Astronaut George Zamka

George Zamka is a NASA astronaut of Polish descent and space shuttle pilot who was in Warsaw to celebrate NASA's 50th anniversary and to hand out awards to Polish students who had won an essay contest. This was the reception to meet George and present the students with their prizes. In the photo, l-r, are Tim, me, Ambassador Ashe, Andy Schilling (Chief of Public Affairs at the embassy), and George Zamka. I apologize for the darkness of the picture and will try to lighten it later but I'm beat (subbing full-time right now and prepping for Thanksgiving company) so I'm going to bed.

Houston Quilt Festival 2008

We have many traditions for our yearly quilt excursion one of which is to have our picture taken with our teacher at the end of each class (holding whatever we managed to accomplish). Above is Debbie McCaffrey who teaches the Undercover in Houston class. We are given vague instructions about what fabric to bring (1/2 yd light, 2 yd medium, 1 yard dark, etc) and then we follow the instructions one step at a time resulting in a mystery quilt that often stretches our color comfort zone. Cheri was cringing everytime she looked at her orange fabric and I kept telling her it was terra cotta, not orange (sometimes semantics are everything!). Notice Cheri has two large strips at the end of the day while I'm only holding a pile of small blocks.

Below is Charlotte Angotti who teaches our favorite, must-have class, Let Me Surprise You! We show up in class with only small scissors and thread. She provides fabric that has already been cut into pieces and we just sew like mad, again working with instructions that are doled out one step at a time. Another mystery quilt like with Debbie McCaffrey but this time we don't even choose the fabric. Every year we hold our breath as the fabric packs are passed out, anxious if we'll like the colors and patterns. For us, this is living dangerously!

The big news at this year's show was that Cheri had a quilt accepted for competition- a VERY big deal! She worked steadily for 4 1/2 years to hand applique and hand quilt this masterpiece for her parents' 50th wedding anniversary. I don't understand why she didn't win a prize but we had fun watching show visitors oggle and photograph her quilt.

Fun in the Snow

We have been enjoying snow flurries on and off for two days and nights. Sunday morning the kids had a snowball fight and Michael made a snowman. The first picture is from Kyle's bedroom window. The gray bars cover most of the windows and are remants from when Warsaw was considered a higher risk assignment.
Too snowy for me so here I am a racing blur on the treadmill in our bedroom.

View of the neighborhood from the master bedroom.

Another view from our bedroom.

Are Katy and Kyle playing snow baseball or is Katy defending herself from an attack?

The back yard.

These pictures were taken at about 11am and you can see how low the sun is in the sky. Sunset is around 3:30 with another month to go to the winter solstice.

Snow!

Last night we had our first snow fall in Warsaw! Lucky for us because Tim and I had assured the kids that we would have snow in Poland. We had big, fat flakes that fell for for over an hour (or maybe longer but that's how long it held our attention). This morning the ground was white and I had to scrape the car for the first time since February 2003 (Valentines Day- I had a half-marathon in Dallas so I clearly remember running in the snow and then cleaning off the Accord for the return drive to Wichita Falls but I remember a lot of stuff- ask me what Tim was wearing the first time I saw him! I digress.). Minimal melting today. Ironically, after years of begging for snow, Katy decided it was a little too cold and wet for her.

A Mother's Pride

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=5pFv8CAniYQ

If you are a regular reader of this blog, this video will prove that Katy and Kyle are as at least as smart as a monkey. I'm so proud!

Making Cookies

Today, Katy and I made chocolate chip cookies after school.

Katy, the master chef, at work.
Enjoying warm cookies. I know everyone looks a little scruffy (that's why Kyle's wearing the hood) but I just keep letting other things get in the way. Kyle has vowed not to return to school next week without a haircut!

My beautiful new Electrolux oven. I'm still trying to decipher all the oven functions.

Katy's Band Concert

This is the third of three songs performed by Advanced Band- Katy's first band concert at ASW. She is the flute on the far right and she did a wonderful job! She also enjoys composing her own music.