International Quilt Museum, Lincoln, Nebraska

 Girls Trip 2022

My sisters and I (missed you Jane) took a trip this summer to Lincoln, Nebraska.  We always have a great time catching up with each other's lives, laughing and spewing sarcasm wherever we go.  Love my sisters!!!

The International Quilt Museum, on the East campus of the University of Nebraska, has a collection of quilts dating from the 1600s to present day and from 60 countries. Presently they store several thousand quilts, but can only show a few 100 at any time. The museum routinely rotates, re-folds & packs the quilts in a temperature and light controlled room.  Our docent was excellent and answered all questions giving us tips and tidbits.  

One tip:  Always label your quilts with as much information as you can. (Date, Quilter's Name, Location, Recipient's Name)

The showcase event during our visit was a  Red and White exhibit of approximately 80 quilts.  Red, one of our family's favorite colors!

My last picture is a button of a quilt that the Museum is interested in acquiring. If you see it, please help!

 

Dad in a Jigsaw Puzzle

 

                                         ISPY Quilt X 2.  Double Sided for twice the Fun!

     Loving Quilting. These are a  Wall Hanging Size.

 

Grandson's College Quilt

 

    My Grandson's College Quilt

    Baby Quilt Front (above) and Back (below)

 

Quilts

Two Sided T-Shirt Quilt.  The Top is High School and College Years. 

The Back (below) is Birth through Junior High School.

 

Albuquerque Balloon Festival

 We had a fun time with our friends in Albuqueque!

Arizona Retirement Home - Take 2

 Alas, we are on the move again!  My husband was not pleased with the Midwest.  Arizona, here we come!

We sold our new home in Kansas City within a week for more than the ask and with no seller's agent---again.  Closed on our Washington coastal property and this Arizona home within a week's time.  Whew!

Family Reunion

We siblings attempt to get together each year.  We are a huge lot, so it becomes more and more difficult to accomplish!        

Grandchildren are the Best!

 I love being Grandma to these buggers!

 May 2015 was joyous and sad.  We lost my Dad  in early May.

Our son was married at the end of the month.

 After re-acquainting ourselves with the Kansas City area, and numerous hours, days and weeks, we have found our new home!

Retirement 7 - 7 - 14

My husband and I are two weeks away from retirement.  Our last day on our respective salary-paying jobs is July 7, 2014 or 7/7/14.  Lucky day don't you think?  We are not only finishing our careers, we are also terminating our long, love-hate relationship with Oregon. 

Our children and grand-children are living in the Kansas City area, so we are heading home! We are excited to get back to the Midwest and be Grandpa and Grandma to our 3 grandsons, 3 granddaughters and 1 granddoggie, not to mention our daughter and husband and son and fiance.  And yes! we have a wedding on the horizon, too. 

Lots of changes, lots of packing, lots of home hunting to do.  We are nearly ready to put our home in Oregon on the market, our ocean lot is already on the market, and the celebrations have begun.

Our Portland home sold with one open house, without a seller's agent, for more $$$ than we hoped to net.  

We took a long slow trip from Oregon to Missouri, seeing sights and states we had not had occasion to visit previously:

Boise, Idaho has a picturesque downtown riverside.

Wyoming is vastly uninhabited!  Devil's Tower is a must.

Deadwood and Mt Rushmore are awe-inspiring.

South Dakota has the Black Hills,Wall Drugs and Little House on the Prairie homestead.

Yellowstone was on our list but was having a snowstorm -- in AUGUST!

We carted our wine collection across the country and it was our daily weight-lifting routine, in and out of our motel rooms.

After all the this and that, we arrived at our daughter's home in Kansas City.  Now the fun begins!

One In Four

Day 1, June 22, 2011

Diagnosis: Papillary Carcinoma

What? Over 99% of all thyroid nodules are benign! I have thyroid cancer? I am one of the less than 1%, how is this possible? Numbness. Shock. Okay, I can do this. What the heck is a thyroid and do I need it? I need surgery and then maybe radiated iodine chemotherapy and a daily hormone pill for the rest of my life. Don't worry. This is the best cancer to get, it's treatable and not fatal. It can spread to the lymph nodes in the neck. I need to write things down. I need to do some research. My doctor says not to despair.

Day 2, June 23, 2011

I told two friends. I haven't cried. My doctor calls it a "smoldering" cancer because it is slow-growing. Most probably it has been with me for years. I had no symptoms. It was hard to sleep tonight.

Day 3, Jun 24, 2011

Today I had bloodwork for my ENT appointment, then downtown for scheduled medical tests and to get a Shingles vaccination. I am having a reaction to the shot, a large oval-shaped rash, which seems to be spreading, like an allergic reaction. To make my day complete I break my little toe while doing housework. Really?

What I know so far...

The thyroid is one of the largest endocrine glands.

"The thyroid gland controls how quickly the body uses energy, makes proteins, and controls how sensitive the body should be to other hormones. It participates in these processes by producing thyroid hormones, the principal ones being triiodothyronine (T3) and thyroxine (T4). These hormones regulate the rate of metabolism and affect the growth and rate of function of many other systems in the body. T3 and T4 are synthesized from both iodine and tyrosine. The thyroid also produces calcitonin, which plays a role in calcium homeostasis." (from Wikipedia)

Some symptoms that may be attributed to thyroid problems or diseases:
Hoarseness, neck pain, lethargy, weight gain and inability to lose weight, swelling in neck lymph nodes, hormonal swings.

I will meet with my Ear, Nose & Throat doctor once he returns from his vacation and I return from mine. Yea....

July 11, 2011
Follow up appointment with my ENT doctor.

My husband and I met with my doctor. My cancer is Stage 1, my lymph nodes are clear. My only treatment option is surgery. My son-in-law, an internist, agrees. My doctor and his partner can do the surgery. They perform this surgery together several times a month and my doctor has an eight year history in the surgery. At risk are the four parathyroid glands which control the amount of calcium in the blood and bones. One only needs 1/2 of one gland still functioning, so the risk is minimal that all glands would be non-functioning after surgery. Another risk is damage to the vocal chords. Hoarseness maybe a temporary or permanent condition.

How did I get this disease? The school of thought is that it develops in those who have had radiation to the head and neck area. I am puzzled. I have dental x-rays once a year. No, that radiation is not the cause, as it is a concentrated and focused dosage in the mouth and jaw area only. I had a neck injury in the early 1980's and have consulted many different doctors over the years. Maybe there were x-rays involved. I do not recall.

After surgery I must take a daily thyroid hormone for the rest of my life, with regular follow-ups with an endricronologist, to monitor hormone levels.

Some additional statistics:

Thyroid papillary carcinoma is the most common thyroid cancer, commonly manifesting between the ages of 30 and 50 years old. There are on average, 37,000 new thyroid cancer cases each year in the United States. Females are the gender that are most likely to have papillary carcinoma of the thyroid. The ratio of women to men is three to one.

My next step is to meet with an endrocrinologist next month.

My message to you:

Have your yearly physical. Schedule the tests your doctor recommends. Ask your doctor to examine your thyroid.


Stay healthy!

Flat Mason

Flat Mason arrives in Beaverton, Oregon.  Here he is with Grandpa Griffin outside Grandpa's home.

We are very familiar with the "Flat Stanley" book.  We have had a Flat Sarah and a Flat Mitchell visit us in Oregon.  We have lived in Oregon for nearly 20 years.  Oregon is a beautiful state.  There are national forests, volcanic mountains, sand dunes and a beautiful coast whose beaches are open to anyone who visits.  Crater Lake in Southern Oregon is the deepest lake in the Western Hemisphere. Mount Hood offers snow skiing year round, too. Everyone should come for a visit!

Here is Flat Mason in the Columbia River Gorge.  This gorge was carved out by the Columbia River more than 700,000 years ago.  As the volcanos rose, the river carved it's path.  Many tourists come to see this beautiful landscape.  People come from all over the world to wind surf in Oregon's Columbia Gorge.

In the gorge you will also find more than 20 waterfalls.  Flat Mason visited two: Latourell Falls and Multnomah Falls.  Multnomah Falls is a very popular falls to visit.  You can hike up to the very top of the falls or just walk up to the bridge.  But be prepared, you can get quite wet!

Next Flat Mason flew with us to Arizona.  Here is Flat Mason on the plane.

Arizona has a large desert.  Mason's great-grandparents live there.  Flat Mason saw cactus, an orange grove and palm trees.

Here is a picture of Flat Mason with his great-grandparents at their home in Mesa.

Back in Oregon, Flat Mason went with us on a day-trip to the Oregon Coast. We visited Cannon Beach, which is well known for Haystack Rock, which is just of the coast in the Pacific Ocean. 

Of course, a visit to the beach is not complete with out a flock of seagulls!

Here is Grandpa and Mason with some spring flowers and a very large Puffin.

We enjoyed our visit with Flat Mason.  We hope he had a fun visit with us.  We are sending some postcards and keepsakes from our states. Maybe he will bring Spring back to you and you will have sunshine and warmer weather soon!