And the Quilt Winner Is...

 

 At the Berkeley Food Pantry yesterday

 ...Anne Rowe, who bid $175 and then upped it to $200 in effect bidding against herself because she had in mind that that would be her limit.  Very Anne.

She's also a Pantry volunteer herself and coordinates Pantry food donations at her church, First Congregational Church of Berkeley.  She and I met in a water exercise class years ago, and we still do pool exercise every Tuesday and Thursday at the Richmond Plunge (on Tuesdays I drive us and our friend Val in my ancient Camry, and on Thursdays we ride in style in Val's Mercedes).

Greenbaggers, Not Having Children, and Those Jeans

On Saturday, I had a tea party for six friends who donate food to the Berkeley Food Pantry through the Berkeley Neighborhood Food Project.  I call them "the greenbaggers," because everybody gets a green shopping bag to fill every two months.  I collect the bags and take them to the Pantry.

Oh, we had fun!  Two cakes from Masse's Bakery (flourless chocolate cake and spice cheesecake, which was much lighter than it sounds) and a bunch of age 60+ women, all liberal, each with a gratifying sense of humor, and all of them generous. Some of them had never met, but no matter. The party lasted three hours.

Did I think to take a group picture?  Yes, but you can't see much.

The greenbaggers:  Ann, Anne, Suzanne, Valerie, Claudia, Karen.  Plus cakes.

The neighborhood food project now provides about half the food distributed by the Pantry. It's so satisfying to see the food I bought in from the group on a Saturday given out to clients on Monday, when I volunteer. Last month,  I sent out an alert to the group about the need for dry cereal for families, and they donated so much that our combined-weight total was the lowest it's ever been.  Cheerios aren't very heavy.

* * * * *

Yesterday I had one of those lightbulb moments when you wonder why in the hell it took you so long to figure something out.

I was lying on a massage table having my neck and shoulders kneaded.  The young woman with the magic fingers was talking to me about some issues in her life and mentioned that she and her husband have decided they won't have another child (they have a two-year old).  She said there are many reasons, some financial, and it just isn't going to happen, which makes her sad because she's 40, and this is it.

Grieving the loss of a child you might have had is something I can relate to.  I have no children, by choice (my temperament,  lack of patience, desire to focus on other things), but occasionally I feel sad about the loss.  For a while, maybe right up until yesterday, whenever I felt a twinge of sadness about it, I'd think I might have made the wrong choice.

But yesterday, listening to this young woman, I realized that you can feel sad about something and still know that your choice was the right one.  In my case, I've revisited that choice periodically when I'm around small children, and never have I come away thinking I would have been well-suited to being a mother.  Even the adorable girls next door (now 24 and 26), who so enriched my life, were never mine to be responsible for 24/7.  Their mother, Laura, did all the work.

The young woman and I commiserated.  I told her that for me, the hardest time was when I was 38-42, when I knew window of opportunity was closing.  It would get easier, I told her.   You can have a fine life without children or with only one.  Not that you sometimes won't feel sad about the loss of what might have been.  But it doesn't mean you should doubt your choice.

Driving home, I could breathe a lot more deeply, in part due to the massage, but also: Why had it taken so long to figure this out?  Maybe because I'd never talked to a younger woman in the throes of making that choice, and I'd never articulated what I already knew, on some level.

 * * * * *

The jeans I mentioned in  the last post are continuing to be terrific.  They have ample stretch and the added benefit that they don't crease! Yes!  No crease marks from sitting.  I may go back for more. Now, if I can just stay away from the leftover cake.

 Thank-you, Not Your Daughter's Jeans!

Dept. of Domestic Chaos & Quilt Update

Quilt update:  Bidding stands at $400.  You have until noon tomorrow to bid.  More bids most welcome and  for a good cause (tax deductible contribution to the Berkeley Food Pantry).

* * * * *

Jerry's study on Sunday afternoon

This weekend was dedicated to a massive re-shuffling of STUFF.  As I mentioned earlier Jerry has to vacate his campus office (note: took possession in 1967), and guess what?  His study at home is not going to absorb it all.  No way.  Not even close.

We've cleaned out the basement so that some of it can go there.  I've come up with a handful of things I'm ready to part with via Craigslist, and on Saturday we lugged those items upstairs so I could photograph them against something more attractive than basement chaos:

 Now parked in the entryway: Relics from my Chintz Period, before I took up quilting and had no room for them in my studio.

Clutter in the living room:  Amish Nursing Rocker (left), a rust-colored chair of indeterminate period (center), and floor lamp with substitute (teetering) shade.  Destination:  Craigslist and then to the curb.

After two days of work, this is what the basement looks like:

 

Won't last:  Center of the room is destined to become a parking place for file cabinets

 

These seem to proliferate.  How many do we need?

 Jerry's getting his mind around dispensing with his "logo golf ball collection."  Similar collections for sale on e-bay, would you believe?

Ordinarily, I stay out of Jerry's professional life, all aspects--including organization.  But this move threatens to take over the house.

On the other hand, look what I've done to the dining table:

 Asian porcelain that my dad collected, which my sister and I are hoping to sell at auction.

My goal this week:  To get rid of some of this stuff, somehow, somewhere.

Still Married



 

July 9, 1977

March 31, 2015
Bored witless on a cruise ship in the Gulf of Mexico

Received at breakfast this morning


* * * * *

Update:  Quilt bidding now stands at $400.  Bidding ends next Tuesday at noon.

Quilt bid now: $400
Thank you~!

A Quilt, Anyone?

 

I just finished stitching the binding on this quilt and debating whether to keep it for myself (fits the couch!).  But no, it's up for auction and ready for a new home.  The colors are richer than either of two cameras manage to convey.  Here's another try:

Over the banister--still a tad over-exposed

As in the past, proceeds will benefit the Berkeley Food Pantry.  The winner will make out a check directly to the Pantry and get the tax deduction.

The quilt is 51" x 72", ideal for someone lying on a couch.  Here's how it fits on my own:

Lengthwise on an 84" sofa

The fabrics are 100% cotton and machine-washable; all are pre-washed.

Here's the back:

 

And some detail of Angie Woolman's machine-quilting:

Waves (above) and boxes (below)

 

It's a larger quilt than I've auctioned off in the past, so how about an opening bid of $100?  You can bid on Facebook, in the Comments Box here, or by e-mail.  Winner to be announced July 14.

Since 2013, blog readers have contributed $1200 to the Pantry in these auctions.  Yay for us!

Is that bathroom remodel done YET? And how much tiramisu can you eat in 24 hours?

A.  Bathroom remodel is complete, but bathroom looks like a model home before staging: bare.   Hence, the reveal is delayed.  Except for this:

Jerry taped paper over the window for a little privacy.

A. Two large servings and two small within 24 hours of Christmas dinner.   No picture available.

Q.  Why are you showing us a tied-up box of See's candy?
A.  My sister tied it up to prevent me from eating the remaining chocolates so I could offer them to Food Pantry clients on Monday.

Q.  Why is there another picture of a tied-up See's candy box?
A.  Because I cut the knotted-up ribbon and ate two pieces.   See lower right where snip occurred. And below, post-snip:

 Two chocolates missing.

 Q.  Why ANOTHER picture?
 A.  Because I knotted the ribbon again.

 Q.  How many people think I won't eat more chocolates before 1 pm tomorrow?

Everything's Kind of a Mess, Etc.

October, already!  Unbelievable.

The bathroom remodel project is proceeding and has pretty much claimed the house and about 75% of my sanity and focus.  Here's what it looks like now:

A tidy shell

In the foreground, below, the tile possibilities:

 

From front to back:  floor, shower (subway tile; same color as vanity will be painted);  counter samples on top of that; back splash samples leaning against the tub

I'm going to ask, even if my sister is cringing because she doesn't want me to get talked out of our (tentative) choice.  Which do you like best?

Here's Sample A, warm and rustic:

Sample B:  Cool squares

Sample C:  Cool  and sophisticated(?) rectangles

In the course of demolishing the bathroom, the contractor came across this:

Frolicking dogs, anyone?

He thinks it dates from the 1930's and the first family who owned this house.  The second family, who sold the house to us, put up bordello-red flocked wallpaper in this bathroom, which we got rid of ASAP. We put up frolicking fish:

Next:  no wallpaper at all.

* * * * *

If all that isn't enough chaos and decision-making, this morning I did this:

My friend and next door neighbor, Laura, is getting married in a couple of weeks, and after hearing from her daughter Leah about the glammy outfit she bought in NYC to wear to this event, I thought maybe I could see if I could figure out something a little more daring that what I was planning to wear.  Also, my sister and I watched part of the documentary on fashion photographer Bill Cunningham yesterday while we recovered from tile shopping, and Bill got me behind the concept of stylish vintage.

So, on the bed,  are samples of clothes that span decades: left to right. a pleated red silk skirt I wore to a wedding in 1985-the waist wouldn't zip by at least two inches, very demoralizing.  In the center in a plastic bag, a dress I wore to a wedding. in 2011.  To the right of that,  a dress bought for a wedding in 2012 and too warm for this one.  On the far right, the dress I wore to my sister's wedding in 1982 (not a prayer).

See the open jewelry box on the upper left?  Fiddling around that stuff resulted in this:

I'm stuck! We can't get the clasp open.  I'm going to have to run down to the jewelers to see if they can liberate me. I'm definitely not wearing these to the wedding, unless the jeweler can't help me out.

* * * * *

On to more chaos. Here's my studio at the moment:

Even though I swore I'd never do another quilt with triangles, this is what I'm playing around with:

I have no idea what I'm doing, although I did find myself trying this:

Who knows.

* * * * *

On other fronts:  The Food Pantry has had a change in leadership--a new manager and a new director.  Lots of changes, including my role checking in clients in the front room.  Unsettling to all of us long-time volunteers, but I'm talking myself out of being an Old Fartette.  I'm trying to embrace the changes, or at least do my best at observing and cooperating.

Before the Pantry opened on Monday, I made numerous trips to the green bin with spoiled vegetables, each time walking past waiting clients.  On my fourth trip, a large African American man who was holding court, called out, "That white lady is working hard!"


"Yes, I am!" I said.  Didn't mention the effort of dealing with change.  

* * * * *

On a more serious note:  Mr. Adorable has been hospitalized!  Some of you may have seen this on Facebook.

He has asthma and developed pneumonia, which resulted in wheezing and shortness of breath that even a nebulizer couldn't reverse.  The doctor ordered him to the ER, and he's spent the past three days in a "palatial room," (per his Auntie Claudia), at the Monterey Community Hospital in Pacific Grove.  He's better and more than a little restless:

 Killing time in the hospital gift shop until he can be sprung.  Cute even in hospital wear.



But, Hey, I've Had a Hard Day, You Old Fart!

Yesterday, after our shift at the Food Pantry, I was driving my friend Anne home.  She is 81 and very fit, but she usually has trays and other things to carry, so rather than drop her at the corner of her block, I take her all the way to her house.

The problem is this sign at the corner of her street:

It was about 4:30,  and I needed to make a left turn.

Every Monday, I break the law doing this, with the rationale that I'm not using the street as a thoroughfare, but giving a lift to someone who lives on the street.  I'm prepared to tell a cop this if I ever get caught.

But yesterday, a bent, white-haired man yelled at me from his front yard.

Him:  "Can't you read?"

Me (startled and slowing down):  "I'm dropping someone off."

Him:  "Doesn't matter!"

Here I'd spent all afternoon helping to give out food to people, and this man was giving me a hard time about driving Anne, his neighbor, to her house.  I felt like crying.  I muttered a bad word that begins with an "f," which I never do around Anne, because she is very nice and not a Boomer.

She furrowed her brow, not at me but at him.

"That's Jim," she said.  "He's old."  

 "Humph!" I said. 

"You could go back and talk to him," she suggested, as she got out of the car.  "Tell him what you've been doing."

I didn't think telling him what I'd been doing would cut any ice,  plus all I could really think to say to him was, "You're a hostile old fart who needs anger management."

Now I'm sort of afraid of him, mad at him, and ashamed that I broke the law.   Would any amount of explaining on either of our sides (me doing good works, him mad at getting old and infirm, perhaps) do any good? Don't think so.

A Quilt, Anyone?

 

7/10/14--2 pm:  Bidding now at $400.

7/9/14--9:10 pm:  Bidding now stands at $250.

 

 

So, here are the particulars of the quilt I mentioned in yesterday's post--it's ready for its new home!  As in the past, proceeds will benefit the Berkeley Food Pantry.  The winner will make out a check directly to the Pantry and get the tax deduction.

This quilt is rectangular, 57" x 65", a good couch-potato size.  Throw it on a sofa or fold it at the foot of a bed.   It could also be hung vertically or horizontally.  The fabrics are 100% cotton  and machine-washable. 

Angie Woolman did a beautiful job machine-quilting it, with each square picked out and quilted with a pattern that I think really suits the design:

The border color is a grayed-green, seen above compared with a true gray.

The back:

 

 

If you'd like to make a bid, please let me know in the comment box, on Facebook, or via e-mail.  I'll post updates on Facebook and in future posts. 

This quilt is bigger than the others I've auctioned off and with more quilting, so let's say a starting bid $100.  Please be generous--we are living in a climate of punishing the poor, and 700 households a month, many with children, depend the Pantry as an essential part of their food budget.

Winner to be announced on July 18!