Here's a rambling.
During the two weeks at home, after my very satisfying trip to the Philippines and before this trip to Tahoe, I sewed and sewed and sewed. It had been a long time since I had sewn for a toddler (or for one just past toddlerhood), and sewing for Erica has been a learning and relearning experience. I found a pattern - Simplicity 3810 - that has a two-tiered skirt, gauchos, and a cute little sleeveless top, and I was able to make two sets of semi-interchangeable outfits for her. The skirt has an elastic waist, and I used 1/4" elastic and added a draw string so that it will be adjustable for her. The idea is to make the elastic just a little loose, and then she can adjust the fit with the draw string. Hopefully "loose" turns out to be loose. Although Donna can adjust the elastic by hand, I don't want to purposely make that necessary.
I used the same technique - drawstring plus elastic - for two pairs of slacks for me. The pattern called only for a drawstring, but the elastic is a good addition, just as the drawstring for Erica's gauchos and skirts will hopefully be a good addition to that pattern.
Except that I need slacks (not jeans) for traveling, with pockets where things won't fall out, I certainly need no new clothes. Slacks that meet all the criteria of good travel slacks are hard to find. It's good to know how to sew - even though I don't sew nearly as much as I used to, it's good to be able to create something for a special need when you can't easily find it in the retail market.
I didn't take pictures of Erica's new clothes - wish I had - but the outfits are so cute. I used a fabric called Tutti-Fruti - a sort of seer sucker - light weight, very colorful, and very much little-girl like.
Over the last two weeks, I actually caught up on my sewing list and got back to my bedspread quilt; so I was very pleased with the results of just sticking with sewing. When I begin again, maybe I can finally finish that quilt! Maybe!
We are on pins and needles waiting for our visas for Russia and Belarus. According to Lindsay, at Passport Visa Express, the Belarus embassy was unexpectedly closed last Thursday and Friday, but she was able to get our applications submitted yesterday. She said the embassy said they will be completed on May 2 and we should have them on May 3. We're crossing our fingers. Not only do we really want to go on this trip, but we've invested a chunk of change for it and we're not sure what our rights are if for some reason we fail to get those visas. Lindsay has been a good communicator - we will talk with her early next week just to make sure things still look good!
This week, we are watching the snow melt at Lake Tahoe - Squaw Valley, to be exact. Only Squaw and Heavenly are open for skiing now, but their service is very limited during weekdays.
Lauren went skiing yesterday and had a great time, but he said there was a lot of powder (like, you could bury yourself in it) and much of the area wasn't groomed. That didn't stop him, though - and I'm glad. It's great exercise for him, and it's something he's very proud of being able to do - probably because he learned to ski later in life. Good things can come out of bad events.
Bad events? Our personal tragedies are nothing like the tragedies of last week at Virginia Tech, but we have had our own personal tragedies throughout our life. A minor one, in the grand scheme of life in general, Lauren had to move to Denver in 1995 in order to work his final 12 plus months and earn a decent retirement (and keep our health insurance) from the aerospace company he had worked for all of his career. We didn't accompany him because we had other personal tragedies happening on our own home front. But one of the good things that came of the temporary move was that Lauren was in ski country, and he took to downhill skiing like a duck to water. So every year, we try to hit the slopes at least once (and hopefully twice) a year! Even though he skis alone these days, he still enjoys it to the hilt.
So, while he skis, we watch the snow melt. The snow on the roof of our condo melts and drips in large tablespoon-size drops - a good rain would produce the same results. By the end of the week, we expect a lot of the snow at the lower elevations will be in the rivers and streams here.
Londa and Luther came up and spent the afternoon with us yesterday. They are such a fun couple, just full of life and stories. We always enjoy them immensely.
While Lauren skis this week, I will take some walks down here in the valley, catch up on my blog (at least this post), put my Philippine pictures on flicker, do some sudoku, knit, watch the birds outdoors, and watch TV. So, here goes - the start of our second day here!
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