Distractions

I have been meaning to get back to this quilt - the top and the backing are both finished.

The progress on a hexagon table runner halted once the pieces were all sewn together. I intend to sew it onto a background, quilt it and bind it.  It sits waiting.

In the meantime, I got distracted reading felting books and just had to do a wet felting project.

The first attempt went well but now that project gets added to the unfinished pile because it really wants some kind of embellishment such as beading, machine stitching and/or needle felting.

I recently finished a pair of knitted socks that just needed the toes grafted together and did some mending, including a MOTH hole (the horror) in a pair of gloves.  I could write quite a bit on wool eating MOTHS but it would just be so much whining. 

The Week

Working full time is taking a big chunk out of my week.  There have been some changes at the clinic with computerization and new personnel and I have been asked to work a lot more than usual.  I want to help and I still feel so lucky that I was able to have all summer off, knowing I would have a job to return to in the fall.  It has been absorbing to be there so much and help train a new nurse and learn (and teach) the new software. No day is the same.  My favorite chief complaint (the boiled down essence of why someone is coming to see the doctor): Night Fatigue.  Wuh? "I get soooo tired every night."

Our jeans-and-T-shirt boy looks pretty good in his new suit.  He has a concert next week with the Youth Symphony and needed some stage clothes.  He will wear a white shirt and black silk bow tie for the performance.  The purple is for Classy Day at school.

I missed the high school homecoming parade downtown yesterday. There were floats and convertibles with the "royalty court" and, my favorite, the marching band.  After work, we went to the football game and saw the parade at halftime. Former graduates were asked to stand and wave their hands so I guess that is the essence of homecoming.

The last home game has been played.  I began to get the Friday Night Lights feeling over the course of the season - parking a couple of blocks away, walking towards the field with the lights blazing and pep band music in the air, able to hear the announcer clearly from my car.  Now that we have been in town for more than two years, we know more people and I feel like part of the community.  I think I will always miss Juneau and the JDHS basketball games but even that has changed forever with the opening of the second high school.

It was fun to watch a talented young man rush for 337 yards and 5 touchdowns.  Too bad he was playing for the other side.  Our team lost the football game, but - we like to say - the band always wins.

Bands for the Band

Raising money is a big part of high school activities and the Band Boosters tackle the challenge in various ways.  Some of the parents shudder at the idea of baking brownies and others wince at the idea of asking businesses for donations.  But the bake sale table fills up for every function and fund raising pizza cards materialize. Lots of people contribute and the band plays on.

 I made a banner to use at concerts and other events where we will have things for sale to benefit the band.  The kids (and their parents) are making paracord bracelets, which are selling well.  They are easy to make and have a pretty good profit margin.  We will need to sell quite a few, though, to buy a new baritone sax.

Salt Spring Island

 
We went up to Canada for a weekend last month to visit friends on Salt Spring Island.  It is a two ferry trip each way- first a Washington State ferry from Anacortes to Vancouver Island and then a British Columbia boat to Salt Spring.  There was minimal driving, maybe 15 miles total, on the highway between our two houses. Still, it takes most of the morning to get there.

The weather was mild, leaving the sailboats "racing" outside of Victoria floating in place, looking lazy. I was lazy, too, and took my photo from the table where we sat to read, to make bracelets, to watch our fellow passengers.

Our friend, Luann, is a professional percussionist.  Her music room is filled with marimbas, xylophones and all sorts of tympany production devices.  Ray brought his trumpet and, with a small effort, the two musicians were able to play a couple of duets. "Yesterday", by Paul McCartney, arranged for the trumpet and marimba.  Who'd've thought it would sound so good?  We watched a bit of Wynton Marsalis on You Tube and learned some interesting things about Monette mouthpieces and Fake Books and other things that musicians talk about.

I liked our easy going weekend as a family with our friends.  We talked knitting and motorcycles, went to the fair and walked along a pleasant path by a bay that lead to a small grove of Glenn oak trees.  Oaks may not be rare or even uncommon in the Pacific Northwest but it surprised me to see trees I associate strongly with California.