Brave New World

For ten days I've been blog free-missing all the crazy political disagreements.  We took a road trip to Oberlin, OH soon after  election night.  Long drive.  Parent's weekend.  I still haven't recovered.  Car rides of that length showcase our age limitations as I struggle to unfold my small frame from our small/old Saab each time we stop for fuel and bathroom breaks. At least now we have three drivers so on the way there I didn't have to drive at all. I played with Groovy Girl, read, and did some knitting.  Bliss.

Friday night dinner-probably should have edited out all
that table clutter but hey, it's real life.

My in-laws met us in Oberlin coming from the D.C. area and we had a wonderful time visiting together and exploring Oberlin.  My mother-in-law is an amazing woman, truly.  She is a successfully crafty woman, taking on new projects with gusto, turning out finished projects that look far better than the original picture.  She turns out award-winning quilts, scarves, hats, towels, American Girl accessories, and period costumes for smallish children to wear to colonial villages. I have many of her handmade gifts and I treasure each one.

(Teenage Boy's Graduation quilt)

She made a quilt for our oldest daughter for graduation and completed Teenage Boy's quilt in time for his early graduation.  She sent a photo of the quilt for graduation as they were traveling out of the country at the time so we waited until this weekend to actually pick up the quilt-I wanted her to be able to present the quilt to him.  Isn't it beautiful!  It is a t-shirt quilt.  She wasn't very excited when I told her I wanted a t-shirt quilt for him. Her mind bleeped "tacky", I'm just sure.  But instead of  tossing my idea aside she went to a quilting class and t-shirt quilts just happened to be one of the topics.  I'm pretty sure Teenage Boy will love this quilt forever and for me, it makes me smile and teary as I can look back on all his adorable stages and activities; from the Winnie-the-Pooh theatre shirt, the "I need my space NASA shirt" that he wore for days on end as a four-year-old, to his love for various sports teams, HP, and his travels to Alaska, Montana, and Colorado. It's all there, one pretty great life, wrapped up on a gorgeous quilt.

Every once in a great while I think I could trade my husband in but then I remember how much I love his parents and decide to keep him forever again and again.  

Happy travels...