Back from the Ranch

My sister and I visited our cousin Tracy and her husband John at my cousins' ranch in Wagon Mound, NM this last week. So many wonderful things happened!

We dove deeply into the family scrapbooks from my mom's young life which Mary and I had never seen; we rode in the canyon looking for arrowheads and caves; went on beautiful hikes; had intense discussions about quilting and art (Tracy got me started in quilting in the '70's). We shared a campfire in honor of my uncle, Tracy's dad, who passed away a year ago, and things got good and rowdy....

But most of all this trip demonstrated that when family and friendship merge together, it is just pure unadulterated joy...

Here's a little tour....

The Main House was built in 1800 and has been added onto over the years.

Mary and I had the red guest house all to ourselves which is just a short walk from the Main House...

I had a cozy room, didn't I? While snuggled under the quilts I could hear mountain lions screaming under the stars at night and wild turkeys gobbling in the mornings....

My sister and I were joined by Jag and Swig on our morning walks.

They would follow us back to the barn.

It sure was pretty.....

We all loved Ralph, an orphan calf that Tracy was raising. He followed us around and reminded me of my dairy days...

We spent a lot of time going through old family papers together, but we did talk quilting some.
Tracy bequeathed all her dad's old ties to me, and I got to thinking about how I could use them...

I laid them out on the floor in a very rough fashion with some old fans in two of the corners, just to see how they'd fit in the Vintage CQ...
He wore these ties to all the meetings, dinners, conferences, flights, classes, and broadcasts he made during his career in government, business, education, and television over the decades...I love the idea of my uncle's life being part of this quilt, especially because my aunt is already here with her polka dot scarves and the Bicentennial ribbon. We'll see....

Tracy gave me some of her quilt blocks from when she used them in her work as a professional illustrator back in 1971....you read that right; as a quilter she was way ahead of her time. I'll share those in a future post.

Meanwhile...

Thanks, Tracy...you are the absolute best!