Thursday, November 15, 2018

A busy day today. It started with our monthly breakfast at Gracian’s Grill. I noticed their Inspection Card in the front window was a B and I wondered what happened to make them lose their A rating. I wanted to know but then I didn’t want to know, all at the same time. No one else mentioned it, so I doubt they even noticed it. The building is very old so no doubt there’s some less than perfect things going on behind the scenes.

Speaking of behind the scenes, they’re gutting the old Ace Hardware store on main street. I’ve heard rumors that there’s going to be a restaurant in there. I surely hope so. We can use another good restaurant to choose from.

Meanwhile, construction on the Super Walmart is progressing rapidly and I can’t wait for it to be finished, stocked and ready for customers. The other construction going on in town is our new Transportation Center. It’s there on Main Street (Tehachapi Blvd. for those who don’t know what street I mean when I say Main Street), actually directly across the street from what used to be the Ace Hardware store. Currently, the Amtrak bus and other long-distance transportation vehicles stop out on the street alongside the K-Mart parking lot. It’s not a very big parking area and not well known to residents. This will be much more convenient for busses and for people who want to travel by bus to outlying areas/cities. It will also bring people in closer to downtown Tehachapi, where they can shop, visit museums and eat at some of our smaller restaurants. And there’s always Kohnen’s Bakery — YUM — their sandwiches are huge and freshly made. Most people can’t get out of the place without buying some of their baked goods, cookies, tarts, and pastries. Wicked and addictive, for sure.

In discussing the upcoming Christmas Dinner with friends at breakfast, I realized that we’re going to have 11 tables, not 10 as originally planned, which means I need to make another table runner. When I got back home, I went through my Christmas fabric stash and pulled out a piece of Santa Claus fabric that just cried to be made into a table topper.

I layered the fabric with batting and backing, pinned it and then stitched around all four sides, leaving a section open so I could flip it inside out. I then did a very narrow stitch line around the outside edge, stitching open section closed. Next I did shadow stitching around each of the elements. I plan on giving it to my Great-nephew Zack and his wife.

I did make one other stop today and that was to my primary care doctor. I’ve had sciatic pain in my right hip for several months and my two visits to the new chiropractor left me bruised and $40 poorer, and no relief from the pain. So today I got x-rayed and will wait to hear what the results are. The doctor suggested we try physical therapy first, and if the therapists don’t feel they can help, I’ll get a referral to a specialist. All in due time…

Be safe, be well (please try to stay away from people who appear to have respiratory infections–there’s a lot of it going around right now because of the change in weather), and do remember to tell those you love that you love them.

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Wednesday, November 14, 2018

This is a sure sign that winter has arrived. It’s a little Sparrow, sitting on one of the deck pillars and cocking his head at me as though to say, “What are you looking at?” We only see this variety of Sparrow in the winter months. Strange to see birds arrive for the winter when others are flying away from the cold.

Another sign of the cold is my poor Morning Glory. It was magnificent when it was in full bloom, but the cold snap froze it and I had to cut it back yesterday. I wasn’t able to withstand the cold long enough to get every bit of the vine removed from the fencing wire, but did manage to cut back a lot of the plant. I’m hoping that it will come back in the spring when the weather warms up. My friend Yvonne says it will come back. I sure hope so.

BEFORE:

AFTER:

I haven’t seen Ruby today — I’ve checked both garages and no trapped kitties in either garage, so she must be hunkered down at home, rather than braving the cold to visit here.

And cold it is. It’s made it to a toasty 52 degrees and that’s just a tad too cold to be outside playing with trains. Robert’s taking 5 in his chair with a good book. My quilt is ready to be quilted, but I’ve moved my machine into the dining room and don’t want to wake Robert so will wait until he wakes up before I begin sewing.

Be safe, and please be happy. Be sure to tell those you love that you love them.

Tuesday, November 13, 2018

It’s looking like I’m only making it every other day here, but truth be told, I have been very busy with company and sewing projects.

Later today I have to meet with other volunteers and we’re going to be decorating the Depot for Christmas.

I have to talk about Ruby a bit (Ruby is the neighbor’s cat that I share with them)… after Robert left to go to the Depot this morning, I heard a squeak. It was a bit persistent and I really thought it was our wood house number that hangs from the eaves. I walked to the front of the house and although the sign was swinging in the breeze, it sounded as though the noise was coming from within the house. I immediately thought that perhaps Ruby had got trapped in Robert’s garage when he put the trash cans to the curb. I opened the inner door to his garage and called out for Ruby. No mewing reply and no furry body running to the door. I heard it again and thought — is she in MY garage?? We hadn’t been in my garage since yesterday afternoon when we came back from the Optometrists office and a visit to KMart. I opened the door and Ruby blazed through the doorway, rubbing against me as she flew by. Unreal. That poor cat had been in my garage overnight! I quickly got her a bowl of water and a plate of food. Then I went back out to the garage to check for potty messes and found not a one! Good kitty!! LOL

I let her out and she wandered around the deck for a bit then the next thing I knew, she was at the window, wanting back in. This went on for the rest of the morning until I put her out and she stayed out. I moved her food and water out to her normal eating place on the deck and haven’t seen her in a while. I think we’ll have to be more vigilant in keeping track of her when we come in or out of the garages.

Be safe, be happy, and please remember to tell those you love that you love them.

Sunday, November 11, 2018

We had company this weekend so I haven’t spent any time on the computer. I see that I missed writing yesterday. When we have house guests, I don’t get on the computer and I try to avoid using my Kindle if at all possible.

After everyone left today, I began washing the fabrics I purchased this past week. Now they’re all washed and dried and waiting for me to press the wrinkles out. I don’t mind this at all, because it allows me the opportunity of checking the fabric for flaws or areas that I’ll need to work around.

Our weather has definitely moved into the winter temperatures. It was 30 degrees on the deck yesterday morning, and it never really got above 55 deg. all day. I caved yesterday morning and turned the furnace on, feeling that it’s one thing for us to run around the house bundled to the hilt, but we don’t want our guests to feel the cold. Naturally, Robet called me a “Sissy-woosh”, but I can handle it. LOL We also turned on the downstairs furnace and set it to 67 deg. The furnace always runs about 2 degrees higher than the setting so we hoped that would be warm enough. We made sure the electric blanket was all set for them and hoped they would be comfortable. They came in this morning and the only complaint was that there weren’t enough trains coming through during the night. Hmmm. Nothing I can do about that one, so I just chuckled and said, ‘Sorry about that.’

This next week will be a busy one, so I hope I can get in a bit of writing each day. I’ll give it a go and see what can be accomplished.

Till next time, be safe and be happy. Be sure to tell those you love that you love them and be at peace with yourself and the world around you.

Friday, November 9, 2018

Well goodness, I missed posting yesterday. So goes my goal of writing every day. Ah well, it was a good goal to try for. I’ll just keep plugging away at the rest of the month.

 

 

I know the photo above looks like  déjà vu, but trust me, it’s not. This is just blocks that were left over from my Great-nephew’s quilt that I’m using for my first Mercy quilt. I’m auditioning red fabrics to make a very narrow border (the quilt is already 53″ x 66″) and then I’ll be able to put it together. I have batting and my backing fabric, so this will be finished some time next week. Then off to the post office it goes.

I do lead a charmed life at times, and yesterday was one of those times. My friend Sandy sent me a message about a woman here in town that was selling bolts of fabric for $15 a bolt. I saw this as a confirmation to my decision to make quilts for the terminally ill patients of Sacramento’s Mercy Hospital. Now I would have a greater variety of fabrics to choose from for the quilts, and having enough fabric of a particular design to use as backing to the quilts will save me a lot of money in the future. By coincidence, the fabric came from the woman’s aunt, who made prayer quilts for patients. I’ll continue to use her fabric and think of the patients who will be receiving my quilts as I create them. I can’t think of a better way to use my energy. The fabric was wrapped on boards when I brought it home, but I always wash all fabrics before I use them, so that’s why the fabric is stacked like it is. I pin the cut ends with safety pins before I put it in the washing machine, and that eliminates most of the tangles that happens to fabrics in the wash.

Be safe, be happy and be sure to tell those you love that you love them.

Wednesday, November 7, 2018

For whatever reason, this morning I had the feeling that November 7 was a momentous day in history. When I Googled it, I found this: “November 7 is the 311th day of the year (312th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 54 days remaining until the end of the year.” Not exactly what I wanted to know, but interesting, nonetheless. Gads… where has our year gone?

Okay, back to the present, and today is Hump Day!! For those who are still working, it’s always a good day because there’s only two more days left to the week to work.

I am still working on the table runners. Two more got completed last night, and I counted another 13 left to finish up. It started out that I needed 10 for the dinner tables, and whatever extra I wanted to work up to be put into the gift shop for sale. Then, since my niece and daughter-in-law were here visiting, I added two more as gifts for them. Then the number just kept increasing as I thought of other family members that I should gift with a table runner. And speaking of gifts, I still haven’t figured out what to make for my New Year’s favor for this year. I’ll come up with something. After all, I have 54 more days to come up with something!

Be safe, be happy and please remember to tell those you love that you love them.

 

 

 

 

 

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Tuesday, November 6, 2018

To protect our freedom and our rights, we must VOTE! We must take the responsibility and make our voices heard.

Blessings to you and yours. Be safe, be happy, and please tell those you love that you love them. Enjoy this very special day, and let your voice be heard!