him.

Thanks for listening....have a good week, and I will be back.  Just not for a while....

Miss you Patty......you were everything a mother could want, and then some....

Kathy