Fog

I had forgotten about the fog. Sometimes, especially during winter, the seemingly endless supply of sunny 70 degree days is interrupted by fog. Today, as luck would have it, I had an appointment to get the car serviced. Back in my southern California youth, driving in fog wasn't a big deal. I'd approach intersections with my window rolled down and drive by ear. I found, after moving to the east coast, that this method didn't translate well to snow.

Last Sunday I was doing some grocery shopping, for the purpose of restocking kitchen cupboards laid bare by the recent termite treatment, when I met up with the friendly stock girl who seems to always be on duty when I shop. Each time I see her she has a different hair color. On Sunday it was pink and moved through the layers to magenta.

"Are you finding everything ok?" she asked in a loud, sing-songy voice.

"Yes I am, thank you," I replied.

"FABULOUS!!" she declared, approaching an octave off the musical scale.

This was all well and fine, except as I moved around the store, so did she--pushing her metal cart and flipping her pink hair from side to side--and she continued to ask me the same question on every odd-numbered aisle. I have mentioned before that the workers in this store are very friendly....more so than the sorry bunch who work in my neighborhood store in Connecticut. But really. Is there such a thing as too much customer service I wonder?

So moving right along, yesterday I stopped at Joann's to look for some weaver's cloth--a nice cotton blend that works very well for hand-embroidery. I bought two yards (with my 40% coupon) which should see me through a couple of decades of projects I'm pretty sure. And in an effort to build a west-coast stash, I picked up these two prints with nothing special in mind.

As I was walking across the parking lot toward Joann's, it dawned on me that this store used to be a department store--the very same one where I had my first job. The shoes were where the calicos are now. I never wanted to work in that department. A person could get lost in the stock room, and then there were all those stinky feet. The hat department....this was back when women wore fancy hats......was where the yarn is now. I worked there a few times and learned the drill pretty quickly. Whenever a lady tried a hat on, I'd just say, "FABULOUS!"

So it seems that Mr. Gadget and I have impeccable timing. We left Connecticut just ahead of the snow. My neighbor very thoughtfully sent me a picture of our house in the snow and what a lovely winter scene it was! I wonder if I should take a nice picture for her of the beach at sunset when Mr. G and I go down there later for a sushi fix. Probably not....

Mummified

The mummification process is almost complete.
This is the doll I'm making for the contest I wrote about earlier. It will be a cloth and clay doll, with the head, hands and feet constructed of clay, and the outfit made from cloth.
Here's his backside. It's not very pretty I know, but he'll be fully dressed and all evidence of mummification will be hidden.

I'm quite pleased with his torso shaping. That just happened by accident. I have no idea what I'm doing. Remember, I'm just out for a pleasant Sunday drive. Soon I will be sculpting the head and face, so there could very well be a four-car pile-up just ahead.

Now back to the mouse-and-cookie story I told a few days ago. There's more.

The young woman had the MRI--which, by the way, she found not to be unpleasant except for that little needle stick or two---and soon afterwards she went back to her ear doc for a follow-up visit.

"No problem with your ear," said the doc reassuringly, "but we did find another little problem. This sometimes happens when a person has a test like this," he added. "But it's absolutely nothing to worry about."

So the young woman, who was now feeling very much like an old woman--especially after the doc's final comment that it might be a good idea if she came in for a hearing aid consultation--left the office deep in thought. Maybe, just maybe, some of these things were just normal signs of aging and not things needing special medical attention. And she vowed to not only eat more cookies, but to make sure she always has a goodly supply of chocolate in the house...