Last of TAST

Stitches I missed doing. It’s 5:50 p.m. EST here in Baltimore and I’m determined to get the last of the stitches posted before the end of the year.
Because I need to make some potholders, being unable to find ordinary cotton ones to buy, I thought I would use this project to stitch the [...]

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Gloria’s poem

You may remember my account of our New Year’s celebrations with neighbors Esther and Gloria. I want to share with you one of my favorites of Gloria’s poems. It was published in this book:

All my photographs of Gloria disappeared with the computer crash, but here’s the one on the back cover of her book.

And here [...]

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Ernie’s quilt

Ernie sleeps under this 10-year-old hand-stitched quilt every night of the year. The edge had become frayed, and it had sprung some leaks where he grabs it to pull it up under his chin. We like this quilt a lot and believe that it would be hard to find an equally satisfactory replacement, so [...]

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Missing needlework

Nina wrote to me that she is missing seeing my needlework here. She said that she guessed that I was working on something that I hadn’t shown you yet. She’s right!
Now this is what I think they call in television broadcasting “a teaser.” Can you tell what I’m working on? Click on the image to [...]

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Solstice

Ernie and I no longer celebrate Christmas, but we do celebrate the Solstice. It has a special meaning for us. Fifteen years ago at Solstice, we were in the process of going into retreat, spending the night in a motel about 25 miles from our new home, while awaiting the arrival of the moving van.
Because [...]

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The kindness of Kathy

Thanks to Kathy, I now have 12 ounces of shelled pecans.

You may remember that Kathy contacted me after finding my blog to tell me that we were neighbors. She has been making textile art all her life, and she brought some of her work to show me. When she read about my misadventure with [...]

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Christmas at Charlestown

Charlestown is elaborately and artfully decorated for Christmas, both by staff and residents. Yesterday on his walk around the community Ernie took pictures of decorations in public areas–lobbies, hallways, and dining rooms.
In the corner of a stairway

On a table in a hallway

In the lobby outside of a dining room. Notice the man at the organ. [...]

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Nuts!!!

A half hour of labor with pliers, lacking a nutcracker, yielded five ounces of pecan nutmeat and a sore hand.

The rest of the pecans are going out with the trash tonight. I find it hard to throw away good food, but spending more time dealing with these pecans would be nuts.
Said Ann, “There’s a reason [...]

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More decorations

These are the doorway decorations of our neighbors down the hall.

At present, the only things being stitched here are alterations and repairs.
I’m still working on restoring my computer. Finally, I’ve gotten the financial data reconstructed. Soon I should have something more interesting to write about!

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Couldn’t resist

Couldn’t resist this dramatic sunset. In the distance you can see the lighted trees at the Charlestown entrance.

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