On A Break

You might have thought that I've been on a break. Well, let me tell you, it's not been an intentional one (however break may just be the operative word here). I've got lots to write about and plenty to catch up on; that will all happen soon enough. But, in the meantime, I've been sidelined with a cracked distal radius bone. Yep, that's me and, of course, it's my right wrist. Sigh. Every event like this has a story behind it, I wish mine was more exciting. I weeded the perennial garden on Saturday, every square inch. It looked beautiful. I stepped back to admire my hard work and noticed that the bird bath needed a good spraying off with the hose, the base was splattered with mud from the last heavy rain and the basin needed refilling. Easy peasy. I walked a few yards to the spigot, unrolled the hose and headed, lickity split, toward the bird bath. Unbeknownst to me, the hose had snagged on a branch of shrubbery located behind me pulling me to an abrupt stop. Well, as you know from Newton's 1st Law of Motion: objects in motion (me) stay in motion at constant velocity, unless acted upon by an unbalanced force (the branch); I tripped over the hose that I was carrying when I was suddenly jerked backwards and came to a crashing halt (left knee, extended right hand) onto the brick walkway. Ouch! My knee hurt but it became immediately clear that my wrist got the worst of it. Icing and pain relievers helped, marginally, but by Sunday morning it became apparent that X-rays were going to be needed. The rest is history now. I've progressed from a splint to a cast yesterday when follow up from Urgent Care occurred with Orthopedic Specialists. Four weeks now of figuring out what I can and can't do. Hmm. I've already learned that I can do a LOT more with my left hand than I ever imagined. Time flies and these next twenty-eight days will too. Because I know it could have been a lot worse I'm counting my blessings big time; that and catching up on those quiet, mundane tasks that I'd set aside for "someday". In the kindest showings of Christian love our freezer has been filled with dinners for at least a week to come, another generous stranger came yesterday and brought our trash can in from the street to its resting place behind the garage and carried our mail to the front steps. There's oh-so much to be thankful for; believe me when I say that I most certainly am, it's all good! 

    Life is Good!

This and That

I'm keeping busy, there's always too much to do and not enough time to get it all accomplished. I don't know how I ever got anything done at all when I was allowed to leave the house! As fast as I finish one project I find three others to work on! I began setting these stitcheries together with low volume 25-patches.

These squares measure 5" finished; with the one inch framing border all around this becomes a 12 inch block. Right now I have a few ideas in my head as far as where these will go eventually, but I will set them aside for now and let the ideas simmer.

I found this new (to me) product that's too good not to share my rave review: if you've ever been confronted with an errant thread that gets caught between your quilt layers and shadows through the top, here's the solution! No matter how well you trim before loading and layering your quilt, threads happen. This is a super-fine tool with a micro hook on the end that slips easily through the weave of cotton fabric, grabs that thread and retrieves it without leaving a trace! Once again, Clover notions to the rescue, they make the best products! I'm really excited about this one. 

We got the sweetest homemade card in the mail from our oldest two grandchildren in the Capital City, they each wrote personal notes inside. They're (along with all the schoolchildren in our state) about to experience the longest summer vacation ever as the governor announced on Friday that schools won't open again this academic year. I feel so sorry for all the children, I can't even imagine. 

Life goes on: Mama Carolina Wren coaxed the babies out of their deep, secluded nest-- they're on their own. She's been so busy flitting in and out with bugs and other treats to feed them, we'll miss watching the activity through the window at our breakfast table. But, now, the brick column can be removed; Mr. G. had that on his "to do" list but was detoured, temporarily, by the babies. 

Adapting during our stay-at-home in an upside down🙃 world: Quiltkeemosabe gave me this wonderful panel; I'm going to load it up and quilt it, as is, to use as a table runner. Isn't it wonderful? It measures 43" X 19". Since it's where we are, and there's no place like it, it's the perfect time. I have found another mask pattern to try out. I have always been a huge Ami Simms fan; so, when this one hit the Internet, naturally I downloaded the pattern and am giving this style a try. This will be the third style that I've stitched up. I lost track a long time ago how many I've made, it's ongoing.

😷

Speaking of Quiltkeemosabe- her husband is coming home from his five week hospital/rehab stay (non-COVID!) tomorrow, at long last. Thanks one and all who continued to hold him in prayer for health and healing. Please continue to pray for him and his family as he acclimates to being back home again and gains his strength back. 

😷

Please indulge me in a soapbox moment: I am deeply saddened and highly aggravated to witness the public shaming, name-calling and finger-pointing that I see on social media aimed at those who may not be complying with the current "rules" for virus prevention or spread as the accuser deems appropriate. Let's all keep in mind here that everyone is doing the very best that they can based on the information that they have. If you see someone without a mask, and you're uncomfortable, avoid them. If you see someone who's not observing social distancing, then be careful to keep your own distance. If a business opens back up and you don't feel safe entering, then, by all means, don't. Wash your hands, keep yourself and your loved ones as safe as you can; but, please, please, be kind. We can't possibly know everyone's story or current circumstance. We're all tired of being isolated, worn out from concern and eager to put this behind us-- but, we're all in this together and a little kindness goes a long, long way.

"More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us." - Romans 5:3-5

Life is Good!

Christmas Card Confusion

How did we get here already? Yes, this post is about Christmas cards; but, how did we get from Thanksgiving to Christmas at the speed of light? Over the weekend I rounded up all the turkeys and fall decorations to pack them away, once again. It seemed like the entire month of November passed in about a day and a half. Sigh. Anyway-- on the day before Thanksgiving we took our annual Christmas Card picture with the grandchildren, or attempted to. Putting a Thanksgiving feast for ten on the table is nothing compared to persuading begging (!) four children to change clothes and  all smile and look at the camera at the same time. This whole procedure took less than twenty minutes, total, but they really didn't want to stop playing long enough to capture a picture-perfect moment! Okay, moving on. I snapped, literally, hundreds of shots and found one; yes, only one, acceptable enough to use. It still wasn't quite what I had in mind; but, hey, it's what I had. I also had a sizeable discount coupon for an online made-to-order photo card company, one that I hadn't used before. I ordered our cards that evening, agonizing over the design and composition. I submitted my order in time to grab the discount and got an email almost immediately informing me that the cards were underway and that I would receive them in the mail no later than November 28. "Wow, what great service," I thought.

As promised, several days later a box arrived from the card company. Imagine my surprise and disappointment when I opened the box and discovered these inside! "Oh, NO!", I croaked out (last week was one of profound silence around here as I was a victim of larygitis). Mr. Goodneedle was pressed into service, calling the card company and explaining that we had received cards that weren't ours.  The card company instructed us to dispose of the cards received by mistake and that our replacements, as well as the other couple's, would be on the way directly. I told Mr. Goodneedle that we simply could not throw Paul and Lauren's cards away, their address was inside the box; they needed them back! So, I addressed the box to them and we mailed it off. It's just the right thing to do.

Yesterday we received two boxes in the mail; you've probably already guessed what happened. Our correct card order plus a box from Lauren; our cards had somehow gone to them! She, too, couldn't throw ours away and mailed them to us. Now we both have double orders; but what a great story we both have. Plus, we have enough photo cards for bookmarks for the rest of our lives! Whenever I look at this Christmas photo I will smile-- for many reasons, and they're all good! 

I still don't know how we got to December so quickly though!

UPDATE!!

A third box of cards arrived today! 😲

Life is Good!

What Would You Do?

What would you do if confronted by a mugger? Read this news story straight from the pages of NPR, you won't forget what Julio did, guaranteed. This story was just too good not to post here.

Life is Good!

Morning Edition, March 28, 2008 · Julio Diaz has a daily routine. Every night, the 31-year-old social worker ends his hour-long subway commute to the Bronx one stop early, just so he can eat at his favorite diner.

But one night last month, as Diaz stepped off the No. 6 train and onto a nearly empty platform, his evening took an unexpected turn.

He was walking toward the stairs when a teenage boy approached and pulled out a knife.

"He wants my money, so I just gave him my wallet and told him, 'Here you go,'" Diaz says.

As the teen began to walk away, Diaz told him, "Hey, wait a minute. You forgot something. If you're going to be robbing people for the rest of the night, you might as well take my coat to keep you warm."

The would-be robber looked at his would-be victim, "like what's going on here?" Diaz says. "He asked me, 'Why are you doing this?'"

Diaz replied: "If you're willing to risk your freedom for a few dollars, then I guess you must really need the money. I mean, all I wanted to do was get dinner and if you really want to join me ... hey, you're more than welcome.

"You know, I just felt maybe he really needs help," Diaz says.

Diaz says he and the teen went into the diner and sat in a booth.

"The manager comes by, the dishwashers come by, the waiters come by to say hi," Diaz says. "The kid was like, 'You know everybody here. Do you own this place?'"

"No, I just eat here a lot," Diaz says he told the teen. "He says, 'But you're even nice to the dishwasher.'"

Diaz replied, "Well, haven't you been taught you should be nice to everybody?"

"Yea, but I didn't think people actually behaved that way," the teen said.

Diaz asked him what he wanted out of life. "He just had almost a sad face," Diaz says.

The teen couldn't answer Diaz — or he didn't want to.

When the bill arrived, Diaz told the teen, "Look, I guess you're going to have to pay for this bill 'cause you have my money and I can't pay for this. So if you give me my wallet back, I'll gladly treat you."

The teen "didn't even think about it" and returned the wallet, Diaz says. "I gave him $20 ... I figure maybe it'll help him. I don't know."

Diaz says he asked for something in return — the teen's knife — "and he gave it to me."

Afterward, when Diaz told his mother what happened, she said, "You're the type of kid that if someone asked you for the time, you gave them your watch."

"I figure, you know, if you treat people right, you can only hope that they treat you right. It's as simple as it gets in this complicated world."

Produced for Morning Edition by Michael Garofalo.

Consider This...

"Be kinder than necessary, for everyone you meet is fighting some kind of battle".

This was at the bottom of an e-mail, a forward, the type I ordinarily delete. For some reason I didn't delete this one; but rather, read it through. The sentence above concluded the text. It's worth consideration, think about it. I know I will this week.

Life is Good!