Survival

It has been an interesting week. While I was away at the International Quilt Festival in Chicago, a huge nor’easter was bearing down on New England. It dumped about 16″ of heavy, wet snow on our mountain home, with fierce winds and power outages. Fortunately we have a generator that kicked in after some prodding and ran for 20 hours. Also, we somehow dodged the real brunt of the storm which really did a number on Rutland and Brandon. But since I was arriving in Hartford, CT in the teeth of the storm, I decided to head south to James’ place to spend the night, rather than attempt a 2 hour drive north in the dark in deteriorating conditions. Monday I headed home in heavy rain most of the way, but made it just fine. The storm dealt a lethal blow to our modem and we waited until yesterday for the new one to arrive. It is amazing to me how dependent we have become on the internet and email, that to be without it for several days left us feeling inconvenienced and disconnected. How did we ever cope before?

The workmen didn’t come on Monday and were diverted to another indoor job on Tuesday. They came yesterday and worked through the dreary day reinforcing the ceiling beams. Today was a sub-flooring day and it was warm and sunny. It has been a while since we’ve seen the sun and it was a welcome change, not to mention the temps in the 60’s. Wow, what a day!

The quilt show was fabulous as always. My friend Colleen from Grand Rapids, MI met me in Chicago to see the show and we had 3 glorious days taking classes and workshops, seeing the incredible works of art – the quilts – and checking out the vendors with all their tempting wares. I came home with several pieces of silk, some hand-dyed cotton, some fun beads, 2 hand made art buttons, and an assortment of very cool fibers. The trip was such an inspiration and it was so good to spend time with Colleen to renew our friendship. Can’t wait until next year!