The One Where Elizabeth Almost Hit a Deer

I ask people why they have deer heads on their walls. They always say because it's such a beautiful animal. There you go. I think my mother is attractive, but I have photographs of her. –Ellen DeGeneres

We live in a sleepy little hamlet nestled up against the Rocky Mountains. Evidence of deer in town {in the form of droppings in your yard followed by the lack of tulips in your spring gardens, where once there were tulips} is not uncommon and sometimes you even catch a glimpse of them. I myself have only spotted them a few times in our neighborhood, because most often they come into town on cold winter nights when food in the mountains is scarce and I tend to stay indoors when it is cold and dark outside.

The other day I was heading out to run some errands. I was about half-way between my house and the stop sign at the corner, when I caught some movement in my peripheral vision. I moved my foot to the brake to slow down and turned to see what it was. I saw a deer coming into the road, running flat out as he had just passed through a large, open church parking lot. The moment became surreal; it was incredible how many things passed through my mind in only a few short seconds. I counted four points on each of the buck's horns {so does that make him a four-point or an eight-point deer?}. I was awed by the beauty and grace and determination of this amazing creature as it refused to alter its course. And I was horrified at the possibility of not being able to stop in time. Instinct kicked in and I slammed on the brakes. I jerked to a stop just as the deer passed in front of me. After the panic had passed and my heart rate slowed, relief flooded my mind and I I felt like Someone had been watching out for me.

Sabbath Songs: Hallelujah Chorus

And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn.

And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.

And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid.

And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.

For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.

And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.

And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying,

Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.
–Luke 2:7—14

Favourite Things Friday: Christmas Edition, Part II

I will honor Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year.
–Charles Dickens

There are so many things about Christmas that I love. Last week, I shared couple of favorites and today I have a few more of my favorite things about Christmas.

Nativity
I love this simple little Nativity set. I think that the colored accents against the mostly white porcelain is just so pretty. I love to look at it and remember the real reason for Christmas

Ornaments
I have little brass Christmas tree ornament that my mom got for me in 1978. Etched into it is a little girl sitting on a rug wrapping a pile of presents and my name is engraved on it. It fits me perfectly — always busy with some project or another. It is one of my favorite ornaments. When we put up our tree, it is tradition at Bug Cottage to get a new ornament to unwrap and put on the tree. I have them personalized and dated so we can remember. Sometimes I get coordinating ornaments, like in 2004 when we were all snowmen. Sometimes I get something to commemorate an occasion, like when I was pregnant with LadyBug at Christmas of 2001 and my ornament was a little figurine of a pregnant woman, or our ornaments from 2005 are Mickey and Minnie Mouses in teacups because we went to Disneyland that year. When I can find an ornament for couples, I do that for Mr. Bug and me, and have both our names put on it. And sometimes I do individual ornaments, like these from last year. I fell in love with these miniature snow globes that stand barely 2" high. Each of the snowmen is different and when you shake them, it snows, of course

This is a special collection of ornaments was made my a very special neighbor of mine. She makes about a hundred-and-fifty wooden ornaments every year and distributes them to neighbors and friends. The little bear in the top left corner is from 2001 and they go chronologically to last year's, the little sled in the bottom right. This year is the first year in I'm not sure how long {she's been doing it since before we were neighbors} that she didn't do ornaments. We were talking about it a few months ago and I told her I knew how much stress and work it was for her and told her she shouldn't make herself crazy trying to get them done. I really meant it, but I have to admit that I was a little disappointed that she actually didn't do ornaments this year because I always look forward to seeing her cute creations.

Christmas Tree

After showing you my favorite ornaments, it is only natural to show you my tree, because what is Christmas without a tree? Despite the hassle of hauling it home from the lot/out of storage and wrestling lights onto it, it just wouldn't be Christmas without a pretty tree. I bought this tree one year after Christmas on clearance for $29.99 and it is pre-lit. That's why it is one of my favorite things! I only put the personalized ornaments and a few other special ones on this year because I didn't want it to look overcrowded but I think it looks a little sparse. I left off all the red and green ornaments and as well as my collection of Santa Claus ornaments. Someday, I hope to have enough Santa ornaments to do a whole Santa-themed tree.

A Christmas Carol
Last week I mentioned that I was looking forward to the Dr. Who Christmas special, which is a time-traveling version of Charles Dicken's A Christmas Carol. I think the telling and re-telling of the tale is essential to Christmas. I love all the different versions. And among my favorites is The Muppet Christmas Carol. The Muppets, in and of themselves, are one of my favorite things. I love the humor and the music. Grasshopper and I watched it together the other day, and had a really great time. I wanted to share a musical number, but I had a really hard time deciding which clip I wanted to use. I debated back and forth and watched them each at least four times and decided that I'll share both and let you pick if you watch one or both or none.




Wishing you a very Merry Christmas!
xo -E

Today's post brought to you by:

The One Where Elizabeth Does Machine Quilting for Hire And Decides To Make A Last-Minute Gift

The supreme accomplishment is to blur the line between work and play. –Arnold Toynbee

I have this cute friend, Pink. Pink's father-in-law passed away very unexpectedly last spring and so Pink gathered up all of his clothes and began cutting them up to make quilts {and the most adorable stuffed animals} to remember him by, as gifts for his family members. She started with a lovely quilt for her husband for his birthday. And she just finished two more quilt tops for Christmas; one for her husband's sister and one for her husband's brother. She asked me if I would machine quilt them for her. I had to stop and think about that. My sewing time is my 'therapy' time. I've done sewing for hire before and when I'm on someone else's deadline it loses all its fun-ness and becomes work and I hate it. But I decided that a little extra money for Christmas might be a good thing, so I agreed to it.

And then I procrastinated for a whole week after I got the quilts from Pink. I think I was afraid of messing them up, or possibly having it take so long that the hourly rate would be laughable {we agreed on a price per inch, like they do it at the quilt shops }. But finally the time came where I could no longer procrastinate, because if I did, then Pink wouldn't have time to get them bound and wrapped up for Christmas. Nothing like a deadline to motivate me . So Monday night, I got all set up and started quilting. It was marvelous. I was on a roll. And then my free motion foot cracked {it is a combination of plastic and metal} beyond repair, putting a serious crimp in my style. I was able to get a new foot on Tuesday, but had so many other things to do that I only got to the ¾-mark before I had to leave off for the night. I finished it up on Wednesday afternoon and am so happy with how it turned out.

I was enjoying myself so much that after I finished the first quilt, I got the second quilt basted and about ⅔ of the quilting finished on it before going to bed {admittedly a bit late} last night. I was up early this morning and had the quilting all finished by 9:15 am. And that makes two December finishes for me .

As I worked, and the crisscross pattern emerged in this second quilt, an idea began forming in my mind. I loved the thoughtfulness of the memory quilts that Pink had made for her family and was inspired by another blogger, Mary, who decided 12 days before Christmas that she was going to make a t-shirt quilt for her husband . She posted yesterday to report her progress and she'll have that quilt finished by the weekend. I started thinking about a pile of old t-shirts and sweatshirts from Mr. Bug's Navy days that I came across while I was straightening the shelves in our closet a few months ago. There was a t-shirt quilt at the quilt show in town this summer and when I found Mr. Bug's shirts, I thought to myself, hmmmmm, these might make a neat t-shirt quilt . . . someday . . .

The tangibility of Pink's memory quilts and the quick progress of Mary's t-shirt quilt collided in my head and an insane idea for a quilt for Mr. Bug began to take shape. I knew I'd seen some US Navy themed fabric at Wal-Mart and so I went straight there {after work} today to get it. Only in my head, the print was opposite — the background was navy blue {because it is the Navy, after all} and the circles were red. And that threw off my plan. There were about eight yards left on the bolt, so I figured it would be safe for me to leave it and do a little shopping around and then come back, if necessary. Because who would decide to make a quilt {or use up those eight yards in some other way} with only nine days until Christmas? That is just plain crazy. I came home and clickety-clicked until I found the most fantastic Navy fabric ever. It was even on sale {if you think $8.89 a yard is a deal }, so I ordered up 4½ yards of it. I'm crossing my fingers that they ship it tomorrow {their FAQ's said same-day, but I ordered after hours} and that the postal workers just know that I need that package on Monday, because this quilt is not going to be a gift for Mr. Bug for Christmas. It is going to be a gift for Mr. Bug's birthday, which is two days before Christmas .

You see, Mr. Bug has gotten the shaft on his last five birthdays. I'm always running around like a crazy person trying to get the last-minute Christmas things finished and he doesn't get much attention on his birthday. Besides that, I never know what to get Mr. Bug. He likes fancy video cards and mother boards and stuff like that and he likes to pick them out. That kind of takes me out of the whole gift giving process. I always get him a new pair of jeans {which I usually have to return because he doesn't like the cut or something} and a shirt or a sweater. But after 15 years, that gets kind of old. This year, I want to do something special. I only wish I would have thought of it, um, like, four months ago!

Today I got his shirts rough-cut and figured out the layout. I'll stop in at JoAnn's tomorrow to get some woven interfacing so that I can get that fused to the blocks and get them cut to exact size. Then I'll cross my fingers some more and hold my breath and hope that the fabric comes on Monday so that I can get the top put together. I want to quilt on Tuesday and bind and wash on Wednesday. Is it possible to get this {and the sixty-eleven other things I need to do before Christmas} done? Yes. Is it likely? Let's just say that I might be wrapping up a partially-finished quilt for his birthday this year. And I'll have plenty of time to finish it for his next birthday .

P.S. Santa, if you're reading this, I would really love to find a long-arm quilting machine {and a room added onto my house to fit it in} under my tree this year. xo –El

Bradbury 13: There Was An Old Woman

Because I could not stop for Death,
He kindly stopped for me.
The Carriage held but just ourselves
And Immortality
–Emily Dickinson

This week's Bradbury 13 episode is an adaptation of There Was An Old Woman, which was published in 1944 and can be found in The Stories of Ray Bradbury. I'm including references to the stories for the bookworms out there . The radio drama was produced at BYU and aired in the spring of 1984. It received a Peabody Award {for excellence in radio broadcasting} that year and featured some of the finest of the local talent. Ruth Hale, playwright, theater owner and actress, plays the lead role in There Was An Old Woman, and does a really amazing job. Her husband, Nathan Hale, also plays a part in this episode and their daughter, Janet Swenson, has parts in several of the other episodes.

There Was An Old Woman
It was the quiet and restful time of the day. Silence. Just the bone porcelain flowered clock on the mantle chiming three, ticking away, busy as termites in wood; just the old room smelling of polished mahogany and oiled leather in the Morris Chair, books, sitting stiff on the shelves. The dark young man smiled from the antique rocker. He listened patiently, politely, as Aunt Tildy chatted away, while four men dressed in black stood in the hall with the wicker basket, waiting.

My Rating:
I'm beginning to wonder if I'm just being stingy with my ratings, because There Was An Old Woman is another 3 of 5 {which is technically a 13 out of 10}. Aunty Tildy and I happen to disagree about death. She just doesn't believe in it. I'm not sure why anyone would want to hang around forever. Don't get me wrong; I love life and I'm in no hurry to part with it. But when things start to wear out and quit working properly, I think I'll be ready to move on. I'm square with that, but Tildy never married because she couldn't bear the thought of a husband up and dying on her after 30 or 40 years. She is even hesitant to take in her niece when she needs her because her niece believes in death and she's not sure she wants to be around those kinds of beliefs. And when Death himself comes to call, she refuses to go with him. He tries to outwit her, but will she let a little thing like Death get the best of her?

Air Date:
April 23, 1984

{Morgan White, Ruth Hale and (probably) Tanya Neff.
Photo courtesy of Phil at Ray Bradbury & Media
©Mike McDonough}

Narrator:
Paul Frees

Cast:
Ruth Hale
Nathan Hale
Kim Jensen
Tanya Neff
Bob Nelson
Duane Hyatt
Morgan White

Music:
Roger Hoffman
Greg Hansen

Production Assistant:
Patrick Mead

Associate Producer:
Jeff Raider

Created, Produced, Directed:
Mike McDonough

Executive Producer:
Dean Van Uitert

Audio Clip of There Was An Old Woman

Buy There Was An Old Woman mp3

Buy Bradbury 13 Audio CDs