Visiting with Susan

Susan and I had a lovely visit yesterday. With the rain, it took me a little longer than twice the usual time to get to her house - almost two hours - and both of us agreed that it would have been reasonable had I decided at some point to turn around and head back home. But I kept thinking, today is now, it's something I know, and I really want to see her! And I so glad I pursued and kept my car pointed toward Oceanside. What we intended to be a three-hour visit turned into six hours, and we chatted on and on and on.

Everyone has a story to tell, but Susan is a woman of many, many stories. I can listen to her stories for hours on end, laugh and weep with her, and be transported to the world she tells about. She is recovering, as much as one can, after the death of her husband a few years ago. The loss of her Anthony, strong and protective, was devastating; but Susan has a will to survive, though very painful for her, that is inspiring. I sit at her feet!

I am so thankful that I am smart enough to listen to those urges to maintain friendships. Friendships are rare, but they are the most precious gift we receive in life. My life is enriched by my family and friends! I am so grateful for them.

Today - Susan & Embroidery

Today, I'll make my way to Oceanside to see Susan. She is a woman who loves color and fabric, almost to excess. But her love makes life exciting for me because she brings a type of joy to life that I don't naturally see every day.


Susan and I used to work at the same company, but we didn't really know each other. She was QA, and I was development, so our paths crossed. When she left the company, I caught her going to the parking lot as she was ready to leave, and I found that she lived only doors away from me. Somehow we agreed to meet early mornings and start walking Poway. We began to meet two or three times a week, at 6:00 in the morning, and just take off exploring the hills and valleys around our neighborhood. Such wonderful fun, for probably about a year. And then Susan moved to Oceanside and our frequent walks were disrupted. Thank goodness, we kept in touch.

Susan and I knew we had a friendship in the making when we learned that we both were proud possessors of a strange book by Julian Jaynes, The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind, Houghton Mifflin Company, 1976. Why anyone would ever buy that book, I don't know, but both Susan and I did!

Over the last few weeks, to celebrate Susan's love of color, I made her a shrug that I'll take to her today (upper right). I have made several of these for myself, and I hope she loves hers as much as I love mine. It's a wonderful thing just to throw on in the morning, and the pattern is so simple, you can experiment with fabrics. I have one that's flannel lined (the pattern isn't lined, but it's easy to do), one where I experimented with some fabric that I had pieced, and another that's basic black, with embroidery, which you can throw over anything and wear out to a dressier occasion. The pattern is McCalls 3880, and I'm not sure it's even still in the pattern book. It should be!




Here's a picture of a pillowcase I'm hand embroidering. The pillowcase comes pre-stamped, but I'm using my own color and stitch scheme. I had purchased several of these for Mom, and she didn't get them all done before she died in 2003. I will now finish them, learning to embroidery many stitches along the way. Embroidery is a wonderful small craft that travels well. Hopefully, I can become somewhat proficient and learn some beautiful stitches.

It just started raining. Susan and I were going to visit some gardens today, but maybe we'll just spend the time inside chatting and catching up on the time since we've last seen each other. Her home has a detatched guest apartment, and she's recently redone it. I'm excited to see what she's done. My little pink Tracker and I will gingerly make our way to Oceanside in just a couple hours.

A good visit

What a lovely time I had with Mavash & Glynn. They are the most gracious hosts and instantly made me feel wanted and at home. We were blessed with two wonderful days of sunshine and celebrated it by a refreshing walk along some of the back waters of the Potomac. The wind was brisk, almost exhilarating.


On Friday evening, we went to the Kennedy Center - I had never been there - and we saw Carnival. When actors really have fun with their roles, it shows; and these actors really enjoyed portraying their characters for us. It's difficult to know who the playwright might have had in mind as the lead character (you can't always tell by the billing), but I felt the story was about Rosalie, played by Natascia Diaz (I hope I have this right), and she was very enthusiastic in her character. Even though I was time-confused with flying all night and jet lag, I was awake sufficiently to thoroughly enjoy the musical.


The Kennedy Center is huge and contains several theaters. It appears it has suffered some funding deficits to keep it in newer condition. I hope the foundation embarks on some serious fundraising to renovate it where its age is showing. It seems impossible that sufficient time has passed that the Center is no longer new!


On Sunday, much to our surprise, it began to snow and snow and snow.

The snow was wet enough to stick to everything, but not wet enough to be slush. It didn't occur to me that my flight could be postponed - or even canceled, but that's what happened. We went to the airport and rescheduled my flights; and then G picked me up and we went back to the house where I spent a comfortable several hours snoozing on the sofa.


I had never experienced a canceled flight before, so the process was new to me. I was able to rebook my flights electronically at the airport (but I don't think I could have done this over the Internet, unfortunately), and after I confirmed my new booking, I was given a chance to be wait listed for an earlier set of flights, which I did. Much to my delight, I was able to board both wait-listed flights and arrived home about noon our time - about 16 hours after my previously booked time. That was a few hours less than the re-booked flights. I will remember this for the future and not be so iffy about standby bookings. Of course, I had the the booked flights to fall back on so I wasn't too anxious about it, but it was a neat thing that I had never experienced before.


I'm so glad I made the trip. It was a good thing to turn this precious friendship away from work and just to celebrate that the friendship is much deeper than that. I hope we can do this again!


Something I learned from Mavash while I was there. You can resell your books over Amazon. I've purchased used books from Amazon, but have never resold them there. I usually send them to Donna (if they're good books) or donate them to the library (if I don't think she will like them). Ah ha! Now maybe I can lessen the cost of my reading habit! I will certainly give that a try this year.


While I was gone, our packet of information arrived for our Baltic States tour, as well as two tour books I ordered from Amazon. How exciting. We are really looking forward to this trip in May - our birthday and 41st anniversary present to each other. It is so good to be back traveling again, to see people who are dear to me and to enjoy new places with Lauren. Ah, life is much, much too short when you're feeling good and able! I am grateful for these times.


I need to figure out the blend of html blogger is using. I think it would be a lot easier if I pasted this in my html editor (Homesite), edited it, and then pasted it back into blogger. There are things that I don't understand when I insert images. They are funky. This html writer uses divs and not paragraph tags, but I haven't figured out just what the divs mean. Are they defined somewhere I just haven't figured out yet? What would happen if I put some styles at the top of the page and defined some divs? I will have to experiment and see what I can figure out, soon!

Almost ready to travel

I'll be off in a few hours to spend a weekend with my friend on the east coast. Packing was easy because I'm gone only a few days, except for stuffing my little quart zip lock bag. Because the rule is 3-oz bottles or smaller, you can get a number of things in 3-oz sizes, including empty bottles. I think I would buy some 2-oz bottles if I could find them. I dug through my stash to try to find smaller things so I could carry a number of things I'll need. Maybe I'll find some more stashed away somewhere before I begin my longer trips this season. Here's what I got in my quart bag for this trip. Not too bad!

Lauren went sailing today, but the weather is so dreary that he suspected they would sit and chat instead of sail. He might be home early this evening. We're expecting rain any time now.

I went to the podiatrist this morning about my toe. It still won't heal, and he's pondering what the problem could be. He dug deep into the wound today (well, it felt deep to me - I could actually feel it!) and upped my meds for it - a silver sulfa kind of cream - for the next few weeks. His thought today might be that there might be a tiny little blood clot in it. That might be worth pursuing, but it's hard to tell. In the meantime, I'll soak it some more and be sure to medicate it twice a day instead of once, hoping to get all the way through our fun travels with no more inconvenience than it is causing me now. You just never know what's going to fall apart next; but one thing my friends and I have learned is that something probably will - you just hope it's a tiny thing, like a toe.

I got the toes started on another pair of socks. I want to get two or three more started before I go to Judy's and then to Donna's so I can knit while I'm there. Those toes drive me nuts. I finally figured out one of the things that makes it difficult (other than not working under my Ott light so I can see) - I use these wonderful Addi Turbo circulars, but the ends are blunt. I think, as time goes on, I'll see if I can get some Innox (sharper points) or another kind in these small sizes. For socks, I like to work tight. Here's what a pair of toes looks like. After the toes, the rest is gravy - lots of fun, as I work in a design. And I love heels with the K1, S1. I started from a Charlotte Schurch pattern this time, and I really do like the toes; but as I was reading and analyzing the pattern, I think I like Cat Bordi's heels better. It's been such a long time since I knit socks (4 years) that I will have to get the feel of it again, but I think my current impression will be my conclusion. The bright blue thread above the right toe and the bright yellow strand at the bottom of the left toe is wooly thread in multi-colors - for strengthening areas that might wear out sooner. I mark the center front with white rings, center back with blue, so it gives me a sense of where I am all the time.

The sun is coming out. Is it really going to rain? Wow!!!

Enough is enough....

Steve just called. The retina in his left eye apparently began to tear over the weekend. His right eye tore a few months ago, and the doctor said that there was 1 in 100 chance that his other eye would follow. Well the 1 in 100 became 100% for Steve. He called the doctor yesterday and was able to get in this morning. The doctor laser treated several spots and recommended that Steve stay home and quiet for a few days. Hopefully, that will do it and it will heal. His right eye wasn't good enough to drive (necessary for Steve's job), and now his left eye is nearly out of commission. This was always one of Mom's greatest fears - going blind. She didn't, and we thank God for that, but I think she would turn over in her grave if she could know about Steve. I called Judy at work and let her know. The propensity for a detatched retina is genetic, and so are Steve's siblings. We will hold him close in our prayers.

By our definition, enough is enough. But this definition of enough is out of our hands. Lord, give us grace, wisdom, vision, strength to overcome all manner of adversity! Help us know how to live.

Getting it together again

Nine days back into retirement, and I expect to have it all together again, to have picked up the pieces and be on the move again, but not so, not yet. I am growing impatient to be there.

I have dug out most of my unfinished projects, almost organized my yarn and fabric stash, started a pair of socks (toe to heel flap almost done), gotten the serger to working (from the estate of my friend); but I still feel that impatience that comes from not quite being organized yet. I find myself fumbling with this, starting that, looking at yet another thing, and fighting back the ideas that just keep tumbling through my brain, each pushing and shoving to be first in line.

I'm going to Maryland this weekend to visit my dear friend, just to hug her and hubby for a few days and enjoy looking into their eyes and seeing their love of life. Oh, how wonderful that will be. I am so excited to hop on and then off that plane!!! My first task this morning, before I had even dressed, was to see how many 3-oz bottles fit into a quart-size zip lock bag. Quite a few, but not enough. So part of my quest today, which I'll finish tomorrow, was to find bottles smaller than 3 oz. This will be my first flight this year, and the first ever with the quart-size bag. It will be a challenge.

Future plans: a week's trip to KY to do needlework with my sister. That will be fun, too. The last time I was there, two years ago, she started a picture quilt. We may finish it while I'm there this year. Then I'll head to the Philippines to spend almost 3 weeks with Donna while Lauren is still working tax season, returning home in time to catch my breath before we head off to Tahoe at the end of April. Lauren would love to go to the Philippines with me, but we can do just so much at any one time.

So I need to get my portable needlework ready to go with me so I stay out of trouble while others around me are busy. I plan to take a couple pairs of socks on needles - started through the toe because that's the part that drives me nuts, plus some pillowcases to embroider. I must have five or six pairs that I had purchased for Mom. They're pre-stamped, but instead of following the stitch and color pattern, I think I'll free-style them just to make the work more interesting. That, and a few books, should do me.

In the picture, the green bags beneath the socks are made of a soft, thin, silky material so the yarn will slip out easily. Knitting two socks on two circulars, plus using a wooly thread to fortify the yarn, plus a contrasting color makes for tangled yarn. At least, with the bags, I have a chance to get it all unwound without losing my mind.



Donna asked for yarn and needles, along with a doable pattern to knit baby blankets, so I found just the yarn in my stash and decided to make her a knitting bag to carry everything in. I like this one, created out of my imagination. The wide handles make it very nice on the hands when you carry it. It's just a width of fabric gathered on the bottom around a circle as big as a standard paper plate, all fully lined, with a big inside pocket for patterns and what have you and a smaller outside pocket, zippered, for supplies. It was fun to make because I was thinking of Donna all the time I was creating it.


This past weekend, we camped at Chula Vista and spend a day in Tijuana. We've been taking weekend camping trips for the last few months, just to get away together, but we haven't been to TJ for years and years. It looks much cleaner than we remembered it. We wonder where all the homeless people have gone. Crossing the border back into the states was always a heart-rending experience, with mothers and babies lining the roadway. Not so this time. I don't know if that's good or bad because I don't know where those people have gone.

Instead of walking across the border , or driving across, as we have done in the past, we parked at the Border Parking lot and took a bus across. It was $8 for a round trip for each of us, and we figured it was a bargain when all was said and done. I was able to save my walking for browsing the stores and stalls, and we didn't have to stand in line for a long time to get through customs coming back.


On Friday and Saturday night, we had supper at a little bar and grill near the RV park. We've been there before. They have live music and people dance. We don't dance, but I'm tapping on Lauren's shoulder periodically to ask him why. Maybe some day we will. We used to square dance together. I think we could do this kind of dancing together, too!




We've camped at Chula Vista three times now, and on the first trip, we discovered Pilgrim Lutheran Church. We enjoy visiting there. It has a much different feel from our home church - slightly more formal and more liturgical - not in the liturgy itself, but in its presentation. Pilgrim has a really nice pipe organ and a good choir, and their music is well presented. We go to the early service there; I think the second service is more contemporary.

Sad news for us when we got home, though. Willie, who we learned recently is diabetic, didn't do so well over the weekend. By Monday morning, he had nearly breathed his last. When I realized how very bad off he was (we knew this was coming), I called the vet and asked if I could bring him over so they could help him through the final stages. We have lost both cats now. Shebet died the last week in November. They have been with us for 16 and 17 years. We miss them terribly, and we feel very fortunate to have had them as part of our family for all this time. My, how time flies. This IS the time of endings for us, and it has all gone just much, much, much too fast. Amazing. Only yesterday, we had it all to look forward to. Today, we have the blessed memories. Thank you God; however. I'm not done yet, and I hope You don't think I'm done yet - I know - my saying "just a few more minutes and I'll be ready" at the end of things is a prediction my high school senior English teacher once made about me. So, really, though, just a few more things ... please! :-)

Today, I spent a lovely day with a close friend in San Diego - one of those people who will always feel close even though we might not see each other for some time. She is a year younger than we, so we're all at about the same station in our lives, with the same zest to keep moving and similar bumpy roads to come to this place in our lives. (That must be true of most people our age!) Now I may have some of the details wrong, but I believe she's enrolled in the School of Stitched Textiles, a City & Guilds course of study in the UK - distance learning. She'll be traveling to the UK late spring or early summer. This is a picture of some of the work she's prepared for her final exam.

If her travels are delayed until July, we may go with her. We've been only to London, and that was just a three-day stopover on our way to Germany, so this would be a great bit of fun if we could go.

So, now I'm caught up a little bit with my blog. This turns out to be a little like a journal; I have missed this kind of writing.