One Year

… since I started this blog! Hooray. If I was on top of my game I would have a visual re-design all ready to launch today. But I don’t. But I’ve accomplished lots of other projects in the last year – ran my first 10K, knitted my first real sweater, learned to throw pots on the wheel, designed quite a few user interfaces, and just yesterday I dropped 4 whole bags of stuff off at the Goodwill donation center. (It’ll be a lifelong effort for BN and I to keep our collector-of-stuff tendencies under control. You never know what might end up being useful someday!) Our spare room has never looked better.

Well, this has been a good week. We had quick visit from my brother and sister-in-law, and it was a blessedly beautiful day so I took them down to the river and we strolled around and checked out the geese, who were having a major convention with whole nestsful of goslings of all different sizes. Cute!

Monday evening I had my usual knitting group. Nowadays we meet at a cafe that’s sort of behind (or in front of) a restaurant. All the small tables are pushed together for a big knitting circle. (or rectangle.) We have a waiter to order dinner or drinks or coffee from, and a good time is had by all. I’ve been going to this group pretty regularly since early in the year. I really enjoy it because there’s such a range of people there – different ages, different skill levels. Even a few men. And they knit.

Today I went to my ladies’ lunch Bible study. This is pretty much the highlight of my week – everybody brings something to share, mostly salads, but sometimes we get other goodies like today was EL’s birthday so we had a not-exactly-cake confection that was constructed mostly of whipped cream and strawberries. It took 3 people to get it cut up and served because it was collapsing in all directions. Totally delicious, though. Even more than the food I enjoy the girl-time with a diverse set of sisters in Christ. I’m usually the youngest unless JM comes, and our 2 “elder stateswomen” (as GP would say) are in their 80’s.

It seems like we are squarely into spring, now, with temps up into the 70’s. we had a real heat wave a week or so ago, but the week before that the highs were in the mid-50’s again for awhile. That was weird… it’s really nice to see the sun. (At our ladies’ study we get to sit outside on TR’s deck surrounded by her beautiful garden.)

There are quite a few clothing resale stores in town, and this week I had a bit of success in selling some of my used clothing. Trading in, really, because you get more value if you opt for store credit. The first place was too LA-teen-trendyish to want most of my cast-offs. The next place was more sophisticated and the nice woman who helped me surprised me by taking one of my home-sewn dresses (those are the hardest to give away, but it never fit me right.) The last place, with a more hippie-like flair, took a record-setting 4 items, and all of them were garments I had originally gotten at thrift stores. Score! What a beautiful cycle of fashion funkiness.

So that’s what’s going on. A mixed bag of newsy items. I’ll leave you with a cooking secret: Those little tiny cans of Thai curry paste. You can get ’em at the Asian market. They are the same shape as tuna cans except smaller, and seriously all you have to do is stir one (or part of one, they are strong medicine) into a pot of coconut milk (and whatever meat and veggies you have on hand) and you have an awesome tastes-like-we’re-eating-out dinner at home! Lemon grass helps, too. Serve over rice or noodles and you’ll knock the socks off of your dinner guests.

Well, I hope everybody’s having a good week and maybe by next year I’ll have this blog looking more customized.

Love,

KT