Celebrating Peggy's Life

The weatherman says this Saturday is going to be a beautiful day. The temperature will be near 70. The sun will be shining and those Spring flowers that haven’t already popped, most certainly will. These first days of Spring mean new growth, new hope, new life. However, this Saturday, the women of my small quilt group will cry.

Tangled Threads enjoying a weekend at the beach

Outside, we’ll still rejoice in the beauty of the day and we’ll greet each other with warm hugs and smiles. But inside, we’ll all be remembering someone whose absence we feel to the core of our souls. For we’ve lost one of us. Saturday is Peggy’s Memorial Service. Peggy was diagnosed with ovarian cancer almost 7 years ago. For 6.5 of those years, she fought it with everything she had. She endured surgery, radiation and countless varieties of chemo, and she struggled against the ravaging side effects each new treatment threw at her.

The Chemo Quilt we made for Peggy.

Each of us "dressed" our doll in the style that best suited our personality.

Still, she always had a smile on her face and a warm hug when she greeted us. Her first words when we got together were always to ask about our lives. Her parting words at the end of the night were always an “I love you all so much” and a kiss on the check for each of us.

About 6 weeks ago, we learned the cancer had advanced beyond all hope. Peggy made the decision to go on hospice. I think we all struggled with that decision, knowing that we were losing a dear, dear friend. And yet, we also knew how tired she was. She wanted her final days to be days spent simply loving her family and friends, free of pain and free of chemo.

She died March 1 at 4:15 in the afternoon, surrounded by her family.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Christmas 2008

It’s hard to describe the closeness I feel toward the women of my quilt group. A few years back, I wrote an article about Tangled Threads for the HP quilting website. The following paragraphs were how I described our group then. Some 6 years later, it’s still spot on: When the women of Tangled Threads Quilt Group met for the first time back in the late 1980s, they were anxious and excited to meet others like them. Most were working mothers who had only a few hours each week to share their passion for quilting. Some 15 years later, the kids are grown, some members have retired, new members have joined, and other members have moved or just moved on. But a core group still meets every Tuesday night. Their conversations are richer now, and while quilting provides a reason for the meetings, more and more those two precious hours are consumed with laughter, tears, and tales of family, home and self. These women have seen each other through weddings and births, illnesses and deaths. They’ve vacationed together, celebrated individual achievements, and gently wrapped loving arms around each other during times of stress and difficulty. They know they can count on each other for support – no matter the day, no matter the hour. They are much more than friends and closer than many sisters.

Christmas 2009

So this Saturday, we’ll gather with Peggy’s family to remember her and to celebrate her life. The quilts she stitched with so much love will be on display throughout the church.

Together, we’ll share Peggy stories and we’ll laugh because it wouldn’t be right to remember Peggy without laughter. But rest assured, this memorial service will be hard on us and there will also be tears.

Because this time...this time, we’ve lost one of us.

Godspeed, my friend – ‘til we meet again at that big Quilt Show in Heaven.

The beach

We spent the weekend on the Oregon coast a couple weeks back. A couple from our sailing club built a home there a few years back. Each fall, they invite a few couples down to enjoy their house and the coast. Luckily, we're always one of the couples!

A huge storm had gone through the night before we went down so we left early on Friday in order to see the waves before sunset. The Oregon coast is a great place to be during storms because the wave action is pretty dramatic - it's hard to show that in a still picture so you'll have to take my word for it!

This year, we also saw something we hadn't seen before. And that was a lot of seafoam. It was literally in drifts on the beach. As it was blown apart and along the beach, the pieces of foam rolled into what looked like snowballs...I think Charli did think it was snow - until she dipped her nose into it!

Here are some of my favorite shots, and a video at the end - I hope you enjoy them, too. Here's the video...the wind was stong the day I shot this. You'll hear it on the video!

It was a great weekend with great friends and way too much great food and drink!

The Jones Family

Back in July, some very good friends from Idaho came up to Shaw to visit. We haven't seen them in quite a few years but like all good friendships, it seemed like it had only been a few months.

One of the fun things we get to do on Shaw, is share in the sailing experience with others who haven't ever sailed before or who don't get to sail often.

Such is the case with the Jones' kids. They were born and raised inland. Their experiences on the water have been in their dad's motor boat. Granted, it's a nice boat and for young Jenna who loves speed, it's the perfect boat. But when Ed and Cheryl stopped by with their 38" Tartan, well, it was too tempting and we gladly headed out to the water with them. As you know from earlier posts, Ed is all too happy to turn over the helm once the sails are up. We had nice wind and clear skies - it was a beautiful day to be on the water. Tanner took the helm first. Between Ed, Randy and Dan, Tanner got all kinds of advice. He took it all with a grain of salt, and good kid that he is, just kept smiling. When he turned the helm over to Jenna, he moved to the side where he took over the jib.

Jenna was a bit hesitant at first but quickly got the hang of it - she simply held on to the wheel and gave orders!

And of course, the guys quickly found another sailboat to race. After all, if the sails are up, it's automatically a race...even if the other boat doesn't know it! All too soon, though, our afternoon was gone and we headed back to the Shaw and dinner. It was another great day spent with lifelong friends and followed by a spectacular sunset...again!

Calling in

I did something Friday night that I’ve never done before. I called in to a talk show and spoke with the hosts. The subject was one very close to my heart and one that has kept me captivated over the past week – namely, the Flood Fight in ND.

Of course, it didn’t hurt that one of the co-hosts is a dear friend of mine from college days and beyond – John Strand. That’s him on the left - I took some screen shots before calling in.

John had emailed late Thursday to say that he was going to co-host a Fargo radio talk show that evening. The midnight to 5am show was being used to disseminate flood information to the Fargo/Moorhead area. He’d included the web link and invited us to call in with questions, share comments and concerns, or just to say hello. I didn't see that email until the next morning. I emailed and told him I felt bad for missing it.

He emailed later that day and said he would be on again that evening. So, I clicked on just after 10pm my time (midnight his time) and listened for about a half-hour before dialing in. The guy answering the phone asked for my first name and where I was calling from; then placed me on hold after saying I would be the next person they talked with. At the time, they were talking with a woman who was manning the local volunteer hotline – she was giving volunteers information about where they were needed, what types of things needed doing, or numbers to call for other types of information. She talked about the spirit of the volunteers. How it made her feel that so many people – 80,000 volunteers in all – had stepped up, hour-after-hour, through the cold, snow and wind, to save the homes, businesses and lives of the Fargo/Moorhead area residents. Think of that – 80,000 volunteers. Fargo’s total population – men, women, children, cats and dogs – is just over 90,000. She said she hoped that the rest of the nation would see how this community of volunteers, working together, had managed to fill and place over 3 million sandbags. That working together can produce tremendously positive results – and maybe that was a lesson a lot of people in the world needed to take away from this…it’s about helping each other in times of crisis; not just helping ourselves. She talked about the bone-tiredness of volunteers at the end of a 4-hour shift. But how, just 6 hours later, those same volunteers would be back on the line ready to help again. People, she said had come from all over the Midwest, by the busloads and carloads, to help. The volunteers were of all ages. Those who weren't able to fill or place sandbags were helping prepare and deliver food and supplies. Some were manning phones or setting up off-site shelters. Others who were too far away to lend a physical hand were calling to find out how they could help monetarily or emotionally. When it was finally my turn, John said there was a caller from Washington state named Sue…and he thought he might just know who that was. Then, he turned to the camera and with a wide smile on his face, waved and yelled “Hi Susy!” (Those college nicknames never seem to go away, do they?) I’m slightly embarrassed to say I waved back – and I didn’t have a web cam on.

John explained who I was, that both Randy and I had graduated from NDSU in Fargo, and that we still had many friends and relatives in the area and the state. He asked what people here in Vancouver and Portland were saying about the flood, and asked what our feelings were about being so far away while people we knew and cared about were fighting for their homes. We talked about the spirit of ND and her people. We talked about our sandbagging days in college. And we talked about our college friends – now pillars of the community – who were fighting to save their homes. Since Friday, I’ve tuned in a couple more times; listening to volunteers and residents talk about what keeps them going; listening to callers from out-of-state tell why this flood and the overwhelming volunteer response to it keeps them tuned in and hanging on…how they feel a camaraderie with the people there.

John emailed yesterday that he'll continue hosting the midnight-5am (Central time) shift “until the crisis is over.” Unfortunately, with the state in the throes of yet another blizzard, that could be awhile!

Keep up the good work, John and all of you volunteers. My thoughts and prayers are with the people in Fargo/Moorhead and throughout the state as you fight this battle in bitter cold temperatures, biting wind and seemingly never-ending snow.

Sunday in the Gorge with Friends

When we left Donnie’s boat on Saturday, he said he’d call before noon Sunday to talk about plans for that day. True to his word, the phone rang at 11:58am. He said they’d been up visiting until 5am so really needed the sleep. Plus, they’d lost an hour with the time change…Spring ahead and all! They finally made it over to the house about 2. We ended up taking a drive out to the Gorge. While it was raining to the west, we were lucky and had dry weather the entire drive. I must say the lower hills along the Gorge were absolutely beautiful – there was a dusting of snow on the trees so each really stood out. Our first stop was, of course, Multnomah Falls. It was cold so Randy shot this obligatory picture of us in front of the fall and we left. We then drove over the Bridge of the Gods bridge to the Washington side and stopped in at the Skamania Lodge for a pint. From there, we headed to the Walking Man Brewpub in Stevenson for dinner before heading back toward Vancouver. And, of course, a quick stop for pictures every now and then, including this one of the moon… Here’s another shot of that cropped a different way… And this one at Crown Point. I do wish it had been a bit lighter when we got to Crown Point because it’s such a great place for pictures…next time! When we got back to Vancouver, we uncorked a couple bottles of wine and relaxed until it was time for John and Donnie to head back across the river. It had been another great day with great friends.

...On the Willamette

Don invited us to bring Randy's folks over for a boat ride on Saturday. Here's Donnie's boat...Not too shabby. That's Donnie on the back untying the lines. Randy took this shot from the dock.

And I'll apologize upfront for calling him Donnie...I've tried but he was Donnie in college and I guess I just have a hard time with change! Besides, he still calls me Susy.

Anyway, back to Saturday...it was a gray day and there were sprinkles but still, anytime someone wants to offer a boat ride...well, you gotta go.

Here's a picture of Donnie at the helm with Jan Ellen's Aunt on the left.

Randy's Mom brought her new camera along so while some of these are from our 5050, the majority of them are from her camera. Randy handed it to me and told me to test it out. It's been a long time since we've been on the Willamette. And it amazed me - again - at the homes built on the river. Randy and I were interested in seeing the floating homes...

Then there was this one...

It just kept getting bigger...

and bigger....

and bigger....How many people do you suppose live there? Then there was this one...it looks like it's a spaceship that fell here and stayed. Don't you wonder who the architect was and what the story is behind the design?I swear this one was a full city block big. You'd need walkie-talkies just to find other people!

And this one. I could put my entire hometown in here and we'd still have room left for company.

John wanted to know if these people had just put in a new lawn and the flags were where irrigation was placed. Randy and I think the flags are there to keep the ducks and geese off the lawn because, well...they're a bit messy!

None of us are really sure what this is used for...other than as a patio. Perhaps a water storage unit? It would be a great place for Happy Hour!

I like this shot. I really like the sun shade...it's another place that would make a great Happy Hour spot. Then there was this place. We called it a "Diamond in the Rough."

John thinks maybe he could afford it.