Signs of Oshkosh

Posted on August 2, 2010 by Barb

Just for fun I took some pics of signs while at AirVenture in Oshkosh last week.  Some of the signs I found were pretty interesting and funny!  Thought you might enjoy them too.

 

This is one of my favorite signs to see up close and personal while I’m at Oshkosh.  I can spend some serious time near this sign.

I spent several hours in the building where this sign was located.  I can’t resist this sign at all.  No will power when I see this sign.

And could it really be Oshkosh without this sign?  I think not.

This sign was right outside the tent where I took a basket making class while at the air show.  I’ll have more about that in another post.  It was great fun!

And right after I left the Craft Tent I saw this sign.  Make a basket, then learn to make a propeller!  There apparently is something for everyone.

I bet you thought you knew what this sign meant, didn’t you?  (The wheelchair in the picture is a hint.)  No, it is not Unidentified Flying Object.  That is very wrong.

Apparently UFO has lots of meanings.  This is one I hadn’t quite thought of.

You can get all the information that you need for your day at this sign at the entrance to AirVenture.   This man studied it for a long time.

Nothing too exciting about this sign.

Unless you see it in context with its surroundings.  Do you suppose these people are just having a little picnic?

This one makes my mouth water just looking at it!

And it was located right near this sign.  You didn’t actually fly into the theater….. more like walked in.  Carrying a lawn chair to sit on.  But all the movies had flying scenes in them.  It wouldn’t be Oshkosh unless it was all about airplanes.

I found this sign in the campground right near a motor home and it was one of my favorites.  I especially like the “Have a Nice Day” at the end.

The sign in the window of this airplane is no big deal unless you know airplanes.  Dear Hubby right away said, “Huh?  That’s not a 172.”  (He insisted that my friend, Susan needed to see this sign.)

Of course, you just had to get close enough so you could read the fine print.

I was very happy when I saw this sign.  And I promise there will be another blog post with more pics from here later this week.  Yes, I did go to the quilt show!

This one made me laugh and laugh.  Did they think we were looking for suspicious activity so we could hang out near it?

And the most welcome sign of all in the whole week was this one…….

…… where I spent four hours last Monday using their free wifi.  Writing four separate blog posts for you, my faithful readers!

Signs, signs, everywhere a sign…..
Hugs,
Barb

Posted in airplanes, just stuff | Tagged , , , , | 4 Comments

On the Road Again

Posted on July 30, 2010 by Barb

Just can’t wait to get on the road again (picture musical notes here.)  Doesn’t that just make you want to sing along?
 

This is Boo’s favorite place to ride.  Right on Mom’s lap.  He is terribly cuddly.  And makes it really hard for me to sew while going down the road.  He’s so big, he makes it hard to do anything while going down the road!  But doesn’t he look extra cozy?  He is!

Dear Hubby is the Captain of this Big Rig Motorhome of ours.  And I’m perfectly happy being the passenger/flight attendant.  It’s my job to keep him supplied with water from the fridge and anything else he wants.  Whenever I do not have a cat in my lap.  Which is never.  But I do try to accommodate the Captain most of the time.  And the cat.  It’s a tough job, but somebody has to do it.

And every time I get up, The Cat steals my seat.  I get no respect in this moving house of ours.

But I do fix lunch.  While going down the road.  You’ll just have to trust me that I took these pics while we were moving.  I did.  I really did.  Dear Hubby can vouch for me.  I bet Pioneer Woman hasn’t ever fixed a meal in a moving vehicle before.  And took pics to boot.  And lived to blog about it.  Even though big knives were involved.

These are the fixin’s for lunch!  Chicken salad…. and yes, I chopped those onions in a moving vehicle.  Just for you.  So I could take pictures.  I’m so dedicated. 

Don’t those avocados look yummy?  And while usually I serve chicken salad in a scoop on top of half an avocado, on this particular day I didn’t think Dear Hubby could eat that very easily with a fork.  While driving down the road.  So I just chopped the avocado up and threw it in the chicken salad itself.

Along with relish and red onions and mayo.

And I put it all on bread and made a sandwich instead.

And in the middle of it all, Hubby yelled that there was something I needed a picture of and I grabbed the camera and ran to the window and got this one…..

Apparently quilts are pretty big stuff in Wisconsin too.  And they advertise about them on their barns.

So here was lunch……

Cheetos are Hubby’s favorite traveling food.  And the only time he gets them.  And don’t you like the ingenious dessert in the muffin cup?

Healthy.  Raisins.  And dark chocolate.  For the anti-oxidants and all.  Did I say healthy?

And these are a few of our not-so-favorite things to come upon on the road.

This guy went really, really slow, then stopped, then backed up!  Really slow.  It’s nice to be carrying your own bathroom in these circumstances.  The cars in front of us were not so lucky.

This is our outside thermometer.  And yes, it reads 107.6.  I don’t think it was really that hot.  This must have been while we were stopped for the train.  And the engine was also heating the thermometer.  It was hot, but not that hot.

“It’s hot enough, Mom!  Can’t you turn the a/c down a bit?”  There’s just no pleasing a black cat in the heat of summer.

And these road signs are not our favorite either.  Especially when followed by this one……

We hate it when we are narrowed down to two lanes.  And we saw a lot of these on the way to Oshkosh last week.  Maybe a million of them.  Or maybe it just seemed like it.

We also saw this guy.  I looked to see if Robin Williams was inside.  You can’t appreciate that statement unless you’ve seen the movie “RV.”  Anyone who travels in a Motorhome can appreciate that movie!  Notice the sign on the right.  “Left lane closed ahead.”  Not a favorite either.

But if you have to see those kinds of signs while traveling, I must say it’s best to be in a motorhome!  Bathroom, kitchen and bedroom all in one.  Great way to travel.  I highly recommend it.

Back on the road again,
Barb

Posted in Boo, food, just stuff | Tagged , , , , | 7 Comments

Primitive Gatherings

Posted on July 29, 2010 by Barb

What fun to discover that one of my favorite quilt shops to visit each year at the Houston Quilt Festival is located just 16 miles from Oshkosh where Dear Hubby and I went to the Air Show!  So I forced him into a side trip a few days before the Air Show began – and we were ducking the mud and water anyway (see previous post about Sploshkosh.)
 

All of my friends always visit their booth in Houston too.  Primitive Gatherings has the coolest wool patterns and kits.  And punch needle too.  But mostly GREAT wool stuff!  (A great online shop too if you want to do a search and check them out.)

Aren’t the daisies wonderful?

And there were beautiful hydrangeas too….. right outside the door to….

…. the Man Cave!  Dear Hubby said, “Cool!” and headed inside.  Only to be disappointed that it was only a ploy.  He wished he’d stayed in the car, listening to his audio book instead.  They tricked him!

And once inside a woman met me, saw my camera and politely told me that I couldn’t take any pictures inside at all.  What?  How could I blog about the shop with no pictures to show!  I mean my blog is all about the pics!!!  But I didn’t argue with her.   I just looked around for far too long (in Hubby’s estimation) and tried to take it all in.  And I have a picture of my small purchase – because I needed a souvenir.  And on check out I found out that I also qualified for the free gift of the week!  And I might need to go back and purchase $10 more to get the free gift of the next week too, don’t ya think?  I’ll keep you posted on that one.

And I DO have more pictures for you….. because Primitive Gatherings was featured in the Spring/Summer Quilt Sampler of 2006.  So I bought a copy.  And here are the pics of the pics…. I’m good at this aren’t I?

And this is exactly what it looks like in the shop.  Well, except I didn’t see a Christmas Tree.  But it might have been there!  There was so much to see that I might have missed the tree.

And there are real fireplaces and chairs and beds……

Only this bed probably had a different quilt on it today.

But this wall of wool strips for rug hooking looked just like this down in the basement.  It was a great shop!

I guess you’re just going to have to come to Oshkosh with us next time and see for yourself….. but in the meantime, the pics of the pics weren’t so bad now, were they?

And I took this pic on the fence outside just for my friend Judy.  Cool wooden flag, eh Judy?  I also saw the kit that my friend and lover of wool, Susan, ordered from them on-line just weeks ago and nearly has finished!  Their stuff is so cool, Susan.  You need to visit them in person.  Just one more reason to drag Dear Hubby to Oshkosh one year, don’t ya think?

By the way – they have much more than just wool.  Fabulous cotton – bolts and bolts of it with quilts on the walls.  Hundreds of quilts.  Shall we come back next month?

Happy Quilting,
Barb

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Sploshkosh B’Gosh

Posted on July 28, 2010 by Barb

Can you say rain?  They had tons of it in Oshkosh, Wisconsin this month.  Broke records.  And just in time for the big EAA AirVenture Fly In.  And our arrival.  Can you say mud?  It made the headlines…..
 

And so did we!  This is the AirVenture magazine that they publish each day of AirVenture.  And see that inset picture at the bottom of the front page?  That’s our motorhome in the background.  The third one from the left, right behind where those guys are standing.  And our blue CRV just to the right of our motorhome.  Cool, eh?  Front page news, that’s us!  And here’s an up close of that inset pic…..

And another even closer.  From the inside of the magazine.  We’re world famous.  Or at least the water in the picture is.

See the motorhome that says “Mountain Aire” on the back?  That’s ours.  And I think if you look really close, you can see me looking out the window of the slideout.  But you might have to get out your magnifying glass.  And use your imagination a bit.  But I know I’m in there.  Because the car is there.  And we took the car when we left on that day.  So we’re there.  And so is Boo.  We’re famous.  Cool, isn’t it?

But that’s not all…..

Here’s Monday’s magazine.  See the little picture in the top left?  Right next to our new 2010 AirVenture coffee mug.  And my applique stitching I’ve been working on.  Here.  I’ll show you it up close…..

You guessed it!  We’re in there!  At least our motorhome is.  We are in the 4th row from the left – 3rd motorhome from the top.  See?  World famous two days in a row.  And here’s the pic and article inside the magazine on page 3…

And we are really OK with where we are camping.  Because this is what it looks like in the regular campground….

Lovely mud.  And here’s a playground in downtown Oshkosh…..

A bit messy to swing on those swings or slide down the slide, don’t ya think?

And here’s what happened to one lady who tried to pull her motorhome into a spot on the grass.  Even though they warned everyone not to attempt it.

But maybe you need to see her back right tire…..

Pictures don’t do it justice, but her tire is sunk.

Never fear.  John Deere to the rescue!  And he had her pulled out in no time flat.

Our friend, Jerry, shows how deep the ruts are that she left behind.  He could bury his whole wine glass in the deep ruts.  And that was not a small wine glass either.  Most of the RVs that were in the campground were there before the rains came.  Jerry says he’s staying until he’s sure the ground is hard enough to pull out safely.  We think he might be staying until September.

And John Deere moved on to pull someone else out of the miry muck.  Like this Suburban.  That John Deere has been very busy.

Because this is just a small sample of what the whole campground looks like.  Next Spring the workers will be busy with filling in ruts and smoothing out the ground.  They will have a big job to get ready for AirVenture 2011.

But we are camping on concrete!

We put out our awning and made it all very homey.  Doesn’t Dear Hubby look comfy in that lawn chair?

And this guy came by.

And we headed over to get some along with all our neighbors.

Where you can add as much or as many flavors as you want.  Kona Ice-man assured us that he would be back again the next day.  And the next.  And we heard that Pizza Hut had been through our parking lot with coupons and offers for free delivery to RV’s.  The parking lot is looking better and better all the time.  We’re hanging out with the neighbors who say that the view from the roof of their RV is way better than at the official campground because you look right down the runway.  And the planes take off and land right over us.  We’re making lemonade out of lemons.  Turning adversity into something good.

And the skies over Oshkosh Tower are blue.  Let the Air Show begin!

Sloshing through Oshkosh,
Barb

Update!  We have moved into the campground!  Severe thunderstorms are expected overnight.  Hope we don’t get stuck!  On second thought, that could extend the vacation.  Hmmmmm.

More Oshkosh stories later.  Stay tuned.

Our new digs….. we love the tree.  Nice shade.  Great neighbors.  Fun time.

Posted in airplanes, just stuff | Tagged , , , | 8 Comments

A Fly on the Wall Part 2

Posted on July 27, 2010 by Barb

Back again.  Me…. the Fly on the Wall…..

 

Thought you might be ready for some Show ‘n Tell!

Let’s start with Sue O, because apparently she had time to do a lot of sewing since the last time we saw her. 

Inspired by Lynn’s fish at retreat, Sue made this cute quilt.  Those fish are really jumping out of the water, aren’t they?

And this is Sue’s Baltimore Basket for her fabulous Baltimore Album quilt that she’s making with the Applique Society group this year.  You’ll have to ask all of them about those quilts – they are going to be wonderful!  You can ask Peggy or Nancy or Sue or Sally- did I forget any JSSers?

Love this Hunter Star quilt, Sue!  And I think this one is dedicated to Boo – see the black cats in the border?  Cute.

And here’s a little up close of the quilting.  Nice.

Sue also enjoyed sitting on the pew at Gloria’s house.  I believe sitting on a pew causes one to raise their hands to the Lord!  Apparently that’s what happened with Sue anyway.

By the way, don’t ask about the upside down basket OR the coffee cake that was in it.  Just eat it and don’t ask questions.  At least that’s what I heard someone say.

Betty made a PieceKeepers quilt, but of course, in true Betty style, she had to make it bigger.  Good job, Betty!   (Someone please read the blog to her.  How does she live without internet?  Probably that’s why she gets all those quilts completed.  Duh, Barb!)

Madelyn had lots of quilts to show too….. here’s one.  You’ll have to ask her about the story behind this one, but I sure love the colors.

And this one.  Good job, Madelyn!

She also brought her hat boxes to show.  Very cool quilting by Susan Corbett.

Here’s an up close of that quilting for ya.  Great fabric choices too, Madelyn!

Jill showed these cute polka dot dresses.  Aren’t they just the cutest?

And Jill also had this cute little notions bag.  She might have to share that pattern with us all.  Nice gift idea!

Isn’t Karen cute in this picture I found?  How old were you there, Karen?  I think I see Kristell in there.

And speaking of Kristell…..

Karen also showed this cute little hankie hat (Sue holding) that she gave to Kristell at her bridal shower recently.  I was there (not as a fly either) so I experienced the tears as Kristell opened this gift from her Mom and tried to read the card.  Sister Jackie had to read it for her as the whole room (Sue H and Karen were first) had tears!  Kristell’s instructions were to pass this hat on to her daughter one day as she was getting married.  What a treasure!  I just wondered why they didn’t save that gift for last at the shower.  We all had to compose ourselves for muffin pans and sheets and towels that came after! 

Karen also showed her quilt using her Quilter’s Dream Blocks of the Month.  What a great quilt!  And since she only used 6 blocks, she got 2 quilts out of that program.  Good job, Karen!

Judy R showed this cute Colorado themed quilt.  Doesn’t it just fit in a cabin setting?  Judy is all excited about her new condo in Pagosa Springs.  I think I need a trip there so I can blog about it, don’t you?

And she had this great black/white/red quilt that is going in the condo, I think.  By the way…..

Judy would be mute if you held her hands behind her back.  Such an animated girl she is!

But she’s not the only one!  See how Nancy is using her hands for emphasis as she and Tracie pose for the picture?  I understand this issue perfectly.  Hands are required tools for talking, in my estimation.

Suz showed this cool quilt that I hadn’t seen before.  Where ya been hiding this one Suz?  She’s calling it “Moondance.”

Madelyn’s Mom, Shirley, brought her knitting along.  It’s nice to keep our hands busy with crafts, isn’t it?  I like knitting too, Shirley!

And how did Pam have time to finish this cool “It’s OK Sampler” quilt?  Didn’t we just take that class yesterday?  It’s really beautiful, Pam!  Did you get the border on sale at QD?  Or did you still have that much in your stash?

Pam also gave iPad lessons.  If you need help with your computers, Pam’s your girl!

Peggy had a great little quilt to show.  Cute!

And I close with this cute picture of Gloria and her family – Karen and her sisters with Dad too.  What a great looking group!

Hope you enjoyed this recap of the JSS day recently.  Wonderful Show ‘n Tell and wonderful food.  As usual.  Wouldn’t be JSS without those two things!  And great friends.  Most important of all….. fabulous friends!

Hugs,
The Fly
P.S.  Special thanks to Suzanne who provided me with all these great pics so I could share the day with you on the blog!  We’re pretty sneaky, aren’t we?

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