My Stars and Stripes Quilt Finally, Well Wishes and Congratulations to Kylie, and Farewell to Ted Kennedy

I came up with a brilliant idea this morning! So many people were asking to see the Stars and Stripes top, so I finally thought of how to take a pic of it. DUH!!!! Joe would hold it! Why didn't I think of it before? It sort of makes the story about Joe climbing on ladders even funnier. Joe held the quilt for me, and I took the pic, and though it had a few wrinkles, because it is impossible to hold it up completely straight, I am proud to show you the quilt, and Joe's feet of course.LOL

It really did turn out beautifully, and I will be thrilled when it is hanging up! Joe laughed and said that he looked like the Headless Horseman...Yes, you can't see his cute face in the pic, but boy did he do a good job of holding it! Thanks Joe so much!!!!! The light from the back of the window and camera showed up on two points on the border, but you will excuse that I am sure.LOL

Also, a friend of mine named Kylie, whom I introduced to you a while back, is getting married, so if you have the time, send her some well wishes and congratulations at her blog. She is going through a bit of a hard time, but I am thrilled to bits that she is getting married, and I am so happy for her. She is thinking of her mom not being there at her wedding, as she died two years ago, and it got me thinking of my dad. Funny enough, I saw an episode of Beauty and the Beast today, and the story was so much like mine and it did remind me of Kylie also. I do try to just remember the good times that my dad and I had. The best memory was my dad reading the story The Velveteen Rabbit to me. I loved that story, and told Kylie today that I read a portion of that story at his funeral. Here is what I read:

What is REAL?" asked the Rabbit one day, when they were lying side by side near the nursery fender, before Nana came to tidy the room. "Does it mean having things that buzz inside you and a stick-out handle?"
"Real isn't how you are made," said the Skin Horse. "It's a thing that happens to you. When a child loves you for a long, long time, not just to play with, but REALLY loves you, then you become Real."
"Does it hurt?" asked the Rabbit.
"Sometimes," said the Skin Horse, for he was always truthful. "When you are Real you don't mind being hurt."
"Does it happen all at once, like being wound up," he asked, "or bit by bit?"
"It doesn't happen all at once," said the Skin Horse. "You become. It takes a long time. That's why it doesn't happen often to people who break easily, or have sharp edges, or who have to be carefully kept. Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in your joints and very shabby. But these things don't matter at all, because once you are Real you can't be ugly, except to people who don't understand."

I sometimes reread that story, and it is lovely. It has gotten me through many a bad time, and I sent it to Kylie today. Here is the complete story of The Velveteen Rabbit, if you want to read it.

http://www.vtwaterdown.com/velveteenrabbit/Velveteen%20Rabbit%20story.htm

Kylie, congratulations on your wedding, and as I told you today, your mom will be smiling, as I am sure my dad did also when Joe and I got married.

Finally, I heard that Ted Kennedy died, and I was very saddened. I really loved all of the Kennedys, and I was so unhappy to hear it. I remember that I was in my French class the day that John F. Kennedy died, remember how I felt when I heard that Robert Kennedy was assasinated, and it seems that there was always sad news associated with the Kennedy family. Ted Kennedy was a Lion in the Senate, and I am sure that he will be missed greatly.All I can say is "Thank you and goodbye!"