Mary’s Monday Musings to Quilt Encouragement Extreme Beauty             The calm water shimmered in the late afternoon sun while the rhythm of the waves lulled us to relax.  The sand warmed and soothed my feet. The breezes blew away the cares of the day, and the delicious food provided a sense of special pampering. The

Mary’s Monday Musings to Quilt Encouragement Yummy             Ah, the mouth watering taste. Every time the menu contained shrimp and grits, I ordered it on my visit to Charleston, South Carolina. Cooked with a variety of recipes, the end result was the same—a yummy meal. And then there were the pralines. Pecans mixed into a

Mary’s Monday Musings to Quilt Encouragement Fixing   “Daddy fix it.” This was a frequent request when our children were small and barely beginning to use complete sentences. In their small eyes, Daddy could fix everything. And he often accomplished the remarkable when toys broke.  Between tools, imaginative use of glue, adhesive tape, and even

Mary’s Monday Musings to Quilt Encouragement A Horsey Example             A magnificent horse, a French Percheron, pulled our large carriage with sixteen passengers around historic Charleston, South Carolina. Along with fascinating, significant sites, the horse, himself, provided interest. He hauled our weight with little effort. His immense hoofs clip-clopped over the cobblestones with a satisfying

Mary’s Monday Musings to Quilt Encouragement Molding Glass The blob of molten glass was fiery orange from the hot furnace.  As spectators, we stood at a respectful distance from the glassblowers who worked to create beautiful, useful items from a scorching globule. Before our eyes, the twisting, stretching, and blowing formed colorful bird feeders, glass

Mary’s Monday Musings to Quilt Encouragement Remembering Ancestors   The brass plaque was my great grandmother’s license to practice Midwifery in Belgium. The small cast iron stove was a toy shared by my mother and her 5 sisters. The unhappy little boy was my uncle who didn’t look like he wanted to be photographed in

Mary’s Monday Musings to Quilt Encouragement  Our Freedom             The trumpets blow taps, and my heart squeezes with emotion. My eyes water at the testimonies about brave soldiers, who gave their all. Memorial day.  The day we remember the men and women who gave the ultimate sacrifice for our country. My heart swells with appreciation

Mary’s Monday Musings to Quilt Encouragement Pomp and Circumstance. Sir Edward Elgar’s composition always puts a lump in my throat when graduating classes march into their places to the flourishes of this stirring music. Perhaps it’s the significance of a graduation that moves me as much as the music. At a graduation, students receive a

Mary’s Monday Musings to Quilt Encouragement   Weddings             The bride’s skirt swirled around her as she and her groom danced their first dance after their Christ centered wedding. The beaming faces of the whirling couple above the twirling dress and tuxedo brought smiles to all the observers. The rhythm of the music, the joy

Mary’s Monday Musings to Quilt Encouragement The Gargoyles of Life.             We parked in a mall parking garage that overlooked a cathedral. From this view point we could see that the decorative curlicues on the tall towers were not shaped like the gargoyles of European Cathedrals. Gargoyles are an architectural term for decorations of long-necked