Karen Kay Buckley

One of my favorite things to do while walking on the beach is to collect sea glass.  This is but a small portion of what we collected during our week at the beach.  Clear, frosted, green and brown are fairly common.  I get so excited when we find blue because it is more rare.  Finding the glass on the beach makes me really happy.  I don’t know why…..I just know it does.

On our way out of the Outer Banks, I took this photo on the bay side.  Mr. and Mrs. Duck were out for a stroll.

As we entered West Virginia on our drive home, we stopped at the Visitors Center.  It had just stopped raining.  Their gardens were wonderful.

Until next week……

Barbara Marcone took a class from me a few years ago on Long Island, NY. She said she learned so many techniques for hand-pieced and hand appliqued quilts and was able to use most of them in the making of this quilt. Looks like it did pretty well, huh? The judges’ comments were that the “piecing and applique were well executed and the circles were excellent (all 180 of them). Barbara said she would have been happier if the judges said the circles were “Perfect”.

Great job, Barbara!

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More photos from beach week.  Did I mention I love the Outer Banks??  Love it.

We have been vacationing at the Outer Banks for many years.  Some years we see a lot of sand dollars.  This year we only saw the one pictured below.  Wonder why some years there are lots….like the year we found 27 perfect sand dollars in one walk. And then this year there was only one during a dozen walks.

The cormorants sit as sentinels at the  border.

The North Carolina side…..

and the Virginia side.

Ahhhhhh……….

You horse’s______  Oh, I did not just think that!!

I loved this bug on the beach.  What fantastic colors.  He would look good on a quilt.  Not the real bug.  I mean he could be made out of fabric, or paint or thread, or a combination of all three.

Sunrise.

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BOOK REVIEW

A couple of weeks before surgery, I asked Joe if he would order the Outlander series on audio for me.  I had started to read this series many, many years ago and then got side tracked.  For those of you who don’t know…..Diana Gabaldon does not know how to write a short book.  I’m not saying they are bad…..I’m saying they are long.  I thought….I’ll have time during my recovery from surgery to listen to the series.  What was I thinking?  I had forgotten just how long each book is.  The good news…..my recovery will be over long before I finish the series!!!

The book starts in 1945 with Claire Randall, a former combat nurse.  She is just back from the war and on a second honeymoon of sorts with her husband.  Clarie walks through a standing stone.  It takes her back in time.  It is now 1743 and Claire has to adapt.  Just so you know and are prepared…there are many sex scenes…get ready.

With my doctors blessings, I was able to take a week of R&R in the Outer Banks.  I tried to convince them to write a prescription for a week at the beach so I that could submit it to my insurance, but……no go.  As my sister taught me when I was young….it never hurts to ask.

Here are a couple of my favorite photos from the week.  There were a lot so I’ll share more with you next week.

The first two are views from the house we rented.  It was right on the beach.  Ahhhhhh…..

There was a pool at this house.  It was a little too chilly for me to swim.  However, as we were getting ready for our daily walk, I looked out from the upper level of the house. I saw a toad in the pool and he was desperately trying to find a place to get out.

Not to worry Mr. Toadie, I will save you.  Gladly.  Here he is safely on the concrete around the pool.  He was exhausted.  After he thanked me, he jumped under the fence to freedom.  You are welcome Mr. Toadie.

This part of the Outer Banks is known for it’s wild horses.  This year, we saw more horses than normal.

What was not normal….. after I saved Mr. Toadie, was a noise I heard behind me. I turn to find a horse on the porch trying to enter our rented house.  Within a short time, he wandered back into the grasses for grazing.  So, maybe the grass is not always greener on the other side…..just saying…..

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BOOK REVIEW

Well, of course I would read a book that mentions thread.  However, the thread in the book was not really about sewing.  This book takes you through 3 generations of the Whitshank family.  Abby loves to tell her children about the day she feel in love with their father, Red.  Red’s father built the house where Red and Abby now live.  The story takes you back through the time the house was built and brings you to the present.  As Abby and Red are aging, their children have to deal with how to best care for their parents.  Good read.

Until next week……

Recovery from surgery is going so much better than I ever would have expected.  I’ve been walking each morning for about 45 minutes.  I may be walking at a little slower pace than before surgery….but not much slower.  I’m sure I’ll be back to my normal pace soon.  As I’ve been on my walks, I have not had any shortness of breath or pain of any kind.  It’s been amazing.  I’m not yet ready to go back to weight training, which is part of my normal routine.  I’m going to need many more weeks before that happens.

Something I feel I must mention as the question has been asked of me so many times.  People who know me well were aware that prior to surgery I would do 30 to 60 minutes of cardio at least 6 times a week and weight training 4 times a week.  (Sneakers don’t take up much weight in my luggage so there is never an excuse not to have them with me when I am on the road!)  Anyway, the questions relate to my heart problem and exercise.  I need you to know that the first time I saw the cardiologist he said, “You need to know you did nothing wrong.  Not too much or too little exercise, nothing about what you did or did not eat, nothing to do with weight caused this.”  The problem is congenital. Apparently, it was there for a long time. I had decided to have a family doctor check-up and they found the murmur which lead to surgery.  I think I am very lucky that I went to see the family doctor when I did.  Intuition???

Here are some photos I took this week during my walks.  I’m not sure if we’re having an exceptional spring or if coming out of heart surgery and having some down time is making me see things I might have otherwise overlooked.

Until next week……