Picnic

Yesterday I picked up es and headed to our house.  We stopped and played at the park, where es jumped off the bottom step of the stairs up to the play structure.  She was so excited and pleased with her new skill, probably the result of her tumbling class.  The drop was maybe a foot, and she usually fell on her knees or bottom, but she always brushed off her hands, smiled and ran around to the other end of the structure to climb up and do it again.  When the preschool children came to the playground es joined in, waving at some of them and continuing her climbing and jumping.  We had planned to visit the library, but it was closed for a staff development workshop.

A couple of weeks ago after we visited the park and library we walked on over to Safeway to buy some chocolate chip cookies.  She noticed some tables outside the Subway shop and wanted to sit down, but I said no since we hadn't bought anything there.  So this time we went in the shop and bought a turkey sandwich, barbecue chips, a cookie and milk.  We took our lunch outside and sat at one of the tables to eat in spite of the gusty cool wind.  What fun!  Naturally es ate very little turkey but enjoyed the chips and cookie and milk.  Grandma spoiled her a bit.

At our house we read and built with Tinker Toys.  I brought out the child-size broom Randy had uncovered in the garage, and she helped him sweep the deck.  Although she was in bed for 40 minutes or so, she showed no signs of going to sleep, so I took her home about 4:15 so I'd have time to make an early supper before Randy had to go to choir.

Free time?

You might think that I would write a post each morning.  After all, I'm not watching e now, so I must have lots of free time, right?  Yes, and no.  So far this week I have quilted "Fractured" diagonally in one direction and need to decide if that is sufficient.  I have taught two students.  I have worked on the new socks.  I have written more of Dad's story.  I have practiced piano and organ.  I have walked each day, done laundry, shopped for groceries.  Last night I accompanied the Lenten service then choir practice.  Today I will practice organ, then pick up es for Grandma and Grandpa time.

Ironing

Wednesday afternoon I set up the ironing board in the blue room and pressed some shirts.  Then I ironed the backing for Fractured.  Thursday I began to pin-baste the layers together so that quilting can begin!  This quilt top was finished in the fall of 2014, before I began my travels to Phoenix, so it's been a while since I worked on it, even though it's one of my favorite works in progress (WIP).  Two other WIP are waiting to be pinned and quilted.  Friday afternoon I finished the pinning and peeled away the tape holding the backing in place on the carpet.  Slow but steady progress is being made.

More papers into the blue bin

For many years now I have helped Rod, a tenor soloist, learn the music needed for his church choir as well as other choirs in which he has sung.  At first he would bring me copies of songs; more recently he would scan the music then email the songs, and I would print them.  He usually asked me to record each song several times, perhaps the tenor line alone, then tenor with soprano, and tenor with bass, and the accompaniment, or some other combination.  In the early years I recorded on cassette tapes, not the most convenient for rehearsing, but that's what I had.  Now I use a digital recorder  and email mp3 files to him.  He uploads the songs to his iPod and listens/practices as he hikes or whatever.

When I last saw him I asked if he wanted any of these copies of his songs, some of which date back to 2010.  He replied that he had not looked through or filed the last bunch of songs I returned to him, so he wouldn't take these.  Thus I emptied two more binders, and three inches of paper went into the blue bin today.

One month old

Already ec is one month old!  He has gained over 2 pounds since birth, is eating and sleeping well, and stays awake for longer periods.  es likes to show him toys and "play" with him.  When I held him Thursday, he felt so light!  I guess I was comparing him to es's thirty pounds.

E is looking ahead to her return to work, not looking forward to work but thinking and planning for that time.  While her leave is a generous sixteen weeks, four of those are now gone.  It looks like es will begin day care three days a week in July.  So for about three weeks in June I will watch both children daily, then ec alone three days and both children two days a week.  My goal is to provide ec with the same (perhaps similar would be a more accurate term) individual care I gave es for her first year.

Who lived there?

One of my favorite activities is genealogy, discovering more about my family history.  This week the speaker at the East Bay Genealogical Society discussed city directories (not telephone books) and how they can help the researcher.  In the past I have found relatives listed in various books, confirming addresses and occupations, and even one family member who told me he didn't remember living at that address.  (A mystery!)  After the meeting I came home and began to research the previous owners of our new house.  We had a couple of clippings from the realtor indicating the first owner so I started with that name and found some information online.

Yesterday I stopped by our main library and looked through some city directories to see if I could find more.  The house was built in 1900, according to information the realtor gave us, but the 1900 directory did not list the owner as I expected.   OK, perhaps the house was not yet finished or occupied when the directory was printed.  The 1901 directory listed the owner with a different address but in town.  He and his wife appear in the 1902 volume.  Eureka!  I didn't check every year, but he and his wife were also listed in the 1910, 1911, 1912, 1913, and 1915 editions.  However in the 1916 directory, the wife appeared under her own name and was identified as the widow of Ezekiel.  Using other sources I found the husband had died in 1916; the wife survived till 1930.

By using United States census reports, I learned the house was rented by a different family in 1920;  perhaps the widow was living with one of her sons and wanted rental income.  Another family had moved in by 1930 (for $41.50 a month).  The 1940 census revealed the house was owned by a widow from Texas; I don't know when her family bought the house, perhaps her husband was still alive when they moved some time after April 1935 (information shown on the census).  The value of the house was shown as $3000.  The sellers provided a rough history of their family in the house, beginning in the mid-1950's; the 1950 census will be available for study in 2022.

With these clues it will be possible to learn even more about previous residents of our new home.  My next step will be to look at telephone directories at the library.  Because their pages are brittle, early phone books are kept in locked cabinets.  Our library does not have reverse directories, so I can't just look up the address, but now I have names to work with.  I will compile a list of those I want to check, then have fun!

Socks

Many years ago, perhaps 50 or even more, I learned how to knit.  My dad's mother taught me, giving me a pattern for knitted slippers from which I knit several pairs to give as presents.  Since then I've made numerous scarves, afghans, even a couple of sweaters.  Two years ago, when I was about to head to Phoenix for e's birth, I decided to learn how to knit socks, to have a portable project to occupy my hands.  Amanda Jean Nyberg, writer of the crazymomquilts blog, offered a free sock pattern that looked doable for a beginner, so I downloaded it.  Then I stopped in at a local yarn shop, bought a skein of a lovely variegated (self-striping) blue yarn and circular needles, and cast on 60 stitches.  It took two or three tries before I moved past the first couple of rows, but finally I was on my way, knitting from the top of the cuff toward the toe.  As I sat in the NICU waiting room then at home with E, that first sock took shape.

I liked the blue striped pair so much, that when I realized there was enough yarn left to make one more sock, I went back to the yarn shop and was fortunate to find another skein of that blue.  So now I have three pairs.  I just finished my fourth pair, of pink, turquoise, purple and orange. When my sister saw me working on them, she asked if she could have them.  Yesterday I put them in the mail to her.  Now I have started the fifth pair, with muted red, blue, yellow, black flecked with metallic.  How they sparkle!  I'm not a super-fast knitter, but that's OK.  It's very rewarding to see the sock grow.  And to think it's just yarn looping in and out, almost like magic.