Only Time Will Tell

So far the recovery from the ablation in March has been uneventful, much smoother than the previous year's. The cardiologist did change one of the medications, the heart rhythm medicine, to a different kind. I sort of hope that isn't the only difference since that would mean the medicine is making the difference not the ablation, but my husband is tolerating it much better as well. None of the nasty side effects as the previous meds, not even the headaches. He goes back in three weeks for what is supposed to be the final post-intervention follow up at which point he will find out if he needs to stay on any of the medicines at all. I know he has been feeling much better because on the days that the weather allows he rides his bike or runs with Watson, the coonhound. Watson's vet said he needed to lose a couple of pounds (only four) but he is such a lazy bones that simply cutting back the food probably won't make much difference. The terrier would play all day long but Watson's ideal existence is sleeping and eating.

I have been getting quite a bit of the outside border quilted lately. Just finished another 350 yard spool of thread. The craft glove makes a big difference in how long I can quilt in any one session. Silly to think that I was injured swimming but that's what happens when you play with the big boys. We were having a "fun" duel relay meet with a local high school team with some serious relays and some T-shirt type relays. We were passing kickboards like batons in track and field relays and the fellow who handed it off to me shoved the kickboard with great force into my hand. Well it hurt a great deal immediately but since I didn't want to lose the relay or let the team down I just kept going. It wouldn't have made any difference since the force snapped my ulnar collateral ligament necessitating some serious surgery involving titanium anchors. Then after about eight years I snapped the repaired ligament simply pulling on my socks. The pleasures of aging bring other physical ills but I can't blame my left hand on getting old.

Good Reads (Books To Recommend To Friends)

I recently finished the latest two books from Mary Doria Russell. If you have never read this author you definitely should, beginning with her "science fiction" books, The Sparrow and Children of God. Those are from nearly 20 years ago but they are still timely because they deal with morals and ethics and society as much as anything else.I am not a science fiction fan but my husband convinced me to read them and after that I was hooked on her work. Her latest two books are connected to each other as well, both focusing on "Doc" Holliday and Wyatt Earp, the first, Doc, set in Dodge City, Kansas, and the second, Epitaph, set primarily in Tombstone, Arizona. Not what anyone would think of as sympathetic characters necessarily, but both books are very good. Her novels and characters are all over the map and the universe but they all resonate with moral questions that humans face daily.

And Speaking of Ireland

We had a very dry winter here but our spring has been unceasingly wet. Rain again today. When my friend visited last week she said it reminded her of Ireland. It is remarkably green here right now, an unusual circumstance even this early in the spring. I don't have any grass at my house since I xeriscaped the entire yard eight years ago but other yards are nearly emerald. It has also been too wet to mow so the grass is standing about a foot tall. Still too early to plant my bean seeds, especially with the dirt so wet and cold.

Hand Quilting Is So Satisfying

I spent the day quilting a corner of my feathered star project. This quilt only has one appliqued corner but there is a great deal of detail in the applique. If you go back to the April 12th entry you can see a photo of the applique. Today I worked on the lower right side of the corner, never moving my hoop. The grid doesn't take much time but there are so many berries, leaves, and vines that six hours of hand quilting were needed. Despite all my hand issues, what with all the surgeries, I do enjoy working closely on my hand quilting. I don't even like how machine quilting looks. It used to mimic hand quilting but now it has developed its own style, one that repels me. My husband saw a picture of a densely quilted machine product recently and said it looked like terry cloth to him. Anyone who objects should look at Anne Oliver's densely hand-quilted projects to see the difference.

  I have several different varieties of peony in my yard. Most have already opened to their full glory and dropped to the ground. This is the first of a group of late bloomers. Anyone else remember the tissue paper flowers we used to make in the 50's and 60's?

Slainte, Ireland

The vote in Ireland that affirmed gay marriage as a human right in the Republic of Ireland is now a done deal. May Ireland prove that a commitment of love is more important than a tradition of hate. In the United States our divorce rate approaches 50% of all marriages. How in the world does that respect marriage?

Perhaps the quilting community can make quilts for all the newlyweds? 

Not Quitting

I got several nice notes from people after my last blog entry so I want to make it clear that I am not going to quit quilting. I already have several ideas percolating in my brain.  But sometimes it seems both weird and disheartening. I had a friend visiting last week and I showed her all the quilts that usually stay on the guest room bed, the quilts I had to move so she could sleep there. I estimate my average time spent on a quilt is about 500 hours. If I charged even $10 an hour my quilts would be $5000 which is so unrealistic as to be ludicrous but if I charged less than that I would be insulting myself. So I give my quilts away either to friends or to charity auctions. I am lucky enough not to need income from my addiction. My quilts are beautiful but they aren't innovative--they are deliberately old-fashioned and often reproductions of famous quilts made with exacting care as to fabrics and mostly entirely by hand. I am a process person not a product person. There is no way I can stop quilting even after two elbow surgeries and two thumb surgeries. But no one but my very limited number of readers ever sees them. I think quilt shows are fine but not for me and these days not for the type of quilt I make.

Found a Home

I am giving my newest creation to a fellow I know from my local gym. After my daughter in law said she didn't want it, I wasn't depressed but I did question why I spent so much time making these quilts if no one in my family wants them. Simply continuing to stack them up on the spare bed makes me feel like the crazy woman in the neighborhood.

Old Friends, New Possibilities

An old friend visited this weekend. The working adjective applies in two ways--she is a friend of long duration having been my children's reading specialist when they were in elementary school and also because she is 77, more than a decade older than I. It was great fun to visit and she is very fond of dogs, especially hounds so my less than tidy pet sanctuary and my bluetick coon hound didn't bother her. We also had numerous far ranging conversations touching on virtually all subjects, one that got so heated that she told me to "Shut up!" She apologized immediately because she said she was only yelling at me because of my argument's similarity to that of her father, a lawyer. We were discussing the current Supreme Court's opinions that grant constitutional rights to corporations and I irritated her because I said that I understood the legal path  that was followed though I didn't agree with the opinions. She, who abhorred the decisions and only wanted to criticize the Roberts court,  said that I said exactly what her father always said, "If you don't like the outcome, you must change the law." Since she could never yell at her father she yelled at me. We live in such curious times. A constitutional convention would be a fascinating spectacle, but the legal status of corporations serves a purpose in civil societies. My husband started several small companies in his business career; all of them benefited from the legal fiction that a corporation is a legal "person".

I showed her the quilt I am working on--the touching stars with the white dove in the corner. Initially I planned to give it to my son and his wife since my son told me that he really liked it, especially the subtle colors. But my daughter in-law told me she doesn't want any quilts that can't be hung on the walls (she has not seen the quilt at all). I would be making this quilt in any case but now I truly don't have a place for it to go. Since I am beginning to feel guilty about all my handiwork simply stacking up on the guest bed, my guilt is being amplified by making a quilt that I know for sure will just end up in the dark in a pile.

Anyone want a quilt?    

Three Students This Year

The first young man got in to Bowdoin, the only school on his list. The young lady I mentored got in everywhere she applied and will be at the University of Portland. The third young man got a full ride chancellor's scholarship to Berkeley where he will focus on artificial intelligence. In two weeks he is going to be in Pittsburgh for the Intel science competition. His entry uses a variation of AI to diagnose and treat breast cancer. He is a pretty remarkable young man and I have never met him in my life. That's a whole different story.

Don't Click On It

The last couple of days miscreants have been making "comments" that include invitations to click on something. Don't do it. I don't know who they are but they are out to either scam you or to hack you. I have no control other than deleting the posts as they show up.

In the meantime it is nice spring weather here--ten days ago snow to beat the band and nearly 80 F yesterday. I have several different varieties of peonies in my yard and many are blooming right now. I also have some allium in bloom and some bearded iris.

Progress is ongoing on the Christmas dove quilt. I have finished quilting about two-thirds of the center touching star section so my original target of August not only seems possible but I might have finished by then. I have three projects in mind--one relatively modern and the other two quite traditional.

Now that I am using my craft glove my hand feels better as well. Many years ago my ulnar collateral ligament (holds your thumb to your hand more or less) was snapped in a swimming accident. I had a surgical repair done that lasted about ten years but then I snapped the ligament again. So then I had to have an arm tendon harvested to replace the ligament but I think I have now either snapped or damaged that as well. But I got a pair of craft gloves that provide a lot of compression and that allows me to hand quilt without feeling like a martyr to the cause.