Progressive Dinner

Saturday evening 20 or so ladies from our church went on a progressive dinner. We gathered at church to meet/greet, gather in two groups and enjoy an appetizer of strawberry soup and accompaniments. Each group went to three homes, one for salad, one for main dish, one for dessert. It was a delightful evening! What began as a very windy evening, ended so relaxed.

Our salad course was hosted by Joan, who set such an elegant table!

We all loved how Joan folded the napkin folded into a rose bud.

Ladies in my group were: Judy, Elaine, Tina, Brenda, Rosemary.

Hostess Joan, Lisa, Della, Cathy, and Donata. We would catch up with Gail, our main course hostess at her home.

We began by going around the table introducing ourselves.  There were women I knew fairly well, some not so much, some not at all, so it was a very sweet time. Because we were on a schedule for our hostesses, we would finish our "story-telling" at Gail's. Theses are some of the things we learned:

• All but one (I think) was born on a farm (yes, even I was born on a farm!)
• All but one (that would be me!) has lived in Kansas/Missouri all her life (big surprise there!)
• Four of the gals were/are teachers.
• Three of the gals were/are nurses or PA.
• Three of the gals have grandchildren/great-grandchildren of mixed ethnicities.
• Three of the gals have daughters getting married between now and July.
• Two are expecting grandbabies in the next two months. 
• Two are great-grandmas.
• Two of the gals are cancer survivors.
• Each lady has "something" that she is dealing with in her life; big, life-changing issues, yet all have the common bond of being a sister in Christ. Very sweet!

We were so busy touring Gail's new home and admiring her collection of depression glass, that I failed to get photos.  Such a shame. Gail prepared a yummy pasta dish with chicken, broccoli, and orecchiette pasta in a yummy Alfredo sauce. Orecchiette pasta is shaped in a round disk with a little hollow in the center (good for collecting sauce!). Orecchiette means "ear" in Italian, and I've heard it called "pigs' ear" pasta on TV cooking shows. No matter what it's called, it is delicious.

We ended our delightful evening with dessert at Brenda's home. She set tables on her deck, which was mostly protected from the wind. She prepared a beautiful dessert called, Pavlova.  It is a yummy meringue dessert named for the Russian ballet dancer, Anna Pavlova. Brenda served it on a "squiggle" of chocolate sauce and topped with fresh strawberries. Delicious!

Our lovely hostesses: Joan (salad), Gail (main course), and Brenda (dessert).

What a lovely evening it was sitting around candle-lit tables, getting to know one another! It was such fun to see each home, and appreciate the hospitality of each hostess.

Feeling blessed.

Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art

While in Branson we took a lovely side-trip to Bentonville, AR, about two hours' drive south and west, near the Missouri-Arkansas border. Driving up and down VERY steep roads, through hills and hollers we saw some beautiful country. And did I take a single photo? No! You'll just have to take my word for it - it was a beautiful drive on a beautiful day. Bentonville is the home town of Sam Walton, so as you might expect there was a Wal-Mart center you could tour, but which we did not. Our destination was the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art.

Crystal Bridges is the brain-child of Sam Walton's daughter, Alice L. Walton. The world reknown Boston architect, Moshe Safdie, designed the 201,000 sq. ft. museum on a site around two ponds on 120 acres of land formerly owned by the Walton family. It is very contemporary in style and fits so perfectly into the landscape.

The buildings are of curved glass, wood, concrete.

The grounds are lovely and boast of 3.5 miles of hiking and walking trails, along with commissioned pieces of sculptured art. The silver tree was especially stunning!

We had a great curried chicken salad for lunch in the on-site restaurant called "eleven". I asked a server about the significance of the name.  The museum opened on 11-11-11 at 11 am, hence the restaurant name. This mirror-polished stainless steel heart with transparent gold color coating hangs from the restaurant ceiling. The magenta grosgrain ribbon is fashioned out of stainless steel. It's very LARGE and beautiful.

The museum contains works by American artists from the Colonial era to present, with largest concentration of works coming from the 19th and 20th centuries. We spent four hours and still didn't get to the last exhibit room. Our legs and feet were DEAD.  There are some pieces of sculpture but most are framed pieces.

Two pieces that I especially loved are the following:

The Reader by Mary Cassatt

Rosie the Riveter by Norman Rockwell

Unlike her predecessors who set out to put great works on display in cultural capitals like New York and Boston, Ms. Walton's mission was to bring "high art to middle America here in this town of 35,000 that is best known as the home of Wal-Mart." That she has certainly done!

A couple pieces of trivia ... In 2005 Ms. Walton began to buy works of art specifically for the museum and was often one the mysterious anonymous buyers at auctions and galleries where great sums of money were paid.  She paid a reported $4.9 million for Rockwell's Rosie the Riveter!

Ms. Walton began to seriously think about building an art museum on family land in the late 1990s and began to bring it up at family meetings held three times a year. Since she has no children she felt she needed the backing of her nieces and nephews, who would have inherited the land. "That decision brewed for a year and a half", she said, before there was unanimous agreement.

We truly enjoyed this art experience and I imagine we'll visit again. Well worth the drive!!

Springtime in the Ozarks

Surprised to see me blogging?  Life and my iPhone keep me from my computer for several days at a time, so alas, no blogging. However, we took a little trip to Branson, MO, last week and since I have photos to share, thought it might be good to take the time to blog! So here goes! (Perhaps I'll get back on track.)

Springtime in the Ozarks is quite lovely. Since Branson is some distance south of us, Spring is a little further ahead. Oh how we loved the flowering trees! After a brutal and cold winter, they were indeed a welcome respite! These beauties were on our timeshare property, Marriott's Willow Ridge.

Dogwood were also in bloom. Two varieties, pink and white and they were gorgeous! We haven't seen dogwood since our time in the Great Smoky Mountains while on sabbatical in 1975-76!

There is a dogwood legend that says the bloom is shaped like a cross with two long and two short petals. The end of the petal is notched and bears a slight rust and red color, symbolizing the nails that pierced Jesus and the blood He shed for the sins of the world. While this is simply a legend - nothing Biblical about it - it was a beautiful reminder of what sacrifice Jesus made for us. We were at this place over Easter weekend and loved the display and the legendary significance.

A room with view on a nice rainy day. We witnessed Spring literally bursting forth every day!

More to come! Next stop - Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, AR.

Hello from Blogville!!!

I've recently been asked "are you OK? I haven't seen you on your blog for awhile." Yes, I am FINE!  Just seems as though when I began keeping up with friends via Facebook and purchased an iPhone, I'm not spending so much time blogging at my computer. I hope that pattern will reverse itself in 2014.

For those who haven't heard ... we took our house off the market at the end of the summer.  It was a tough decision and one that made us sad. I struggled for a couple of weeks, but thankfully I'm "back on top of things". Simply put, the time just didn't seem right, although it is our wish to make the move back to California. Our family is looking forward to that day!

We spent a lovely Thanksgiving with our family in California and look forward to spending Christmas there as well. A highlight of our Thanksgiving celebration was Maddie's announcement that she is a "big sister in training!" Yes, Jeremy and Renee are expecting another little one June 21 and we are all very excited!

It's been quite a year! Brett and Esther and girls left here for Simi Valley on July 6 and our new neighbors (a lovely young family) moved in shortly thereafter. It was truly amazing to see how God orchestrated every detail of their move. Esther is teaching second grade for LAUSD. Brett is teaching Bible at Oaks Christian (OCS) and Moira attends there as well. (So we have five Dewey girls at that school!) The other little girls attend a nearby neighborhood school. They have settled in quite well with family and friends nearby.

Jeff and Caroline and their family continue life's hectic pace. Jeff is loving having Brett teaching at "his school" (The students love it too! :)) Caroline continues her private tutor work, as well as at OCS.  Cole is second year at local community college and all the girls are at OCS. Work, sports, church and friends keep the family in high gear.

Jeremy is very busy in his management position with PennyMac and Renee has been blessed to be able to work from home with her Bank of America job. Maddie is now in pre-school and is enjoying it. She's very precocious and very social! She is very excited about being a big sister!

Rich and I are waiting to see how God directs our path. We have stepped down from our ministries in anticipation of a move and await God's direction. We have determined that in the meantime, we will continue to enjoy our home and the lovely friends God has put in our lives here.

We wish you all the joys and blessings of this Holy Season. Merry Christmas to all!

Colorado Here We Come!!!

Looking forward to seeing these happy faces REAL SOON!!!

We've been planning a family reunion at Breckenridge, CO, for a year. Original plan was for us to caravan with Brett and Esther and girls. Of course, this was long before Brett and Esther and family moved to California. Now they will caravan with Jeff, Caroline, and their family. We'll pick up Jeremy, Renee, and Maddie at the Denver airport. We are ALL so excited!!!

All 18 of us will be celebrating LIFE!!! Enjoying each other and just plan ole' hanging' out together. Who knows what excitement lies ahead.

We can hardly wait!

Thank you Lord for your bountiful blessings, namely our three great sons, their lovely wives, and their collective 10 precious children!!!

Happy Birthday Maeve!

Maeve will be six years old on Sunday, but since they'll be moving to California and on the road somewhere between Albuquerque and Phoenix, we had her birthday dinner on July 3.

She set the menu: meat loaf, mashed potatoes, corn, carrots, cucumbers, and apple crisp for birthday dessert. I surprised her with the black olives!

She had originally asked for a rainbow cake, but I knew I didn't want to have three-quarters of a six layer cake left over so I had decided on making cupcakes.

As we were driving into Wichita a couple of days ago, she announced she changed her mind and asked for apple crisp with ice cream. Her favorite ice cream is strawberry so I asked if we could do vanilla and she was fine with that. The funny thing was, she said she'd never had apple crisp before. I knew all the adults would be in favor, so apple crisp it was!

Maeve is a fun, spunky, very petite little girl.  She's missing her top front teeth and has a lose bottom tooth. It was fun to watch her eat! She loves school and will be going into first grade this year.

Earlier in the day, Audrey and I were at Wal-Mart when she said, "I wish I had money to buy Maeve a birthday present". I asked her what she would get and she said an Ariel doll.  So we went to check them out. It was just like the one Maeve and I had seen at Kohl's but cost a little less. Audrey then proceeded to tell me how all four girls would like the princess dolls and who would like which doll. So for a going-away gift for each of them we (Grandma!) bought four dolls. Cinderella for Isabel, Ariel for Maeve, Belle for Audrey, and Rapunzel for Moira. Audrey had in mind how to arrange them on the island, from oldest to youngest. The girls were so surprised and loved them!! I worried that Mo would think she was too old for a doll. Not so!!! They took them to breakfast at Cracker Barrel this morning and then sat out on the driveway playing. Very sweet.

A fun birthday celebration, which happened to be our last dinner at our house. We didn't make a point of that, probably a good thing.  I was worried the mashed potatoes would be a little salty from my tears.

Happy birthday, sweet girl!

Happy Birthday Moira!

Moira joins the ranks of teen agers today - 13 on Father's Day! What a gift for her Daddy!!!

When I asked her wanted she wanted for her birthday dessert, she told me she wanted to make cupcakes and make roses for the decoration. So I took out my cake decorating book, pastry bags and tips from my 1980's JCPenney decorating class and did we ever have fun!!!

We spent almost four hours making cupcakes, then a batch of decorating frostings. I read the instructions while she practiced using the various tips. What a blast! This is one talented girl. It took her about five tries and she had the roses looking really nice.

We were very excited with the results!  We had to prepare everything early since she'd be coming home from camp the day of her birthday dinner. So they are tucked away in the freezer, nicely wrapped and ready for her 13th birthday dinner. She's so excited to show her family her accomplishment.  Let it be said ... she made the cupcakes, I frosted them with chocolate frosting, she did ALL the decorating except for the leaves, which she asked me to do. I put on the green polka dots, she created the rest!! We both agreed that it was the most fun we've ever had!!! Aren't they beautiful!!!

Happy birthday sweet girl! You are one musically talented, athletically talented, and academically talented young woman!!! God has great things in store for you. Just follow his path!!!

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your paths straight." Proverbs 3:5-6