Shaking It Up

We've had a few days of extreme upheaval around here, and I mean that literally.

Monday night, the weather warnings were severe and the worst of it was bearing right down on my locality. Mr. Kathie, Lucy, and I thought it prudent to head for the basement. We followed all the proceedings on TV, sweating bullets about the brand new roof that had been on the house only since last week.

Once the storm sounded like it had abated somewhat, we ventured back upstairs to see what had happened.

The porch light was conveniently out of commission, but in the somewhat irregular glow of the lightning, it looked like one of our beautiful ancient oaks was gone. Could that possibly be true? Mr. Kathie didn't think so. I was sure I was seeing a very large stump where a tree should have been. He ventured down the driveway in a car, came back, and announced that not only was a big oak gone, at least four or five other trees on our property were down too.



And our mailbox was gone.


So bizarre.

In the morning light, the sight was just amazing--trees down everywhere, parts of garage doors in the street, insulation spread through everyone's yards. Most of the parts of houses had blown in from some fair distance away. How surreal to have our beautiful and lush June marred by such a thing.

But my neighborhood was fortunate--this was only a glancing blow of an F2 tornado. Very few houses had actual structural damage. The next town over, where I work, was hit hard by the tornado. At least 25 families lost their homes. Amazingly enough, no one was killed or seriously injured. The response from emergency crews has been outstanding and other volunteers have done a fabulous job. My library is in the municipal building and still has no power. I haven't worked since Monday, and may be off the rest of this week.

Our house is unscathed, including the brand new roof. We are so very fortunate. One of my co-workers will be out of her home for a month while structural repairs are completed.

It's apparent that the big oak had been pretty fragile.


It had been struck by lightning many years ago and had dead areas in its upper reaches, but it leafed out nicely every year, and we'd hoped against hope that it would go on forever.. It was pretty heartbreaking to see such a venerable tree bite the dust.

Arrgh! Been missing in action here, but it's been busy in my corner of the real world.

Been doing a good deal of this:


...and I have the scratches and mosquito bites to prove it. A wonderful library patron gifted me with a carload of ferns dug from her garden and it took days to get them all placed. And I spent most of last weekend clearing out an area that, some years back, was optimistically planned to be a shade garden. Unfortunately, it's become an overgrown mess. What to do with it? Now that it's cleared out, we're seriously considering just scattering grass seed, allowing it to become yard, and being done with it. Serious lack of imagination, but time is always at a premium, and mowed grass would look way better than a weedy tangle.

Have to say that I'm the kind of gardener who gets a big shot of enthusiasm in May and June and then it goes away. I mean, I live in Wisconsin. Really, what's the use?? Sigh.

I've also been hanging out in Milwaukee, at some Asian grocery stores, which are always a welcome break from my sad little life in the burbs. A friend and I plan several ethnic grocery days per year. We visit a Thai/Lao one, a Filipino one, an Italian one, sometimes an Indian one. This time we finished with lunch at Phan's Garden, a great Vietnamese cafe. It was too summery to think of ordering the Pho. When we're there next in chilly weather, I will for sure be trying it.

What IS all this stuff? It's just so much fun to look.



But yes, there is a quilting segment to this roundabout post. Here's a completed top, straight from the archives of Quiltville.


This is Bricks and Stepping Stones, completed in one weekend in May. Friends, this is 100% scrap, setting me firmly on moral high ground. Look closely and feast your eyes on a panorama of fabrics from the last twenty years.


This top nicely cleared out a drawer of scraps. Feeling very self-righteous.