12 Oakdale

I counted the time: at  40 minutes/4-row pattern and with 97 repeats, it took me about 65 hours to knit Hazel’s blanket. It certainly seemed longer, but mostly because I did it in 4-8 rows at a time. My hands and shoulders just are too old for marathon knitting sessions anymore. One can only take so much ibuprofen. To have continuity of color,  I efficiently used the blue, white and taupe yarn left from Teddy’s blanket and added “rhubarb” in the same baby-weight washable wool. One could say an homage in red, white, and blue to our country’s 250th birthday this year. That is, if one were not absolutely livid about our dear leader’s ineptness and his ridiculous war. Maybe we the people will wise up. The waffle pattern, Baby Fern Lake from Berroco, was an easy 1, 2 repeat, but I had to watch every stitch so I didn’t miscount. Very different from the stockinette stitch of Teddy’s, the Easy Striped Baby Blanket by Dabbles & Baubles. That one I could read or watch tv while I kni...

Kicked off with a group bus trip by Windermere Garden Club to Art in Bloom at the Orlando Museum of Art. An annual fundraiser, local floral designers interpreted pieces of art in flowers. Some seemed to take it literally, others more relaxed. Lovely day, lunch (chicken salad either on mixed greens or a croissant), then bus trip home. Of course a bag of snacks on the bus to tide us over. Then 2 days of Spring Fever in the Garden, Bloom and Grow Garden Society’s major fundraiser: $140k this year. I got up at 4:00 AM Saturday to be at my zone leader post by 5:30. This year, an easy zone with only 6 vendors, 1 of which didn’t show and 1 was 8 Waves, an after school group that only had a tent and 2 tables for their information. Co-zone leader Lavina and I were done by 8:30, which meant we could scout the show before the crowds. We headed to Andy’s space where she bought a duck (old outboard motor cover) and a rooster (garden rakes). I loved his owl with feathers made of table knives, but ...

We had cabin reservations for 2 nights at Jonathan Dickenson State Park. I decided to throw caution to the wind and just take coffee. We would eat out, not cook. I had GPT-Chat find restaurants and things to do. I have used free AI for trip planning, so I knew to check that sites were actually open and reservations were needed. We started with the Rembrandt and Friends show at the Norton Art Gallery, catching it on the last day of the run, with timed tickets from 11:00-1:00. Which I thought was entry time, but was actually our allowed viewing slot. We got there about 1:00, and I was surprised when the guard gave us a 10-minute times-up warning. Truth be told, we’d about exhausted ourselves peering at the 75+ paintings, including Young Woman Seated at a Virginal , the only Vermeer in a private collection. Time to check into our cabin, then an early dinner. (My Chat pal had recommended lunch at a nearby shop which was closed on Sundays. We ate homemade sandwiches before going to the muse...

We were supposed to be meeting Mary and family in Raleigh this week. Ryan would take his anesthesiology board exam, we would celebrate Mary’s birthday, we would visit Trish. Three birds; 1 stone. Until our dear leader started his war. Ryan was tapped, as they say, February 24th to fly out with other Navy medical personal to set up a field hospital god knows where. Back in a month, or 7, or whenever. To add excitement, before he left, they called us: Mary is due mid-October. That explains the extra level of emotion. I have spent much of the last month on video calls with Mary and pouring over the war news. If there will be no boots on the ground, why, and where, are we setting up field hospitals? Plus I’ve wasted my time emailing my senators. I am so far behind on what I am supposed to be doing. Bottom line, I opted to stay home this week, sending Grant on a solo trip to see his sister. Just his getting on the plane was worrisome, because our TSA agents are not being paid because our in...

Home after 4 nights in cabins (#2, 3, 4) at Silver Springs State Park. The usual crew of Zumsteins, Barkley, Lade/Schwatz, our newer members Giblin-Davis, and first timers, the Gonzalez. I was especially pleased that Tuesday I threw sense away and signed up for the 5.2 mile kayak paddle. Of course, all downstream, but I was able to get in and out of the boat and keep up with the group. Alligators and turtles on the banks, manatees in the river, including 1 swimming directly under me. What a lovely trip. I recorded 16 bird species, including 5 pairs wood ducks who remained calmly paddling at the waters edge as we drifted past. Never have seen that before. Only 1 pair did their usual explosive flight, and that was after we’d gone by. Did help my saying that they were usually very shy. Sally drove down Wednesday for old home’s sake. We walked the board walk from the north entrance and discovered the new bridge across the spring run. Now there is a safe and pleasant way to get from the cam...

 Another year of tiny paintings from Kristian Van Leuven: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 2 3 4 5 16 7 8 9 10 21 2 3 4 5 26 7 8 9 10 31 2 3 4 5 36 7 8 9 10 41 2 3 4 5 46 7 8 9 10 51 2 3 4 5 56 7 8 9 10 61 2 3 4 5 66 7 8 9 10 71 2 3 4 5 76 7 8 9 10 81 2 3 4 5 86 7 8 9 10 91 2 3 4 5 96 7 8 9 100

For some reason, I can no longer add my pictures to this blog. Google keeps telling me to sign in, which I am. Remove cookies. Done. Etc, etc, etc.   Maybe it’s Chrome. No, doesn’t work on Safari either. Maybe it’s just my iPad. No, doesn’t work on my phone. And I still haven’t figured out how to grab photos from Google on the laptop without downloading each individually. (Update 2/14: it is suddenly allowing pictures. I’m quickly putting them in before this magic goes away.) Next frustration up: adding photos of my watercolors to the bootcamp group. I’ve downloaded the Google Slide app, but can’t create a new slide in the group’s deck. I just want these things to work. In any case, I did all 30 of the bootcamp projects using the huge quill brush the instructor recommended. Not easy for me. However, I am proud I stuck it out. My plan is to redo all them, then bind the before and after into a book. I am also frustrated with myself because I’ve been eating like the Olympic cross coun...