Not a flower (nascent flower, maybe:) but a red onion. Hugh and I made dinner the other night (meatloaf and mashed potatoes with broccoli, very conventional but tasty nevertheless:). I like red onions and when I chopped the one I was to put into the mixture, I found this natural pattern inside. Stop and observe the pretty things that bring you joy, eh? :)
I have not written for eight days. Sometimes that happens because the days are running into one another with sameness ... other times because I am so busy I can barely breathe. :) This gap is due to the latter!
On the 6th Kimmie and her friend Braydon arrived from Colorado with a 10' UHaul truck filled with Kimmie's worldly possessions. I had signed up for a zoom class with the Handmade Book Club the next day on Nature Journaling - so they had to soldier on without my help (not that I'd be much help with unloading a truck!). The class was very interesting - and had some completely new-to-me approaches to journaling which I found refreshing and inspiring.
I did manage to call and arrange for a plumber to come to the condo on Tuesday. Monday I met the my niece at the UHaul pick up point near Columbia Mall. They dropped off the truck and we went shopping for groceries and things-needed at the apartment. Among other stops, we visited ReStore on McGaw Court - a place I had never been to but did contribute a lot of 'stuff' when closing my store. We found a bed, dresser, desk and night table for Kimmie there. We also went to Mattress Firm and bought Kim a new mattress/box springs to sleep on (the king sized one she had was as big as her new bedroom and would not do:). The weather was heavily hot and humid - sucks the strength right out of me!
Monday afternoon I spent most of the afternoon at the apartment helping Kimmie sort out and categorize her piles of 'stuff' into searchable items and waiting for the plumber. When we had the place inspected, the engineer noted a number of issues with water in the place that seemed urgent for us to remediate (things like leaks, dysfunctions and worn out parts). The guy who came, Zachary from Catons Plumbing, was really thorough and spent a lot of time explaining things to me - time that I deeply appreciated. He was there an hour and a half and gave me a cost/parts estimate for the work needed.
I have decided that I need to be more present at my quilt guild meetings so I drove Patty and I to the Monday evening get together - which I enjoyed. I let inertia stop me from meeting up with my tribe way, way too often! Trying to do better at keeping my social connections active. :)
Tuesday I got up early (for me, around 9 a.m.) and went to Home Depot to buy a new garbage disposal (the one currently in the apartment leaked and was worn out) and a new shower head for the bathroom that was to be Kimmie's. I help Kimmie stay on track with sorting through her random papers while the plumber worked. I was surprisingly tired by the time I went home - surprising because I really did nothing physical besides the usual. I guess decision making is energy consuming, too!
Wednesday I had to drive Skip to Annapolis to take the driving test to renew his license. That was an experience I have never had before (taking the test in Maryland - I took my driving test at the age of 15 in Texas, in a completely different world:). It took a while and some paper shuffling, but he passed and got a certificate to show until his new RealID/MDlicense arrives in the mail. It was a relief to get it done as that was the third time we'd gone to the Annapolis DMV offices on the errand. Whew! We drove home a different way than usual and diverted to pick up some dinner from a Burger King drive-thru (both too tired to think about cooking dinner:).
Thursday I was planning to go with Kimmie and Braydon into DC to visit the Smithsonian museums ... but I was bone weary and stayed home instead. I loaned them our Jeep so they could go do 'touristy' things. They had a great time and visited the Natural History Museum with joy (and walked their feet off, I think:). Kimmie sent me some photos of their visit but I will share just one here:
I spent most of Thursday horizontal (can tell I'm getting 'old':), reading and resting. Happily, I recovered enough that I went with them on Friday to visit the National Zoo in DC. Braydon is a panda fan so he really, really wanted to visit the pandas. The day was hot but less humid than it had been earlier in the week so we had a pleasant time. Everyone and her entire entourage was visiting the zoo that day - was a mini-UN experience just sitting at a table by the outdoor walkway, listening to the chattering voices as people went past. :) Braydon had a flight back to CO that evening, leaving from BWI airport in Catonsville so we dropped him off around 4 p.m. It's a long drive from DC to Baltimore - not so much in miles but in traffic congestion. Took us 1.5 hours to go about 35 or 40 miles (not sure exactly how far it is:).
On Saturday, yesterday, Skip and I went to Harper's to buy a new dishwasher for the apartment ... and I found out (no surprise) that my mental guess as to how much it would cost was four times too low. Sigh. I'm so glad we asked for (and got) an allowance from the seller of the condo for repairs! Skip says they had to know what condition the place was in - basically sound but needing repairs/updating. None of what we have fixed so far is cosmetic - that part is fine with the place - but it was built in the early 70s and went condo in 1982 .. so lots of wear and tear since then. :)
After we dropped our money and I dropped Skip at home I spent yesterday afternoon helping Kimmie unpack and sort through most of her clothing. Settling into a new home is a slow and important process for her. She's not really had a safe, comfortable place for years. I'm hoping she will bloom in this place and find her way!
Today I went to the monthly (zoom) meeting of my Baltimore Modern quilt guild group ... and listened to a lecture about labeling quilts. The woman who presented brought up a LOT of important points I had never thought about with labeling and story telling your quilts. I am pretty sure I will be doing my work differently in the future. :)
Onward and upward, as my Dad used to say. Tomorrow is another day.
:) Linda
PS. Among the piles of junk mail we got this past week, I got a gift from my daughter:
She sent me this book. I've been dabbling with the idea of using some of my modest stash of yarns to play with a small loom and now I am really motivated. Great book! :)
I have not sewn anything since a week ago when I sewed at Springwater (already mentioned in my last post here) ... but I found a photo of the long-term string piecing project I started recently. I ordered deli sheets from Amazon (to make up the total for free shipping, on the recommendation of my friend Barbara) and have started monochromatic string blocks on that paper:
Over time, I will sew up my scraps to make these string blocks and see where it takes me. :)
