Monday, September 29, 2008

Another good day

What a clear and fresh morning. I was out wandering around, looking for photo ops. It usually isn't a hard task. We are blessed to live in such a beautiful part of the world. And we are so thankful for all these years of living in such special and wonderful places.



Sunday, September 28, 2008

Kandern's new bell

After 450 years of the having the same bell ringing in the bell tower of the Lutheran church, it was time for a change. The town has been raising money for this project for over 2 years, and on Saturday (yesterday) it all came to fruition.
I do not understand the complexity of this project, but I do believe that the cast for the new bell was in the ground.
At one point more dirt was added to slow down the cooling process.
This burner, which apparently took some time and skill to light (and left a household without heat for the evening!) melted down the big bars of metal.
The actual casting was set for 8:00, but due to the slow start, things got delayed somewhat. However, the crowd that had gathered was so full of anticipation of what was to happen, that the wait just added to the excitement!
The pastor of the Lutheran church read a Psalm, gave a short word, thanked everyone possible, and closed his talk with another Psalm and a prayer. It was really a special moment.
I took this picture from across the parking lot so it's not the greatest, but that was the "container" which held the melted metals, ready to pour - to cast the bell. When the pouring was done the huge crowd cheered and clapped. Apparently the bell will be ready by Wednesday, at which time it then has be to transported down the street to the church and mounted in the bell tower. Hopefully I will get in on some of that action too!
What a great event this was. It felt really neat to be a part of history in the making.

Sunday

Today we had Jenna, Ellie and Jay Na over for lunch. The main entertainment of the afternoon for the "younger set" was looking at the girls' baby pictures! They had lots of great laughs, and, according to them, even some intense discussions. Ellie and I had a good visit in the kitchen as we cleaned up lunch, leaving the kids to have fun and relax. Such is life......

Saturday, September 27, 2008

41 Windows

There are 41 windows in our house.
Having lived in rainyish climates for 20 years now, window cleaning has become a bit of an issue in my life.
And I have discovered over the years, that there are many women who feel the same about washing windows as do I...
... it's those pesky streaks that are left behind even after one is so terribly careful to make the window absolutely perfect.
Or so you thought.
Well, I have the answer to all your window woes.
Just over a year ago we were visiting our nephew, Josh, in his house. Out of the blue he grabbed a yellow cloth, made some sort of a mess on his window, and cleaned that mess off with a wipe of this magic rag.
"Auntie Eileen, you NEED one of these cloths. They are amazing."
And so I told him to get me one. That was the best $20 I've spent in a long, long time. This is indeed a miracle cloth. And, it's so easy to use. Wipe the window with a wet cloth and simply dry the window with this lovely yellow one. The results are fantastic. No streaks, no products, no mess, no sore arms! One lady told me that her husband had discovered this cloth for the car windows and now she's afraid that it's lost to her forever! She's actually thinking of getting him one for Christmas! Believe it or not, this was not an advertisement - just my way of trying to make some women's lives a little easier. The brand? Norwex. I highly recommend it! And Josh, you're definitely my favourite nephew!

Thursday, September 25, 2008

Hot lunch

Today we served our great mission's kids their first hot lunch. On the menu: corn chowder with or without cheese, a fresh crusty bun, a homemade donut and a drink. Lots of smiles all around!
Two special friends, Mary and Sherri, helped me serve.
Mary insisted I have my picture taken. Good grief! Notice the bulletin board behind me... It actually says, "Are you hungry for school?", but the part that ended up in this picture worked out quite well!

Wednesday, September 24, 2008

More quilts...

These quilts come from Russia.

This exhibit was absolutely beautiful. This is the village theatre. The building itself was amazing, but with the quilts hanging it was incredible. On one side there were quilts from North America and on the other from Japan.

North American quilts.


Japanese quilts.



Bethany loved these little rag quilts. Actually, I did too!





There was a huge area where stores had booths to sell and display their wares. This is the store in Switzerland where I buy my quilting fabric.

It was crazy to see all the stuff that had been hauled into that massive building.

An exhibit with antique quilts from Canada, the US and the UK.


This quilt was from 1875 and was selling for over 800 Euros.


Quilts from Finland.


Wandering through one of the villages on the way to another exhibit.
The most disappointing exhibit of the day was the Amish quilts. We had expected to see tons of those amazing, black quilts, but that was not to be. The quilts that were there were beautiful, just not quite what we had expected.




That's it, I promise! I hope you enjoyed the tour!