Oh, How I Used to Love Fridays!

 When I was a working woman I loved Fridays! A Friday marked the close to my work week. I could feel the coming release, the recession of stress and the anticipation of the coming free time. That free time clearly marked by every tick of the clock as time progressed through the weekend. Now that I'm retired...a Friday is like any other day, except the afternoon traffic may be a bit more frenzied, and I can sense the exhaustion of younger folks when we are all at the grocery store, or WalMart, or wherever. 

Today the Mister and I had an appointment in Ocala at 2 PM. We decided to drive through Dunellon, FL and grab a bite for lunch, and pick up some straps for the bag I am making at a local sewing store.

I love eating at Sweeties Café, but it was time to try other restaurants in the area. Lugo's Grill offers Cuban sandwiches. Who doesn't love them? Our mouths were watering as we pulled up to find the parking lot cordoned off and a sign on the door, "CLOSED - Opens August 11". We were crushed. Onward we drove to 2 Rivers Bar & Grill. It had good ratings, and quite a few cars in the parking lot...always a good sign in my mind! We entered the restaurant to find 5 people seated, one being 5 months of age! I guess patrons of the bar on the other end of the building were responsible for the cars in the parking lot! Janine suggested that we take any available table/booth and promptly brought the menu. I selected a booth....only to feel like a 10-year old kid with the seat being that much lower than the sticky, plywood table. Only sticky because of years of washing.

Janine, who knew the folks at the other tables, and two others who came in by name...regulars, was very personable, and brought our menus. Seriously? The prices were certainly pre-inflation...an Italian sausage smothered in sautéed onions and peppers; $14. A hamburger, with cheese, sautéed mushrooms and onions; $14 - each with a side. 

If you want a good meal, friendly service and great prices, stop by 2 Rivers!

From there we stopped at the sewing store to pick up some nylon strapping for the bag that will hold the quilt and other items for Tim as he gets his bi-weekly dialysis. 

And, by the time we returned from our meeting, it was time to begin the evening routine. I didn't have to stress over what to have for dinner: leftover meatloaf, corn on the cob and Mac salad. Yum! 

We had more rain today, almost another inch, and there is another green blob heading our way! Hooray! I shall not complain...until I do!

Book Club - The Frozen River

 Today was our book club. I was the moderator. The book that had been selected was The Frozen River, by Ariel Lawhon. 

I am in awe of how the author constructed a complex historical fiction novel with many webs around life in Maine in the 18th century, midwifery, women's roles, a murder! The novel uses the diary of Martha Ballard, a midwife who chronicled her daily doings from 1784-1812 as the basis for much of her story. 

What intrigued me the most was that Martha's diary survived. It was transcribed by Robert & Cynthia McCausland, beginning in 1982. The process took over 10 years, and is comprised of 1400 pages.

Images of each page of the diary, and the transcription may be explored at https://dohistory.org.  

Ariel Lawhon includes relevant excerpts from the diary, but has conventionalized spelling and capitalization to make the entries easier to read.

I found a fascinating interview with Ariel Lawhon:

Another book about Martha Ballard was written by Laurel Thatcher. She wrote A Midwife’s Tale, The Life of Martha Ballard Based on her Diary 1785-1812. This is not a work of fiction, but Laurel shares pertinent parts of the diary and then discusses different aspects of life in Maine including health issues, social networks, economic roles and women's work. I found it rather challenging to read, but it considered to be a masterpiece. 

PBS aired a
film in their American Experience series about A Midwife's Tale. I found it to be excellent, and a good tie in to 

with The Frozen River.  

This is all probably more information than you want to know...but since I found these resources for the book club, I figured I might as well share them again! 

After the book club I worked on making a bag for our Dialysis patient friend. The quilt I made will fit in it, and he can carry a book, his phone, a pen, etc. I will pick up the straps tomorrow. There is a shop nearby that specializes in bag making. They have great nylon straps that are more durable than anything I can make out of fabric. 

We had rain! Four days in a row! This morning it poured-almost 2"! Even in our sandy area we had some standing water on the roads- for a short period of time. We had more rain late this afternoon. Maybe we are finally in the rainy season...aka the monsoon season! 

Is hamburger $8-$9.99 a pound in your area? No wonder hamburgers at some restaurants are $22!!! For dinner we had a meatloaf made with 50/50 beef and pork. It's the way my mom used to make meatloaf...and it was great. 

Silly (stupid?) Tools

 Several years ago, for some reason that I can no longer recall, I bought this silly "vacuum".... most likely from Amazon. It's a desk vacuum, or a crumb vacuum... or something like that. 

Needless to say, I rarely use it. It lives on my desk....somewhere. Today I found it, covered in dust. I pulled it out because I cut some "Minkie". Minkie is a synthetic, incredibly plush polyester knit. I use it as backings for baby quilts, and for quilted "blankets".  Today I finished quilting the blanket for the Mister's friend's husband (Tim). He's undergoing dialysis and the facility is always cold. We decided that I could make him a 'blanket'. I wrote about it on Sunday. 

I finished the quilted blanket and needed to trim it before putting on the binding. One icky thing about Minkie is that when you cut it, you are inundated with little fluffies. I had pieces of brown fluff all over the cutting board...and window sills..... and on the floor...oh, and stuck to my shirt!

I remembered the desk vac, grabbed it, dusted it off, and remarkably it still had a charge. Not only did it suck up all of the little fluffies...but it has broom-like bristles on the bottom that scrubbed the imbedded fluffies enmeshed in my cutting mat. It's a winner!

Oh, and the finished blanket? Here it is:

I've put some coordinating fabric on the long arm and will make a bag. Tim can carry the quilt, books, a phone, whatever, to keep him occupied during dialysis. 

The quilt consumed most of my day....after my 7:30 AM dental cleaning appointment 😳

My cleaning appointment may have been worth its weight in gold. I have not been really comfortable at this particular dentist's office. It's the second I've tried in the area. The first was very 'corporate' and always presented me with a detailed dental plan, prices, and payment options. This second office turns out to also be a corporate office. It seems to thrive on numbers, pushing lots of patients in, and out. Today my usual hygienist had called out. The office had called in a temp. She works, part time, at a dentist in a nearby town...a dentist with a private practice. A dentist who, after a bit of investigation, I learned had a 5.0 rating with over 425 ratings on Google, and very positive ratings on other sites. It sounds like this may be the dentist I am seeking. What a great find. Serendipity! 

Rainbow of Colors

Who doesn't like a new box of crayons? 

Those prefect, shiny points;

That distinct, memorable crayon smell!

A side note: schools, teachers and kids often need crayons. Sometimes as the new school year approaches, there are great prices on crayons. If you have the opportunity, adopt a class or school and bring in some school supplies that can be shared with needful students. 

One thing that may be even better than a new box of crayons....

A new, HUGE, box of colored pencils!

I have a handful of Prismacolor pencils that I acquired many years ago. Many of my pencils have been reduced to nubs. My palette of colors is limited. I decided that I would expand my collection and fill in holes in different hues by purchasing individual colors. I stopped by the art section of Hobby Lobby and found that Prsimacolor pencils were $1.25 each! Seriously? While I was in California I thought I'd swing by the Dick Blick art store...it's a bit of a haul on my bike so I looked online and found out that individual pencils were $1.23 each, not a price I was willing to expend that much energy on! I thought that I'd look at sets. The price per pencil in sets was better....the 150 color set was $135....that's only $ .90 per pencil. I decided it was a good price....but, maybe not now.  Then, because I had put it in my cart at Dick Blick, online, I received a notice that there had been a price drop....now the 150 colored pencil set was only $120....or $.80 per pencil! 

SOLD!

My pencils arrived today. I can't wait to dig in and play with color...

I have lots of choices! 

This morning I began quilting the blanket for Tim. I'm getting better at communicating with the quilting computer...but on the last two passes we had some disagreements. The computer decided that the quilt was shorter than what I tried to convey to it. I tried to change it up for the last pass, and again, we had a disagreement about the location of the bottom of the quilt. Certainly it is all my fault. I'm failing to communicate with the computer. No problem. I finished the last little bit guiding the machine by hand. I have some clean-up to complete, but that part of the quilt is finished. 

After lunch I played Hand and Foot with some of my new friends. We had a lot of fun, but alas, I did not win! 

We had more rain this morning. The thunder rattled things in the house. Several of my friends commented that they were tired as they couldn't sleep with all of that noise going on. In the last two days we have had over 2.25 inches! 

'Maters, Mozzerella, Meatballs & Mushrooms....Mmmmm

 After my appointments with the Gastroenterologist and the Orthopedic guy, I returned home to debate, "What's for lunch".  I am not one of those folks who has a menu for the week mapped out. As mealtime approaches, I make my way to the fridge and peruse the contents. 

Based on what I saw, especially the Burrata cheese - one my new favorites in cooking - I decided it had to be a Naan bread pizza. 

Super simple:

• Grab the Naan bread out of the freezer to let it defrost for a few minutes.
• Turn the toaster oven on "Air fry" at 400°.
• Spread some bottled sauce on the bread.
• Cut up a large mushroom, two small tomatoes, and a few meatballs.
• Run outside to snip off some Basil leaves - wash and cut up.
• Sprinkle the food on top of the sauce.
• Put some chunks of Burrata cheese over the other stuff.
• Sprinkle a shredded Italian cheese mix over all.
• Bake for about 10 minutes...

Ta da.....

My orthopedic appointment went...as I expected. The MRI didn't have anything good to say, but it wasn't the worst. Besides some disc bulging, severe stenosis at points in my lower back and impingement of nerves in various locations, I'm doing OK. I wanted a magic pill, but kinda knew that was not to be had. He suggested PT....I do most of the exercises prescribed previously at PT...so he offered to leave it in my records and if/when I'd like to start again, or start with a different therapy center, all I need to do is call. He said I could get an injection, although he thought "the nickel counters" may require a stint of PT to show it is not effective before they'd pay. I asked about the hip pain I experience that makes it difficult/uncomfortable to walk, he just gave me that look and said, "Yeah, that's your back talking to you." Life will go on, and I am truly blessed that I am not in excruciating pain. 

The best news of the day? Rain! Lots and lots of rain! (We seem to be in a feast or famine cycle). Thunder and lightning began around 4 AM and the rain poured down. I love sleeping with a rainstorm going on...but then again, if I know it's a storm, am I sleeping?!! The day cleared, and a succession of new storms came over us beginning around 3 PM, bringing more lovely rain. 

Dinner time looms. Opening the fridge tells me we are going to have a stuffed salmon I picked up at ALDI, some leftover quiche as a starch and caprese salad (more Burrata cheese and basil - yum!)

Tonight I will indulge in a glass of Chardonnay - a huge improvement over the Magnesium Citrate cocktail I had last night! 

Sunday Doings

 I didn't go outside to work in the garden today...at all! I stayed inside as I wanted to make a quilted 'blanket' for a friend of one of the Mister's classmate. Her husband has to have dialysis twice a week. She commented about how cold it is in the center when he is held prisoner by the machine. So....the Mister and I went to the local quilt shop to pick out some manly fabric. 

The gal at the shop suggested a panel. That wasn't really what I had in mind, but we looked and found something that the Mister liked, and I figured I could work into a quilted blanket. Last night I cut the images out of the panel and this morning I was ready to get to work:

8:00 AM Sorted the blocks and cut pieces for sashing

Apologies about the quality of the pictures...the sun played havoc with my camera.

9:00 AM  Sashing sewn on most of the squares

10:00 AM Panel borders, with sashing are laid out to help me decide whether to put sashing between the boarder and the central green blanket. Vickie tests it out. She liked how she blended in with the green!

11:00 AM Sewing the borders onto the green batik fabric

12:00 PM Blanket loaded on long arm. It has a brown 'Minkie' backing that will be soft and cuddly.

Lunch for me was the same as breakfast....pineapple jello. I have one of 'those' tests tomorrow, requiring a clear liquid diet and later, prep to clean out my system. Oh, joy.

We went to the local theater production of Mary Poppins.  The cast and crew, 50 folks were involved, did an excellent job. 

Upon our return I prepared my evening cocktail of Magnesium Citrate - ick! I will be happy tomorrow when this is all behind me 🤣...and when I can eat real food! 

E.B. White on Corgis, and my Saturday

Who amongst us has not been touched by E.B. White? I would still find it enjoyable to curl up and read Charlotte's Web, or Stuart Little once again, having read these childhood favorites how many times? White's Elements of Style was my bible in high school; I poured over it looking for answers as to why my English teacher kept awarding me Ds for my papers. (When I met with him out of frustration to inquire as to how I could improve my writing, that &$%^* arrogantly declared that my writing would improve when I became more mature. 😠 But, I digress!)

For those of you perhaps more erudite than me, you probably read White's writings in the New Yorker or Harper's Magazine. 

I recently stumbled on this piece about Corgis, attributed to E.B. White. This made me laugh, as there is so much truth to be found in his reflections on the nature of Corgis. If you own, or have owned, or know someone who owns, or has owned Corgis, you will smile as well! 

In the event the writing is too small, here is the text:

Being the owner of Corgis, to me a book on dog discipline becomes a volume of inspired humor. Every sentence is a riot. Some day, if I ever get a chance, I shall write a book, or warning., on the character and temperament of the Corgi and why he can't be trained and shouldn't be. I would rather train a striped zebra to balance an Indian club than induce a Corgi to heed my slightest command. When I address Fred I never have to raise either my voice or my hopes. He even disobeys me when I instruct him in something he wants to do.

     E.B. WHITE

I began my day as before, getting outside before 7:15 AM. I did nothing huge, just some small yard/building tasks to tidy things up.  We had a delta of sand crossing one area of the driveway from a heavy rainfall last week. I moved the sand back to its area of origin.  A few weeds that had found a toehold in crevices of the driveway were sprayed with Spruce weed killer, a possibly safer alternative to other available sprays. I moved some items from the garage to the RV garage and storage area, and took clean linens and towels back to the RV,  ready for our next trip. 

The Mister brought two bucket loads of mulch over to the front garden.....

Which I spread as best I could.  I have a soaker hose under the mulch.  The plants may be able to hold onto the moisture a bit better now.

After lunch, leftover Shepards pie, and a brief nap (so tired, again...not sure if it is the heat and activity, or something going on) both the Mister and I ran to the local fabric shop to pick up something to make a quick quilted blanket for a friend undergoing dialysis. His wife was saying how cold he gets, as they keep the temperatures low to stem the growth of bacteria. Hopefully I can get this knocked out in a few days and get it on its way. 

We stoped at ALDI and Publix. The ALDI 'surprise product of the day' was a set of 4 large ice cubes. Seriously?? Have you ever?

Maybe this is the thing of the future. 

Remember the reactions when bottled water was first marketed?

But seriously, I will not spend $2.49 for 4 ice cubes, 

no matter how clear and slow melting they are!

A Little Bit of This....a Little Bit of That

Today was a "This. That, and a little bit of Everything" sort of day. I managed to get out before 7:15 again, trying to beat the heat a bit. My first chore was to reseat one of the stepping stones. 

You may recall that back in June the Mister used his tiny excavator to remove our perished Pygmy palm. In the process, the machine broke one of the round stepping stones you see in front of the excavator in this picture, and unseated the other. One end was considerably higher than the other and I kept tripping on in. I knew it was a disaster waiting to happen. 

This morning I dug out some of the sand, and removed some of the weed cloth, which after many years was not really keeping the weeds at bay as so much sand and dirt had been deposited on top of it, the weeds are fine with growing on top of the disintegrating weed cloth. I replaced the stone and filled in sand around it. I finished my task by raking all of the surrounding area and seating everything with some water. I haven't decided if I really need to add another stepping stone closer to the gate, and I need to get some more pea gravel to bring the entire path back up level with the stones. 

If I get really energetic I could clean the timbers on either side of the path and stain them. 

And, if I get really, really energetic I could dig up the gravel and sand over the entire length of the garden path, cut a few roots that are intruding, level the sand base and reinstall weed cloth, stepping stones and gravel. I'm not certain I'll ever have that much energy - 😂

After I finished this task I did some weeding. I have a new crop of palm seedlings emerging. 

I planted an elephant ear plant of some sort that I bought a while back. I first planted it in an area of the garden that was too sunny. I put it back in the pot and moved it into a shadier area. It has been growing beautifully. It now has a permanent home (on the left in the picture), next door to the Caladiums. I just learned a few things about Caladiums; the plants from successive years will be smaller, and not as full, and using fertilizer with too much nitrogen will effect the color of the leaves...which makes sense since the nitrogen component of fertilizer is what makes plants have healthy, green tops. 

I trimmed a few things,

I blew leaves and grass off the driveway on my way to retrieve the garbage bin,

and finally retreated to the air conditioning for a shower. 

A friend was coming over and I realized that I had spider webs on the glass panes of my front door. Perhaps not the nicest welcome. I cleaned the panes of glass, inside and out, and then went on to clean a large window in our kitchen. The view is ever so much better now! 

The morning continued in this fashion, seeing something out of place, moving it where it belongs,

seeing something there that needed cleaning, taking care of that....

Before I knew it, it was lunch time....

left over salads.

Then I was off to play Mahjong. 

I won a few.

I lost a few.

I came out a bit ahead of the game, bringing back about $ .85 above and beyond my starting pot of $3.00!

We are heavy bettors!

I mentioned to the Mister that I didn't know what to cook for dinner.

He suggested we go out...and so we did!

We ate at Seagrass Waterfront in Homosassa.

We do not eat out a lot, and we are still exploring restaurants in our town and surrounding towns.  

Seagrass Waterfront has a covered porch next to a dock, as well as inside seating. While we were there a boat came in and the folks on the boat joined friends for dinner. 

There seemed to be a number of locals as several of the diners were on first named basis with the waitress and the manager, who did come over to see if our meal met our expectations. 

I decided the day, with temps near (exceeding?) 100°,

deserved a "Pain Killer".

It worked!

I loved the tipsy glass! 

I chose to have Shepherd's Pie, one of my favorites. 

It didn't disappoint!

We arrived home, and I watered some areas of our newly sodded yard that were showing the effects of a hard day, and I called it a day!

 

More Old Friends

While I was at the California condo I had the chance to visit with some other old friends! 

 When I am in California I sew on a 1948 Singer Featherweight. 

She's a little rough, showing a bit of rust here and there,

but she sews like a dream, with perfect stitches. 

I made this cover for her, and quilted it, using the Featherweight.

Another old friend that was in my sewing box is this 'bobbin' from an even older Singer machine.

This bobbin would have fit inside a shuttle. Singer originally used shuttles for the

lower thread. The shuttle was mounted in a piece that wagged back and forth allowing the bobbin thread to move behind the thread in the needle to create a stitch. 

Our new machines with their computerized stitching and time-saving features like automatic threaders and cutters are great, but they can't hold a candle to the older machines when it comes to reliability and longevity! 

I returned from California on a red-eye flight. I prefer them. I don't care to waste a day traveling, knowing I'll be exhausted anyway. Why not travel at night, knowing I'll be exhausted, but have some daylight hours  on both ends of the travel, to enjoy doing something! 

I was still tired on Thursday, but did get to see some 'old' friends! I feel wonderful realizing that I have made a number of good friends with varied interests since we moved here 18 months ago. I began the day by picking up a copy of "People we Meet on Vacation" by Emily Henry. Our local library has a program of 'Book Club in Bag' that offers a bag with 10 copies of a book, and some discussion guidelines. One of the book clubs I joined decided to try it. The down side is that the book club only has the bag for a month... so busy folks, or those belonging to more than one club, or those who are slow readers may have difficulty completing the book in that time frame. I'm going to have to give myself permission to sit and read - since generally I read when I get into bed, and rarely last more than 5 pages! 

From there I went to the community center to sew with 8 other women. We meet twice a month to sew. I worked on my Quiltworx quilt...I am working on the triangle border...so I'm getting close. BUT...I bought an extension to turn this quilt into a king size quilt. So....I still have a ways to go!

I had to leave the sewing group at lunch time to go play Mahjong with some more of my new friends. We had a wonderful time, and everyone had a few chances to win...so we all went home feeling good. 

At 4:20 my self-guilt stepped up. I have been promising myself that in the afternoon I would head to the "Y" to do some sort of exercise. Today I called myself to task and spent about 30 minutes over there, moving my body. I need to keep this up!!

So, now it's time to address evening things. Pasta is boiling for a pasta salad, a chicken breast is marinating (mayo + spices) and I'll pull out some coleslaw. At 93° at 6 PM I don't feel like doing much more!

Old Friends

Old friends, old friends

Sat on their park bench like bookends

A newspaper blown through the grass

Falls on the round toes

Of the high shoes of the old friends

Old friends, winter companions, the old men

Lost in their overcoats, waiting for the sunset

The sounds of the city sifting through trees

Settle like dust on the shoulders of the old friends

Can you imagine us years from today

Sharing a park bench quietly?

How terribly strange to be 70

Old friends, memory brushes the same years

Silently sharing the same fears

                                          - Paul Simon

I have some 'old friends' too! Just before my senior year in college I was taking a few summer classes before student teaching in the fall. My parents had moved from the area and I was staying with my former next door neighbor. My birthday was approaching. My sweet mom and arranged for the neighbor to pick up a sewing machine and a sewing box for my Birthday present.  I was definitely surprised. The gift was way beyond my expectations. 

I regret that I passed the machine on to a needy friend many years ago, but before that the machine worked with me on many projects. I loved it! 

I still own the sewing box. 

It's lost it's handle,

And inside, there are many sewing tools and notions from the past, 

as well as some of my newer tools. 

 

My mom had a knack for buying the perfect gifts for her children. 

Thanks, mom! 

 

Water Woes

It seems our country either has too much water....or not enough. It seems rare to have it 'just right'! 

In California arguments arise over what percentage of water should be made available for agriculture, which is a huge industry in the state, and what percentage should be made for residential use. Complicating the argument is the use of huge open canals that transport water from the Sierra Nevadas to farm lands throughout the state. The water in open canals is subject to evaporation. The LA Times reports: 

California's 4,000 miles of canals and open aqueducts lose an estimated 63 billion gallons (roughly 193,000 acre-feet) of water to evaporation each year. This evaporated volume represents enough water to meet the household needs of approximately 2 million people or irrigate 50,000 acres of farmland annually. [1, 2]

There are growing concerns about drinking water contamination as well. 

Having lived in Colorado, where our annual rainfall total was only 15-18, and now in Florida where until recent rains we were well below our annual rainfall amounts and our aquifers are lower than usual, I am sensitive about water use. 

So, now after all of that blabbety-blabbing, I'll get to the reason I am writing this post!

Over the years at my California Condo I have made a little succulent garden. In February I was awed by how large and healthy my garden had grown in my absence! Look at the size of some of those 'flowers'!

The secret? My hose irrigation system that waters the plants on a schedule. 

But, my hose bib leaks.

 It drips.

And, those drips add up.

At one point I 'solved' my problem (assuaged my guilt), by putting a plant under the faucet, in line with the drip. But, that proved to be far too much water for the plant and it died. 

I decided to leave the irrigation off, letting the plants fend for themselves.

They are succulents, after all, and they don't require that much moisture.

When I arrived at the California Condo last week my garden was a sorry sight. 

By the time I thought to take a picture, I had already trimmed several plants,

but you can see it was a far cry from what it had been six months previously.

I kept thinking about that darn leaky faucet (it drips from the back blow preventer...next time I'm out here I"ll replace it) and my life-giving irrigation system! 

I thought of hooking up some sort of funnel, attached to a hose, to redirect the drips.

I grabbed a water bottle, and discovered that my hose would screw on the end of it. I could cut the bottom of the bottle, and suspend it under the drip somehow.

Then, I hit upon the solution. I had in my possession a brightly colored ceramic planter I found the last time I was here. I brought it in to wash it, thinking I might use it to hold kitchen spoons, spatulas and other tools. While washing it I noticed that it did have a small drain hole at the bottom edge. The irrigation tubing fit perfectly in that hole. 

Can you see my bright 'drip' pot amongst the succulents, under the hose bib?

Here it is...with a black tube coming out of the bottom on the right, going behind the blue pot.

(amongst the spaghetti of tubes going here and there!)

I ran the tubing under the door, tacking it about 6" above the patio,

slightly lower than where the tube exits the pot.

The tube runs behind the pile of stuff in the corner, 

continues down along the fence of the patio,

and drips on the ground by the pot I placed to hold the tube between the two plants. 

If you look closely you might see the end of the tube. 

And why did I bother to reroute the water to this side of the patio?

There is a large massive Sequoya tree at the corner of my property.

The local arborist has explained that the tree needs more water.

The residents do put out a soaker hose, but it gets moved, it gets turned off,

it isn't necessarily doing the job.

I've created my own version of a soaker hose! 

One drip at a time! 

Stone Mountain & Daughter

 On Shattuck Avenue in Berkeley, CA, not far from my home away from home, one can find Stone Mountain and Daughter. This is a delightful fabric store that I am drawn to every time I visit.

It helps that the shop is a short 1.7 mile bike ride...or an easy bus ride, from the condo. It helps when it is a beautiful summer day, perfect for a ride through quiet Berkeley neighborhoods, and it helps that they always have 50% off fabrics up stairs - bolts and bolts of them! 

Stonemountain & Daughter was founded in the early 20th century in LA. by Steinberg, an ancestor of the current owner. Steinburg means Stone Mountain. When the shop was opened in Berkeley it acquired its new name. 

M

Upon entering the store one sees aisles of fun fabrics that draw you in to browse, and touch, and to think and imagine.

The shop has samples of shirts, skirts, dresses and pants that one could make.

I think something like this shirt would make a cool Florida top! 

In addition to quilting cotton the shop has Japanese and Indian imports, voile, flannel, lawn, linen and linen blends, chambray, wool, knits, coatings....and more!

They have shelves of notebooks with hundreds of patterns for inspiration. 

A rainbow of motivation meets your eye, that just beg to be made into something!

Stonemountain & Daughter is not huge, by any description.

But they have an incredible variety of soft goods. 

The rolls in the bottom corner of the photo above are similar to what used to be referred to as

'oil cloth'. These have a clear plastic of some sort, waterproof layer that protects charming prints,

perfect for table cloths, slickers or waterproof bags.

Upstairs all of the fabrics are half off, and half of the fabrics, or more, are behind me in the picture above!

.I always wander up the creaky stairs, and invariably I find at least one thing that I must have. 

As I approached the cutting table with my arms full, 

another helpful shopper pointed out that the store does have a few shopping carts.

I smiled, and explained that I found it a chore to carry the cart upstairs,

and bump it back down after collecting the bolts needing cutting! 

She agreed! 

Sew, I bought a bit of this,

and a bit of that,

and wandered around a bit more and bought some fabric to make a blousy shirt,

like the one in the picture!

I haven't made garments in eons....

but the fabrics are so inviting.

Mayhaps I'll have to try my hand at making more of my clothes. 

Maybe selecting a yummy fabric and making a garment can become a tradition for my California visits! 

Just a thought! 

Hunting Vermin in the Yard

Be vewy quiet....

I'm hunting wabbits squirrels....

Kaitlyn patiently watched squirrels gamboling on the fence.

She was waiting for one to stray too far from the fence or the nearby tree. 

Don't you just love her choice of camouflage?! 

 

What's the Diff?

Two years ago...almost to the day...I was diagnosed with Clostridium perfringens. This is a cousin of Clostridium difficile. It took some time, and some tests, and some visits to various doctors, but after almost 2 months, my problems were all behind me (oh you just know I couldn't resist saying that!)

Everything in that region of my body has been fine, until recently. On a Friday afternoon, not too long ago, I developed a pain in my stomach, which is very unusual for me. After several hours, the pain had lessened, but I had developed other issues. I figured it was just some sort of bug going around, and laid low for a week. But, the problems continued, and actually worsened. I decided that the colitis I had two years ago must have returned. We were planning to go away for a week and I was concerned. I called the Gastroenterologist to see if they could fit me in, hoping to get some medication to help. I explained that I might have a 'colitis flare', which seemed to do the trick and I had an appointment, just like that! I saw a nurse practitioner. I was impressed. She prescribed a medication to ease cramping and one that might help my system, and gave me a take-home test. The rest of that day, and the next day, I felt great and had no symptoms, so I actually called the pharmacy and had them put the medications back on the shelf. Wrong thing to do! A few days later it was back, and almost a week later I received a call from the nurse practitioner....the results of the test showed that I didn't have C-perfringens, I had the real deal. I had acquired C-difficile, or C-diff. 

What?! Where? When? How? Why me?! 

If you have ever read about C-diff, it's one mean bug. It can run rampant in hospitals, and is becoming more frequent outside of institutions. It can be lethal. Everyone has the c-diff bacteria in their gut, and often, if people are taking an antibiotic that kills 'good' bacteria in the gut, c-diff, being resistant to many antibiotics, has a chance to flourish and take over. That wasn't the situation in my case, and I still don't know why c-diff took hold, but an antibiotic was called in. Both the pharmacist and the nurse practitioner stressed that I must take the medications evenly spaced at 6 hour intervals, in order for it to be most effective, and I must finish every pill. I set alarms on my phone, and customized them! I selected music. My alerts included, "What Do You Got?", "Bad Medicine" and "Getting Better All the Time"....I used a soft "thud" for the 1:30 AM alert, since rock and roll music would be a bit too startling at that time of day night! I've finished the course of antibiotics. Things seem to be on the mend, and I am keeping my fingers crossed. I don't want to be messing around with this bug again! 

However, despite my being impressed by the nurse practitioner at my initial visit, as I read more about the disease, and how devastating it can be, and how difficult it can be to eradicate, I became disenchanted. The nurse practitioner never suggested that I read anything. She never explained that C-diff bacteria spores can remain viable on a surface for several months....and up to a year in some cases!! The nurse practitioner never explained that household cleaners, and alcohol-based hand cleaners are not at all effective against c-diff. The nurse practitioner never explained that the growing c-diff bacteria populations release toxins that can damage cells in the intestinal lining. 

I realize now how fortunate I was to have licked this thing so promptly. It generally doesn't work that way!  I worry that I might have shared the bug with others. I worry that the Mister, who is vulnerable due to antibiotic use, is vulnerable. I worry that this is not the last I see of this disease. I keep waiting for the shoe to drop....it isn't a good feeling!