Blessings Abound ... No Optical Illusions There

We continue to be blessed. We had a spectacular weekend and even managed a date on Saturday afternoon. Jeff and I headed to the art museum for a relatively clean environment (not much to touch there) to check out the American Collection. We devoured a great brunch of a smoked trout salad and shrimp and brie crepes and polished it off with strawberry/rhubarb crumble ... spring is here. Strawberries and asparagus. Yummy.

After that ... my stomach has been pretty upset this weekend but I managed two, two mile walks. The fresh air did me good. All day on Sunday, my back has spasms every time I get up or down from a chair. Once I'm moving, I do really well. I have three different doctor appointments this week and its my last round of this kind of treatment ... I'm already starting to worry about the next drug ... Taxol. I'm trying not to complain.

The highlight of the weekend was a complete surprise as highlighted in the photo (that's me in the scarf). We've been blessed in so many ways during the last two months and this weekend was no exception. I hosted my quilt group, Galloping Horses, on Sat. night. Many of us have been getting together for nearly nine years and it's a group of nine to ten women from all sorts of backgrounds. They presented me with a beautiful queen size coverlet to snuggle up in. It's a pattern that I've always wanted to make but is probably beyond my skills and patience. In case the picture doesn't show up, it's a beautiful red and white pattern that is all squares and rectangles that are arranged in such a pattern that they create an optical illusion of circles or waves of color. It's breathtaking. I can't believe they set aside their own projects and really devoted some quality time to pull together something so spectacular in just under two months. I was speechless. Quilting is great ... you can take small scraps of fabric and create something beautiful, warm and unique but it takes a lot of love, patience and hard work and for that I am forever grateful to all nine of the women who worked on this quilt. I love you all ... thank you. I'm still speechless when I look at it. (The picture does not do it justice.)

Hope you all have a good week.

Ann