Where did the weekend go?

Yea! I finished the three silk crosses for Monnie's liturgical stole! Monnie is the associate pastor at Mom's church. The crosses are from Tatting Patterns by Lyn Morton... a wonderful book! The thread is size 20 silk from Sherry Pence aka LadyShuttleMaker. The color is Karen's Halo. I think silk thread is a must-have item for my tatting thread stash!


Mom's new loom arrived early Friday afternoon. Luckily, there are strong men at the Village who are willing to deliver large packages such as looms!


Mom's new loom, a Baby Wolf, came fully assembled... sort of!


First she had to take off all the plastic strips and strings holding the loom together for shipping, and then she had to unfold it... not a big deal! Of course, Mom had to feel the smoothness of the wood and get close for a good whiff of the wood! Smelling a new loom is a necessity, just like smelling a new book!


Next, Mom had to add the heddles to the loom. This took a little bit of time... there are 400 heddles!


Mom's new loom can be folded up and moved, but in order to do that she had to attach wheels. It took a little bit of time to figure out the directions, but she did it!


Three hours later, Mom's brain had had enough! She gave up for the day, and finished with the final little bits on Saturday. Her loom is beautiful, and I can't wait to see what her first project will be!


Today, after church, Mom and I drove over to Barrancas National Cemetery in Pensacola, Florida... about an hour away. None of us had been back to Barrancas since Dad's service, and we wanted to see his engraved stone.


Mom was able to walk directly to the correct area, and found Dad's stone right away.


Although Dad served during the Korean War, he never left the United States. He maintained airplanes at Langley Air Force Base, where I was born.


I find military cemeteries to be very peaceful. There was a national cemetery close to our home in Philadelphia when I was a little girl. I loved the parades that were held on Memorial Day, and I think that witnessing the ceremonies held at that cemetery helped instill a deep feeling of patriotism in me.



This gazebo (I'm not sure if that's the correct term) is where Dad's military service was held last December.


After visiting the cemetery, we went to McGuire's Irish Pub for lunch. It was a favorite stop for Mom and Dad. We shared a corn beef sandwich and a potato appetizer called Irish Boxtys. They were made of garlic mashed potatoes rolled into balls and covered with some kind of crumb mixture that was deep fried... crunchy on the outside, soft on the inside. They were served with guacamole, sour cream with horseradish, and salsa for dipping... yummy! Of course we ate way too much food, so we're thinking simple salads for dinner tonight! Before dinner, I think a nap and some tatting are in order... nap first... zzzzz!