Checking in

Just checking in to let you know that we're doing well. Since Roger's arm leaves him like a one-armed-lumberjack-there is much to do so I can't stay to chat. I'll be back with more news tomorrow and a picture of a special birthday surprise from a darling friend that could not have come at a better time.
Roger's arm is still in a sling and everything is very tender, to say the least. He has metal staples in three places on the shoulder but virtually no scar. The openings look like little belly buttons(innies) but they are clear and clean-that's good news. Back to the Dr. next week and no driving- so we're having an unexpected vacation of sorts. Not one we would have planned but life could always be worse. I like "the glass half full" attitude right now. Besides, I kinda like having the old bear home. Thanks, again, for all the nice wishes. I'll leave you with a shot of the harbor from last week-there are twice as many boats now. Talk to you tomorrow.

A Wee Celebration Postponed

First I want to thank everyone who commented and sent well-wishes both on the blog and personally for my husband's surgery on Monday and for thinking good thoughts about James. I think that in time things will work out well for James. He is registered on that on-line job finding site Monster and just today there were a couple of very good possibilities. There is also an advisor at college that is helping him with possible ideas and suggestions. He's smart and a good worker-All will work out for the best. He saw a few great opportunities-one with a major company with great benefits and will look into that next week.

On the Roger Front-all is not as smooth as glass. He is due at the surgical center on Mon at 8 am but his surgery is contingent upon a couple of factors that may not be just right. Why the series of so-called smart medical types couldn't figure out these glitches before now-Lord knows. I'm crossing my fingers and toes and so appreciate your good thoughts. It could turn out alright but we just won't be able to get the go-ahead until Mon. Meanwhile, as you can imagine, all worry and no definite answers make Roger an angry guy. We have decided to postpone my birthday on Sunday and James's on Tuesday until July 4th when, God willing, all of this will be just an annoying memory. Frankly, at 59, I could do without a birthday this year and have a do-over next year to avoid the inevitable.

If you're looking for me I'll be the one hiding behind anything I can find sort of like the cartoon above. Ducking and weaving-staying out of the line of fire. I'm really kidding since Roger is so sedated with Vicodin that he's the one ducking and weaving. Maybe I'll make myself a margarita and hide in the jungle outside. Adios till Tuesday most likely and thanks, again, you guys are great! I'm blessed with friendship.

It's a Jungle Out There & Thinking good thoughts

Here are some pictures of the yard now that the rains have come and the vines and bushes are in full swing. Please to excuse the cars that now are a part of my daily scene. James is in the throws of selling one of them and restoring the other with parts from the one for sale. So, along with the lovely greenness of my valley, I have a used auto parts center on the side of the house. Let me stop to say a silent prayer to the Gods for deliverance in the form of a full-time job for him....anybody....no...Oh well. I've run out of fingers and toes to cross for him and the really bad thing is that the part-time job he has is in the midst of renovation and has been closed for nearly a month. He's having anxiety over no money, no job and too much time to worry. Pray for us.

While you're at it maybe you could think really swell & happy thoughts for my husband. Today he has to see the cardiologist for an "all cleared for surgery" check and Monday is his surgery. I'm really hoping that this will offer him the relief he needs-lack of good sleep and pain make Roger an unhappy boy. My heart is kinda sorrowful for both my guys right now. Here's hoping that next week will bring better things for both of them. I love my guys and I'm worried about them.

Meanwhile I'm still sweating at Curves-missed another day yesterday though. When things calm down a bit I hope to get back into the swing and keep to my schedule better. I also hope to get some sewing done so I can at least pretend to have a blog about quilting again.

Hope everyone has a great day. Sew something for me!

The Gemini Chronicles

The Gemini Gang, otherwise known as my whole fam damily and assorted friends of the family are in the throws of the birthday season. I decided a couple of days ago to make a table topper for Terry, who has the house of my dreams, and can put pretty things on her table for people to OOOO and Ahhhhhh over. Her house is a Queen Anne down in the village with an actual turret in her bedroom. The bad news is that the turret leaks, but it looks pretty anyway. Her husband built in all cherry handmade cabinets in the kitchen and they have the Mexican tile floor that I covet. Did I mention tha they own the hardware store in the village??Anyway, she loves handmade things and this fabric, which I think is from 3 Sisters for Moda(???) is a favorite of hers. Thus-the birthday table-topper seemed like a good idea. It's about the only thing I've worked on lately except for the donation hearts quilt binding. I hope she likes it. I usually give her a bunch of fat quarters as well and I try to make them a little unusual. She gets a big kick out of a challenge kinda thing and always comes up with something outstanding. I'm not being boastful when I say that I dragged her out of the traditional, albeit beautiful, place she was in. Terry's son is an artist and I think she is fascinated with the art quilt and trying something new and unusual. Terry is like me- no confidence- tends to stay in a comfort zone. She makes beautiful things and so I will look for something in the way of fabric a little "out-there" Maybe Kaffe Fassett or Anna Maria Horner or Heather Bailey. I'll bet she will do something unexpected with it-can't wait.

On the medical front-Roger is scheduled for surgery on the 11th. It will be at the surgical center as an out-patient. Next week he has to have the bloodwork and see a cardiologist for a stress test. He's not a happy camper. I don't blame him. This has been a long uncomfortable haul. His surgery is the day after my birthday and the day before James's. I'm hoping it will bring him some relief-he has been in a lot of pain for a while and pain meds make him like a zombie.

On the exercise front- they are still waiting for the new air conditioning unit at my Curves. I'm still going but it's a real struggle since the last few days have been like a dirty wet dog. It is humid and hot(welcome to the island)and I'm going slow as molasses but I'm going. Lots of water and as early in the morning as I can.

Have a great weekend-not sure if I'll get a chance to blog until Mon.

For now...

I don't have time this minute to blog any further, Roger has to go to the orthopedist for a discussion of surgery on his shoulder and I'm trying to get to the workout I keep missing(bad Dee, Bad!)
For now, go over to the right and click on the link for Allsorts and get a glimpse of 500 years of women in art. It's really cool!
Talk to you later-go on now, don't miss it. it's only a couple of minutes and will make you ooooo and ahhhh.

A feast for the eyes & Ye Haw Maw!

I hesitate to show this because it is yet further proof of our questionable backgrounds but this, over there, is my very own college graduate. Congrats honey! We had to put out the old recliner for a village pick-up this morning so last night we got into the spirit(ahem) of the Clampetts. James hauled it into the back of my Sport Track and cruised down to the street in style. What style, I don't know. I will find a handsome picture of my son very soon so you can see that he doesn't look like a drooling moron most of the time. Truth be told, we were full of pizza and root beer floats(the official start to summer)and a little up from the sugar high. There was an all day Soprano's marathon on A&E yesterday and I think I watched every episode. No wonder I had bad dreams last night-could have been the ice cream and pizza....Nah!

Anyway, that represents the bad behavior part of the day for which I was punished this morning by going to Curves and sweating off my tush. The air conditioning is still not working and I'm loosing my patience. To be fair, so is the lady who runs it. She's been promised day after day that the building mgr. is bringing in the work crew tomorrow...and tomorrow, and so on. Seriously, it was 85 degrees and I'm wiped out.

Now for the really beautiful part of this post-The pics above are the best I could get of Deb's beautiful finish to my Hearts quilt. Once again, I am in awe. I wish that you could sit and look at this close up like I am. It's so pretty. On the back and on the front. Even my BIL Bob thought it was wonderful and he's oblivious to everything quilting related. I am putting on the binding this week and then I may just keep it for a week before sending it on. It's really amazing how something that was such a yawn has turned into the princess at the ball. Deb is a master at that machine. I am getting ideas together for a quilt for myself and it will definitely go to Deb Geyer to quilt. Beautiful work, thanks Deb!

It's very humid and icky outside today and I just potted some plants-I'm super icky myself so it's off to the showers and a big drink of water.

Hope you have a great day

Great furniture news, Lobster rolls for Libby & Wii

I'm so full of holiday cheer and warmth for my fellow person(???) that I just wanted to share a good news shopping event.

Now first let me say that I live in NY. A very lovely part of it so don't send me snarky comments-NY is not known for it's friendliness is all things retail. Sooooo...as you know from previous posts-I ought a recliner. Turned out to be bigger than a breadbox, to be polite. Today, I got myself up and dressed(on Saturday mind you-lets hear some cheering in the back there)and went off to Raymour & Flanagan to rectify the problem of what to do about the Beast(that's the chair not a relative) I fully expected a major altercation of some sort since I have had saleperson problems inthe furniture arena before. Let me just say-this store is full of very nice people who want you to be "lifetime customers" That's how they put it. I traded the giants chair for the other chair of human size plus an ottoman and they waved the shipping charge and are picking up one and delivering the other Wed. I walked out in a daze.

In other news around here I had a comment from Libby who has not had a Lobster roll. Here's how it goes-it couldn't be simpler,

1. First you go to the bank, find a loan officer and take out a fist-sized wad of money.

2. Then you go to the fish market and you tell them you want 4-5( how decadent do you want to be?) 1 1/2lb lobsters. If they are a reputable market-they will at no charge, steam them and crack them for you and put them in a big plastic tub.

3. You hand them your fist full of money-they hand you the tub.

4. You take them home and put down newspaper or grocery bags on the picnic table and you pull all of the lobster out of the shells. chop the larger pieces into bite sized bits-dress with mayo, couple of shakes of old bay seasoning, 1/4 cup of minced celery more or less and that's it-step away from the dish-resist the temptation to add anything. Nature has provided you with the perfect meal. Pile a boatload of this onto fluffy potato rolls which you have slathered with butter and toasted until golden. Eat. side of cole slaw-iced tea. OMG life is good!

My son got an early birthday present of a Sony Wii from his girlfriend Dani-normally I run screaming from anything that resembles a video game. This is so much more. It's interactive. You can bowl in your living room in your jammies. He forced me(by whining) into playing an I harummphhed all the way. It's so much fun. You have a bowling alley in your living room. It allows you to angle the way the ball goes for a spare and all. Really fun.
All in all it's turning into a very nice weekend.
Today we did beer can chicken and deli salads and fresh corn on the cob. Boy do I need a session at Curves really soon.
Have a great weekend

Holiday Frenzy

Are you hungry yet??? This is not what we're having today-today it's lobster rolls and home made cole slaw and lemon blueberry birthday cake. I want to thank you all who were kind enough to say Hi and Happy Birthday to Roger. We are having a quiet day together in prep for a little bit of action tomorrow regarding the recliner I bought. It's too darn big. It looks like a throne next to my other furniture and it's so big that he has to wrench himself over to even put up the foot rest. So tomorrow I'm going out to the store to talk to my (hopefully) friendly salesman, Jason, and see if I can't get them to pick it up and replace it with the lovely big chair and ottoman which I looked at first. The chair matches my other furniture perfectly, while still being big and comfy and allowing Roger to put his feet up comfortably. I think this recliner is meant for a big man but also a very tall man. Roger is in such awful pain from the shoulder thing that he needs help to get up out of it. Not gonna work for us. Please say a small prayer that it doesn't cost a bank loan to get this thing settled. The only other thing would be to give this chair to BIL Bob if he wants it and order the other one for us. I think Bob will probably have the same issues with it as Roger though. Too much chair. You should see it though, it looks like the Queen Mary pulled into my living room. Really too much chair.

Anyway, we have cracked and cleaned the lobster and I have the cole slaw going and the cake is here. From the look of things it won't last long-any of it!

I hope you all have a wonderful holiday and enjoy yourselves doing whatever makes you happiest. I received the donation Hearts quilt back from Deb Geyer and I'm going to sit and marvel at how beautiful it is. I will take a picture for you soon. You can't imagine how lovely it looks. I have also finished Dani's Mom Cheryl's table runner for her birthday, which by coincidence is also today. Our temps have spiked up to 80+ and we now have the air on for the rest of the summer, gratefully. As predicted it's too much too soon. From 48 Mon. morning to 86 today is too much for me. I will bask in the cool and try to dig my way out of the mess I've made everywhere this week. We look like the Clampetts around here but then it is the Birthday season. If I didn't think it would put me into a coma-I would have one of the drinks you see above. I think I'll stick with the iced tea for now....for now

Family love

Tomorrow is my husband's birthday. It is the beginning of another year that I hope will be a more healthy one for him and a happy one for us together. He's a wonderful man, husband, father, and most especially, friend. I can't think of anyone I would rather go to when there is something important to say or...just nothin' much. Just chatting away a morning over scrambled eggs and coffee.

Without his faith and help I'm not sure what would have become of my life. When we began, I was troubled and unsure of anything, mostly myself. He has protected me, showed me what true love is and given me the first safe place to dwell in my life. We are two connected souls.

If anything makes us different it is that he is the orderly yin to my chaotic yang. Further proof of his good soul is that he doesn't care about this. Now and again, we get a snow shovel (hey! not a bad idea) and some sort of minor order comes into our lives for a brief time. His measure of what is important in our lives is "does it make you happy?" He is the firm hand that gently pushed me into a good place. I wish there was a way I could do the same for him. His only fault is an streak of Irish stubborn a mile wide-but only when it comes to himself.

I cannot imagine how empty my life would be without him and my birthday wish for him, to that end, is that he would start taking better care of himself.

May you have many more birthdays and much more love. I read a biography of a famous artist. She said that everyday she would end by lying down and saying quietly in prayer, "thank you for my life" Nothing sums up my feelings more than that simple graceful sentence. I think it was Frida and I know it was a long time ago. Everynight since, that is the last thing I say after goodnight-Gracias por mi vida.

Fish Tales, Kid Congrats, and poor Dear

My staff photographer has taken a few shots of the garden and my personal favorite so far is the wild cherry. It's probably part of the reason that none of us can breathe right at the moment but it sure is lovely.

I have been celebrating the graduation of our son James from college and we are now awaiting the moment when he will have a full time, health benefits job since we are paying his medical insurance to the tune of $500. monthly. I can hear an audible intake of gasping breath when Roger writes out that check but we love the kid and we would wind up paying anyway if, God forbid, he gets sick.

Sorry for the lack of posts-life just seems to be getting in the way and I haven't anything quilty going on right now. It is the birthday season here and Roger's is on Friday. We will be having lobster rolls as requested and a possible lemon blueberry cake from the bakery in the village. You know the one, where you stop at the bank and take out a loan first. Good thing they make a really good lemon blueberry cake-and everything else as well. Mercifully, something happened to them in the bagel dept. I suspect because they are Danish they can't make a bagel to save themselves but in the scope of things-Meh! We are awash with bagel places here-some good. Some really bad! Some have lost the basic concept of the bagel all together. NY is bagel heaven-and bialy's as well. A real bialy is a lost art. There are few places where they actually make a real bialy anymore and what passes for them in grocery stores tastes o.k. if you've never had a real bialy all chewy and centered with real sweet onions. On that note, I never really write complaints to businesses but today I took the time to send a lengthy and concise diatribe to Stop & Shop. They opened a Super S&S right around the corner and it was, by far, a welcome relief from the other grocery stores around here, one of which is so dirty and has deli people who are full of tattoos and look like they need to be dipped. Dirty haired misanthropes that even the rubber gloves can't improve. I don't even want them breathing on my food-UGH! ANYWAY, So here comes this new store-all clean and sparkly and they have everything-flowers, drugs, health food, good and unusual meats, Japanese take out(futomaki, etc.) and deli and a seafood dept. Now, let me just say that I don't get mad easily about this stuff cause by now at this point in life I have come to realize that, 1. they really don;t care what you think in the long run, 2. Complaining only works for the first few months and then everything starts to slide downhill anyway. So in that vein-I don;t complain unless there's something so egregious that it just slaps you in the face. Also let me make a disclaimer-Stop & Shop contributes a goodly amount of money to the Food Pantry-really goodly. They believe in contributions to the neighborhood and civic whatever.

Again, ANYWAY....it's about part way into the 2nd year and last week I go shopping making my final stop the fish dept and futomaki for lunch. I am stopped in my tracks by the fish guy loading up a floor to ceiling case with prepackaged cellophane wrapped fish pieces. Fish in plastic people!! Plastic. and to make matters worse, my Japanese guy who makes the futomaki has been relegated to a tiny case where there are some pre-made rolls languishing and he is no-where in sight. Much grumbling and commiserating with the fish guy later I vow to send them an e-mail to corporate headquarters in Mass. Yesterday I get a coupon in the mail for 33% off of one fresh fish purchase from S&S which explains that my purchase will now be conveniently wrapped in self-serve packaging for my betterment. Who the hell do they think they are kidding. In this village there are no less than 3 fresh fish stores in a walking radius-what idiot thinks that anyone would buy FRESH???? FISH???? in plastic for any reason. So there you have it-my fresh fish rant. They fish guy told me they fired the manager of the fish dept and he's down to a few hours just to load up the case. UGH! fish in plastic...unspeakable little bits of indefinable fish in plastic trays. What the hell is this? It's a coastal island fishing community. The best part is the note on the coupon say, and I quote "Right off the boat, help yourself to first quality"

O.K. If you're still with me-fish rant over....

I'm still in the Curves groove and really enjoying it. I can't believe I actually look forward to it. There must be something to that "craving the burn" thing or wanting the endorphins to kick in. I can't wait to get there. Still a few issues with the right knee so I take that a bit easy.

I must go now and try to clean up the living room since I went out and bought a new recliner for Roger for his birthday. He is still in so much pain from the shoulder injury. Yesterday they made him go for an MRI and the position that his arm and shoulder had to remain in was very painful. He came home in terrible pain. After some Vicodin he was better but that stuff can knock you on your ass if you don't watch it. I hope things improve soon. He's like the rest of us-no patience for debilitating stuff and he can't sleep well with this. Thing is, before he went to the Orthopedic guy last week, the PT guy had him starting to get a glimmer of feeling better. Then the Dr. jerked around the arm and pulled or pushed something too much and now he's miserable again. Poor guy.

Off to get out the vacuum and dust stuff.

bloomin' beautiful

As soon as I took this gorgeous Calla Lily from my husband the other day-I immediately thought of Katherine Hepburn. If you're a movie fan like me you may know what I'm talking about. Famous line from a Kate movie-"the calla lilies are in bloom....sigh" There I go dating myself again.

O.K. Nuff about that. Anyway, aren't they lovely? There are three good sized groups of lilies that can easily be divided and made into 3 separate plants. Yipee! Also-today I noticed that the lily of the valley is out all over the front bank of our house. It's all the way around the other side of the house and very easily forgotten until it's too late. I could just go around there and sit in a pile of lily of the valley for the entire day-happily-breathing in the perfume. There really is nothing on earth that is as magnificent as the natural scent of flowers. After years of working in the industry-I can't think of a single flower scent that matches mother nature for clean, crisp, heavenly smell. When I was much younger we would sometimes go over to the Vanderbilt Mansion across the harbor and walk through the house. I enjoyed it but I was all about getting to the sun room and very elegant porch. It was a colonnade of lovely Spanish tiles on the floor and there in the center was a gardenia bush. It was very old and, they said, was installed there by one of the Mrs. of the family. Even then, 45 years ago, it was 50 years old so I imagine it may not be there now. All of the years since that day I am still reminded of the gardenia bush when I see a picture or am lucky enough to come upon an actual gardenia. No bottled gardenia perfume could ever capture that fragrance. I should probably go over there and check it out sometime.

I don't have much in the way of quilty stuff to show. Still working on finishing Dani's Mom's table runner. Needs binding but I think maybe that will have to wait till next week.

Today I took on the horrible task of going to find some work-out clothes as I only have one pair of pants I'm washing to death. Several suggestions from fellow Curves ladies. Turns out Sears, which I normally hate, has some decent and fairly low priced stuff for the gym(that's all they have) Can I just mention how much I hate cropped pants and Capri's. I really hate them. They look adorable on other people but on my 5' 3" chub-they really look stupid and feel stupid. No choice though so here I am wearing clothes I hate because the only other option was heavier weight winter stuff or plastic-feeling pants that need to be taken up about 5 inches. Can't there be a happy medium for the height challenged. As it is the cropped pants come to my ankle-not my most flattering part but at least not my, aptly named, calves.

Well, I'll leave you now for some prep work for dinner. Nothing exciting tonight. Homemade cole slaw, Kosher hot dogs, grilled baby potatoes, and fresh strawberries. In an act of self-preservation, I'm passing on the baked beans.

Spring in the 'hood

I had a wonderful weekend. My family, as usual, was great to be with and it was quiet and peaceful and somewhat delicious. We had ribs, sweet potato fries, home made cole slaw and corn bread from the new place around the corner. Folks down south would faint at what they charged for a rack of baby backs but we tried to ignore that(BIL Bob bought us the anniversary dinner we didn't get in Feb) and wow was it great. A pretty perfect day to remind me of how fortunate I am. Thanks guys!

I'm giving you a peak at the color of spring around here. As Roger said yesterday, "you wait all year for this color" It's a green that only appears for a brief time. Vivid and intense and in many shades from lime to deep forest. Very alive. Not that the garden is not beautiful the rest of the summer-it's just that spectacular spring green that inspires such bliss. The picture of the harbor is an interesting one because in a wekk or two there will be so many boats that you can nearly walk from boat deck to boat deck around the harbor. This is a brief blissful moment.

A while ago I came home from the grocery store and one of the 2 million trips (sigh) that I have to make there during the week, and this sweet cardinal was back again. Yesterday he practically sat for Roger while allowing photographs of his lovely self to be snapped. Today I was unpacking the stuff from my car and he landed not two feet from me in the gravel. I moved-he stayed-I moved some more...he stayed and re-positioned himself several times, as if to say "I'm ready for my close-up Mr. DeMille" He's still hanging around out there munching seed and looking wonderful against the grey and blue stone. I sort of wonder who he really is. Maybe a relative come home to visit? Is that you Pop? He won't say.

Well, despite the beauty of this day and it is stunningly pretty-I have the requisite crap to accomplish. Laundry, dinner prep. Crap waits for no one!

I promised my honey that I would re-create the meal that Lydia made on her show yesterday. It's a salad that includes roasted Vidalia onions dried black Greek olives, red bliss potatoes and green beans. Finished off with bibb lettuce and oil and vinegar dressing.I may throw in some cheese shavings and roasted peppers- so it's off to the grill. She made a scalopini with wild mushrooms with it but I think we will just have the salad and some good bread, fresh mozzarella and sopressata. Who's up for dinner???

Here are the accompanying shots of winter-Goodbye to all that!

7 random things

1. Despite the fact that I talk to you all on a regular basis, I'm sort of a loner and a hermit. I think it must be difficult to be friends with me. Terry says it's not but she's about my best and only true friend. I know a bunch of people associated with the Food Pantry and members of church groups etc.and folks here and there but none of those people really know me and I don't think I make it easy if they were so inclined. I must come across as a cold and distant person but I'm anything but- it's really just that I don't do the chit-chat stuff well. Even at Curves I noticed all the women are chatting along and I listen but it's rare that I add anything. Getting kicked around a lot when you are young tends to make Dee a painfully quiet and deeply shy person(stop laughing back there). It also makes me a great listener. You could talk and talk and talk and I'd be fine with that. When I do make a friend I am stupidly devoted. That tends to leave me disappointed in humanity a lot. Over the years I've found a way to force myself to be direct and forward and in the process fooled a lot of people into thinking I'm a very with-it kinda gal. Really, I'm still that little girl inside.

2. When I worked for a physician years ago, he had hired another woman to be an assistant at the same time. She loved to do secretarial work and I loved the Dr. stuff. When he was training her to be a surgical assistant she slid down the wall and had to be helped out of surgery from the sight of blood in a very minor procedure. I loved it and only had to restrain myself from verbally expressing my fascination with all things surgical. Like this- "wow would you look at that!" Dr. Zimmerman thought it was funny but told me I had to get a grip on my enthusiasm. He did train me to handle the surgical stuff and looking back on it-why not. I was smart and young and he didn't have to pay me anything. I was in heaven just observing. It was the best and most interesting job I ever had. Unfortunately, he had no medical insurance and paid next to nothing. I was single and young and poor-did I mention young? It was still always exciting and always great fun.When he went on vacation I would borrow his medical texts. How boring can you get huh?

3. I know stuff. Not sure if that makes sense but I have a gift for language and history and stuff that puts most people to sleep. I think it began as something that helped me survive my past. I would lock onto a subject and there were not enough books on the subject to suit me. Obscure things-like studying religions.I will hunt down everything I can find on specific subjects and useless details. It was bad enough before the Internet-now it's just a black hole into which I can easily fall. My friend Terry uses me as a party trick. We will be in a group of people and she will constantly say, "Hey-ask Dee about????" Like someone will do to the guy who can recite all the Presidents backward. Who knew I'd be a living party game and I'm hell at Jeopardy.

4. I was born in Germany. In an ancient medieval town-Augsburg. I came here when I was 3ish and so have no trace of that language even though we spoke it at home for years.

5. Fear of failing has influenced me to a horrible degree. I think it's all part and parcel of the agoraphobia and hermit thing. Part of me is afraid to get started and part is afraid of failure-deadly combination. Just going to the gym everyday is a concerted effort. Not hard, just something I think about for more than a passing moment. I am proud of myself for making it thus far. If I could only apply that to art...hmmmm. Those that can't do-teach?? I'm great at teaching people how do make stuff.

6 I worked a job from the time I was 12 until I had James. My family was in the restaurant business with loads of connections-I was a bus-girl for years-coat check for some time and waitress briefly. Spent a lot of time growing up in kitchens with crazy cooks and crazier waiters and learned a lot of Spanish from busboys(some Italian too)

7. I was a teenager in the late 50s early 60s and the town we live in was so small that I learned to drive at about 12. I can remember driving through the village at that age. My family knew all the cops and I'm not sure if they just turned a blind eye or what but at that point the car was my escape. The family members used to send me out on all kinds of errands-it was fun and my escape.

O.k. that's 7 . and I hate to tag people so tag yourself if you haven't done it already.

I'm in the throws of an awful sinus and allergy thing and I'm going to take something for the headache and put my feet up for a while. Such a beautiful time of year to feel so crummy-snort.

allergies 1- Dee 0

Here's a shot of the table runner I made yesterday. I had the blocks made a few weeks ago and finally put it together. I love this fabric. It was a Keepsake medley of the month some time ago. It's kind of amazing what you can get out of a package of fat quarters. I used this fabric medley to help my friend Diane make a table topper last year and had enough left over to make this with the addition of only a few strips from another couple of fat quarters. Not sure what I'm doing with this but we are coming into the dreaded birthday season. My husband's birthday is May 25th as is Uncle Don's, and Dani's Mom. Cousin Dottie the 27th, mine June 10th, James June 12th, James's girlfriend Dani June 17th as is my best friend Terry's. It's a month long birthday festival. I may use this as a gift for one of those occasions. I think I'll quilt it with different size circles all over. I did this with another piece years ago and liked the way the circles looked on the very square design.

Allergies have got us all down to a certain degree. My poor husband is really suffering. In addition to his shoulder injury-he has not slept a full night in a while. He's really wiped out. This year I am having a lot bronchial problems. When I cough it sounds like I have a bad cold-I don't, it's just the seasonal ick. I may resort to an inhaler but I try to avoid it if I can. I hate that funny, dizzy, feeling you get from it. I am walking on the treadmill today-Curves tomorrow. See you later...

takin' the long way home

Sorry for not blogging much this week-I've been hanging out with my little friends.
Seriously, I'm so sore from the increased activity that I'm making my way around rather slowly from one thing to the next like a robot. I am beginning to feel better but then I knew I would have a couple of bad weeks going in to this exercise program. I like it and it's making me feel good mentally and sort of physically. Not quite in the dancing in the streets mode yet-keep an eye out for me on your block. Yesterday they played a bunch of Beach Boys stuff to accompany the work-out. I am waiting for the day when I too will be dancing and bopping like some of the other gals. This increase in activity comes at the worst time of year for me-I am barely able to breathe through my nose and the pollen is making me feel awful. Yesterday I thought I could lay down and sleep for the whole day. My body ached and I felt like a bus hit me. Today-the sun is shining(big factor in attitude)and I feel much more like it's doing me some good.
I'm not getting a lot done in the quilting-sewing world. I sent out a box-o-books to Tommy the Material Girl yesterday. She was looking for a bear pattern for a baby quilt. While I had that one ready to go I just threw in two other books that had a lot of baby stuff that I know I will never use again. I'm sure I will make baby quilts again but Tommy was interested in applique and I have come to the sad realization that my eyes and hands are just not that comfy doing that stuff anymore. I think that's why I'm really enjoying the fusible applique stuff so much. I could do the regular applique but as we all know, I have issues with perfection and so I would make my little hands into tiny little angry mitts of pain. At this point in my life I've pretty much decided to take the "if it doesn't feel like fun, I'm not doing it" approach to my art. Taking a meaningful line from some deep thinking sage..."if not now-when? If I don't enjoy what I'm doing now pushing that 60 hard, when exactly will I feel comfortable in my artistic shoes??? I think this is the great thing about being this age. You finally let go of so many useless things and hopefully some stupid expectations. I was always a woman who needed to get dressed and put on my make-up before being seen in public. These delightful woman I work out with are helping me not feel self-conscious about how I look. It's very liberating to someone who thought she was fairly liberated to begin with. A new approach perhaps.In so many ways, peace is what I'm after. Like giving away the two quilts to charity and the books I've given away lately. It's all leading to lightness-hopefully of spirit and body.
I would kill for a piece of chocolate

Oh the shoes!!! and progress on the bright blocks

I got this sweet little book at the Library the other day and I can only call it eye candy for the shoe lover. Every page is filled with beautiful pictures and some of the simple ideas are fun. Like embellishing flip flops with ribbon, beads or flowers. Most of the shoes are seriously theatrical but just stunning to look at. Fun.

These are a few of the blocks I made yesterday with the brights. I'm really enjoying this very much. It's very liberating, cheerful, and relaxing.
I have just come from my work-out at Curves. My right knee is still bothering me but I took it easier today on pace. My natural pace of walking is rather fast and I find that I zoom in and plow ahead too fast. I must relax and enjoy the journey more. Funny thing today though. I got on the first machine and looked across the room only to see my next door neighbor on one as well-we both had a good laugh about that. Joan is a lovely woman who was friends with my late MIL Dot. She's probably in her 70s and going along pretty well. Gives me hope
Well, not sure I'll post again till Monday. Lots of stuff to catch up with in the house and I have to strike while the energy level is high.

color riot-get out your sunglasses

Look at the difference in these pictures!! These are the same blocks-wahhappend?? They really look moe like the ones on the right.

I'm experiencing a burst of energy and it's affecting my color choices. I really want to work with brighter and happier colors-reflection of attitude..maybe...probably. Whatever is causing it-it's fun. I found a PP pattern for pinwheels on a Carol Doak program I have and printed out some yesterday. When I was choosing fabric I kept on going to the very bright happy stuff. and thus you have this riot of color. I have a lot of fat quarters of this bright hand dyed looking stuff (maybe Cherrywood) it's made to look almost like suede and I love this stuff. So I pulled out that and some of the wilder stripes I bought not knowing what I would do with them but knowing I had to have them-they are cotton happiness. New box of crayons. I like this. I know these colors are startling to some people but I see them often on sites like Anna Maria Horner and Heather Bailey and JuJu. I really have fallen inlove with this palette. When the Kaffe Fassett fabrics first came out I was taken back by the fact that I liked them-liked them very much. This is not the type of fabric that I have bought in the past-but that's just it...I think that there may be less of that traditional fabric for a while for me.

Some years ago I had a wonderful woman who was counselling me through a rough time and knew that I had these artistic tendencies. She asked me what I would do if I had all the room, supplies and time I wanted. We discussed that all of the things I usually did were very small and precise. Sort of constipated art(sorry but that's the best description I can think of)by someone who is trying to break free of what I have been taught is right and what is within. We discussed several people who I really find wonderful, and to me, worked in a large format-sometimes with intense, vivid colors-Diego Rivera, Fernando Botero-then the grand sweeping American landscapes of Edward Hopper Charles Demuth, Winslow Homer, and so on. I wondered what it would be like to just go wild with abandon-art wise. Anyway, this is by way of saying that I think I'm moving into a bit more of a free and easy approach to color and having fun with this thing called being creative. Joyous-if you will. Huh...whoda thunk...joyous.

what's this you say? Well, I've shown the geese on black before but yesterday Rian mentioned and showed the gorgeous fabric she has dyed to make vests with geese on black. I really must do something with these blocks sometime soon.

I took a day off from Curves-I go back tomorrow morning. I can't tell you how much I ache in places I didn't know could ache. It's o.k. though-I feel like I'm doing something good-having a hard time with my right knee though. All the machines there are great and they feel good even using them but the in between where you jog or run in place(that's walking in place for me)is bothering my knee. I think I'll just take that aspect a little slower. There is a woman at Curves on Wed. who I would guess is 10 years older than me and a tiny bit of a thing. She doesn't just jog in place-she levitates and bounces and dances-good grief she puts everyone in the room to shame-I want to be her when I grow up

quick ideas for a good read.

Get yourself these books-borrow them,buy them, whatever. Eat Pray Love is the best book I've read in a very long time. I could hardly put it down. It's about life after emotional disaster. I wish this book was around a couple of years ago. It's up-lifting and beautiful. The author makes you feel like you are having a chat with dinner and wine. I can't believe how good it makes me feel to read it. I no longer belong to the church I grew up in for various reasons which I won't go into here but I am a woman of deep and abiding faith. After Sept. 11th 2001 my faith was shaken to the core along with many others. It left me emotionally bereft and in a kind of suspended animation I have never felt before-even when I was in the throws of depression years ago. This book addresses that in the most interesting way. It's really like having a conversation with a friend who has hit bottom and is talking about the journey back. Good reading.

The other book is one I haven't read yet but have on order. It's a fascinating look at a whole other worlds thirty stories up in the air inthe Redwood tree canopy. The guy was on NPR discussing it and my husband said it sounded fascinating. I read the Times review on Sunday and even though I'm far from a tree hugger-I can't wait to read about this newly discovered little micro-planet way up in the trees.

I'm off to exercise now- see you later.

Ahoy Babes,

Here I am with all my friends standing watch on the topside. Hey-where are you guys???

I have returned from Curves with lots of energy and feeling superfantastic. made it through the workout and the stretch and with only a bright red face to show for it. After about an hour and a cold shower-I went to the grocery store to get more salad fixins and such-stopped by to pick up some futomaki for lunchmmmm and home to drink lots of water and collapse in a heap of virtuousness. I am now the good me.

Seriously-the woman at my local Curves is a gem. She walked me through everything including the stretch with great humor and sweetness. I could have stayed another half hour. It was, dare I say it, fun. It played out at the grocery just like I imagined. Everytime I looked at something really forbidden I thought about how long it would take to work that item off my large belly bits.

I stopped at the Library to see my best friend-who it turned out had a day off and appears to be hiding somewhere-I'll root her out later. Picked up an old copy of Gwen Marston's Liberated Quiltmaking-fun book. and the new Nelson DeMille-love him. Well I've done more than enough for the moment-Good Book, futomaki, cold iced tea, feet up. See you tomorrow.

the gardener was here-quilty purses & little beasties

Here are some purses I made with Japanese fabric and a small piece of Kaffe Fassett. I'm deciding what I want to do with these-they are too big to group together for the 12x12 piece so I may make some more and just make a random wallhanging of purse prettiness. Lord knows I need some girly stuff around here. I really need to get much more familiar with my machine and all the stitches I can do. The handles came out kinda crappy. I may applique some handles on over what's there.

Just call me Lady Chatterley(heh heh)My own sweet gardener was out & about with lots of Pansie prettiness-actually I think these are viola but I'm calling them my pansies and that's that. Roger came home from a Friday trip to Lowes with a trunk full of these babies and a truckload of thistle seed for the goldfinches. They are happily twittering outside the window. I can report that we have gone directly from the first few days of warmish spring to full-on summer. It is currently 78 degrees. Not complaining but could we work up to it a week or two at a time?? Tomorrow is my first day at Curves-pray for me. Today I went to Target to get some exercise pants and tees. I hope this old creaking body doesn't just give out. On Saturday I didn't measure how far I walked on the treadmill but instead measured if I could exercise for 30 min. straight. I made it to 33-yay.

I may have mentioned before that I love to feed the squirrels and chipmunks in my yard. This is great fun but I pay for it this time of year and here's how. Saturday-Roger planted the flowers and by this morning the squirrels had dug up the entire plant plugs and laid them neatly on the dirt. Who says they aren't funny? I came home and there they were-pansies-sideways in neat little piles-not eaten or disturbed in any way. Just lying on there little colorful sides. As I was backing up to the house to empty the car I saw in the rear-view mirror bushy tails ducking under the porch slats. Wise guys! I think they're pissed because all winter long they sunned themselves in the empty flower boxes onthe railing and when Roger put the flowers in he put a moth ball under the dirt at each corner cause they really don't like mothballs(who does) And so...it is war.

One last thing before I go for a walk. Rian asked about the sweet potatoes. They are like having candy for dinner. All you do is get yourself some good olive oil-brush the halved potatoes with it and sprinkle cinnamon very lightly and salt-grill cut side down for 15 min. and turn over for another 10. when they are done you can see the potato bubble a bit. Get a plate and fork and have dessert for dinner. With the plain Yukon Gold potatoes or red bliss-I mix a little Lawry's salt with the olive oil and grill the same way. Heavenly.

I'll be back with updates on my pain tomorrow-wish me luck

This is not my picture but it was so pretty that I blatantly swiped it from Google-I hope they don't arrest me....