Sad

My father, Peter C. Turner, passed away last Thursday.  He was 89.

I am so thankful that we just spent Thanksgiving traveling together to Florida to visit my brother Jeff's family.  It was a lovely time spent together.  Although my father's health had been declining, he was still able to enjoy the warm sunshine and all the attention from his grandchildren. 

When we were on the airplanes, Dad wore his "Flight of Honor" ball cap that was given to Veterans on a trip to visit the World War II memorial in Washington, D.C.   We were always the last off the plane, and it warmed my heart that so many travellers paused on their way up the aisle to say "Thank you for your service, sir."

We were also very touched at the graveside service to find a military Honor Guard.  It was a rainy, misty, day in the North Carolina mountains at the little church graveyard in Banner Elk.  The bugler climbed up the hillside and played "Taps,"  and the sound echoed down the hill.

I was doing pretty well until Taps.  It is very hard to say goodbye to someone who has been such a huge part of my life.

Good-bye, Daddy.  Yours was a life well-lived.

From the Beach to the Mountains and Back

The day after my grandkids left last week, Charlie and I headed up to Laurel Springs, North Carolina to our little mountain cabin.  It was a beautiful weekend with lots of my sister's family there.  So, there was lots of baby hugging and cute little kids to play with.

This is my sweet little great-niece, Holly.  So precious!

I was surprised that some of my pansies in the window boxes had survived the winter.

I have planted tons of daffodils on the hill and along the driveway, and some of them were still blooming.

Charlie and I took a ride up the mountain on our Gator just as the last light of the afternoon was making the hillside golden.

Even our golden dog looked more golden as she calmly surveyed the mountain side.

We had a beautiful ride home on Sunday.  The redbuds and dogwoods were spectacular.

There were a few "happy little clouds" in the blue sky above.

Best of all, we brought my dad home with us for a few days.  He lives with my sister, but we are enjoying having him with us this week.  He even set up a temporary painting studio in my kitchen and is working on a mountain painting.

I hope to have some quilty news after my quilt bee meets at my house on Thursday night.  But we are having more company for the weekend and have another birthday event, so I'm not sure when I will post again.  I have two new customer projects coming in next week, so please visit ATQ again soon!  By the way, I just realized that my last post was number 1,000...quite a milestone!  I will have to have a give-away soon to celebrate!



Home Again

I got home last night after an incredible eleven nights away.  First we were at Merlefest, then I stayed in Boone for six days while my father was in the hospital.  Charlie came and got me Friday night and we went to our cabin in Ashe County.  Back to Boone to visit Dad and my brothers Saturday night, and then we left the mountains on Sunday.  Off to Cary for a delightful Mothers' Day dinner with Dave and Emily.  It is good to be home.

I don't know where to start, except the most important thing is that my father is getting better.  Thanks for all your prayers and good wishes.

When we left Wednesday for the mountains, there had been some thunderstorms.  They ended about sunset, providing some spectacular cloud shots from the highway.

This one looks like the aliens have landed.

Later that night, we watched again on TV as the line of severe storms and tornadoes advanced through Alabama and Tennessee.  The very edge of the storm system passed through Ashe County.  We had lots of wind, rain, and lightning.  These tall clouds were not part of it.

The next morning we found that the earthen dam on our pond had sustained some more erosion, but since Gary had built it back up last weekend, it was not in danger of breaching.

There was a lot of water cascading over the dam on Peak Creek.

The dogwoods are still blooming up there.  Everything is green and pretty.

Dogwoods are the North Carolina state flower.

On Thursday we got ready for our company to arrive.  Thursday night the six of us went to Merlefest in North Wilkesboro.  It was about a 45-minute commute.  The first night we saw Randy Travis and Zac Brown, among others.  There were huge crowds.

Merlefest is held on the beautiful grounds of Wilkes Community College in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains.  The hillsides are landscaped with azaleas, rhododendrons, and other spring-flowering trees and shrubs.

There are lots of merchants selling crafts like pottery and tie-dyed clothing.

The sand sculptor was back again.

I loved the sun shining through this Japanese maple.

We also enjoyed concerts with Doc Watson, the Kruger brothers, Sam Bush, and the Snyder Family.  On Saturday night, Lyle Lovett was the main star.  His music was getting a little draggy, so we walked over to the dance tent where Donna the Buffalo was rocking the place.  While we were there, Zac Brown made a cameo appearance and performed a few songs.  That was a real crowd pleaser!

We skipped Merlefest on Sunday so Charlie could drive me to Boone, where my father had been in the hospital since Friday night.  I spent the most of the rest of the week in the hospital.  Those of you who are caregivers for chronically ill family members, I salute you.  It is very difficult to see your loved ones suffering.   One night when I was there, they had a big storm.  I was able to see some sunsets and mountains out the window in Dad's room.

My nephew Jeremy and his wife Rhiannon came to visit. I got to meet my newest great-nephew, Jake.  Here he is with his mama in Dad's room.

By Thursday evening, Dad had finished his course of IV antibiotics, and he was discharged.  It was a very difficult day when we had to admit him to a nursing home for rehab.  I always swore I would never do that.  But he needs the physical therapy and continued supervision of his medicine.  He is in Glenbridge in Boone.  On Friday, my brother Tim and his daughter Jess came up to Boone, as well as my brother Jeff and his wife Anna from Florida.  Charlie and Kasey came up to Boone to get me, and we spent the weekend at our cabin.  That was some great R&R.

I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help.-Psalm 121:1

My sister Katy had been with me in Boone since Wednesday.  She and her husband came back up on Saturday to spend the next week on vacation.  Sunday was Mother's Day and her birthday.  Here is Katy and her dog Fred on top of the hill.

On Saturday night, Charlie and I went back to Glenbridge in Boone to see Dad and my family.  It was amazing to see my father dressed in regular clothes and sitting up on the couch in the living room.  God is good! Here he is with Jeff and Anna. If you had told me on Wednesday that Dad would be sitting up and looking this strong on Saturday, I would not have believed it.

They had learned all the "ropes" of the nursing home.  My brothers were able to help lift Dad on and off the bed and in and out of the wheelchair.  What a blessing that they were there.  Here are Jeff, my husband Charlie, and my brother Tim, waiting for the Kentucky Derby on television in one of the living rooms at Glenbridge.

I felt so much better after that visit!  We enjoyed a beautiful ride over the mountain on Sunday.
 

 

My nephew Jason and his wife Robin and baby Lacy were there to celebrate Katy's birthday.  It was so wonderful to hold a precious baby after the week of care-giving.

 

 

When we got back to the Raleigh area, we had a wonderful home-cooked meal with son Dave and daughter-in-law Emily.  I received a beautiful Mother's Day wreath that Emily made.  Perfect for spring!

My older son lives in South Carolina and had to work on the weekend.  I had a nice surprise when I got home and looked at Facebook.  Bryson had changed his profile picture to this one.  Who is that skinny young mother?

I think that catches me up to date.  I have a very tired doggie after her weekend of running through the mountains, but I bet she would take me up on a walk.  I need one!

Thank you again for your good wishes for my father's recovery.  I feel very blessed.

Friday update

Hello my friends,

I have been in Boone, NC, all week, helping my father while he was in the hospital with pneumonia.  He was moved yesterday to a skilled nursing facility and is doing much better, although he is still very weak.  We think he has a great chance of a full recovery.  I am ecstatic!  Some of my other siblings are coming up here for the weekend, and my husband is picking me up this evening for a weekend at our cabin, about 45 minutes from here.  I won't be back on the Internet until Monday.

Thank you for your prayers and good wishes.  Things are really looking up!

Update

Just a very quick update...I did attend Merlefest, which was wonderful.  But, on Friday my father was admitted to the hospital in Boone with pneumonia.  I decided to stay up here with him all this week.  He is very weak, and I am glad to have the chance to stay with him.  I hope to come home on Sunday, but will see how it goes.

Happy Quilting this week!

New Pete Turner art

Great mail today...a thank-you card from my father for his birthday surprises. Isn't this a happy scene? He says it took him about an hour. I love the colors, the serene setting with mountain ridge in the background, and the whimsical title "Grazy Day." Thanks, Dad!

If anyone would like to see the With One Voice art quilt exhibit in detail, there is now an on-line catalog with a close-up of each quilt and the artist's statement. This will be a good way to waste time, er uh, happily be inspired and delighted at these very unique quilts. If you click on the quilt photo, you will be directed to the page for that quilt. If you start with the first one, you can click Next to view the entire show on at a time. Nicely done, Lynn!

My Former Life as a Model

In yesterday's post I mentioned that there was a round of story-telling at my father's birthday party on Saturday. Each of the seven children and some of the other guests stood up and told stories about my father. Many of my sibling's stories included the times they were left behind or lost on some outing with my father, on Jones Beach in Long Island, an aircraft carrier...and all ended with how each one of us felt loved and cherished by both our mother and father despite the large family.

My story was about growing up with an artist for a father. I thought everyone's father was able to draw and paint! Isn't that what fathers do? I had access to fun toys like pastels, paints, colored inks, speedball pens, and opaque projectors. But there was a price to pay when the breadwinner is working in the advertising business in New York City. Many times Dad stayed up all night working in the studio at home to finish an illustration by a deadline. For almost every vacation, my mother had to do all the packing and then the driving because Dad had to finish a project before we went away. Dad's jobs often included human figures because of his talent at drawing them realistically. To help with that effort, he would sometimes use his Polaroid camera to shoot the scene using models to help with shadows, folds of clothing, proportions, etc. Sometimes he and the other artists in New York would "pose" for each other at the studio. Sometimes he would hire models from an agency.

The story I told at the party included my favorite story about my father. In his early days in New York in the late 1940's, he had to do an illustration featuring a beautiful, elegant woman, and asked the agency to provide a model. He could only afford a top model for a half hour, but he split the hour's fee with another artist who also needed a female to model for a love scene.The agency said that they had a young girl just out of high school who was available. Dad asked her if she had an evening dress she could wear at the session, and she brought her high school prom dress. When she showed up, he admired her beauty and finished his part of the hour's photography session. Then the other artist asked Dad to be the male model in the love scene, because he couldn't afford a professional male model. So, happy to oblige, Dad got to do some hugging and smooching with this beautiful young lady.

Are you curious yet? Scroll to the end of this post to find out the identity of the mystery Top Model.

Anyway, after working in the city all day, Dad would often have to come home and do some photography for a job using his own supply of models of all ages. Either my mother would take pictures of him, or he would photograph her and/or one or more of us. The living room would be transformed with backdrop, photo lights, props, and tripod. For this kind of modeling, you did not need a flawless complexion or perfect smile. You just had to stand still, often in some uncomfortable position, for several minutes at a time, with a big smile on your face. All of our childhood albums include strange photos like this one.

My brother Chris and I were included on this shot, which was supposed to be a scene in a cave where we were admiring the stalactites. This was one of the illustrations for a fifth grade science textbook. When we moved to North Carolina from New York, my sister was in the fifth grade, and this was her science book! Her teacher did not believe her when she said that her father had painted all the illustrations, and those were her sister and brothers in the pictures.

The photo at the top of this post is my first "posing" job, with my father rearranging my arms for the shoot. This one was for an ad for Johnson and Johnson baby products.

Here are a few others:

Fifth grade science book again
with my mother...don't remember the product. Something for ironing?with Mom and my brother Tim this time. I think this was for the Kool-Aid national art competition, for which my father won First Prize and got some big bucks.

I have no idea why I was required to pose with bow and arrow...but I was about sixteen, and here is the artwork that my father magically created from this skinny daughter. It is framed along with another illustration.

Wow, I was skinny!
This was probably the easiest modeling job ever...sitting with a Readers' Digest Condensed Book in my hands.

Could that photo have evolved into this drawing??? This one was for an insert in the power company's monthly bill. The hammock gig was not too bad, either...
As Chris and I got older, we became the models for most of the adult figures, thus relieving my mother from being the adult female model . My father could just shoot the pictures instead of also having to pose. Here is some sort of suntan lotion ad, I guess.

Ah, the happy family...with baby doll and little girl from across the street who helped out. We did have a shortage of little girls in the family, but plenty of little boys.

Happily doing laundry...this is the apron I made in sixth grade Home Ec. I still have it!

One of my father's big clients in North Carolina was the Hanes Company. We did LOTS of photo shoots for a sweatshirt catalog.
Thanks for taking a trip back in time with me.

And now for the reveal...

The lovely young model was none other than Grace Kelly, who went on to become a famous leading lady of Hollywood, and then Princess of Monaco. Sure wish we had those photographs!