Lucky Man

I'm feeling a bit sentimental this morning, so, for just a few minutes, I'll shed my curmudgeonly nature.

A couple of days ago, my daughter, Becky, called and asked if I'd like to meet her for lunch.  As she lives 2-3 hours away, it was something of a sacrifice for her.  Of course, I said yes.  What man in his right mind turns down lunch with a beautiful, smart, witty, and talented daughter?  Right?

As we were standing in the restaurant waiting to be seated, I glanced up and my son was standing next to us.  He lives 15 hours away (in Denver, CO) and was in town for business.  I didn't know he was in town, so I was shocked to see him.

Wow.  Lunch with two of my three kids.  And it was their idea!  That's what I've been thinking about.  They wanted to spend time with their old man.  Naturally, they expected me to pay, so it could be that they just wanted a free meal, but I'll choose not to dwell upon that for the time being.  It would be too curmudgeonly to do so.

As if their mere presence wasn't enough, Becky came bearing gifts for a combo Father's Day/Birthday.  She gave me the nicest photo of her and me from her wedding 5 months ago.  I love photos from my kids.  Every one is always displayed proudly.

In addition to the photograph, she gave me a six-pack of TurboDog, some coffee, and some espresso candy.  She knows her dad!

Also, her wit was on full display with the Father's Day card she choose.  Here's the front:



And here's the inside:

I'm still laughing about it.  When she was little, I used to say that she was snarky.  Methinks that she's not outgrown it.

Flying the Friendly Skies

Megan in FreeFall

Fiancée has some quirks.

One of her quirks is that she loves being surprised.  You may lazily yawn and say that you enjoy a good surprise, too.  But that is not at all what I'm talking about.  I mean that she LOVES it.

Think last-day-of-school-summer's-here-now kind of excited.

Think winning a billion dollar lottery kind of excited.

Think the-kids-are-gone-for-the-weekend kind of excited.

If you're female, think bubble bath, a glass of wine, and no one yelling, "Mommy, Mommy, Mommy," kind of excited.

If you're a guy, think kids are being quiet, she's shriveling in the bath, and I'm not in trouble for something that I don't really understand kind of greatness.

She gets like a little kid.

Not kidding.

Needless to say, I noticed this pretty early on in our relationship, and, to my credit, I have created some cool surprises for her.

Redfish in Venice, Louisiana

Once, I took her fishing in Venice, Louisiana.  She had no idea where we were going, much less the reason for the trip.  We were at the end of the continental United States, right before one disappears into the Gulf of Mexico, and she still didn't quite know what we were doing all the way down there.  She didn't do very well at guessing that surprise, but she caught plenty of redfish and speckled trout that day.  She was excited.

So, keeping with the tradition of random surprises, I found a skydive place and booked a reservation for her.  Unbeknownst to her, of course.  Then I told her the date and said that that day was all mine because she had a surprise coming.  I even handled the child-care issues.

She says that I'm amazing.

Who am I to question insight when it's so perceptive?

 

 

Check out Megan's Skydiving experience (complete with video) at:

 

 Reckonings of a Curmudgeon

 

 

 

Shipwrecked at Angola

Shipwrecked

Well... We made it back from the rodeo all in one piece.  We even had a good time, mostly.  Successful trip, I'd say.  Wouldn't you?

We began the journey later than we meant to, but, of course, that's my fault.  Somehow.

As you may or may not know, Fiancée has two sons.  One, of course is the little tornado; he's eight.  The other is a freshman in college; he's eighteen.  We decided to swing by his university and include him in our little rodeo soiree.  I was happy to do so, and I'm glad he went.  Besides, he's thin, so he doesn't really add much weight to the bus.

After picking up skinny boy, we headed to Vidalia, Louisiana to overnight in the Wal-Mart parking lot there.  I'm really getting acquainted with the Wal-Mart parking lots in America.

Crossing the Mighty Mississippi

I went to sleep with instructions to be awakened at a certain time, but Fiancée took pity on me and let me sleep in.  (For you English critics out there, "in did she allow me to sleep.")  She's really very sweet to me.  And I do try hard to appreciate her kindnesses.  My new motto is: "Clocks be damned!"  It's easier that way.

We crossed the mighty Mississippi River into Natchez, Mississippi and headed south to Angola.  I've never been this way before, so I had no knowledge of the local roads.  I followed the GPS which directed me onto a "highway" that has a speed limit of 45mph.  Hmmmph.  I came to the conclusion that 45mph was a very optimistic assessment of the maximum speed that one should travel on this particular stretch of asphalt, patches, and potholes.

Read the rest of this post at:

Reckonings of a Curmudgeon

Angola Prison (Rodeo) Bound

Guts Poker

Each spring and fall, Angola Prison in Louisiana hosts one of the most unique events in America: The Angola Prison Rodeo (APR).

To date, I've been four or five times and I've enjoyed them every one.

If you're thinking that you don't much care for rodeos, don't stop reading because the APR isn't a regular rodeo and it's not just about the rodeo; there's much, much more.

For starters, the rodeo has events that sane people wouldn't even begin to try.  Pictured above is an event called Guts Poker.  In this event, four inmates are seated around a card table.  Sounds simple enough, until you learn that a bull is released into the arena.  The bull is then goaded into attacking the participants by the rodeo clowns.  It's a game of attrition... the last one seated is declared the winner.  The event is aptly named; all it takes to win is guts.

The other part of rodeo day is the hobbycraft area.  Over the course of the year, inmates built a wide variety of handmade items.  Leathercraft, woodwork, sculptures, paintings, etc. are all for sale.  In the past, I've bought a handmade guitar, several rocking chairs, and various other small items.  All of high quality and terrific craftsmanship.

I can't emphasize this enough:

 

GO TO THE RODEO AT LEAST ONCE IN YOUR LIFE.

 

You won't be sorry.

Our plan is to hit the road this Friday (April 21, 2017) and attend the rodeo on Saturday.

If you know anything about how our adventures go, there will surely be some sort of catastrophe along the way.  It's just how we do it!

Stay tuned for the adventure.

TheCurmudgeon

 

SOLD !!!

Recently, Fiancé made a discovery. 

Not to be outdone, I also had a Eureka moment.

My discovery was that a woman with too much time on her hands and a knack for surfing the internet will find new and strange ways to spend money and cause general mayhem.

She discovered online auctions.

Did you know, for instance, that, for just a few dollars, you can buy a storage room full of junk?  Honestly, I didn't know that.  But, may the good Lord have mercy upon my soul, I know it now.

The super cool thing about this is that for, say, five or ten dollars, you can be the proud owner of a room full of garage sale items.  But the thing I love most is that this cheap room full of stuff is usually in another city.  It's ideal, really.

Just this past weekend, I had the good
fortune to travel to Houston to pick up a room of junk.

Read the rest of this post at:

Reckonings of a Curmudgeon

Honey's Table

Last year, while I was making random designs on isometric paper, I stumbled upon what I thought was an interesting design.  Unlike many other of my experiments, I knew immediately that I wanted to build this one someday.  Ultimately, I named this one "Honey's Table."

A bit later, while doodling on the same paper, I tripped over yet another design.  I liked the concept of this one, too.  In fact, I decided to make this second design first.  I planned to give it to my fiance', so I named it "Honey's Maze" because it sort of looks like a maze.  (See Honey's Maze, Part I)

I built the top to "Honey's Maze" first, but I quilted "Honey's Table" first, so it gets the first post!

Also unlike lots of my other designs, this one means nothing.  It just looks cool to me.

The design is, of course, thoroughly modern, but there is a twist.  It is made of Civil War prints.  I seem to love older, traditional fabrics, but I also seem to favor modern, newly inspired designs.  I actually stuck to the colors of the original drawing, but, oddly, the only reason I used those colors is that they were the colors that I happened to have on hand.  As Louis Pasteur famously said, "Chance favors the prepared mind."  Always be looking for an advantage, even when it seems to materialize by happenstance.

Life is full of lucky accidents if we but look for them.

All-in-all, I was pleased with the result.

More importantly, she liked it.

In the end, that's all that ever really counts.  Otherwise, life would be hell.

TheCurmudgeon

On the Road

One day, out of the blue, fiancé had a simple idea.

(Most disasters in my life begin with a simple idea, but they're usually my own.)

She wanted a place to sleep when we go visit my mom.  Now, mom's house is just fine, but, when we go to visit, we have a tornado of a little boy and a mammoth of a puppy.  Our 10 month old puppy now weighs almost 180 lbs.

As such, my fiancé doesn't sleep well because she's worried that our invading force will wake the rest of the house.  It's all in her head, of course, but try telling her that.  Really, please try telling her.  I've not had any luck with it; perhaps you will.

A couple of months ago, she sweetly said that it would be nice to have a small travel trailer that we could leave at mom's place.  That way, she explained, she would have a place to collect her brood and know that she wasn't bothering anyone.  In so doing, she could finally get a good night's sleep while visiting.

She had something like this in mind:

I wasn't too wild about a little-bitty thing like that, but, whatever.  All I could imagine is how many times I'd bump my head and scrape my shins.  I have to tell you, I wasn't warm to the idea.  I was willing, but it didn't sound like very much fun.

Then she kept on researching.  She discovered that one could get an older motor home for a reasonable price.

Unfortunately, that little discovery unleashed an avalanche.  Before we knew it, we were knee-deep in motor homes for sale.

Up until this point in my life, I'd never wanted a motor home.  Now all I could see was me cruising across the country with my house strapped to my back.  Johnny Appleseed and Lewis & Clark eat your hearts out!

I had the fever.

Read the rest of this post at:
 

Reckonings of a Curmudgeon

Huck and Jim Had a Dream

Through a convoluted series of thoughts this morning, I got to thinking about Huckleberry Finn.  That led me to think about my relationship with his story and the banning of the book now and then throughout the course of its history.

First off, let me say that, if you've not read Mark Twain's Huckleberry Finn, you should.  Ernest Hemingway famously said that it was the "one book" from which "all modern American literature" came.

Not only is it great literature, it's an essential tale of Americana that should not be overlooked.  Critics complain about the offensive language, and, it's true, the language can be offensive.  They also claim that it puts slavery and discrimination up front and center.  That's true, too.  It does.

Mark Twain

What critics fail to see, however, is that Huck's tale is a story that condemns not only slavery, but discrimination.  As a lad, reading it for the first time, I came away sickened by the inequality experienced by the African slaves portrayed in the book.  Jim, the slave running away from owners in order to be with his family, is a favorite character of mine.  I love his essential goodness. 

Read the rest of this post at:
 

Reckonings of a Curmudgeon

American Stew

Rosalynd Harris

While perusing the news online this morning, I read a heartwarming story.  It seems that some white guys from Texas went to Washington, DC to witness President Trump's inauguration. 

During their stay, they ate at Busboys and Poets where they were served by Rosalynd Harris.  Ms. Harris had recently been a part of the Woman's March and was proud to have participated.

Ms. Harris happens to be black and she admits that she was a bit prejudiced when she found out that these guys were in town in support of Mr. Trump.

One of the men complimented her on her smile and they all chatted a bit. It was a friendly exchange between people of different worlds, races, and ideas.

It was America.

Imagine her surprise when she picked up the ticket after the men had left.  For a meal costing $76, they'd left her a $450 tip and a message.

 

Read the rest of this post at:
 

Reckonings of a Curmudgeon

 

Eternity Road

Well quilt lovers, I finally finished a quilt!  I presented it to my son and his wife (John and Kayla) for Christmas.

As all quilts should, this one has a story.

I let them know that I wanted to build them a quilt and asked them about colors.  They told me that they wanted something along the lines of deep burgundy.  That was the extent of their input.  The rest was left up to me.

Because I knew that they had a penchant for an 1800's feel, I decided to use Civil War reproduction fabric.  On the other hand, they are a thoroughly modern young couple, so I didn't want a traditional design.  The concept in my head was a modern design with meaning made from traditional fabric.

A Real Man...

When I first started sewing, I posted a video on YouTube.  It was just a way to show my Aunt Vivien Leigh something that I was unable to describe to her in words. 

As she lives way across the country from me, I thought that posting that video was the easiest way.

Since that time, I've had a few comments on the video.  Some very kind and positive, some complaining about the quality of the video.

It surprises me that there are people who have so little to do that they complain about video quality, especially since I explained that it was just for my aunt.

On the positive side, however, "Dianne57" posted this:

"so nice to see a guy quilting , my grandson wants to learn but was told by his peers that only sissy sew. now I can show him this. thanks"

I thought that was very nice.  I don't know who Dianne57 is, but I hope that she makes it to this page somehow.  I've been thinking about this a bit since she posted the reply and I want to list some things that I think make a real man.

Hard Times

As I said previously, I abhor the rabid and random of detailed postings of daily drama.  As such, I will not post any such thing.  I will just say that hard times are upon my family right now and muse about the proper response to hard times.

Over the course of my life, I have faced some very big challenges.  That goes for most of us.  While we expect good things to happen, and good things do happen, it is also true that bad things happen.  For some reason, we just don't expect bad things to happen to us.  Curious, isn't it?

If you've not experienced the death of a loved one, you will.  If you have not faced financial or vocational hardship, you will.  It is the nature of life.

When these times come, how should we respond?

An American Dream

Waylon Jennings

In 1979 Waylon Jennings released a song entitled "It's the World's Gone Crazy (Cotillion)."  I doubt that even he would have believed how prophetic he actually was.

On August 8, 1963, Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered a speech on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial entitled "I Have a Dream."  If you have never read it, I encourage you to do so.  It is one of the best speeches in American history.

There are many memorable lines which are now iconic in American culture.  My personal favorite is this:

Martin Luther King, Jr.

"I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character."

Where is the dream today?

Pokemon Go (Away)

Once, long ago, I was the father of a ten year-old boy who was infatuated with Pokémon cards.  I didn't understand it then.  Now that I look back at it, I still don't understand it.  It was stupid.

Trying desperately to be a good father, I even went to the Pokémon movie.  It was the worse use of celluloid in the history of humankind.  But that might be giving it too much credit.

But, today's a new day.  I'm an enlightened man of the future, right?  Think again. 

Venti?

I know that you have come to think of me as a sophisticated man-about-town.  In fact, you'd be right. I'm totally hip and groovy.  No one is more with it than I.

What can I say, chicks dig me.  Why wouldn't they?

Remembering Les

I know that I've come back to college football time and time again on this blog.  There's a part of me that wants to apologize for that because a quilting blog wouldn't seem a very natural fit for college football.  On the other hand, this is a blog about me as well as my quilts, so, in that sense, it seems fitting.

This past Sunday, following a heartbreaking loss to Auburn, LSU decided to fire Head Coach Les Miles.

Honey's Maze: Part I

The Maze

Top Half of "Honey's Maze" Pattern

For the past month or so, I've been working on a quilt that I dreamt up about a year ago when I was doodling on some isometric paper.  (Look here for printable isometric paper: Printable Paper or CustomGraph.)

As I mentioned in The Dream, I like to doodle to come up with designs.  I have a lot of drawings that aren't very good, but that's ok because, every once in a while, something just comes to life on the paper.  I never start a doodle thinking that I have to produce a home run.  Rather, I start a doodle thinking, "I wonder what it would look like if I did this."

Hanging Columns

Sometimes it looks awful.  Sometimes not.  For me, it's all part of the process.

So, last year, I chanced upon a design that looked fun to me.  I'm really not sure what to call it, but I've chosen to call it a maze.  It's not really a maze, but it does kind of look like one, so there ya go.

The Wedding Planner

Engagement Ring

As I mentioned somewhere on this blog, I became engaged this past May.  We didn't really have a date in mind, but we knew that the Spring or Fall of 2017 was what we were shooting for.  Now, it looks like April, 2017 is the time.

It's nice to have it narrowed down to a month.  There is a specific date in April; I just can't remember it.  I'm a guy; details aren't my forte.  What can I say?

Bet I'll be there, though.

The Dream

I want to share the delights and the process of designing a quilt.

I don't want to talk about the technical ways to design because there are many different technical ways to design a quilt.

Rather, I want to talk about the spiritual and philosophical aspects of design.

It's a funny thing to write about something that seems so organic to me.  It's sort of like explaining how I breath or eat.

The Week in Review

There's no one thing that has struck my fancy to write about this week, but there's lots of things happening, so I thought I'd just recap the week.