Hello,
I am now home from our trip to see relatives in Iowa and Indiana. Everyone was very welcoming and we had a good time. In South Bend Eric and I went to the Zoo, the Studebaker Museum and the Oliver Mansion too. 
I loved the tourtuses texture. The shell looks like a topographical map to me.
When we were first married we had a Lark , but there were none of them in the Studebaker Museum. Lots of cool cars though.
The Oliver Mansion
was built with money from the perfection of cold metal plows. It was a beautiful example of Victorian life. It was really forward looking too as it was built with electricity in mind, even though gas was the only power available at the time.
I was quite impressed by my cousin Casey’s hobby of building structures with individual blocks. They are like lagos but no locking parts and no glues. This castle was his latest production.
Casey had Grandfather’s stuffed Alligator on the shelf along with lots of other old family stuff. 
Casey gave me lots of old family photos. I was flipping through them and came across one of my Mom and her brother Dale that gave me chills. Just before we left I started a piece called Day Dreaming and I had been looking for greens in my fancy fabric suit case. I came across this little old silk dress and decided to use it as the top for the person in my piece. 
What gave me the chills was it was the dress Mom was wearing in the photo and I did not know that it was one of her pieces of clothing. I am excited to get going on the project now with its new layer of meaning. I feel confident that my Grandmother Ruth did the Embroidery work.
I had zoom meetings with QuEGs and Pixies this week and I am beginning to get back in the swing of things.
Progress Report: Enamel Beetles It is 40″ w X 24″ t. I finished this work just before I left on my trip.
I added a beaded butterflies that I had purchased from a friend years ago.
Day Dreaming Here is the lay out for the quilt with the dress pinned down.
Tattered I am building texture on this work with the beading. I think it will be completed this week.
Circles This quilt is to the quilting stage now. I am doing zig-zag quilting lines inside the circles to add interest.
Knitting I am now working on the final color band. I hope to finish this work this week as well.
Daily Practice This piece gets only a few stitches every evening. As I try to knit five rows on the poncho during the news first.
Drawing I did a little drawing this week just to keep my hand in the game.
Stitch work A few weeks ago as a part of stitch club there was an assignment were one filled in areas with random stitching. I thought this would be a good project to take on the road as it did not require as much presion as some things do. This is how far I got.
Childhood Memories- Graduation June 1966
As the end of my senior year drew near, life became a cycle of tests and other activities. Tests are a natural part of the end of any school year, but they seemed more intense this year. At the beginning of May I participated in Musical Moods, for which I made simple costumes for Susan and myself out of printed towels. The flutes played “Quiet Village” while Susan and I on the side did simple hand motions like a Hawaiian dance, only we were seated on our knees. I still feel very calm when I hear that tune. After that it was one banquet after another. First was the Honor Society Banquet, at which the new junior members were charged with upholding academic principles during the coming year. This was followed by the Math Banquet and then the Thespian Banquet. Finally, the senior girls organized a Mother/Daughter Banquet. It was strange to go to the Student Center so often to be served as apposed to serving, which I had been doing for years. All three Grandparents and my cousin Danny came to town, because Mom was graduating from Ball State with her doctorate, too.
The Field House was closed so that a new floor could be installed, so the Senior Baccalaureate ceremony was held at South Side High School. I remember how hot it was and how we girls joked that we wanted to wear just our slips under our robes–but we didn’t, of course. Mom’s Ball State ceremony was on Sunday afternoon and it too was hot, but we were outside on the green and under a tree. The Graduates were in the sun. We were seated on the right side and could easily see Mom walk up the steps of the Art Building to the stage to receiver her degree. I was very proud of her. Monday evening was the Senior Banquet, the last one. My grandparents gave me a small portable tape recorder as a graduation gift. I was delighted and had Grandpa Howard tell me a bunch of war stories that evening. (I wish I knew what happened to that tape now.)
The final event was my Tuesday night graduation at Ball State’s Emens Auditorium. We rehearsed in the morning, and I brought Mike Coleman and Margaret home with me afterwards for pizza with the family. Then all the kids, Gene included, played games in the afternoon. (Gene had a bit of a graduation of his own, as he was moving from Storer Jr. High to Muncie Central in the fall.) Afer my friends left, Mom and I put on our robes and so did Dad. Gene wore his suit, and we took lots of photos. In the evening, I dressed in my robe again and left to play with the band before the ceremony. I felt the band sounded its best of the whole year at that performance. Even with 356 graduates, the ceremony seemed to fly by. When I got to the stage to get my diploma, I smiled–and felt proud as I walked back to my seat. Then time seemed to freeze until we all flipped our tassels. We filed out to “Pomp and Circumstance,” a piece I had played for two years, and I felt good. After the ceremony I took Danny with me to two graduation parties and had a great time. We ate cake and talked a lot. It was all a bit sad, too, as I knew I would never see some of these people again.
A summer of events was in front of me, but for folks like Terry, a gal I had seen daily for three years, it was off to work. Our paths only crossed one more time after that evening.
Stay safe
Carol