Monday, November 3rd

Last year, when November was over I was dumbfounded!  Where had the month gone to?  On the first, it's my sister's birthday and whammy all of a sudden it's the other sister's birthday followed closely by Thanksgiving.

And nothing was done in preparation for Christmas.  Well, not NOTHING, but not nearly enough.

I've about decided that the reason the Christmas promotions begin before Halloween is because so many of us are old and slow.  It doesn't have much to do with merchandising, does it?

But with blogging every day, the month will pass as it should, with every day being experienced and not flying by in a blur.

The other thing I'm doing this month is disposing of ten items each day.  I will make trips to Goodwill, and I will put books in public places with Book crossing bookmarks in them.  Today I found a box of picture frames that I brought home from a job I had about ten years ago.  If I haven't needed them until now, chances are I'll never need them.  Kitchen gadgets could go too, if I didn't have to check with Good Guy about every one.  He's just like my dad was.  What if I need it someday?  Good luck finding it, that's all I can say.

Another thing I should cull is the cookbook collection.  I'm just as bad as he is about cookbooks.  I think, between our recipe boxes and the internet, we have enough information.  Yet even though I cook so seldom, I have a powerful attachment to those cookbooks.

I love coming across the notes I made about never to cook something again----everyone thought it was disgusting, or something tasted great but we had to soak the pan for 24 hours because it made a mess.  Proof that I have lived and actually accomplished something one day, long ago.

I believe the time has come for me to set forth and accomplish something today.  My electrical slaves are already hard at work doing laundry and such.

See you tomorrow.  Leave me a comment so I don't feel as alone as the 2 a.m. DJ.

Road Tripping by Telephone

Yesterday afternoon I got a phone call from my pal, Lucy, who invited me to head north with her to the Land of Lake Effect Snow.  She was going to visit her sister for an overnighter, and thought I'd like to visit my sister too.

I would love to do that, but my sisters are both finishing their visit to Virginia and North Carolina to spend time with their respective children.  They will be traveling home beginning tomorrow morning and can keep me posted about their progress, thanks to mobile phone technology.

About the only thing I use my mobile phone for is texting, and I have been giving serious thought to upgrading.  I am paying for a number of services which my phone doesn't care to perform.

I have never, ever, ever been so trendy that I wanted the latest thing.  I'm sort of a Luddite just on principle----and I've been trying to figure out why.  Back in the early days of "new stuff" appearing, I couldn't afford to even think about having it, so I guess I decided not to want it.  But I know they are a big help when traveling if they can (1) connect and (2) have mapping help, or directions, and access to other information.

If you have any recommendations to share, I would be happy to hear them.  At the very least, they will give me something to ponder before I hit the electronics market.  I could just call my son but that seems like cheating.  I don't want to hurt his feelings if I should ignore his advice, either.  That could happen.  That I'd ignore his advice.

My new son-in-law would be a good source of info too.  He has my daughter using a droid, which does everything I'd need---and probably lots more.

Back to watching the New York Marathon.  Huff, puff.

By the way, what are you reading????

NaBloPoMo

In the interest of having a stab at self-discipline, I am going to post every day this month. That cryptic title stands for National Blog Posting Month.  I think.

She said, bravely, with good intentions.

As befits Halloween,(at least the way I remember the way my children used to have to wear winter gear over their costumes, no matter how clever they happened to be,) we got snow to celebrate.

After last winter, I only know one person who is happy about snow arriving.  That would be my son, known here as The Photographer.  He likes the cold and the snow.  Truly a one in a million man.

But as for Good Guy and myself, we are starting to give serious thought to snow-birding this year.  Especially if we could get The Photographer to house and pet sit for us.  We are negotiating.

What else will we talk about here this month?  The weather, Thanksgiving, what makes Christmas for me---and possibly for you, sisters, kids, cats and dogs.  Sock monkeys.  Throwing away clutter.  Quilts and yarn made items.

Basically, I only talk about the ephemera of my life, as circumscribed as that may be.  I may have a rant or two about auto-correct.  Do I hear an "Amen"???

I assume it won't be necessary to affix a photograph of snow.  Actually the sun melted it away pretty quickly so you can just picture green grass.

See you tomorrow.

Congratulations and Best Wishes

See this little chapel in the woods?  This was the site of the wedding of the Webers last Saturday.

They didn't want to elope, She wanted to be married by a minister, but they did not want a big wedding.

So this was the perfect answer for them.  It held about a dozen people.  The bride, the groom, the minister, two witnesses, and their spouses, two children (belonging to the minister), and two parent types.  (Good Guy and myself).

They seem pretty tickled to have tied the knot.

Not much about the weekend was traditional at all.  They and their friends all went mountain biking together in the morning.  (We weren't fussing around with the flowers or caterers---we went to the laundromat, because we had been on the road for a week and needed to prepare for yet another week before we got home.)

We managed to find one item to fill in for "Something old, borrowed, and blue," when she wore my birthstone ring on her pinkie finger.

We were all prepared for tear-shedding, but nobody cried.  At least not that I noticed.  The groom warned us that he was prepared and hoped we wouldn't think less of him if that should happen.  Are you kidding me?  There could be something wrong with a gentle, soft-hearted guy?

Also attending----though not at the chapel-----were the three dogs owned by the bride and groom.  They aren't well mannered enough to sit quietly at a wedding, though nobody was tempted to invite them to the ceremony.  They were along for the weekend though.

Here two of them are, decked out in their ties.

We have here Rusty and Molly.  Off to the right is the bride's chocolate lab, Maddie.

Following the ceremony we had a gourmet pizza supper and rich, dense, delicious wedding cake.

They did some traditional things.  Meaningful, moving vows.  Wedding cake, Rings, And they were good friends before deciding to marry.

We wish them all happiness and health.

Daylight Equality

According to the calendar, we will have as much daylight as darkness today.

 As Anais Nin said, There is always more wonder.   It is kind of amazing to me that in a world full of chaos, they can predict the course of our little ball of Earth for eons in advance.

That we can rely on the fact that the days will truly begin to get longer again by the end of December.  I'm not a pagan, but it is no wonder to me that it was cause for celebration at the time of the passing of the winter solstice, either.  My forebears in Sweden traditionally had a mighty celebration at the time of Midsummer in June.  Personally, I feel sad that the days will be growing shorter once again.  I like lots of daylight!

Maybe we should plan on spending summer in Alaska, and our winter in the Southern Hemisphere.  Now there's a plan.

But who will take care of my cats?

This gal has adjusted to her twice daily medicine and the fact that treats or food are dispensed after I have administered medicine.  She comes to find me when it is time.  I don't know how long it will take her to gain some weight though.  It seems that I can feel every bone in her body through her fur.

Can cats learn to make sounds that seem to upset us?  Until a month ago, I had never heard a cough, and now I think she does it for attention.  What do you think?

In other news, it seems to be quilt show season in our neck of the woods.  Kay and I went to a nearby show on Saturday, and tonight there's another in a town just a short distance away.  We will take in as many as possible, and take pictures as well.  (Just what I need!  More ideas for projects!)

I wish you a happy autumn season.  It is a beautiful time of the year here.

Turn, Turn, Turn

I wonder how many times I've posted a change of seasons post with that title.  I won't go back to check, but it's the song that goes through my mind as the leaves change colors, or the snow begins falling, or the days get longer once again.

Things have been busy here.  Sister #2 and her Wonder Dog, Daisy, have been visiting often for sessions with a professional "trainer" type person.  She is pleased with the results.

Over the weekend she and I spent a weekend down the road to meet and visit with an old friend of my mom's and of ours.  She had a ride from Minnesota with a group of friends, so she called and asked if we would make time for a visit with her.  It was a precious time together.  She is getting up in age and has had multiple health problems in the past, but we were delighted to see her ambulatory with all her wits about her.

She had driven down with a group that was going to visit and provide music at the church we grew up in.  A men's quartet!  What better music than that for the morning service?  I love men's voices singing harmony!  They also were visiting because the pulpit is being filled (temporarily) by the man who had been the pastor of the Minnesota church, a very much loved fellow.  He was one of the tenors in the quartet as well.

So the visit was fun, the church service was great, and I felt very well loved, visiting this congregation.  We wondered if we would know anybody, but a number of my school mates were there and other old faithfuls knew us.

In stitching news, I am knitting a pair of socks for a Christmas present.  I went for about a week without any knitting and I was lost.  In the gaps between projects I sometimes make a few dishcloths because my friends always like a nice bright new one.  Just something to whip out and put by the sink when special company is coming.  Like Queen Elizabeth or Lady GaGa.

My quilting projects is on the cusp between designing and parts of blocks.  Yesterday at my quilting group I spent the whole time trimming finished blocks and resizing triangles that were too large.  People with no spatial sense do a lot of backtracking.  This morning I took the seams out of the other bits that were the wrong size.

My sisters will laugh at me, because I'm always telling them to just lop things off----nobody will ever know.  Sister 2 "unstitches" huge projects.  Once she even undid all the machine quilting of a whole quilt for a cousin of ours.  Sister 3 and I just shook our heads in disbelief, but she did it, successfully.

I thought I had nothing much to share with you, but I was gently, helpfully reminded that I hadn't posted anything for a long time.  So, Judy, my dear, this is for you.  I hope you are now up to date.

If you are someone else who stopped by, thanks!  Come again.  You never know when something fun will happen.

What It Turned Out to Be

I sewed and sewed Rail Fence blocks and ended up with this.  I added a dark rust checked border after I took this picture.

Thanks for all the strips, Ruth!