It is official!!

I am no longer employed at Thunder Bay Resort. The decision was made to discontinue the Quilter's Retreats due to declining attendance numbers. My boss said that once the economy picks up the retreats may be re-instated. For me this is the first time in 25+ years that I am working at just one job. And so far I am liking it. My other job is that of Township Clerk, an elected position. I will soon begin my 3rd year of a 4 year term. I have been Clerk here for almost 22 years. I have several responsibilities but the one that takes up most of my time is administering elections. We have an election on Tuesday and I have been very busy with that. Once the election is over I will have lots of free time. I am planning to spend time spoiling our 6 and soon to be 7 grandchildren. I hope to get some things caught up here at home that have been ignored for far too long and I plan to do lots of sewing and quilting. I would like to continue with my blog. Any suggestions for a "catchy" title? Please give it some thought and send me suggestions via "comment". Thanks!!

The Orphan Train Rider

Ann Zemke of Crocus Lane Quilts was the guest speaker/instructor a couple of weeks ago here at Thunder Bay Resort. She gave a very interesting and informative talk about her grandmother and many, many other children who were loaded on oprhan trains and sent off to points unknown. She also taught her Big bag class to our retreaters. I didn't get a chance to make my bag yet but I do intend to do so. If you are looking for an interesting speaker for your group (it doesn't have to be quilters) I highly recommend you contact Ann.

New baby, road trips, busy, busy

It has been a long time since I have made a post and I apologize. Life has been very crazy for the past 5 weeks or so. We welcomed our newest grandson, Kingsley into our family on September 23. Congratulations to Heather, Shawn and big sister Allie. It seems like I have spent an awful lot of time in the car lately. Kingsley was born in Petoskey, about 80 miles west of here and we made a couple of trips from here. He also had a Dr's appointment in Cheboygan, about 80 miles north of here. Steve and I traveled to Lansing for the Michigan Quilt Networks Annual Showcase and I drove to Gaylord for our MQN Region 2 meeting. The colors have been absolutely beautiful this year and I have really enjoyed being a "leaf peeper." I also totally enjoyed a 3 day quilt camp with one of my sisters and several of my quilting buddies and two trips to the apple farm with two of our granchildren. Today was the day to get things finalized for a retreat that starts here at Thunder Bay Resort tomorrow. This will be our second to the last retreat. We will host a UFO retreat here next weekend, then we will close the retreat doors. I have truly enjoyed meeting so many wonderful people and making some great friends along the way. I will try to do a posting during or right after this weekends retreat.