Carpets

Called a company, recommended by a neighbor, to come in and clean my carpets. Today was the day. In walks the most "Fiddler on the Roof" typically Jewish man in Spokane. Jerry immediately started a conversation with him. He was very intelligent, articulate, interesting to listen to. Of all things, to be in my living room listening to a Jewish Rabbi. His views of Judaism, the Palestinian thing, the history I have been reading, all makes one stop and ponder. If the Jews are the "chosen people" who are the "chosen people" of the New Testament? I thought Christians were. Many more ideas were thrown into the air and are slowly settling in my consciousness.
We definitely need to have him in for coffee just to listen to him again.
P.S. His son did an excellent job with the carpets.

Holy Land

Our tour guide has sent us literature to read (I haven't done so yet), suggested books to read (Jerry has read all and more), and I have taken a summer missions class on Israel and Palestine which only caused me much mental distress as I did not pay attention, growing up, as this history was unfolding. Now I am in catch up mode. The "Israel/Palestine" book from the study made me mad at the Israelis. I read "Queen Nor" and became angry at the interfering Europeans. I am now reading "Daughter of Persia" and "Exodus". At least "Exodus", even though a novel, seems to be filling in a lot of the blanks and pulling the pieces together. I'm only 1/3 of the way through.
CNN aired a three part series on "Warriors of God" this week. Did anyone else watch it? The first night was about the Jews. Very good, informative. The second was about Islam. Also good. Explained the reasoning behind martyrdom. I was out for the third one on Christianity. Jerry watched it and was not impressed.

Happy Valentines Day

Last February Jerry gave me a gardenia plant for Valentines. It was loaded with buds and I thought for sure one would open up. They just kept falling off. I changed rooms. They just kept falling off. I put it outside in a shady corner of my patio. And Presto! I have blossoms. Thanks, Jerry. I have never been able to get a gardenia to bloom before. Now to try to keep it alive over the winter.

Birds

Last fall I put out a bird feeder. We attracted birds all winter. This summer I have continued to fill the feeder and enjoy watching mainly sparrows feed every day. Some counts have been 40 individuals at one seating. Chattering, flitting, eating.
The cats enjoy watching them too. TJ, my athletic cat, is not allowed outside unless I'm with her and so watches from the window. (I'm afraid she will hop the fence and try to play chicken with a car and loose.)
Polly, on the other hand, does not leap well, being of the heaver set, so is allowed out at will. This morning she went out when seemingly no birds were around. Wrong. We watched as she jumped (into the fence) after an unsuspecting ground feeding bird and missed. But, wonders of wonders, came out of the bush with a different bird in her mouth. She brought it to the back door (expecting to be allowed to play with it in the house?). I allowed that was not going to happen and told her to release the poor little thing. She did and the bird flew off to tell his flock. She is back outside - waiting,,,, (cue the "Jaws" music.)

I'm picky

Casey bought fabric for a long sleeved tee shirt with a hood. Changed her mind. Cut the fabric into strips and alternated the black and white. I was ok with that. She took the project home and finished it. White zigzagged stitchs on black material, puckers, rolled over edges sewn with two or three lines of stitching. Not well done. Certainly not something she would have worn to school. The teacher raved about it. It was so artsy. Hog wash. She needs to learn to sew a garment correctly then she can do the artsy stuff and it will be quality. I took it appart and had her do it over again. This time with a zipper and fabric eased into eachother so there were no puckers. The teacher refused to help her from then on with this project because it was clearly not Casey's dress anymore, it was grandma's. MMMMM.
Am I wrong to want the girls to know how to put out quality items and not slip-shod stuff that will end up in the garbage the minute they get home? Sydney is more meticulous and does quality work. Casey is the "Fast Food" generation kid who wants it done quickly and to heck how it looks as long as it is finished.
No class until Tuesday. I have a meeting on Tuesday so the girls will be on their own without grandma hoovering over them. Wonder what they will come up with.

Sewing Camp

Boyd Walker, my favorite sewing machine store, is holding a "Kids Camp" this week and next. We have the grand girls enrolled. Cost of the camp includes 8 days of sewing instruction and the participants get to keep the machine they are working on (a Pfaff 1134? - a $300 machine). Anyway, yesterday was the first day. Grandma packed up fabric, patterns, pins, thread, scissors etc. and her machine and spent the day cutting out fabric and sewing. Came home and all I wanted to do was sit in the chair with my feet up.

Happenings

Got our vote-by-mail documents yesterday. We have a pathetic slate of local government hopefuls. It's always fun to put "Edna Farkwart" in the sign-in blank. What the heck, she might be as good as what we have anyway.
Tyrone is hyped. He got a ballot He's coming over this morning to "research" the candidates on line. He, with his drug muddled brain, has even been on jury duty. This ladies and gentlemen .... (Brian could go on about that).
Tomorrow is the last of the summer theatre offerings in Coeur d'Alene. A group of us from the pool bought summer season tickets and carpool over. After we go out to dinner. A great way to try new and different food offerings in our area. Tomorrow will be Chef in the Woods. Supposed to be a good one.
Uma brought her broken rice cooker (the big one) over yesterday. Guess she wanted me to fix it or take it in for repairs. I told her to toss it. She wants a new one. I told her to use her small one. Oh, yeah. She forgot she had a small one. Why she needs a family sized rice cooker when she is the only one that eats rice in her house. -- She is still looking for a job.
Speaking of jobs, Jhary starts her new job tomorrow. It is a dumb, no brainer (?) - she has to load sodas into vending machines. How they can figure out a pay for that is beyond me. She needs the "group employment" thing so is rather limited as to what she can/wants to do. Yard work and janitorial are out.
Haven't heard from Traivon for a month. Guess I'll have to take his mail to him and see what's going on.
Next week Casey and Sydney start Sewing Camp. Four days a week, six hours a day. At the end of the two weeks they get to keep the sewing machine. All for a little over $300 each. Not too shabby. I'll be tagging along just because it will give me a concentrated time to sew. We purchased fabric and patterns Thursday. I've washed and pressed same and will be putting together the odds and ends I think we will need. I'll be working on some of my Hidden Pocket patterns - vest, blouse, pants - preparation for our trip in November.