Celebration

Sarah called me from High Maintenance Beauty Salon where Grace Anne was getting her hair fixed for eighth grade graduation and the class dance tonight. . .another girl was there who said that the zipper in her dress wouldn't work and Sarah asked if I could come look at it.    I was picking up my needle and thread when I learned that it was the zipper malfunctioning, so I asked Richard to go along with his needle nosed pliers.  He worked on the zipper unsuccessfully.    The girl said she wasn't going to go to the ceremony if she couldn't wear the dress - all of them were wearing strapless formal type dresses, so it would be hard to substitute anything.

So I sewed Catherine into her dress with fishing line!    Nerve wracking indeed.    The best light was from the sun through the west windows and of course, it kept shifting so we had to move.   Meanwhile
Amanda, the hair stylist, was using the curling iron with an extension cord on her hair while I worked.   The fishing line kept coming unthreaded from the needle and my hands aren't as nimble as they once were so knots were almost impossible.   An incredibly stressful 45 minutes of needlework and as 6:45 pm approached and she was due at the school at 6:30 pm, we all got nervous.   Her mother was so appreciative and brought me Mexican food to eat (little time for that however!)     Several times she said to Catherine, "Oh my, you are late now" and they conversed excitedly in Spanish.

Richard stood by faithfully and we zoomed to the school so we could watch the ceremony.   No parking spaces anywhere near the school.    He decided to park at the end of the lot in an undesignated
spot and as he backed up, he hit the concrete barrier and smashed the fender.   At least, I was not the driver.   :)           Saw Catherine and she seemed confident in her repaired dress.    All's well that end's well.

The Cricketers: Bjorn and Thor

Writer's Block

For a number of weeks, I did not post on my blog.   I was prodded into action again by two or three
friends who asked me about my absence, and I was pleased!    One reason for my writer's block was that I read an editorial online with advise for bloggers.    NEVER put quotes in your blog, it said,
people get very bored with these.   As I often share thought provoking things that I read, I hit the wall.
Finally, I have decided that the advice-giver meant quotes like those frequently posted on Facebook.
Example:    "I am not dieting, I am just not eating as much as I would like to"   Perhaps I have paid too
much attention to advice. . .I will just write whatever I feel like writing.            

On washing hands. . .

In a May 13, 2013, article in Time magazine:    Paul Farmer, Harvard professor and infectious disease
specialist, is asked  about the effectiveness of signs in bathrooms saying employees must wash hands
before returning to work.    He suggested substituting "Hey, wouldn't you like to serve other people by
not transmitting your skin flora to your diners' meals?"   (Belinda Luscombe)

Iowa Snow May 3, 2013

Window Tree

The day before the snow in Iowa, we sat at our breakfast table and watched this beautiful
Bradford pear tree toss and turn in the restless wind.  I was reminded of the Robert Frost
poem:

    Tree at my window, window tree,
    My sash is lowered when night comes on;
    But let there never be curtain drawn
    Between you and me. . .

   Vague dream-head lifted out of ground,
    And thing most diffuse to cloud,
    Not all your light tongues talking aloud
    Could be profound.

    But tree, I have seen you taken and tossed,
    And if you have seen me when I slept, 
    You have seen me when I was taken and swept,
    And all but lost.

    That day she put our heads together,
    Fate had her imagination about her,
    Your head so much concerned with outer,
     Mine with inner weather.

Envy

A friend told me that her mother told her if she was going to be jealous of someone, she needed to be
prepared to take the whole package.  That changes one's perspective. . .