I have two major sewing projects going on, three if you count the tee shirt quilt I told Sarah I'd make her for Christmas.
One of them is horsey! Much as I love sewing 18th century items for Jolis Chevaux, it is so nice to be doing some Horsiemama's Haversacks sewing again!
I haven't sewn a pony pouch since last fall so it's been a long time.
How good it feels to pull out my Horsiemama fabrics and start selecting ones to use.
Wait. What's this?? Tucked into my Horsiemama fabric stash?
Mila must've popped into my sewing room sometime while she was here on Easter and left me another note to find.
Just what I needed after Molly's loss.
Thanks, Mila. I have recently had some bad days and your kindness and reminder that you believe in me mean so much to me.
Saturday we had a rousing family Easter egg hunt up at Leslie and Rick's farm.
My sister Jenny is sooooo competitive.
Afterward, we gathered at our home for a dinner of Curt's yummy homemade lasagna and Lisa's delicious Hershey pie.
We were together all day, playing games, watching the NCAA basketball tournament (my Illini won and made it to the Final Four!!) and just enjoying being together.
Sometime during that afternoon, sweet Mila slipped upstairs and into my sewing room where she prepared a surprise for me. A tender and very sweet one, but also one that made me gasp a time or two. Luckily, Mila is old enough and has had plenty of experience of being around my collection and knows to be careful. (Still, I honestly did gasp.)
As they were leaving for home, Vanessa quietly gave me a heads up that there were surprises hidden upstairs for me by Mila.
Vanessa was not kidding.
Sunday morning I came upstairs to write and went looking.
The first thing I saw was a bright pink scrap of paper tucked under my 18th century pincushion.
I also noticed that she'd chosen to tear the paper rather than use my expensive sewing shears to cut the paper! Thanks, Mila!
She'd used some of the colored ball-headed pins to make a smiling face
and then created a mohawk out of the machine needles, hand sewing needles, a pin or two, and my favorite bodkin.
Ian had done the same years ago with a regular pincushion and I keep it displayed as it still makes me smile.
I use that 18th century pincushion every time I sew so I can't keep it as is, but I took lots of pictures to help me remember it.
Looking around the room, I noticed that the sewing basket I take downstairs when cutting out patterns had a note in it.
Honestly, I don't get bored so I flipped it over anyway.
A list of things to do! Pick one a day. I will have to begin with baking cookies for my grandchildren, but the nap and reading a book are awfully appealing to me.
Looking around the room again, I had my first heart-stopping moment.
A scrap of pink paper under the hooves of my large (and expensive) Cheval Thoroughbred.
A little bit of love from the horses in my collection! No harm done. But then, Mila does know how to treat model horses. I kept repeating that to myself as I continued to look around the room.
Over on the other side of the room was a note I'd already walked past and missed.
Again, I went ahead and flipped it over.
More suggestions of things I might do, all of them service oriented. (Mila followed her own idea by writing all these notes and not leaving her name.)
And I will try hard to "be me," although I'm not sure what I should do to be me besides, well, just be me! (I think it's actually a form of the old adage, "Be true to thine own self.")
Hmmm. Some socks on the floor by some sewing supplies. Too small for Craig or me!
Two more things! A note with my name on it and another pink scrap under the hoof of a plastic (thankfully) model horse!
More encouragement for me.
Another flash of pink caught my eye, this time among my Hartlands.
Folded up and stuffed into the open mouth. (Yeesh, I never did dust my collection this past winter like I'd wanted to...)
Another note of encouragement from the horses!
I took a moment to open the note I'd found with my Weather Girls. Mila had taken a sheet off my Thanksgiving notepad and filled it in.
And Mila was not done. I've saved the three most gasp-worthy signs of love from Mila for tomorrow's post.
Like the others, they were very sweet and kind (and even tactful in their writing), but my heart beat fast and hard for some time after I discovered them.
Congratulations! And also we had two folks who guessed correctly that Mila's favorite dish is potato salad. They will get a little something in the mail from me, too.
Mila's daddy, Curt, also loves potato salad. Here she watches him eating some that I made him for his birthday, hoping that he will share with her. (He did.)
As an extra bonus, here is the recipe for the potato salad that I make for Mila and the rest of my family.
Mila's Favorite Potato Salad
5 - 6 large potatoes
4 - 5 eggs
Small onion, diced
2-3 stalks of celery, sliced thinly or diced
Salt to taste
Mayo
Paprika
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Peel and cut the potatoes into cubes. Place in cooking pot and cover with water. Rinse the eggs and then tuck them in among the potatoes. Be sure they, too, are covered with water. Put pot on burner over medium heat and bring to a boil. Chop the onion and celery while waiting for the water to boil.
Check potatoes for doneness with a fork. When they are almost cooked through, turn off heat and cover. Let sit while finishing up chopping the other ingredients.
Drain the potatoes and leave in drainer. Put the eggs in ice water to cool and then peel and cut them into chunks roughly the same size as the potatoes. Leave one whole.
In large bowl, place 1/3 of the potatoes. Top with 1/3 of the celery, onion, and eggs, sprinkle with salt, and then spread mayo over that layer. Repeat this two more times. Using a large spoon, mix all the ingredients in the bowl together, adding in more mayo if it needs it. Take the remaining egg and slice, then arrange the slices on top. Sprinkle with paprika, cover, and put in fridge. (Or, you can eat it while it's still warm. It's good that way, too!)
It's only January 11, but already we have celebrated two family birthdays.
Lisa's birthday is December 30, but due illness in the family, her celebration was postponed a week.
Craig and I were healthy, though, so we took her out for lunch on her birthday.
We went downtown to The Black Sparrow, a local restaurant in one of the historic downtown buildings so it has a lot of ambiance and charm inside. Plus, all the food is made from scratch and is delicious!
We spent the day together watching football (Illinois played in the Music City Bowl and won!) and had gifts and Hershey pie that evening.
The next Sunday was a big day for both Ian and Mila. In our church, twelve year olds are invited to begin serving during meetings, help on service projects, etc. Ian turns twelve this year and so his name was read to the congregation and then he was sustained by everyone present.
Good night, when did this guy become a young man?? And so tall? I predict that by my birthday in August he will be taller than me. (Although at the rate he is growing, it may be well before that.)
It was also a big day for Mila. She was celebrating her birthday that day!
We gathered that evening at her home for dinner and gifts and then just hung out as a family.
Gus is always delighted when there are more people around who are candidates for throwing a ball for him. I have never seen a dog more obsessed with catching and running after balls.
He will bring one to you and plop it in your lap.
Ignore it! Don't even push it onto the floor or throw "just one"; Gus will consider that an invitation and repeatedly put balls into your lap. (Ask me how I know that.)
If a ball in your lap doesn't get you to play, then Gus will put the ball in a spot where it is more visible. Just in case you hadn't noticed the bajillion balls that had already been plopped into your lap.
Since this was a birthday party, there were balloons. And suddenly this delightful interchange happened between Gus and Lukie.
That dog is actually batting the balloon with his nose - he's not trying to catch it! He's hitting it back to Lukie!
Both Lisa and Mila's birthdays were celebrated that evening and master cook Curt made their favorite dishes. Lisa asked for carnitas. To enter the January Give Away, guess what he made for Mila. Here are some hints:
~ It is her favorite, most requested dish.
~ It is not a main dish. (Although, if you're Mila it would be! LOL)
~ This dish is often found at picnics.
As always, comment on any blog post (starting with this one) posted between now and Tuesday evening, 1/13 at 11:59 PM Eastern. I'll spin to win on either Wednesday or Thursday. If someone does guess correctly, they will get a special prize but you don't have to guess correctly to win.
The Lafayette Christmas Parade is a true icon. It is Indiana's largest holiday parade (200 entries this year) and has been an annual tradition for 70 plus years.
This year's parade was live streamed and so I was able to avoid the cold temps and watch in comfort from home.
People watching for the parade to come down the street.
It's big, but it's also got a small town flavor. (A decorated garbage truck, anyone?)
And there are several units of horses mixed in among the entries.
There were at least two charro groups.
And other horses who did not seem to be from an organized group.
I'd love to see this beauty in better light. Look at that pretty head.
The Honor Flight, an organization that takes veterans to Washington, DC to see the Vietnam and other memorials, had several entries honoring our local veterans.
This year's theme was "Christmas Past, Present, and Future." These are some former beauty queens from years gone by. I'm not sure what they were queens of, but still, it was a fun idea and fit the theme.
Mila's dance troupe was marching/dancing in the parade.
I could not pick her out among all the dancers as they went by, but Vanessa got some pictures.
Of course, my high school band marched. The school is named after William Henry Harrison who led the Battle of Tippecanoe that was fought here and then went on to become the 9th president of the United States. The uniforms reflect the military uniforms of Harrison's era.
When I was in high school, we had a mounted dragoons that followed the band. I rode my horse Cee in the Harrison dragoons in the 1974 Lafayette Christmas Parade.
Cee was a very good horse and the only time he ever spooked was during a different parade when the Shriners came out.
They zipped past our dragoons, got between us and the band, and began doing their trademark circles and driving patterns. He settled quickly, but they caught me off guard, too! Now, I think of that memory with Cee whenever I see the Shriners performing in a parade.
One of the very best parts of the parade is when the Purdue Marching Band comes by. It's a huge band and they had a light show going on while they marched.
The Pudue band wasn't the only light show. The Tippecanoe County courthouse is along the parade route
and its dome changed color throughout the parade. That was one of my favorite parts and I was glad when the live stream panned to the drone's view.
Purdue always leads the final entry in the parade.
Santa Claus!
And so, after almost two hours of floats and bands and horses and candy throwing, the parade was finished. Boy howdy, am I in the Christmas spirit now!
Stay 'tooned for a quick Yuletide Challenge post next.
