No longer HOME

that was the way I felt when I was in Louisville the first of this week. I left Columbia on Sunday listening to 6 Cd's of a 10 Cd book that had my complete attention to the extent that the 400 mile drive seemed to be done in no time. This trip I stayed with my daughter Rene who happened to be home. Her job requires her to travel a lot. We stayed up late chatting every night and that was really nice.
On Sunday evening I stopped in to see my Tuesday Night Ladies, 5 of the six that routinely came to sit at my dining room table to stitch on their quilts. They began as a group I think in late 1998 or 99 because they wanted to learn more about quilting than they were able to absorb in a six week adult education class I had taught at the University of Louisville. I saw them last the week I was moving away over a year ago, but think of them often. They never were a stitch and bitch type of group rather a support group. I believe if it wasn't for this group of women I wouldn't have gotten through some of the hardest times in my life from being critically ill to the death of my husband, my son and other family members who were so dear and dearly loved. After looking at their quilts that they were rightly proud of we went to dinner. And that too was good.
On Monday, I was off to the Carnegie to jury Form Not Function with another group of friends who collectively refer to ourselves as RCFA (River City Fiber Artist) who through the same number of years have supported each other in our growth and efforts as art quilt makers. Because we know each other and have done this jurying together for a number of years we quickly got down to business and got through all the images and I think we ended up with an excellent selection of works for FNF 2008. I had dinner with Marti and her husband and helped her make a print table that she decided she needed after having spent two weeks at Arrowmont taking surface design workshops.
Tuesday morning election day I didn't rush to get up so I piddled around Rene's house, listening to my book on cd and went to see my Mom and took her out to lunch. From Mom's place I went to see my granddaughter Olivia,
gave her several hugs and took her off to Toys R Us. This is her cute face with missing teeth as she chews blue bubble gum. Then on to dinner with another group of friends. From there I went to have birthday pumpkin pie with my bud, Kathy, her daughter Stephanie and her two sons. It was AJ's birthday and he wanted the cheesecake instead of a traditional BD cake, Willie his brother's birthday was on Oct. 29Th the same as mine. So it was a celebration for several of us.
Wednesday I made sticks with screw eyes to fit the six quilts I brought with me for consideration for inclusion in a gallery exhibit of RCFA works that will open in November and hang until January 2008. I used my daughter Rene's electric jig saw and have decided I must have one of my own. Lots of stick making is in my future. Had dinner with the Kathie(y)'s at my favorite oriental restaurant "Lemongrass" they do a shrimp, rice noodle with cucumber and peanuts that is wonderful and a dish I haven't found here in Columbia.
Then it was back to Marti's for the monthly RCFA critique group. These meetings I have missed a lot, the inter change of critique and sharing of information that this group provided me over the years.
I decided to leave for home after the critique group meeting. So I drove through the night getting home in time to be the first customer at McDonald in Columbia at 5:30 am Thursday morning. Another book on CD kept me wake and alert. It took me all of Thursday to get rested, but I was back in the garage on Friday at noon dye painting and screen printing.
Since it has turned a little nippy here in Columbia, finding a 70 degree place in our house is a problem that will only get worse as winter sets in with a purpose. I was happy to discover the perfect warming place to batch fabric before I left. Where? In the Oven which comes on and warms to a lovely low temp of 100 degrees. Perfect! I have 10 yards of PFD soaking in soda ash and three pieces batching in the over now that I will be washing out as soon as I get up from this chair. Despite all the great moments and hugs all around while in Louisville, Louisville is no longer HOME. I am now a visitor. I was happy to get back and into my own bed with my own routine. The next time I plan to be in Louisville weather permitting will be when it is time to hang Form Not Function. I hope hugs await.