Weekly update: farewells and new beginnings (with music)

 

2020:  a drive-by birthday parade to honor Sally

Saturday morning I attended the memorial service for Sally Zeit who passed away in December at age 94.  I first met her in AAUW. She was the branch voter registration chair (coordinating training for voter registrars and then registration events).  She connected my husband to the Lake County chaplaincy agency where he served as a nursing home and hospice chaplain.  We attended many church services for which she was the organist.  But I'd only known her as a fierce and feisty senior citizen.   Her memorial service provided a life story of decades of community activism and advocacy for justice.  (Here is a 1991 Tribune story about her work with prisoners.  (I'm sure it came up in Google because many people looked it up.  One of the participants in the service read a letter from a prisoner  she worked with many years ago. He never forgot her kindness.))  

Sally truly exemplified Micah 6:8 which was the Old Testament reading:  "He has told you, O mortal, what is good,   And what does the Lord require of you but to do justice and to love kindness and to walk humbly with your God?"  

A fun anecdote was about Sally's famous almond cake.  She baked it for every occasion.  It turned out that Marilyn M., one of Sally's dearest friends and fellow activist, gave the recipe to Sally -- only at the memorial service did we learn the rest of the story!  **

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Saturday evening we enjoyed the Lake County Symphony Orchestra's annual Classical Jazz concert -- Brazilian jazz and Mussorgsky's Pictures from an Exhibition. (The  Promenade has been a pleasant earworm since.)

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Sunday afternoon I attended the installation of a new P.E.O. chapter -- OP.  (Chapters are named in alphabetical order and a town is assigned.  This one is Bull Valley in McHenry County.)  This was the first new chapter installation I've been to since 1987 when I was part of Chapter G (Maine).    Among the attendees were the state board, past state presidents, and P.E.O.s from area chapters.  I knew so many!  (My friend Fran, now on the board, lives far downstate.  She was upstate for officer workshops and this event.  So good to see her!)

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Yes, I did have some sewing time!

Thank you all for your suggestions about the Civil War pinwheels.

I rearranged the nine-patch idea so the pinwheels dominate.  I'm still considering.  

Meanwhile, while the CW repros were out, I began something new. 

The logs are 1.5" and the blocks are 8.5" unfinished.  I have in mind an 8 x 9 setting (64"x 72").  

Linking up with  Oh Scrap!  Design Wall Monday

**  P.S.  There are many recipes for almond pound cake.  This version is Sally's from her friend Marilyn. 

Scandinavian Almond Cake
 
1 1/4 C sugar
1 egg
2/3 C milk
1 1/2 tsp almond extract
Beat well, then add:
1 1/4 C flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
Beat well, then add:
1 stick melted butter

Beat well.  Pour into small greased tube pan. Bake in preheated 350 oven 50-60 minutes. Cool completely, and sprinkle with confectioners sugar.