5th Annual Ride for the Burn Camp, Oconomowoc, Wisconsin and NEW BOOKMARK

5th Annual Ride for the Burn Camp, Oconomowoc, Wisconsin

One of my Riders Edge Instructors is a retired Racine Firefighter. Tom Mills is a hero in every sense of the word.

I had the pleasure of meeting Tom at my RE courses, after hearing the tale my DH brought home from his RE experiences, 3 weeks earlier.

Tom Mills, upper right

He told me a tale of an event a few years back in his career, when he arrived at the scene of a burning building. There were two children involved, a boy and his sister. He rescued the boy, and was honored for his heroism in the line of duty. When he retired from the Racine Fire Fighters, he was given a plaque by Harley-Davidson to commemorate his services. They commissioned an artist to paint his likeness on the fairing of his bike, a picture of a firefighter, carrying out a young boy from the flames that nearly took his life.
He retired with honors, never thinking he'd come face-to-face with that part of his career again. Until years later.

Tom is a veteran Harley rider, over 50 years under his belt. He had attended hundreds of events, and one in particular won honorable mention.
He was to appear at a Burn Camp in upper WI, to give motorcycle rides to burn victims, as part of a charity event. When he rode up to the camp, he was approached by a young man. The youth and his mother approached Tom, and the boy asked him, "Are you Tom?", to which Tom replied "Yes!" The boy asked him, " do you live at ***** Dr. in Racine?" Puzzled, Tom replied, "why, yes, but how do you know that?"
The boy said, "You probably don't remember me, but I'm the boy you carried out of the fire, the one who's picture is painted on your bike."

 After Mike completed his Riders Edge course, he gifted an antique firefighter's axe to Tom. We had no idea how old it was, or where it came from, only that it was given to Mike's dad a few years earlier, where it sat in the corner by the back door of our garage. Tom accepted the axe, and later told me how he had researched the axe's origins and maker's marks. He found out it came from a fire station on Halstead Ave. in Chicago, and was one that would have been attached to the inside of the cab of a fire truck, behind the Captain's seat. He even knew what company made the screws that held the axe head to the handle.
He proudly told us that he hung it in a room in his house that housed many memorabilia, and we were so happy to know it found it's home, exactly where it belonged, in the home of a TRUE HERO~

We are honored to have crossed paths with this great fellow, and hope to see him again soon, when we  reunite with our new Family at Kutter Harley-Davidson, for next Spring's events.

I finished another crochet bookmark today. I did this one in variegated purples, it just reminded me of petunia colors. This one is very pretty, and was easy-peasy. I especially like it's Victoriana old-style charm. There will be many more variations made from this pattern, I'm sure!

Petunia Bookmark

by Alyce Cakalic

from Leisure Arts #75069, Reader's Choice Bookmarks

More Bookmarks to Crochet

Finished this one today, it was a joy to make. 

Birdhouse Bookmark

by Pat Gibbons

from Leisure Arts #75069, Reader's Choice Bookmarks

My other two bookmarks, the Sunflower and the Butterfly, got featured photo requests today! I'm working on the Petunia by Alyce Cakalic, next. Nobody has done one of those, so mine may be the first.  They are fun and work up fast, I hope to have several done by the time the Holidays roll around.

Bookmarks To Crochet

Finished this today, another easy-peasy little gift idea that will wind up in someone's Christmas card, for sure!

 Butterfly Bookmark by Patty Kowaleski

The leaves are falling fast. I missed being able to go outside and work in the yard, still getting caught up on work from the week. I did bring the hummingbird feeder in. I will miss the little Hummers~

Tomorrow, I will bake Biscotti, then later in the evening,  we'll watch Dexter, Season 1, Disk 3. The break is going to be welcome~

99 Little Doilies- Definitely not enough time in the Day!!

I just received my copy of 99 Little Doilies By Patricia Kristoffersen, and I'm positively in awe of all the cute designs!
This paperback book has 144 pages of patterns, color photos, and illustrations with comprehensive instructions for various unique stitch techniques, including: working in front, around or behind a stitch, free loops, working in center 3 loops of a stitch,  working in 2 legs of a stitch.







I also got this new book the other day:

Reader's Choice Bookmarks by Leisure Arts #75069

and finished this cute Sunflower Bookmark, from the front cover:

Sunflower Bookmark

I've been crocheting for over 40 years, having first learned the basic stitches at age 10. I can thank my Mentor, Ethel Harvey, for inspiring me to crochet. I used to go over to her house as a child, on those long summer days and spent many hours under her care and guidance. My mother was very grateful to have Ethel as someone I looked up to, I'm sure. It kept me out of trouble and very busy when school was out. I can thank Ethel for my green thumb, my love of antiques, and also my collection of assorted greenhouse-variety cacti. I remember her house, a single-level bungalow on the end of a cul-de-sac. There, she tended nearly a half-acre of all manner of roses, trees, shrubs, vines and perennials. I even remember a Pitcher Plant by her front steps. The thing smelled rotten, but she showed me how it would collect rain water and flies would become trapped within it's bloom, to be later ingested by the plant. I remember it looking like this:

Pitcher Plant

Someone who I once considered my best friend- no, my Mentor, once told me I should stick to crochet, in lieu of knitting. I wanted to expand my crafting talents and have had a long-time love of all things knit. In retrospect, I have spent probably a little more time than I should have, contemplating her statement and consequent decision to cut our friendship short, wondering why things happened as they did. I cannot come up with a single reason...so, no, I will not stop knitting, I enjoy it too much. But I will keep crocheting gifts, even though some of those things may hold some sad memories within their intricate knots.

We went for water at the Spring today. to fill a multitude of gallon jugs (old milk cartons) with the natural goodness of artesian well water. It tastes so good, and is so COLD coming out of the pipe. It was originally dug by hand by a farmer over 150 years ago, 60 feet down. Since then, a pipe has been fitted and a concrete base makes it more permanent. Recently, some heathen kids did some graffiti art on the base of the well pipe, a horrid desecration, in my humble opinion. Kids with too much time on their hands, you can never get away from it, even in the country.  
 It was a crisp, sunny 59 F at 5:30 pm, the sun low in the sky, nearly blinded DH. We saw one Whitetail rump disappear into the woods, on our way out. The woods always remind me of childhood memories of Placer County, CA. The twisty windy tree-lined roads,  the deep woods just beyond, the pine needles on the forest floor, whisper of secrets along darkening paths.

It's Friday, Taco Night! I'm hungry, so I'll scoot outta here and come back later with pictures of mine and DH's Riders Edge experiences~you don't want to miss it!