May and June, 2007
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MUSE INDEX Dropdown menus LINKS Previous issues What's New Who's Who Birthdays and anniversaries Muse History May-Jun Photo Gallery Nancy's Quilts Muse readers' own websites |
CONTENTS OF THIS ISSUE: KIDS! (Sean Howlett) Click 53rd BIRTHDAY (Roy Murdock) Click HOLEY SOCKS (Valerie Davidson) Click ROME, ETC. (Becky Murdock) Click CHIP IN EGYPT (Chip Martz) Click HI GUYS! (Cathy Howlett) Click M.S. TEAM WALK (Christel M. Murdock) Click REPORT FROM OREGON (Mary Cosgrove) Click Part 2 ERIC MURDOCK (Gene Murdock) Click A DAY WITH RICK (Gene Murdock) Click MUSINGS (Gene Murdock) Click FROM RICKEY AND DEANNA AND KIDS (Rickey Murdock) Click KEEPING THE CLUNKERS HUMMING (Valerie Davidson) Click BRIDAL SHOP COMPETITION (Mary Reese) Click AZ TO NH VIA TX (Margery Aukstikalnis) Click BIRTHDAY 54 (Valerie Davidson) Click MY NIECE AND I IN ROME (Colleen McKay) Click THE DAYS FLY BY (Deanna Murdock) Click Part 3 DONALD LYTLE (David Leake) Click WINTER AGAIN (Nancy Murdock) Click R.I.P. JOAN (LOVEWELL) FREEMAN (Nancy Murdock) Click GONE FISHING (Gene Murdock) Click I LOVE BASEBALL (Ian Murdock) Click A GREAT WEEKEND (Gene Murdock) Click BASEBALL, ETC. (Jerod Davidson) Click NEW CHURCH (Polly Soberg) Click THANKSGIVING 2006 (Bob Murdock) Click |
Bob's 80th B-day Photo by Beth
Flow of Thoughts Gallery photo Quilt index |
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Roy Murdock The four of us celebrated my birthday by going to our favorite restaurant, Johnny Carino's! You can see about it here. We had a great time. The food was delicious!!!! My latest adventure is that I am on a serious weight reduction/body building program. I started in late March and am giving myself until September to see what I can do. So far I have lost 10 pounds! |
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Valerie Davidson [Ed. Note: On Valerie's 54th birthday I sent her a picture of my 8th grade graduation class. Somehow the photo had acquired part of another photo when I originally scanned and printed it, so all the legs wore faded newspaper headlines. Her response is below. --NAM] Okay, so now I have to share an anecdote on this topic. (It seems like it should have an exclamation mark, like "Holy socks!") Back when I was in the seventh grade, I believe I got my first pair of pantyhose as a Christmas gift. Having of course had no experience with this delicate material, I managed to snag a hole in the knee as I was putting them on for the first time, which was for church of a Sunday. From this hole, there was immediately a major run, approximately 1-inch wide, up the rest of the leg. This was naturally quite disappointing, but I wasn't about to pass on this special event. I went to my sewing box and found a needle and some white thread, and - starting at the knee - stitched the edges of the run together in a zigzag pattern. I checked in a full-length mirror, and my dress just covered it. However, once I was seated in the pew with my friend Jeanie, the dress hitched up and the stitching became exposed. She actually gasped when she saw it. Admittedly, it looked somewhat Frankensteinian. Hopefully, I threw them out when I got home, but I'm not altogether sure that I didn't also wear them to junior high school the following day. Of this I am quite sure, however: that was the one and only time I used white thread to repair a nylon stocking. V. p.s. Thanks for the photo. I don't really recall this particular photo, but I used to study your class pictures - that goes in the same group as the other nostalgia I mentioned. :-) And of course, I even have one of my own of a Hubbardston class I was in! |
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Becky Murdock April 17 - I heard from Tim on Friday night. He was just going into the Coliseum in Rome with his friends. He took a 9 hour train ride to get there, to tour Rome and see the Vatican. He is really seeing the sights. He was happy to get out because he has been putting in 14 hour days getting ready for his deployment, which was supposed to be in June, but has been pushed back to Sept., to Kuwait. He will go there for 13 months, and come back to Italy for a short time, then hopefully back to AZ for a while. That would be great; then I could see him anytime. It's a bit hard right now, and I miss him terribly. April 25 - I received a call from Timothy this morning which was a pleasant surprise. He was working, but had a chance to give me a call before I went to work. He was telling me that he is going to be having dinner tomorrow night with a very prominent person, but asked me not to release the name until after it happens for security reasons. He was picked by his sergeant personally to be there for this dinner, which is quite an honor. He also mentioned that he hopes to maybe come home for a week or so in August if all goes well. I think I speak for all of us when I say how proud we are to have someone like Tim defending our freedom. He is such a good person, and I am proud to call him my son. I am very happy with the way our kids have turned out, they are really good human beings. Natt is doing really well, and I get to see her all the time, which I love. Well, I hope all is well with you, and hope to see you in the near future. Love to all, Becky. [Ed. Note: Colleen McKay and her niece JoAnnah were visiting Rome and the Vatican at about the same time as Tim. They also went to Venice but didn't get into St. Mark's Church, because it was closing. Colleen is looking forward to taking the next niece there earlier in the day!--NAM] [Ed. note: Anyone wishing to contact Tim with good wishes can Email him at Timothy.Murdock1@us.army.mil . --RDM] |
Gallery photo |
Carl "Chip" Martz I thought The Muse would be interested in my recent Elderhostel trip to Egypt. We saw all the famous ancient sites, including King Tut's tomb and the pyramids at Giza. We also visited Cairo, Alexandria, Luxor, and Aswan. The trip included a Nile cruise, and ended at the Abu Simbel temples that were relocated to avoid the flooding caused by the Aswan High Dam. Of course, I had to get the obligatory photo of me on a camel (attached). The only hard part was the trip home, which took 20 hours from Cairo to Redlands, all in one day! |
Photo by Sarah |
Cathy Howlett In spite of my gentle nagging, Johnny hasn't set finger to keyboard yet to catch you up on all things Chichester, so while he watches another episode of "Deadliest Catch," here I am - tummy full of a nice turkey dinner, laundry all caught up to begin another work week, clean sheets on the bed (note to self: clean the bathroom before bedtime tonight, and you get another piece of that white chocolate Lindt bar in the cabinet). Of immediate importance: please spread the word to all Musers that we are looking forward to visiting with everyone here on Saturday, the 7th of July. Claudia has already RSVP'd, and Polly has been passing on the reunion date to anyone who asks her. Same time (noon), same tent (white), different appetizer (home made Chinese-style pork strips). Johnny bought a smoker a couple weeks ago, so he might even consider cooking something exotic on/in it. Regardless, he will be cooking his now legendary ribs. Regretfully, one familiar face and tail will be missing from the crowd this year. Our beloved companion, Riley, was diagnosed with lymphoma a while ago; he had good days and not-so-good days, and over Easter weekend he let us know he was ready to say goodbye. Johnny took him to Dr. Mara's office Monday morning, and the vet agreed it was time to let our best friend go. The neighbors' cat, who used to bully him mercilessly, still sits at the top of the driveway, waiting for him to embarrass himself by barking at her from a safe distance. Sean and Kris's dog, Idie, is in the process of memorializing him by digging a series of holes throughout the two properties. She has left unfinished Riley's last hole, under the bushes outside our kitchen window. Winter appears to be over and spring in full bloom; but with the strange weather we've been experiencing since last October, it's hard to say for certain. Thanksgiving, Christmas Day and New Years Day all were warmer than Easter Sunday. Johnny and I went for a walk on Ogunquit Beach the second Saturday in January, in our shirt sleeves. Lori and her youngsters, Kris and her boys, Sarah and myself went to York Beach last Saturday, and all except the most hearty folks there did not pause to touch toe to water. Needless to say, Tommy and Joey were among the few to dip! Johnny has dug out the herb garden, and has made his plans to extend the raised-bed garden by one more bed. He begins working second shift tomorrow, so he will have ample time to compost, plant and nurture this year. We're hoping for a better growing season this year; last year his efforts were not rewarded, and we didn't have the abundance we've come to expect. I'm not ready to consider a correlation between his ill health last summer and the paucity of tomatoes in our freezer. And I'm pleased that I'll be able to hoe and weed along with him. I had an accident at work last October, requiring some fancy staple, stitch and glue work by the surgeon to repair my left arm and reconsruct my shoulder. Six months of physical therapy twice a week, along with exercises every day at home, and I can do almost everything as before, except reach behind me. The next time an athlete talks about "playing through the pain" I'll have a pretty good idea of what he means. |
Christel, 2006 |
Christel M. Murdock In the last few weeks, I decided to take back control of my well-being and do my best to make my life my own again. I joined a gym, re-joined weight watchers and I've done my very best to stay positive regardless of the things that don't go the way I've planned, etc. Today, I had a wonderful day. First, it's my partner’s and my six-month Anniversary. This is the most understanding and easygoing relationship I've been in, and despite all the losses we've had in the last six months and despite my own issues, we've stayed strong and I'm so confident that this will continue, hopefully for a lifetime. We also participated in a much-anticipated Multiple Sclerosis Society 5k Walk. A few months ago, I put together a team, which we ended up naming "Big Love," and last night we had a pajama party for the ladies of the group. We made some t-shirts for everybody, "Team Big Love: Celebrating Diversity and the Community Spirit," and watched a TV series on DVD until we couldn't keep our eyes open. This morning, we got up, met the rest of the group at a pre-determined spot, and walked for the many that can't walk for themselves. Seeing so many different kinds of people pulling together for one cause made my heart feel so good, especially that I got to be a part of it. There were dogs in harnesses, carried by loving "mothers" and "fathers," children acting up, children helping out, people my age, adults my mother's and her mother's age, biker dudes, knitting groups, and just every type of person you could imagine... even homeless. Okay, so the homeless didn't exactly go on the internet and sign up a team, but probably my favorite highlight of the walk was this adorable homeless man, all in red, sitting on the short wall to the harbor at Seaport Village with a sign asking for "any help" and cheering all of the walkers on, "God Bless You for what you're doing here!" and all kinds of beautiful encouragement for everyone hoofin' for a cure. I was so moved by this man, I cried of course (I always cry) and gave him the couple of dollar bills I had in my backpack, asked him for a picture and ran to catch up with my team. For the rest of the walk, and some of the drive home, I really thought about that little man in red. You know, bad things happen every day... some small, some not as small, but really YOU choose how to meet those things... finding you're homeless, you can sit on a park bench and watch as all the "more fortunate" people walk by, them cheerful, healthy, clean, you feeling perhaps bitter that they get to go home to the comfort of their roofs and non-transient lives... or you can enjoy the novelty of the moment and cheer them on, and knowingly, or unknowingly, touch a heck of a lot of people. So, that's my story this time. It's nice to have something positive or meaningful (to me) to share. And I also wanted to thank you again for your donation to our walk. It helped me have this wonderful experience to share with you today. I love you two and hope things are well. March 21: I actually had a pretty wild winter's end. I was sort of in your neck of the woods visiting a friend of mine, and the day before my birthday, I was supposed to fly home, but the beautiful weather turned to sleet/snow, so I got stuck in Philadelphia for an extra day. I had a really good time, though. I hope your spring just gets more beautiful. |
Cosgrove |
Mary Cosgrove March 13: I am just now learning about outdoor cooking with irons. The people are great, and I waited at least two years after I discovered them to go to my first "gathering"..in the park, right here in Dallas, in the gazebo, with the fireplace warming us, about 3 weeks ago. I immediately learned that I needed to purchase a steel table which accepts hot coals... I was on the ground, using Walmart's metal dog dish to set coals in. Now I could use a covered patio in rainy Oregon! Then there is "safe food handling" to study, especially if we are serving the public at an event..the leader's son happens to work for the state in the health department. He told his mom to take her watch off. I have a lot to learn, excitingly. Re my sisters: Donna is returning to VT for a visit sometime around March 23 as far as I know. I hardly hear from Donna...she is so busy babysitting her granddaughter in IL. She goes back to VT now and then, other than the summer. Pris is in Hawaii right now...Joy is making bears. My son Matt goes to China for 3 wks (in about 3 wks) for his employer. My daughter sold her place in Wrightwood, CA, and will rent a cabin. Between 2 jobs, hopefully she'll be able to finish her on-line studying for RN. Found an article on the downtown Salem, OR, quilt shop. It's called Greenbaum's Quilted Forest, and it's one of the top 20 quilt shops by the editors of American Patchwork & Quilting. It, along with the other 19, will be showcased in a new book, "Best of Quilt Sampler," published by Better Homes and Gardens. Sylvia Dorney is the owner of the 107 year old "pattern for excellence" business. Go to www.quiltedforest.com We are driving to Newport Bay early Fri., for one overnight in search of a crabber. |
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