Marie, Sweet Angel,

I'd love you to cut and paste
and do so without much haste
for it's all in good fun and taste
that our wishes for you are based
on prayers that can only be traced
to God for the fears we have faced.

Love, Vickie

Thanks for the hug, Steph. An update. My friends daughter appears to be doing well. They measured swelling in brain and it was much better than they had feared. Yesterday they were talking about bringing her out of the coma. She will still have several weeks in the hospital but there is hope for recovery now. Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers.

Leslie

Thank you Vickie for your love so true,
That supplies me color, but removes the blue.

I value this friendship that I view as gold,
Warming my heart, I am no longer cold.

So walk with me and forget the bad,
You have made me better, I am no longer sad.

You lean on me whenever you need,
I'll give you my all, your soul I will feed.

I am stronger now and it comes from you,
Thank you Vickie for I love you too!!

Forever,
Marie

thank you, Sweet Marie, that was beautiful and so appreciated! Much love to you honey pie, Vickie

Leslie - Very glad to hear the hope for your friend's daughter. This on the heels of the news of Natasha Richardson passing from head trauma in a ski accident.

Now we have a POET's CORNER going at the Campfire. Maybe Leslie will bring her easel and paints. Anyone want to start a quilt???

The Campfire
 

I can probably do a little quilting if others will join me.
So glad your friend's daughter is doing better Leslie.
We have some real talent on this board--------poets, artists and quilters. We should do something with all that talent.

I'm a quilter and have 2 quilts going right now. I'll bring them to the campfire with some needles and thread and batting. We can recite poetry, quilt, draw and laugh a lot. I'll even bring some warm teas and honey. Love, vickie

The Campfire
 

I am here with my craft supplies to help make the quilt, but nobody is here. Oh I see a cooler with some food in it, so I will help myself to a snack before I throw on a few more logs and call it a day. The quilt will never get done if I have to do it myself. Oh well.

Okay it is storytime for today. This one happens to be one of my favorites. The last gift that MichelleH gave to me was another blessing.

In the mail about a week within her passing I get this beautiful card and long letter. The letter is from her best friend, Stacy from Seattle. This woman thanks me for loving Michelle as much as I did. She said that our friendship was a prized gift that Michelle held close to heart. Michelle was a very private person and for her to let me in to her soul was a blessing for her and to me.

Stacy keeps very close contact with me as does Michelle's husband. She even signs her cards to me 'Your Best Friend Forever'. This makes me feel so special and something like this was so typical for Michelle to do, she always gave me what I needed before I even knew I needed it. Through the last year Stacy and I have grown so close. We are one anothers gift, Michelle's gift that keeps giving.

I have started a picture albumn of Ed and I with places and things that are important to us. On each page there is a spot for negatives but I put a typed paragraph describing what the picture is. With us seperated by miles and miles it allows us to remain close by getting to know each other very well. I have also got to know Michelle 'before' breast cancer and I cannot tell you what a joy that is.

Now for the best part. We are starting a cross country quilt. Two of the same swatches of material will be sent and that person will make the two quilt blocks and mail them back. In the end we will have to assemble our own quilt but it will be a menagerie of special materials from us both. When finished we will have a completed quilt that has travelled from the east coast to the west coast. Those materials we use will all have a special meaning to each of us. The resulting quilt will keep us warm through the test of time. Each year more special.

On a light note I want to mention that I talked to Michelle's husband last week and I heard such 'belly laughs' from him. If you think I am crazy when you read what I have to say, it does not hold a candle to me in real life. We laughed so hard for so long that our bellies literally hurt. I cannot tell you how happy I was to see him slowly healing. He is a great father and has come so far since last May. The kids are growing up so fast and appear to be doing fine, considering. I thought that this may be important to pass on since many worry about the little ones.

So move on over Elaine, I'll help you get a headstart on our quilt so we can catch up with Vickie. It will also free up Vickie a bit, I mean come on now....how can she keep up with the quilts, poetry and cooking otherwise?? I am planning on buying some fabulous prints that replecate our unique personalities. I have also made some Vegetarian Enchillada's stuffed with refried beans and the all mighty Vegetarian Chile. I have also made some Crisp Avacado Salad and Spanish Rice. Mmmmm!! Me Hungry.

Whew, I am tired now after that post.>>Believe51

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Move over? No problem Believe 51. Besides I enjoy your stories. The vegetarian enchilada sounds and smells good. I will share my vegetarian dinner and I brought some nice rice pudding. Let's eat before we quilt.

Okay, Just finished the enchiladas and rice pudding...I'm going to saunter off to the bushes for a moment, but when I get back let's break into song and dance before we start painting, quilting, writing and playing music. Throwing on some red madrone to color the fire and make it good and HOT. Love you all, Vickie

Vickie, just wondering why you are running off in the bushes....do you need to pee???
LOl!!!...just kidding....just in that mood tonight!
Well, hurry back so we can do some dancing!!

Ok! I am not bad on the tamoborine!

You got it Marie! I can play the harmonica like nobody's business! I just wish I could play the guitar as well. Maybe if I hang around Lee a little more I can soak in some of his talent. Please share my pistachioes. We can eat 'em and then throw the shells in the fire. Love y'all, Bill

The Campfire
 

Sorry I have been away a few days dealing with housing assistance, pension and other financial issues.
There was also 4 days of major renovations in my bathroom. The drilling made me feel like I was getting my teeth drilled during an earthquake. Lots of fun.Lots of stress. I need prayers just to get through all this.
Anyway, I could probably add to the entertainment by doing a basic hula if the band will play a Hawaiian song.
Thanking God for Caryn's miracle. Prayers for everyone who is struggling today.

Oh YES.....Bill, you go Buddy and DO that hula!!!
will switch my tamborine to the uke! Now I know we are going to need a lot more room around the campfire once words gets out Bills doing the hula. Watch everyone come out of the forest!!

It's rainy and damp here in NJ, so the fire feels really nice on my chilly bones. I brought a pot of nice hot mint tea. Would anyone care for a cup?

I do, I do!!

Also, although Ed does not play his instruments because of his numb digits but he will be willing to teach Bill the guitar. Up to it, Bill??>>Believe51

Oh- I am born in NJ:). Newark, NJ. A long time ago. Since we are around a campfire, I think I should tell my fire story from the other night...

I was trying to make gluten free matzoh for Passover. Testing ahead of time, a simple recipe (oats and water - even I can bake that). Well, the matzoh not only looked ugly but tasted like cardboard. I thought it needed to be toasted. But I felt that it would not turn a nice brown color unless it had some butter. And since I don't eat dairy I sprayed it with a dash of organic canola oil. And put it in the toaster oven. Within 30 seconds, my entire kitchen was filled with billowing black smoke. The toaster was in flames. I opened the kitchen door and then did what I always do in an emergency - FREEZE for 10 seconds while I swear the same word over and over about 20 times.

Beau was trying to herd me out. He was running in and out of the house.

As soon as I finished swearing, I thought to unplug the oven. So that helped. And then I made the mistake of opening the oven door, and the flames jumped out again! Next I got the fire extinguisher out (first time out of it's holster in 12 years) but I didn't really know how to use it (there's a pin and a trigger, but I didn't have my reading glasses on) and I didn't feel like having to clean a big mess of extinguisher stuff from my counter. Meanwhile the smoke was billowing.

Finally I thought to soak some dishtowels in water and throw them over the toaster oven. They did the trick and smothered the fire without a mess. I was shaking from fear and then I started to laugh really hard because all I could think was that the bummer is that now I can't toast marshmallows anymore. So I'll have to toast them here, around our fire.

The Campfire
 

Please toast a couple matzoh over the campfire for me.
I love them plain or with jelly or cheese or yoghurt after Passover. My friend's Catholic church gives me all their leftovers after Passover dinner. I love it.

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Thanks Believe 51 !!
Flori's experience reminded me about when my bathtub (ofuro) went on fire when I lived in Northern Japan. Maybe Kathy S. can relate to this.
Flames were coming out from beneath my ofuro one night when I started to get into the tub. The gas man came, but since that was in the beginning of my life in Japan I could only understand one word-------abunai, which means dangeous. He put out the fire, but I had to wait 3-4 weeks for repairs, so I had to cook water on the stove to bathe in the middle of winter until the repairs were finished. I sort of felt like a pioneer woman cooking water for bathing. There was no central heating in my apartment. I only had a small oil stove for warmth. Not lots of fun !!!!

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Just dropping by after a busy day to throw a log onto the fire and sit for awhile with a cup of mint tea. I left a thermos of it for anyone who drops by later.

Whew! Am I pooped! Spent all afternoon with hubby doing major gardening. Digging up grass to enlarge a garden area to plant a pear tree, weeding, planting primroses, spreading moss killer (we need this in our climate!), etc.
Just need to "set a while."

Got an old grape vine to toss into the fire. Not needing food as just had a big dinner. Just some herb tea and maybe some good "trail mix."

Not up to working on a quilt tonight!

Flames from your bathtub, Elaine? LOL that visual is cracking me up! Glad it all worked out ok. The only flames around here are from our toasty little campfire...

And OMG Flori - I am just on the floor, laughing so hard I'm crying. And I think I know what word you were cussing...

The campfire
 

Yes hutchibk<SCRIPT type=text/javascript> vbmenu_register("postmenu_193461", true); </SCRIPT>. Now I laugh about my Japanese bathtub experience, but I wasn't exactly laughing back the.Can you envision a short gas stove with a tub mounted on top? That is what a Japanese bath tub looks like. The earliest version of that was a fire with a tub mounted on top. So, if we were inclined to build a sturdy frame with a ladder over our campfire we could all bathe and get warm at the same time. I guess one could call it the original "hot tub". I am not suggesting it though.
Smile everyone !!
My boss bought me a portable stove like thing that hands over the kitchen sink to heat water for Christmas that year. My pioneer days were finally over. The cold water goes up from the faucet into the stove and then hot comes out the other side for "instant" cooked water for washing dishes and other things.

Girls, I brought some bubble bath for you sillies. I am still chuckling today about this conversation. There is some Tumeric Tea waiting for you after you are through with you baths. I also made some Almondine Chicken Skewers to munch on and nice Roasted Organic Vegetables.

Don't worry though, I told Flori and the rest to take a load off and relax. I think I'll do the cooking for a while.>>Believe51

Just stopping by to throw a stick or two into the fire tonight. (Marie, that would be awesome to get some lessons from The Mighty Oak) I hope everyone is doing well. It's nice to sit here awhile, under the stars, listening to the crickets chirping and frogs croaking, and feeling the warmth from the fire seep into my sore bones. I'm glad to be in the company of good friends like y'all right now. Right now, everything is going super-great in my life, but today happens to be the birthday of one of my all-time best friends, Scott (Nicola's brother) whom we lost in a drowning accident years ago. I'm sorry to bring a downer mood to the fire, but Scott and I shared many fires, and I guess I just wanted to celebrate his birthday around another one. Thanks for listening.

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Hi Belive,
Thanks so much.
We are always glad to have you here Bill. Feel free to share anytime.

Marie thats fantastic! I've just opened a chilled bottle of very dry white wine...ready to celebrate if anyone cares for a glass??

Bill, Anniverserys always bring some sadness no matter how many years have passed. The important thing to recall are the happy memories and absent friends.
Cheers!http://smileys.smileycentral.com/cat/23/23_28_125.gif

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I am here with thankfulness about your mother in law.
I am praying for eveyone who wants one.
Now sit down and relax. You look awfully tired Believe !!
Let us provide some of the food. You have been cooking up a storm.

Just wanted to stop by for a little solitude and peacefulness. It seems so many people are having difficulty with their lives/health/employment. Want to gather my thoughts and say a prayer---a good long one---for everyone who needs strenght, comfort and courage.

Thank you, Sassy. Sitting here with you and praying for all those disrupted lives, especially those in Italy tonight.....

hear hear Sassy, God help those affected by this tragedy.