Portland, Oregon: Before I realized, a week went by without an update on this little blog. Rare, I know. All is well here and we are still so busy with closet-cleaning and organizing. ALL (All! All! All!) of my needlepoint supplies, fabrics, canvases, fibers, frames and accessories are now in one place. No longer situated in closets all over the house. Not only in one place (in my office/den/whatever) but neatly organized in labeled boxes. The same boxes that once held loose photos. Reuse! This task took-over several days... and emptying one drawer/cabinet/closet lead down yet another rabbit hole. The hero in this entire scenario was, once again, Dave. Things get sorted into trash, recycling or charity boxes and every morning the piles-of-crap disappear thanks to him. This final step is truly the worst part of cleaning.
True dat.
I can't emphasize enough the power of a good neat-freak spouse.
So, as you can imagine, it has been very busy around here. I go out only to restock our larder and have a pedicure. We have few visitors.
This guy/gal visits nearly every day. S/he just wants to be fed and brings along his Mom and another (twin) sibling. Three deer. They hang out in our field, munching away, and then slip into the forest behind our house and disappear. We see them often from the basement window while on the dreadmill or exercise bike. They either cannot see us... or do not care.Though busy all day cleaning and organizing and sorting and resituating, we still stop at 5:30p. We watch the news (and the debate), have a cocktail and a tidbit before dinner at 7p.
I fed My Poor Starving Driver some meat for Shabbat - Chicken thighs roasted over Delicata squash and figs, in a maple-sage marinade.Dave went down to the Oregon v Colorado game in Eugene on Saturday. The Ducks lost. In Colorado, my brother and his family watched the game with Dad & Mary and everyone (kids included) dressed the part.
Kris, Steve, Michael, Delaney, Dad, MaryLisa's godmother, Nancy, gave us gorgeous cherry tomatoes from her organic garden, so I popped a few on our Sunday pizza:
And finally... and I really, really, really, mean finally... I have finished a needlepoint canvas I started TEN years ago. When our beagle was quite old, I found a pretty beagle needlepoint canvas, bought it, and did a bit of re-figuring to stitch the canvas to have our beagle's exact markings. Then Snickers became ill and then he passed away and it was just too difficult (sad) to stitch - even though I was about 75% finished. It is a very large piece, 12-inches square. Too large to work in the motorhome. A few weeks ago, I brought it out again and finished it very late last evening.
My Old Hound will be made into a pillow and placed on a chair in the master bedroom - where he loved to sleep. He will be with us once again, but we won't have to hear him snore.47,000 stitches; stitched in wool. The callus on my index finger is so bad, I can no longer use it to unlock my iPhone via fingerprint.
First World Problems.
Until my next update, I remain, your hounded correspondent.
PS: It may seem quiet around here, but we have so many trips planned during October and will leave for Indio late October or early November. Stay tuned.