2 down, 7 to go

You may remember the cat I made for Olga, the lady who lives at the nursing home where my dad resides. Seems he was roughed up a bit--possibly by some of the other stuffed animals in Olga's menagerie who weren't so happy to have him joining their ranks. I noticed one day, while visiting with Olga, that he was missing his bow tie. So I brought him home for a little fix-it job. This required a trip to the nearby Joann's for a piece of red felt and some thread, but then I never need much of an excuse to browse a fabric store. Now he's almost good as new, and I figure he's got 7 lives left--just in case there's another tussle up there on the hill.

So while I was at Joann's.....with my "50% off one cut of fabric" coupon.....I found this cute rooster print. I have no idea what I will do with it. The print is a little large for one of my beanbag dolls, although I was thinking of a cow. It'll join my stash for now until some idea bubbles up to the surface. They were also having a 40% off sale on buttons, and I found these:

Again, I have no plans for them, but they were so darn cute. If things work out as they usually do, some day they will be just the right accessory for one of my creations. Stay tuned.

I've probably made the wise decision to hold off on the assembling of the manly cabled sweater until I get back to Connecticut where I can spread it out and pin it together properly, and maybe look up the directions on how to do it...heh...heh.... You may remember the last time I had to rip out a sleeve I had sewn in improperly (the Noro shawl-collared jacket). I cut into the sleeve and had to do some reknitting. Hmmmmm.....is that a word? I really do aspire to become a person who learns from her mistakes.....

So Dear Ol' Dad continues to hang in there. The nurses are quite surprised by his tenacity. The recent challenge has been to better control his pain, and I must say that hospice and the nursing home staff have been very diligent about this. It seems that "tweaking" is the name of the game. This morning they told me he was resting comfortably, so I will pay him a visit this afternoon. And I will return Olga's cat to the top of her dresser, where he will hopefully be well out of the way of the gang of thugs.....

Blogger blues

I have no appropriate picture to go with today's post, so I give you this yellow hibiscus--the state flower of Hawaii. I took it when Mr. G. and I were walking around Honolulu. I also took this one of a bike rack Hawaiian style. It always tickles me to see something creative and innovative.

So Dear Ol' Dad isn't doing so well. It's been a long road he and I have travelled together, starting 4-1/2 years ago when I found out he was falling here in his condo and I had the difficult job of moving him to assisted living. He had no interest in moving to Connecticut. His native-Californian blood wouldn't take too well to the cold he told me. Besides, he had family and friends in the area. That's when I became a regular customer of JetBlue.

A few years ago, I discovered an interesting website devoted to embroidery....and not that machine stuff either. Hand embroidery. I know you're probably wondering where this is going. I love doing embroidery and I try to squeeze some in between dollmaking and knitting projects. Jenny Hart does some amazing portraits.

One day I was browsing Jenny's site (she also has this one), and I found this stitched portrait she had done of her father. It reminded me of an old photo of my dad in his Army uniform taken way back in the day. So I went through the old photos last night and here it is.

I think there are some similarities.....the uniform, the smile, the glasses, the era. And what struck me the most was the name. Dear ol' Dad's name is Lyle too. I may just send this picture to Jenny and see what she thinks.

So there's not much else on my mind these days, as I make visits to the nursing home and come back to sit by the phone. In a little while, I'm going to lunch with a dear friend. She's been a real source of support to me as I've managed DOD's care over the years. We're planning to meet at a great new restaurant in the area that makes the best cheesecake I've ever eaten. And there's no question about it. It's hard to be blue when you're eating cheesecake......

Congenial Tablemates

Mr. Gadget and I generously shared our lunch table with the manly sweater today. I discovered that a table for four nicely accommodates two place settings and one blocked sweater front. We were very careful not to share our food with it I might add.

Mr. G. is so impressed with the cable design down the center front that he can hardly contain himself. I'll be darned if I'm going to tell him how simple it was to do. He always wins at Scrabble. I'll let him believe I'm a knitting genius.

The sweater is all knitted now, except for the neckband which I will do after the shoulder seams are done. I wasn't sure exactly how I was going to join the shoulders, but I happened to be in Michael's today browsing through their book section (without coffee). And I happened to pick up a book on finishing techniques and happened to look up "seaming" in the glossary, and now I just happen to remember what they suggested. I'll try it tomorrow in the daylight......if I still remember.....

Yesterday I was in Joann's getting some pins for the sweater-blocking project, and I found this booklet for crocheted sock monkeys. It looks like just the thing for cleansing the palate, so to speak, between knitting projects.

I'm not sure I like the clothes, although the hats are kinda cute. I'm thinking these would be pretty neat peeking out of a couple of Christmas stockings. I always mean to stop that stocking nonsense now that TG and BCG are adults. It's just that it would be hard to disappoint them when they want to know why Santa didn't stop by the house.

So yesterday I received a cell phone call from Big City Girl that caused me a bit of mom stress. After it was over and I had calmed down, I got to thinking it would have been just the right kind of call to have had in a restaurant, right after some inconsiderate brute at the next table had hung up from his loud, obnoxious call and was just cutting into his big, juicy steak. It went something like this:

Me (VERY LOUDLY): "Hi honey. How are you? (Pause) What did you say? You think you have food poisoning? (Pause) You've been throwing up all day and you've got bad diarrhea? (another pause) So you had some chicken off of one of those sidewalk food carts, eh? Yep, I'm sure it wasn't properly refrigerated, and maybe it had some spoiled mayonnaise or something. (pause) Well, take it easy and drink plenty of fluids so you don't get dehydrated....and call me back if the vomiting and the pooping don't stop."

It did and she's better and the mom stress is less. Gotta love the big city.....

Mexican Night at Chez Macaroni

There's only one thing to do in SoCal when you pass a whole mess of ripe avocados on sale in the grocery store. You make guacamole! You also buy some tortilla chips to go with that guacamole, and then you realize there's no way you can complete day #1 of your diet, so you do what you're really good at. You put off day #1 until tomorrow. Again......

So the trip up to Oakland on I-5 was boring, just as I expected. But the trip back was more interesting because we passed several of these:

They're trucks loaded with oranges. I figure the folks who load these trucks know just how many to put in so as to avoid spillage on the highway. These must be different folks than those who load the tomato trucks, because when tomatoes are in season the highway looks a little like the roads in Connecticut during deer season. Just kidding.....

My sister-in-law did not disappoint with her Korean barbeque. She had quite a few side dishes to go with, including pot stickers, some kind of yummy veggie pancakes, sticky rice, and a spicy squid dish.....just to name a few. On Saturday night, she made prime rib with all the trimmings and then shared a big box of Valentine chocolates. So today I have guacamole guilt and well I should.

While in the Oakland area, I accompanied my nephew to the local Barnes and Noble--the biggest one I've ever seen. I noticed a Starbucks coffee counter in the store, and thought a special coffee might taste good. I know I've said I don't like Starbucks, but I kind of developed a taste for those sweet coffee drinks while on the cruise. I told the nice lady behind the counter that I wasn't a Starbucks regular, so maybe she could suggest something I'd like. After a few minutes, she came back with something under $3, so I knew she didn't figure me for a big spender. So far, so good. I ended up with a coffee-chocolate-whipped cream blend that was just right for browsing the cheap book aisle.

Actually, I didn't spend much time in the bargain section, but headed over to the magazines instead. I found the latest issue of Art Doll Quarterly that I love to look at for inspiration. I don't buy them often, but this issue had some wonderfully creative dolls. I was especially taken with one that was dressed in chocolate candy wrappers.

The dollmaker had covered the torso with gold squares from Hershey Miniatures and made the petticoat with bubble wrap. She decorated the shoes with Ferrero Rocher truffle stickers. Gold foil was wadded up and glued on for the neckline. She peeled off the lining from a candy box for the gold outer skirt. This is such an amazing piece of creativity that I find myself inspired to the point of wanting to go to the local See's Candy store (there's one just around the corner) for some craft supplies....

Happy Birthday, Tech Guy!

Today is Tech Guy's 25th birthday. I always feel badly about missing it, what with Mr. G. and I being in sunny SoCal and he being back in the ice and snow. This year his sister has invited him down to the Big City for some birthday festivities and she's been mum on the details. The plan was for him to meet her at Grand Central Station, under the clock I suppose, and they would go for some nice warm coffee concoction at Starbucks. The rest remains a mystery.....

It seems like only yesterday I was giving birth to the little guy. He was two weeks late, which has always surprised me because he's been pretty much the punctual type ever since. The doc finally decided to induce labor, even though I don't believe he was a golfer. Mr. G. sat with me the whole day and wore out a deck of cards playing solitaire. Well, there wasn't much else for him to do really. He's not a knitter.

I don't remember very much about Tech Guy's babyhood, but I do remember he wasn't a big fan of having his hair washed. I would put him in the tub and when it came time to wash his hair I would invent stories about a ladybug family that lived on the ceiling. This would usually keep him entertained long enough for one quick shampoo. He's not fond of me telling these stories now, especially when he has a girlfriend over for dinner.

So tomorrow Mr. Gadget and I will be driving up north to Oakland via one of the most boring roads in the country.....Interstate 5. Here is a picture from our last trip, and you will note there is not much to see. On one trip we saw lots of tomato trucks and on another it was sugar beets. There are a couple of driving routes between here and there, and one goes along the coast and is quite picturesque, but it takes longer. We are usually interested in getting there quickly because my sister-in-law makes a wonderful Korean barbeque and we look forward to it the whole way.

So Mr. G., if he's feeling well and hasn't caught my cold by tomorrow, will do the driving and I'll do the knitting. I have about half a sleeve left to finish on the manly cabled sweater, and then it will be ready for blocking and assembling. I'm pretty sure there'll still be some cold weather left when we get back to Connecticut the first week of March, so it should come in handy.

And by the way, I'm feeling better. I'm definitely gonna live. I'm pretty sure it's because of the chocolate....

Good Medicine

Today my condition has been upgraded from "crappy" to "just plain lousy." Lucky for me, Mr. Gadget has been willing to go to the drug store for medicine.

Since there's been very little knitting or craftiness going on.....make that none..... I will post a few more pictures of our Hawaiian adventure.

Our stateroom was on Deck 10 and just down the hall at the back of the ship was this great place. Not many people knew about it, so there were usually plenty of deck chairs available. On our return trip, this area provided several sunset photo ops.

While walking around downtown Honolulu, we concluded that many locals are big newspaper readers.

Here is a bike rack, Hawaiian-style.

Here is a view of Waikiki Beach and Diamond Head as the ship was awaiting the arrival of a small transport boat to pick up a sick passenger. Some ships have a helicopter landing area, but ours did not. While hanging out here, we saw 3 submarines.

Here I am on one of the sea days during our return to Los Angeles. The seas were pretty much like glass the whole way back. On our way to Hawaii, we had a day and a half of rough seas. We took our Bonine as a precaution, and didn't get seasick. On our first day out, with calm seas, Mr. Gadget was about to call the maintenance people because one of our ceiling tiles was rattling. He has a thing about rattles. I'm sure they would have just laughed. When the seas got rough, everything was rattling, shaking, booming and cracking. Kind of like one of those old "E" ticket rides at Disneyland.

I'll plan to be back tomorrow with some crafty content. I'm hoping by then my condition will have been upgraded to "gonna live." Meanwhile, I think I need some more medicine...heh...heh...

Happy Valentine's Day!

It seems like a good day to share my west coast heart collection. This is a walnut shell I found on the ground last July when I was accompanying Tech Guy on a treasure hunt I had planned in an effort to keep him busy and distracted from the fact that we wouldn't let him use the car to go down to the beach scouting for surfer babes.

I colored it with a Crayon magic marker in honor of Valentine's Day. It's always amazing to see what nature has to offer. Here is the rest of my collection. This is a pillbox that I've never used for pills. At my age, I need a bigger pill box and one that separates out the pills by day because I've become forgetful. But I'm sure there is a good use for this little box. I think the design on it would lend itself nicely to some embroidery.

And here is a little silver locket. I'm not a frequent wearer of jewelry, so mostly this just sits in my jewelry box. I guess I could be like some women in history who put a lock of their true love's hair in their lockets, but I'm afraid Mr. Gadget doesn't have any to spare.

So today I'm not feeling well. In fact, I pretty well feel like crap. Remember all those admonitions we've heard from well-meaning people to wash our hands frequently to avoid getting sick? It's baloney I tell you! Well, at least I didn't get the Norovirus. Someone probably just sneezed on me on their way to the bottle of anti-bacterial hand sanitizing gel.

Cruising continued.....

So yesterday Blogger decided it was done giving me the option of switching over to its "newer and better Blogger." I usually like the old ways of doing things because after a year or so, I become somewhat proficient....unless, of course, it involves anything technical. I will work on the pictures and the spacing, and I'm sure it will all be clear eventually.

Anyway.....on to the cruise list.

THREE OUT OF FIVE. We were scheduled to visit 5 ports, but only made it to 3. Kauai was to be our first, and the wind was an issue. Apparently, the opening to the harbor there is small and the captain probably didn't want to bang the side of the boat up against the rocks. So we headed for Maui, our second scheduled stop. Seems the wind was whipping up there too. Since it is a port where tendering is required (taking a little boat from the big boat), he wasn't sure he could get us all back onboard in the late afternoon. So on we went to Hilo (scheduled for day #3) with a short stop in the harbor at Honolulu to offload a sick passenger. Word spread that it was the first officer's wife. The crew was mum....and they were well-trained in this skill. More on this further down the list. The picture above is the sunrise over the ship container loading area in San Pedro harbor at the end of our cruise.

THE COFFEE PLANTATION. We visited a coffee plantation in Kona, our last stop, where we met these cute little guys. They're called Toulouse geese. I'm sure they do their part contributing to the rich soil the coffee plants thrive in. We were told, and actually saw the video while drinking some complimentary coffee, that this was the site of an episode of Dirty Jobs, a rather popular (but I can't for the life of me figure out why) current TV show.

It is also the site of these. You know how I always like a good potty story. I understand their coffee business is growing (probably due to their TV exposure....and those cute geese) so that soon they will have some indoor restrooms.

NORO VIRUS. Yes, I'm afraid our cruise was afflicted and has already been documented by the CDC. We had quite an outbreak onboard. Word has it that about 8% of the passengers were affected, although the crew was most intent on keeping the whole thing under wraps. We knew things had gotten serious when we could no longer serve ourselves at the buffet, and all condiments were removed from the tables in the dining room. They even salted our food for us, but stopped short of actually doing the feeding. Bottles of anti-bacterial hand gel were everywhere, and became the price of admission to all eating venues. Mr. Gadget and I were lucky and somehow avoided getting sick. We chalk it up to staying out of the casino......and pressing the elevator buttons with our elbows.....

CRAPULENCE. Cruises can sometimes be opportunities for vocabulary-building. Mr. G. and I are big fans of trivia games, and they are always popular and well-attended on cruises. During one game, we were asked to define this word--with a hint given that it was something we'd all know about first-hand at the end of the cruise. Bloating, as a result of eating and drinking too much......heh....heh.....

SNIPPED LOVAGE. This was an ingredient in cream of cauliflower soup. It's similar to parsley. The chefs obviously thought enough of it to list it on the menu. Another vocabulary-building op.

So that's it for the cruise report. Tomorrow I'll be back to real life and the ongoing knitting projects. I have made progress. Meanwhile, I'll leave you with this final picture, taken by Mr. G. I think it's best that he stick with purchasing the cameras, and leave the photography to me.

The Cruise

Sorry I didn't get to this yesterday. I was suffering from ship lag (not to be confused with jet lag). Since the cruise report does not easily fit into "top ten" categories as I had planned, I'm offering instead a general list of highlights and lowlights. You can be the judge.

FRUIT TARTS. These were quite tasty and quickly became a favorite of Mr. Gadget and I. Sometimes they had strawberry toppings and sometimes melon--probably whatever was left over from the breakfast buffet. I was giving some thought to learning how to make these, but then I remembered that Costco sells them as a whole big pie!

KNITTING GROUP. I noticed quite a few women knitting as I walked around the ship, so one day I left a note for the cruise director to see if she would arrange a get-together during one of the sea days (there were many....stay tuned). The next day we had one, and it was so well received that we asked for another. About a dozen women attended. Most were knitting, but some were crocheting and doing needlepoint. Barbara from Phoenix showed up with her portable spinning wheel and was pretty much the center of attention. She told us she had packed it, along with her knitting and spinning supplies, in a bigger suitcase than the one she packed her clothes in. One woman stopped by to see if anyone in the group could help her with tatting! When no one spoke up, we did what most crafty people do these days. We told her to try the Internet.

MUG LOVE. The Goddess mug met up with this cute little number from the ship's gift shop. I didn't use the Goddess for coffee, even though I fully intended to. I couldn't bare to separate these two! Besides, I quickly found out that the specialty coffees being offered at various spots around the ship were very good, and they served them in those neat paper cups (a la Starbucks) that were very portable. I did have a mishap though. I spilled almost a whole cup on my neat little white crocheted purse. Clorox hasn't fixed it, so now I must find another cup of the same coffee so I can dye the rest of it! Perhaps I need to go on another cruise......

AWARD-WINNING SUNSET. This was taken on one of our last days at sea. The weather was overcast for about half of our journey, so this was a bonus. I kept a watch as the sun was going down, and then grabbed my camera just in time. There's nothing like a beautiful sunset!

So now Mr. Gadget is asking me to accompany him to Costco. I hope they don't have one of those fruit tarts..heh...heh....

To be continued.......

Warning!

I'm back, and I have only one thing to say. See above. The fun is over and this business about three meals a day followed by desserts at lunch and dinner, and don't forget the occasional afternoon tea and detour to the ice cream place, has got to stop. I'll be back tomorrow with some cruise stories, and I'll try to keep them lo-cal but I'm not promising.....

This cute sign was photographed at the Hilo Zoo. I think I need to ask Mr. Gadget to install one on my cage.......