Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore

Sally and Alice

Alice in Wonderland has gone home to Nova Scotia. Her two week visit has ended. My husband's Ham Radio/Skype friend Alice has returned home with one more of her "Bucket List" items completed - visiting Southern California, specifically San Diego.

Alice hold photo album gift from Bet

Prior to arrival, Alice knew that I have a group of friends that get together once a week at my home to play. A month ago in anticipation of said gathering, Alice sent a giant box to our home with instructions not to open.

She had been following me and my friends on my blog and said she felt like she already knew everyone.

When the play day arrived, September 23rd, we were all surprised that Alice did not choose to play along with us. I had provided paper and Suzi Blu, Crescendoh, Brave Girls Camp and Elena's Scrapbook Royalty Stamps plus ink for those who didn't have ongoing projects.

Kathie's hands and jewelry

Since we hadn't seen each other all summer, it was a time to share. Kathy had brought the jewelry she had been making recently with metal and wires.

Bet and Jackie working on their Kumihimo with Kathie supervising

Kathie taught Georgia, Diane, Bet and Elena - Kumihimo. She brought a bunch of Kumi looms she just happened to have around the garage. (You ought to see her garage)! It is an ancient Japanese braiding technique. Kathie once was one of the editor/writers of the now defunct Expression Magazine. It was such a great magazine and missed by all who know and read it.

Georgia hold glasses case she made with Kathie

Georgia and Bets besides learning Kumihimo from Kathie , did take time to take advantage of the stamps I had available. They are now ready to make cards whenever they have the need.

Cards Georgia made for me

Georgia brought me a hostess gift of some cards she had water colored and some cards made with bleach. Thank you Georgia!

Kat and Nina with Diane Standing

Diane showed us what she has been working on since her last Chris Cozen class. Plus for her birthday, she received one of Chris' paintings as present from her brother. We were so envious of Chris' painting and also loved the many colorful pieces Diane had completed.

Alice and Jackie

Jackie worked on four 4x4 canvases preparing them for 4 photos of her late husband, Frank, and his Memorial to take place in October.

Kat with Halloween Canvas in Progress

Kat completed a "kool" canvas with a Halloween Theme. She did a great job and we were amazed at how fast she worked!

Kat and Nina Sitting

Nina was very quiet this day. I don't think she had gotten a lot of sleep the night before. Everyone was happy to see her again and congratulated her on being back on the radio again! Nina did work on one of her canvases that she was dealing with flesh color issues and I believe resolved the problem.

Suzi came not to play but to get organized and make lists. She maintains that the book Organize from the Inside Out has turned her life around an made her much more productive. Even her refrigerator is organized! That's a win - win.

Elena and Sally

Elena came to eat bacon. . . and Alice didn't disappoint her with her little munchies made with Wonder bread, bacon grease, bacon and processed cheese. We also had Alice's delicious version of Sloppy Joe Sliders.

The Food for the Day

I had made what I thought was tons of the Barefoot Contessa's Mac and Cheese with 8oz Black Diamond Extra Sharp Cheddar and 12oz of Gruyere Cheese. Surprise, surprise, it was almost gone by the end of the day.

Everyone Hard at Work Doing Something

For desserts we had 5 different choices of Alice's homemade bars: Peanut Reeses Squares, Chow Mein Noodle Drops, Vanilla Fudge, Cashew Almond Bark, and Five Star Bars.. She had made them at home and brought them in her luggage carefully packed. They were a hit with everyone. I especially liked her homemade Peanut Butter Cup with dark chocolate!

Alice's Hand Writing and Acrylic Stamp

After lunch, Alice had drawings for bags filled with "stuff" Alice had brought to share. There had also been "goodie" bags for everyone when they arrived including everyone got an acrylic 4x6 stamp of Alice's unique handwriting. I had 12 of them made locally at Ready Stamps. It's a great way to support the Cerebral Palsy workers who make the stamps.

Sally and Suzi Blu and our stuffed Canadian Beavers from Alice

Kat with two of her "Goodies" from Alice

Early evening found just Kathie, Bet and me sipping Santa Margarita Pinot Grigio and drooling all over Bet's iPad! Kathie has an iPhone along with Bet's and we looked at all the free apps she has. I have the first Droid, so I just tried to find something similar for my phone.

Everyone will all have their own special memories of Alice. They also have all the mementos from Alice of things having to do with her Canada including little Bucky Beaver stuffed animals which Suzi and I got in our bags.

On Top: Elena, Sally, Suzi and Diane. Standing: Kathie, Georgia, Bet, Nina, Alice, Kat and Jackie

Finally for Alice - a group photo. Elena with her amazing Canon camera expertise, set up camera and then was able to jump into the group - not to be excluded! It was a success!

The next day I learned why Alice wasn't creating at the table with all of us. She had been taking literally hundreds of photos of all of us . Thank you Alice. Without those photos, there would have been no blog because to me blogs need photos!

Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore. She has returned to her beautiful beloved wonderland of Nova Scotia.