Hubbard Glacier

Dateline - Tuesday - May 24, 2011
Westerdam "cruises" Hubbard Glacier

...while we fussy cut hexagons in our suite! Please notice t.v. monitor -- ship telecasts Google type cruise route map, and fore and aft views 24/7 -- we never missed anything and knew where we were at all times!

Chenille Blanket

Purchased flannel fabric on return trip from Ogallala in March (2011) with intention of starting a chenille baby blanket for grandson Cooper. As they say "best made plans" ...

But now it's finished and being used!!!

Happy Birthday!

Melissa Ann

On this date, in the early morning hours of our nation's bi-centennial year, our youngest daughter was born. Happy Birthday Melissa ...

Bridges of Madison County

This past week Larry and I made a quick trip to Wisconsin. We were anticipating alot of river water as our route took us over the Platte, Missouri and Mississippi rivers. Fortunately for us water ran high, but not over roadway -- not yet anyway.

Enroute home we decided to stop off at Winterset Iowa -- after years of traveling to visit family in Wisconsin -- it was now time to see the "John Wayne Birthplace" so boldly advertised along I-80.Didn't take the tour, I understand that the family left Winterset when he was 6 months old ...

Of course, being of quilt-mind I did show Larry the home of Fons & Porter. There is a small shop, with catalogue sales and offices for magazine and television program housed on second floor. It was surprising to hear that everything took place within this small area ... Wow huh?
What did catch our eye was all the signage regarding the Clint Eastwood/Myrle Streep movie "Bridges of Madison County". So ... being in "tourist" mode we hit the Chamber of Commerce to get the scoop. Ver-r-r-ry informative -- so glad we took the time. We had lunch at "Northside Cafe" -- which was in the movie. Neither of us has seen the movie ... now we have the incentive to rent or purchase.The Roseman Bridge ... Where Francesca tacked her note to Robert telling him to come for supper "anytime the white moths fly". The bridge sits at a dead-end and on the edge of private property -- how distracting for those homeowners with all the sightseers!

There are only six of the original 14 covered bridges still standing in Madison County. We did not take the time to take the entire bridge tour -- we will make a special destination trip for them at a later time. However, we did take the City Park auto tour (rainy, misty day).The Cutler-Donahoe Bridge was moved into the Winterset city park to protect it from further vandalism in 1970. (It is closed to auto traffic.)

Cool little foot bridge over a dry ravine ...

"Clark Tower" constructed and dedicated to the family that helped found Winterset Iowa.

The City Park auto tour was awesome! I would have taken pictures of the treed-route, but roadway was very narrow, tire rutted, and windy with water standing ... and as "co-pilot" it was my responsiblity to keep a watchful eye!

Father's Day 2011

Daddy

Henry Herbert Sengstake

January 4, 1923 - January 18, 2007

Looking Good!

After 35 years we've finally got windows in living room that are operational. Original windows had only one on north side that would open and four stationary. Don't know what original owners were thinking when they built it!

It's so exciting to have exterior siding project nearly finished. Perhaps by summers end garage will be rid of cedar siding!

LOQ2 - The Quilt

The quilt project we worked on is entitled "Jewels of the Garden" and is a reproduction of the 1860 quilt in the archives in Winterthur Museum’s collections. Our instructor was Gail Kessler a fabric designer at Andover Fabrics (New York City), she designed the "Dimples" line. Gail also owns and operates a quilt shop in Pennsylvania. She recreated and wrote the instructions for the quilt(as there were none with original). The project is very challenging -- nearly 1,000 hexagons ... you gotta love your rotary cutter and iron for this one!

This is how I lay out the hexagons to form the flower. So far I am enjoying creating these flowers. The end result should be beautiful.

This is the center most portion of the quilt that will measure 48 inches wide,

and this is Gail's finished quilt -- hopefully mine will look very similar.

Fons & Porter provided all of the fabrics and sewing accessories. BabyLock provided the use of the sewing machines -- which were not used -- but new!!! -- and no, we didn't get to keep them. Of course all of the "provided" materials were paid for by the class registrants. Flying out my luggage weighed in at 38 lbs., coming home it was 51 lbs. So that's lots of stuff being "provided"!!!

Ew-w-w-w What Is It?

While in Victoria BC I could not get over the number of Smart cars parked in the downtown area. Will be honest and say I didn't see any on the road, but in fairness there was some type of celebration going on ~ "Victoria Day"? Then I turn the corner and see this. I don't believe it's factory original - duh. What was the owner thinking? They "killed" a classic VW Beetle!

I only post this for my Montana VW family to see. Looks as though the owner was trying to make a camper/moving van/clown car out of it. Or ~~~ maybe they were living out of it ~~~ and the front was equally "disgusting".

Argh...these are heavy!!!

We got up bright and early on Sunday (week-ago) with the intention of beating the heat and getting those darn windows installed! I was so stiff and sore from Saturday's work that when I attempted to help lift the window my body just hollered "NO"! We sent out an SOS to Carpenter's, and with the help of our "son" Dan we had both windows in in just under two hours. It's so nice to have so much daylight in the living room. Ah-h-h-h they are so nice!



All last week Larry worked on installing outlets, putting up insulation and hanging drywall. This week-end was spent patching and sanding. I need to stain the windows, we'll prime the new drywall and then decide on a paint color ...

Living Room "Progress" ~

Purchased replacement windows last spring/summer. My hip surgery delayed installation as living room was my temporary "master suite". So-o-o-o when weather calmed down this spring Larry began dismantling ... We began "demolition" on Saturday morning at 7:23 a.m.

Replacement studs are leaning against wall...three old windows awaiting removal.

Two smaller stationary windows have been removed. We are at the can't-stop-now-moment!


Talk about feeling vulnerable to elements! You can see headers for first window are up along with king and jack studs. Fortunately it was a calm morning, low humidity, and no deranged birds or insects stopping in for a cup of jo'.


Now I'm not feeling as comfortable...alot of open area...getting a little warmer out...but still tolerable. The tv series "Northern Exposure" comes to mind.


Okay, now I'd reached the point of hoping that rain would hold off until night fall ... this is just a little too much "open space" for me!

Finally the framing is done - time for the new windows to be installed! However, Mother Nature had other plans for us. Grey skies and large raindrops began to fall ... so at 4 p.m. we called it "a wrap"!


To be continued . . .

LOQ2 ~ Westerdam ~ interesting facts

The total mileage of our inside passage cruise (Seattle to Hubbard Glacier and back) was 2,230 nautical miles.


The Westerdam is 935 feet long, 106 feet wide, weighs in at 82,000 tons, and has a crew of 801 who "tend to" 2,086 guests.


Our stateroom slept three ~ two twin beds and a loveseat sized sofa sleeper. Judi and I each got a bed, while Debi got the sofa sleeper -- with a view!

I didn't do a very good job of getting interesting "on board" photos. But ... I did take a few photos of the scenery ... they will be in their own posting.

I had a wonderful time ~ being with my sisters ~ sewing ~ shopping ~ seeing new sights ~ and all thanks to a tiny little motion sickness pill!!!

LOQ2: Shore Leave = Quilt Shops!!!

"Changing Tides” in Juneau Alaska Juneau was our first "shore leave". This shop was located in the heart of historic downtown Juneau. It featured fabrics and needleart. I had my sea legs that day and felt a little motion sickness-on land!

“Abby’s Reflection” in Sitka AlaskaLocated across the street from St. Michael’s Russian Orthodox Church in picturesque downtown Sitka, Alaska features “Sitka” fabric that was designed exclusively for Abby’s Reflection. I purchased a "Puffin" kit.

“The Silver Thimble-Alaska” in Ketchikan AlaskaThis shop was located on the second floor of a mall located behind the main drag. It was huge comprised of two large sections both offering cutting and sales areas. It is one of three "Silver Thimbles" I am aware of; the other two being in Montana and Nebraska.

“Satin Moon” in Victoria BC CanadaWe were very pleased that this shop was able to stay open. We had an "after hours" arrival - but shop remained open until 10 p.m. The shop is noted for local Vancouver Island and Canadian design patterns, handmade quilts and gifts. You'll pay more for fabrics...and the conversion from "mm to yds" was confusing...but the staff was so helpful and friendly.

“Undercover Quilts” in Seattle Washington Don't let the title mislead you -- the shop was actually on the second floor! It was by far the smallest of all we had visited, but owner made very good use of all the space.

LOQ2 - Juneau Alaska

The "Westerdam" coming into Juneau (photo taken by Rhonda). The ship felt so huge ... but from this perspective it is so-o-o-o small! Isn't the scenery awesome?


The "sisties" have disembarked and are making their way up the ramp. Debi is looking at Rhonda smiling...Judi and I are in background -- I'm in lime jacket, Judi ahead of me with backpack.

The Alaska state capitol is very impressive ... I downloaded photo from internet ... my photo would not have done it justice. I was amazed with how it was built with six levels at front, reduced to five at back ... It really was a beautiful building.

Unfortunately the governor's mansion was being refurbished and was "encased" in a large plastic covering. So this photo at holiday time will do.

LOQ2 -- Cruise Log

I'm only posting cruise schedule at this time, I'll be posting pictures at a later date...

Saturday, May 21 - Seattle; 4:16 p.m. = Vessel undocked.

Sunday, May 21 - at sea = motion sickness. This was our first day of quilting. In our excitement we neglected to plan for an adequate breakfast. I'm used to my mocha, toast and water. Mid morning I was feeling rather queasy...trip to front desk for "the pill" helped for a better day and cruise experience.

Monday, May 23 - Juneau AK = Vessel anchored at noon-8:48 p.m. Debi's friend Rhonda met us at the dock-took our dirty laundry (blue jeans) and met up with us a few hours later. Alaska's capitol city is rather quaint. Capitol building is unique flanked by 4 large columns at entry. The scenery was spectacular ... We even managed to locate the local quilt shop -- the first of several on this cruise.

Tuesday, May 24 - Hubbard Glacier = Noon cruising experience. I've seen glaciers up close thanks to Michael's friend Sam-who is a pilot -thus the "close" (yet another post for another time). Hubbard provided another beautiful backdrop - I can see why people want to live in Alaska ...

Wednesday, May 25 - Sitka AK = Vessel at anchor 9 a.m.-4:53 p.m. This time of year Alaska is known for cool, overcast and sometimes "rainy" days...especially those communities located on water. Sitka proved to be the exception. We bundled up in rain jackets thinking sky's would remain overcast. The day did clear and we were bathed in sunshine the entire time we were on land. Sitka was another beautiful little seaside town welcoming us with open arms...duh, yeah...cruise ships = revenue! All kidding aside - we did manage to drop a couple of $$$ at the quilt shop.

Thursday, May 26 - Ketchikan AK = Vessel at dock 6:41 a.m.-12:56 p.m. Debi had warned us that of all the seaside towns this would be the most commercialized. No wonder, the dock was large enough to accommodate four cruise ships ... inhabitants have figured how to make an easy living! It was ver-r-r-y rainy this day ... had to wear rain jackets ... but a little drizzle didn't stop us from finding the quilt shop ... again some $$$ dropped.

Friday, May 27 - Victoria BC = Vessel docked 6:30 p.m.-midnight. Victoria was quite an interesting city. I'll have to admit my ignorance, as I believe it was a "holiday" for there were booths set up along the harbor shoreline and I don't believe it was in celebration of our arrival (maybe casual Friday?). There was only one other ship docked and we knew we didn't account for all of the human congestion. Hoards of people everywhere, street performers, bike races, etc. We taxied to quilt shop (about 1.5 mile inland) spent time and $$$, walking back to ship through residential neighborhoods -- it was wonderful!!!

Saturday, May 28 - Seattle = return to the mainland...end of the cruise.

I will say that it took me a good day and a half to manage walking about the ship. In rough waters it felt as though I was quite "drunk". It took a good two days once on land to not feel as though I was walking on the ship! The three of us felt as though display shelves were swaying at Macy's...talk about a "bender"!

More later with photos.

LOQ2 Boarding = Cattle Drive

My sisters and I are used to smaller boarding groups -- 300 people at the very most. The masses at a UNL home football game are nothing compared to what I experienced on Pier 91 in Seattle on Saturday, May 21st. Probably, what added to the confusion was the fact that two ships were boarding at the same time...both, we later discovered, with same sailing destinations. Fortunately ours was the smaller ship with only 2,086 guests (ha ha). We were herded like cattle through "receiving" lines similar to what you experience at an airport -- weaving back and forth through roped off areas. At the first checkpoint we had to show boarding pass, photo ID, passport...up a flight, down a flight (back to main area) and up again (again showing ID's) through another "receiving" line to check-in window. There we were given a boarding number and stateroom keycard (after showing boarding pass, photo ID and passport) and told to step over to the green wall for boarding. There we joined the rest of the herd and awaited our number to be called.

In hindsight it was well orchestrated, even with the trip up and down stairs...how else do you move a large mass of people in a contained area and maintain control?

We boarded the ship, found our "state room" and settled in. The Westerdam would be our floating home for the next week.