Summer Reading

You all know I adore a good book. And there is no better time for putting one's feet up and sitting back with a good novel and a cold beverage than summertime. I don't know about you, but I like different sorts of books in different situations and climates. Summer, to me, is for lighter reading -- mysteries, some girlfriends-at-the-beach books, nothing too heavy or classic. There are always exceptions, though, and the best sorts of books are often the ones you didn't know you were in the mood for when you read it but it turned out to be exactly the right thing. The lucky finds, the surprises.

In case you need some suggestions for what to read this summer, here are some favorites from my list -- I might have mentioned some before, but that just means that I really, really really think these books are worth reading! Oh, and please do comment with anything you suggest! It might be just what I'm in the mood for and don't realize it yet!

The Last Days of Summer by Steve Kluger (Told in letters, the unfolding between a baseball fan child and his hero -- I don't like baseball or sports books, but this was about the charming relationship. Very enjoyable reading. Keep kleenex handy. Just saying. )

The Help by Kathryn Stockett (Suburban life in Mississippi in the 1960s, from the perspectiv of the black maids in well-to-do white households. You'll read this, and you'll not be able to stop thinking about it, and you'll give it as gifts, and recommend it to everyone you know. It's THAT good.)

The Likeness by Tana French (a twisty, turny mystery about a detective who goes undercover to solve the mysterious death of a girl who looks just like her. Implausible premise, really, and yet totally engrossing and fascinating and believable. I loved the writing.)

There's No Place Like Here by Cecelia Ahern (a missing persons investigator goes missing -- and finds herself in the land of lost things. Magical realism, I guess you'd call it -- charmingly written but with lots to think about. I love everything I've read by this author.)

And here's what's on my summer list. No heavy reading, but novels that look interesting and have gotten good reviews. I've not read them yet so I can't recommend them yet:

The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett (everyone I know says this is wonderful -- even Oprah picked it)

The Late, Lamented Molly Marx by Sally Koslow

April & Oliver by Tess Callahan (if Joshilyn Jackson says it's good, that's good enough for me.)

Almost Like Being in Love by Steve Kluger (writing this list reminded me I haven't read a few of this author's more recent books)

Bad Mother: A Chronicle of Maternal Crimes, Minor Calamities, and Occasional Moment of Grace, Essays by Ayelet Waldman (reflections on motherhood, looks really good)

Admission by Jean Hanff Korelitz (novel told from perspective on an admissions officer at Princeton)

The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley (murder mystery compared to Harriet the Spy by Louise Fitzhugh -- I LOVED that book as a kid)

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Steig Larsson (a thriller that is getting good reviews and promises to be "un-put-downable." I hope.)

Okay -- I'm headed out to return books to the library! Happy reading!

Bee'in Busy

I don't know why I've had a hard time blogging lately. Too much to say, and too little, if you know what I mean.

So here are some of the things keeping me busy lately:

* Reading a great book right now: "Gone Tomorrow" by P.F. Kluge. A story in a story about a writer who becomes a professor at a small Ohio college. Written by a professor at a small Ohio college. The writing is fantastic and it's a wonderful exploration of the dreams of our youth and the realities of our lives. I've already requested other books by this guy from the library.

* With summer travels coming up and my reading pace on vacation, I decided I needed an Amazon Kindle so I won't travel with the bottom of my suitcase lined with books as I usually do. I love it already -- will not stop my library habit -- but it is wonderful to have masses of reading on one small tablet. On board for next week's trip to Boston: "The Pillars of the Earth" by Ken Follett and some Mark Twain short stories I've been wanting to read again, plus some Jane Austen.

* Home schooling has been great, but boy, people react strangely when you tell them you're home-schooling. I think I need to format some good stock answers for when people say weird things.

* I've discovered that the best way to get to know a camera lens is to just put it on my camera and KEEP IT THERE for a few weeks, so I'm forced to use it and only it. My macro lens was hard to use at first but I just kept it on the camera and now it's my favorite lens. Lets see if this works for the 50mm lens.

* I have fiber projects in the works, one even finished (and labelled!) that you haven't even seen yet because I don't have a wall big enough to hang it and photograph it well. Maybe I'll try the garage door one of these grey mornings.

* The annual bird nest is showing signs of life in the climbing vine next to the garage door. You'd think that Mama would have learned by now that it's not the most restful spot, as she flies out every time the door opens or closes. Plus there's that pesky woman with her camera trying to get shots of the eggs...

* Why do songs on my Ipod just up and disappear all of a sudden? I loaded a few Stevie Wonder favorites a few weeks ago, and today they're gone from the Ipod music library. Go figure.

see what I mean? Hardly gripping thought.

Golden Windows

During my second year of law school, I rented an apartment over the garage in a home occupied by a lovely older woman named Mrs. Christie. She was a widow and often left treats she'd baked or vegetables she'd grown in her garden for me. She once told me a story that I think about from time to time, and when I took this picture the other evening it reminded me of it. The story goes like this:

One morning, a little girl was looking across the valley from her house, admiring the beautiful golden windows on a house on the top of the hill.

"Mom," she said, "Do you see that house on the hill with golden windows? It must be so beautiful there, and the people who live there must be so wealthy! I'll bet they have no problems and their lives are filled with happiness every day. I wish OUR HOUSE had golden windows."

"Oh, darling," replied the mother, "no one's life is perfect. Even people who live in a house with golden windows."

"No, I think you are wrong! I want to go see for myself!" So the mother packed the daughter a lunch, and away the daughter went to cross the valley and see how wonderful life was for the people who lived in the house with golden windows.

The girl walked all day long. As she reached the bottom of the valley, she lost sight of the house but kept going. It was dusk by the time she reached the top of the other hill. But to her surprise, all she found was an ordinary house. She saw no golden ornaments, nothing that made the house look different or more special than any other house. The people looked ordinary, just like the people in her own family. She was puzzled.

Disappointed, she turned around to gaze at her own house across the valley she'd just crossed. And to her surprise, her house was ablaze with light. The windows shone with gold as the setting sun lit them up. In disbelief, she looked again at the ordinary house in front of her, then back to her house gleaming across the way.

"MY house has golden windows!" she said in amazement. She stood for a moment, struck by how beautiful her house looked from this side of the valley. She took off running back down the hill, eager to return to her family. And never again did the little girl look at someone else's house, or life, with envy.

---

This house -- and yes, it is a single family home (when it was being built, we all thought it was a hotel or a fancy clubhouse for a country club or something) sits on the hill above my neighborhood. It's a bit "king of the county" for my taste, but it sure looks beautiful at sunset.

I'll be catching up on my blogging! I promise!

Latent Color

Today is a reveal date in our Twelve by Twelve challenge, where the current theme is "Identity." Head on over to the Twelve by Twelve blog to see all twelve -- as always, the variety is delightful and interesting.

I went for the fingerprint as an essential aspect of identity -- I've always found them fascinating and beautiful up close, and i like the graphic nature of their lines. But several of us Twelves used them as the focal point for our pieces -- I think it's the first time that so many of us featured such similar imagery.

I've been an absent blogger recently -- sorry! I've been busy with home stuff, the home schooling, planning a vacation, trying to purge a bit of stuff at a time, and even trying to make a bit of progress on the garden!

I'm inspired to try to make a larger fingerprint quilt, tho, and as "asymmetical composition" is my next assignment for my design class, this might be a good subject.

If I can find a wall big enough, I'll get a picture of the big quilt I just finished. One of the downsides of not having a large design wall is that my "photo studio" space is severely limited!

Time to Cuddle

I had a good lesson in attitude adjustment yesterday. Here's yet another fact I'm learning about our new unschool world: I feel better and get more done if I'm more relaxed about my own agenda. I'm discovering that it's not terribly realistic to expect to oversee Miss C's daily lessons, while also doing laundry, cleaning the garage, making phone calls, upgrading software on the computer, grilling chicken, and trying to get a bit of legal work done.

Don't laugh. That really does describe yesterday morning.

So today is different. My to-do list looks a tad more realistic. And we've already remembered to do something that both Miss C and I enjoy -- we take a "cuddle break" in the middle of the morning. We snuggle on the couch, or lie on the bed, and cuddle and read together or look at a book, or just talk. It's lovely quiet connecting time.

Sure beats recess on the playground. I highly recommend taking a cuddle-break with whom-ever is around your house!

Where does the time go?

My mornings always seem to disappear. How does that happen?

I get up, shower, have coffee, and make my plan. I'll get some laundry done. I'll fill a bag with stuff for donation or disposal (I'm on a one-a-day Purge of Stuff around here), and I'll do chores and then get started on a quilting project. I have plans! I'm ready to go! So, I go upstairs and wake Miss C, get the dog out for a romp in the yard or a walk around the neighborhood... I check my email, post my daily flickr picture... I'll do a bit of work (jumping up to transfer laundry around); I'll answer a phone call or two... I'll get Miss C squared away with her lessons for the day...

But wait, somehow, it's late morning, or almost lunchtime.

How DOES that happen?

Today, Miss C awakened with a migraine. Wednesdays seem to be a migraine day, for some reason. I'm keeping track of stuff in a calendar so I can see if I can find patterns. What is it about wednesdays?

Sigh. It's noon and I haven't yet even cleaned up my studio table (today's chore).

Maybe I need to start listing the things I *do* accomplish instead of the things I plan but don't get to. Then I'd feel like I was getting somewhere, even if it wasn't the "where" I planned to get to....

Bokeholic delight

One of the things that I love about photography is that it makes me see the world differently. Even when I don't have my camera with me, I find myself noticing lines and colors and things that would make a great picture.

I snapped this macro shot of a bottle brush bloom in my friend's backyard. I grew up in a neighborhood where lot of people had these in their yards, and I disliked them because they give off a sticky substance that I inevitably got in my hair when I ran and played under them. But they're amazing and interesting blooms, and I had a great time taking macro pictures of them.

I love bokeh. That blurry, spotty, glowy background? The photographic term is "bokeh." I'm a bokeh-holic.

Tiptoe Away from Tip Top Shoes

Every once in a while, a shopping experience makes me so mad that I decide to take action.  

Over the weekend, I decided to order a pair of shoes online, after I'd seen them in a store but was unable to find my size.  My online search led me to Tip Top Shoes, an online site that had relatively positive reviews.  They had the exact shoes I wanted, in the exact color, in my size.  Perfect.

In a big statement at the top of its front page, Tip Top Shoes promises "FREE SHIPPING on all orders over $100."  Go ahead, click on the link and go see.

Free shipping, that's what it says, right?  Do you see any qualifications?  Any statement that it applies only to certain things?  

I placed my order, for a pair of shoes over $100.  Dandy.  And when I got to the part of the order process where it totals your order, I found that it was charging me $7 for shipping.  I went back and tried to find where to activate the "FREE SHIPPING" promise.  Finally, when I couldn't find it, I put a note in the "comment" section of the order form saying that I couldn't find how to get the "FREE SHIPPING on all orders over $100" promised by the web banner, so they should deduct the shipping charge when they processed my order.  

This morning, I received this in my email from Tip Top Shoes: 

In response to what you wrote below, Yes our banner does say free shipping over anything over $100, but please see our shipping policy

 

All website orders will be shipped FREE via UPS Ground within the continental United States on all non-sale orders over $100.00. Sale Merchandise is any item listed with a price ending in .99  Any other requested method of shipping, or any international purchase will be paid for at the customer's expense.

I emailed them back to point out that their "FREE SHIPPING" promise didn't exclude sale items and specifically applied to "all orders over $100," and that as a result it was deceptive, their response was that they no longer had my shoe available!  Hmmmm.  

This is just the sort of thing that makes me cranky.  If you say "free shipping," then give "free shipping."  What's so complicated about that?  

Well, beware Tip Top Shoes.... I'm heading straight to Zappos.com, myself.

Moosewood Memories

When I went to Cornell Law School in Ithaca, New York (more years ago now than I'd like to think), I was a vegetarian. And handily enough, there was a wonderful vegetarian restaurant that quickly became one of my favorite spots, the Moosewood Cafe.

Nowadays, Molly Katzen is in the vegetarian chef hall of fame, and she's produced a whole bunch of really great cookbooks. But the first classic Moosewood Cookbook is still a favorite of mine, along with book #2, the Enchanted Broccoli Forest.

Anyway, I've been craving ratatouille and when I pulled the Moosewood Cookbook off of the shelf to make sure I had the ingredients, it brought back such great memories. My book is worn and spattered, and the ratatouille page is the most rumpled and spotted of them all. So, in honor of the wonderful Moosewood restaurant, here's the ratatouille recipe we're having tonight:

3 Tb olive oil
4 med cloves garlic, minced
2 cups chopped onion
1 bay leaf
1 medium eggplant, peeled and cubed
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp basil
1 tsp marjoram or oregano
1/2 tsp rosemary
1/2 tsp thyme
2 medium zucchini, cubed
2 medium bell peppers (I usually use red), seeded and cut into 1-inch chunks
1 14-oz can diced tomatoes (with juice)
black pepper
fresh minced parsley (optional)
sliced olives (optional)
fresh parmesan cheese, grated (optional)

1. Heat olive oil in a deep pan. Add garlic, onion and bay leaf and saute over medium heat for about 5 minutes.

2. Add eggplant, salt and herbs and stir. Cover and cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, for 15-20 minutes until eggplant is soft.

3. Add zucchini, bell peppers, black pepper, and tomatoes. Cover and simmer for about 10 more minutes, or until zucchini and bell peppers are tender.

Top with grated parmesan cheese and/or other goodies to serve.

Can serve alone (as stew), over pasta (my favorite), or even on crusty toasted french bread, as bruschetta.

Prep time: about 45 minutes
Serves 4-6.

It's vegetable-y, and healthy, and delicious. Enjoy!

Play day

We are entering Week 3 of home-schooling (which around here we call Unschool), and we are adjusting to the schedule. Or lack of schedule. Or the ongoing effort to figure out what our schedule should be... WHATever. All is going quite well, and the happy bubbly smiling girl we know and love has returned to our family. The change has been quite dramatic and has confirmed for all of us that we made the right decision.

Still, I'm the sort who likes a bit of time alone from time to time -- and these days, combined with R's going away for a conference last weekend, had me feeling a bit crazed. So, yesterday R was home and I left the building for a Day Off.

Yee haw!

First, I went to get my hair trimmed and had to try hard not to drool as Molly the hairstylist massaged my head while hot water thrummed against my scalp. I'd like to start every day that way, thank you very much.

Second, I met with Mr. S., a teacher from Miss C's school who is going to continue to work with her as a tutor on math and science. Miss C is darned smart and I am too insecure as an unschool teacher to have all of her subjects in my hands! So Mr. S will be stepping in to work with C on those subjects and we are all delighted about it.

THEN, the hours stretched before me like an expanse of possibility.... It was raining and I was chilly, so I sat myself down in a corner of the couch at Starbucks with a large cup of hot coffee, and I read magazines. For hours! I had the newest issue of Where Women Create so I sat and read and gazed intently at the beautiful studios on display. Oh, the luxury!

It had dawned on me that I've not been into a movie theater for so long that I can't remember what I saw last. So, I strolled on over to the local theater in time to catch a late-afternoon show of "State of Play" with Russell Crowe, Ben Affleck, and Helen Mirren. A real movie! In a real theater! With real popcorn! I enjoyed the movie tremendously -- it was just the sort of plot-twisty, charactery, satisying story I'd been craving. While I had the niggling feeling that plot ends hadn't all been resolved satisfactorily, I was still so delighted with the experience that I have vowed to get into another theater with the next 5 years or so. Possibly even as soon as next friday.

AND THEN, if that wasn't exciting enough, I hopped into car and went to Borders which has the biggest magazine selection around. I wandered, perusing whatever struck my fancy, and sat down with a pile of photography books and odd magazines (Did you know there is a foreign magazine called "A Needle Pulling Thread" on all things stitchery?). There is nothing like wandering through a book store without any deadlines.

By the time I got home, I was feeling refreshed and happy and quite happy to see my family. I had quite the successful play day.

Oh -- I snapped that picture up there in Balboa Park, when we were in San Diego after Easter. Quintessential delight!

Birdsong

As long as we're talking about quilting (!) , here's another small quilt I made a few weeks ago. Our assignment in Practical Design was to make something with a horizontal composition and a monochromatic color scheme.

It just goes to show you what you can do on a random Sunday. I was feeling the pressure of the looming deadline, so I started doodling -- and the branch and birds appeared. I drew that on fabric, and just designed around it. Very simple, and although I tried adding various bits, I always took it back to this simple piece.

So it was fast, and fun, and freeing.

I tell you, I just need to play more ... which I suppose means keeping the worktable clear enough to play on...

Book Review: Fearless Design for Every Quilter

In my last post, I mentioned the Practical Design workshop I've participated in for the last few years. I recently got my hands on the newest book by design teacher Lorraine Torrence, Fearless Design for Every Quilter (C&T Pub. 2009) and was delighted to see that she has presented a workshop in design in book format.

Basically, the idea of the book is this: focusing on elements of design and composition, a group of quilt artists take on small challenges and all of their results are shared and critiqued. So this book provides a lot of great information: basic principles on design and composition and color; aspects of positive critiquing; specific challenges; examples of what the artists did; and the critiques each result garnered. It's very instructive.

The book features artists of different styles and abilities, so the challenge pieces they produce vary and will appeal to different tastes. Even when the resulting piece wasn't something I was wild about, I found that I enjoyed reading about the artist's process, the problems she encountered, etc.

Working through the exercises in this book would be a great way to give yourself a home design course, or to work through with a friend. And there are springboard ideas, too, so you're not limited to the specific assignments set out here.

I was very glad to find this book, and I'll be recommending it to my friends.

No Shade in Sight

I've mentioned the monthly Practical Design workshop I attend -- or try to attend! -- and lately I've been working on catching up on exercises. This is my latest small piece, which measures about 11 x 15".

Our assignment was to work with a grid composition, and to emphasize diagonals or "s-curves." We were to work with a warm color palette.

I went straight to the box of pre-fused fabrics I have, and cut 1 8-inch square, and the rest in squares that were 4", 2", 1" and 1/2". I had a very fun time moving them around to play with composition. You can't see the quilting too well, but ultimately I stitched gently curving parallel lines, trying to emphasize where the diagonal block lines went.

It was a fun fast exercise. I realized how the grid superimposed with curving lines makes me see a map -- which leads me to think I'd like to use this construction and composition method for something bigger.

Every month I'm reminded of how important it is to just experiment. The workshop deadlines make me fit the time in ...but really, I should just do it, deadline or not.

My bed is calling me...

The bad news: I was up way too late last night working, and I will be spending today and tonight putting in a lot of hours to finish a big work project. So it will be a while before I can crash into bed to sleep until I just wake up when I'm ready to wake up.

The good news: The solution for what sort of border to put on the Cinco de Mayo quilt I started eons ago suddenly came to me. Funny how I get all sorts of creative ideas when my left brain is wholly engaged in legal work.

One of the BIG questions of life

At our ranch retreat, we presented the quilts from our Second Annual Quilt Challenge. Last
April, a couple of intrepid fabric shoppers selected two different fabrics, and our challenge was to make something -- anything -- using some of each fabric.

Once again, I decided to make a quilt commemorating an aspect of the retreat that is meaningful to me. I thought about how we all get talking while we sew, and how we discuss all sorts of things -- our hopes, our dreams, our families, our failures, our marriages, our kids ... we can cover a lot of pretty personal territory.

So, my challenge quilt commemorated one of the intimate issues that absorbed us during the April '08 retreat:



"Over or Under."

(And don't tell me that at some time or another you haven't discussed this burning issue with someone...)

You can see a slideshow (once again, courtesy of Angie) of all of the challenge quilts here. There is a wonderful assortment!



Challenge Quilts April 2009

Virtual Retreat

Oh my! I've had all sorts of goings-on over the last two weeks, so I have a lot of blogging to catch up.

Before we headed off to San Diego for Easter vacation, I had a lovely 4 days with my retreat buddies at the Bishop's Ranch. As always it was total fun and lots of laughter and very restful and even productive!

I've not yet had a chance to download the pictures I took there but here is a great slideshow of pictures taken by the Official Ranchhands' Retreat Photographer, Angie. She's not only a great quilter, and blogger, and expert on home quilting systems, but she takes great pictures, too!

So click, and sit back and relax, and enjoy this virtual quilting retreat...

Bishop’s Ranch April 2009

Breaking from real life

So, we made a break from our real lives (get it, "spring break?!"), headed south, and have found ourselves in beautiful San Diego. We are staying with some old, dear friends who have a beautiful house overlooking the ocean -- so we are here for the week and will be eating and laughing and getting sand in our shoes and drinking margaritas and reading books and taking naps and generally having the sort of active and culturally enriching vacation we like.

Friends tell me that I cannot, cannot miss Rosie's Calico Cupboard while I am here -- a fabric store I would not have sought out as I don't really need calico for my cupboard, thank you very much -- so perhaps I will take a fabric-hunting excursion at some point.

Relaxation has already begun.

But wait -- a book recommendation for you...



I stumbled onto this book, via someone's list of favorites on Amazon.com ... and what a wonderful book. It tells the story of a modern day woman in Los Angeles, who has written a novel about the photographer Edward Curtis which is being considered for a movie project. The story weaves between her modern life and the story of Edward Curtis and his famous photographs of "the vanishing" American indians. The interweaving stories explore themes of vanished fathers, family life and intimacy, the myth of the American west, and more. The best part of this, to me, was the amazing lyrical prose. I kept pausing to re-read passages that were just so gorgeous.

It turned out to be the perfect thing to be reading as we drove down the length of California.

Hmmm, the fog is breaking so maybe a beachy afternoon IS in store today...

Deadlines can be good things...

Thank goodness for deadlines. Sometimes they push me to do something I wouldn't do ... and this month, the Twelve by 12 April 1 deadline was totally necessary to get me back to the sewing machine.

This time, the theme was window. Boy, did I have a hard time... I had so many ideas but just couldn't seem to get any of them started. I just kept waffling. Finally, I went with the idea that stuck the strongest in my head: using the traditional quilt block called "Dove in a Window." You'll notice that my windows have doves in them. Ahem -- literal, as usual, but still fun to do.

Head on over to the Twelve by 12 blog to see all 12 responses to this newest challenge. As always the 12 results are wonderful AND very different from each other.

I'm so grateful for the women in this group -- they inspire me and make me marvel at their cleverness and artistry and skill. I'm so glad to know them all and I learn from them every time.

It's all a spectrum

I know I keep saying this, but we are going through a sort of funny time in our household. Every day is a mix of good things and challenging things, of small decisions that mount up to feel big and exhausting, of falling behind amidst clutter and errands undone while feeling like we are making progress on the big important things.

Mostly it centers around Miss C. She has Asperger's Syndrome (or "AS" as a lot of people call it) which is is an autism spectrum disorder. It's quite common, and whether or not you know it, you probably know someone who has it. Most typically, it's apparent in extraordinarily intelligent people who have sort of awkward social skills. Think Bill Gates and Albert Einstein, and those computer/science/math nerdy guys you may have known in high school. There huge ranges and differences -- but one of the characteristic issues is difficulty with nonverbal communication. A counselor we know refers to it as "social deafness." All of the nonverbal cues we pick up intuitively during social interactions -- body language, tones of voice (ie, teasing joking versus mean joking) -- aren't apparent or easily understood by people with AS. Another AS characteristic is extreme sensory sensitivity -- being acutely affected by sounds, lights, smells, crowds, etc. On a plain sensory level, the world can be an overwhelming place to someone with AS.

So. Remember 7th grade? And how the social landscape of school suddenly changed? For girls, there is puberty, and body-awareness, and self-consciousness, and new crushes on boys, and trying to fit in, and noticing that some people are popular and others aren't... It's a minefield. And that doesn't even factor in geometry and history and writing essays.

All things considered, C is doing great. She's doing well in school academically. She has some good friends who mean a lot to her. She's incredibly creative, and she has an extremely strong sense of herself. She doesn't worry about fitting in, even though NOT fitting in can make life fairly stressful.

The upshot of all of this is that as R and I try to figure out how to help her stay on an even keel, we're learning to look at the world in a different way. For us "neurotypical brain" types, it's not easy to see the world from an AS point of view ... but we're learning. And because we're understanding more all of the time, we find ourselves realizing that the cookie-cutter, follow-the-mainstream routes may not be the best for Miss C.

Last week, we had the huge realization that there is no reason that C has to finish the school year in her current setting if it feels to us like it's not working. I know, DUH, you think. We'd arrived at the decision that we needed to change her school situation for next year. But in the middle of the night one night last week, as R and I lay side by side in bed staring at the ceiling and worrying outloud about C's migraines and her increasing misery about school, it hit us: we can take her out of there right now if we conclude that that's what would be best for her.

So I've been doing pretty constant research into educational alternatives. And you know? There are amazing options. We're thinking "outside of the classroom box" these days -- so I've been learning about homeschooling and distance learning and working with tutors and a host of different options that could lessen C's stress and improve her happiness and get her back to actually enjoying learning. It's been scary to allow ourselves to even think of wandering off of the well-charted paths (to use yet another cliche) but it's a source of huge relief. And we've come up with some really, really terrific options.

I tell you, parenthood is just one amazing process of education and humbling awareness.

It's no wonder that I'm behind on my projects, the clutter is piling up around the house, the yard looks like it hasn't had any loving care in months ... but the three of us are feeling like we've gotten a handle on a pretty big problem. We have options, and we have plans in place if we need them. We're all feeling a lot better.

Oh, by the way, if you want to learn a bit more about Asperger's from the perspective of an adult with AS who explains how the world feels to her, check out this blog, Asperger Journeys. For all of the books and articles I've read, this brings home to me most clearly what AS feels like from the inside.

Book Review: Art Quilts at Play

I was so excited to get my hands on the newest book by Jane Davila and Elin Waterston, Art Quilts at Play (C&T Publishing, 2009.) I love the work of these two amazing artists, and their first book, Art Quilt Workbook (C&T Publishing, 2007) is one of my favorites.

If you're not familiar with Jane and Elin's work, then you are in for a treat. They are both talented quilt artists and teachers. They're both bloggers, too, and you can find regular inspiration at Jane's blog Chary Sprouts, and at Elin's, will.love.logic. Both are on my regular reading list.

I'm drawn to Jane and Elin's work for a variety of reasons. I like the graphic quality of their compositions, their use of color, the perfect balance between simplicity and complexity that their work often shows. I can look at their pieces again and again, and always feel like I learn something new from studying it.

But back to the new book. The focus of their first book (and their terrific DVD) is on jump-starting creativity in art-quilt making through exercises and some techniques. The new book focuses on experimentation with surface design techniques and playing with new materials.

I've mentioned before how I dip my toe into the surface design world cautiously. It's not that it seems difficult -- it's that I tend to get overwhelmed by the processes. The lists of materials and preparatory steps and safety precautions and workspace set up suggestions tend to exhaust me before I've even started, to be honest. Someday I hope to have a dedicated wet studio space, but for now I'm stuck with the kitchen table or backyard patio, which means I have to set up, do the project, and clean up in the same session. So call me lazy, but sometimes I'm just not up for all of that.

That's why I'm encouraged when I find ways of playing with surface design that are quick, easy, and not terribly mess-making. And Jane and Elin's book has me chomping at the bit to experiment a bit more. They make it look easy, and not daunting. I know, I know, it's NOT hard stuff. But they make it look do-able and fun, without a ton of time and money invested in supplies and set-up.

The book covers a host of design play to try: screen printing, painting fusible web, stamp making, bleach discharging, paintstiks, shrink film, angelina fibers. The steps are clear and simple. Best, to me, are the examples of what they made with the techniques -- inspiration abounds. The artwork shown here -- from Jane, Elin, and various students, is exciting and gorgeous.

They also cover the fun of collaborative projects as a way to explore creativity. They suggest different types of challenges, swaps, and online connections.

So, if you're thinking that you might like to try some new surface design techniques but want a simple way of experimenting, give this book a try. I highly recommend it!

The Little Things

I can't seem to stop taking pictures of the fruit trees that are blooming around our neighborhood. I'm in love with the soft billows of white and pink I see see from afar, with the delicate fragrance of spring flowers as I stand under a blossoming tree, with the gentle buzz of the bees dancing among the blossoms, with the drifts of petals that have floated on the breeze to the ground below.

But most of all, I love looking at each individual blossom. They're so small, yet so different. Some are ruffly and jaunty, some are perfectly formed and upright, some droop or have petals flopping... But they're all little masterpieces, and when I get up close with my macro lens, I lose myself.

I suppose it's no accident that focusing on one tiny flower provides a bit of mental rest. Isn't there some Zen saying that applies here?! Most days I'm adrift in a sea of small details -- household stuff, and what homework Caroline has due this week, and what phone calls need to be made, and bits of clutter that accumulate around the house whenever I turn my back. Perhaps it's a lesson -- take one detail at a time, focus on it up close, take care of it, and then move to the next detail.

Take life one blossom at a time. Perhaps I've coined a t-shirt. :-)

Surprise! Quilting Content!

I've just returned to a visit with my aunt Carole and uncle Jack who live in Penn Valley, a town in the Sierra foothills of Northern California. I don't get up to see them as often as I'd like as it's a solid 3-hour drive up there, so it was good to have the opportunity to spend a bit of time with them.

The occasion of this visit was my appearance as "guest speaker" for my aunt's "Collectibelles" group. It's a group of senior ladies who get together once a month in their neighborhood to see someone's collection of something. When my aunt was designated to find a guest speaker, I offered to bring my quilts and show them... so that's what I did. I pulled all of the quilts down from the walls around the house (Roger asked whether I was moving out!) -- I'd never really seen them in one big pile like that, so it was kind of startling!

In any event, the talk went well -- there wasn't a quilter in the bunch (to my great surprise) but they all oohed and aahed and fondled them and argued over which were their favorites, and my aunt just sat there grinning with pride. It was fun, and my aunt was pleased. She's not a quilter either, and I don't think she expected the pile of them that I brought along. She kept saying, "You've made ALL of these???"

On the way home, I took a short detour to visit a quilt shop I've heard raves about -- Cabin Fever Quilt Shop in Auburn, California. What a fun place -- great quilts on the walls, a wide assortment of fabrics, all sorts of stuff to admire. I did break down and buy a few fat quarters (from Moda's new Momo collection) and a magazine.

Now I'm rehanging quilts (and moving them around to "refresh" the collection) and preparing to start my "windows" quilt for the Twelve by 12 challenge due in two weeks.

Only YOU can prevent endangerment of helpless words!

We are all taking part in one of Caroline's homework assignments this weekend, and we're darn proud of it. In fact, we're ecstasiated to participate.

Savethewords.org is a site designed to bring disappearing words back into use AND back into the dictionaries. When you go to the site, you can register (which just requires a user name and email address), choose a word, and then adopt it by promising to use it as frequently as possible in conversation and correspondence. It's quite empowering, thinking that you can --through your daily communications -- give life to a withering piece of language. No wonder I'm ecstasiated, yes? (My word: Ecstasiate, to go into ecstasy or cause to become ecstatic.)

You receive (via email) a lovely certificate and can even order a t-shirt proclaiming your chosen word.

So go look, rescue a poor, withering word, and come back and tell me what you've adopted! Please, ecstasiate me!

Civics 101

So, how'd you do on the Civics quiz?!

Here are the answers, in case you were wondering:

1. What are the three branches of the US government? Legislative, judicial, executive

2. What are two requirements to be president? Age 35, born on American soil

3. Which house of Congress can propose bills to impose taxes? House of Representatives

4. Name 4 rights guaranteed by the 1st Amendment. Freedom of speech, assembly, religion, and press.

5. Which amendment gives you the right not to be searched without a warrant? 4th Amendment

6. Which amendment protects your right to own a gun? Second.

7. Which amendment provides that you cannot be tried twice for the same crime? Fifth

8. What is required to override a presidential veto of a bill? 2/3 vote of both houses of Congress

9. Can you name your two senators? You can find yours here.

10. How many members are in the House of Representatives? 435

11. Which two amendments granted voting rights to groups who had not been able to vote, and what are the groups? 14th (blacks) and 19th (women)

12. Which amendment outlawed slavery? 13th

13. What are 3 things that the states may regulate, and the federal government may not? Schools, private property, marriage

14. How many people are there in the President's cabinet? How many of the positions can you name (by job title)? 15 not counting the Vice President; Examples are secretaries of housing and urban development, defense, education, health and human services, attorney general...

15. How old do you need to be to be a senator? 30

16. How old do you need to be to be a member of the House of Representatives? 25

17. The legislative branch is empowered to impeach the president. What is the House's role, and what is the Senate's role? The House votes whether to impeach and the Senate hears the impeachment trial.

18. Which branch of government ratifies treaties with other countries? Legislative (Senate)

19. Which branch of government has the power to pardon convicted criminals? Executive

20. What is the 16th amendment? Income tax

Now, don't you feel informed and patriotic?!

Are you smarter than a 7th grader?

Miss C has been studying for her trimester final in history class, and they have been studying the Constitution and the Bill of Rights and basic function of the federal government. It's kind of amazing to realize how fundamental this stuff is, and yet how it's not stuff most people know off the top of their heads. So, in the great Blog Quiz tradition, here's a Federal Government quiz to see whether you can match up to a 7th grade history student!

1. What are the three branches of the US government?

2. What are two requirements to be president?

3. Which house of Congress can propose bills to impose taxes?

4. Name 4 rights guaranteed by the 1st Amendment.

5. Which amendment gives you the right not to be searched without a warrant?

6. Which amendment protects your right to own a gun?

7. Which amendment provides that you cannot be tried twice for the same crime?

8. What is required to override a presidential veto of a bill?

9. Can you name your two senators?

10. How many members are in the House of Representatives?

11. Which two amendments granted voting rights to groups who had not been able to vote, and what are the groups?

12. Which amendment outlawed slavery?

13. What are 3 things that the states may regulate, and the federal government may not?

14. How many people are there in the President's cabinet? How many of the positions can you name (by job title)?

15. How old do you need to be to be a senator?

16. How old do you need to be to be a member of the House of Representatives?

17. The legislative branch is empowered to impeach the president. What is the House's role, and what is the Senate's role?

18. Which branch of government ratifies treaties with other countries?

19. Which branch of government has the power to pardon convicted criminals?

20. What is the 16th amendment?

Answers tomorrow. Pat yourself on the back and consider yourself a good citizen if you can answer most of these!

Unfortunately

"Small things amuse small minds," my mother used to joke when one of us kids would become absorbed by something silly. I think of this saying often, especially because I'm often entertained by goofy little things.

Helen turned me on to something that amuses the heck out of me -- and at the risk of demonstrating how easily amused I am, I'm spreading it here. It's one of those Google games. You search the phrase "Unfortunately [insert your name]" and then read the results for general hilarity.

Here are a few of the ones that got me grinning:

Unfortunately, Diane is no longer breeding

Unfortunately Diane didn’t have the strength to take on a troubled teenager

Unfortunately, Diane can only offer this service for brides who have booked a couture gown with her

Unfortunately, Diane (The Cake Lady), has retired.

Unfortunately, Diane could not easily use the new gadgets

Unfortunately, Diane had an accident while away last week and will be convalescing for at least a month

Unfortunately, Diane had to take a break from teaching because of the devastating effects of a rare and incurable blood disease.

Unfortunately, Diane who is estimated to be 13 years of age, was found in lower Manhattan with a severely arthritic wing

Unfortunately, Diane isn't a credible character

Yeah, I know. Easily amused. But I'll bet you're headed off to Google now to see how YOUR name comes up...

My Dear Fabric Store,

You haven't seen me in a while, I know. It's been far too long since I've visited, and many is the time I've been tempted to give in to my longings and cross your threshold.

I miss fondling your soft cottons, running my hands over luxurious fabrics flowing from bolt after bolt. I miss gazing at the array of vivid colors laid out on your shelves. I miss the anticipation of the hunt for new bolts of fabric peeking coyly out from behind familiar friends. I miss the gentle dance the book rack and I do together, as the books twirl their colorful covers past to tempt me. I miss scanning the neatly arranged notions for shiny new gadgets, and running my eyes over the lush piles of hand-dyed fabrics and threads.

Yes, I'm longing to see you. But I dare not place myself in your presence.

You know all too well that I have made commitments to others. During our past dalliances, I have succumbed to your temptations. Under your spell, I have purchased yards of fabric, piles of fat quarters, spool upon spool of finely-woven threads. I have drawers filled with the gadgets you've so cleverly promised will improve my life.

I am only one woman. I have only so much time, energy and money to devote to your wares -- and I have over-committed my loyalties to the investments I have made in our past encounters. I must pay some attention to the offspring of our encounters, so to speak, before I can in good conscience return to you for more.

I weep for the distance between us. But know that you are ever in my thoughts, and that I will be dreaming of the day when I can once again surround myself with the warmth of your fiber-filled embrace. In the meantime, please understand that I must devote myself to the closets-full of materials you have already bestowed on me. In short, my stash is full and my pockets are empty.

But I do not love you any less, but I will not be jealous. May you stay well, and be comforted by the company of others.

With fond fabric memories,
Diane

Six Degrees

Several months ago, I got telephone call from a woman who introduced herself as Liz and explained that she'd gotten my name from my friend Cleo in London.

Yep, London.

Turns out that Liz -- who lives right here in Healdsburg -- is a consultant who specializes in organizational development and transitions. (You can read about her interesting business here.) She'd met Cleo online, though Cleo's blog, when she realized that Cleo had linked to Liz's book on women in management transitions. Cleo blogs as the leader of Price, Waterhouse, Cooper's Gender Advisory Council, and writes about gender issues in the global workplace. (It's a fascinating blog -- you can check it out here.) So basically Liz and Cleo have a professional connection, which led to Liz mentioning where she lived, which led to Cleo saying "My friend Diane lives in Healdsburg!"

Cleo and I have been friends for years... maybe 15 years, I'd say. And, funnily enough, we met online. She and I were active in a Compuserve craft-related message board (back in the day when it was all DOS, and Compuserve and AOL were the height of online-connectivity). We not only had crafting in common, but rapidly discovered that we both loved to read and had very compatible taste in books. We started recommending novels to each other, then talking about our lives and families and more. We met in person when Roger and I traveled to London "BC" (before Caroline), and since then Cleo has visited us here in the US a few times. What started as an online, email-friendship became a close personal friendship in which we've shared a lot of personal and professional changes over the years.

So, back to Liz. We chatted on the phone that day, but as I was in the throes of the Month of Migraine Madness, we agreed to meet in person after the holidays and when life calmed down. And, finally, today was the day.

It's a funny thing, meeting someone in person with whom you've emailed and talked but not met face to face before. I suspect many of you bloggers will know what I mean, if you've had the opportunity to meet someone whose blog you follow. There's the simultaneous feeling that you're talking to a friend whose life you know, even while you're looking at the face across the table and it's a complete stranger. It occurred to me, as I entered the Starbucks where we'd agreed to meet, that we'd not talked about how to identify each other. And as I approached the line to order coffee, I heard a woman say to another, "I'm meeting someone I don't even know!" That was her, and we laughed about the fortuity of my coming up just as she said that. Instant recognition.

Liz and I chatted away, and discovered that we have a fair amount in common: many mutual friends, active involvement in the school system (how we didn't meet in that context we can't figure), and an avid interest in reading fiction. 90 minutes flew by as we talked about our professional and personal lives, balancing work and family, living in our community, and more. We exchanged a few book titles, too.

We parted with plans to meet again. It was a wonderful encounter -- and a reminder that the world is a pretty small place.

Taking myself on a date

Yesterday, I gave myself a play day. I had an artist date with myself, and I had a grand time.

My first stop was a tree farm in the area. It had rained in the morning but it had stopped by the time I arrived -- perfect picture-taking conditions -- so I slogged around the mud, taking pictures of the newly-blooming fruit trees and other things that caught my eye.



From there, I headed to a shopping center that's great for roaming purposes. I wandered around Marshalls (found 2 different black toile plates -- I have a small collection of them, each one different, that I love using...)



I can wander for hours at Target. My big find there was some pretty turquoise stoneware bowls to go with the new spatterware plates we have...



After lunch (the honey mustard chicken salad from Quizno's -- yum) I headed to Border's bookstore, in search of this magazine:



And there it was -- I got the last one on the stand. I'm loving these specialty magazines that Somerset Publications is putting out. They're pricey but I generally find a lot of inspiration there.

And I stumbled onto this, which I couldn't resist...



Have you seen this magazine? It amuses me that there are magazines and books about blogging ... but this is well worth a look if you've not seen it, especially for us visual types. It's lovely to look at, it'll show you more blogs (like we all need more blogs to read, right?) and it provides good food for thought about where you want your own blog to go. Since I've been in a sort of slump blogging-wise, this is just what I needed. (Oh! Guess who's blogging now? Jane Fonda! You can check out her blog here...

Then, because I had an hour to kill before I picked up Miss C from school, I treated myself to a caramel latte at the Seattle's Best Coffee, right there in Border's, and I sat and looked at Photoshop books. (There's just SO much to learn about Photoshop...)



By the time I got home, to the smell of stew simmering away in the slow cooker, I was rested and happy and recharged.

Boy, I needed that.

In Bloom

The fruit trees are starting to bloom, and there are clouds of pink brightening many of the streets in town. Our flowering plum tree is showing off a stunning color, and I can't resist taking picture after picture...



after picture...



after picture...



They're just so... pink.

A dose of pinkness

I'm ready for spring! Our little flowering plum tree has started to bloom, and it has put me in a seriously PINK mood. You've seen me go through this before, I know. But what can I say -- sometimes I just need a serious dose of pink.

So, in celebration of spring (and because I'm sick of the other UFOs currently pending) I started a new project. Last October I fell in love with some beautiful, large-scale floral prints and bought a batch of them --- so I've started on a pieced quilt using lots of pinks and greens and aquas, with flowery prints. I'm making Pauline Smith's "Blooms Quilt" out of the Kaffe Fassett book "Country Garden Quilts" - it's easy piecing, quite calming and enjoyable.

And, for the ultimate enjoyment, my friend Pat came over today and brought her machine and we sat in the kitchen, sewing and chatting for much of the day. It was so nice to catch up and just talk and sew and talk and sew -- with dark chocolate snacking to keep us going, too! We both marvelled at how pleasant it is to sew with a friend and how well worth it it is to go to the trouble of hauling the machine out of the house.

Tomorrow we are supposed to get 3 inches of rain ... but I will be brave and head out to my Practical Design workshop, which I've not been able to attend lately. I'm looking forward to the inspiration.

Book Review: Color Mastery: 10 Principles for Creating Stunning Quilts

I know a lot of quilters who aren't confident about their color choices and who are always looking for information to help them. I also know quilters whose instinctive color choices are great but they don't know how they choose what they choose. Whether you're in either of those categories -- or whether you just like exploring color in your work -- you'll be interested in this new book by Maria Peagler. It's called Color Mastery: 10 Principles for Creating Stunning Quilts, and it's terrific.

You might know Maria from her blog, Quilts and Creativity. Maria teaches color classes to fiber artists of all kinds, so she's working from a wealth of experience when she sets out some basic principles to guide working with color.

The principles are clear, well-explained, and beautifully illustrated. Maria not only shows different ways of working with a color wheel, but also PROVIDES a color wheel with the book! What more could you ask?! The principles are explained through projects which Maria made pulling from her stash -- with the idea that this book can help any quilter work from her stash, and/or understand what her stash is lacking to make colorfully dynamic quilts.

The nice thing about this book (well, ANOTHER nice thing) is that it's really suitable for all levels of quilters, and the principles apply to all methods and techniques. Whether you make art quilts or traditional quilts, the color concepts can make or break your final piece.

This book can definitely help you improve your work with color. You can order your copy here.

Check back here soon, by the way, for an interview with Maria herself!!

Birthday Season

Thanks for all your nice emails, guys -- I've appreciated your good wishes. Life stuff is just so ... relentless, sometimes, isn't it? But friends make all the difference.

We are in our household birthday season. We celebrated C's birthday earlier in the week, trying to cope in as "fun" a way as possible while getting a pile of homework out of the way. Today is my birthday and I am celebrating with an indulgent day of sewing, to be followed by a family pizza night in front of Wall-E. Tomorrow we will go out to our favorite sushi place with some friends. And next week is Roger's birthday, which we will celebrate by going into San Francisco to watch the big Chinese New Year's parade.

Fun! Lots of fun!

I am happy to be back at the sewing machine, finishing my "chair" piece for the Twelve by Twelve challenge. The reveal is tomorrow, so check in there to see the results!

Oh! One more fun thing: Don't forget to check out the Animal Planet channel tomorrow for its annual Puppy Bowl, broadcast during the Super Bowl (who wants to watch football when you can watch frolicking puppies?!) It is the cutest, happiest, smile-makingest thing you can imagine. And then some. They do re-air it after the football game in case you want to see both events, and I think they stream it online for some time too.

Have a fun and puppy-filled weekend -- I know I will!

Quiet time

I have to apologize for my silence over the last weeks. I started the new year planning on blogging every other day or so... but life events have a way to taking their own path. Life has been complicated, with just too many hard things going on at once. I haven't been quilting at all, and I have to admit that I've not been in the mood to chat about books and other stuff.

So, sometimes, life requires some quiet concentration on family and friends and home.

Nothing drastic is happening, no need to imagine dire things. It's just life throwing a few curves (gee, how many cliches can I throw out here?) and blogging is taking a back seat.

My 12x12 challenge deadline is coming up this week, so I've got to get my "chair" piece finished. So that'll get me into my studio to throw fabric around. You'll see the results soon!

Expect Happiness

I know, another photograph of a random child from my day at the zoo ... I promise, I'm not going to start shoving pictures of babies and kittens at you (oops, I HAVE done the kitten shots, haven't I? Can rainbows be far behind?)

As I've been working through the pictures I took at the zoo last week, I keep stopping at this one. We were at an exhibit where owls, hawks, and other big birds one doesn't usually get to see up close were on display, and I was happily photographing birds. As I turned, I saw this sweetheart posing for her big brother, and she sat waiting and smiling while he fiddled with his camera. I simply couldn't resist photographing that lovely expression.

What stuns me in this picture is this girl's happy expectancy. You can tell that she's looking at someone she loves, can't you? She looks so open, and eager, and yet totally relaxed.

So she's my poster for another resolution for the year: remember to expect happiness. Look forward with a smile, not with fear or worry. When we expect happiness, we will find it.

My favorite novels in 2008

While I'm thinking about books, I thought I'd wrap up 2008 (I know, I know, but school isn't back in session yet so I can't seem to think of it as 2009 already) with a list of the best novels I've read this year. Some of them I may have mentioned already, but I'll list them again because I thought they were *that* good! And rather than try to describe them to you, I'll link you to Amazon where you can read summaries and see what you think. I truly enjoyed all of these books enormously and highly recommend them.

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows

The Likeness by Tana French

Hannah's Dream by Diane Hammond

There's No Place Like Here by Cecelia Ahern

The Sugar Queen by Sarah Addison Allen.

How to Be Good by Nick Hornby

How Elizabeth Barrett Browning Saved My Life by Mameve Medwed

Love Walked In by Marisa de los Santos

Off Season by Anne Rivers Siddons

If you've read something that you've loved in the past year, please feel free to pass along the recommendation in a comment. I'm always looking for the next thing to read!

Start off the year with a good book

If you're looking for a terrific book to dive into to get you through the post-holiday blahs, I've got just the book for you. It's America America by Ethan Canin, and it's well worth your time.

I picked this up off of the new book shelf at the library a week ago, and was immersed immediately. The novel tells the story of a journalist who, upon the death of a prominent senator, reflects back on his youth working for a wealthy man who played a big role in promoting the senator's career. The novel was reminiscent of Great Gatsby -- innocent ordinary man getting an inside look at the life of privilege -- and there are many overtones of the Ted Kennedy/Chappaquiddick scandal. The story touches on the nature of father/son relationships, and loyalty, and innocence, and politics, and idealism. All of this -- and it's beautifully written.

There's another aspect of this novel that I loved -- the sense of layers of events, and how one can live through something at one point in one's life, and only later look back and understand that very different things were going on under the surface. Canin conveys that so well in this story.

This is the sort of novel you'll want to sink into with a cup of coffee at your side and a bit of time to dive in. It's not superficial or straight forward... but that's exactly what I liked about it. I was sorry to see it end.

Starting the New Year with Joy

A few days ago, we went to the zoo for the day. It'd been a few years since we'd been there, and we had a grand time strolling around, watching the animals, and taking pictures. Perhaps because I was armed with my camera, I found myself looking at things a bit differently -- and I started thinking that watching the people was actually more entertaining than watching the animals. It's certainly a great place to find a lot of smiling kids, that's for sure.

This one adorable little girl caught my eye as she was blowing bubbles with her grandma. I snapped a few pictures, and the sheer happiness on her face in this one just takes my breath away. So I've decided that this will be my "goal" picture for the coming year -- to remember to enjoy the moment, to let myself be surprised and delighted by the little things that happen each day.

I wish I could send this picture to this girl's parents, to tell them how much her spontaneous smile inspires me.

A Look Back

2008 in pictures...

Happy 2009, everyone!

The holidays here have been fun and busy, with many friends and family members popping in and out. Today we are all set to have a hanging-around-the-house-in-jammies day, playing Rock Band (yep, Santa brought it to Roger) and reading and, most likely, napping.

Now, to refill the coffee mug....