More update, fewer pictures

 Some stuff that happened in the last month.

I started a linen edging, from some thread obtained in a destash. Size 20, 2 ply (20/2) in natural and realized the handkerchief I'd intended to attach it to didn't have the right color match or complement. So I ordered one and once it arrived, I got a better idea of how much thread I'd need. And realized I had a bit more than enough to do the 1st round, but not enough to do a 2nd or 3rd round. (picture of edging and hanky in last post)

No problem, I'll just order more. Wait, that vendor doesn't sell linen thread anymore. Oh well, guess I'll get it somewhere else. I contacted the thread and yarn stores I know and they didn't have it. I look online and I can find 8 yard hanks (for embroidery) and 1000+ yard cones for weaving. I need 40-100 yards.

I check the hand spinners, but the thread isn't quite right. Anitra suggests I contact a mutual friend who's a weaver. And I think to contact the vendor to see if they'll check for backstock.

Double success! Both the weaver and the vendor have the thread! As soon as they arrive, I'll compare colors to see which matches better or if I'm going to do a tone gradation.

Sad news, my mom's remaining sister passed. That leaves only mom of her sisters adn their husbands. It was a lovely service, the priest actually knew my aunt and the service reflected that (yes, I am still bitter over my granddaddy's service, I think granddaddy was mentioned more in my aunt's service than he was in his own). Plus, I saw cousins I hadn't seen in a decade.

One of my first cousins once removed shared some of my aunt's favorite recipes via email and we shared some stories about my aunt and her sisters. It was very sweet and funny.

I went to see my Dad before Father's Day and gave him a book I'd found. It's The Hero of Hacksaw Ridge, the abridged story of Pvt. Desmond Doss. The one they made the movie about. Dad enjoyed the movie and of course the book has details the movie didn't. He finished it in 2 weeks. Yes, it's not a big book, but still that's fast. Especially considering he was also reading another book as well.

I went to my local library recently and they have a copy of An Illustrated Dictionary of Tatting by Judith Connors. I want a copy of my own now and an ecopy to keep in my tablet (kind of like I wish I could save Jane Eborall's entire page of tatting techniques to my tablet).

I also picked up a book on weaving on a mini loom. It's not the same as a speedweve loom (what I used to mend the sweater in the pictures last post) or the mini frame loom I have, but some of the information will carry over. My 3rd selection is a book on embroidery. I'm doing more visible mending and a refresher on stitches will prove quite helpful.

I had one shirt I got from my mom that has big holes in one of the sleeves. But when I tried to mend it, the fabric is so thin the needle just made more holes. So I cut the sleeves to 3/4 length and now I decide whether hem them or do something else. It's a knit shirt so hemming is not 100% necessary.

On a cheerful note, June 17th, after work, I got a phone call from a dear friend. She had asked me to be her maid of honor (which I had happily accepted). The phone call was to tell me that they had decided to move up the wedding, from October to June 19th. Luckily, even with the late notice, my manager said they could spare me. I went to work in the morning and then we went to my friend's wedding. It was a somewhat casual (8 people total) affair and they plan a reception or something later. It was lovely and I was so honored she asked me to take part.

It's State Fair Prep season

 So I have been finishing my fair entries. I have 4 to submit, and 3 are done other than some final finishing touches. I won't post pictures until after they've been judged, just in case.

Plus, Mom fell down and got hurt so I've been trying to deal with that. Fortunately, there's multiple trains that run between my town and hers, for a bit more than the gas would cost, and the difference is well worth the hassle I've saved. And Dad has been very supportive by giving me a ride from the train station to see Mom. 

Our Pathfinder game progresses (we're playing Dragon's Demand). We scraped by the last combat by the skin of our teeth (and the generosity of the GM). We went somewhere we shouldn't have and ran into a very nasty fight. We totally misread the clues that said 'beware! stay away!' Oops.

Our 5e game also continues. Still don't really know how the combat works. But we've hit a level the GM likes so maybe we'll stay this level long enough to figure it out.

Chris and I started watching Shakespeare and Hathaway. It's a BBC mystery series set in Stratford upon Avon. Frank Hathaway is a private detective and Lu Shakespeare becomes his partner after investing in the agency. A lot of the episode titles are Shakespeare play references or quotes. They feel like Easter eggs for English Lit majors.

Whingeing ahead: maybe it's my Southern upbringing, but is it really hard to wave or say hi as you come into the office in the morning? If you're on your phone, then no, I don't expect a verbal greeting, but a half-hearted wave at least? Yes, I'm talkative, but unless I have something I need to tell you, I won't stop you to chat. I just want acknowledgment of my existence. Studies prove that people are more willing to do things for people they like. So, help me like you more.

(oops, meant to hit publish on Oct 4)

Confronted by ducks while getting take out

Oopsie, I didn't realize how long it had been

 I'm starting this one the 25th of August. It's going to be long, so I don't know when I'll actually publish it. I may break it down into topics and do a different post for each topic.

Today's topic: family

My dad wanted to come see me and asked that I check the Amtrak site to see if it's possible to take a train for the trip. I found out there are two trains that stop in my hometown and in the large town near him, The Carolinian and The Piedmont. The stops are part of longer routes and they go both ways. So he could take the train to see me and then take it back and with his discounts, it was $18 round trip. 

I took the day off (yay accrued vacation), got him at the train station (on a day when both bathrooms were out, alas). I got there early, because 'how long will this take, will I get lost, etc.' And his train was late. By that point, I was pretty desperate to use the bathroom.

We headed for the local museum, where they have a butterfly house, which dad wanted to visit. However, the main parking lot was full so we drove to breakfast, to give the early arrivals time to finish their visit and leave. 

We had a lovely tour of the butterfly house and looked at the insect exhibits. I wish I'd gotten more butterfly pictures but they move. And when they are still, they're often far enough back, I'd have to shove into the greenery to reach them. 

After that, we headed for lunch. Which we both needed, except it took us off my route so I got lost looking for the Woodcraft store. Finally found it, with enough time for Dad to have a look around, although not a leisurely one. He found some things he wanted and the clerk showed him an attachment (blade?) for his lathe that's really good for turning acrylics. 

Back to the train station, in plenty of time for Dad to catch the train home.

Some good news, Mom's not in Hospice any more. However, that means the hospital bed they provided is removed. Mom's old bed was broken (and we thought she'd never need it again) so it was thrown away. The facility was loaning her a bed (about a step up from a cot) and I contacted a furniture company to deliver a new bed (and mattress, and box spring). Except, they'd had trouble with fraudulent purchases and needed for me to come into the store to make the payment. 

Since I wanted Mom to have a good bed ASAP, I got the time off from my boss and accepted my Dad's offer of being my chauffeur if I took the train to see him or Mom. He was available and I bought a round trip train ticket. I ended up taking a later train because the earlier one was already reserved (possibly by people going to the Beyonce concert, my train was half full of such attendees, lucky people). 

side note: that turned out to have a silver lining. As I was taking a later train, I worked remotely for a couple hours and one of my co-workers had a time sensitive task. 

Train ride was nice, Dad was there to greet me, and off to the furniture store. Paid for the whole shebang and the guy promised it would be delivered the next day (it was, and they put it together). 

Dad and I had lunch and he drove me to see Mom. He kindly offered to go to the grocery store and get me a 6-pack of 16oz Cheerwine Zero while I visited. I gave Mom her birthday present (a colorful scarf) as it was only a few days until her birthday. 

Dad drove me back to the train station and home I came.

Much easier than the 2 and a half hours or so of fighting traffic.

Makings & presents

 I made it to see my parents on Saturday. It's over an hour drive but I can break it up by stopping at a rest stop or whatever. I don't usually bother but when I hit the 3rd stop and roll, I decided I needed to get off the highway. I waited until it felt late enough for an early lunch, and I got there right before the lunch rush hit. Yay me.

After I saw Mom, I was going to meet Dad at the pie shop we usually meet at (right around the corner from Mom), but the management there turned out to be human and closed the place for 2 days so staff could take a vacation. At least, that's what the sign said. Not great for us, but good for them.

Dad gave me bells that used to hang in Grandma's house. They might once have been attached to a door on one of the businesses that Grandma and Grandpa had.

 

He also gave me my birthday present early (yay, presents!). The box lid is a Diné sand painting (I have marred the image, to move it farther from the original sand painting. I am sure the artist adjusted it, but I am reluctant to post it on the Internet without further changes). 

I gave Mom and Stepmom their Mother's Day presents (a scarf for mom and earrings for stepmom). Mom also got a card, so she'll remember I was there. I packaged both of them in an origami box I made from calendar pages. Calendar pages are stiffer than most paper and usually colorful. 

And this is part of the reason I really don't like Bradford pears. This limb was somewhat damaged, I think the black might be rot, and look how it ripped off in a storm.

Now look at the size of the the branch that came off.

 

Thursday, I watched the NC History Museum History and Highballs presentation, on zoom. This one was Missing History: Jewish Life in Western NC. I love history, especially the bits that didn't get covered in class or when it's more in-depth than what we learned when I took history classes in high school and college. It's how I learned about the Lowery War.

I tatted the tiny teapot from Karey Solomon's book Bring on the Buttons, in silver during the presentation. It was my fidget project.

After the success of Gina Butler's hair bob, I used one of the patterns from the same book to make one in a different color. I made it Sunday and wore it Monday, because it went really well with the blouse I was wearing.

 

Friday, my old friend Felicia called. She lives out of state now but her family are still local. When she's in the area we try to meet for lunch or something. Last time she came, we didn't manage to meet but I told her about Scrap Exchange. So naturally, she blamed me for having to pay the fees to get the very nice, very discounted, very heavy craft tool (cricut, maybe, I don't remember) home. She said very rude things, and I cackled the entire time. 

I found this not so little one next to my car as I was headed home the other day. According to iNaturalist, it's a tussar moth.

I cut squares to make a charm bag (see a previous post). They weren't pre-cut, but I dug out my rotary cutter and mat. I need a 3rd fabric for the drawstring casing. It's some fabric I've had on hand for some time and it felt good to actually use it.

I took scraps from the previous drawstring bags I made, plus orts from tatting and loom knitting and stuck them into these tiny glass bottles. I may have to get those ball ornaments or larger bottles to hold more.

Memories

Dad sent me a few things in the mail. Two of them are brass etuis; he said they're from Cone Mills. One says 'textile needles' and other (mostly) reads 'Torrington needles.' Aren't they neat?! One side is lightly indented to make pulling the ends apart possible. The picture is below because despite my attempts, I could not load it into place or move it once it was uploaded. Seriously, I meant to post this on Friday but the picture just would not cooperate.

He also sent his keychain. Layers of wood and he thought it was interesting (he's right). Also a Marine Corps sticker. I put it on my iPad case, opposite my LGBTQ sticker.

And the coronavirus doily has like 10 rounds. Uh oh. At 4 rounds, it's about 9" or so. I had to use a box to block because my blocking pad isn't big enough. Round 5 is in progress. 

Oh, the plexiglass was installed Monday, It's a quick process (they had already measured and cut it). They put these clips on the metal strips that hold the ceiling tiles. Then, metal chains ending in S hooks connect the clips and the plexiglass, which just hangs there. There's a small gap over the counter, so I can still handle lost and found without circling my counter, which would defeat the purpose of the plexiglass.

On Wednesday, I lost my phone. I was slipping it into my pocket as the bus came and I guess I missed. I checked the stop after work and there was no sign of it. I've called it but no one has answered. I called the bus company lost and found, but they haven't seen it. My contact information scrolls across the lock screen, so in theory whoever found it can contact me. It's not that it's an expensive phone, but I just got it. And I spent a lot of time typing in my contact list again. 

I finally mailed these mitts to Richard's daughter. She's young enough and small enough they should fit. They are too small and tight for me or for Alisa. If they haven't arrived already, they should arrive soon.

Looong Weekend

Thursday was my natal anniversary, aka birthday. I decided to take it as a vacation day. And since it was the Thursday before a holiday weekend, I took Friday off as well. This was a good plan.

Thursday, CD also took the day off and we just spent time together. We went out to lunch, played games, and just enjoyed each others' company.

Friday, I went to get my jewelry cleaned. This used to be a minor task. CD bought insurance on my jewelry when he bought it from a chain. I take it to get cleaned and inspected every 6 months and all repairs are free. Except. The two closest stores closed. On the bright side, the next closest store is in Greensboro.

After, I met part of my family for lunch. They picked a place close to where I was going to be and close to the highway, so I could make my way home again. It was a lovely. Dad and K gave me a bracelet he bought in Texas in 1977. It's turquoise and coral chip Kokopellis silver cuff bracelet. They also gave me a book about the Acoma people. They gave me a phenomenal photo of some Acoma pottery for Christmas.

CD gave me the soundtracks for the 1st two Hobbit movies and RG gave me Elle King's cd, and a book from my Amazon list.

Saturday was TriTatters. I managed to make one ice drop and got some sea glass from Carolyn. I started an ice drop with one of those but they are larger than my usual glass and I'm adjusting to fit. I don't think I've made it large enough.

I want this book (one of the tatters brought it to the meeting)

It was a lovely meeting. I helped someone with a current project and showed her how to make Martha Ess's half-braid bracelet. She wants to make one for her daughter, to recognize her daughter's getting her prize job. The tatter, we'll call her R, is still learning and this is a pattern well within her skills. She was so thrilled. I love helping people like that.

Sunday was Pathfinder, Tears at Bitter Manor again. We haven't played since February and one of our players had to bow out (his wife is sick - I hope it's nothing serious, but he just wanted to be there for her). We played without him but we spent lots of time socializing and didn't get a lot of play in. We did get through 2 battles and I almost killed the barbarian. Concentrated fire is very bad. Of course, I targeted her because she was the most likely to survive.

Monday, a few of us got together and did some computer gaming in Lord of the Rings Online. It was lots of fun. We hadn't had a chance to play together in ages.

Today, a new staff person joined us at work. I finally have another woman in the office.

Pictures

more pages from the coloring calendar

storm clouds

mock cable stitch gauge in progress

I'm Blaming the Weather

This is what I woke up to on Saturday morning.

 And this is what I saw later; there's a layer of ice, a layer of snow, and then a glaze of ice on top. Do I need to mention that I didn't drive to go see mom on Saturday? Or on Sunday?

 Thanks to unusually cold temperatures, there wasn't much melting, except in direct sun, until yesterday. I knew it was Tuesday, but I still forgot to make my blog post.  There was no reporting to work for me on Monday or Tuesday. I go back today.

Yesterday we finally got above freezing temperatures so I cleaned off my car. Since I need to make a trip to the fabric/notions store, I'm driving to the park and ride today.

I woke up at 3 am, managed to doze until about 4 am and finally got up at 5 am. I was starving and thirsty and just couldn't get back to sleep.















This is the gaiter I made for Cs nephew, to match his scarf. I need to go buy buttons and sew them on.

I gave this book to my Dad almost 20 years ago. He started working on it while working nights. When that job ended, he lost track of the book. He found it recently and loaned it to me at Christmas. I scanned the pages he's filled so far and then returned it so he can continue to fill it.

 I started using my coloring page of the day calendar. I'm already behind. This is the only page I've completed.

This is the hand crocheted scarf SNS made for me. Each color is a different yarn; fiber, etc. It's gorgeous! Her daughter also introduced me to a new term 'stupid scarf'. It's a name for an infinity or circle scarf, because no matter how stupid you're being, you can't/won't drop the scarf. C said he wants one, which makes me happy. I've been wanting to make one for him, but he's been reluctant because he doesn't spend as much outdoors as he used to.

I've been reading Rejected Princesses, another of my presents. I'm still reading Drunken Botanist from last year. It was on my TBR pile and I picked up a couple months ago. I've been reading one plant per night most nights.

My date with  C went...unexpectedly. She gave me some lovely gifts from Williamsburg, Va (powdered ink, handbound journal, quill pen, and a couple coasters). However, while I was waiting for her, she called. Her car had died. I went and picked her up, we ate supper, and then her boyfriend came and got her so she could get her car towed.

I've been shopping for a lacy pattern to use the buffboo yarn CD gave me. I got the two skeins wound into center pull balls but it's been difficult to find a suitable pattern. There's three main limitations; yardage, my skill, and my knitting is on a loom. One lovely pattern called for a cast on more stitches than any of my looms have. I finally bought a book of loom knitting shawl patterns. I'm starting with Sweet on Ruffles, as it looks simplest and will get me used to working a shawl pattern. I'm using a bulky yarn and I made a decent start last night.

Since I didn't see mom last weekend, I'll go this weekend. I have her new remote control, which will helpfully fix her no DVD player problem. We'll see. If not, then I'm buying a new player for her. TV runs out quick. I also need to pick up some books for her.

And as a treat, this is JJ's corrigated boxer. She's still a puppy and she's a corgi/boxer mix. She fell asleep on my leg during the party.

Jane's TIAS starts today. I need to load my shuttles and start.

And Now It's Over (for now)

Monday, there was frost on my windshield. Since then, it's been warm and almost rainy. We could use some rain. It's been dry to the west, drought conditions. The light rain we had helped control the wildfires, but it's still bad farther west, in Tennessee.

I'm still doing physical therapy. It's not cheap but it's helping.

Thursday, Dad and K met me for lunch. We went to Maggiano's They considered C invited, considered it implicit. I told them he preferred an explicit invitation. It was a lovely meal.

That evening, C fixed supper. Unable to get a non-frozen turkey, he made a roast beef instead. He also made mashed sweet potatoes, dressing, and mixed veggies (squash, zucchini, and okra). We finished the last of the leftovers Monday.

I braved Black Friday and picked up a couple things for mom. At least, I waited until mid-afternoon so most of the crowds were gone. I found a jade plant for her. I still need to find something to put in and also find her an aloe.

I picked up some plumber's tape to fix the faucet. It is mostly fixed. I had to use layers of tape. It was tape, test, tape, test, repeat, until the knobs caught and worked.

Our Pathfinder game on Saturday got canceled (one of the players could not make it, private stuff that I'm not going to blast over the internet). So I went to the Tatter's meeting instead. I made a snowflake for the exchange. I took a picture before the exchange but I haven't taken a picture of the one I got, yet.

















I'm also making another knit block, to try and make this rabbit. I know, I'm knitting just to make something else. But it's so cute.

Oh, and one of my friends pointed me towards this website. I've ordered a pair of leggings from the sample shop. We'll see how they work for me. They're expensive leggings, but if they're as good as the review I read promised, they'll be worth it. And there are so many cool designs (about 42 pages).  I'm thinking of designing my own, based on tatting.

Better Late than Never? Even very late?

I was working on this blog post and I got a cold. Pretty much wrecked my Sunday and I took Monday off to recover. Then I worked a short week as I took some time off work to go see my Mom. One of her sisters is visiting and I wanted to see her, too. Plus, Mom had some paperwork/estate stuff she wanted to settle now, before I'm left to deal with it.

Then, the events at The Pulse in Orlando, Florida. It just wrecked me. I'm cishet (het for heterosexual and cis means my gender experiences match the gender I was assigned at birth) and I feel devastated.  One note about the opening paragraph, it's the largest mass shooting in modern US history (Wounded Knee, for example had 300 dead).

I'm finally to a point, I can write in my blog again.

I went to the demo at the Mordecai House in Raleigh with other tatters. I worked on a bracelet; it was the first time I'd been tatting for awhile, considering my wrist. I made sure to stop and do something else every once in awhile. I've finished and it's a cute, summery one. I need to block it and photograph it.

I had to get a new cellphone. My carrier said it wasn't supporting my phone anymore. So now I have an android. And I have to learn how to use it. And program all my contacts into it. Not fun.

I went to my last Employee Forum meeting as a delegate on June 8, my term ends June 30th. We held the peer recognition awards (I helped review nominations) and at the end, the Kay Wijnberg Hovious Distinguished Delegate awards. To my surprise, I was one of the three people honored. Looking at previous winners, I'm in impressive company.

Friday was my supervisor's last day at work, as he is taking vacation for the next two weeks until his official retirement. We had a big retirement party for him on Wednesday afternoon. There was cake, punch, chips, and M&Ms with his face and name on them.

Friday, we had a little potluck for him in the office. We had cupcakes, chips, dip, cookies, little ham sandwiches, and punch. I'll miss him, he's been a good supervisor.

Saturday was Free RPG Day so I went to a local game store to pick up some of the freebies and play Pathfinder's release. It was another Goblin adventure; We B4 Goblins. It was fun.

I wanted to play the Doctor Who RPG, too, but it turned out that was a miniatures game. Which is not the same as an RPG.

Sunday morning I called my Dad to wish him a happy Father's Day.
Here, have some pretty pictures.

Gaming and Lace

I found this website last week but forgot to mention it. If you are vulnerable to cute puppies and dogs, proceed with caution.

And the source of that edging turned bracelet is The Craft of Tatting by Bessie M. Attenborough. The one on page 29.

It's not a good picture, but you can see the key points

On Wednesday, I worked in the Community Garden. I did some harvesting (spinach mostly), photographing volunteers, etc, and some weeding. I was so sore and frankly, a bit sweaty. Then I got onto the wrong bus. Luckily, I realized before the next stop and I got off the bus to catch the correct one.

Thursday, I was still sore so I skipped yoga. Went to the Deadlands game, though. Traffic was horrendous and I got there late. We spent a lot of time and care to 'kill' some standing skeletons before they attacked us. Turns out they were just normal skeletons that had been articulated. We amused the GM (DR) at least.

Sunday was the next game of Shadows of the Century. After last session of pregens and fight, the players decided they wanted to try a full session, complete with pitch. Part of the game is creating the setting as well as characters.

The pregens from the last game were all  fight-y or spy types and mostly they had a fight. It was a sort of running gun battle down the streets of LA at 3 am, climaxing with a rocket launcher.

This time they decided they wanted to play a fairly low weirdness level (same as 1st game) and the main plot was an invasion in a small town, a la Twilight Zone or X-Files. The subplot, and reason they're there, is that their car broke down. They tossed around ideas about a tour bus, etc and finally decided they were a loan-out act from Cirque du Soleil. They had done a show on the East Coast and were driving back to Vegas. One character is the bus driver/manager and another one is the special effects 'enthusiast'/artist. The other two are performers; knife thrower and underwater ballet dancer. The gear of the special effects enthusiast is the reason they're driving; some stuff just isn't permitted on planes.

Three of them had some kind of secret. The bus driver/manager was on the run for (possibly, she says she didn't) committing some crime, the knife thrower is an undercover Interpol agent (is the bus driver the wanted person? She's so nice, maybe it's the special effects guy, they're both tall and blond), and the dancer claims to be from the Bolshoi ballet (but really he's ex-KGB).

They got clued in by all the people whose names started with 'j' and who all had black hair, brown eyes, and olive skin. Except the leader, who had bleached his hair and wore color contacts. Since they were in Arkansas, with the preponderance of Latino and Native Americans that coloring would not look out of place (if they had been in Nebraska, the invaders would have been blond).

They used their smarts, their stunts, and their aspects to get out of trouble (like finding the planted drugs before their bags got searched), find the clues (like only the lines in the sheriff's office working to reach out of town), distract the sheriff and other interested parties (boom, goes the gear), one punch the only person between them and escape, get on their bus and get out of town, with evidence of something hinky going on. I need to type up my reports and submit them to the publisher.


And since we're going to Ravencon this upcoming weekend, I also spent time making sure all my Pathfinder characters were updated. And apparently, I'm missing a character notebook. 

We're trying to eat up our groceries and it looks like Wednesday will be leftover night.

Dad called and Yvonne and her mother will be having a layover in Raleigh a Sunday in May. He thought giving them each a lace cross would be nice. I do hope I get to see them. I've only met Yvonne once, when she came with Bill Toledo to North Carolina for the big Marine Corps Reserve gathering in Greensboro, and I've never met her mother. Dad and K stopped by to see them the last time they went to Colorado.

A Week Older

A week since my birthday and I'm getting used to saying I'm 47 years old. Of course, by the time I'm really used to it, I'll be 48. And I still have birthday cake (from the cake my coworkers got me on Tuesday).

Friday, I took the day off to meet my dad for 'lunch.' We met at 9:30 and had breakfast. Then we kept talking until we went to lunch. He had found some old negatives from when he and Mom got married. There were pictures of the first house they rented after they got married and pictures of Aunt Carole and Uncle Dick, and cousin Beth, and Grandma and Grandpa. There was also this wedding portrait.

My parents, on their wedding day

Dad also gave me my birthday present. I now have a gift card to Michael's. Bwahahaha.


I 'found' the empty light on the gas gauge of my new Honda. Now I know when to expect it.

I spent over an hour Saturday morning looking for my phone. I left it on the charger on Friday and took it off when I got home. I thought I slipped it into my purse, but when I looked I couldn't find it. I checked other possible locales, then looked through my purse again, repeat a couple more times. I took a break to see if thinking of other things would bring it to mind. Emptied my purse and looked through it again. Finally went 'duh, use the landline and call my phone.' Listen, listen, hang up, call again, and yes, it was in my purse. It had been concealed by a fold of fabric in a pocket.

The actual drive didn't go much better. I missed my exit but that's no big deal, I just took the next one. It's been awhile since I took that one and I missed the turn that would quickly put me on the road I wanted. FYI, the road I was on is a curved, winding 2-lane 45mph road, often with trees or farms on either side. I noticed an oddity for the area, a trio of bicyclists. You never saw them on this road while I was growing up.

I was careful and went by them. Then I passed another one. Then two more. Then three more, and another one. Then a quartet, and a single. After the 1st two groups, I was thinking bike tour. By the time, I'd passed a dozen, I'm thinking, bike race of some kind. Especially as I saw of quintet of bikers ahead. I gave up and turned off.

I proceeded to get thoroughly lost. My hometown was laid out logically, once up on a time. Now? Not so much. At one point, I ended up on a highway; what I thought was a right turn was an on-ramp. When I hit downtown and saw another trio of bikers, I gave up and called my mom for help. She gave me some direction and I finally made it, in time for us to go to lunch.

I worked on this post Tuesday night, but something went wrong and nothing saved after this point and I've had to rewrite it. Oh well.

Mom and I had a nice visit. We took some things to a church who is active in helping those people in economically distressed areas. The next day we hit the thrift shops so I could find another pair of jeans and maybe a couple more pairs of pants to wear to work. I also found a fabulous toy gun that is begging to be transformed into something steampunk.

I mailed some snowflakes to Palmetto Tat Guild, to be part of their fundraising for the Tat Days scholarships they offer.

I left the threads in case they were needed for hangers. The snowflakes are from Kaye Judt's Oh My Stars book.

 Tuesday night, I had a nice date with CC. We had supper and conversation. We've gotten to know the waitress and when she's not busy, we include her in the conversation.

Afterward, I started sewing the edging onto one end of the scarf/shawl. It's about half an inch too long. I have since removed the edging and I will attempt to ease it to fit. If wait until the last, like I did last night, it bunches awkwardly.

Happy Holidays

I hope everyone's winter (or summer if you're south of the equator) is going well.
Here are my State Fair entries
The dragon (red ribbon)

And the booties. No ribbon on the booties; wrong category. Except, looking at the categories I can't tell what the right category would be. I've contacted the fair people to elaborate.

I finished my project 365. Now I won't be so 'must take picture today', but I'll still keep my eyes open for picture possibilities.

Dad came to have lunch with on Thanksgiving. We had a lovely, long talk. He showed me the listing for the house he built in 1958. Tiny house, but gorgeous views.

I've made some turtles: see. I'm working on more bracelets.  Here are some I've made.

I finally opened my D&D 5th ed Player's Handbook (aka PHB). It's pretty with a lovely array of images. However, I have one minor caveat; the print used for the index is tiny. On the other hand, it's a good index. I have two greater caveats; no finished or at least partially completed time sheet and the references (as in Chapter 5) refer to chapters and not pages. I mean, great, the rules being referenced are in chapter 5, where in chapter 5? They have good character sheets available on line; including one that's fillable. That's a big plus in my book.

I saw one movie that I did not expect to like, Pitch Perfect. It turned out to be really good; a little predictable plot-wise but I loved the music. The other movie I was glad to catch in the theater; Guardians of the Galaxy. I really enjoyed it.