Preparedness

Mr. Gadget and I were all set to get outta town ahead of the hurricane, but then we decided to hunker down instead. I feel confident we're ready.

The deck chairs are safe and harmless inside the condo.

We've got batteries.

We've got a radio.

We've got yarn.

This should hold us for a week or so, don't you think?

Perusing

Today, while I've watched news about the approaching hurricane, I've been perusing my stock of doll fixins to see what I might be able to whip up for the old hotel craft show this fall. Whip up as in what can I make with a minimum of effort that will look well thought out, nicely color coordinated, and guaranteed to sell. I probably should have started earlier...

I have several witch hats awaiting accessorizing.

I have a nice stash of witch shoes.
Can't forget these.


I've got some interesting witch fabric. This one calls for a bone necklace.

The perusing is fun. So is making little piles of possibilities. And I definitely enjoy the character building. Soon I'll be throwing the factory switch to get things up and running.

So Tech Guy is coming over this evening to have dinner and do some laundry. I get the feeling he's not taking this hurricane business very seriously, and I have no intention of inviting him over to hang with us. The thought of two people in the house going through serious testosterone-laden electronic withdrawal is more than I want to experience. He can suffer through it in the privacy of his own apartment. But at least he'll have clean clothes.

Buffering

I'm back in the Treehouse and Mr. Gadget is back in his basement office, and we are luxuriating in our respective spaces--conveniently separated by the main-floor buffer zone. Somehow we always manage to leave the small, single-story two-bedroom Calcondo (sadly bufferless) just one day before I send Mr. G out on an extended hike. We get along famously for the most part, and I know I'm a lucky woman, but after several weeks of togetherness his nudginess begins to wear. The good thing about the Concondo is that when he shouts something up two flights, I just say, "What? I can't hear you. Let's talk at dinner."

The flight back was fine except for one small annoyance. No sooner had we sat ourselves down in seats 17A and B when the pilot announced we would be staying put for a while because of an earthquake on the east coast. Just to be safe, he said, the JFK control tower had been evacuated. An hour later we were in the air, which wasn't too bad all things considered.

So now that I'm back in the Treehouse, I've added my California strawberries to my Connecticut strawberries....
.....and my west-coast dishcloths to my east-coast ones....
....and the hearts are hangin' with the birds.

I may be making more of these in the days to come because we're expecting a hurricane. And no doubt the power will be out for a long time and I'll be forced to forego any kind of housework. I've never met a hurricane, although I was teased by one once. That was in south Texas. That's where they belong. Not here. We're blizzard people.

So if you don't hear from me for a while, you'll know why. I'll be here doing handwork by candle light and eating cold soup.....all the while trying to keep Mr. Gadget calm and reassured while he's in the throes of electronic withdrawal.

Scarfing it up

I finished the scarf I was knitting from the cotton boucle yarn I bought at the sidewalk sale. I was expecting the yarn to stripe, but it tweeded instead. I wanted it long enough to wrap a couple of times around my neck--thereby insuring that my turkey-like features would be well hidden. When all was said and done, it measured 74".

Mr. Gadget and I will be packing up soon for our return to the east. Incredibly, our departure date is one day before I was preparing to turn the whole place over to the ants. It's a little like when the kids were home from school for summer vacation. The day school started was always, miraculously, one day before I planned to put them up for adoption.

I have to say, we've made some progress in our war against the ants. Any kind of food, once opened, goes right into the fridge. And as soon as we're finished with a meal, I hop right up to clean and start the dishwasher. This is so against my nature. But the ants have driven me to it with their surprise attacks, devious tactics, and unwillingness to negotiate.

I'll have a lot on my agenda when I get back to Connecticut. There's the old hotel craft show to prepare for. I'm going to start up a ladies craft group at the condos and a writing group at the senior center. Then there's my physical. And I can't forget the dentist. And I should make an eye appointment because I know my doc will ask.....again.....if I've had them checked. Maybe it makes better sense just to stay here with the ants...

Doll delivery day

Yesterday Mr. Gadget chauffeured me 'n Vinny down the 405 to the Stampington magazine offices in Laguna Hills. Vinny, who finally told me his name and that I should never refer to him as Vincent, is the contest doll that has been stewing in my craft rooms for the last few months. While Vinny was in residence, it became quite clear that he's fond of vino. Good thing we didn't let him drive.

We arrived at the Stampington headquarters shortly after 10 a.m. and met with Jana, the managing editor of Art Doll Quarterly. She had graciously offered to give us a tour of their offices.
That's Jana on the left and me on the right.
She introduced us to many of the staff members--who were hard at work in their offices that all resembled the Treehouse when I'm in a creative frenzy. There were bits of this and that everywhere, stuff piled up on tables, thingies stuck to the wall, and even danglies on the doorknobs.
We peeked into the prop room. Putting a magazine together is a big production.

Before we left, I put Vinny on a shelf in the doll room. I suddenly felt a lot lighter knowing that someone else would be in charge of him for a while. He looked lonely, but soon he will have bunkmates. It reminded me of leaving a kid at summer camp. Thankfully, I didn't have to stay up till the wee hours labeling his clothes.

Saturday sniffles

Yep, I've got a cold. I guess I should feel grateful I didn't have it last weekend when we traveled up the Onion Highway for the big dessert, I mean seafood, buffet and the garlic and wine extravaganza. And it should be gone by the time we return to the Concondo in a little over a week. But still. A cold is a big annoyance.

I've been stitching more hearts. It's never too early to think about Valentine's Day. And speaking of that, this morning Mr. Gadget bought me a bouquet of flowers at the farmer's market....and then carried them all the way to the car. I offered to carry them...figuring he might feel a little silly. But he said no, that he was sufficiently secure in his manhood. I'm not sure, but he may have assumed he'd get some nice-guy points on the blog.

I finally finished the contest doll--thanks to Mr. Gadget and his gadgety goodness. His clamps held the hands in place on the glass bottle so I didn't have to stay up all night doing the same.

All appears to be secure now, and I've made arrangements to deliver the doll on Wednesday to the people who will judge. Mr. Gadget deserves some recognition for his engineering expertise. In addition to his clamping skills, he offered advice on how to prevent the entire assemblage from toppling over. I suppose I should make him an apple pie....and I'd better get some ice cream to go with it....considering the floral gift and all.

So now I must go and find some tissues and cough drops. Bah....humbug!

Mystery solved

I've always wondered where onions come from. Now I know.

The funny thing about following an onion truck is that before you see it you'd swear it was snowing....and not one of those light snows either. It's the heavy stuff. But then you notice the outside thermometer on your car says 92 degrees and there's just no way it could be snow. And for a few minutes you're mystified....until you pass the truck....and then you realize it's onions and you're digging through your purse to find some tissues to dry your tears.

Our weekend in NoCal was fun and very relaxing. We did a lot of eating, which is pretty much standard operating procedure when you've married into an Italian family. Friday night we attended a big whoop-de-doo seafood buffet--overlooking San Francisco bay and the Golden Gate Bridge. We couldn't see the bridge because of the fog, so we enjoyed the view of the entire span of the dessert table instead. On Saturday we partook of a picnic lunch, followed by a grilled steak dinner at the home of Mr. Gadget's youngest brother. He's quite the cook and subscribes to the culinary theory that garlic and wine improve any meal, and the more of each the better.

I hereby proclaim that the contest doll will be finished by the weekend. I'm getting tired of fiddling with it. I'm almost certain I've come up with a solution for the glue problem. Mr. Gadget--who lived up to his name today--purchased some small clamps at Home Depot so I can glue it, clamp it, and find something more interesting to do than sit and hold it together while it dries.

And speaking of interesting things to do, this afternoon I made some guacamole for Mr. Gadget. He's a big fan of guac (that's what I call it when I'm in Cali). I don't actually have a recipe. I just throw stuff in the food processor. Three ripe avocados, about 3/4 of a can of tomatoes with jalapenos (Del Monte I think), chopped garlic, lemon juice, chopped red onion, chopped cilantro, salt and plenty of pepper. I usually add some hot sauce to kick it up a notch or two.

Do you know what the best thing is about making Mr. G a big bowl of guac? He usually calls it dinner...

Only in Cali

So yesterday I was on my way to see my west-coast hairdresser for a west-coast haircut when I stopped for a red light. In my rear-view mirror I noticed the lady in the car behind me brushing her teeth....and I figured she must be doing a dry brush. Unless she had a bottle of water and a bucket in the passenger seat.Tomorrow Mr. Gadget and I are planning to drive to northern California to visit two of his brothers.
I'm sure there will be plenty of festiveness, lots of harking back to the old days, and maybe a little wine.
We'll be sure to brush our teeth before we leave.

Get the Raid!

Mr. Gadget and I took another walk on Saturday morning along the same wide, tree-lined sidewalk as last week. There were no surprise yarn sales this time but there was a menacing swarm of killer bees.It's my job to come up with new and different walking routes around the neighborhood. Today we took the clock walk--so named because one of the houses along the way has a large clock tower in the front yard. Maybe Cinderella lives there.

There are some beautiful gardens along the clock walk. It's easy to identify the homeowners who love to garden. They really deserve some recognition for their hard work and willingness to live with dirty fingernails and sore knees. I definitely think some prizes are in order.
Here's the latest on the contest doll project. The glue that's supposed to affix almost anything to almost anything else didn't live up to its promises. I was about to deem the project a disaster and throw it in the dumpster, but then I reconsidered and sent it back to the drawing board. With a little finagling and some input from Mr. Gadget with his physics skills, it might survive. Who knew it would come to matters of volume and mass and quantum theory? Another big challenge has been remembering to move it off the dining room table before dinner so it doesn't get splashed with spaghetti sauce. Although I suppose it would provide an interesting design element...