I guess I forgot....

Nancy and I finished our stitchalong last week! I posted it on facebook, but forgot to here... sooo.... drumroll....




This will probably be framed and donated to the EEAI MEEC auction. (www.eeai.net)

15 books

Over on facebook this is going around- list the first 15 books that come into your head.

1. Finger Licking Fifteen (reading now)
2. Grass for His Pillow (interrupted to read #1)
3. The Sparrow (best book ever)
4. A Thread of Grace (same author- so that was next in the brain fog)
5. Forrest Gump (because I was just telling someone how horrible it was)
6. Island of the Blue Dolphins (my favorite as a kid)
7. My Side of the Mountain (another childhood favorite)
8. The Egg and I (still hilarious after 40 years)
9. The Handmaid's Tale (the last Atwood I read- a favorite author- which reminds me of...)
10. Cat's Eye (also Atwood)
11. Whip Hand (The book that started my love affair with Dick Francis)
12. Angela's Ashes (because Dick Francis is English and that reminded me of Irish Frank McCourt)
13. Angels and Demons (just saw the movie so that's floated up from the depths)
14. The DaVinci Code (because if Angels and Demons)
15. The Lorax- my first "green" book

These are not my favorites now, or books that I can't live without- but the question was list the first 15, and those surfaced first.

The best books ever would include Les Miserables, The Count of Monte Cristo, Fahrenheit 451, and loads of others that are just now floating into memory... but that list is for another day.

week 3- october sky stitchalong

Week 3-
Nancy and I are on on week three of our stitchalong, and I'm about 2/3rds done. I'll see Nancy tonight so check her progress. Next week, the last row and the beads, and I'll be ready to frame. (Oh stop laughing- I do actually get stuff framed once in a while!) I think I may donate this piece to an auction for my favorite non-for profit (EEAI- www.eeai.net), I'll just have to see.....

Just ramblings

So the kitten has a new home. She'll be out of the rain and cold, and there's no danger of her being eaten by a coyote (my biggest fear) so I'm very satisfied. We miss her (even after only a week) but things are much calmer. Our two cats are getting along much better, probably that shared enemy thing, but I don't expect that to last.

DH-- Oh where to start...
His car broke down. The timing belt broke, and maybe he bent the valves. So I told him weeks ago to take his car into the shop to check the belt because it was making noise. Did he? When it would have only cost a few hundred to replace a belt? Oh no- so far it's about $700+ and we haven't even talked valves yet. **sigh**

man rule #1- things don't heal. You have to fix them. (ie- the water heater, the kitchen sink, the bathtub knobs, the crappy floors, the car.) Saying you are going to do it is not the same as doing it.

man rule #2- If you do what your wife says, you will get sex. (always need an incentive)

man rule #3- If you ignore your wife, she will bitch at you. Forever. You may still get sex, but you won't get those extra perks you like.

That's all to say....


maybe....


Yeah, for now.




School has started and I have great classes! I haven't taught since last fall, so my patter is a bit rusty, but with three classes, I'm getting well rehearsed. I just love teaching in the summer. Things move along and the students seem to work better together because they see each other more often. And I go outside more, which I really like.

visiting kitten

A kitten has adopted me. She's only a few months old, and very sweet. She just showed up and loves to follow me around the yard, pouncing on grass, her tail, any bird that tries to eat from the platform feeder (unsuccessfully so far). No one in my neighborhood has reported a missing kitten, and Sparks and Merlin are NOT amused by the invader living on the deck. I refuse to take her to the pound, so I'm trying to find a home for her. Yesterday she hid all day and it was stormy, but this morning she was back and hungry!

Stitchalong update-week 2

Week 2- Nancy and I agreed that we could do the top row this week, so here's mine- minus the beads.

So... how's it going on your end, Nancy?

Book Review- Across the Nightingale Floor-Lian Hearn

This is the first of a series, and I now have to get the rest! It's supposed to be a "fantasy" location, but yeah, it's ancient Japan. Excellent story, wonderful characters, even if there some mystical love of honorable suicide woven throughout. It's a quick read, but just right for summer! I passed it along to the men in my life. This is right up their alley- fighting for honor and ninjas who can disappear. I can totally see this as a movie and a video game.

Stitchalong week one

So my stitching pal Nancy and I are working the same pattern at the same time. We are doing the October Sky Sampler by Elizabeth Foster.
This week:
Neither of us could count the stitches around the border from the pattern. Oh the pattern is very clear, we just talk too much to count, which greatly amused our stitching group. I thought it was 97, Nancy had 84, and it was 87. So guess who stitched 97 stitches before she recounted? Yup. Rippit, rippit the first day.
We agreed that we could finish the border before we meet again.

Here's the photo of our first night (two hours) work.
Be prepared to be underwhelmed. See there... two little lines of stitching.
More to come!

Tough day today

This year is a bit better than last year. It's the 2nd anniversary of my father's death. I still miss him every day, but I don't get teary much anymore. I still get very emotional when I watch something about someone dying of cancer. Even just dying is hard, even though I know we will all do it some day, and I'm ok with that. Well, I'm not trying to rush it or anything, but I'm not deluding myself that I'm going to pluck harps and walk on streets of gold.

So in thinking about Dad, I think about all that has changed. Not much, really. I still get up every day and go to work. I still work in the garden, go to school, wish I was closer to my family but don't do anything about it, wished I exercised more and ate less, and don't do anything about that either. Should my life have changed? Should I have had some kind of epiphany and now only do good works, feed the hungry, make a difference- and be insufferably devout about something? Well, that hasn't happened yet. Maybe yext year.

So Dad, if you are out there in the ether somewhere- I miss you, and I wish you were still here to play cribbage with and talk with and annoy me with trying to save my soul. Your lilac tree is blooming in my backyard. Your old alligator is in my front yard, looking the worse for wear with his broken nose and missing tail, but I'll keep him until he disintegrates into concrete rubble. I still use your hammer. Your photo with the missing hair from chemo is over my desk, and you are smiling next to Matt. And I think of you when I hear Johnny Cash sing "Ring of Fire."

And especially when I hear "I'm so Lonesome I Could Cry."

And then I do.

Book review- The Forest Lover by Susan Vreeland

I really enjoyed this book. It seems like it took forever to read, but that was because of demands on my time, not because the book was boring.

I hadn't heard of Emily Carr, but the title alone was enough to get me to read this. The story is compelling and her artwork is beautiful. After reading this I went online to see the works mentioned in the book. I really got a feel for her work, her life, and her spirit.

Each chapter is headed by the name of a tree, and other than Ms.Carr liking trees, I don't see much of a significance in that. There's a bit of a time issue. I got disoriented from one section to the next because of a time jump.

four out of five for subject and expressiveness.