Please, No More Deaths of Rock Stars and Quilting on a Deadline

This is what I've been up to for the last couple of weeks:  Rushing to finish two quilt tops so that I can meet the Friday deadline for submitting entries to the Voices in Cloth quilt show in March.

Today I picked up photos of the quilts and sat out in front of CVS at Rose and Shattuck, sorting through the pictures, stapling them to entry forms, making sure I had all the papers in order, and then wandering down to the post office to slide the envelope through the slot.  That triumph called for a stop at the Cheeseboard to buy a Spicy Carrot Muffin, thick with raisins, to eat with a wedge of cheese and a cup of  hot tea.  Bliss.

I still have to make backs for each quilt, cut bindings, and hand it all off to Angie Woolman to be quilted.  But the paperwork is DONE!  (Yes, I could have entered online, but I tried to, lost everything I wrote, and assumed my usual techo-peasant stance: paper is more reliable.)

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Way too many people in their sixties--notably rock stars, but also others--have been dying. Awful!  My God, what are we supposed to do with this information?  Seize the moment? (How?)  Drink ourselves silly?  Say what we need to say to certain people?  Make another trip to Europe to see every last bucket-list locale?  In my own case,  get the hokey calico wallpaper off the walls of my studio (came with the house in 1984)?

Recently, I came across a  "List of Possible Things to Do in Retirement, Before Death, With Rest of Life" (taken from an AARP book).  I must have done this about 1994:

1. Books to read: "Middlemarch"--have not done.  Shameful for an English major.

Highly recommend

2. Letter I want to write: to Sandra Albertson (author of  the best book on death and dying that I've ever found: "Endings and Beginnings: A Young Family's Experience with Death and Renewal")--yes, and she sent a gracious response.  I've given away several copies of this book.

3. Foods to try: Go to Green's restaurant in San Francisco--done!  Also, try caviar--yes.  (Found both to be overrated.)

4. Things to learn to do: 

      To weave--no, and I've lost the urge.

      To overcome my fear of driving over bridges--yes, but it was damned scary.

5. Activities to try: 

      Boating--no, ditto re lost urge

      Having a facial--yes and liked it.   

      Rafting the Colorado River--no and don't plan to since I heard you have to poop in a box.

This day trip on the Colorado River in 1993 whetted my appetite for a longer one--until I found out about the poop box.

 6. Trips to take:  London, Paris, and New York--yes to all; several times to New York and London. 

2008

7. Three gifts for myself:  a CD player, a new sewing machine, and more classical CD's--yes to all, and they've enriched my life.

8. The one physical change I want to make in my appearance:  Learn to stand up straight--yes! I'm in the process of learning with the help of a physical therapist.  A long road.

This list made me feel so much better, some 20 years after I wrote it, that I think I might to update it.  Anyone know of a large-print edition of "Middlemarch"?

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Voices in Cloth quilt show will be held March 19-20 at the Craneway Pavillion in Pt. Richmond.  For more information,  try this link

The Madness Ebbs, the Office Empties, the Spirits Rise

Flowers my sister gave me for Christmas.  Presents that are alive are good (not puppies). 

 
My friend Chris sent an e-mail a few days ago that began,  "AT LAST, Christmas is over!"

But he was wrong.  Christmas isn't over until the world goes back to work and to school and leaves the weekdays to retirees, stay-at-home-moms, and people who work at home.

That would be the day after tomorrow, Monday, January 4, 2016.  I've been thinking about that day since Thanksgiving.  It's the day when the madness ebbs, and  life returns to more or less normal.

* * * * * 

On New Year's Day,  Jerry and I went to Pt. Reyes, where it was clear, cold, and mobbed.  He looked like the Michelin Man, wearing a heavy sweatshirt over a down vest..  I wore a scarf and gloves, fleece pullover, jacket, and an determined expression--I wanted out of the house, even if I had to brave the cold.

A little puffy, not entirely from holiday treats

 We huddled in our car at the Visitor's Center, eating sandwiches and swilling hot chocolate.  Then we drove to the Estero Trail, hiked out to the bridge, and took some pictures:

Low tide

Flowing out to the sea

Then we made a quick swing by North Beach, only to be astounded by 50 cars in the parking lot (Jerry counted) and what seemed like legions of people walking the beach, considering how cold it was.

North Beach parking lot.  I was amazed (but then why were we there?)

Windy!

Happy New Year.  Happy New Beginnings.  Happy Peace and Quiet.

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Just before Christmas, my computer rebelled and stopped typing "O's".  I took it off to the Thai man who fixes its hardware. 

As he tinkered, he announced, vehemently,  "Donald Tump [sic] is bullshit."

Jerry and I are so taken with this that we now just refer to "Tump."  It sums up the ridiculousness of the man.  Better than thinking about him actually becoming President.

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We set a deadline of December 31 to have Jerry's campus office empty, and we just about made it.  These photos were taken New Year's Eve:

 

 

214 Wellman Hall, Jerry's office for 48 years.  Note the recycling waiting for pick-up.

The office is empty, but numerous--nine but who's counting?--boxes of correspondence, research files, and God knows what now litter the dining room and the basement.  I've checked out, though.  It's over, as far as I'm concerned, except for a little light nagging.

Lurking in a corner of the dining room

The dining table, but it's a year until next Christmas, when we might actually use it

 

The workbench in the basement.  Four more boxes are parked on the garden furniture stashed for the winter.  It's getting crowded down there.

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One of my top goals for 2016--and much more interesting than getting a colonoscopy and updating the earthquake kit--is to play as much as I can.  Read this article in the New York Times and see if you don't agree.