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While I recently visited my hometown of Falls City, Nebraska, Kathy Martin, Jannie McNeely and I made the short trip to an account of mine on the way to the little town of Rulo.

Here out in the middle of the country is a historic red brick, one-room schoolhouse, beautifully preserved inside and out and filled to the brim with beautiful products and gifts. Betty Majerus is the designer and owner of this rare jewel of commercial enterprise. I am sure that she draws customers from the four-state area and more.

Betty also sells fresh flowers and has a seasonal plant nursery outside. WOW! What a unique and beautiful shop!

I love this elegant gift shop and I am very proud that Betty sells my line in her store.

Also on a side note, my mother taught in a one-room country schoolhouse eleven miles northwest of Falls City while I was growing up. I went to mom’s Christmas plays, school picnics and to several regular days of school. Those were precious days for me and I still cherish these memories. My visit to The Nursery School was rich indeed for me

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My daughter Caitlin had her birthday this month and I had fun preparing a small dinner party to celebrate. I was so happy that she and her friends wanted to come to my house for dinner!

The weather was still beautiful so we served cold cilantro-lime shrimp, cheese and fruit on the kitchen deck. We moved inside to the kitchen table for dinner. It is always festive and informal to eat in the kitchen where most of my parties end up anyway.

I brought in my darling little lemon thyme trees to decorate the dining table and put a large arrangement of white Japanese anemones on a side table. The beautiful fall arrangement of scented geraniums, rose hips and deep violet Dahlias was a hostess gift and graced the corner cabinet close by.

My menu was a lightly smoked salmon grilled with lemon parsley butter, mashed potatoes, green beans, caprese salad and “eggs in a cloud of herbs”. This egg recipe is in an earlier blog if you want to try them. They are one of Caitlin’s favorite. I make these eggs for holidays and many times when I entertain.

Good food, flowers, and most of all, family and sweet friends make a lovely evening to enjoy and remember. Caitlin and her friends left full and happy.

Meet me in Oregon City on Saturday, November 3, 2012 so that I can sign your Margaret Furlong angels and ornaments from 1:00 – 2:30 PM.

Mary, the owner of My Mother Knows, started selling our line this year and we want to join her at her darling store to start off the joyous Christmas season. It will be festive and fun!

I will also sign and give away 2” Joy Angels to the first ten customers who make a purchase from our angel and ornament selection. I am grateful to be sharing my joy with you at My Mother Knows. See you there in a couple weeks.

November 3, 2012    1:00 – 2:30PM
My Mother Knows
1105 Linn Ave.
Oregon City, OR 97045
Phone: 503-518-1952

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After our event at the library I was invited to Carol James’ annual fall party.

The photographs start in the front yard, through the great room/dining room and out to the back deck and yard. Carol attended to every exquisite detail herself. This lady is a gifted designer and her party was as good as it gets – elegant – inside and out!!

Carol’s food was perfectly delicious, beautiful, and extravagant.  What a perfectly lovely backdrop to visit with old friends and meet new ones. It was the best party and I had so much fun.

Wow, I wasn’t expecting to experience world class design and entertaining during my visit to my little home town in Nebraska. Thank you, Carol!!!

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I’m home from my Nebraska trip where I gave a talk and did a signing event at the new Falls City Library. I was completely impressed with the elegant and beautifully designed building inside and out. No wonder all of Falls City is so proud of their new library.

The success of my event first belongs to Kathy Martin who organized and oversaw every detail and also to everyone at the library and all the others that helped Kathy. I was fortunate to realize much fruit from Kathy’s work and her excellent support team. A special thanks to Jo Crawford for the photographs!

I met and visited with close to a 100 people. For me it was so nostalgic and it seemed like the years since my growing up in Falls City melted away. I just had a wonderful time!

As I mentioned in my talk that I gave before the signing, I loved growing up in Falls City; the simplicity of life and freedom for me in a safe, small town was instrumental in the development of my creative and artistic life.

The ties with the friends of my youth are powerful and have sweetened over the years. My heart is full of the love and friendship that I received from old friends and new friends.