celebrate handmade

Sunday, August 31, 2008

Oof. It's ridiculously late, but I wanted to get pictures posted before I forgot....again. I'm in the clutches of my grands & having just a lovely time. Check out my Flickr badge for all the latest.

Sunday, August 24, 2008

Book Review

I'm writing this here because I didn't bring my book journal with me, & I don't want to forget about this book. The True Story of Hansel and Gretel; a novel of war and survival by Louise Murphy was a harrowing read about a pair of young siblings dropped from their father's & stepmother's motorcycle while being pursued by Nazis in WWII Poland. Using the fairy tale's structure, the author describes the horror of these children forcing themselves to forget their past to keep them from exposing the fact that they're Jews. They wander through ancient forest until they spy the hut of an old lady believed by the villagers to be a witch. She hangs bread on spikes on the outside walls of her house for the birds, & the starving children take advantage of her largess.
I read a great review of this book & bought it based on that, but nearly didn't finish it because it was so hard to read knowing it to be largely true. Still, I did persevere & I'm glad I did.

Tuesday, August 19, 2008

It's late, but I had to add a postscript to my earlier post. Our horsey visit was a huge success: all the kiddoes got to ride Grady, & I've accepted an invitation to ride him myself in the fall & winter. The bad news? Grady spooked with 2 little ones on his back. One of them was caught by her overalls, but the other face-planted in the well-rotted manure of the paddock. He's fine; confidence a little shaken, but he's already talking about the next time. He's a trouper, that one. I, on the other hand, didn't fare as well. I was holding the lead when ol' Grady shied, & in trying to keep him steady, got a nasty rope-burn....& broke a finger! Not good timing, what with a cross-country trip in 3 days, followed by 3 weeks with the Grands. This summer just isn't turning out the way I'd planned. Ah, well.
We had such a good time yesterday. We went down Escondido to the San Diego Zoo's Wild Animal Park (http://www.sandiegozoo.org/wap/index.html). I logged in over 9,000 steps! It was pretty warm, but there was a nice breeze & shade available nearly everywhere, so we managed. The misters were a big help, too. There was such a variety of viewing experiences, too, from entering the aviary so that we were inside the exhibit, to elevated viewing areas, to lovely walks through the savannah, to the tram ride that took us all around Africa. That last was nifty, in that there were herds of animals intermingling, just as they would in their natural habitats. The rhinos were nearly invisible in their rocky napping places. They looked just like the boulders next to them, until they wiggled their ears. Their heads weigh between 800 & 1,000#, so they don't move them unless they need to.

We stopped at Target on the way home for another Wii controller & a new game, then came home to flop (me) or play (everyone else) until dinnertime. We tried out a new Mexican restaurant in the neighborhood -- wonderful! It's La Cresta & is brand new -- we figured out that the decorating is not quite finished -- but the food & service were excellent. Kind of surprising in a strip mall location, but why not? Josh & I had the Chili Verde pork which was so yummy. I had steamed veggies with mine; Josh had the fire-roasted corn & it was delicious, too. Alan had fajitas & Meg had some taquitos -- both said theirs were really good, too. Nice. We have a new place to go close to home. Oscar, our waiter, was obviously not new to the biz & did a nice job of being attentive without hovering while making sure we had everything we needed. We'll go back.

Today's schedule includes a visit to a friend & her horse, then some swimming. Nice, especially after yesterday's brutal schedule. The pool should help work out some of the achiness from yesterday.

Saturday, August 16, 2008

Are we all watching the Olympics? Panting after that little hottie, Michael Phelps? I just can't believe a human being can move through the water that fast. Seeing his joy at each win has been so great -- he takes nothing for granted, I think. And his Mom! What an experience this has been for her. wow. I've loved watching her face -- she holds nothing back, just like her kid. Quite a show.
While all this has been going on, I've had to live my life. In the process, I've learned that my computer has a tuner & that Time Warner surreptitiously includes cable TV with their Internet cable. They just don't mention it. SO....I've been able to both watch and record the Olympics on my 'puter when the dvr is otherwise occupied. What a boon that has been this week. PLUS, I can minimize the picture & do other things until things get exciting, when I can maximize & get every detail right in front of my face. Excellent! I so love technology that I can understand & use, don't you?

Thursday, August 14, 2008

Found!

Bear is the black dog's name, & he's back home with his family after last night. It turns out he lives about a 1/2 mile from our house & has a habit of wandering away from home in search of love. I'd say it's time for both neutering & an ID tag for this little doggie! Well, all's well, etc. My dogs are missing him, but I'm just glad his owners found us. That was kinda scary.
DH comes home tomorrow, & Favorite Son & #1 Granddaughter arrive on Saturday. MUST get this house cleaned! Later.......
Oh! Are we watching the Olympics? Could they show the swimming any later? I didn't allow anyone at Grateful Threads to speak of the swimming results today, because I haven't watched my recording from last night yet. Better get on that, huh?

Sunday, August 10, 2008

Lost Dog!

Has anyone lost a darling young unneutered black Chow? We have one who's looking for his parents. He's wearing a collar, but that's the only distinction. He's very friendly & has obviously been cared for. He's been wandering our neighborhood for several days & my DH brought him home Friday night. And then DH left town for a week this afternoon! Remember what happened the last time he left town? One of the old dogs got sick. Yeah, I'm seeing a pattern here, & I'm not liking it! He smells recently-bathed (the dog, not DH, although DH does bathe pretty regularly).
I should mention that we're in SoCal, so if you live somewhere else & find this describes your lost dog, I'm afraid this one isn't yours. Sorry. I should also mention that if we didn't already have FOUR dogs, we might just keep this one. But really, does anyone need five dogs? No, I didn't think so, either.

On a completely unrelated note, is anyone else out there a member of Facebook? I'm finding it a combination of fun & stupidity, but it's fascinating. And so time-consuming! I'm frantically trying to keep up with tending to my Pokey! dog, Grimace; the Growing Patch, my SeaPatch and Flower Gifts, and then there's the Flair board & those crazy bumper stickers. OY! So much to juggle & so little point to it all! On the other hand, my group of friends continues to grow, & that part's fun. I'm sure my great-nephews think it's hysterical that I'm among their friends. That's OK. They can think I'm keeping an eye on them for their parents if they want. In reality, I am, but I probably won't tell my siblings anything unless something really out of line appears on someone's page. Let me know what your experience has been with Facebook or My Space or any of the other social networking sites. I'm just curious.

Thursday, August 7, 2008

Southern Plate blog

Oh, I can't wait until you've visited this blog! I just read the loveliest story about a great grandmother & her sister. Yep, you just never know when or where you'll find good stuff, do you? When you visit the blog, look for the Peanut Butter Icing recipe. The story about Red & her sister Lela is there. Go ahead, look now. I'll wait.

Monday, August 4, 2008

Check out the cool Quilting Bloggers button on the left! How fun that there's an actual list of quilt-related blogs from around the world. It's growing bigger by the minute, so you'll want to check it out regularly for newly-added blogs. Excellent!