Be sure to visit the Alzheimer's Priority Quilts slow & silent auction page http://www.alzquilts.org/quiltauction.html. This month's collection of small quilts is the most powerful, emotion-filled & creative I have yet seen. Each one speaks volumes about the effects of Alzheimer's, on both its victims & their caregivers. While you visit the auction, you might want to say a prayer for Ami Simms, the AAQI & auction creator, whose own mom, Beebe, seems to be disappearing fast.

Old Town Temecula's 10th Annual Outdoor Quilt Show!

Well, kids, we survived another one....by the skin of our teeth. Weather forecasters persisted in predicting rain for Saturday, but it held off until the auction was over & nearly all of the quilts had been taken down & safely stowed away. What a fun day we had! It seemed like a huge crowd had turned out to see our quilts, making traffic crawl through Old Town, & keeping the sidewalks full of lookie-lous. It was wonderful. Take a gander at the pictures our fabulous Abi took of the day. http://www.flickr.com/photos/votmq/sets/72157607781008555/show/

If you click on the Animal Rescue button to the left, you will help shelters feed rescued animals all over the country. If you then click on the button of the other charitable organizations whose tabs appear at the top of that page, you will easily & quickly help those causes as well. Sign up for a daily reminder from any one of these sites, & you can make a substantial contribution over time, all at the cost of a few seconds of your time each day. Easy Peasey!

World Alzheimer's Day

From Ami Simms' blog: "This Sunday, September 21, 2008, is World Alzheimer’s Day. It is a day to remember the 26.6 million people worldwide who have this vile disease that will eventually rob them of the ability to remember and to reason. It will take from them every skill they ever learned and every relationship they ever held dear. And for most, they will watch this thief at work in their own minds."
The virtual patch I've added here is to honor my mother, Jean Tompkins Mahon, who is rapidly slipping from sight and reach.
Please visit Ami's site, www.AlzQuilts.org There you'll find instructions to make your own virtual patch and learn about ways to help fight this pernicious disease.

It's a happy day here in lovely, lively Ohio: school has started! Check out the local reason for celebration!

Oof. It's ridiculously late, but I wanted to get pictures posted before I forgot....again. I'm in the clutches of my grands & having just a lovely time. Check out my Flickr badge for all the latest.

Book Review

I'm writing this here because I didn't bring my book journal with me, & I don't want to forget about this book. The True Story of Hansel and Gretel; a novel of war and survival by Louise Murphy was a harrowing read about a pair of young siblings dropped from their father's & stepmother's motorcycle while being pursued by Nazis in WWII Poland. Using the fairy tale's structure, the author describes the horror of these children forcing themselves to forget their past to keep them from exposing the fact that they're Jews. They wander through ancient forest until they spy the hut of an old lady believed by the villagers to be a witch. She hangs bread on spikes on the outside walls of her house for the birds, & the starving children take advantage of her largess.
I read a great review of this book & bought it based on that, but nearly didn't finish it because it was so hard to read knowing it to be largely true. Still, I did persevere & I'm glad I did.