Goodbye 2008

I would love to end this year with a happy, forward-looking post or a review of all the good things that happened for the Crane family - we have been greatly blessed with health and success - but I can't. Above is my last 6" quilt of the year. The central image is a photo of a drawing I did in my sketchbook Monday while I was waiting to pick up the girls from basketball.

They didn't have a regular practice Monday; they had a team meeting. With counselors.

Saturday night, two of their teammates, Jessica and Destiny, were involved in a car accident. Both girls are in the hospital in critical condition with extremely serious injuries. This accident took the lives of Destiny's sister Alex and the driver, Cameron. My girls know all four of these kids. My husband was Jessica's first softball coach. Destiny and Alex were one of 5 sets of back-to-back siblings from Parkview School:
Whitley and Courtney
Ian and Evan
JR and Charnelle
Logan and Nick
Destiny and Alex
All Sophomores and Freshman this year

If you would like to read the local paper's coverage of this horrible accident:
http://www.tmnews.com/stories/2008/12/29/news.nw-568520.tms

Please pray for Destiny and Jessica. Cameron was laid to rest today. We will say goodbye to Alex on Saturday.

We will remember you:
Devon Hensley - Whitley's classmate who passed suddenly in April, age 15
Elena Veach - Courtney's soccer coach - left a husband and two very small children
Larry Salmon - JR's uncle - we missed you at Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner
Henry Wong - Sarah's husband, Ashley and Alex's dad, our dear friend - I think of you every day
Bruce Hewetson - friend, customer at the store, all around nice guy
Charlie Boone - friend, customer, always wanted to shoot the breeze when he came in the store
Cameron Wright - too young
Alex Chastain - rest in peace, little sister

More Red Shoes

All from Anthropologie.

BOOK SIGNING!!!

At Borders in Bloomington from 7:00 - 9:00pm this Friday, December 19. Sorry, it's just me, no Cheryl. Please come. I want my mom to have somebody to talk to. I will be giving away a little handmade gift with every copy of Mixed Mania purchased that evening.



We had a weather-related school cancellation today, so I spent some time shoe-shopping on the computer. I found a couple of pairs I liked, but didn't buy anything. After spending my whole life avoiding any kind of heel, I have the sudden urge to wear them. I have a couple of pairs of tall wedges that send my 5'8"+ frame perilously close to gianthood and I LOVE these:

Christmas Time Is Here

That's my favorite Christmas music - Vince Guaraldi Trio's version, please. I think it captures the brightness and touch of melancholy this season brings perfectly. Here is a clay ornament my first graders are painting this week. We carved the little houses into clay about a month ago. They have been fired and all of them survived. Thank goodness. But don't worry... I always make extras in case one breaks. I do lots of demos in art class, with my students gathered around my work table. The first graders carry on whole conversations about me during the demo, like I can't hear them. They say things like:

How does she paint so good?

She's so good cause she's been doin this for like 10 years.

Do you think she's a real artist?

Miss Crane is lucky cause she gets to do art all day.

They're so cute and sincere!