Biographies and A Wonderful Visit

First, for those of you who have asked, here is the site to read the biographies of the current contestants in McCall's Quilting Design Star competition.  Once on this site, you can click on any of the contestants, read about them, and also see their first two quilts.

http://www.mccallsquilting.com/contests/QDS_2011_Finalists_Challenge_1.html

Several days ago, I mentioned a visit from my nephew and his son and promised to write about it the next day.  Life as a contestant intervened, and that blog wasn't written.  Today it will be.

Jonathan is the older son of my oldest brother and his first wife and was born in Japan.  Unfortunately for us, Jon lives in California so we don't get to see him very often.  The trips that he makes east often coincide with plans of ours, and we frequently miss him.  Jon was traveling with his son Nicholas, and it became clear that our schedules would not mesh again this year.    Until a phone call one night from Jon.

It turns out much to our good fortune that Jon and Nick were flying out of Albany and wanted to stop by for a visit before they left for home.  What a pleasure!  The two of them arrived and that was the beginning of one of the most enjoyable days of the summer.  Jon has always been a pleasure to be with and talk to and nothing has changed there.  But Nick?  Oh my, he is a delightful person.  This year he will be a freshman in high school (how did that happen?).  What that meant was that we sat in our family room with a young man willing to listen to and be part of the adult conversation.  And we sat for quite some time!

Here's the best part.  While we were chatting, I saw Nicholas eying the bookshelves so I brought the conversation around to books.  He's a reader!  That conversation continued over lunch where we discovered we have some favorite books in common (the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series as well as the Harry Potter books).  I also learned that Jon knew Ursula LeGuin's son, and that he had read her books as a result even though the fantasy genre wasn't a favorite of his.  By the time they left, Nick had borrowed a book of mine and one of David's.

For those who know me, that was a banner day for me.  Add another reader to the family, hurray!!! 

There was a down side to the visit, though, and it was all my fault.  We talked about cameras and taking photos, and I admitted to being a shutterbug.  In the excitement, guess what I never did.  You're right.  My camera sat quietly on its shelf and didn't get a work out at all.  No photos of such a memorable occasion.  

Don't let those photo opportunities slide past; have your camera ready and use it!  Who knows when I'll see Jon and Nick again?  Sigh.