Roofs and Rain

The roofers came by today to replace my entire roof. This is not a great photo, but you may get the idea. When it rained last month, water got under the shingles and messed up my bathroom ceiling and wall. To the right of the ladder is where my bathroom is. Rain pours down from my neighbor's overhang. And we had big winds with the last rain. That meant more rain under the shingles. I was surprised that these guys stripped off all the shingles, but that's done now. You can't see the guy who is laying down on the roof under my neighbor's overhang. It's a pretty tight space.

Yep. Life is very um, exciting here.

But learning is going on inside. I am reading Cutting for Stone. The majority of the book takes place in Ethiopia. What did I know about this country before? Haile Selassie. Maybe Addis Ababa. And where it sits on the horn of Africa. But I did not know/remember that they had a revolution in my lifetime. Eritrea left that union to start it's own state. And it is where the Ark of the Covenant resides. this also has a lot of information about medicine. More than that? It's a great read. And a great listen. Many of the characters are Indian and the reader is Indian. Beautiful to hear that voice. The people are complex and a delight to know.

Happy Birthday, Mom

Picture her picture here. She is surrounded by her grandchildren. She is very happy. The big two loves of her life were her children/grandchildren and her birthday. I just wish I had that real picture to put here.

Venus, After Rising

I just googled "Venus Rising." I remembered a beautiful woman and water. True. She is on a wave and unclothed. This is her after her bath. She's put up her hair, put on lots of clothes and picked a basket of flowers. Next I need to press her flat again, measure the tapestry then I will pin, fold and secure. Pshew.

Adrian has started his anti-carb diet again. No carbs all the time. I think he wants to lose another 40 pounds and then call it a day. Maybe I'll get to see a six pack. That will be fun. His mother isn't following suit. She should. I'm not sure about no carbs all the time. Only time will tell. I won't.

Creative Moments

Adrian is still baking something new every day. Today he made two cakes. This is a chocolate cake with peanut butter frosting. Num. We've been making chocolate leaves for the last few days. I say "we" because Adrian has asked me to help him with all things chocolate. I chop. But I got to paint one of the leaves. He would have let me do more, but I painted it so thin I almost had to lick the solid chocolate from the chilled leaf. He still would have let me do more, but I think I'm a better watcher and chopper.

He also made a carrot cake for his friend's wife. She just had a kidney removed. Adrian says she's doing okay, but has been craving a cake with cream cheese frosting. Those friends know who to ask. Adrian bought aluminum cake pans so he can give the whole thing away. Bake and Release taken to its highest form.

I've finished the stitching! This is the finished fringe. When I took pictures of it, I noticed that one of the strands looked way out of line. I snipped its mooring thread and re-aligned it. I look at this thing, but didn't really see it without the picture.

The next step is to clean her. Then I need to buy a cardboard or foam backing to mount it on. Boring! But it will be further than I've ever gotten on my needlepoint projects. Then I need to decide what to do when I listen to my books. I've started cleaning and I think it is freaking out Adrian. Maybe I can work on the front yard.

Cording

Can you see it? I'm actually doing cording. I think I'm a bit over half way done with the shawl fringe. Once again, it isn't as horrible as I thought, but I do get cramps in my fingers when I'm twisting the thread. Charlie-fingers.

Finished Copperfield, starting on Churchill again, Milestones to Disaster. So many good lessons in there. More than was in the Lee Child Marathon. I listened to all but the last two. I'm also listening to Fools Moon, the second of the Dresden Files books. My dear friend Tom sent me a photo of a bumper sticker. It was something like "I like to read books in chronological order." Does he know me? That is too funny. So now I'm reading the Dresden Files in chronological order. I'll be buying one a month for the next year or so.

I'm bringing my lady up North for the baby shower. Oh, speaking of babies, Carina and Sean had a baby girl, Evelyn. This is Cindy's second grandchild. I bet she is beautiful.

Let the Couching Begin!

I've started the dreaded couching. This involves twisting two strands of thread 80 - 100 times (but who can count such a mundane task) then tacking this cord to the tapestry. In this way, the fringe of the shawl will be made. It isn't as bad as I thought, what could have been. I may actually get this done before Valentine's day. Maybe I'll gift myself with a new blank canvas on that day.

I've called the PALAC office to volunteer there to do office work. Nobody has called me to tell me if I can and what I'll be doing. I can see this very collaborative group discussing this now. OR they haven't picked up the message yet. It will be nice to help them, they are all good people.

All work on the shawl's fringe is being accompanied by David Copperfield. Dickens at this best. As I told Karen, it is a very sweet and smooth book. For a while I needed something crunchy, so I listened to all of the Reacher books. Most were "read" while I went to sleep and through the night. It was a good experience because it left me ready for David's life.