Saturday, May 21, 2011

This Week ~



I've been wanting to post the roses Larry got for me the day before Mother's Day. They lasted through the next week! I took this picture on Sunday, May 15th (also being our anniversary).
I could tell a little story on Larry here. He's always been tenderhearted towards me on our anniversary. On our 20th, he upgraded my 1/4 ct. diamond solitaire to a 1 carat total wt., with the 2 side stones being 1/4 apiece and the center a 1/2. He's a sweet guy, extremely thoughtful, and a great listener.




I digress. Roses. I love flowers, I often give cut flowers or arrangements, but seldom do I allow the purchase for myself. I'd rather have a plant, or perennials to bloom in the yard. My thought is that they will hang around longer. Larry thinks garden flowers are not romantic. If our anniversary falls on a school day, he's likely to have flowers delivered to the school. (The ladies in the school office think he is the best...I agree of course.) One year, I saw the bill for the 25 roses he sent to me, and let me just say, they took him to the cleaners!! I talked to him about what that much money would have bought in real life (I know, about now some of you are saying how terrible I am), and reminded him that when he comes with me to get flowers we go to a flower mart, or Sam's Club, rarely to a florist. Shoot, that costly arrangement wasn't even in a special vase!

So, fast forward 10 years. These beautiful, long lasting blooms? He went and purchased them at Albertson's Grocery store. And they stood beautifully for almost 2 weeks, amazing. I love him. He doesn't give up on me, and we both continue to learn about each other.


Here are pictures of a few antique quilt tops that were shown in our quilt class. They had such interesting fabrics in them!








~ ~ Well, this is a hard share, you may not want to keep reading. . . I felt the need to write it out for myself. Forgive me for the indulgence. ~ ~

So, May 15th was a special day that I shared for many years with a teaching friend, Jacque Ryan. We worked together for 20 years, she taught in our school's individualized learning center. Our school has morning devotion meetings, and for about 12 years, I belonged in a small prayer group on Wednesday mornings with Jacque, bff Beth, teaching partners Donna Davis and Ginny Bakan, and our friend Ginni P. There was also a few others, but over the years we were the 6 that stayed constant. We'd pray, share little gifts on seasons, have "teas" usually done by Jacque. Her birthday was the same as my anniversary, so we'd share cards each year. She has many homemade items that I'd give to her, or sometimes she would purchase from me (as I had a craft business called "Pure Heart").

The last thing she got was a rag style quilt (similar to this one) that she commissioned from me. Hers had more red florals, and no yellow (she loved Victorian, roses, reds and pinks, but yellow was "just ugly", she said, lol).

Jacque arrived early to school every day, usually before 7 a.m. She made the coffee in the teacher's lounge. If I went to her classroom before school, I'd usually find her reading. Books of her choosing were Women's Devotional Bible, Victoria magazine, or garden books. Country Sampler sometimes, but her style wasn't as primm as my art was. She was a good teacher, I'd seek her advice on my students with learning difficulties.

I missed her when she left 2 years ago, it was abrupt, and we didn't have a proper party or goodbyes. I've spoken to her only 2 times in this time passing. Well, 3, if you count Thursday night's visit. I was told 10 minutes before school started Thursday morning that Jacque had cancer, and was in hospice. I told Ginny, she was able to visit Jacque, she was comatose. How hard it was to hear! Jacque had only been told on Mother's Day it was stage 4. I cried every time I wasn't in front of my kids that day. It was also the day that we had our school wide musical, so I was at school until after 9 pm. Ginny had said that she could be visited at any time . . . so I went. Her grandaughter and ggd's were there, her shift, I guess. I was so glad to visit with her and tell her of the times that we had prayed for them all. Jacque never stirred. I held her hand as I've done before, in prayer. This time, I didn't let go for the whole time I was with her. I was blessed by the opportunity to tell her gd of my love for her precious Grandmother. We shared a bit, I prayed with her and the oldest ggd. We hugged and I left. I was so glad to have stopped by.

Jacque went home to be with her Saviour that night. What if I had not gone? I didn't get to be with my Momma. I didn't get to go to Daddy. Some day, I hope to see them all.



We have four more weeks of school. It seems so long, even for California, but oh, well. I'm so ready for the summer. I'm closing with some photos of another antique quilt top that was shared, it's so cool, again with such tiny pieces and well done. I wonder if the creator had always planned to finish it...?






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"Blessed is the man that trusteth in the LORD, and whose hope the LORD is." Jeremiah 17:7

19 comments:

  1. the 2nd photo with a green sashing--I just was looking in a book last night--its a pattern called Kansas Sunflower. I was thinking about trying to make one as I'm in a "Star" block swap, and thought these looked rather "star" like.

    Your friend, I'm glad you had that time with her. It will mean a lot to her GD and GGD's.

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  2. Ah, Pokey, God must have sent you there that day.

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  3. Dear Pokey... I'm sure Jacque was aware you were there. I'm glad you had that time with her and with her granddaughter.

    (((Pokey)))

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  4. Sorry to hear about your friend...she is in a better place. Love the roses your hubby did good. I think the same way you do....but they don't. I said something once to often so now I just get to go out to eat no gifts. What does the word digress mean I looked it up but still don't get it. I always when I get a real rose...try to root it. I cut some pieces off of all my mothers roses and am rooting them for all of us kids to have one. It takes a long time. I haven't had any luck with ones from a florist. I used the rooting hormone with these. Trish

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  5. oh, Pokey. I was so sorry to read about your friend. It was good for you to have that time with her...and you know she knows you were there. God was truly with you that day.

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  6. I'm so sorry to hear about your friend. I'm glad you got to spend time with her before she passed. I'm sure it was a comfort to her.

    Beautiful roses! Sounds like Larry is a good student too, ha. I've also told my husband he can buy me flowers from the deep discount grocery store. They're just as pretty, sometimes even more!

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  7. So sorry to hear about your friend.
    The roses are beautiful, they are so expensive aren't they? the ones from the grocery store flowers are just as nice as the ones from a florist.
    Hope you are having a great weekend.
    Patricia

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  8. Life is not fair.
    We keep trying to do the best we can, you had a great friendship and those are just few and precious.I know you are so happy your friend was part of your life......we don't know why God puts certain people into our lives but we need to rejoice for the ones we call friends. thank goodness you got to say goodbye......but you will always be touch by her friendship.

    So sorry for your loss Dear Pokey.....Hugs.

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  9. Your touching story of Jacque reminds us all that we should always act upon inspiration to do something good for another person or visit someone sick. Great friendship!

    The green sashing reminded me of a quilt my Mom made for one of my daughters over 35 years ago. Same green fabric I'm sure.

    I've been wanting to make that HST quilt in the 3rd picture hoping to use up scraps.

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  10. Congrats on the anniversary and how lovely to get such a wonderful new ring. :) Pretty photos too of quilts.

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  11. Oh, bless you, Pokey, and I'm so glad for you that you got to spend time with your friend, even at the very last. I pray God puts you in my thoughts often this week so I am mindful of keeping you in prayer. God bless you and her family!

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  12. Hugs to you Pokey, I'm so sorry to hear about the loss of your friend. I'm happy that you were able to spend some time with her before her passing. I'm sure you blessed her family by being there and the stories you told.

    I had to chuckle about the flowers, being so practical and telling your hubby buy flowers from the Grocery store or Costco. My hubby was always good at sending flowers to me when I worked in an office. Once he bought me a huge bouquet of flowers in a large crystal vase. I was absolutely stunned to learn how much he paid for them. I also asked him to send me a plant in the future. LOL

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  13. I'm so glad you had a chance to say goodbye (for now) to your friend. I know you'll miss her. Its never easy, even if you have faith that you'll see her again.
    I love the quilts and I adore the antique star quilt! How beautiful!

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  14. Popped in to say hi. Love all the gorgeous quilts! So sorry to hear about your friend. It is always hard to say goodbye.

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  15. So sorry to hear about your friend; I am glad that you held her hand. Hugs to you.

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  16. Very lovely post, Pokey. How wonderful that you got to spend time with your good friend. Methinks you are a special lady. Carol

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  17. Love the roses!! Sounds like you have a sweet guy there. I love all the antique quilts. I can't go into an antique store without wanting to buy another one.

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  18. Such a sweet story about your husband and the roses. I've been astounded sometimes by what my husband has spent on gifts as well and have tried to sneak in a suggestion about better prices without sounding like I don't appreciate his effort. It's kind of funny because usually he's the more frugal of the two of us.

    I'm so glad you got to be with Jacque for a bit. Perhaps on some level she knew you wee there, but I know your visit had to be a blessing to her grandkids and great-greandkids. I'm glad you have the hope of seeing her again -- that makes all the difference.

    4 more weeks of school??!! My son got out last Wednesday. He would have had a hard time with 4 more weeks.

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  19. Aw, how sweet! Beautiful roses! From the first time I started following your blog, I knew right away what a sweetie Larry is. But I agree, way to go on teaching him the "right" way to buy flowers, hehe!

    The antique quilts are beautiful! Whoever those belong to are very fortunate to have such wonderful pieces of the past.

    So very sorry to hear of the passing of your friend Pokey. I'm so thankful you were able to go and visit with her and share with the girls. Trust me when I say this... those girls will remember your stories for years to come. What a blessing and a comfort that was for them to hear those precious stories, I'm sure of it.

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Hello! Thank you for taking time to peek in! If you say hi, I do my best to send back the love :-}pokey