Around My World Today

Spring is busting out all over. Enjoy!!

Taking Another Step into Firstville

I recently set up an Etsy store. YES!!, I did it. Another first for me. The cupboard is still bare so no link for you yet, but I have been a crocheting fool, working at perfecting my hand warmers. I've been working with several simple patterns, following the directions, taking the results apart and putting them back together again, and generally discovering the yarns I most enjoy working with as well as the hook size.

I've been worrying over variations in hand size so have been enlisting my friends to be hand models. Biene is my size small and it looks as though chaining 28 sts for a foundation with a G or H hook works for a small. Thirty is good for medium. Krista is my medium model. A 32 st base is good for large hands. I'm keeping track of the yarn type and weight and hook size of each warmer and writing the information on a piece of paper to tuck into one glove of each pair.

I'm pretty much going on a wing and a prayer, as I approach the organizing and understand of the craft, with quite a lot of trial and error mixed in. But it seems to be coming together. And why, you may ask, is she producing hand warmers now that spring and summer are approaching? Well, that may be but as close as I can tell, it is always winter somewhere on the planetand no one knows that better than we blogging friends do. Right?

A First and a case of serious nerves

Just when you think that life has no more "Firsts" for you to experience, one comes along. Granted, I know in my heart that "Firsts" are always within us. After all, a pulse equals life and life equals actions of one sort or another. So - today - I committed an action. Today, at 60 years of age and counting, I have committed a "First".

Today . . .

. . . I submitted poetry for publication. In fact, I submitted TWO poems. And along with that, I submitted a photograph as well.

Oddly enough, it isn't the end result that I'm looking forward to. Now that I've committed to submitting, the results will be what they are. For me, the hardest part was and still is, the actually submitting. I may not ever break that particular nut entirely but I have certainly given it a good crack.

Writer's Island - Bookends and Second Chances

Every family has that one person who serves as the bookend for birth and death. Usually the job falls to one of the women of the family. In my family, that job falls to me. Births, illnesses, deaths all line up for attention at one time or another in our lives and these moments are not necessarily limited to the two legged members of our family.

Being the birth/death bookend of our family means handling the activities and rituals attached to these events for the non-human members of our family as well. I've noticed over the years that it doesn't matter if the pet is a cat or a dog. In all likelihood, the departing pet can be a fish, a bird, a hamster . . . something small. No matter how small, each tiny family member has found a place in our backyard. Cammie, our hamster, is under a rock at our former home. Several gold fish have provided food for roses over the years. A few dogs departed during my childhood. In adulthood, it has been cats.

DH speaks cat. Cats know that our house is a sure fire place for adoption. Unattached cats hang out on the porch and if they are persistent, we start feeding them. It is only a matter of time before they discover the pet door in the backyard. Once that small door is found, the cat is ours.

This is how we acquired Gus. Gus hung out next door under our neighbor's RV for a couple of weeks and refused to leave. Finally determining that no food was forthcoming, he relocated to our front porch. A month later, he found the cat door and he moved in.

Gus became the most recent in a series of kitties that have adopted us. With each new addition, DH and I fall into a routine. He feeds them, makes sure there is always plenty of food, handles the cat box, and occasionally prepares them for visits to the vet. DH doesn't like to handle these medical matters. He's not much for human medical matters either but that being said, you can always rely on DH if something needs to be done.

I suppose if I were not the designated bookend of our family, Don would handle illness matters as well. But he has me so he doesn't need to. It's a responsibility I don't mind shouldering. He organizes the stuff of daily life, I handling the healing and end of life stuff. Today was one of those bookend days for me.

Back on my 4-20-07 post, you may have read about Gus' cancer and the the loss of one of his ears. He recovered from that but we knew he would not be out of the woods for long. It would be a short second chance. There were other signs that cancer was still present. Fall arrived and turned to winter. Gus ate and ate and ate. But, he did not gain any weight and more alarming, he did not develop a winter coat. He started slowing down. Breathing seemed labored. He became incontinent. He didn't complain but I knew we were going to have to face one of life's bookends soon. Gus' second chance was running out.

Yesterday I came home to Don just finishing the clean-up of a particularly messy accident Gus had in Don's study. At that moment, the switch just turned on for me. I knew I had to do something. Gus was not stretching out in his special place. We found him sleeping in, for Gus, odd places, like the hallway to the bedrooms. He pretty much slept where he dropped.

We've lost a few cats that have wondered off in their old age. Seemingly healthy but just slowing down, one day they would just be gone. Other times, age and/or illness precipitated a crisis and a midnight, after-hours run to the emergency vet. I realized that I did not want Gus to get to crisis point. I did not want Gus to just wander off to die alone. So, today I took Gus to the vet.

Dr. Flores is such a great vet. She loves animals and hates seeing them suffer. She does not encourage extra testing for sick animals. She encourages compassion for the very sick creatures who are in our care. We spent time talking about Gus in a special room they have assigned for hard moments such as this. The animals and their humans have privacy.

It was peaceful. Gus was enjoying the scratching and petting on his chin that he liked so much and then very quietly it was over. My part of the silent agreement that Don and I share was over. I brought Gus home and Don took over his part of our agreement. By the time I returned home from work this evening, Gus had joined Smudge and Paw Kitty in the corner of our yard, safely tucked away at the feet of our statue of the Holy Family.

Perched and Liking It

I am having just the best day. No particular reason. Just a darn good day and I had to say it. So, consider this a ripple from Annie and SMILE. You will instantly feel better, I promise.

My lake birds are such an endless source of amusement. This Canadian couple seems to have found a cozy but, oh so EXPOSED, place to spoon.

Perched on a light post high above the amphitheatre outside the music building.

Weight Loss Update, Poetry and Birds Galore

After a long stall with my weight loss efforts, it would appear that I've made a break through. After 10 months with Jenny Craig, I've lost and KEPT off 22 lbs. Most of this was off in the first 5 months when the great up and down struggle began. Then a great change happened.

I reconnected to Tammy S. a former piano student at the university in our department. She always struggled with weight and after her 2nd child had reached 250 lbs. Without going into a lot of detail here, suffice it to say that Tammy lost 105 lbs. and she did it the old fashion way - diet and exercise.

She was on the TODAY show recently and a co-worker sent me the video clip of her appearance on the show. My world turned upsidedown. Here is Tammy's clip. I believe if you copy and paste this URL into your navigation bar, you should be able to view her appearance.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/23111170#23111170

It is very much one thing to read of people who have successfully lost so much weight. It is quite another to KNOW someone who did it and did it without benefit of surgery. Danielle, my JC counselor is, as always, entirely on board with me.

So, now I have a plan.

• I'm walking with Krista now.
• Using an electric wok Biene gave me
• Altering stir fry recipies to reduce the calories
• Focusing on reading nutritional articles
• Reading books that increase my spiritual growth and
• Books that educate me in Church history.

The picture at my blog title is a sunrise outside my front door. So - dear friends, wish me luck as I now get on to the business of seriously continuing my weight-loss efforts and welcome, WELCOME to my sunrise.

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This morning I was over at House of Java at 8;30 and didn't get home until almost noon. I arrived with my Treasury of Catholic Wisdom, and interview with the poet Romina Freschi, crochet patterns to study, and several miscellaneous items to look over.

The interview with Freschi turned out to be a revelation. I've been researching thoughts on idealism and suddenly I was face to face with a page of insights on idealism that will help me to continue as I gather my thoughts on a poem I'm working on entitled, Isle de Lyst.

Last week, I was deeply effected by a friend's loss of her job and the injustice of what had occurred. I found myself facing an aspect of myself I have not looked at too closely in a while -my deep seated idealism and strong sense of justice. I was so immersed in my reading that suddenly 2 hours had passed by and I need badly to get up and walk around. Leaving everying in the booth (I can do that without fear at HoJ) I started walking in a circle around the Raley's Center and parking lot. Along the way I ran across birds, flowers, and more birds. It was just the jolt I needed to shake the stiffness out of my neck and cleared my head for more reading to come. Here are few pictures from my walk.

This beautiful white dove was very content to pose for several shots before getting impatient with me.

No Ride Needed.

We Know the Way.

Turning Over A New Leaf

Life has changed and my world has lightened up.
The face I show to the world is happier, brighter,
filled with less confusion and distress.
Hope. Idealism. Justice. Prayer. Activity.
These are my guiding lights.
These changes required a change on my blog.
Welcome to my sunrise.

Happy Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day to all of my dear friends. Here's to you with my favorite drink and something sweet.

Last Evening At Borders

Taking a peak over the magazines to find . . .

Love in the Stacks

And while we are at it . . .

. . . what is wrong with this picture?

San Francisco Redux

Last November Elaine and I made our first trip to San Francisco together. One of the places we hoped to see was Artfiber yarn shop. We didn't make it that day but we immediately made plans for our next trip and making this our primary destination. The plan made, we waited for February 9th to arrive, and arrive it did. And, how! Artfiber was all we imagined that it would be and more.

I first explored the shop online and was fascinated by the unique look of the yarns. However, it isn't the look of yarn that attracts me, it is the feeling that sells it to me. So visiting there Saturday was a sensory adventure of touch. Once I found a yarn I liked visually and by touch, I took a photo of the yarn and the description sheet (with permission of the owner, of course). This done, I could order online later.

The entrance to Artfiber was unexpected. A narrow door was tucked in between a restaurant and what appeared to be a medical arts building. Down a narrow hallway, we were lead to an equally narrow as well as steep set of stairs to the second floor. One hairpin turn later at the top of the stairs and a walk down another narrow hall, and we entered what would proved to be a yarn lover's holy of holies.

The narrow and astonishingly small shop was packed with the most unique selections of yarns I've ever seen. Granted, my experience thus far has not run to exotic yarns, but by any fiber lover's standard, this had to be the holy grail of yarn shops. The few pictures I took of the interior don't really do justice to what I saw there. I mainly took pictures of the description sheets of any yarn my fingers liked. The picture below give a little taste. The website is rich with images and descriptions and imaginative names.


After leaving Artfiber, I took a few moments to capture an interesting construction activity going on at street level. A long flatbed truck and a crane were at work. The crane operator moved the cable to heavy wood pallets. A man on the ground made the connection. Then, slowly and carefully, up rose the pallet. A gentle swing of the massive crane moved it around to the flatbed where it joined five other pallets already stacked and waiting for the last to join them. The ground man leapt onto the flatbed, caught the swinging pallet and guided it in and set it into position. The movement, remarkably, reminded me of a carefully choreographed and intricate ballet.

We did not have a specific plan after leaving Artfiber so we collected the car from the garage and simply started driving around. Elaine was seriously hungry. Having learned over the last 30 years (thank you DH) not to mess with a hungry person, we made food our next objective.

Elaine had lived in SF years ago in the Inner Richmond District. There was a particular hamburger place on 9th and Clements - Hamburger Haven she had visited many times. She had not been there for at least 8 years. Confidently we set out convinced that nothing as good as she remembered this place to be could possibly have gone out of business. And sure enough, there it was, a bit changed but otherwise still serving up sublime burgers and - joy of joys - cole slaw like I!!! make it.

Here we are - well fed and happy.

The wine shop below is a good example of what the district looks like off the main business area of the district.

Our day was coming to an end and we returned to the car - parked on the street. What a difference from the downtown San Francisco. Clement Street, the main business area, is primarily a Japanese and Asian business community quite separate from Chinatown. This is no tourist area but a thriving business center for the locals of the district. We were parked directly in front of a produce market. A quick peek inside proved that the produce market was far more than that. Two huge spaces, separated by a wall housed packaged goods in one area and produce, a meat counter and a fish counter on the other.

These fruits were huge and labeled Cora fruit. I had never seen it before and have no idea what it might taste like. They actually looked like really big mangoes.

I was fascinated by the colors and graphic images on the packaging.

Coffee. Is that Folgers I see on the right?

Green radishes. They were huge.

Eggplant

Live Conches and fishheads.

Fishmonger The man's appearance fascinated me. He was maybe five feet tall and solid muscle.



Our day ended happily and we are in discussions for another getaway. San Francisco may be on the agenda again. There is so much to see there when you get away from the city center.

A.M. Courtship

The males have gathered and struggled.

Couples are pairing off.

Choices are still being made.

This happy couple has settled into a female approved courtship.

There was much harmonious noise around the fountain this morning.

Shall we peek out and make sure we are private?

Looking good.

Let me just hop down and we will

get to the business of nest building.

A This and A That

Not too much going on right now. I should count my blessings. Below is a photo of more progress in the kitchen. I've had the glass shelves forever but just got them installed. God bless DH. The pretty little olive dish is from one of the music department students. She brought it back as a gift for me from her recent trip to Portugal and the Azores. it fits in perfectly with my Tuscan theme, don't you think?

Below is a sneak preview of a little gift I'm sending to a friend who lives in the very northern climes. You know who you are so if you see these warmers, know that they are on their way to you today.

Vote Today

If you are living in a state that is part of Super Tuesday, than no other words are needed.

Superbowl and Blonds

Blonds are rare in our family. When they do appear, they are temporary. My sister was born a blond but somewhere along the line in her fourth decade that started to change. The blond became an undefinable dark color - nature at work, not a bottle.

Redheads are even rarer. We have had exactly one. Of course, that would be Krista thanks to her dad's genetic contribution (and what a surprise THAT was until his mom told us about prior redheads from his family). However, at the moment there are no redheads in the family because Krista has gone BLOND. I've been seeing this coming for a while now and dreading it but now that the blond has arrived, I have to admit that I LIKE IT.

Yesterday also marks my participation in my FIRST Superbowl party - Patriots v. Giants. Joe and Barb (Chad's folks) had a typical superbowl food selection. All the goodies were there. Jenny Craig would not be happy with my indulgence. I have a lot of making up to do. But we had so much fun. I was noisy with everyone else. Don was his usual laid back and quiet self.

The big WAVE hit one corner of the room at one
point.

And, CHAD!! I got a good picture of Chad. There is nothing like football and food to loosen a smile out of the guy. Even the 4th quarter downturn for the Patriots could not dampen our fun. It's a good thing the Superbowl only happens once a year or I would weigh 700 lbs. in no time at all. I loved the horse commercial best and . . .

Tom Petty at halftime was so cool. Even a suit and a flat iron on his hair could not diminish his coolness. It was a totally fun afternoon.