September and October, 2008
Nancy and Bob Murdock, Editors - murmuse@comcast.net

---

MUSE INDEX Dropdown menus LINKS Previous issues What's New Who's Who Birthdays and anniversaries Muse readers' own websites Muse History Sept-Oct Photo Gallery Colleen's June 2008 Pilgrimage to Rome Nancy's Quilts

CONTENTS OF THIS ISSUE: VOLUNTEERING WITH MS. WHEELCHAIR AMERICA (Nancy Murdock) Click VACATIONING NOTES (Bob Murdock) Click SPAGHETTI TSUNAMI (Nancy Murdock) Click WEDDING PREPARATIONS (Becky Murdock) Click DOWNSIZING AT HIGH LEDGE (Charles Frost) Click OK AFTER EARTHQUAKE (Claudia Lindsey) Click OK AFTER TORNADO (John Howlett) Click Part 2 TWO WEDDINGS (Nancy Murdock) Click ON THE ROAD AGAIN (Nancy Murdock) Click BACK TO THE PRAIRIES (Charles Frost) Click SETTLED IN (Monica Knox) Click ONCE UPON A MONKEY (Ian Murdock) Click SUMMER PLANS (Chip Martz) Click ENJOYED THE MUSE (Margery Aukstikalnis) Click BLESSING IN DISGUISE (Christel M. Murdock) Click Part 3 GEMS - TRACING LAST NAMES (Gene Murdock) Click DAMP MORNING (Nancy Murdock) Click DEATH OF OUR GRANDSON (Arthur Murdock) Click THE NOTEBOOK SAGA (Priscilla Janusiewski) Click DAY FOUR (Nancy Murdock) Click MESSAGE FROM JANE (Jane McCauley) Click GEMS - THE ICEMAN (Gene Murdock) Click Part 4 MORE MUSIC FROM MISSI (Missi Sargent) Click MY JUNE ADVENTURE (Colleen McKay) Click AN UNFORGETTABLE BIRTHDAY (Priscilla Januskiewicz) Click CHINA'S OLYMPICS (Charles Frost) Click

Muse Editors 2008 Photo by Polly "The Aquarium" Gallery photo Quilt index

VOLUNTEERING WITH MS. WHEELCHAIR AMERICA Nancy Murdock My Sew & Tell friend Kathy and I spent the afternoon of July 24th assisting the 26 state winners of the Ms. Wheelchair America contest. Our project was to help them each make a quilt block. Nadia, another friend and a former state winner, had told Kathy that the lady who used to help with this element was no longer able to do it. The task was to help each contestant make a quilt block, then take all the blocks and make them into a completed quilt, to be given to the next national winner. So Kathy asked if any Sew & Tell friends would be willing to help her do this, and I volunteered. We had brought a humongous number of items to use in this project. Kathy had about 35 white fabric backgrounds, which she had ironed onto freezer paper to stabilize the blocks during the creative process. She also had a large number of crayons and some colored pens. I had gone way overboard, with a set of Oil Paintstiks, two sets of colored Micron pens of different sizes, a set of brush pens as well as several larger brush pens, three large pairs of shears and one small pair, and about a dozen Sharpie pens. In addition, I had spent quite a lot of time selecting pieces of fabric, and brought two rolls of Wonder Under to fuse fabrics to each other. I also had my bag of beading materials and embroidery tools and threads. At the last minute I got out my acrylic paints and brushes, thinking maybe they might like to do some watercolor-like backgrounds by watering down the acrylics. We laid everything out on one of the large round tables the hotel supplied. There was so much stuff that we decided to use that table for just supplies, with no chairs provided to sit on. We were sure they wouldn’t use many of the items, but they might at least try one or two of them. The hotel had also supplied an ironing board and an iron, which I ended up at for most of the hour and a half. The first surprise was that everyone gathered around the supplies table, and before we knew it, five of them had brought over chairs and were diving into the supplies and starting on their quilt blocks. They had a high old time. Each contestant was allowed one “partner,” so we found that our total was about 50 people milling around having a great time creating. They used a variety of techniques. Every category of art tools had at least one user. Some used several techniques on one block. They included us as people to interact with, which made the afternoon fly by. At the end, I found six paintbrushes full of acrylic paint. Forget about a watercolor look; they had used it in 3-D on some blocks and spread like butter on others. Fortunately, soap and water do the brush-cleaning trick for acrylics, unless they've been left to dry too long. It was a great experience, which is good, because I suspect we will now be the ones to do this each year. On Saturday, Kathy brought the blocks to the book club meeting, and we all admired them. We know the business of making them into a quilt will bring out the “Why did we ever...” in us, but so far, we’re very pleased with our little volunteer job. To add to the fun, after we were done and packed up, Kathy and I went to a Rockville vegetarian restaurant, “Vegetable Garden.” There were so many great choices that it was very hard to choose. And the servings were quite large. Kathy’s choice was made from several kinds of mushrooms, no other items. I wished my brother John could have been there, to name them. Kathy sent the leftovers home with me, and Bob and I added them to our meals for three days. My choice was a delicious mixture of fresh vegetables, very lightly cooked, with a very light, clear liquid to season them. All the other dishes we saw were exciting, also. We look forward to a return trip.

VACATIONING NOTES Bob Murdock Nancy has written in some detail about our summer adventures. This will be a collection of my own notes from our various visits. The wedding of Darrel and Mary - July 3, 2008 We enjoyed meeting Mary for the first time, and Nancy took a nice photo of the two of them. It was exciting to be the witnesses when she changed her name from Nordahl to Murdock. The judge was a delightful lady, with a good sense of humor. One of her items on display was a dart board, labeled “Throw here to find your next task” or something similar. She has a great view of the Mississippi River from her seventh story window, and told us some of its history. I took a photo of the judge with my new cell phone, but it didn’t come out because I forgot to save it. But later I photographed Darrel and Mary when they were kissing, and that one worked. After the wedding it was fun meeting Mary’s family at the restaurant. The wedding of Jason and Bevin - July 5, 2008 This was quite unique, with an outdoor wedding and a boat-ride reception. At the wedding ceremony I was able to get three pictures with the cell phone, and they are all in the Sept.-Oct. 2008 Photo Gallery. On the excursion boat, it was a real gala. After a nice meal, they made space for dancing - not enough, really, but everyone had a jolly time. Bevin was the Belle of the Ball. I danced with her three or four times. Nancy was out on the floor as much as possible, and when she wasn't dancing with me or Jason, she found someone else. Kris Knox said “Better watch out, Bob. You’ve got a wild woman there!” The Howlett Family Reunion - July 12, 2008 The day before the reunion, we had a great dinner at Polly’s house and met Stan Joubert. He is a crafts person, and we admired his clocks with seascapes. We admired them so much that he gave us one as a gift! He has a dog named Sophie, to match Polly’s cat with the same name. Before going to the reunion, we had a chance to visit with my cousin Priscilla Januskiewicz and her husband Roy at the Farmer’s Market in Concord, NH. He’s a beekeeper, and they sell bee products. This was at least the 15th year for them here. Priscilla’s sister Donna Estep and husband Chris are going to North Carolina this summer for a reunion with his family. As usual, John and Cathy put on a great fest. I compiled a roster of the 57 people present. Brad Howlett, 93, was the elder statesman. His son Michael and family were there. Four generations! Brad’s sister Eunice was unable to attend but her daughter Marion Clews and granddaughter Linda Harrell came. We were delighted that Paulette was there. She stayed at the same hotel we did, the Fairfield Inn. I interviewed her son Scott, who had been a contractor but now works full time for a company that designs control systems for a pharmaceutical laboratory. Regina is working with a company that rebuilds auto starters and alternators. Casey has finished the first year of electronics in a trade school. She has been nine years in karate, now black belt! Jeremy is going into 7th grade. He’s a dirt bike enthusiast. Paulette’s other son, Mark, is a heavy equipment operator for a gold mining company in Colorado. He is coming to Mass. for a visit this month. Kevin Leary told me that he has been with the Massachusetts Office of Travel and Tourism for 16 years. Lori works with mutual funds. Danielle is office manager for a moving company. Kevin Jr. has finished driver’s ed and soon will be getting a conditional license. Gulp, said his dad. Melissa is going into 11th grade. Lori’s dad has brain cancer, so the family stays pretty much close to home. Shannon Leary has two more years at Worcester Tech. She is majoring in Electrical and Computer Engineering. (When I went to WPI, computers weren’t in the curriculum!) Matthew Leary was here, but Buddy had band practice. Rennie and Dianna both came to the reunion, as did Dianna’s daughter, Brittney Quimby. Visiting in Massachusetts We stayed at the Super 8 in Gardner (as usual) for a couple of nights. Niece Teddie Doane helped us to make connections with people. One evening we had dinner at the Barre Mill, an old favorite, with two of my siblings, Art (with Lorraine) and Dotty. Art was up to his mischievous best. When the waitress came with the bill on a platter, he grabbed it. Nancy said "No, I'm paying," and reached over to Art. He handed her an empty platter. "No, no," I said. "This was my idea to come here." "Yes, and a very good idea it was," said Art, and held onto the bill. The restaurant provided all kinds of appetizer goodies, which meant we had to take much of our main dishes back to the motel. Dotty is back at the Hubbardston House, this time in a different building. We had a nice visit there, including two Scrabble games. She updated us on some marriages: Viki's son Shawn Blakley married Amanda Nadeau on July 9 this year. Shawn's older brother Jacob married Margaret Leonard in 2006, but we need the date. Teddie's elder son Ben Doane and Jaime are planning to wed on December 28, 2008. Younger son Michael married Stephanie on Sept. 6, 2006. Dotty has an awesome collection of sand, in little tabulated containers, from all over the world. She would like samples from Minnesota and Maryland. Send in a plastic baggie to her at this address: Dorothy B. Salminen, Hubbardston House Apartments B-200, Old Princeton Road Cutoff, Hubbardston, MA 01452. On July 13 in Hubbardston we visited Jane and Ken McCauley. It so happened that we were there on their 51st wedding anniversary! "Our celebrations aren't big," said Jane. "For our 50th last year we visited my brother at his lakeside home in Charlton." They came away with a nice memento: a mousepad with a photo of Jane and Ken and a granddaughter. While Jane showed Nancy some of her quilts, I had a nice chat with Ken, the first time I had met him. Now I know who married Hubbardston's Sweater Girl of the late forties! We talked about our own health conditions and worked on solving the world's problems. While staying at the Super 8 we went over to Friendly's to get some ice cream at their outside window. Lo and behold, nephew Randy Salminen appeared! He said he now works for Axis Communications. I looked up their website, and found that Axis is the global leader in network video, driving the ongoing shift from analog to digital video surveillance. Sounds like a growth industry! We also saw Randy's sister Penny, who works across the street at Dunkin Donuts. She is in big demand. Usually she is at the main Dunkin on the corner by Route 2, but we saw her at Mr. Mike's nearby which has a Dunkin Donuts counter. "They needed help here and borrowed me for the day." she explained. We told both Randy and Penny that we would look forward to seeing them another time when we can stay longer.

SPAGHETTI TSUNAMI Nancy Murdock Everything was going well with the dinner Bob and I were preparing. We were on track - barely- to be ready to pick up our guest, Michael, in time. Bob went to dress for company, and I noticed water for the pasta was boiling merrily. So, in my most Helpful Hannah role, I picked up a large handful of the spaghetti he had broken in half and dunked it down into the water. Before I could release the pasta, a strong wave of boiling water whooshed up onto my hand. At the same time, flame shot all over the pan. A scary sound came from the stove. I had never seen anything like it! I thought something had broken on the stove. I let go of the pasta, turned off the stove, called Bob, and ran cold water over my hand in the sink. I had a hard time getting the pain to back off somewhat, but then my attention switched to the dinner. As soon as the flame died back, I poured the pasta and water into a different pan. Examining the first pan for clues as to why it had put on such a display, I noticed the bottom had a slightly slick feel. Could we have been that sloppy in our dishwashing? It turned out the whole pan seemed a little slippery, so I scrubbed it. It was obvious that there had been oil that, combined with the boiling water, had flamed up. But where did the oil come from? At this point, Bob came into the kitchen and asked if I needed more olive oil in the boiling pasta. Voila! The clues were now complete. The pot had been filled higher than I usually do for pasta; in fact I usually use a larger pan for spaghetti. But Bob has a different sequence. And olive oil is an important part of his workplan! The moral of this story is: Learn your partner’s routines before you go for the gold.

WEDDING PREPARATIONS Becky Murdock Hi folks, I wanted to give you a update on what we did today. Natt, Ian and I got up this morning and went to Long Beach to The Reef, where the wedding is going to be. There was actually a wedding going on while we were there. I am sure I picked the right place now, it is beautiful there. We had to finalize the menu, we are having Mozzorella Chicken with all the fixings,but for you two I picked Pasta Primavera. They said it is delicious and vegetarian. So we got all that done, then went to the tux store and saw the tuxes that Ian and Tim picked out via the Internet. They are called the Brentwood, and you can see them on the La Mirada Tux site. They will be all black with a lavender tie and vest, plus the patent leather shoes they have there. The tuxes are $86.00 to rent. So when Slim comes down, he needs to go get fitted right away. Do you know when you will be coming? Tim really wants his grandpa to be in fine dress with them. Natalie designed the invitations, and she did a beautiful job; they will be going out in August, so you will see for yourself. She is very artistic, I must say. Then we went to Target and did a wedding registry for them. We picked out stuff I know they would like. I am trying to leave no stone unturned for them. Nancy, I wanted to tell you that we decided on white tablecloths with lavender napkins. I am going to make the centerpieces. I have already ordered 2 champagne glasses with their names and the date on them. I think this is going to be very memorable, and I can't wait for everyone to get together on this. Love to both of you. Becky

DOWNSIZING AT HIGH LEDGE Charles Frost Sunday morning, foggy and a cool 60 here in Cape Neddick. How quickly my time has gone here. And, I must confess, I’m eager to get back to my Ladylove in Missouri. Took a vacation from the Heartland missives over the summer, and you will understand why. My aim was to “prepare a fine home for some lucky new owner” to put a positive face on it. These are the highlights: On arrival the last week of May found the garden and the grounds in wretched condition, had a landscaper shape up the yard, lawn service lay down treatments for fertilizing the grass, killing weeds and controlling grubs. The roof has been completely redone. Cellar walls have been painted with sealant. Rotted wood behind the porch gutters has been replaced. The garage apartment has been refurbished (carpets discarded, floors painted with polyurethane, and new linoleum on the floor of the kitchenette). Contractors did all that work, my role being to keep the work moving. For my own part it was cleaning and discarding that principally kept me busy. Derek and Rosalind helped me lift heavy pieces from the basement. Filled two ten-foot dumpsters, the second one to be hauled away tomorrow. Emptied all the kitchen cabinets and called in the children to divvy up the loot. Over 300 books donated to the York Public Library, mostly Orrel’s but including my complete paperback set of the Aubrey/Maturin Master and Commander series. This last week I cleaned out the attic – not much worth keeping there but it was kind of sad to see my first computer tossed into the dumpster as junk. (Obsolescence is necessary in the march of technological progress, we are told!) Cleaned lots of floor tiles and vacuumed dusty cabinet areas. About the only actual vacationing I did here was to take Pamela and Colleen to see the El Greco-to-Velasquez exhibit at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. And took my sister Katherine to the Massachusetts State Archives in Dorchester to show her how the system works for obtaining genealogical information. During the middle of June I spent ten days with Janice in Hawaii. That was nice, though a little anxious for her because she wanted to get her house leased again. Janice has been conducting a training institute, or workshop, for elementary school math teachers at Truman. The first week went well, and I’m sure the enthusiasm will carry through next Friday. I’ll be leaving early Thursday morning and expect to arrive home around midday on Saturday. So, it’s been a working summer. Grateful to Derek and Rosalind for a number of BBQs. Sorry I haven’t had time for visiting. Pretty mundane, but I feel a lot has been done to prepare for the next step, whatever that will be. Lots of love. Charlie

OK AFTER EARTHQUAKE Claudia Lindsey Dear Family & Friends, July 2: Just a short note to let you know that we are all fine after the earthquake that struck our area yesterday morning. A few things fell but nothing got broken and there is no damage to the house. Isabeau was home with me at the time and she said, "Nana, is it a monster coming in the house?" She didn't seem scared, just concerned. Dennis called me from work a few minutes after to see if we were okay. Isabeau wanted to talk to her "PaPa" to see if he was okay. She then asked if her Mommy was okay, and when I assured her that she was, she went back to playing. Take care all and hope to hear from you soon. Love, Claudia

OK AFTER TORNADO John Howlett July 27 - The tornado missed us by about seven miles, not so much as a branch down in our yard. As far as I know, no family members were injured. Unfortunately one of my co-worker's cousins was killed in the storm at her house on the lake. One of my patients screamed as she watched the news because her house was one of many that were destroyed. On the side of good news, Rennie, Di and big kids Matt and Shannon are cutting trees for us today. Next year the other side of the garden will be open and hopefully have the orchard planted in it.

Click here for Part 2 of the July-August 2008 Muse.
Any comments? Contact the Muse editors at murmuse@comcast.net

Top / Muse Home / What's New / Who's Who