Bunny in a bowl

Here is a bunny I made for BCG one Easter when she was living in the college dorm. She thought it was really cute and thanked me lots. However, when it came home from college with her a couple years later I was sad to discover it had gathered lots of dust. I'll stop short of saying it was a dustmop. More likely it was a dust rag. Bunny is fine now though. He just needs to sit outside in the sun and fresh air now and then...which is what he is doing today.

The bowl he's sitting in is one I crocheted. My original intent was to crochet a hat for Tech Guy. He said he was happy with it, and it seemed to fit him well, but he ended up using it as a bowl. I have no idea what sorts of things he kept in it, but I'm sure a good airing out can't hurt it either. I didn't have a pattern for it. I just crocheted a circle, and then decreased a few stitches all around to get the sides to turn up, then continued on till it looked right. If I do another one I'll use a bulkier yarn. The sides on this one are floppy. It might be a good candidate for felting. I suppose I'll have to get Tech Guy's permission.

So Mr. G and I are looking forward to a big event tomorrow. Our town has scheduled a day on which residents can take old furniture, free of charge, to the dump. We've been pondering for months what to do with Mr. G's old recliner, so this is like a dream come true. This is definitely a trip Mr. G could do by himself, but I'm sure he'll want me along for company. So I'll make myself useful by opening the car door for him and making sure he doesn't bump his head while hauling the chair out. I'll remember to take an assortment of bandaids. I might also have to tell a few good jokes to keep him entertained if there's a line. And I will, of course, take my camera because there is sure to be some good blog fodder at an occasion like this. There might even be some folks who are going with the intention of picking things up.

As for knitting news, I've come to a halt on the elderberry sweater. Per the instructions, I've done a row of single crochet around the neck and I'm not sure I like it. Now I'm pondering whether to rip it out and do it over, or just do two rows and see if I like that better. For now I'm just following my usual procedure for dealing with things that I find challenging: walk away for a few days and hope that when I go back my fairy godmother will have made it all better......

The traveling afghan

I've noticed lots of granny square afghans on my trips around blogdom lately, so I thought I'd share mine. Actually, I've made several--all of which were completed long before this current wave of granny square mania. The great thing about granny squares is they are small and make a great portable project. But, yes, the day does eventually come when you have to sew them all together......that is, if you want an afghan and not just a pile of granny squares.

This particular afghan is one I made for Mr. Gadget's Aunt Jessie. She was always his favorite, and he has fond memories of many childhood outings with her. His parents weren't ones for taking kids around and about, but Aunt J had no children and loved nothing more. So the afghan was a little "thank you," many years belated, that I did on Mr. G's behalf.

Aunt Jessie was always very frugal, however, and never used the good dishes or the special towels.....or the handcrafted afghan it seems. Somewhere along the line, she gave it to her sister, my mother-in-law, for safekeeping, and it came back to me after she passed away. I kind of hate to admit where it traveled next, but it ended up riding around the northeast in the trunk of BCG's car. This was because we insisted that she have some means of keeping warm if, heaven forbid, the car broke down in Massachusetts in the middle of January. I'm sure she was in a hurry to go out the door one evening, and the Aunt J afghan was within easy grabbing distance.

Then after BCG moved to the big city and didn't need the car, Tech Guy started driving it, and the afghan continued to travel--to God only knows where. But it did make its way back home a few weeks ago when TG got his new VW bunny and we sold the car. I must say it has stayed in remarkably good condition for all it's been through, and a gentle washing did away with the aroma of trunk.

Now I'm thinking maybe we should give it back to Aunt Jessie. She's about 95 now and not quite as sharp as she used to be, and she doesn't see very well either. I could lay it across her lap in her wheelchair and when she asks me what it is, I'll just say, "Oh, this old thing? Just an old blanket I found in the attic."

So I meant to mention this in my last post, but there were too many other things. Big City Girl gave her dad.....that would be Mr. Gadget......a new baseball cap for his birthday. It's a subway cap, featuring the train she occasionally rides in Brooklyn.

Just a coincidence, I suppose, that it's the "G" train......

The Tuesday blahs

I seem to have a case of the blahs today, but I was able to put them on hold long enough to list Luella on eBay. It wasn't easy though. Whenever I've taken a vacation from eBay, I always notice they've gone and changed things by the time I get back. I really think they could be friendlier to those of us who like the whole eBay idea, but who have short memories and techno-challenges.

It's been a busy few days here at the Macaroni mansion, mainly due to birthdays and my having set an unfortunate precedent way back in the early years of making them special. I could tell stories of how that has come back to bite me, but I will spare you the sob stories. On Sunday, Mr. G., Tech Guy and I took the train to NYC.


We met Big City Girl and her boyfriend, who shall be known as BCBF until I can come up with a more clever designation, and one that doesn't refer to tallness in any way....heh...heh, at Grand Central Station. It was here that we presented BCG with her bag of birthday goodies, and she generously offered to carry it to our lunch destination.


Between courses of pickles, french fries, chicken sandwich and chocolate cake, BCG opened her gifts and seemed quite impressed with my wrapping job.


After a lovely lunch, we shared some hugs and parted company as BCG and BCBF headed off to the subway, and we three made our way back to Grand Central just in time to catch the 3:50. I love a nice leisurely train ride, but the boys get impatient....what with the audacity of the train making all those stops before ours. I felt compelled to share some mom wisdom with Tech Guy. "You know, if you weren't doing this, you'd just be doing something else."

And as if that wasn't enough birthday excitement, Mr. G. had his yesterday. No train rides were involved, but I did bake him a special apple pie. I'm not sure how well the photo will show it, but I did get crafty with the knife and cut some "Mr. G" steam vents in the top.

So now it's back to the blahs. Maybe I'll just sit and knit until my birthday......

Progress happens

Here is Luella. She told me her name as I was applying her lipstick. She isn't quite finished yet; she still needs feathers in her hat and some shoe decorations. This time I lined the hat with a red print fabric....much more interesting than just boring old felt. What with two birthday celebrations coming up (BCG's in the big city on Sunday, and Mr. G's on Monday here at home) I've decided to postpone listing her on eBay till next week. That should still allow sufficient time for eager buyers to clamor for her as an Easter gift for a dear red hat mom.

I also finished up the knitting on the elderberry sweater for moi. I am happy that this one will require no seaming, since the body was knitted in the round, and the sleeves were picked up and also knitted that way. There are ends to weave in however, and I'll need to do a row of single crochet around the neck. Good thing I know my way around a crochet hook! Then it needs a little washing (per instructions from The Green Mountain Spinnery whose pattern and yarn I used.) I should be able to wear it for maybe a week tops. This would be the time between the disappearance of the snow and the day we install the air conditioners.....also known as New England spring.

The other day I mentioned a couple of weird things about me, and one of those was my interest in tracking things. Then I realized that Mr. G. has one of those weird things too, only his has to do with making tracks. Many years ago, right after he bought a snowthrower, he got into a habit of clearing a track all the way around the house. Although he never fessed up to this, I think it was for the benefit of our cat.

Sparkle was not a cat to go out and get her paws snowy, or her furry butt for that matter, so she quickly learned to sit patiently by the door until the way was clear, and then she would bound out. The track became quite a popular winter attraction in our neighborhood. Once we looked out and noticed a big black standard poodle doing multiple laps at a full gallop. Another time a small family of deer used it as a rest stop. They were probably worn out from all that munching they did on our azalea bushes.

So now that I'm almost between knitting projects, I'm giving thought to what I might want to start next. I do have a sock to finish.....I'm afraid I succumbed to second sock syndrome. I'm thinking it might be fun to try one of those pretty felted handbags. I've got the knitting needles. I've got the washing machine. Ooops.....I don't have the appropriate yarn. Hmmmmm.....guess I'll just have to go shopping.

Big City Birthday

Today is Big City Girl's 23rd birthday. My, my, where does the time go? It seems like only yesterday she was a little girl getting ready to go off to school for "picture day," and her mom, obviously not sufficiently caffeinated, grabbed the kitchen scissors to give her a little bang trim.
That was well before the purple hair phase and the skinny beaded braid phase, and the phase of wearing funny hats so that very little hair was visible at all. I really tried hard not to comment very much, as I pined away for the days of the lovely hair she was born with, uneven bangs and all. Older, more experienced moms warned me that kids go through stages, and if I was patient and kept my mouth shut, the original version would return. I tried and it has.

The birthday placemat is one I made back when I was going through my machine-applique phase. The fabric letters were all made from my scrap pile. I did make BCG a cute little dress out of the "B" fabric, and a blouse for her and her doll out of the alphabet-print "A." I think the blue "A" and "Y" were kitchen curtains. I did a lot of machine-applique a few years ago, but I finally got appliqued out. Well, I'm not sure if it was that, or if I just got weary from the frequent trips out to buy more thread. I had no clue about the thread requirements.

Just for the record, I've abandoned my red doll hat experiment. Sometimes the old way of doing things ends up being the best. A gathered circle of felt works well for the top, and the place where I join it to the brim is covered with tulle trim anyway, so any little uneven stitches don't show. I can make one fairly quickly, and without getting my hands dirty.

I'm hoping to get a Red Hat Lady done this week so I can put her up on eBay. I haven't sold anything on eBay for a while, and it's always fun to watch the auction.....you know how I like to track things. I haven't thought of a name yet, but I'm sure one will pop up, maybe as I'm making up her face. At the moment I have cocktail glasses full of doll feet in the kitchen. Just business as usual.
Mr. Gadget is recuperating slowly from his deck mishap. He has gone out to lunch with a friend, and is no doubt having a glass of wine to help deal with the discomfort. I'm feeling a little badly now about having had a chuckle or two over his tendency toward deck accidents. It seems I've suddenly developed a pain of my own, and for no apparent reason. My right leg is sore, making it painful to get up and down out of a chair, and walk up and down stairs. I can only hope that these are not signs of early-onset curmudgeonism. Please let me know if you ever notice any signs here of special rules and regulations for blog readers.....

Bunnies for all

Well it seems that Tech Guy didn't want to be outdone by his sister and her bunny Bam Bam,

so he went down to the pet store.....heh...heh.....and picked up one of these:

While Bam Bam will just eat a few bunny pellets and some hay now and then, Tech Guy's bunny is more likely to consume gallons and gallons and gallons.

And my science experiment, while not providing the exact result I wanted, tells me I'm on the right track.

I was hoping the picture would speak for itself, but I can see now that it might be confusing. The red felt that I stiffened for the top of the doll hat is actually so stiff that it supports canned goods. I do believe I can get the shape I want with a lighter coat of stiffener. Also, I need to remember not to apply it at the very bottom, otherwise I won't be able to get the needle through the fabric when I'm attaching it to the brim. Further experimenting is required, but I am confident.

And as promised, here is a picture of the neighbor's treehouse:

It was built around two trees, both of which come up through the roof. This, of course, provides easy entry for spiders, mice, squirrels, and even racoons I suppose. Just the perfect place for little girls to play. My guess is that it will serve a purpose one day. When they get ready to sell the house, I'm sure it will have much curb appeal for a family with active, adventurous boys. I can only hope we've moved on by then.

And finally, today Mr. Gadget is resting as he recuperates from a nasty encounter with our deck yesterday. Since this is his second mishap with the deck, I've promised him I won't spread any of the details around the blog. But I've also made him promise never to go near the deck again...at least while he's married to me.....with any sort of a tool or power machinery. I keep encouraging him to take up knitting, but so far he's not going for it.....

Frog Blog

I guess I'm going to have to do a little frogging on the first sleeve of the elderberry sweater. I should have tried it on about 5 or 6 rows ago when the sleeve would have been just the right length. That would have been easy enough, since it's knit in the round. Hoping to feel better, I invited this little guy down from the bookcase. Maybe he'll make me laugh and I won't feel so badly about it. I made him quite a few years ago, and I also made him lots of froggie friends. I even made a yellow one for one of Tech Guy's girlfriends. I never heard the story behind that, but at least it broke the monotony.

So today is just a miserable last-blast-of-winter (I hope!) kind of day. Here, you can see that most of the time on a day like this we do get a visit from the mailman. Neither sleet nor snow nor Friday afternoon will keep the mail from being delivered around here.

That dark square hanging down near the bush is a suet feeder for the woodpeckers. I got one of those pre-packaged suet blocks in the pet aisle at the grocery store, but so far no takers. I think the birds prefer the big hunk of suet I usually pick up from the meat case that's cheaper but not much fun to cut up and shove into that little feeder cage thingie. Maybe I'll put the word out to the squirrels.....

I've been up in the treehouse most of the day, working on a couple of red hat lady dolls. I'm trying something new with the hats this time. The brim is always easy to do, but the top part is the challenge. I've stretched some red felt over a little metal tin that's just about the right size, and saturated it with liquid fabric stiffener. I put some elastic around the bottom to hold it in place while it dries. It's possible that regular white glue would work too, and for less $$. I will report on the results. I guess I'm not too old for a science project after all.....

And finally, Mr. Gadget and I rented the movie Borat last night. We heard all the hoopla, and decided it might be a movie we would both enjoy. This is rare, what with Mr. G. being more of a science fiction kind of a guy and me being a fan of chick flicks. I will just say we endured the whole thing, but only because we each assumed the other one was enjoying it. Well, no, that's not really the truth. Mr. G. later told me that he would have turned it off, but he couldn't see the stop button on the remote because the room was dark. Next time we feel like renting a movie, hoopla or not, we'll just take our money over to the ice cream store instead.

Breaking News! Missing sock found!

I know I haven't blogged for a few days. Many times I've thought about it, but nothing blogworthy popped up in the old brain. Today, however, there's breaking news! Just like on CNN. Well, except there will be no references to Anna Nicole....

It all started when I decided to take my fluffy self back to Weight Watchers for a reality check and general overhaul of my depressing and sad diet program. As I was undressing for the scale encounter.....you know, watches, jewelry, belts, shoes, etc......I felt something lumpy as I slipped off one of my jacket sleeves. Sure enough, there was one of Mr. Gadget's socks which had gone missing after last week's laundry session. Fortunately, I was able to stick it in my purse before someone saw me and reported this incident to Laundry Protective Services....

Some bloggers, in recent weeks, have posted "Weird Things about Me" lists on their blogs. I've had a few chuckles reading them, but realized I could never do one because there's just really nothing very weird about me. On second thought, there is one weird thing. I like to track things. I always find it fun to track someone's airline flight. I know JetBlue has online maps for this purpose; I'm not sure about others. Then, several years ago, after Dear Ol' Dad gave up his driver's license, I had his car shipped back east. I was able to log on to the car transport company's website and watch the car making its way east. And yesterday I spent a lot of time on FedEx's website tracking an envelope that Tech Guy was waiting for.

This wasn't just any envelope either. It was one containing a check he needed to pick up a new car. Seems it got bogged down in Memphis due to a technical glitch. Funny, I don't see a line item above for WE SCREWED UP, but I'm sure it was just an oversight.

So the snow all but disappeared today what with the temps in the low 70's. Just the kind of weather to get us all excited about Spring. Now the weatherman says we can expect snow on Friday. He shouldn't be toying with us like this. It's enough to make a person weird. And speaking of that, I just thought of one more weird thing about me. I've been known to eat lasagna for breakfast. Maybe it's because of the weird Italian family I married into......

What's for dinner?

My favorite thing to make for dinner is reservations. My second favorite thing is Chinese take-out. Mr. Gadget and I went to the local Chinese restaurant last night. It's so close, we can actually just slide down the hill if the snow conditions are just right. They weren't, so we drove, and we ordered enough so there would be plenty left over for dinner tonight.

Cooking is not my favorite thing. I do it mostly because we have to eat. I don't venture out and try new recipes very often. I find baking more fun, but I realize we can't eat cookies and pies on a regular basis. There are a few things I cook that are favorites of the kids, and I've tried to write them down in books for each of them. Tech Guy likes my burritos, and Big City Girl is fond of my chicken parmesan. Then there's the cheesecake, and the brownies with Snickers bars. And don't forget the chocolate chip cookies.

A while back, I started making chef dolls from my basic beanbag recipe, I mean pattern.
I originally made them in white fabric, but then I heard back from a customer that they were getting dirty quickly, what with their sitting in the kitchen and all. That's when I started making them out of various food prints.

I may have mentioned this one before. She was purchased by a fellow crafter at a show I was doing. This lady was selling chocolates and her display table was decorated in brown and red. She ran down to my table before the show opened and grabbed up this doll. "I have to have her!" she demanded. And who was I to argue? A crafter is pretty sure a show is going to be a good one when things start to sell before the doors open.

This guy has been sitting around for a while. His outfit has a wine-bottle print, and it might be a bit too much. I haven't made a chef doll in a while, but if I do another one I'll change a few things. I'll look for smaller prints for one thing. And I'll do the shoes differently, and I'll make the hands smaller and with needle-sculpted fingers. I'll probably paint the face on and make it a little more detailed. Like with most things, dollmaking improves with practice.

So the weather warmed up today, and I did a little tidying up in the treehouse. I can finally see a work surface. I hate to admit it, but I had a couple of those tiny pumpkins on the windowsill. They were looking a little sad and moldy I'm afraid. I doubt that at my age I could have explained them away as a science project. It reminded me of when TG and BCG were teenagers and would take cups of hot chocolate and various other food and drink items up to their rooms. What fun it was months later for a mom to discover, and then have to dispose of, these ever-so-prolific gardens of delight. After that, I never again felt guilty about the few times I had forgotten my tooth fairy duties....

Manly man; manly sweater

TA-DA! Finished! It's the men's cable pullover from BH&G's Knit-It Spring 2006. I used Brown Sheep Lamb's Pride worsted (85% wool / 15% mohair) in Medieval Red with size 7 and 8 circular needles. This knitting magazine is getting quite dog-eared though. It also has the pattern for Big City Girl's dustmop sweater. Hmmmm.....I wonder if there might be something for me in there too? I'm pretty sure Tech Guy wouldn't be interested in something handknit, although he did remark that this one does look quite professional.

I'm very happy with the results, and I'm especially pleased that it fits so well and that I was finally able to figure out that gauge thing. I did make the sleeves longer than the pattern called for, and I allowed for the cuff to be turned up, per Mr. G's request. He's pleased as punch, and thinks I really did something special for him....so he's taking me out to dinner. I can see much more manly knitting in my future.....

So I guess, in light of the dinner invitation, it's a good thing I was able to get in to see my hairdresser today. It's been a while since I've had a haircut. Can you tell?

I'm very fortunate that I have a lot of hair. Mr. G. isn't so lucky. He thinks it's very unfair that I have so much and he has so little. Many times I've offered to be a donor, but he hasn't taken me up on it. Next best thing would be for me to knit him a hat, but he doesn't like that idea either. He's more of a baseball cap kind of guy. Once in a while, when we're out in the sun, he'll offer me one of his baseball caps, but I usually decline. "With all of my hair, it just makes my head too hot," I tell him. Then he gets a little bit of an attitude. "Yeah, yeah, yeah, don't rub it in!" he says.

So I really meant to start on some dolls today, but I realized I would need to clean up the treehouse before I could feel ok about starting anything, and I wasn't in the mood. It's pretty in here today, though, what with the sun shining brightly and the snow outside. It's been bitterly cold for the last few days, but it's supposed to warm up tomorrow.......maybe to the 50's. That might put me in the mood to clean.

I've also been meaning to go out and get a picture of the neighbor's treehouse. You may remember my story of how the dad had it built to surprise his three daughters. They used it a couple of times until one of the girls saw a dead mouse in there and that was the end of that. I considered inquiring about renting it at one time, but I didn't much care for the mouse story either. And I'm sure, even worse, there are plenty of spiders. I think I'll just stay put in my own treehouse. It's got heat, TV, internet, a coffee mug warmer, telephone, and a CD player. But I have been thinking of inquiring about a butler......

Random stuff

When I returned to the treehouse last weekend, I noticed this cute picture I had framed of Tech Guy and his grandpa. It was taken many years ago; Tech Guy just turned 25. Can you see the family resemblance? They were both pretty bright-eyed I would say. I'm not sure about the bushy tails.....

So today it's cold and windy here in Connecticut, and we're having the weather we should have had in early January. It's pretty much the weather we always like to miss with our treks out west. I've been doing errands, one of which was to the car dealership to find out why a light is blinking on my dashboard. It just started after we returned, so maybe the car didn't like being in the garage all that time. I sat at the dealership for an hour while they tried to diagnose the problem, and then came home after they told me the blinking light was perfectly normal. I should have taken my knitting. I did, however, strike up a conversation with another knitter who was also waiting for her car. I noticed she was paying close attention to her pattern, so I didn't say anything for a while. She was working on a beautiful beaded shawl and she spent a few minutes showing me how she attached the beads. I am always amazed at how there are never strangers when knitters are among their own kind.

In my last post I mentioned how much I'm looking forward to the return of the hummingbirds. Today I noticed some bird action in the backyard and went to retrieve my binoculars, only to find it was these big fellas. I know nature lovers really believe there is beauty in all of God's creatures, but I'm just thinking maybe God was taking a coffee break or was otherwise distracted for a few minutes.

So I have the manly sweater halfway assembled, but I had to do a little more blocking on the last sleeve. I don't know what happened really. The finished sleeve has almost a permanent fold in the fabric at one point. I'm thinking this is where I had to do some frogging and for some reason my tension was off. I refuse to frog it further, so I will finish putting it together and I'm sure Mr. G. will be very impressed in spite of it. I'm anxious to get back to the elderberry project, and will be very happy that it will require no seaming.

And just one more thing, here is a very special drawing Big City Girl sent me the other day. She loves to draw and spends some of her slow times at work doodling at her desk.

I'd love to stitch this piece. In fact, I've been prodding BCG for some time to design some embroidery projects for me. I think I'm going to have to hijack her sketchbook one of these days. I've caught glimpses of it on occasion and I know there's a wealth of stitching ideas in there. Maybe I'll offer to buy her lunch down there in the big city one of these days and make her promise to bring it. When it gets warmer, of course.......

Mouth-watering goodness!

So Tech Guy had a little blog surprise for me when I got home. Apparently it was quite a project which first required some basic culinary skills. Then he worked some magic with Photoshop. It's certainly not subtle, but it does qualify as whimsical I think. I'll live with it for a while and see how it goes. Hopefully it won't distract from the brilliant text....heh....heh.....

It's a little snowy here in Connecticut, not like in SoCal where today people have their doors open to let the warm sunshine in. My relatives have called so I know it to be true. But spring is just around the corner I'm sure, and it won't be long before these guys are back in the neighborhood. I've heard they've made if up from Mexico to the south coast of Florida.

The trip back on Saturday was interesting. I was not able to get my usual JetBlue seat, 17A, and I was quite distraught. Seems there was a big school group aboard and they probably made their reservations a couple of years ago. I was two rows from the back in seat 24A. Not a problem really, if you don't mind listening to the toilet flushing, or chatting with the folks standing in line to use said toilet.

The first hour out was fraught with turbulence. As I clutched my armrest, Mr. Gadget sat comfortably next to me. "It just reminds me of that one rough sea day," he said. On the ride home from the airport, in the craziness that is New York City traffic, we watched the lunar eclipse.

So now we're back to the old routine, almost. I'll be doing laundry, grocery shopping, vacuuming and planning a memorial service for Dear ol' Dad to be held early this summer. And I'll be dealing with plenty of paperwork. But I have dollmaking plans and I'll be fitting that in because it's what I love to do. I'll start with a couple of Red Hat ladies, what with spring and Mother's Day coming up. And I'll finish the manly cabled sweater, probably while I watch some University of Connecticut women's basketball. Then I might just have to do a little more yarn shopping......

The Curmudgeon News

So today I walked down to the main office of the condo complex to put a little notice in the newsletter box about Dear Ol' Dad's passing. When you live in a big place like this with lots of older folks, these bits of information are regular features.

When I got back, Mr. Gadget asked me if I had ever given thought to writing for this newsletter, what with my fondness for writing and all.

"Well, I guess I could write a little feature called The Curmudgeon Report because there seems to be an abundance of these folks around," I said.

"You could title it The Weekly Curmudgeon, he suggested. "Or, what about a little puzzle piece called Guess the Curmudgeon?"

I suppose we could be called curmudgeon bashers....

I probably shouldn't mention this, but I think Mr. G. is beginning to display some of these curmudgeon traits. Without fail, the day before we leave to go back to Connecticut (we'll be heading east tomorrow), he prints out his "to-do" list that he keeps saved on the computer. I never pay too much attention to this. But this morning I actually took issue with it when he started spouting off my plans for the day.

"Don't foist any of that list stuff on me," I told him sternly. "I keep a mental list and if I forget something I'll just have to suffer the consequences."

I'm wondering if curmudgeonism starts out like this and then escalates into worse things like having to make signs about trash dumpster usage and an overwhelming urge to regulate door entry and exiting. Or keeping tabs on who doesn't pick up their dog poop.

Well, I guess I shouldn't complain. He accompanied me to the lawyer's office today and translated all that legal mumbo jumbo into language I could understand. Then he took me out to dinner. So I'll just say he's super organized and interested in my wellbeing.

It will be nice to get back to the treehouse though. No curmudgeons there. Just lots of characters who will probably have some interesting stories to tell. Like what went on in the house while we were away and Tech Guy was taking care of things. I don't even want to think about it.

We'll be off first thing in the morning for the east coast. Maybe JetBlue won't be so crowded anymore..heh...heh...

The Big Dance

Dear Ol' Dad

March 29, 1920 - February 28, 2007

I'm sure he's up there dancing with my mom.