Coral & Grey Quiltlet and Vacation

Over the past week or so some have come from Wendy's blog, The Constant Quilter, to see if I've posted a little quilt for September.  I'm late (very late), but here it is.  I finished it on the last day of September, the day we drove home from the ocean, but didn't get it washed, dried, and photographed till this week.

I love those crinkles and I think this close-up photo gives the best view of the colors.  If you haven't been to Wendy's blog yet, I recommend you visit.  She's been ill for several months but she still hosts the miniature link-up and makes a tiny quilt, herself.  

This quilt finishes at about 11¾" x 14¾".   The batting is a piece of thin cloth from who knows where.  I didn't want the quilt to be too thick or stiff because there's already a double layer of fabric in the top itself if I include the seam allowances on the back.

Vacation, Such as It Was.
Sometimes vacations don't go quite as planned or imagined, and this was one that definitely did not.  I told my daughter I thought we should be able to have a do-over.

When we arrived at Dewey Beach, Delaware, on Monday evening, the ocean looked like this.   Beautiful!

On Tuesday, we awoke to clear skies and gentle waves.  Our hotel room faced the ocean so even when we weren't on the beach we could see it.  It was wonderful to have the constant view.

This is the third time we've gone to the hotel where we stayed and we've liked it well enough to return, but maybe not again.  After spending the morning and part of the afternoon on the beach, we left to visit a few shops.  We came back, returned to the beach till sunset, then went back up to the room to collect our things to go back out for dinner.  I came down the steps at the hotel and walked across their low deck toward the room with ice.  I stepped off that little deck not seeing that it was a step down, and tumbled.  Probably a tumble of slapstick quality, if truth be told.  I was able to get up with help, but unable to stand because of the pain.  I sat for a few minutes, my daughter brought her walking sticks, and we continued to the car.  But the pain!  (Some of you are probably shaking your heads....  But I couldn't have made it back up the stairs just then.)

On Wednesday, we took the Lewes/Cape May Ferry to Cape May, New Jersey, only because we'd already reserved spaces for ourselves and the car.  The weather was cooler and breezier than Monday or Tuesday and I was glad to have taken my sweater.  And the walking sticks.  The ocean sparkled.

We didn't have specific plans for Cape May so visited the first attraction we found, the Audubon Nature Center.  They were very welcoming and helpful and gave us directions for other places to visit, including Cape May State Park.  We didn't have binoculars but enjoyed what we saw, including an abundance of Monarch butterflies.

I was especially taken by the shadow of this flower/seed pod on the leaf.  I always think nature is amazing but things like this dazzle me.  I have no idea what plant this is.  Anyone know?

On the return trip from Cape May we were heading west, directly toward Delaware and the sun.  It was the first time I had ever seen an ocean sunset.  Wow!

Thursday brought strong winds—14-20 miles/hour—and boisterous waves.  From our hotel room we could tell it was windy.  See how the grasses are bending?  This is a still shot but they were waving in the wind. 

On the beach it was almost too cold to stay out long.  The sand pelted our legs and the waves rolled in quick succession, one upon the other before the previous had reached the shore.

It was sunny and then it was cloudy.  The ocean fascinates and amazes me.

We planned to go out for dinner around 6:00 or so but went to the beach.  After a while I told my daughter I was going inside.  She stayed out longer.  But not long after I got to the room I started to feel unwell.  My side hurt.  And then it hurt worse.  It reminded me of the pain I had when I had a kidney infection over a year ago.  I sat on the bed, then laid down.  And then I was so hot and in even more pain.  When my daughter returned to the room she insisted we go to the ER.  When we arrived the waiting room was packed and the person at the check-in counter said the wait could be several hours.  But what could I do?  Where else could I go if I had a kidney infection?  After the generosity of a few blankets I eventually fell asleep in the waiting room.  A while later someone came and took me back to a room.  After more warm blankets, an IV, a variety of monitors, pain medication, and a CT scan, I learned that I had a kidney stone.  They released me between 3:00 and 4:00 a.m. with directions to pick up prescriptions the next morning and visit my primary care doctor at home.

After four hours of sleep we left to drive home on Friday morning.  And I awoke on Saturday morning missing the sound of the ocean waves.

What a vacation!  (For those of you who said you wished you were also going to the beach, I'm glad you weren't with me!)

Yesterday I learned that there are/were two kidney stones.  Tomorrow I hope to learn whether I fractured a bone when I fell.

What a vacation!

I hope you had a good week!

--Nancy.