Defender's Day (Coffeyville, KS)

Once a year, Coffeyville reenacts the Dalton Gang's last bank robbery during their Dalton Defenders Day.  The Dalton Gang had been terrorizing the Oklahoma area by robbing trains for over a year and a half when they decided to try robbing two of Coffeyville's banks in broad daylight.  Thanks to quick thinking towns people and a brave bank clerk, the Dalton Gang's terrorizing days ended.  As some of the gang emerged from one bank, they were greeted by the town's people and a hail of bullets.  Three escaped down an alley from the second bank only to be shot down by a barber and a livery stable owner.  

All were killed except for one.  Emmett survived multiple bullet wounds and was released after 14 years in prison to become a Hollywood screen writer.

We did not make it downtown for the reenactments, but we did visit one of the two banks they tried to rob.  Quite a beauty, isn't it?  We took a quick tour of the inside.  The town has done a great job of keeping the bank's original look.

Well, I guess I jinxed our good weather.  A cold front came through and seems to like it here.  We have had heavy rains, very loud thunderstorms, and flash flood watches/warnings.  After spending hours listening to heavy rains drum on the warehouse's roof during our work night, people were beginning to worry about getting home.  There are a few low lying areas between Amazon and our campgrounds.  

We all managed to get home this time, but now I'm worried about the upcoming heavy rains when we are at work.  I always thought it was great to have our house on wheels because if there is a flood....well, we can just move our home, right?  I never thought we would be on the wrong side of the flood with our cats on the other.

Forget Me Knot by Mary Marks

I was quite excited to find a new quilt mystery writer!  The main character is Martha - an overweight middle-aged Jewish divorcee and an expert quilter.  Whew!  Quite a description for one character.  Martha has two good quilting friends that she calls her besties.  I can't see me calling my friends that, but okay a little digressive.

I wasn't too happy that within the first chapter the writer felt a need to add a snide political remark against Republicans plus she insinuated that most of those types were prone to stealing other quilter's tools.  Really??!  I saw no need for such a comment.  I understand that quilters can be competitive and there will always be politics inside quilt guilds and shows, but this was beyond the common quilting ground.   I decided to finish this book since I had it with hopes that was the end of the political comments.

Well, it wasn't the end, but the political comments were not as bad.  I soon learned that one of Martha's besties was not only a Republican, but she and her husband carried licensed hand guns.  Later, Martha is also taught how to handle and shoot a handgun even though she does protest that as a Democrat, she should not have a gun.  Again - Really?

So, did I actually like the book?  Yes, after I got over the remarks and realized that Mary Marks was just giving us a different kind of quilting character.  I found I was enjoying the murder mystery quite a bit.  I learned a few things about Jewish traditions from Martha and her family.  Martha turned out to have a big soft heart for animals.  I think I am more in love with the animals than I am the quilters.  The big twist at the end was not just who did it, but how the victim put messages in her quilts.  Very interesting.

There's a little romance and it was very funny at times.  Yes, I do believe that I will be reading more books by Mary Marks.

On The Cutting Board

My hands are aching so much today from our work week that I need to take a break from hand quilting.  Yet....typing doesn't bother them...go figure.   I'm not sure what I did to them.  Lifted too many little boxes that were too heavy for one hand or maybe I gripped the scanner too tight.  Whatever it was, I plan to be extra careful next week, because I can't grip the needle to pull it through the fabrics and batting.  Yep, a little frustrating.

So, I will stick to doing some light embroidery and resting my hands.  I ironed a couple of more happy campers together.  Hopefully, I will be able to embroider the edges later this week.

Last week, I pulled out the sewing machine to finish the border for my Macaw's welcome wall hanging.  I'm glad I did the basting last week!

Happy Quilting!