End of the day

Had a wonderful afternoon with Jason, Tracie and their family.

Tracie is a great cook. We not only had turkey but she prepared a lovely ham, too. Thanks Tracie it was great.

This is a picture of Josh and Hailey wearing the PJ's & Nightgown I made from fabric I found in Hawaii. I guessed right on the sizes, whew.

I taught the kids how to play 9 up. I don't think we played enough hands for them to really get the strategy of the game. Oh, well. Next time.

Time for a nap.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING

We are going to Jerry's son's house today for the Feast, so I spent the morning sewing. I had promised our Puppeteers that I would sew "Wise Persons" costumes for our three church puppets. That was three weeks ago. I was reminded yesterday that the puppets will be performing seven times in December and having a "dress" rehearsal Saturday. Yikes!! I whipped out three little Kingly robes this morning. Have to figure out what to do about crowns. One puppet is a "Cone Head" so she is a bit of a challenge.

Jhary spent the night last night. She is so quiet and doesn't need me to entertain her. We pick up Uma and Donald in about an hour. I'll take a pumpkin pie, a cherry pie, ice cream and almond roca (made with crackers - really quite good). I have always enjoyed going to Tracy's home as she is layed back and a fun person.

Listened to Christmas carols all morning. The season is upon us. Enjoy!

Old

You know you're getting old when you buy Sympathy cards in bulk. Three this month. They're dropping like flies.

Sunday already

My gosh! Where did that week go? Let's see....
Today we had our monthly Bonsai meeting. (We have to rush after church to get there.) They had a slide presentation of various Bonsai collections. Some in WA DC, Pennsylvania, Tailand and China. Every time they came to a Gingko they remarked about it. Guess I'm the only on in the group with one.
Yesterday was Red Hat Meeting. We had a lovely luncheon in the home of our Queen Emeritus and played bingo for a while. Came home to Uma trying to talk to Jerry. He figured out she was upset. I figured out it was because Donald had gone to a friends house and stayed the night. She didn't care for that. Because of the Apple Cup we were asked to babysit Jerry's granddaughters. They saw that I was making sleep wear for their cousins and decided that they wanted to sew some for themselves. I had enough flannel for one girl but not the other so we had to go to Joanns and get some more for Casey. She wanted border print like I found in Maui but we had none here in Spokane. We'll deal with it.
Friday I finally went to the Dr. about the itchyness in my eye. She determined that I did not pick up anything while in the crawl space but gave me a Rx just incase.
Thursday was Admin Board for the church. Had to leave early because with early dismissal at school for conferences, we have grandparent duty for a week. Hung the curtains I made of Casey's room. Went to see the Civic theatre's production of Mame.
Wednesday was sewing class, a performance by the Project Joy group I'm in and yoga. That makes for a very full day.
Tuesday I should have sewn but didn't. Met with the girls in my Spirituality Group. What a wonderful group. I'll tell you of them sometime.
Monday was our Evening Fellowship group (a small group of United Methodist Women). Since it was my turn for the Program, I invited Lynda Bowen my yoga instructor. We spent a heavenly 45 minuts learning relaxation tech. and giving mini massages to eachother. (I think that was a hit).
A week ago after church I attended the Interplayers production of Moon over Buffalo. A kick.
Gosh. I guess I have been busy.

Saturday

We have a not too tall crawl space under our unit. You can't stand straight up in it but you don't have to get on hands and knees either. Previous owners have installed a small forced air gas furnace and an airconditioner down there and I figured it would be a great place to store our "extra" stuff. Jerry's son installed a couple of hanging from the floor joist shelves and I have been meaning to start hauling bins of stuff from the storage shed (which only Jerry can get into because of the security door he installed) down to the more easily accessible crawl space. Today was the day. I took three bins of Jessica's music down and a bin of my summer cloths and a bin of "sewing room extras" (you know the kind of stuff you don't want to get rid of yet but don't have room for on the shelves).
While down there I noticed that the gas furnace exhaust pipe was loose. I mean this pipe went to the exterior wall where there is another pipe of equal size going through the foundation. The two ends of the pipe are exactly the same size. How did anyone expect them to connect? There was NO coupling attached to either end. With my great knowledge of "this old house" episodes I trotted off to the Hardware store and explained my dilemma to the man and he fixed me up with a PVC coupler and some cement. Back down the hole and tried to glue the pieces together. Well, PVC and gas pipe, although each has a 3" opening are different thickness of pipe - PVC being much thicker. The fitting would not fit (too big). But I had already applied glue so couldn't take the fitting or the glue back. Second trip to the Hardware store, this time with the section of pipe that goes through the foundation (it slips in and out quite readily). "OH! You need this kind of coupler" says the woman who helped us - didn't see the guy around at all. Got the rubber sleeve with the strap around it that you have to screw to tighten and the tool (not a screwdriver like I have a dozen of at home, but a 5/16" wrench jobbi on a screwdriver handle).
Back down the hole. Fuss, fuss, fuss. Have to work over my head, everything by Braille as there are pipes going in front of my line of sight, but it is done. My dad would be so proud of me. It is now quite sturdy all the way back to the furnace. I even stuffed some insulation around the pipe to keep beasties out of the crawlspace.

Went to see Flushed Away yesterday. A great movie for kids (and kids at heart).

computer woes

I got it in my mind that I wanted wireless access so I could be in my sewingroom and be able to access the web on my laptop, so Carrie's significant other came over last night with a Wireless-G router and commenced to install it. Should have been a 15 minut thing, right? Wrong. In the process some how my desk to blew out it's web card. Dave spent hours on the phone trying to find out from Comcast tech support what to do. He finally hooked Jerry's laptop directly to the internet and called it a night. He will be back this morning to finish installing the wireless router. In the coming while we must decide if it is worth getting our ten month old desk top a new web card (I'm for it - Jerry is not).
We have the most bad luck with computers. Jerry just bought a new lap top for Jessica in New York and Carrie as she is starting a PHd program soon and needed capacity, speed and reliability for her program. And then the computer we bought in January of 06 acts up.
I don't want to use the lap top as our "home" computer because it doesn't have spider solitair.
Whine.

Thursday

Granny would be so pleased. Tomorrow is her birthday and it is snowing today. She loved snow and looked forward to having the white stuff fall on or before her birthday.

Busy Week

Church and Charge Conference meeting yesterday. Funeral and Women's group meeting Monday. Finish bazaar items Tuesday. Cancel Sewing Group on Wednesday for yet another funeral squeezed between Project Joy Rehersal and Yoga. Thursday a short Women's Society meeting in the morning and then begin setting up for the Bazaar. Friday really get things set up for the Bazaar. (Should take a good four or five hours.) Saturday "Show time". Doors are open from 9-3 but of course I'll have to be there early and leave late. And there we are, back at Sunday. Who said retirement was a time to "do nothing"? I hope to fit four sessions water aerobics in too.

More on Leaves

And now the leaves are on the ground - or most of them. The days have been cool and overcast. Quite foggy actually in the mornings. Winter is on it's way.
Got a picture of my cute great granddaughter.
She has enough hair for little bunny ears.

Leaves

I got my Bonsai trees bedded down for the winter and took out the "attack" rose bush. I'll look for a nice clematis to plant there in the spring.
The colors of the leaves are so great this year. I've been meaning to take my camera out every time I go and today I did. Be dazzled by the glory of fall.

A line of stately orange Maples.






A georgeous salmon maple.










A lovely deep red Maple. Such colors!

Thursday

The week has been full. Jessica, Jerry's daughter, is visiting from New York. While here she has renewed her driver's license, eaten with her sibblings and their families and gone through all of her "stuff" that was being held for her in storage since she was 20. Surprisingly, she found that she really didn't need to keep over half of it. We will store the rest (mostly music) for another while in our storage unit and in the crawl space.
Today I gave my Rainforest presentation to the second graders at St. Al's. It was great to see the teachers again. They have done some remodeling. What was once the stairwell going out to Mission Avenue has now been transformed into the main office/reception area. I only suggested that 12 years ago. The cogs of change move slowly. Do I miss work? Not on your life. I'm having too much fun playing.

Bonsai

Remember my Bonsai tree? I was forced by my condo association to "unplant it" and (for all they cared) dump it. So I decided to join a Bonsai Club with the thought of turning it into a Bonsai tree. The pictures I've seen of the end results are great. I did in fact dig it back up and it has been summering on the patio. Yesterday I took it to the Bonsai club meeting and they allowed that it was tall and spindly and needed to be pruned back (read lopped off). They assured me that the little bumps on the stem would bud out and become branches. What the heck. If it doesn't work I can always purchase another tree or quit the club.





Also in class we were asked to be the foster parent for a Ficus. This plant will be used as a demonstration plant at the Bonsai Convention to be held in Spokane in 2008.



While on Maui I purchased a Dwarf Schefflera.
Just a baby really, but she has a nice shape and could turn out to be quite fun. These two are tropicals and will need to stay in the house over the winter. The Ginkgo will have to stay outside all winter.

Gas Prices

This was the headline in the paper Wednesday:

"Friday, October 13, 2006
Spokane gas prices highest in lower 48
Only Honolulu gas prices higher!

"Fast fact:
Gas costs less in Des Moines. Spokane's price is almost 40 cents higher than the national average and far higher than gas costs in the cheapest city – Des Moines, Iowa, at $1.96 a gallon.
The average price for a gallon of regular unleaded in Spokane clocked in at $2.65. Only Honolulu's gas prices were higher, at $2.87."

That is no news to us. We have lived with $3.00 plus for so long that we are welcoming $2.65. While on Maui, I didn't flinch at the price at the pump. It was just like home. Well, they say that the prices are going to go back up after the election. What the *&%$ does the election have to do with gas prices? Do the incumbents force lower gas prices just to tell everyone how great they are and then let them pop back up after the votes are counted? Who makes these rules?

Have to go bake for a Tea Party tomorrow. I don't know the people so am not too hyped up. Guess I wouldn't make a good cafe owner (cause I want to know the people I'm serving).

New Baby born today

Traivon now has a son. The child will be called Traivon Michael Donta Asterino. He weighed in at 7 pounds 15 ounces and is 19" long. I'll check him out this evening. That makes two for Trai - a boy and a girl. He should stop. And 15 or 16 grand children for me (depending on who I'm counting as a grandchild) and one great grand child (which can stay at that number for a long while).

Peacock

While on Maui we spied a Peacock strolling across a yard (at the botanical garden), so I stopped to snap his picture. He came right up to the car for me to get this close up.
What a grand bird. Noisy but beautiful. Robin's neighbors have phesants. I think she should have peacocks. They make great watch fowl. See how he is watching me?

Food

When I lived on Oahu I was introduced to some lovely Chinese food stuffs. One of my favorite was steamed rice cakes or rice layered pudding/gelatin dessert. So, upon my return to Hawaii - Maui - I figured I'd just pop into a local store and pick some up. Well ... the stores have all sorts of Japanese sushi but no Chinese rice cakes. I even went to the Chinese restaurant and asked if they had it. I was told that I was the first person to have asked for it. Oh, I could go to Oahu and get some but none were to be found on Maui. Heck! I went to New York City and found it. Anyone have a receipt for it? Maybe I'll ask Jessica to bring some when she comes for a visit from NY next week. How about it Jessica?

Rummage sale

The church's biannual rummage sale was today. We hold it in the gym of the church. Yesterday was "set up" - read drag the stuff out of the closets and dump it out on tables , arranging, if at all possible, in some semblance of order. Today was stand on your feet for 6 hours (I can only do 3 to 4) and watch as the local population reek havoc of your semi neat piles of folded cloths.
I like to participate because on Friday I get first dibbs on stuff. There was a delightful little dolly bassinet which is in need of some tightening up and a new lining. Should be a fun project. Hope to have it finished for the Bazaar.

Had a wonderful time with the grandkids. From left to right, Shelby, Zack, me and Adam.

Isn't that a lovely quilt behind us?

This is Charlie the resident bird, trying to untie Jerry's shoe. Very tame bird but would have nothing to do with me. So I went out and found some that did.

This is a bird from a "bird show" in a park. They didn't perform for us but this one walked right up my arm and sat on my sholder for a while.

And then there was this 50 year old Cockatoo. He was a sweetheart. Wolf whistles. Kissy noises. Gentle massaging of my arm while I held him. If I could have I would have taken him home with me. All in all this was a great trip. The leg home was grueling but we live and learn. no more red eye specials.

We're back

Very long trip home. Luggage arrived with us. Cats are glad to have us back. Off to yoga now. Will post some pictures and more stories later.

Maui here we come

All packed. Hope I haven't forgotten anything. On the plane at 0'dark hundred. Eating saimin tomorrow night for dinner. Aloha