Sweet & Bitter

It's been a real mixed bag around here for a few days. First We had a simply perfect day out east in vineyard country on the north end. Who could imagine a day in August on the island so cool, breezy, and dry that it was a pleasure to sit outside and eat our lobster rolls and "puffers" outside. We kept pinching ourselves to see if it was really happening here in the land of humidity and sog. Couldn't possibly have asked for more...but wait..there's is more.

After our glorious lunch we drove into Riverhead to "Pieceful Quilting", a shop whose owners I have seen at a number of shows and who always have lovely goodies. What a great place & strategically located right on the river with benches and shady spots for the husband. They have 5 rooms of goodness to go through and I really enjoyed my visit. I purchased a CD Rom of "Triangulations" for paper piecing of half squares and quarter squares. I find all the triangles for small quilts work up so fast with this method that I was happy to find it. Funny thing happened-while Roger was chatting with the owner (and I had already melted into the 5 rooms -no waiting+ a nice clean powder room!)it turns out that they just franchised another "Pieceful Quilting" about 5 miles from me. Amusing since we had driven 30 miles to this one. I will have to go see what's up at that one very soon. One of the Thurs. Night quilting ladies has a birthday on Thursday...yeah, that's my story and I'm stickin' to it. So that was our Friday.

Sadly we ended the weekend on a very different note. The son of one of our friends passed away after a year-long battle with cancer that tormented him for a year. By the time they found the cancer in him it was too far advanced and while they were able to give him treatments for his stomach cancer, it had already spread to the bones by mid-year. Scott was married with two very young children and an amazing wife, Lauren. I don't know how she managed to do it but she gave the eulogy for him at a memorial service on Sunday. She kept the tone light and touched on the great sense of humor that he had. It can't have been easy, she had to stop a couple of times, but for the most part she actually made people chuckle a bit between tears. Scott's parents are good friends and they had a "wake" at the local bar where Scott often enjoyed a few beers with friends. The place was jammed and my ears hurt by the time we left but it occurred to me that that was a good way for everyone not to dwell long on the unbelievable sadness. Parents shouldn't have to bury their children. I hope Scott is at peace now.

So there you have it in a nutshell. Some sweet & some bitter.

It's blasted hot today and tomorrow but the later part of the week looks better. Soon I will have to change the name of the blog to something else since There hasn't been any quilting in so long I'm forgetting how. This summer has certainly been unusual.

Back soon.