High seas handiwork

I mentioned a while back that Mr. Gadget and I were planning another cruise. Well, it's here! Tomorrow afternoon we'll be meeting our regular taxi guy for the short trip to the pier, and then you won't be hearing from me for a while. I'll be taking a blog break and hope to return relaxed and replenished with refreshing new blog fodder. I will then be ready with regained momentum for resuming work on the ABC project. Did I mention we'll be stopping in Guatemala?

I'll be taking along a bagful of busy work. While Big City Girl was here, she sketched up a design for some embroidery on my jeans jacket.

This is the design she drew on paper which I then cut out and placed on the jacket. I will try to copy it onto the jeans fabric with a white pencil I got for that purpose. The great thing about this kind of embroidery is that precision is not important. It looks better if it's a little rough around the edges.

Here are a few of the colors I'll use. I did pick up a lavender metallic thread today for the dragonfly. I'm also thinking of doing some beading when the stitching is done. It's an older jacket and shows signs of wear, but it's a favorite of mine. I love to embroider. I've been known to just draw flowers on, embroider them, and build a garden as I go.

There will also be a sock-knitting project in my bag. I'm just about finished with the first Regia Crazy Color sock. It will be interesting to watch my two addictions fight it out.

And just in case I find myself in a mood to read, I have a few books to take along. One of the benefits of cruising: no luggage weight restrictions. Good thing too, since there's always more weight returning that departing...what with all those great souvenirs and tasty desserts...heh...heh....

Some of these are books I've wanted to read for a while. Others were mentioned on blogs as good reads. If I like a blog, I usually like the books that blogger recommends. I have no idea how far I'll get with this stack o' books, since reading for me is a pleasant pastime rather than another addiction. I often see people reading in those nice deck chairs along the Promenade deck, but mostly I see people snoozing with their books. I'll let you know how many I snooze through.

This cruise will take us down the coast of Baja California, and along the coast of Mexico and Central America. We'll have several stops along the way, finally ending up in the Panama Canal for a half-transit. We'll turn around in Gatun Lake and return, making stops in Nicaragua and Guatemala, and again in Mexico.

I'll be back on October 9th, with pictures and stories and plenty of laundry, and, no doubt, a little more padding in places that have plenty of padding already......

Whew!

There hasn't been much blogging time lately, I'm afraid. I've been busy with the memorial and the west coast visits from Tech Guy and Big City Girl, followed by my crumpling up into an exhausted heap on the floor. It was an interesting weekend. Here are some of the highlights:

The room looked nice with the paper flowers. Just about all of them went home with someone at the end of the afternoon. I stood at the barely-visible podium to give my talk, which I finished writing on Saturday morning. There's nothing like a deadline to get my creative juices flowing.TG and BCG decorated the cake. It wasn't a professional job, but did have that personal touch.....which was my plan.

On Sunday we went for a walk along the beach, followed by a visit to the playground we've always called the Rocket Park. Twenty years ago, when BCG was three, she climbed up to the top and wouldn't come down. As the sky began to get dark, her grandfather and I, neither of whom could fit through the child-sized holes, worried that we might have to call the fire department. But at long last, she decided to come down on her own. Mr. G and I were unable to convince her to go up again for a photo op. Her brother, however, had no shame.

Then he reassured the moms who were sitting nearby that he was just harking back to his youth.

So now TG and BCG have returned home and are back at work, and I continue to resist the ever-present urge to crumple back up into a heap. Stay tuned though. Tomorrow I'll have some crafty content and it might be embroidery related. Something a little different.

Meanwhile, here's a little butterfly that landed on BCG's arm the othe day. It was either: 1) curious about the time of day or, 2) in the mood for some chips and salsa.

Haircut with blimp

First, the blimp. Look closely just over the lower right branch near that cluster of leaves the tree-pruning-ax-murderer guy somehow forgot. It's the Goodyear blimp, up for an afternoon spin.

Now, the haircut.

"I wonder when that tree is going to lose its leaves?" asked Mr. Gadget just yesterday.

"It doesn't drop its leaves," I told him. "The maintenance people prune it each fall."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure. I don't remember ever seeing a big pile of leaves under it," I said.

Fast-forward to today.

"Guess what!" said Mr. G as he stood by the window. "The tree is disappearing!"

And sure enough, the yearly pruning had begun. Now we have more light in the condo and visions of the blimp. Yeah, I think my brain is tired. Otherwise, I would see no point in telling this story. It's probably because of this:

I'm still engrossed in my memorial writing project. This is how my writing process works: Type a first draft as fast as I can, putting down whatever comes to mind. Print it out and revise. Print it out and revise again. Repeat those two steps several more times. At some point I get the feeling I'm over the hill and on the home stretch. I do think the finish line is just about visible through the haze.

And doesn't Lucille look pretty sitting among the flowers with the sun shining in ?

California busy

Now, where was I? Oh yeah. Mr. G was about to close the laptop on my typing fingers. I'm pleased to say that when we arrived at the condo on Saturday, setting up the laptop was the first thing on his agenda....right after turning on the water.

Things have been busy around here as I take care of the last few preparations for dear ol' dad's memorial celebration. And I still have to figure out what I'm going to say, so this blog post will be light on text and heavy on photos....unless I do my usual procrastinating.
Here is one of the vases with tissue paper flowers and a dragonfly securely affixed to a raffia bow. All of the vases will have a dragonfly attached and the extras will sit on the tables among the chocolate hugs and kisses. Not a bad assignment.....

I finished the picture board, with the exception of a few little knick-knacks. I thought it might be interesting to add a few things to fill up some of the spaces between photos. Mr. Gadget was able to assist with one of his favorite gadgets....his electric drill. He drilled small holes so I could attach a slide rule and a little cannister of pencil leads. DOD was an architect, so these were tools of his trade.....way back in the day before computers.

And amid all this busy-ness, I heard the doorbell ring and the mail lady handed me this:Last time I was in SoCal, I entered a contest over at Kathy's blog. She had asked her readers to send her postcards through the summer, and she would have a drawing on Labor Day to pick a winner. I probably wouldn't have entered except I happened to come across a cute card with a picture of a cat sitting in a beach chair....so I figured, why not? Well, darned if I didn't win first place! That's my loot up there. While I'm pleased as punch to have the yarn, I have to say that Homer Simpson has had Mr. G and I laughing to the point of stomach cramps. He's designed to ride on the car dashboard and make traffic comments--either from the car motion (I can only imagine how he must have behaved in the mail truck), or you can push a button to hear him yell a variety of snide comments,

"Your child might be an honor student, but you're a moron!"

"Red light turn green....now! Now! Right now! Hey, it worked!"

"Quit your waving! I'll move out of the intersection when I'm darn well ready, officer!"

I think I'm going to have to hide it from TG and BCG. They'll be arriving Friday and will surely try to find a way to wrangle it away from me. Maybe I'll stick it behind the cleaning supplies. It's sure to be safe there.....

And did I mention, there's some therapeutic sock knitting going on too?

Oh, and before you go, check out my Connecticut neighbor Jen's blog. She won some serious ribbons for her veggies, spaghetti sauce and cookies at the fair. In fact, a local restaurant bought the last of her tomato crop. She calls her earnings seed money....heh...heh....

It can't possibly be as exciting as yarn money though.......

Headin' west

Mr. Gadget and I will be heading out to California tomorrow morning and, thankfully, we don't seem to be suffering the usual crazies this time. I think it's all the practice. That, and Mr. G's list-making abilities. He's honed it down to the essentials. Plus, now that Tech Guy has moved out, we don't have to give him the usual advice about taking care of the house while we're gone....which likely went in one ear and out the other.

I've almost finished another pair of socks. I just have to do the kitchener stitch to close the toe. That's the part where many sock knitters need total quiet for maximum concentration. There's a little knitting equation that must be followed, and Lord help you if you get sidetracked by a husband coming into the room and asking you where you put yesterday's newspaper or something else equally mundane. The only time I feel perfectly comfortable telling Mr. G. to "just shut up!" is when I'm doing the kitchener stitch. His usual response, as he's high-tailing it out to the garage for some yard tools is, "Oh, you must be doing that toe thingy again." I'm looking forward to making the next pair out of this bright and cheery yarn I got on sale at WEBS the last time I was there. Unless I decide to make the lavendar ones. Hmmmmm.....

So I'd better go pack my suitcase. Mr. G has generously offered me some space in his and I plan to take him up on it. Ladybug Lucille needs a ride this time, and I need some space for the hugs and kisses.

"Don't they sell those in California?" asked Mr. G.

"Well, yeah, I'm sure they do. But I found these here on sale," I told him confidently. "You always tell me not to pay full price for anything."

So, here he comes....ready to pack up the laptop. "Wait! Can't you just hold off one more minute till I finish this blog post? Can't you pack it up in the morning? I just have one more.........................."

"F" is for fabriholic

Yep, that might be the perfect "F" word to describe me. I don't think there's a 12-step program for it, but I haven't really checked too thoroughly. I'm in big-time denial. When it comes to fabric, there's never enough.

Last night, after I told Mr. Gadget that the perfect "F" word had just hit me like a big bolt of canvas, he asked, "Do you think you should call it "comfort cloth?"

I'm sure it's hard for someone without this affliction to imagine what it's like to have a new project in mind and no appropriate fabric with which to construct it. It's probably like having a new outfit and no shoes in just the right shade. I wouldn't know. I just buy sensible shoes in basic colors to go with everything. It's not the same with fabric.

I'm pretty much of a hoarder. I find it especially hard to part with things. The other day I finally got up the courage to delete hundreds of emails I'd been saving on my computer. I even tossed old spices from the kitchen cupboards.....Emeril, did you hear that? It's not the same with fabric.

This is a big laundry basket I've assigned the task of holding small scraps. I'll never know when the urge to make a quilt might overtake me, so I want to be sure I have a sufficient stash. I remember seeing a postage stamp quilt in a museum once. There isn't a piece too tiny not to covet.


I even have crates of fabric in the basement, but I'm careful to keep them separate from the Costco inventory of paper products and Mr. Gadget's tools. I keep the plaids and florals down there, and occasionally have a need to root through the stacks. It's mostly old stuff.... kind of like an archive. I'm like a gopher digging in the dirt, tossing debris here and there as I search for something I vaguely remember with strawberries on it. Or turtles. Or whatever.


A while back I bought some bright yellow fabric with roosters. I had no idea what I'd use it for, but it was just so darned cute!


I emailed the picture to Tech Guy and suggested it might make a whimsical curtain for the bathroom in his new apartment. He loved the idea. He can tell his friends he's decided to decorate the new manly place with a barnyard theme, and this is just the first piece.....

Movin' on out

I'll be skipping the ABC's today, as I've been so busy over the weekend I haven't had time to brainstorm for an "F" word....heh...heh.... Although there were a few moments of frustration and even some fun as we moved Tech Guy into his new apartment on Saturday.Tech Guy has been known to hit the snooze button on his clock radio on workday mornings, however this is not the case on Saturdays when there's an opportunity to drive a big truck. A 14-footer was just the thing for getting all of his stuff from here to there in one trip. While it's more expensive than borrowing a friend's pick-up, it's much less wear and tear on mom and dad.

I fixed a picnic lunch for the moving crew, which consisted of Tech Guy, Big City Girl, BCBF and, of course, The Parents. I made four turkey and cheese sandwiches with a variety of condiments and one PB&J, and put each in a sandwich bag along with a scrap of paper on which I wrote the name of the recipient. Everyone thought this was extremely funny and clever of me.

Here's Tech Guy finishing up his PB&J. I meant to send the jar of PB with him but forgot. He'll have to stop by the house for a box of forgotten items anyway....including this handy little crocheted bowl that's great for putting just inside the front door to hold car keys. On Sunday, Mr. Gadget and I did some fumigating in TG's old room. We opened the windows wide, took down the curtains for washing, vacuumed up nine months' worth of dust bunnies, and took the throw rug out for a good airing. In a few weeks it should be back to guest room status.

Meanwhile, I did finish up a sewing project--a pair of long pants in a festive print.

And I'm about to finish a festive skirt too. Then my sewing machine will go into the shop for a little service. It's starting to talk back. I think it needs an attitude adjustment. There are some tension issues. I've probably been expecting too much from it. Maybe we could all just use a little vacation.......