inspiration

What is inspiration? I think it is that "ah-ha" moment we get whether we expect it or not. It comes from anything and everything. Open up to experiencing it, embracing it and most important: acting on it.

The Ends

The end of August is almost here. The end of this Jewish year is almost here. The end of my nephew's visit to the East Coast, by himself, was Monday. The end of my procrastination with sewing is tomorrow!

I have missed my sewing machine. I have missed that sturdy feel of new cotton before it's washed. Most of all, I have missed making the time to sew for pleasure again. That ends tomorrow. I have a new bulletin board, rescued from the trash at work, and I am going to list my projects to keep on track. I do much better with lists. I have one angel apron to make, then a few for family and friends, and then I want to play around with some ideas for Lilli for Halloween. The Oriental Trading Co. catalog had ostrich feathers on sale, and I think they would be great for angel wings. But, I have to think about it.

News! News! Sarah has an official address in London as of the 29th. I still find it hard to believe she is "across the pond" and I only hope she will keep up her blog once classes start. It is a joy to read her writing.

Lou's health continues to improve; surgery on his clogged arteries is scheduled for Sept 9. Once he's pronounced fit from that, the discussion about his toe will continue. I'm hoping the increased blood flow to his foot will help heal it and the doctor won't have to amputate. Actually, I'm in favor of Omi and Jeff's suggestion that he go someplace warm, with piranhas, so they can eat the dead tissue off. I'm thinking the Keys might be nice....

Weather, the good, the bad and the ugly

Last night we had a wonderful breeze blowing the curtains out from the windows, it was about 70 degrees and not humid-basically balmy. I had dreams of cutting the lawn, working a little on the back yard, enjoying an outside day as weather.com predicted similar temps and a "slight" chance of rain.

This morning I woke up to gray. To be honest, Violet woke me up because she was hungry. Can't we teach dogs to open the fridge and get their own food in the morning? Better yet, maybe we should get those metal dentures for her, then she could still eat dry kibble and I could use one of those self feeders. But, at 16 I'm not sure we should change her routine. She's a high strung pound puppy who really doesn't adapt well to change.

However, I digress (I love that word!). Not only is it gray, but the telltale sounds of rain falling are greeting me. I can't even say we need the rain because we've had so much of it lately. I can say I'm glad there's no wind with it, there are still people without power from last Thursday's torrent. So, in a span of less than 24 hours, we've had it all, again.

My heart says "ah, perfect day for sewing or getting back into bed with that new book" (and Lilli, it is not Nora Roberts, you'll probably like this novel when you're home again) but my head says "get the laundry started and you can watch the ballgame, if there's no weather delay, while you iron". Being an adult and realizing one's responsibilities is not always fun. It does have its compensations, though, Stephan Strasburg is on deck to pitch today and he is a joy to watch, even when he's not having a day like his opener when he struck out 14. Yes, baseball has been very good to me......

it's the little things

Yes, it's the little things in life that really count. This morning, I successfully installed the printer driver for Sarah's HP printer on my laptop and Lou's. You must understand that with two daughters and a future son-in-law who are all computer literate, this is not something I have ever bothered to learn. It is something I whine to them about. However, they are all out of the state at the moment-actually, Sarah and Jack are both in London, so I had to do it myself. I was a little hesitant at the 15 steps the download showed, but I really loved it when I attached to the laptop and got the message "cancel this wizard and the system will load the driver itself". Now, that's my kind of computing!

Sarah left for London Thursday evening, and I spent most of yesterday trying to recuperate from the last minute craziness of getting her packed. Today I finished cleaning up Lilli's room so my nephew can sleep there, he's coming in from Oregon via California for a few days. first really long plane ride for him, and the first time he's coming to DC on his own. I'm excited, there's so much cool stuff to do here.

Once he leaves, I will organize my sewing space. I recycled this very large cork board from work last week and plan to list my projects on it so I can get to them. In anticipation of actually getting some holiday sewing done, I ordered about 10 yards of Chanukah themed material last night online. Nothing like stoking up the stash!!

It's good to be back online. Have a happy weekend.

August news

I got up yesterday and realized it was August 1st, not too hard since Louie's birthday was Saturday and it's on July 31st. So, this entry is just an update on the things that have been happening around our family.

Lilli went to Hawaii (fully paid) for a week long workshop on volcanoes. The pictures are fabulous, and in the hundreds, but she did some really cool things and had a great time.

Sarah is on the home stretch before she goes off to London. We have lots of errands to run before the 12th, but it will all get done and she will be off on a real "aventure" as she used to say when she was young.

Louie is doing well with the hyperbaric therapy and hopefully will not have to have surgery on his toe. We'll probably find out next week.

And me-I have decided that I have done enough talking and that it is time to get sewing! so, after Sarah leaves, I will make my master list of projects to sew and begin them. Lots of aprons on the drawing board, lots of coasters and I need to catch up on my quilt blkocks which are siting and staring at me! and maybe, just maybe, I'll get some pictures done and Alan can finally put my website up.

so, that's the news from lake O, and I hope your spirits lift with the sun and get you moving on something you want to do, too!