Greensburg Tornado Continued - Number to call for Loved Ones

Today local news is reporting about 90 percent of the small Kansas town of Greensburg of 1800 people is gone. For those of us who are familiar with it, this is very sad. It is a little piece of Americana and much of what made it distinctive is now in rubble. There was an old fashioned drug store, a small cafe, and a small-town tourist attraction - the world's largest hand dug well - that has been welcoming visitors since the thirties. The well is on the west side of town, so we're assuming it has suffered some damage to the building above ground, but I haven't heard yet.

Seven are reported dead and more than 50 injured thus far, but I anticipate that number may grow. There are lots of even smaller towns around this small town and we don't have reports from all of them yet.

I'm about 80 miles away and the old reporter in me wants to jump in the car and go down there. But, I won't. The last thing rescue workers need is people wandering around the scene. In fact, you probably can't wander around the scene - generally towns are secured at their borders when a tornado hits.

Years ago when the Hesston Tornado hit I was doing news and was there just hours after it hit. The aftermath of a tornado is a horrific thing to see. It's mind-boggling the power of nature, but heart-breaking when you consider how that affects real humans and their lives.

The weather forecast for today is calling for a strong potential for developing storms over a large part of the state, including the area that was hard hit last night. They reported thunderstorms are developing now from Dodge City north to Norton - if you are in that area, please pay attention to the weather.

I have some comments and emails from people saying they found this blog through CNN today, so I thought I'd share with you that if you're looking for local coverage, you can find it at www.kwch.com, www.kake.com and www.ksn.com. I will continue to put occasional updates here as well.

If you're trying to reach family, realize that there is no power, gas, etc.- and very little cell phone signal - in Greensburg and other areas that were hit. The injured were mostly taken to Pratt Hospital about 50 miles away, including the 19 people who were in the Greensburg hospital last night.

If you had loved ones at the Carriage House Nursing Home in Greensburg, there were no injuries reported there but residents were evacuated to Augusta, Rose Hill, and Wichita

If you are hunting for family, register at disastersafe.redcross.org. If you want to call about loved ones, try 620-672-3651.

Tornado in Kansas

Greensburg, Kansas has been hit very hard tonight by a tornado. Greensburg is about 80 miles from where I live and famous for the world's largest hand dug well, 109 feet deep and 32 feet in diameter, that served as the city's water supply until 1932. You can walk 105 steps down to the bottom and it's worth the trip.

What we hear at this point is that large parts of the town are simply gone, including everything on the west side of the main street. This includes a nice old drug store.

Houses, the hospital, the school, the grocery store, the Coastal Mart, the Pizza Hut - everything is gone. Patients are being taken to Pratt, where they have only 69 beds. They just reported they now have 50 patients from Greensburg - ranging in condition from good to critical.

Greg, Mia and I have watched storm coverage since about 9 p.m. and it's almost 3 a.m. now, but we're only getting to see photos and videos in the last few minutes. I'm sure there will be much more to show. It's fascinating to watch as an observer, but you can't stop thinking about how people's lives have been dramatically changed in the blink of an eye.

In Hutchinson, where I live, we've just been having wind. It has been nice to have fresh air going through the house, but you hate the reason for it.

I took this photo in my downstairs sunporch of the curtain blowing in the breeze.


Unfortunately, they say conditions are right for more severe weather tomorrow, including a possible tornado.

Tea in Augusta Kansas

Today I got to have tea at the Historical Society's  C.N. James Trading Post in Augusta, Kansas.

The trading post was used as a general store and post office, and upstairs two different churches met and school was held. It was truly a community building.

It was built in 1868 and is wonderfully preserved by the Historical Society of Augusta, Kansas.

The tea is a fundraiser for them and it's worth every penny. In fact, it was a tremendous bargain.

Greg, Mia and I went. She is out for the Hutchinson Art Fair tomorrow.

I have to say that Greg is quite the sport when it comes to such things. He was the only man having tea. There were some other guys there helping out with the tea, but Greg was very pleasant about the whole thing.

A few years ago I was in Savannah with another friend of mine, Jim, and we decided we wanted to go get a little something to drink. I said, "Well, there's a tea room near here but I'm sure you don't want to go there." He said, "Why not?" I said, "Well, it's kind of a girl thing." He said, "So, why would I not want to be surrounded by women?"

We went to tea. The ladies who ran the shop fawned over him constantly since he was the only man there who was there willingly. We got a fabulous seat by the window. They kept bringing him more goodies and more tea. I was somewhat invisible to them as far as I could tell. But, hey, I can play the game. I just had Jim ask for whatever I wanted. It was a wonderful way to spend a couple of hours on a May afternoon in Savannah.

This afternoon in Augusta, we shared the room with a number of other tea goers. They seat about 40 at a time and it's a wonderful, cozy, intimate setting.





One of the great things about this space is there lots of windows. We were seated right by one, which gave us great light on our table and centerpiece.



That's a 1943 recipe for Dill Pickles, in case you're wondering. I love the fact that it was written on a piece of paper that had a postmark - waste not, want not.



If you'd like to make this recipe, you can click here for a larger version so you can read it.

One of the cool things about going to tea is meeting other tea-goers. Today was no exception - we met Carol Bates, who was perfectly lovely. There were two other places set at our table but those folks didn't show up. They really missed out.

Carol was delightful. We really enjoyed getting to meet her. She was teasing us, just like we were teasing each other.

She was infatuated with yet another recipe that was part of the centerpiece. It was rather interesting that no matter where you were seated, you had a pretty view of something. Greg and I were opposite each other and both taking photos so we got some different views. I didn't even realize until I looked at the pictures tonight that the pot in the centerpiece had a decoration on it from Greg's viewpoint.





Mia and I had wonderful seats, right by the window.



And outside the window was a lovely view, too.



They ask your name when you make reservations and have wonderful little name tags at each place so your seat is assigned. I couldn't have been happier with my spot. The tags are held in perfect little teapot shaped place card holdesr and done by hand by the director, Diana.



These little dolls hold a teabag and are fitted with a magnet so you can put them on your fridge as a little reminder of the day.



Greg, of course, could not resist having some fun with the little doll...



He was amusing his girlfriend, Mia...



and Carol...



I was busy taking photos, of course.

After tea, I couldn't resist snapping this photo of Greg's shirt pocket with the favors we got to take away poking up out of his pocket.

This is a lovely, lovely place for a tea. It's rustic and charming and cozy and intimate.

If you happen to live anywhere nearby, mark your calendars for next year. It's held the first Friday and Saturday in May each year, two seatings each day. They do a great job and I assure you you will not go away hungry.

They do a buffet style, which, as you know, is not my favorite way to do tea. However, because there are fewer people at each seating than at any other tea I've been to, the line moves quickly.

I always prefer tea to be served in one fashion or another, but this is a minor inconvenience. And, on the plus side, there was far more than you would want to eat. My usual pattern is "one of everything" and that was a heaping plate today and I could not possibly eat it all. They then brought around trays with extra goodies on them so I got to have three cucumber sandwiches. And I enjoyed each one, let me tell you!



Kudos to Diana, the director, and the volunteers who helped make this possible. It was fabulous.



You'll have some time before and after tea to look around the museum and there are some fun things there, too.

One last photo of the day - I loved this portrait of Greg in one of his "normal" poses. He often holds his camera this way and I loved capturing this moment. You gotta love a guy who happily goes to tea.

Wally Schirra

Wally Schirra died today at age 84. He was one of the original Mercury 7 astronauts - those with the "right stuff." Schirra died in California.

"With the passing of Wally Schirra, we at NASA note with sorrow the loss of yet another of the pioneers of human space flight," said NASA Administrator Michael Griffin in a statement. "We who have inherited the space program will always be in his debt."

Schirra was the only astronaut to fly on Mercury, Gemini and Apollo flights. He orbited Earth six times in an October 1962 Mercury flight, making him the third man in space.

Schirra never got to the moon, but his command of the Apollo 7 mission in October 1968 paved the way for the subsequent moon missions.

Astronauts are something of a "dime a dozen" where I live. The Kansas Cosmosphere and Space Center in Hutchinson attracts them to the area on a regular basis. But I've always had a soft spot for Wally Schirra.

Many years ago when I was a young TV reporter in Lexington, Kentucky I got to interview him - ever so briefly. His flight had been delayed and he was late for a speech, but he took a few minutes to speak with us in a parking lot and was pleasant, charming and witty. I was too young and foolish to fully appreciate the greatness of the man in front of me, but even I knew it was a moment I would savor in retrospect. And I have - many times.

Schirra once wrote, "We shared a common dream to test the limits of man's imagination and daring. Those early pioneering flights of Mercury, the performances of Gemini and the trips to the moon established us once and for all as what I like to call a spacefaring nation. Like England, Spain and Portugal crossing the seas in search of their nations' greatness, so we reached for the skies and ennobled our nation."

Condolences to his friends and family.

Kitchen News

While I was away, my flower bed went crazy with growth. My dianthus, affectionately known as "pinks" where I'm from, are just beautiful. Last year when they were down to a quarter a bunch at the end of the season I bought a couple more plants and stuck them in. Both of them have really taken off.

Of course, as you know, I am infatuated with having flowers in the house. I bring greenery in when I don't have blooms. And all my little vases I've been buying are now filled with sprigs on the shelf in the kitchen.



Part of me wants to be one of those people who does things in a minimal way, but I'm just not. I guess you can tell from the dozen plus vases, multiple teapots, French candy mold and Avebury, England postcard crowded together on the two foot long shelf. I like the look of greenery and little pink flowers on vases and knick knacks that remind me of special moments and the little jar to hold rings that belonged to my mother. I am a person driven by the things that trigger memories and I doubt that's going to change.

In other kitchen news... Greg brought me a wonderful surprise tonight. Sixty-four pieces of Taylor, Smith and Taylor Boutonniere dishes in the Ever Yours Shape. OK, truth be told, I really don't have a clue what all that means - I just looked at the bottom of the plate and then looked it up online. I just know it's pretty. I've been watching it for awhile and told Greg when it went half price to just buy it and I'd repay him. He's such a dedicated shopper when someone is on the hunt for something. Ya gotta love that about him.

This set has been at the local goodwill for more than a month. We've been speculating that it would go down in price. Finally, today, it did - right at closing time - and Greg was there to check on it and bought it for me. It was a great deal. It was a good deal before but it was a great deal today.

I will need to add some more pieces to it to complete the set, but there are a lot of dinner plates, saucers and cups. There are also some of the unusual pieces, including the salt and pepper shakers. I will put a photo on soon, but it's in the dishwasher at the moment.

Yeah, I know all about the evil ways of dishwashers. But I want to use this and I won't if I can't put it in the dishwasher. Besides, it's called "ovenware" - surely it can handle the light cycle in the dishwasher.

The creamer, shown here, wouldn't fit in the dishwasher so I snapped a photo of it. I love the fact that the inside is that beautiful robin's egg blue. It's almost enough to make me want to paint my kitchen that blue. But, hey, lets not go crazy.

Although I'm tired of this story, I still cannot talk. I'm sure there is a lesson in this for me. I am hoping I feel and sound better tomorrow.

Rainy Days and Tuesdays

The rain started here tonight and is supposed to continue for awhile. I don't really mind. We've had a lot of rain lately - my flowers are looking great in the front of th e  house.

The rain has made mowing difficult. While I was in Kentucky, someone mowed my yard for me. My guess is it was my next door neighbors, Bob and Ruth. They are fabulous neighbors. I haven't gone over to ask them because I can still barely talk, and if this is contagious I don't want to give it to them either.

I feel much better today and my voice is better, but it's still a struggle to speak for any amount of time. I don't know where I got this from, but I will be glad to be done with it. No one even recognizes me when I answer the phone. I'm about halfway between a whisper and "low talking" today - I could not manage a long distance phone call now with anything less than perfect signal. I have a list of calls I've been waiting to make because I can't talk loud enough for people to hear me on the phone without lots of repeating, which just wears me out - taking all the breath I do have.

Not being able to talk is really weirding me out, but there's nothing I can do about it. I have a meeting in the morning at 7. It's a good thing I'm not supposed to speak at it.

Thank goodness I don't feel as bad as I sound.

Best of Show in AQS 2007 Quilt Show in Paducah Kentucky

Sharon Schamber of Payson, Arizona, won Best of Show at the 2007 AQS Quilt Show in Paducah, Kentucky. There were 729 quilts entered, and 411 chosen for display.

Her quilt is called "Flower of Life."She won $20,000 from Hancock's Fabrics of Paducah and gave the quilt to the Museum of the American Quilter's Society (MAQS) in Paducah. It will join her entry from last year, which also won Best of Show.

I was lucky enough to get to interview Sharon, and her husband, Gene, on Saturday, April 28, the last day of the 2007 show.

If you'd like to see a larger photo, click here.

It was just as beautiful from the back.

If you'd like to see a larger photo, click here.


Sharon has 1000 hours in the quilting alone. And the quilting is where she starts the design process. She said she sketches out the quilting in complete detail first, and works back from that point. It's all drawn out, then she makes the other things fit the design she wants on the quilting. As she summed it up, "the quilting cannot be manipulated," so it has to be decided first and everything else works from there.



When I first noticed this pattern above the flowers here it struck me that it looked like stained glass windows in a cathedral. Just as I was thinking that, I heard Sharon answer a question someone had asked by saying, "This quilt is more of a spirit thing.. It's a cathedral." She told us that this piece was really from her heart.

Asked where she gets her ideas, Sharon answered in a way I've heard from many creative people, "Ideas really appear. They come from other sources," she said. She concluded by saying, "Creativity is a flow." She says she doesn't look at quilts at shows because she doesn't want to use other people's ideas unwittingly.

She had many, many questions about the unusual binding on this quilt. It is sewn on the bias, with cording, then knotted and attached. Her husband told me she will be putting information on this binding at her website, www.sharonschamber.com. She spent 45 hours making the binding alone.





If you are noticing the subtle gradations in color, and thinking it would be impossible to find that in your local store, it was impossible for her, too. That's why all the fabric in this piece is hand-dyed by Sharon, herself.

You may wonder how Sharon has the time to devote to such pursuits and still maintain a household. Well, she "does nothing domestic," she says. That falls to her husband, Gene, who does all the cooking, cleaning and other household chores while she focuses on quilting. He was a real charmer and is obviously devoted to his wife and her art.



It is obvious that Sharon was born to be a teacher, and she had no shortage of students this afternoon. People were firing one question after another at her and she was graciously answering all of them. She is a celebrity in the quilt world.



 I was not the only one snapping photos either.



One of the questions she had was about basting. She says one of the keys is to baste the old fashioned way. She is not a believer in the safety pin method because she thinks it makes the fabric crawl. Her rule on old fashioned basting stitches is about three fingers wide.



She started quilting in 1998, but lest you think she only picked up a needle then and has already progressed to this stage, don't despair. Prior to that her husband tells me she was operating a factory and selling clothes she designed for weddings and pageants, including for some Miss America contestants.

She has been sewing since before she was six. She joked, "I had a baby bottle in one hand and a needle in the other." It wasn't quite that early, but somewhere between the baby bottle and age six she was well on her way.



The quilters in attendance had all kinds of questions including how she ships her quilts. Just in case you have need of this knowledge because you, too, have been asked to exhibit your quilt, here's what Sharon suggests. She rolls hers on the bias to avoid wrinkles. She uses wool batting, which also cuts down on wrinkles.



Sharon had another quilt in the show, too. She won second place in the bed quilts, mixed techniques category. This quilt also uses hand-dyed fabrics.

If you'd like to see a larger photo, click here.

She used a variety of quilting techniques on it.



This quilt was hanging just a few feet away from the best of show winner, so Sharon was getting the occasional question about it as well. But the focus was on her "Flower of Life" quilt and how she did particular things. She was very patient - the consumate teacher.



Sharon spent about two years working on her best of show winning quilt. She said she doesn't know how many hours she has in the applique because she worked on it at various times.

She has seven quilts going at any one time and has about 35 completed quilts. By the way, she said some take longer than this one.

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Check http://www.patsyterrell.com/2008/04/aqs-quilt-show-in-paducah-kentucky-in.html for more about the show, including hundreds of photos of quilts and vendors from the AQS 2007 Show

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Check www.patsyterrell.com for the blog, art, and more.