“Oh, the ingenuity of the American mind.” My Mother made that exclamation whenever she observed some remarkable way to solve a problem or a clever invention. She was always impressed and appreciated new approaches to common problems and whatever made any task easier or more efficient. Raised on a farm, she grew up witnessing

I’m not sure what drives the trend of substituting doughnuts for cake at weddings, but we’ve been to several where an abundant number and variety of doughnuts were attractively displayed for the wedding guests. A very small cake for the bride and groom to cut supplied the traditional wedding picture. Perhaps large quantities of doughnuts

Mary’s Monday Musings to Quilt and Encouragement Taffeta Memories and Fresh Yeast Rolls Even today, the smell of taffeta takes me back to my role as a five-year-old flower girl in my aunt’s wedding. I wore a yellow taffeta dress with ruffles to the floor. I was so distracted by the crowded church, I forgot

Mary’s Monday Musings to Quilt Encouragement Limber The gathering of a group of children can leave their elders feeling exhausted just from watching the amount of movement made by each child. As we observe, we can identify movements that would make our joints creak and set our muscles screaming in protest. One did perfect cartwheels

There’s no more charming sight than little flower girls at a wedding. This little flower girl sported a special hairdo complete with a distinctive barrette. Between her hairdo, a long dress, and her careful placement of white rose petals along the pathway the bride would walk, she and her sister flower girls delighted the wedding

Mary’s Monday Musings to Quilt Encouragement Sandcastles One Granddaddy started the sandcastle which quickly attracted the rest of the family to pitch in to build a charming sand village within attractive sand walls. It was altogether a magnificent sand village complete with feathers, shells, and straw trees. We enjoyed the wonderful creation. Passerbys carefully walked

Mary’s Monday Musings to Quilt Encouragement The Blahs Every year brings nasty viruses or bacterial sicknesses to test our wellbeing. Sickness can easily leave us with a case of the blahs. My definition of blahs is something that causes us to feel lousy with no pep or no interest in anything beyond resting. Merrill-Webster Dictionary

Mary’s Monday Musings to Quilt Encouragement A Row of Birds An unusually long row of birds perched side by side on the phone line that ran beside the highway in the countryside. Our car whizzing past didn’t disturb them. They were comfortable that they were high and safely beyond our car. They looked like they

Mary’s Monday Musings to Quilt Encouragement Puppy Appeal Nothing matches the sight of fourteen puppies to put a grin on your face. Between the furry creatures crawling over one another and their happy, wagging tails one is seized by the desire to pick up several for a big cuddle. There is something heart catching about

Mary’s Monday Musings to Quilt Encouragement Outdated Billboards It took a long drive through several states to realize that old fashioned billboard were a thing of the past. The kind that displayed large advertisement on heavy paper glued to a wooden backboard, using a large brush to apply the glue are passe. The process of