ME AND MY SISTER JUST STROLLIN' DOWN THE AVENUE

I am a privileged character and I know it. This blog is going to be about only one aspect of my "privilegedness"--having a twin sister. When people ask what it feels like to have a twin sister, I never know what to reply--I've never not had one! We've always believed that there is a special reason that we needed each other on this Earth and the Lord kindly allowed us to be together. And, no, our husbands do not understand the reason we need this weekend together, but they are both good sports about it.

This weekend we had our annual sisters' weekend. And guess what we did? Talked! If I counted the hours of what we did, most of them would include talking. We talk to each other every day through e-mail and share almost every aspect and minute of our lives that way. Then when we get together we mull it all over again. We did attend the arts and craft show and the object of our interest, the quilt show. We also visited with a very old friend, Irma, whom we have known since junior high. What a kick! We three bounced our way down memory lane for several hours. Bless Irma, she has lived in Pasco all of her married life so she knows the skinny on all our old classmates and many teachers from those bygone days. She's also been the mover and shaker behind the countless class reunions we've had over the years.

In our motel room while we talked, we stitched. Julia on an original quilt which she designed and executed for her granson, TJ. I used a nice little floor hoop which I bought to stitch on a quilt, which I did not design, for my grandson DJ. We talked of our families, old friends, and a multitude of other things. We watched crime shows on TV because there wasn't anything else to watch and because we both like to watch them. The unique feature about the weekend was that not one person asked us if we were twins.

I want to tell one lesson learned this weekend. Embarrassing--but a lesson learned. When we ordered we both got caffeinated beverages. Irma said (paraphrasing), "You girls used to be so careful about the soft drinks you drank. Now I see what you've ordered. What's changed?" Thoroughly chagrined, I bumbled through an answer. But, thank you Irma, I'm thoroughly resolved to be caffeine free for the rest of my born days!

I didn't take a single picture this weekend, but the top picture was taken taken two years ago when I visited Julia and Tom in California. We're standing on the steps of an adobe built by our ancestors, the Dunlap family, near San Bernardino, California. The bottom one is Julia in front of the post office in Sisters, Oregon, when we went to their quilt show for our 65th birthday.

EASTER IN PICTURES

First let me mention that my Easter photographers were Dylan and TJ--mostly Dylan. So the pictures are rather interesting. I thought I'd let my pictures do the talking.

Jennie and Ty and family spent the night Saturday night. This is what greeted the kids Sunday morning. She said they could choose one piece of candy before breakfast--Dylan and TJ chose their great big hollow chocolate eggs!

Somehow we didn't get a picture of everyone's Easter finery except for individual pictures. But this is Ty wearing his first ever tie.

Everyone gathered around Dawniella when she arrived.

We ate in the garage--a Gunter tradition and to save the carpet. This is a Dylan picture--he was standing on a table at the other end of the garage, but you should see starting with me, Jeff, Steve, Jennie, Angelyna Dylan, Garth, Julirae, Lyra, Brandt, Steven and Bella. This was taken while the Easter egg hunt was in progress in the house. It was rainy and blustery day!

Not everyone loved Easter!

Steven as usual the "chick" magnet!

And to all a good night!

IS CHIVALRY DEAD?

This morning I read a cute blog that my niece Marie wrote about her boys taking out the garbage. She is a great blogger and writes about her adventures as a Navy wife. Ben is presently in training in California and she and three kids are in Guam--big question-who takes out the garbage--boys or girls? Here's the part I loved:

I looked out at my boys and told Harm, " when you start dating, you need to date boys like your Dad and brothers. Ones who are gentleman and take care of their women."She gave me that Harmony look and said, " I don't want to depend on boys. I don't want to be a princess." Now I always realized that she was independent but...I explained to her that she and I are helping to train the boys. That their future wives will appreciate that they take the garbage out, clean up after themselves, open doors and carry girly church bags. I believe that how they treat their Mom and their sister will directly impact how they treat their wives.

My DH (can you tell I'm a bona fide blogger?) was well trained by his mother. He has always been very polite and gentlemanly. A woman once told me that her husband felt that Garth shouldn't open my door for me right in front of the church because it made all other men feel embarrassed. He's taught his sons and I hope they remember! At his retirement party, a comment was made that the ladies in the office appreciated his gentlemanly acts. He's also taught Dylan. So Marie keep up the good work.

I was recently sorting through some pictures and found this motley crew. This was taken at Grandma Whitby's 80th birthday party in 2001

HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY

(Just imagine this blog said in the best Irish brogue you can imagine!) TOP O' THE MORNIN' TO YA'! HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY. DON'T FORGET YOUR GREEN! I love St. Patrick's Day. I can even brag of being Irish although that's only really significant on this day. I did a filtered search on my Personal Ancestral File (the program where I keep my genealogy). Between us, Garth and I have 52 ancestors who were born in Ireland. The majority are on my side: the Cochrans and related families who originated in Northern Ireland and, eventually, migrated to Massachusetts and then on to Texas; the McCowans who moved first to Liverpool and then to St. Louis; the O'Donnells and on Garth's side--the Hughes. Have a great day

UNCLUTTERING--MIND AND MATTER

My family room and front room won't need to be "spring-cleaned" this year.These pictures aren't the greatest, but you can see that we're on the downhill run in the family room and front room. We have empty spaces on our walls, furniture to buy (on a budget that's been ravaged by the other costs), and little touches to add. It is absolutely wonderful to walk through the whole house on carpeting. I'm still not brave enough to walk in my sewing room (which is hardwood) in my bare feet.

I was thinking about clutter this morning as I looked at my computer table desktop. It's amazing how quickly things get put here by me! It's all nice clutter, mind you--a big holder of CDs because I've learned how to burn CDs and Steve & Jeff gave me 100 onto which I'm happily burning audiobooks for our trip; my iPod and MP3 player; stuff from my sewing projects, etc. etc. because I've been listening to various quilt videos and podcasts while I "unsewed" a major mistake on DJs quilt! etc. etc. Added to that, I just listened to a podcast about how our colonial ancestors cluttered their homes with imported goods from their home countries until some enterprising Americans learned to "copy". I wasn't sure how they "copied" what they'd been taught in their own countries, but the idea this lady was putting forth was the fact that many of the antiques which are in our country are not really originals imported from France or England, but copies from American entrepreneurs. Whatever!

I've also been thinking about mind clutter. Since I've retired, I've found out that my thoughts are much more introspective and that isn't always a good thing! I bombard myself with lots of media, but, in the long run, I'm my own worst enemy when it comes to thinking. I think some things to death! After much introspection, I've come to the conclusion that I'm too old to change and I'll just have to learn to decide which thoughts are important enough to keep in mind and which are just clutter.

On a final note, here is a picture of Jennie's little family (Kjerstin told them all to fold their arms) and Ty's winter pasttime:

OLD FRIENDS

While the writer's strike isn't a major problem in my life, it has made my TV watching rather bizarre. I need noise (no, hammering, pounding, the buzz of the electronic tools, the occasional exclamations {is that a nice way to put it?} isn't enough), so the TV is a noisy distraction when I'm sewing. I can't really watch it, it's mostly just noise. For the enormous price we pay for the privilege of watching, there should be something to watch, right? There's nothing.

Lately, I've opted for Reading--my ultimate favorite past time. I order books on tape from the mail order library, load my MP3 player with freebies also from the mail order library, load my iPod with podcasts about quilting, and read really true books which I buy or order. The whole point of my blog today is What in the world has happened to goodness? Just good old fashioned stories about families and people who love each other and have adventures together?

Somewhere it's lost. AARP had an article on awards which should have been given to actors who are 50+ and every movie was about something horrible: gangsters, Alzheimer's, infidelity, murder, lust, greed. No joy. No goodness

Well, anyway, a beautiful picture on the Internet today filled me with joy. I've always loved the beautiful story of Helen Keller. She's one of my all time heroes! A brilliant woman who overcame horrendous odds. I thought I'd share the picture which has just recently been found and is one of the only ones of Helen and Annie in which she is holding a doll. If you haven't read Helen's story and Annie's, it'll fill you with joy.

Fill your day today with goodness. Think about your heroes or be kind to someone. Give yourself a good day.