Winter in Cedar City

[Family and Friends Friday]


Winter in Cedar City could probably be summed up in one word: cold. But that sounds pretty harsh. It is cold, but it’s also sunny and unbelievably beautiful with snow on the surrounding mountains. The sunrises and sunsets are pretty awesome.

It’s true we do enjoy our shopping trips south to Costco in St. George, UT. What a difference 45 minutes south and 2500 ft. lower in elevation can make in the temperatures.

We’ve found that if you have the right clothing the cold doesn’t bother a person as much, and staying in the sunshine helps. Cedar City hasn’t really gotten that much snow this season and what it has gotten usually has melted before too long. In the surrounding mountain that is another story, the skiing at nearby Brian Head Mt. has been pretty good this year with 62 inches of snow.


Our largest snowfall, about 8-10 inches, arrived over Thanksgiving weekend. Of course Bob and I were spending the holiday with our grandchildren in Las Vegas where it was a bit warmer. On Sunday we were fine driving home north on Interstate 15 until we were about 15 miles south of our turnoff. We were on Black Ridge where the elevation increased and the rain changed to snow and we hit fog. Needless to say, the last leg of the trip was a white knuckle ride. The traffic slowed to stop and go in both lanes, and we saw 3 cars and a semi in the ditch. There was ice on the highway under the snow and it was slippery, as the people in the ditch could tell you. Once we got off at our exit, we were able to breath easier and travel better. When we got home we learned that the Interstate conditions were like that all the way north to Salt Lake City, normally a 3 ½ to 4 hour drive. Who knows how long it took those people driving in blizzard conditions. And guess what? Monday was a beautiful, sunny day! It was just a great day to shovel out your driveway,

That following week it was sunny almost all week and by the weekend the snow was almost all gone! We had a brown Christmas Eve, but it did snow over the holidays, just a few inches. However it’s been so cold that the snow has been slow to melt and it’s been rather pretty. I’ve decided I’d rather have a snow covering than all that brown ground.


We spent about 4 days at Christmas with Carlee’s family in Salt Lake City. How the red headed rascals have grown. Jack is 7 and Katie Jane is now 4. We spent a day in Cedar City to recharge and then spent 5 days in Henderson with Dustin’s family, helping them move over New Year’s. Their blondes are growing like weeds too. Paige will be 3 in February, and Jordan will be 1 in March.





Back in Cedar City to start 2011, we’re back doing volunteer work. I’m the Toy Lady at the Catholic Thrift Shoppe, and Bob is the Dishwasher one day a week at the Senior Center. Bob has joined a rock hound group that goes out on field trips once a month searching out interesting rocks in the area. While I’m searching out other weavers in the area so I have someone to talk fibers with. So far I’ve found about 5 other weavers. Now we’re going to work on getting together.

Back From the North Country

New Year’s has come and gone. The Christmas music is finally silent, I think this is the first year I really got sick of hearing it. Of course, part of the reason might be that they started playing it before Thanksgiving. We took down the Christmas tree Sunday so that really ends the season for us with Epiphany.

We traveled to Salt Lake City on Saturday after Christmas to help our daughter Carlee and family unpack boxes and get settled in their new house. Really it was to give everyone a break from the moving. Tom took Jack skiing on the day we drove up. Later Carlee and I would hit some of the sales and exchange some Christmas gifts. You know, do what we women love to do when the men have the kids, shop!

One day after getting the china cabinet and laundry room in order, Bob and I were able to escape for lunch and wander around Barnes and Nobles Book Store. The kids were in daycare, Carlee was in So. California on business and Tom was at work. So everyone had some time for work and play.

There was plenty of snow and ice in Utah. The solid snow ground cover and cold weather started just south of Cedar City and continued all the way north on our trip. We stopped at our house in Cedar City and everything had a light covering of snow as you can see in the photos. We were thankful the roads were clear and dry all the way until we got to the city streets. I was a bit nervous driving on the snow, it’s been quite a while since my Wisconsin snow driving days. So while Bob drove I knit on a scarf for Katie Jane.

We had second Christmas after our arrival as you can see from the Spider man costume. No, I did not make it. Carlee came through with a nice gift certificate for me to Three Wishes, a weaving and knitting shop in West Jordan. You can believe that got spend before we headed home. Kristine has some beautiful yarns at Three Wishes.


The kids’ new house has a strange cubby hole in the bathroom off the rec room. It’s about 4 cubic feet, carpeted, and has its own light and door. Jack likes to go in and watch movies on his DVD player. One afternoon Jack shared his cubby hole with Bob and they watched that riveting classic movie, “Transformers”. Jack had to explain all the characters to Bob. The picture of the two of them in their cubby is actually kind of cute. Katie Jane had been sitting in Bob’s lap, but she never stays in one place too long, and didn’t get in the picture.


We left SLC on New Year’s Eve day on a bright, cold day. While it was in the low 30’s in SLC, when we drove by the Scipio exit at 10:30 AM it was 15 degrees outside. The scenery was absolutely beautiful. Everything, trees, brushes, grasses, was covered in frost. It looked like a scene from “Dr. Zhivago”.

By the time we got to Cedar City the temperature was in the low 40s and we found activity at our house. The construction crew was framing the rooms in the basement in their tee shirts while Carl was in the small Cat digging out snow next to the basement walls. It was exciting to finally see the layout of the rooms in the basement. The two bedrooms seemed small, sigh, but the sewing/weaving room and family room seemed pretty good sized, yeah! What I had done with the floor plan was take the total length of the first bedroom and adjoining family room and move the bedroom wall to make the two rooms about the same width. Oh yes! While not huge the craft room will definitely be bigger than the room I use presently. I’ll probably fill that room up to the rafters too.

The Lace Weaving Workshop - Part 1

While the trip to SLC was to celebrate our grandson Jack’s 5th birthday, I was really there to attend a three day workshop presented by the Mary M. Atwater Weavers’ Guild in Salt Lake City. I had joined the guild last year so that I could attend the Utah State Weavers’ Conference in April, mainly handled by the SLC guild. As part of the Conference, Daryl Lancaster, a well known weaver and clothing instructor was a featured lecturer and workshop instructor, pictured above.


Daryl had been an instructor at IWC (Intermountain Weavers’ Conference) in August, 2007, where Jan a member of the LV guild had been a participant of her workshop and highly recommended Daryl as an instructor. When I found that Daryl was going to be holding a workshop in this part of the country, I found that only way I could attend the state convention would be as a member of a Utah guild. Since my daughter lives in SLC that could solve the accommodation problem. So after find the SLC guild’s website I was able to join the guild without a problem. I found, once I received a membership roster, that the guild has members statewide, so it wasn’t unusual to a member living outside Salt Lake City.


The state conference was a great learning experience with Daryl Lancaster’s pre-conference workshop and the other shorter conference workshops. I enjoyed meeting new acquaintances with similar interests, and felt very welcomed by the group. It was such a good experience that I decided to renew my membership in the guild for this year. Even though I can’t attend many meetings, they offer opportunities for interesting workshops. If I plan ahead carefully I can participate in the workshops.

The SLC guild offered a terrific basketry workshop in Sept. that I was unable to attend. The irony was I was in SLC when the workshop took place, but Bob and I were babysitting Jack and Katie Jane white their parents were taking a long weekend in NYC. I did see some of baskets from the workshop and they were great, modernistic rather than traditional. Definitely one of a kind. Kristine the owner of the weaving/knitting store,Three Wishes, 7130 Redwood Rd. West Jordan, UT, 84084, showed me her baskets.


When the mailing came announcing the opportunity for a 3 day lace weaving workshop I really got excited. Here was a workshop I could participate in. In August I had had to cancel my spot in a freeform embroidery sewing class taught by a national instructor that I had signed up for in April! I had no one to blame but myself as it was the same weekend as Katie Jane’s birthday, something that didn’t dawn on me in April. Luckily I didn’t have to pay a penalty for canceling as there was a waiting list for the classes I had to miss. I was really disappointed though.


Then it occurred to me that the lace weaving workshop was going to be the same weekend as Jack’s birthday. I was going to be 3 for 3, three misses on three workshops with trips to SLC. However, hubby Bob did come through and the workshop was on with Grandpa Bobby as our bowling team leader.

Back in the Saddle Again--Before I Forget How to Ride

Have you ever avoided something because you just knew it was going to take forever to get it done? But, by putting it off you just make it worse? That’s me. I think I should form a Procrastinators Anonymous of America group. PAA -- that sounds just about right, doesn’t it. Like a tire going flat. paaaaaa. This is my story…

I planned to take a week off my blog to attend a lace weaving workshop in Salt Lake City, well, it’s turned into more like two. The workshop was put on by the Mary M. Atwater Weaver’s Guild on Saturday, Sunday, and Monday, October 25-27. That overlapped with our grandson’s fifth birthday party on Saturday in SLC, which was a nice fit with our schedule. We also planned to stop in Cedar City to check on the progress of the digging of the new basement. The SLC guild was holding their meeting in Provo Thursday night with Madelyn van der Hoogt, the editor of Handwoven, as the guest speaker. So I was hoping that we would be able to arrange our trip to fit that date in too.

On Thursday morning of the 23, my husband Bob, our dog Mac and I headed north in a packed car with suitcases, a small cooler, a warped table loom, folded loom stand, and a sack of birthday presents for the 6+ hr. drive. (More about our time in Utah in up coming posts.)

When I’m away I usually check my email and stay current, but this trip I didn’t with the excitement of family and the workshop. (Mistake #1) When I returned home to Las Vegas on Tuesday the 28th after another 6+ hr. drive, I tried to get ready for a machine embroidery class. I had just purchased the unit to go with my Bernina 440 sewing machine the Wednesday before the lace workshop, and the mastery lessons started on the 29th. Tight planning. I had to work the next day and had to load some software on a new to me laptop, and, of course, I ran into problems. Finally at 11:30 PM I decided I would have to cancel out of the class sessions and wait for the next round of session in January. Superwoman I’m not! I had already glanced at my email and saw that the messages totaled 127, and I passed on cutting the total down. (Mistake #2)

After work on Wednesday I had to round up some weaving equipment to take to a weaving and spinning demonstration the next day at our neighborhood elementary school. I didn’t work on my email or blog. (Mistake #3)

The school was celebrating Nevada Day, a state holiday observed on Friday, by having a pioneer dress up day on Thursday. During the noon hour recess some of our guild members were going to be out on the play ground spinning and weaving as part of their pioneer days. You can see us in the above photo.



Friday, the 31st, I babysat my granddaughter, Paige, to give my son an Art break in the morning and I went shopping at Quiltique in the afternoon as they were having a nice sale as part of their Grand Reopening from a huge remodel. 30% off of quilting yardage is great just before the holidays. Trick or treaters were out that night, and it was so warm that we had a small get together with neighbors out in the street while the little ghosts and goblins came around. This is a picture of Paige, our granddaughter in her first Halloween costume. Another day of avoidance of the computer. (Mistake #4)


Shopping and UNLV football game on Saturday. Poor UNLV, another loss, TCU was really good. By bedtime no blog and no email dealt with…on Sunday night when I finally opened my email there were 190 messages. Yuck. Today I finally got the totals down to single digits. Not a pretty story. Time to get in the saddle again.