February

It was cold last week, hovering around and under zero, although it is sunny and warmish again today.  But during the worst of the cold spell we had a bit of a shock during dinner  when we heard a loud explosion and debris of some sort ricocheting in our screened porch that adjoins the dining room.   Had one of the trees fallen onto the house?  We both jumped up and looked but didn’t see anything at first glance aside from a smattering of ice all over the porch.  On closer investigation, we realized that a 2 litre bottle of soda (foolishly left there to get cold) had exploded!   The bottle was completely flat.  It was diet pop, thank goodness, so no sugary mess, but what a noise!

This winter we have not seen much wildlife out back.  The deer have only wandered through once or twice during the daytime.  But we were thrilled to have a red-shouldered hawk visit a few days ago, such a handsome fella!  He was a reminder to me, though, of how much Jack's vision was affected by his strokes five years ago.  The only way for him to see the hawk was for me to photograph it and show him the picture.  Wildlife spotting used to be one of his favorite things and he was far better at it than I am and now his field of vision is so impaired that it is close to impossible for him to pick up small movements and objects.  And yet he has never complained or become bitter about it, which is another thing to admire about him I think.

In sewing ‘news,’ my idea of making a random choice of what project to work on has borne a (very) little fruit.  I did not finish my assigned project in January, but by February 2 the project, a purse, was complete.  I have made lots of purses and bags over the years and had forgotten how frustrating they can be for me, and this bag was no exception.   Both the written instructions and the online tutorial just confused me, which may be a sign of my aging brain.  I hated almost every  minute of making it and was delighted to finally be done with it — but alas, the random project I pulled for February is ALSO a purse.   Not so surprising because eight of the listed projects are bags or totes.  Sigh.  Hopefully this one will go more smoothly since some of the steps were only recently conquered and are likely to be repeated here.   However smoothly they will eventually go, they aren’t going anywhere yet and the month is nearly half over.  At this rate my list of 40 projects will last a lifetime!  

Speaking of bags and totes, I remembered this week how much I also hated making a couple of duffle-type bags.  I thought they were useable but total creative failures, but when I pulled one the other day out to send to my daughter I was amazed at how nicely made it was.  The seams inside are all finished and it has multiple pockets of different sizes.  The only flaw I found is that the zipper pulls don't go in the direction I intended.   Distance seems to help my perspective.  

My grandchildren continue to fill my life with joy.  This week we learned - on Facebook, since he didn’t mention it himself — that Joseph, the oldest Grand, won recognition in a regional scholastic writing competition for two of his poems.  Joseph is on the “audition circuit,” interviewing at various universities, doing live cello auditions, and meeting the staff of composition departments since he intends to major in both mathematics and music composition.  He has been well received everywhere and no wonder.  Even if I am perhaps not totally objective, I am pretty sure that it is true that he is intelligent, talented, and a thoughtful and good person.  Any school would be lucky to have him.  I can’t wait to see what he chooses.  

The  middle Grandchild, Ray, is equally smart and talented, and a lot of her time lately is spent between violin (lessons and both school and local orchestra) and theater through her high school.   Both kids are excellent scholars, more than capable of rational thought, able to benefit from constructive criticism (what a rare trait!), gifted musicians who have studied their instruments since a very young age, and genuinely nice people.   I am completely besotted with them both.

And little George -- he is more active all the time.  He wears me out and delights my heart, and Jack is over the moon about him.  He is using more words all the time and developing more of a sense of humor, so we know that, although these times are so much fun, even better days are ahead as he comes into his own unique little personality.   

Tomorrow is Valentine's Day and I hear we are going out to dinner.  Jack told me long ago that he doesn't "do" Valentines Day and not to expect anything much, and that is fine with me.  But this year he insists that of course we need to celebrate so out to dinner it is.   It will be fun, and I guess if he decides to develop a more romantic version of himself I will not complain!