Last evening ~ ~ ~

At 5:20, I went to my studio and made this little needle felted pillow for a hostess gift!  He's made of Wensleydale sheep fleece that we brought back from England six years ago ~ felted into heavy black wool, stitched together and stuffed with wool snippets from my rug hooking!  Notice his red hooves!!

We were invited to our friends, Diane and Lou Hart, to see their log home built from three antique log structures.  This is the family room fireplace ~ the surround is made of HUGE stones salvaged from a house of days gone by. There were 30 + trees throughout the home and the ambiance was just breathtaking!  The approach up the driveway with lighted trees and fence rails set the stage for a wonderful evening in the dimly lit home with a fire blazing and soft Christmas music in the background!  Their home was written up in the Christmas 2011 Early American Life magazine.  If you have it, take your own tour and know that we were thrilled to see it firsthand!

This is a better shot of the little pillow hostess gift ~ yes, I went down at 5:20 and whipped it up to go along with us for our 6:30 visit to Diane and Lou's!!! My days are hectic and intentions were to make it earlier but true to my nature, it happened practically on the way out the door!  Diane loved it and I was so glad it came together!  Makes me wonder why I don't do more of that kind of thing!  The answer is that I'm most creative when under a deadline!

Granddaughter Luci had her tonsils out this morning and what a little trooper she was!  I went to the hospital to stand watch with her parents (son Teddy and mom Miki)  and Aunt CC and Aunt Beth.  As soon as she was awake and eating popcicles, we all cleared out and left Miki to handle the rest!  Tonite, she is home and so far, so good!!

Our Seattle grandson, Hunter, and family are in Reno, Nevada tonite in preparation for Hunter to play for Team Washington in the Football University  games comprised of some of the best 7th grade football players in the country!  They played and won two games last weekend in Oregon and need to win tomorrow in order to advance to Sunday's game.  Hunter is the starting quarterback and seems to have a fine future ahead of him!  Go Hunter ~ grandma's here in Ohio with her pom poms cheering you on!

And while we're elated with all the blessings in our lives, we are definitely sad about the tragedy at Sandy Hook elementary school.  There are no words to express our sorrow for all those children and families that have been touched by such an atrocity.  As we lay our heads down tonite, we pray for their peace and strength in the coming days ~ wishing that our prayers would change things for them all.

Take good care of yourselves and one another ~

Alice