Scratch That Itch!!

               Do you ever get an itch you can't scratch!! 

I'm not talking about your skin itching, I'm talking about something you just have to do or bust. 

It had been over a year since I'd dragged out any art supplies but day before yesterday that itch returned and I just sat down and 'scratched' it. haha. 

I shouldn't have mixed graphite pencil with watercolor pencil but I did and that's fine. I am old and can do as I darn well please. another haha

                                     Here's what I did:

One Stitch At A Time

 I used to do a lot of quilting. I liked hand-quilting the layers of fabric and batting together. That was my favorite thing. The piecing was alright but I was not really good at matching corners, having smooth curves etc. 

But, there comes a time in each of our lives when we have to put some things aside. It just got too much for me. So, I gave or sold all my fabric stash, gave my sewing machine to my daughter and now I am reduced to looking at pictures of what I once enjoyed doing. 

I'm not complaining. I often wondered what in the world people did with them when they were cranking out one quilt right after another!! I hope, like mine, they went to a good home. 

I did so love to go to the fabric store. I always walked out with bags of stuff and that is what all quilters do, I am thinking. 

                 Here is some of my work

                           How many of you are quilters? 

                               Or was once a quilter? 

Achoo!

                          It rained last night! 

              That's a good thing. Why you might ask. 

                    This picture tells the tale. 

              That, dear friends, is pollen that was washed off the trees and streets.    So, I am staying inside! 

Do you have allergies? If so I know too well how it feels. I used to say I could write a book on allergies . 

It was cloudy yesterday, just a gray ole day. I looked out my balcony glass doors to see a bright red cardinal 

         and just had to take it's picture. It's mate was nearby. 

It's little happenstances like that, that make our days happy and bright. I'm so thankful for the happy things in my life. And, that includes you all. 

Night Terrors!!

             I'm having trouble sleeping lately. I heard it was caused by old age! 

Last night I was lying in bed on my side, facing the empty space next to me. I was chanting in my head 'go to sleep, go to sleep'. The room was very dimly lit by a small nightlight in the adjoining bathroom so I can sort of see... if my eyes are open. 

I crack one eye open. Just enough to see something move at the edge of the bed. I close my eyes and then it registers. There's not anything that is supposed to be moving in my bed... but me! So I open both eyes. Same thing. It looks like the ear of a kitten and it's switching back and forth. 

                                       I don't have a cat!

So, I raise up on my elbow to get a better look. Well, I be danged if I am not seeing my own finger. My hand is spread out over that empty space and for some strange reason I'm switching my finger back and forth. Maybe I'm counting how many times I repeat 'Go to Sleep'.

                        Well, at least it  wasn't a bug or a snake or some other varmit. 

                                           It was just me! 

                     A gal can't be too careful when she lives alone, can she?

A cat I did in pastels back in 2016. 

Laughter Every Day Will Keep The Doctor Away

 Well, it looks like I fell off the wagon... the blogger wagon that is. 

Just weird how it comes so easy some days and other times it's a real struggle to post anything.

I do have some things to catch you up on, though.

No pictures  for the first one, sorry....

Shirley came to Centerbrooke to conduct the activity meeting Tuesday afternoon. The staff that usually does that, had a dr. appt. We had the best time. While the cat's away, the mice will play!! 

We did get some events planned, committee reports done, that sort of thing but we just ended up laughing our fool heads off for two solid hours. (the meeting was so long 'cause we were having so much fun). 

Shirley had brought some of her wonderful cookies so we'd stop the meeting to  pass them out to the maintanence crew and anyone else who wandered in. We've got a new janitor. Tuesday was his second day, and we plied him with cookies (and his boss) hoping to stay on their good side. ha  

The Director went home at 5 but it was 6 before we turned out the lights and locked up the community room. Everybody needs to laugh every single day and we got caught up for a whole month's worth I think.

On Wednesday some of us drove to Wakefield (25 miles away) to where I used to live and where Shirley still lives. We had lunch at the Virginia Diner.

 That place is pretty famous. Besides being a restaurant they also ship Virginia Diner peanuts to shops all over the world. If you run across any when you are shopping, just think about me!! 

The diner started out in 1929 with a woman selling soup and biscuits out of an old railroad car. Business got so good, she expanded with an addition to it. That establishment got flooded so they just started over with a new building. Folks from near and far stop there to eat when they are traveling in Virginia. 

That's Lorettta, a sweet Christian lady.... Vivian, a new transplant from the Bronx, NY....Carolyn, another sweet lady.... Donald our farmer.. he has some garden spots here and shares his produce with friends. I sure am glad I am his friend.... Marcia is Donald's wife. She can not hear and it can;t be fixed so we communicate with her via her phone typing out what we say. And, that's where some of our laughter comes from. That phone can't hear any better than Marcia. Some of the things it types, well... I can't repeat here.

Today I repotted my amaryllis. The thing got too big for it's britches  pot. 

We'll see if it grows any better with more space and new soil! I even watered it!! 

What's Next On My Reading List?

                                         I just finished the book 

'Wild' by Cheryl Strayed. A bio about her struggles and how she overcame them on a hike through the Pacific Crest Trail. I saw that Reese Witherspoon starred in a movie about that so I definately want to see it soon. It's on one of my streaming services so it won't be difficult to find. 

For quite awhile now, as I read first this book and then that, I noticed that I run across passages that I just want to read over and over....so I started jotting them down in a notebook. I'll pick up that notebook and read it over again and again. Some of the quotes are by me. I do have some deep thoughts every once in awhile. 😀

                                            I also recently finished 

  'Lessons in Chemistry' which our little book club chose as a read.

        Now, I don't know what I want to read next.                                                         Anyone with any suggestions?