No…I have not followed Mama into the great beyond, but instead have been busier than ever (what else is new?).  I am seriously looking forward to some down time in August, but in the meantime had to

• help hang and launch our Frayed Edges mini-group show at the Camden Public Library (will blog about that in a day or two I hope),
• with my fellow Frayed Edges, be the program for the monthly Coastal Quilters meeting and do the artists’ reception at the library
• complete my piece for the local Coastal Quilters Chapter Challenge and then (as project coordinator)
• make some new black drapes and
• pin all the quilts, print the photos, make the tags, etc., in time to deliver next weekend for Maine Quilts (which happens the last weekend in July),
• get son Eli off to a 2-week trip to Australia (SOB… wish I were there but elated as he comes home tonight),
• help get Joshua ready to move into his first-ever-on-his-own apartment (with girlfriend) in town,
• take care of the settling of Mama’s affairs,
• prepare things for teaching in Nebraska at QuiltNebraska 2011 (including ordering supplies and shipping boxes to arrive in time) and
• attempt not to implode!

The Coastal Quilters Grocery Challenge...in a nutshell, pick a food or beverage product, use at least 4 colors and at least one element from the packaging as a motif in your 20.5 by 20.5 inch quilt (since someone will ask, mine is the blue one, top-right)

So as a teaser, I will share with you the photo of the two panels of The Grocery Challenge, an idea I dreamed up for the Coastal Quilters.  The photo above is of the twelve pieces…astonishingly all 12 of the folks who signed up got their quilts done (mine was one of the last few done…no surprise there).   Soon I’ll share more about each of the 12 quilts, the grocery products from which we drew inspiration, and how.   But before that I need to tell you about our group show.  I can’t believe (well….yes, I can) that I managed to not even post a single word here before the show opened on July 1.  So if you’re in or near Camden, Maine, come back here in a couple days or click here to see a bit more.

Hi all…. just a quick note to say thank you for the many, MANY kind notes I have received here, through Facebook and privately.  Your support and friendship mean so much to me.

The real world continues–on Friday when I got the word about Mama I was hanging our Frayed Edges mini-group show at the Camden Public Library.  I hope to have a blogpost invitation to come, including for the artists’ reception (all four of us will be here, even Deborah who now lives in Maryland!) and more… stay tuned….

And again, your warm hugs still envelop me and give me comfort.  Thank you doesn’t begin to encompass the gratitute and friendship I feel, but it’s all the words that I have.  So……..Thank you.

This afternoon, on a sunny, summery first of July,  Mama’s spirit left this earth peacefully.  After deepening dementia over the past years and a more rapid decline since early February, her passing is a loss and a blessing.  I’m guessing about now she is in a joyful reunion with her Mama and sisters, whom she often asked about in recent years (tho long gone, she’d ask if I had heard from them and how they were doing) and then with my Papa and half-brothers (who better be telling hilariously funny stories about Daddy!). I miss them all.

This is the last photo I took of Mama, just two days before Mother’s day this year.  A print of it was on her windowsill in her line of sight from her bed.

Mama and me, May 2011, at the Courtyards dining room, Quarry Hill, Camden, Maine

Hospice had thought she might go some 10 days ago, but they didn’t count on mama’s strength of will.  For a frail 92 year old, she was still her determined self to the last.  On Monday, the man thought she might not last the night…. but I was able to visit her again every day since including this morning a few hours before she left.

I am so eternally grateful that a place in the dementia nursing care facility didn’t open and that she was able to breathe her last at Quarry Hill, the retirement community in Camden.  They have independent and assisted living, dementia care, and a small nursing wing.  She was able to die surrounded by her paintings and beautiful oriental rug and pretty things, but best of all was the kind, gracious and thoughtful care from the staff on 3rd floor (assisted living, 2008-2010) and in the Courtyards (dementia care) since last July.  I always used to be freaked out by such places, and now I know that goodness happens there and there are so many angels walking amongst us.

Mama was a pretty amazing woman, born back in 1918 in the tiny town of Powell, Wyoming.  Her mother was determined that her four daughters and one son–in the Depression mind you–would go to college.  And Gramma made that happen–in part by opening a kitchen to fix breakfasts and lunches for college students in Buckhannon, West Virginia, where all the girls attended college.  Mama finished her degree in three years, but her yen to travel was stymied by World War 2.

Mama, circa 1942/3, before she was my mama!

At the end of the war she entered the military and worked as an Air Control Tower Operator at Anacostia, near Washington, D.C.   Students got to pick assignments at the end of the war by class rank; she was second in her class, so she picked the farthest away spot on the list:  Tokyo!   So in 1946-47 Mama lived and worked in Japan with the Occupation Army.  She fell in love with the people and the country, and that stayed with her for the rest of her life, as did her love of travel.  For the next 20 years she lived overseas (and met my Dad working at the US Embassy in Quito, Ecuador), and even after they returned to the States she still traveled when she could.

Mama used to say she wanted to travel by yak in Nepal, and we all laughed, trying to picture mom in her mink, pearls and Ferragamo shoes atop a yak!  So in honor of Mama, the next time you pass a jewelry store admire the fine jewelry.  And if you like shoes, enjoy browsing (Mama’s taste ran to the Ferragamo’s so my preference for Birkenstock’s, sneakers and Dansko’s was a keen disappointment to her).  Despite our many differences, Mama did what she thought best, she worked hard, and she always tried to get the best for me, her only child.  So hoist a glass of your favorite drink (white zin, hot tea with milk, whatever) to honor strong and smart women everywhere.  Here’s to my mama!  Now I’m going to find another kleenex and give thanks for a Mama who believed in me. And I in her….

I had thought it was about three days since my last blogpost, not two weeks!   EEEK!  Thanks to a couple of you who wrote to see if I was still alive and OK…. just swamped!   I have decided I just can’t keep up.  Between the older son, my mother, teaching, trying to sleep, trying not to fall apart, the house, the husband and younger son, the end of school-year frenetic activities, Eli’s sports schedule, and whatnot, there are two options.  Fall behind or fall behind more~! And oh yeah… I’d actually like to quilt or make art and not implode somewhere in there, too!

So, blogging got put on the back burner, and the calendar evaporated even faster than usual.  I had intended to post this photo on  Mother’ s  Day.  Remember what I said about being behind?

with Mama (age 92) in early May 2011

Mama is in the dementia unit of a WONDERFUL local facility called Quarry Hill.  Since she fell and broke her collarbone (thank heavens it wasn’t worse) in February, her decline has accelerated.  We have begun hospice care, and I am so glad the charge nurse suggested it.  They are really being proactive about saying she needs pain meds (she is too far gone to remember / understand to ask or say she hurts, and the hospice folks have more leeway under rules and regulations to administer to those who can’t verbalize well for themselves) and attending to her care.  She is on a waiting list for a place in the area nursing care level facility for dementia patients, but for now, this is so good for her.  So I am grateful for their care and the time I get to see her.

Paul and the boys gave me flowers, a card (which Joshua’s girlfriend even signed…I loved that!), and I got to pick where we ate when we went to Portland for a Sea Dogs game the previous day.  Life is good!

Mother's Day flowers combined with daffodils from the garden in our new home

I’ll be back with more posts when I can.  I have tons to share, just not enough time to process photos, write, upload photos, and deal with the glacial internet here in the boonies.

In his weight class in wrestling!   Every year Eli has improved, but this year he took a qualitative leap forward.  It began last year when Chris Weiss, an amazing young athlete from Rockland, worked out with the Camden-Rockport team since Rockland didn’t have a team last year.  He is an incredibly gifted and hard-working, focused kid, and he and Eli challenged each other to improve.  Last summer Eli went to a top wrestling camp in Boston for a week (the only middle schooler with many high school kids), and learned a lot.  At the beginning of this season, Eli set two goals:  undefeated and regional champion.  Eli admits he made several mistakes in one match about halfway through the season and lost one match.  So  he put that goal aside and focused on Eastern Regional Champion, and he DID IT!

Eli is the one holding the bracket card over his head, the number 2 from Ellsworth is on his left in the burgundy shirt, number 3 from Brewer is on the right in gray sweatshirt, and number four from Bucksport  (the only kid to beat Eli) is on the far left.

Here’s Eli’s match against the Bucksport kid…if there had been 3 more seconds in the period this would have been a pin, but instead Eli won (whomp) 13-3  (previous matches during the regular season were Eli wins by pinning, Eli loses 9-6 but doesn’t get pinned, Eli wins 13-0):

The Number 2, Jack Weeks, almost beat Eli in the first match of the season!   He was ahead 2-0 with 15 seconds left (matches are 3 periods:  first is two minutes long, 2nd and 3rd and one minute), when Eli somehow managed to get a reversal and near fall (2 points each) to win 4-2.  They met again in the finals, and it was a hard-fought  contest. For much of the first period and part of the second, it looked like this, with Weeks (in burgundy on top) controlling the pace:

The boys were well-matched in strength and skill, and Eli had to fight for every point. Then Eli (in red, on top) got his groove back:

Eli was able to hang on, literally and very tightly, to prevent Weeks from escaping and tying up the match in the final 20 seconds.  Eli won 3-2!!!!!!!

The Camden-Rockport team did well.  Last year there were about 9 kids on the team.  This year there were 18, most in their first year of wrestling and many in the 5th and 6th grade years (i.e. have a lot to learn).  Of the 18 kids,  3 placed fourth and  3 placed first!  YES, we had THREE Regional Champions on our team. The six will go on to States next weekend.  Of the 3 champions,  Chris Weiss in the weight class below Eli won his *fourth* regional championship (yes, he is that good!), and Taylor Crosby surprised many including himself in defeating Brandon Waterman (really nice kid and really good wrestler from nearby Belfast) in the weight class above Eli.  Here’s a picture of the three of them with Jared Gilbert from HAL (Hope-Appleton-Lincolnville schools combine to field a team) who won in his weight class.

Just think…in two years these four champions will be on the Camden Hills Regional High School team together:  can you say kick some serious keestker?

Congrats to the boys who won, to the coaches (including dear hubby who is the assistant coach) who got them there, to all the team members -boys and girls- who participated on the team wrestling varsity or back up and learning.  Well done!  See you at States and again next year.

And to end the day, sunset just as I was ready to turn left into the driveway…with the trees reflected on the hood of my car (this was a stick-your-arm-out-the-window-and-snap photo):