Hand Sewn Heart

I finished my heart project today actually.

I knew I had jinxed myself

 by thinking I could finish it Wednesday,

and actually saying so here on the blog.

My inspiration came from Pinterest.

Here's the link

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/208924870190889372/

I used 100% wool felt to make the heart.

When the paramedics were attending

to our friend Jackie they opened her shirt

in a hurry popping off her pink buttons.

I found two of them the following morning

when I went back to Seniors to straighten

up the tables that had been pushed aside.

I couldn't throw them away.

So I decided to use them in this 

 sewing project that I had just

pinned on Pinterest three weeks ago.

Jackie has been gone two weeks already.

  

There are two tear shaped clear

iridescent beads in the center of the heart.

Those remind me that eventually

tears of sorrow will turn into 

tears of laughter as we retell stories of 

Jackie and all the mishaps and silly

fun she was part of. 

She was one very special friend to us.

We are missing her so very much.

This heart will be a gift 

to her best friend

as a remembrance of Jacqueline.

May she rest in peace

knowing that she was dearly loved.

Because she was. 

Edited to add her obituary.

Jacquelene Joyce Baumann

Shasta lake, CA

1935 - 2015

On September 10th, 

Jacquelene "Jackie" Baumann passed at the age of 80 years old. She is survived by her daughters Candy and Sharron, step daughter Margaret, five grandchildren, four great grandchildren, and several extended families.

Once given the opportunity to get to know Jackie, you would find out she was a grandmother and loved one not only to her family and extended family, but the entire Central Valley community. When you became a friend, you were considered family and from that point forward right, wrong, or indifferent you were treated as such. Most notably was her close relationship with the Rogers family and her best friend, Carol Rogers.

Born in 1935 in Willows, CA, she was one of 12 brothers and sisters raised on a small farm. In 1950 the family moved to Central Valley and opened up a small diner. At age 17, she met the love of her life, William "Bill" Baumann and at first she resisted him, but his persistence paid off and they married two years later. They would remain lifelong residents of Central Valley, where they became well known throughout the community.

Through the years, you could find Jackie in one of the many bowling leagues she was actively involved in or playing pool and getting into trouble down at the American Legion Hall. She loved to fish with her husband Bill, traveling to visit family, the coast, Reno and Tahoe with the occasional casino pit stop. You would always run into her at little league, basketball, football, and high school baseball games watching and supporting her family and extended family whether it be a home game or as far away as Hawaii. 

To say the lease, the greatest moments of Jackie's life was the time she spent with her family and close friends. You would always find her in the kitchen cooking and if you were smart, you would stick around long enough for a sample (and you would never be disappointed). After retiring from Deer Creek Elementary School, she worked and volunteered at the Senior Center in Shasta Lake City up until the day she passed.

She will be forever loved and dearly missed. But to all who knew her, she is now with the love of her life, her husband Bill.

A Celebration of Life will be held at the American Legion Hall in Shasta Lake City, October 4th at 1 PM. The event will be a potluck and is open to all who knew Jackie. 

A quick post just to say...

I am busy working on a very 

heartfelt stitching project.  

Here's a bit of a sneak peek at it.

  I'm probably going to finish it today. 

 I hope I just didn't jinx myself. 

   I'll share my heart with you next post.

Thank you for the condolence messages

on the last post.

Our Dear Friend Jackie

Last Thursday,

we lost our friend Jackie from Seniors.

This is a photo of her I took while

we were on the cruise together last summer.

We were together having lunch

and playing a domino game afterwards.

She passed away while we were playing.

A friend and I 

did CPR until the medics arrived,

but we couldn't save her.

I am heartbroken.

This week has been very hard,

 and not just because of our friend.

We are also hurting for three other family

members who are having

medical issues right now.

So I'll be away from the blog

for awhile.

I just wanted to say

that I'm still here...

but hurting, and need to be quiet 

for awhile.  

Take care.

The Labor Day Weekend Project

Oh what have we done?

This room is at the back of the house

and the block wall is built into the hillside.

That room stays cooler than the rest 

of the house because of that. 

Over the weekend we emptied 

our bedroom of it's contents.

We tore out the carpet and padding

and began a project that's 

challenging and painful,

for Rick.

His knees are bruised even though 

he was wearing those knee pads above

that sort of look like some weird padded 

bra in the photo above. 

His hands are sore.

I can't help him with this part 

of the project.

We read that it should only take a weekend

to finish this one room project.

They lied.

The work continues this evening.

We need the bedroom furnishing

out of the front room by Friday.

We have family coming to visit

Friday.  Oh my!

These photos were taken with my phone,

so they're not the best,

but they do show exactly what we've 

gotten ourselves into.

Where there's smoke...

  

Blogging certainly has

become unintentionally 

sporadic for me.

Most of August we had grand kids

staying with us.  I loved it,

but it did leave little time for 

for personal pursuits, and I

wouldn't have it any other way.

I did use my camera a couple of

times during the visits

but the pictures only turned out so so.

No surprise there, those kids were on

the move.

We spent lots of time playing, 

making fabulous art, 

designing and sewing a softy doll

according to the granddaughters idea.

We also spent time jumping in the lake,

having playful water fights in the lake,

and just plain having fun.

~~~

Granddaughter Gwendolyn 

has a favorite restaurant in Los Angeles

and it just so happens that there

is one in her other grandma's town

down in the Bay Area.  

So we took her there for lunch 

as we were down there to pick her 

up to come visit with us.

She raved and raved about how much

she loved their macaroni and cheese.

So we checked on our phones and 

happily found that there was a BJ's

nearby.

Well imagine my surprise to find

that instead of a creamy cheesy dish

of homemade macaroni and cheese

with crusty brown bits around the 

small casserole dish straight from the 

oven on the menu...

they proudly offer

 a serving of Kraft

Macaroni and Cheese.

Later I asked our son about it.

He said they just know what kids like.

~~~

Gwendolyn is a vegetarian,

so we explored quite a few new to us

dinner options from Trader Joe's.

We also have a meat loving grandson

so between the two, it was a challenge

to appease both at the same time.

Surprisingly there were several

vegetarian items made from soy

that were actually better than

the meat item they were replacing.

Yeah for that!

~~~

One artistic complaint.

Some of these are old

and saved from last summer.

Others are brand new,

and as dry as can be when we opened them.

Oh well.

~~~

Things are changing for our kids 

and their families.

Our daughter's house is just about finished.
The final construction inspection was 

supposed to be today.

There's yet another delay.

The fire happened in mid November...

and it's September.

So, you can imagine how long

this year has felt for them.

~~~

Our son's family also moved

this summer and closed on their new house

this week.

Now they live in the Bay Area,

just a 3 to 4 hour drive  instead of 10.

~~~

I'm taking care of Conner in the afternoons

after I pick him up from school.

We have snack time,

homework, and then games of Uno

and Monopoly to fill our time until

his dad picks him up after work.

~~~

So, that's my days lately.

Happily full to the brim.

There's also sad and worrisome 

stuff happening as well.

But I'm not sharing that here.

Suffice it to say, 

the last few days have been punctuated 

with tears.  But that's life eh?

~~~

I wanted to share some of these

amazing  photos

below that were posted on Facebook

about the fires nearby and up 

and down the west coast.

Thankfully the fires are mostly contained.

Our skies have cleared.

Thank goodness.

They're wrapping the fire lookout post with 

a fireproof aluminum type covering.  

At a local store in Hayfork,

the firefighters pinned where they've come from

to help fight the firestorm.

The front windows were also 

decorated with locations and thanks.

Active duty military training to join the fight.

Smoke layer showing on the left

above the marine fog layer in the foreground.

Can you imagine?

This photo was from a fire in

Washington or Oregon.

It's been awhile and I've forgotten

the details.

Sadly, fire season usually doesn't end

until October.  

Until then, we can only hope for 

an end to the drought with plentiful 

rain this winter.

Take care.