Not Tara, although she does have a face. And who didn't see that line coming? Adrian and I drove up to the Bay Area for Thanksgiving. We stayed for two days with my sister, Karen and her husband, Peter. On Tuesday we went to the DeYoung museum to see the late Impressionists. That was good. All the paintings were from the D'Orsay in Paris. That's my favorite museum in the world, yet I hadn't seen many of these paintings, especially those from the Navi group. Hum, probably not the way that's spelled, but I kept reading the names in that Avatar sing-song I've heard in previews. These Navi's were painters. Particularly interesting when viewed with a sing-song chant going on in your head.We then went to lunch with Tara. I haven't seen her in far too long. She is looking so happy. It would be nice to see her more often. We decided that Adrian and I would be back the first week of March. Maybe a quarterly visit. I'd let Adrian pick our driving music. This time he picked The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman. Loved it.
Thanksgiving was spent at Mark and Trina's house. The company was great, the food was good, and the entertainment was exceptional. I wonder how we are going to top that next year? By then, they will have moved to a new house and will have many other new things going on. It should be fun to see. They are wonderful hosts. Among the many guests was Maggie's new dog, Lila. I'd read about her being a bit shy and sometimes a little poopy. She was shy, but she was a sweet puppy. Very well behaved. I thought it was sweet that Mark and Trina knew that she might have a nervous reaction, but still wanted her to be there. Mark had a great old dog, Rascal, who he took everywhere with him. He said that he would be the last person to not let a dog into his place. Sweet. Actually, it would have been fun to see Lila and Rascal together.
Okay, so here's the lady with the face. Adrian asked me what is taking so long, because I work on her most days. We counted the stitches. 5800. I told him 100,000. I exaggerate. Still, 5800 is a lot. Sometime it goes fast, like that deadly dull black you see on the right side. But that's only after you've counted the squares to get the various shades of green in before you lay on the green/black combo. I don't see this sucker being done before March.
But doesn't she have a beautiful skirt. There's a streak down the left side that was driving me crazy, so I just wound it down so I don't have to look at it all the time. What the heck. What I find fascinating is how the symbols on the instructions can equal spikey leaves and flowers. You'd think you could see this before it's on the canvas, but I don't. In fact, I have to stop, step back and look closely to see how the garden is taking shape. Pretty.
Okay, so here's the lady with the face. Adrian asked me what is taking so long, because I work on her most days. We counted the stitches. 5800. I told him 100,000. I exaggerate. Still, 5800 is a lot. Sometime it goes fast, like that deadly dull black you see on the right side. But that's only after you've counted the squares to get the various shades of green in before you lay on the green/black combo. I don't see this sucker being done before March. 
But doesn't she have a beautiful skirt. There's a streak down the left side that was driving me crazy, so I just wound it down so I don't have to look at it all the time. What the heck. What I find fascinating is how the symbols on the instructions can equal spikey leaves and flowers. You'd think you could see this before it's on the canvas, but I don't. In fact, I have to stop, step back and look closely to see how the garden is taking shape. Pretty.I've been trying to get through Laura Hillenbrand's new book, Unbroken. That should be an easy thing because she is a great writer and Louie Zamperini is a fascinating man. But we know from the beginning that he spends time in a Japanese prison camp and it almost breaks his boundless confidence and joy. I'm at the part now where he is about to go to the dreadful prison camp. It's so hard to watch - read - listen to suffering or unjustified abuse. You may recall that I had the same problem with Zeitoun. You may not know that I have yet to see a Viet Nam war movie. Actually, it's getting to the point where I can't watch Obama giving an inch to those stupid Republicans. I just HATE seeing bad things happen to good people. So what have I been listening to instead? Old time radio. I've subscribed to a Great Detective series from old time radio. Even though the detectives keep being knocked out and beaten, I know this isn't real and no brain cells died in the taping. 150 hours of detective stories later, I'm caught up on the previously podcasted shows. Luckily, I have 17 books on my iPod that I can read before I learn the details of that prisoner of war camp. Maybe the lady will be done by then.
