Our long awaited 30th anniversary trip finally happened last week – closer to our 32nd anniversary but who’s counting? We took the Rocky Mountaineer train from Denver, Colorado to Moab, Utah, then finished out the week in Las Vegas. No gambling, but lots of sightseeing in the form of excursions to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon and Hoover Dam/Lake Mead. Of course, we enjoyed the fountains at the Bellagio, had a wonderful dinner at Mon Ami Gabi and enjoyed seeing Piff the Magic Dragon live at the Flamingo theatre.

I did manage to visit two quilt shops while in Denver – Holly’s Quilt Cabin and Treelotta. Both are excellent quilt shops. Treelotta reminds me so much of Intown Quilters – my fave ATL shop that closed down permanently during the pandemic. I told hubs that I would definitely keep an eye out for any retreats offered by this shop. It would be totally worth a quick trip to Denver for a 2-3 day retreat with a side trip to the Rocky Mountain Quilt Museum.

For many years, a block from my redwork embroidery project accompanied me on my travels. Now that it’s finished, I had to find a new hand sewing project to take with me. English Paper Piecing was my project of choice. This trip didn’t allow for much sew time because there was so much amazing scenery to view. I managed to get 3 Grandmother’s Flower Garden blocks completed by the time we landed in the ATL. I can honestly say the flat back stitch with a size 11 Milliner’s needle for EPP works best for me. You’ll see a blog post on this soon!

Meanwhile, enjoy some pictures from our trip.

To you, it’s a mailbox. To me, it’s a testament that there are still companies out there who do the right thing and deliver exemplary customer service – even when it’s not technically their customer who suffered the loss.

Last Friday, a limo van hired by one of our neighbors backed into our mailbox. The driver somehow managed to catch the brass knob on the front of the mailbox on a part of the van. He literally turned the mailbox 45 degrees as he pulled forward. (The screeching noise made as that knob scraped along the side of the van was quite something.) He got out, inspected the damage, closed the front door to the mailbox and drove off. Fortunately, our doorbell video camera captured all the action. What it did not capture, however, was the name of the limo company. As our neighbors had already left for their daughter’s wedding festivities, we reached out to other neighbors to see if they had footage of the limo van in question. We soon had the company’s name and contacted them directly.

By Monday afternoon, they’d accepted full responsibility for the mishap and agreed to pay to have our mailbox replaced. On Tuesday morning, they paid the invoice from the mailbox installation vendor.

Today (Thursday morning), a local mailbox company installed our replacement mailbox.

The entire issue was resolved quickly and without any drama.

If I ever need a limo transport in the future, you can bet I’ll be calling Luxport Transportation.

Saturday evening, I took Sadie for a playdate at the home of a former coworker. Big Girl loved the expansive yard and promptly made herself at home. While the dogs and kids played, my former coworker filled me in on how the school year was shaping up. I am definitely missed. My replacement is doing the best she can given the circumstances (no para, little direction, constantly changing priorities – same things I dealt with last year). Suffice it to say, my friend verbalized that I’d definitely made the right decision to retire when I did. I look so happy. When I returned home, I had a FB message from a former colleague who shared that she’d had enough and would be joining me in retirement sometime between Christmas break and the end of the school year. (She’s also a fellow sewist!) I am not one to “never say never”, yet I am now pretty confident that my school library days are behind me for good. So much so that I do not plan to renew my teaching certificate when it expires next June.

I do miss working in a library. Fortunately, the Smyrna Library has finally decided to take me up on my offer to partner for ‘tween and teen craft classes starting in January 2023. The youth services librarian and I brainstormed some STEM related craft activities back during the summer. She pitched them to the higher-ups and we got the green light to move forward. I am excited to be teaching outside my home studio once again!

One year ago, my husband informed his boss of his plan to retire in March of this year. At the time, I could only daydream what retirement for me might look like. Our plan was for me to work another year before I retired. How quickly things can change! Life four months after retirement doesn’t exactly resemble the daydream, but that’s okay. The reality is much better! I look forward to what the future has in store!