Karen’s Opinion

We just got home from Texas where we attended my niece’s high school graduation ceremony. She attends a huge high school and had 1429 students graduate! That made for a very long ceremony. I was grateful for my solitaire game, which I played inconspicuously for 2 1/1 hours.

Since there were three of us going to Texas, we decided it would be too expensive to fly so we drove the two day trip. It was fun to see different scenery. We took a few back roads to get off the boring highway. Highways don’t offer any distractions. The rivers are often hidden by huge concrete barriers and I can only look at trees for so long. We ended up going through Arkansas on a very winding road. I’m sure it was a well traveled path in the 60′s. It had small hotels that had offered awesome views. They didn’t seem to be in business any longer. So sad.

We stayed in a beautiful hotel, not far from my sister’s home. I even got in the swimming pool the second day we were there. It took some coaxing from my daughter and was nice to get some sun. The water was just cool enough to be refreshing without the usual gasp while venturing down the steps into the water. My sister also has a pool so I got a bit of a tan in between helping her prepare food for the graduation party.

We shopped at the outlet mall the second day we visited. I needed some fresh exercise clothes and found a cute pair of running shorts for only $9.00. Go me! Whatever I saved at Under Armor was spent at Kate Spade. Call me happy!

Today is my second day back at work and I better get going. Have a great week everyone.

rain on me o’ rain rain rain
o’ rain rain rain
come rain on me o’ rain
rain on every plant that grow o’ dear rain
rain on every resource o’ dear rain
rain to green the plants
the plants that of nature’s decor
rain on us and never let go
quench my thirst; to get so
rain on me o’ rain rain rain

rain for happiness and leisure
rain for our children to play
rain on the soil for us this day
so, we plant more food to feed us this way
go to the fields and gardens; same way
rain o’ beautiful rain
rain rain rain

By Onalethuso Petruss Ntema

Our pastor and his wife introduced us to a new card game. It is called Bang.

“The Outlaws hunt the Sheriff. The Sheriff hunts the Outlaws. The Renegade plots secretly, ready to take one side or the other. Bullets fly. Who among the gunmen is a Deputy, ready to sacrifice himself for the Sheriff? And who is a merciless Outlaw, willing to kill him? If you want to find out, just draw (your cards)!” (From back of box)

This card game recreates an old-fashioned spaghetti western shoot-out, with each player randomly receiving a Character card to determine special abilities, and a secret Role card to determine their goal.

Four different Roles are available, each with a unique victory condition:

Sheriff – Kill all Outlaws and the Renegade This is particularly funny when our pastor is an outlaw!
Deputy – Protect the Sheriff and kill any Outlaws
Outlaw – Kill the Sheriff
Renegade – Be the last person standing

A player’s Role is kept secret, except for the Sheriff. Character cards are placed face-up on table, and also track strength (hand limit) in addition to special ability.

There are 22 different types of cards in the draw deck. Most common are the BANG! cards, which let you shoot at another player, assuming the target is within “range” of your current gun. The target player can play a “MISSED!” card to dodge the shot. Other cards can provide temporary boosts while in play (for example, different guns to improve your firing range) and special one-time effects to help you or hinder your opponents (such as Beer to restore health, or Barrels to hide behind during a shootout). A horse is useful for keeping your distance from unruly neighbors, while the Winchester can hit a target at range 5. The Gatling is a deadly exception where range doesn’t matter – it can only be used once, but targets all other players at the table!

Information on the cards is displayed using language-independent symbols, and 7 summary/reference cards are included.

It is cold and rainy here in Indiana so I am trying to bring spring into my home with decorations. I have put out Easter baskets and brightly colored quilts. I did have Easter candy but I ate it. Here is a picture of the new chair decorations I made for our front porch.

I recently attended the Mountain Quilt Fest in Pigeon Forge Tennessee. During a dinner, I found myself fortunate to be sitting with a couple of interesting ladies.

Hollis Chatelain is a texture artist who was born in Pennsylvania but spent many years in Switzerland and several African countries. Her travels have influenced her art. Her use of color is amazing as she brings to life people she has met and places she has seen. She was very soft spoken but her quilts speak loudly. It was fun to listen to how she was worried about the weather and her trip home to North Carolina. She is a real person with an amazing talent. She taught classes entitled Painting Images with Dyes, Quilt Line As the Third Design Aspect, Understanding Value to Enhance Color and Upcycle Your Jeans into Art. She also held a lunch lecture entitled Influences of Africa.

Art: Hollis Chatelain

Jan Krentz was also sitting at my table. If you have seen quilt books about star quilts, you have probably seen books written by Jan Krentz. She seemed to be about my age and I couldn’t help but admire her silver hair. I’m thinking about saving tons of money spent on hair color and letting my hair go natural. If only I had a way to see if it would be as pretty as Jan’s.

Jan is an expert at teaching star quilts. During this festival, her classes were titled Love That Lone Star, Hunter Star-Variable Hunter Star, Quick Rolling Star, and Rainbow Split Broken Star. She also held a lecture/dinner titled Quilts and Techniques. Her classes were geared toward the skilled beginner/above. I would love to take a class taught by Jan. She seemed like an interesting and fun lady.