I had the MOST fun last week…. my beloved sister-in-law, Joyce, was born the same day (different year) than my hubby. It makes remembering birthdates easier! And best friend Marie was born two days later… all late May. Ya think I collect Geminis? Well, I had NO idea what to get Joyce. You see, I have known her for 44 years…. since I was 6 (or thereabouts). Yet we have never lived in the same town. We have always gotten to know each other through letters (the old fashioned written kind), then after I was grown up, through occasional phone calls and now e-mail (a lot). But when you aren’t near someone, you don’t always know how they spend their days, what they have in their house, or their favorite clothes. Add to that the fact that her passions are her garden, her dog, and my late brother. Hmmm….. hard to send plants via the mail…..

Then I had a lightbulb moment! Joyce has worked for Toyota headquarters for 30 years and is contemplating retirement. And I have been having a good time delving into the several mountains of accumulated magazines and books (the last year hasn’t been a good one for staying anywhere NEAR caught up on reading). One book is The Decorated Page by Gwen Diehn (click on the title to see the book at Amazon). SO…. I thought Joyce might like a new thing to do in retirement, or at least a notebook in which to make lists…. so here’s what I made for her:

I made her the bag not quite big enough to fit the book, but you could squeeze a magazine in, and definitely big enough to hold the notebook and stuff! I sent a copy of The Decorated Page, a 5 x 8 sketchbook (with a batik fabric fused to the cover to make it prettier) into which I drew a few things, a set of sketching pencils, Neocolor II water-soluble sticks–like a pastel, nicer than a crayon, easy to use, a waterbrush (think fountain pen meets paintbrush… fill the handle with water, squeeze and it drips out the felt tip allowing you to paint), a glue stick, an eraser, and some laminated cards to use with the notebook.

Here is what Joyce found when she opened the notebook:

and

Since Joyce might never have used some of these things, I told her about the book I’d enclosed:

Following Diehn’s advice, it is sometimes easier to begin when the page isn’t blank, so I decorated a few for her here and there through the journal:

… and I showed her what each of the items does:

And finally, I have her a few ideas about what to do in the book…after all, all those blank white pages can be intimidating!

I can’t remember having such fun with a putting together a gift….. best of all, she really enjoyed receiving it!

It was a lovely Sunday! I got to sleep in late, then we had waffles. I love making a special breakfast on Sundays, so this time I got to pick the “what.” So I picked waffles (which tho it takes time since I make them from scratch, everyone likes so there is no grumping from the boys…well, Paul doesn’t like them but he doesn’t like anything before about 11 am so we’re not going there…). And I decided to try making them buttermilk blueberry waffles…. YUM! With butter, real maple syrup or the raspberry syrup the boys love… what a wonderful way to start the day!

Paul had a lovely bouquet of flowers for me, Joshua had trotted to town on Saturday with a donation from Paul’s wallet and a grin and returned with a bag, and Eli had a project he’d worked on for school (above). We went to see Mom and give her a nice plant, and she gave me a nice check (which is going into my iPod stereo dock stash), and then we had her over for supper, too. It was a lovely, quiet, at-home day… spring has sprung in Maine, and we loved it!

Eli’s class has been working on embroidery projects with a local fiber artist (how cool is that?). When in for his parent-teacher conference I browsed through the projects admiring several, one of which–unbeknownst to me–was Eli’s birch trees! Now THAT’s COOL!

Then, Joshua knows I love stuffed animals, so he bought me an orca since we used to see and hear them from our old house in Friday Harbor. He also loves guitar, and wants one with a Floyd Rose, which is a doo-hickie so that when one uses a whammy bar (this thing that makes a sort of sound distortion) the guitar doesn’t go out of tune. So, said orca’s name is Floyd Rose. That’s him in the photo above, on some fabrics I pulled to make a Journal quilt to enter in this eyar’s exhibit…. Floyd and my birch trees are up in my studio… I have, alas, VERY little vertical wall space tho lots of sloping ceiling. So, I’m looking for a good spot for the trees, and think I have them… stay tuned!

Well, it has been busy! This post will “publish” on Tuesday while I am winging my way south to teach in Paducah! As usual, life has been insanely hectic. I began getting ready for Paducah. Here is the first round of “stuff” in the crate:

Then, there is another round of “stuff” to pack and take. These things are mostly my teaching binders, a few handouts (most were shipped ahead of time), and my teachers’ samples:

On top of prepping all this stuff, I had to MAKE some new samples (which I’ll show you in a couple of days) to go with the shorter 3-hour format classes Paducah prefers. Then, an opportunity fell into my lap: write a proposal for an art quilt project at the Camden-Rockport Middle School. So in addition to continuing to get mom settled, the regular daily stuff, dog-walking and litter-box-cleaning (not to mention laundry, food and sleep), I wrote up this:

The project would be seven panels. Six panels are 3 feet wide by about 4.5 feet long, with a seventh panel 40 inches wide by 18 inches deep to go over the door in the middle of the 24+ foot wall! The principal LOVES the idea of depicting inspirational people / things from around the world and across time (folks like MLKing, Mandela, Mother Theresa, Gandhi, engineers (a bridge maybe), shipbuilders and explorers, teachers, doctors), and is going to submit the proposal to a local grant-giving group. If a small miracle happens and I get it, it would be a MAJOR commission that would keep me busy the rest of the year!

Thanks to a nice tax refund, I was able to finally get my eyes checked, and will be buying new frames for the first time in 3 years. This is the most likely pair (so far):

Please ignore the dippy expression, fat on my neck, lack of makeup etc….They are a matte black, and I’m leery of black. I had wanted a deep ruby red, turquoise, or plum…. so far no luck, but some new frames coming in soon….. what do you think of these? Are they too stark on my face or OK? I do like the shape…..

I’ll be back online in a few days (well, a new post will come up) with one of the new class samples I made for Paducah AND a book review….

to all of you who have written (on the blog and directly) and sent your good thoughts for Yeti. I’m amazed at how many have written… I’m going to try to reply to each of you individually, but since I leave in less than 36 hours for teaching in Paducah, I may not get to it for a while, and I wanted you all to know how much I appreciate your kindness. The internet is truly an amazing place, that we can have friends we’ve never met even, all over the world. Hugs and thanks, Sarah

and his name was Yeti.

On Friday, April 18th, Yeti left us. He was 8. He had been getting creaky all winter, had an increasingly difficult time standing up, but started a real nosedive this week. He whimpered off and on on Tuesday. Wednesday, when I got home from taking Paul and the boys to the airport he barely lifted his head, and didn’t get up when I arrived….very unusual. On Thursday, I called Paul and the boys (in California collecting mom’s car to drive it cross-country to Maine while I’m teaching in Paducah), worried about Yeti. At 2:36 a.m. Friday, I came downstairs to Yeti whimpering again, asked if he wanted to go out. He didn’t, but was panting horribly. Since he didn’t seem able to get up I brought the water bowl to him, and he could barely lift his head enough to get water from the bowl, which he eventually drained.

Here’s Yeti snoozing by the fire this past winter, with his buddy Pigwidgeon:

On Friday morning, it took over half an hour to get him on his feet; I immediately took him out, but he wobbled like a drunk he was so unsteady. I knew he needed to see the vet, so rather than take him back up a couple of steps into the house, I tethered him outside near the back of my car. Since he is (was) 150 pounds-plus, I tried but failed to hoist him into the car. I called the Camden police (station is about a mile from my house) and asked, saying I thought my dog was dying but I couldn’t lift him into the car alone, if an officer wasn’t busy could they possibly come help me (nieghbors are either old or have a bad shoulder). Officer A. Smith did, and while I was waiting for him to arrive, I noticed two very small spots of blood on Yeti’s extremely furry leg. Under them was a large, hard growth and the skin wasn’t pale, but florid red and nearly black. Hmmmm….not good. And thanks and blessings (once again) to the Camden police. (Reminder to self: write thank you note today!)

I got to the vet’s and said I was worried this might be the last day of his life, and the nice vet said gently “it should be.” Sob. Turns out the growth was a tumor…. larger than my fist. And the discolored drool was bloody (internal bleeding of some sort). Worse. She figured it was probably a malignant tumor that had metastasized. It was about 6 am in San Francisco, Paul’s cell wasn’t turned on, and I didn’t recall which hotel. I dashed home for the number and returned to the vets to hold the cell phone to Yeti’s ear so Paul and the boys could say goodbye. Sob some more.

When we first got ‘Widgeon, Yeti was so patient, letting the little guy play

and harrass him,

and even sleep on him:

So Yeti, the dear dope, is gone. He doesn’t hurt any more, and I was able to stroke his head and muzzle as he died. And he knows we love him. Sob.

One of Yeti’s favorite things here in Maine was to romp in the snow, and bury his face in the snowdrifts, eating bites of fresh snow.  Just last week, he was still trying to nibble snow… despite the fact the remaining bits were hard, crusty, covered with road sand.  Here he is a couple of winters ago, happy as a clam while I shoveled and the boys played:

Yeti may have sometimes been (said affectionately) a large, hairy, loud-barking misery, but he was ours, he was sweet, and we loved him and will miss him. He’ll be cremated, and we’ll bury his ashes or some day take them back to the island where he romped and scatter them there. It’s weird not hearing him plod about the house, his claws clicking on the floors, or his enormous booming bark. Bye-bye, Yeti-Yeti Dum-Dum.  Sniffle.  Going for more kleenex.