Great to see you are back. Your posting about your daily life has resonance within my life. Trying not to stress with score card. Measure out home tasks for easy stress free brief as in visit clutter for only 15 minutes. Walking my neighborhood. Sometimes images in photos or only memories. Life is rich and free.
Thank you, Fran, for this varied and wonderful post. I too live an over-stuffed life, yet even now I'm thinking it would be cool to dig out my Spanish books and brush up on that language. We have a growing number of Mexican restaurants in Minden, four or five within a square mile in fact. And I often find yet another one tucked in a strip mall somewhere. A cuisine that never bores. The other night we tried a new place. Sitting there eating their spectacular food, a group of employees (family perhaps) chattered away in Spanish. I longed to understand every word. Alas. Another project to add to the list that I can barely manage within each day.
Your quilts are exquisite, perfectly squared and sewn. Magic and good math. I gave up quilting to fit in my knitting, and even that is paired with watching DVDs. I'm collecting favorite movies now. What fun is squirreled away for this winter.
BTW, some of those greys in the buildings have shadings that create a muted palette of subtlety. As for that brightly painted house, it's a relief to the eyes, but I wonder how durable that paint will be after a few years of Portland rain?
Thanks to Robert's incredible ear for language, he does understand the Spanish at the next table. He jokes that he got so many medals for Spanish achievement when he was in high school in Brooklyn that he rivals Gen. Franco. He also speaks fluent Russian and German. His Hebrew is pretty good, also. Polish and Turkish, a little less good.
Funny thing about that bright house: there's one I pass on the bus that was painted bright orange maybe 12-15 years ago. It's faded a bit, but not much. Newer paint technology holds up better, I guess.
The funny thing about Stephen's quilt was that when I first laid it out I thought it was so ugly I didn't want to finish it. But once it was quilted, I fell in love with it. I'm making another one on the same concept for myself. No math involved, just slop some scraps together and square off at 5 inches.
Most movies these days have such fine cinematography that I want to watch rather than look at my handword. Audio books are a better bet. I'm giving up on knitting; too much MS arm pain.
OUCH! Yeah, knitting can change the shape of your fingers too. My two pointer fingers are bent at the joint now. Knitter's knobs. I take it in little spurts like watching a DVD at night ... only one. An hour's worth of knitting and I'm done.
I'm deeply impressed with Robert's linguistic skills. Holy merde! Was he in the military in a certain capacity or does he just have a penchant for language?
He’s just good at languages. His doctorates are in philosophy and electrical engineering (higher level math), which are related, I think. He’s musical, too, though he doesn’t play an instrument. It’s how his brain is wired.
My husband also is fascinated and good at languages. He's tackled Basque lately. He's spent his career as a computer programmer and learns computer language fairly quickly.
As I noted to Sue, I didn’t even like the quilt till Nancy quilted it. I was sure the red plaid flannel, which I bought on the web, was a bad idea. But once it was assembled, I just wanted to sleep under it.
Great to see you are back. Your posting about your daily life has resonance within my life. Trying not to stress with score card. Measure out home tasks for easy stress free brief as in visit clutter for only 15 minutes. Walking my neighborhood. Sometimes images in photos or only memories. Life is rich and free.
Thank you, Fran, for this varied and wonderful post. I too live an over-stuffed life, yet even now I'm thinking it would be cool to dig out my Spanish books and brush up on that language. We have a growing number of Mexican restaurants in Minden, four or five within a square mile in fact. And I often find yet another one tucked in a strip mall somewhere. A cuisine that never bores. The other night we tried a new place. Sitting there eating their spectacular food, a group of employees (family perhaps) chattered away in Spanish. I longed to understand every word. Alas. Another project to add to the list that I can barely manage within each day.
Your quilts are exquisite, perfectly squared and sewn. Magic and good math. I gave up quilting to fit in my knitting, and even that is paired with watching DVDs. I'm collecting favorite movies now. What fun is squirreled away for this winter.
BTW, some of those greys in the buildings have shadings that create a muted palette of subtlety. As for that brightly painted house, it's a relief to the eyes, but I wonder how durable that paint will be after a few years of Portland rain?
Thanks to Robert's incredible ear for language, he does understand the Spanish at the next table. He jokes that he got so many medals for Spanish achievement when he was in high school in Brooklyn that he rivals Gen. Franco. He also speaks fluent Russian and German. His Hebrew is pretty good, also. Polish and Turkish, a little less good.
Funny thing about that bright house: there's one I pass on the bus that was painted bright orange maybe 12-15 years ago. It's faded a bit, but not much. Newer paint technology holds up better, I guess.
The funny thing about Stephen's quilt was that when I first laid it out I thought it was so ugly I didn't want to finish it. But once it was quilted, I fell in love with it. I'm making another one on the same concept for myself. No math involved, just slop some scraps together and square off at 5 inches.
Most movies these days have such fine cinematography that I want to watch rather than look at my handword. Audio books are a better bet. I'm giving up on knitting; too much MS arm pain.
OUCH! Yeah, knitting can change the shape of your fingers too. My two pointer fingers are bent at the joint now. Knitter's knobs. I take it in little spurts like watching a DVD at night ... only one. An hour's worth of knitting and I'm done.
I'm deeply impressed with Robert's linguistic skills. Holy merde! Was he in the military in a certain capacity or does he just have a penchant for language?
He’s just good at languages. His doctorates are in philosophy and electrical engineering (higher level math), which are related, I think. He’s musical, too, though he doesn’t play an instrument. It’s how his brain is wired.
My husband also is fascinated and good at languages. He's tackled Basque lately. He's spent his career as a computer programmer and learns computer language fairly quickly.
What a beautiful quilt. A real stunner. Nice to see Robert’s as well.
As I noted to Sue, I didn’t even like the quilt till Nancy quilted it. I was sure the red plaid flannel, which I bought on the web, was a bad idea. But once it was assembled, I just wanted to sleep under it.