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.
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