Too much

Yesterday e and I went shopping.  We parked in front of Trader Joe's then walked to the fabric store.  e walked beside me, stopping to admire the bits of blue glass set in some blocks of pavement, pausing to check out the workers pushing big bins of cardboard, looking at other shoppers.  At Beverly's we found the Velcro display, and while I looked for what I needed to replace the snaps on Jack and Missy's clothes e found a display of thread within her reach.  After I returned a couple of spools to their place I picked up e and made my selection.  Who would have guessed Velcro came in so many permutations!

Then it was on to Trader Joe's for eggs, milk, and a couple other items.  The checker gave e a strip of stickers which she enjoyed on the drive home.  I unloaded the groceries, leaving e in her car seat, then went to Safeway.  After a bit e indicated she was ready to get down from the shopping cart, but alas, I wasn't done yet.  Eventually, though, we finished and I unbuckled her from the cart, only to put her in the car seat.  A cheese stick helped ease her frustration.  I guess that much time buckled in to a seat was just too much.  Maybe next week we will go shopping on two separate days.

Last night I found 22 purple fabrics for the quilt; I need two more so I'll check a couple bins for scraps.

What did I do?

Sometimes I wish I could remember more about our life thirty years ago when our children were toddlers.  How did I spend my days?  Did I spend as much one-on-one time with Liz as I do with e?  I probably did, I just don't recall what a typical day was like.  I know I put her in the stroller and we walked to South Shore occasionally.  We had just one car, so if I needed it for a doctor's appointment or something, I had to take Randy to work in San Leandro then pick him up at the end of the day.  Sometimes Liz and I took him for a picnic lunch at a park near his office.  Carol and I took the children to the park and other places.  But I don't remember day-to-day details.  I did have piano students most of those early years, with a teen sitter coming in to watch Liz.  I did not quilt much, though I did work on cross-stitch projects as a I sat in a chair out front watching the girls play on the grass with neighbor children.


Yesterday I cut out the turquoise pieces for the Soul-Searching quilt.  The red, pink, yellow and orange are already cut, as are some of the white and black pieces.  Still to cut are blue, green, purple and dark (black? brown? gray?  not sure yet) and lots more of the white/neutral pieces.  The white pieces will link the colored shapes that remind me of Christmas ornaments.  My goal is 24 different fabrics in each color without buying anything new.

Fun!

Watching e run, hearing her talk, seeing her use a spoon to eat her yogurt (then switching to her fingers), listening to her announce her preferences, all are signs of her growth, and it is a lot of fun.  She seems quite at home here, especially since she has a bigger crib now; the old porta-a-crib was just too small for her.  Next week will be a test for all of us, as E returns to Phoenix by herself for a week.  Days won't be much different because I will watch e.  But K will have bedtime duties by himself, and middle of the night wake-up calls, if any.

E and K took me to see the new Star Trek movie Saturday, leaving Grandpa Randy to feed e and put her down for a nap.  They did fine together, though as we left the house she was very unhappy.  Later that day Randy and I went to an A's game with a group from church.  The game was not particularly thrilling until the end.  The A's came to bat in the bottom of the ninth down 1-3, then proceeded to get a hit, then two home runs, thus winning the game against the Tampa Bay Rays 4-3.  We left before the fireworks show.

Vacation, part 4

Monday we ate lunch at Mission BBQ, and I got a big surprise.  I ordered a pulled pork sandwich.  On the table was a little carton with six bottles of different sauces, so I decided to add a little Memphis Belle sauce to the dry pork.  I squirted a bit on the meat, replaced the top of the bun, and took a bite, maybe two.  Suddenly my throat felt like it was closing up.  I could breathe OK and talk, but it was a strange and scary sensation.  I ate some French fries, drank some sweet tea, and assured Randy and Liz that the sensation was passing.  I don't remember ever experiencing anything like that before.  Randy thought perhaps it was a response to whatever was used to give the sauce a smoky flavor.  So I took off the top of the bun with the meat stuck to it by the sauce and cautiously ate the rest, with no further consequences.  The whole thing was probably way less than five minutes, but it felt much longer.  A lot of soldiers were lunching at this restaurant, located near Fort Bragg.

After we ate we drove a few minutes to the Cape Fear Botanical Garden, where we strolled along dirt paths enjoying the various types of trees along the Cape Fear River.  Some plants were blooming, but mostly it was a green walk.  While in the shade I didn't mind the heat, but out in direct sun I was quite warm.  The coolest thing we saw was the Patrick Dougherty Stickwork Sculpture.  "Maple and sweet gum saplings were cut, collected by the truckloads and stripped of their leaves, then woven together to create this amazing addition to the Garden.  With doors, windows, skylights and curving passageways, you're encouraged to get inside this monumental artwork and explore."

Liz made fish tacos for supper, then we watched "The Rocket," a film about a young Laotian boy who entered a rocket building contest.  The movie provided a poignant look at the society and culture of this poor area.

Tuesday we flew home via Nashville,  E picked us up at the airport, then we went out to supper with E, K, e, K's brother and girlfriend.  And now we're home again.

Vacation, part 3

What fun!  I attended a yin yoga class with Liz and enjoyed it.  While quiet string music played in the background the young instructor led us through various stretches, usually in a seated or prone position.  Nothing fancy, just gentle movements and deep breathing.  When I did Jazzercise several years ago we spent time stretching but each pose was only a few seconds; these were one or two minutes each.  So quiet music instead of rock, a small group of people instead of thirty or forty, longer stretches...quite a change for me.  But I enjoyed it a lot.  After class we shopped for groceries at HarrisTeeter then stopped by a friend's apartment to feed her cat before coming home for lunch.

While we were out, Sean and Randy decided to install a new timer switch for a living room light fixture and enjoyed a trip to Lowe's for tools.  Alas, the switch was not suitable for this particular case, but they each learned something during the process.

Liz and I played a game of Scrabble with the score pretty even till the very end, when I went out and she still had the Q and a V.  Sean grilled hamburgers for supper, then we watched "State of Play," a movie with Ben Affleck as a congressman investigating a private security company and Russell Crowe as a newspaper reporter investigating the death of Affleck's mistress.  Rachel McAdams, Helen Mirren, Jeff Daniels, several well-known actors played parts.  It was tense!

E, K and e arrived in Alameda last night.  I wish I had been there to welcome them, but I'm sure they were fine.  After all, E used to live there and K has visited numerous times.  Even e may remember the layout from her visits.  We will see them tomorrow night.

Vacation, part two

We did visit the Southern Pines Brewing Company yesterday, where the others shared a flight of beers and a couple more, and I was the designated driver.  A food truck arrived, and we ordered four different grilled cheese sandwiches, each one cut into fourths so we could sample each variety.  No pizza after that, but we did finish Sean's birthday cakes with ice cream, followed by pop corn as we watched Guy Fiori on the Food Network explore barbecue restaurants and burger places.  A strong thunderstorm passed through, with heavy rain and wind. Randy watched from the front porch.

This morning I will go to yoga with Liz.

Vacation

Wednesday's flight was smooth and just a couple of minutes late arriving in Raleigh-Durham.  We connected easily with Liz and enjoyed the 90-minute drive to their home, where Sean had supper waiting for us.  Thursday we toured the Airborne & Special Operations Museum and learned about the role the U.S. Army Airborne and Special Operations units played from World War II to the present.  When we returned home I began working a Charles Wysocki puzzle titled "Whaler's Bay."  Randy read and napped.

Friday morning Liz went to a yoga class, and I continued working on the puzzle.  After lunch we watched three episodes of "Outlander."  It's easy to see why this is a popular story and series.  Liz made a good dinner (pasta with asparagus, peas, mushrooms and pancetta) followed by a special dessert, hot chocolate fudge cakes, which have a gooey center surrounded by cake.  Delicious!

This morning Randy accompanied Liz and Sean to their running course, but I stayed here to do laundry, finish the puzzle and blog.  I think there's a brewery visit in store later and dinner at a barbecue place.