The Colors of February -

Normally February in our neck of the woods will have at least a week of this -

But not so this year -










We've had a LOT of this -

















And the primroses were only a dollar a pot at the grocery store - I didn't have to beg too hard for The Shepherd to put together this pretty pot for the back porch.







Snowdrops remind me of growing up in Eastern Washington - they were the first little flowers to bravely poke their little heads out - up on the scab patches (the rocky non-farmable areas) there were yellow bells that looked just like snow drops - but they were... yellow...





The peonies are starting to grow













As is the columbine - and everywhere in town the cherry trees are beginning to blossom -
Suddenly it is looking like spring around here -










And of course there is nothing like a big red amaryllis to shout out the colors of February - This one was a gift from my spinning buddy Ellin - it had 8 big beautiful blooms.

So that's about it - mostly brown with little tufts of green showing through - everything is so "on it's way" to spring - I hope we don't get any unexpected freezing weather - that would not be good...


For Colors of February from all over the world, visit Life Looms Large -


Olympics Update - Been watching the snowboarders? Wow, those kids must have rubber bones - the women were taking some hard falls last night - all this nice weather that we've been having has played havoc with the snow venues - Didn't stop our American women Lindsey Vonn and Julia Mancuso who took gold and silver in the Women's Downhill - they were flying down the slopes like they had wings.

Indoors tonight at the Pacific Coliseum was the Ice Dancing - what fun it is to watch!

Is there a Patron Saint for Lost Earrings?

This sweet little earring was my Valentine's present from The Shepherd - Actually the PAIR of earrings was my present -

We got them a couple of weeks ago when we went on a "Saturday Drive" - something that we haven't had a chance to do for a long time - both have been so busy on the weekends -

We stopped in LaConner at the Skagit (pronounce the "g" like you would in "George") county museum where they were having an exhibit of NW Native American Arts & Crafts - really some beautiful weaving and carvings - and I fell in love with this little pair of earrings. If you click on the picture to biggify it, you will see that the brown "thing" at the top of the earring is actually a rose made out of cedar bark ribbons. With the turquoise butterfly, I thought it was a nice combination of NW & SW Indian art - but they have kind of a funny bend on the wire and the times that I have worn them, I have caught the one almost coming out of my ear a couple of times - so I don't know why I didn't snag a couple of the "rubber grommets" that I have on some of my other earrings that do that, just didn't think about it I guess.

Well the other day when I got home, I realized that I only had one earring. Oh man, I was so mad and so disappointed - I had only worn them twice and already one was gone.

I imagined it somewhat like a lost animal - "Oh, here I am - don't you see me?" - We looked all along the driveway and I shook out my vest and coat - no luck. Darn. And I knew that if it was lost in the parking lot at work the guys would probably just walk right by it (that is if they didn't step on it first)...not real observant, those guys...

Well, the Patron Saint of Lost Earrings must have heard my prayers - when I got to work. I tried as much as I could to retrace my steps from the night before - no earring - but when I got to my office and looked around - THERE IT WAS, on the floor under my desk. How lucky was that???

Next time, I'll be more careful!

OLYMPIC UPDATE: One of my co-workers and his family spent the day in Vancouver yesterday at the Olympic village. They had a fabulous time - walked about 12 miles - visited all the "Hospitality Rooms", and just generally had a bang up time for "O" dollars. No time for watching Olympics tonight - it was choir practice then doing some computer work - but the Canadians got another GOLD - good for them!

His Valentine's Present.....

Well, I figured I'd better show you his new sweater before the natives got too restless.

You may remember last fall when I spun and spun to make all this yarn for our friend Denise to knit The Shepherd a new sweater vest. She brought it to our guild meeting on Saturday, so he was able to wear it to church on Valentine's Day!








One of the ladies from church is also a spinner and knitter - she gave it her full approval!


















Denise used a pattern that The Shepherd picked out from looking at MANY, MANY mens vest patterns that we found on the internet.

She also used the vest that he has worn for the past 20 years or so that his "ex" made for him. He asked me one time if it didn't bother me that he wore it - "heck no"- it is a beautiful vest made from a gorgeous brown Navajo Churro (I think) wool - (really it is a work of art with cables and everything) - but he has practically worn the poor thing out. So it was time for a new one.

Thank you Denise for your wonderful skill and care that you took - I think he's already planning which fleece he'd like made into the next vest.


Olympic Update: The Chinese won both the gold and silver in "Pairs figure skating" tonight - both couples were just fantastic - how the heck do they do that? - & Congrats to the Canadians for their GOLD medal won by Alexandre Bilodeau in the men's moguls - (he'll need that gold medal to pay for the knee reconstruction surgery they'll have to do when he's 30...)

Let the Games Begin

We are located about 45 miles south of Vancouver, British Columbia where they are currently holding the 2010 Olympic games. It is exciting to be this close and sort of "be in" on all the excitement. Last week they had a ceremony when the Olympic flame came through Blaine's Peace Arch Park (undoubtedly one of the most beautiful parks in the state) and we have several athletes and performers from Washington State who are included in the games, including speed skater Apolo Anton Ono.

Even the local "Stone & Landscape" Supply has joined in the Olympic fever and put up their own version of the Olympic Inukshuk mascot.

I've got to say that the Canadians have done a wonderful job of including their Aboriginal peoples in the celebration of these games - I hope you got to watch the opening ceremonies - they were beautiful -

We've been busy - places to go - things to do and people to see - and after 20 years of working for others, and then being on unemployment for the last two months, The Shepherd has decided to make a leap of faith and start his own gardening business. It is called JP's Serenity Gardens. I am excited for him!

In the past month, we've seen Taiko Drummers and The Smothers Brothers - taken a trip to Oak Harbor for Chinese food and worked on getting the new business going and yesterday I went to my spinner guild meeting. Wait til you see what I brought back for The Shepherd!

One thing that I have to do is restrict Anonymous comments on my blog - I have been hit by spammers and I don't like it. Normally I have about 20-30 visitors a day - last week on one day I had over 100 visitors. Now, I can't say that they were all spammers, but the increase of Anonymous comments is suspicious. I'm hoping not to have to make you do the word recognition thing - hopefully just stopping the Anonymous comments will do the trick. We'll see.

Meanwhile, there are some cute dudes in skating outfits I've got to go watch.

The Scene of the Crime. . .

First, there are the discarded bits of twist wire...












then the broken clips that ended up in the bottom of the water bucket











and the serious bendey parts on the gate....
















And the "Doo, tee, doo, doo" - "Who me?" attitude of a certain couple of boys....









Not necessarily the crime of the century, but it has earned Vern the nick name of "Lizard Lips"

















When a couple of fellows who think they have been incarcerated in "the big house" suddenly meet you at the inside gate...













You know you have a Houdini in the pasture...




























Yup, Ole "Lizard Lips" is pretty lucky that The Shepherd REALLY like his fleece -

He'd be on his way to the land of little white packages in the freezer -

Sharing Their Sadness -

Our friends Kathy & Ralph from Sheep Thrills Farm in Arizona have lost their friend Ziggy. He was a grand old man of about 16 years old, having come to their home as a stray (they are one of the people who have that invisible "Stray Cats are Welcome Here" sign in their driveway).

He had been loosing weight for about a year and pretty sick for a couple of weeks now - Kathy & Ralph had done everything that they could think of to help him regain his health, but it was not to be.

I am so very sad for them, as, like many of you out there, we have lost a kitty who was such a character that he left a permanent imprint on our hearts. When I look through my photos for "Looking Back Sunday" the older ones are so full of Neelix pictures. Sometimes I can look through them, sometimes I just can't and feel like we really should have tried to do more - to push the vet to do more tests - but, it's a "could-a, should-a, would-a situation at best. Nothing I can say or do will bring him back.

Because they have "connections" I asked our friends Karla & Miss Peach to alert the members of the Cat Blogosphere that Ziggy had crossed The Rainbow Bridge. This group, like no other, can offer sympathy that is so heart felt and meaningful. I hope their words of condolence will help K&R get through this hard time.

Our friends Karla & Miss Peach also wrote a beautiful poem for us the weekend when Neelix went to the Bridge. It still "makes my eyes leak" but I'll reprint it here in honor of Ziggy.

For Neelix (and his "mom & dad") -

Close your eyes now, my longtime friend,
and let this time of suffering
come to a peaceful end.
We'll walk together soon, I'm sure,
as winter turns to spring,
when snow gives way to budding leaves
and birds begin to sing.
The gentle breeze shall call your name
along the water's edge.
For what we shared and what you meant
shall never be forgot.
Your friendship spans the years behind,
your memory ahead.
You'll always be there next to me,
companion and good friend.

Keep an eye out for Neelix, Zig - I'm sure he'll show you all around -

Looking Back Sunday

Three years ago The Shepherd & I decided to take a trip up the Skagit River to see the eagles - the week before there had been reports of over 50 eagles roosting in the trees - the weekend we went - not so many - like we saw ONE eagle - can you see it just below the halfway point of this picture?

It was a beautiful day - cold and clear - but it was a long and disappointing drive - to top it all off, The Shepherd was in a huge amount of pain - this was right after he had fallen down a bank at work and hurt his back (the accident that eventually led to his being bedridden for a whole month and finally having surgery)






This is the yarn that I spun last winter for a sweater vest for The Shepherd. From the charts that I could find, I figured that I needed to spin up 1200 yards (!) of yarn. Whew- what a project! It was FINALLY delivered to the woman who is knitting said sweater last month at our spinner guild meeting. I got an email from her tonight - she said it is fairly easy to knit with - as long as she chooses skeins where the yarn is all the same size - and I thought they were ALL the same size - hmmm.... Guess that McMorran Yarn Balance that The Shepherd got me for my birthday this year will start to come in handy... (I finally got it ordered from Paradise Fibers in Spokane - hopefully it will be here next week)


Here is a picture of some of the plants in my rock garden from a couple of years ago - I just liked all the colors in this picture.

I feel like the Rabbit from Alice in Wonderland - so many things to do and so little time. We went to see a Japanese Taiko drumming troop called TAO this afternoon - I snuck some pretty decent pictures - I'll post more about it next week sometime.

The Color's of January

It has been so warm this month - (we're on a course to have the warmest January on record!) that the witch hazel is in full bloom!

Bulbs are popping their little heads up all over the garden. The Shepherd/aka The Gardener is afraid that what happened last year will happen again this year - a hard freeze in February killed a LOT of stuff in our yard. Lets hope that doesn't happen this year.

Work is busy - 6 day weeks most of the month - but I took yesterday off - we went to Oak Harbor (about a 90 mile round trip) to have Chinese food. It was worth the trip. Saw swans and a lot of eagles - my camera was sitting on the kitchen counter. Darn.

Bilingual barnyard

A flock of sheep are hanging out in the barn, having a little snack and happily going "baa baa" to each other and discussing life as usual when suddenly they hear a "moo moooooooooooooooo!"

They look around and see only sheep. They carry on playing as before.

"Moooooo mooooooooooo mmmoo!"







Pearl can hear it all too clearly next to her. She shuffles away a little from her friend, a worried look on her face, and then asks, "Andre, why are you mooing? You're a sheep. Sheep go 'baa'!"










Her friend replies, "I know. But, I thought I would learn a foreign language!"


(just for the record, Violet says that this is one of the silliest jokes she's ever heard)




Revised from Doc's Daily Chuckle.

I'd rather be........

...in Hawaii at the Maui Ocean Center -

I got to thinking about Hawaii tonight because I spent the ENTIRE day entering payroll items in our new computer program - and our Controller had done quite a bit of set up before hand -

Why does this make me think of Hawaii?



Because the last time I did this was just before we went to Hawaii in 2004 -

The Maui Ocean Center was the highlight - otherwise it was the vacation from hell...

#1 - The Shepherd came down with pneumonia -
#2 - We were on Maui in October - generally a fairly nice time of year to be there - but they were "havin' a heat wave..." - even the locals were complaining about the heat...




It was nice and cool in this underwater tunnel - not so much in our condo - NO AIR CONDITIONING! They had ceiling fans, but no AC - the only place we had AC was in the car we rented - but The Shepherd was so sick, we really didn't go anyplace for two days. Bummer...







We did go to some beautiful botanical gardens tho - this one specialized in proteas -











And I think this is my favorite picture from the whole trip - I can almost smell the fragrance from these beautiful blossoms when I look at this picture.

Oh well.

New Year's at Nancy's

Every year on New Year's Day our friend Nancy has a brunch for friends - It started out being a bunch of us who used to hang out at a little restaurant called the Cookie Cafe. When it closed, we no longer saw each other on Friday nights - so what better way to get together - music and food.







Now, we have added new friends and even our neighbors come out - (how is that - go half way across the county to see someone who lives two blocks away!)











Since the start we've had a preponderance of old "rock and rollers" but now there is a contingent of great bluegrass pickers & singers - nothing could be better -














This year a couple of us brought our spinning wheel. Ellen's husband is one of the bluegrass players - I brought my wheel too - everyone was very interested in what we were doing -












And it gives us all an opportunity to bring our best dishes or try a new one.

I have traditionally made Aebelskivers - which are a little round pancake made in a special pan. But when I do that, I don't get to visit with anyone, because I'm in the kitchen making them - so I decided to bring a hot dish similar to a strata - Apple, Bacon & Cheddar Bread Pudding. It was very good. I doubled the recipe (as shown is the regular recipe) except for the apples and only used them in the middle - I think it would have been nice to have had some warm maple syrup or some hollandaise sauce to give it a little bit of "oomph" - Here is the recipe:

APPLE BACON & CHEDDAR BREAD PUDDING

3 tablespoons butter or margarine

2 medium Granny Smith apples, peeled and coarsely chopped (about 2 cups)

3 tablespoons packed brown sugar

4 cups cubed firm bread

1 pound bacon, cooked, drained and chopped

2 cups shredded sharp Cheddar cheese (8 ounces)

2 1/2 cups milk

1 tbsp Dijonaise (or other Dijon style) mustard

2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce

¼ teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon pepper

5 eggs

1. Grease 2-quart casserole. In 10-inch skillet, melt butter over medium heat. Cook apples in butter 2 to 3 minutes, stirring occasionally, until crisp-tender. Stir in brown sugar; reduce heat to low. Cook 5 to 6 minutes, stirring occasionally, until apples are tender.

2. Layer half each of the bread, bacon and cheese in casserole. Add the apples. Repeat with remaining bread, bacon and cheese.

3. Mix all remaining ingredients; pour over cheese. Cover tightly and refrigerate at least 2 hours but no longer than 24 hours.

4. Heat oven to 350ºF. Bake uncovered 40 to 45 minutes or until knife inserted in center comes out clean. Let stand 10 minutes before serving.

I fried up my bacon bits the night before (on New Years Eve - woo hoo) and had planned to put together the dish so it would have overnight to sit - but the fridge was still full of Christmas ham, and other assorted leftovers, so, I got up early to make it on Friday a.m. - so it only sat about 1/2 hour before I put it in the oven - it was OK - (I mooshed it a lot with a big spoon) Using the packaged shredded cheese saved me a lot of time too - it's premeasured to two cups - oh, and I didn't peel the apples either - just chopped them up in 1/2 inch cubes...

Was it just Dumb Luck?

Or am I getting better at this craft?

As you can see one bobbin is EMPTY and the other one almost EMPTY!

I have been able to do this spinning from top or from roving, but not from a batt before. I was quite pleased with myself, I must say...

This is Moni's lamb fleece - it didn't do too well at Black Sheep, but it has sure spun up nicely. In fact, I've had to concentrate on not getting it too fine -





Here's the finished product - ready to make into a skein. (yes, that bobbin is pretty darn full - wasn't going to get much more on it anyhow...)

I have decided to start spinning up all the Shetland wool that we have (trust me, there is lots) - The Shepherd wants a "sampler" sweater of some kind - (I still have not gotten the 1600 yards of the Regina/AnnaDee blend that I made last fall to Denise so she could start THAT sweater...)

Hmmm - maybe she'll be at guild on Saturday...

I'm supposed to be doing some "work from home" this evening but I'm playing hooky from my own resolve. I've been "working from home" a bit more lately - still trying to get caught up from the new accounting system installed in October. We're almost there - but not quite.

I hope your New Year is going well. I'll have a few pictures from the New Year's Day brunch at Nancy's Farm and a recipe for you this weekend - Cheddar, Bacon and Apple Bread Pudding. It was surprisingly tasty (well, there was almost 2# of bacon - yes, it was that good)

Looking back Sunday

This was our driveway two years ago this week - last year's Christmas/New Year's was close to this too - I'm so glad that we've had good weather this year!! It hasn't been particularly sunny, but it hasn't snowed either - Yay!

Hope everyone is staying warm and safe.

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!

Did you empty all your bobbins and drop the drive band off your spinning wheel last night so the fairy witch of Scottish peasants a Nordic, named Gyre Carline could stop by and inspect your wheel?

You can look to her for skill in spinning and if you are lucky, she will grant it to you. But if you have left a partly-filled bobbin on the wheel, she will spin up the rest for you, but will mutter and curse you for being lazy. (boy, I have enough trouble with that as it is, don't need any fairy witch adding her curse to my life...) So Gyre Carline found my fiber life in order - maybe she'll grant me some extra skills....

When I write my blog, I really try hard to write about things that I think my readers might find interesting - the following is my New Year's editorial column from my church newsletter - I thought you might like to read it too -

"January is the traditional time to take stock - the first of a new year - it gives us a feeling that we can “start over. Get a new hair-do - show off those new Christmas clothes, whatever you like.

I’m going to begin the new year by reading Debbie Macomber’s new book “ One Simple Act: Discovering the Power of Generosity". Even something as simple as buying the coffee for the person in the car behind me changed the day for me last week - it made ME feel good to have done something surprising for someone - It really brightened the day of my barista - he kept saying “That’s so cool” and I don’t know about the guy whose coffee I bought, but I hope it inspired him to do something nice for someone - give a kind word for the clerk in the store, or sit and read a book for his child without thinking “I should be working (or calling my friend or watching that show on TV - you know the drill)

I will keep you posted on what Ms. Macomber suggests in her book, but I know for starters that she encourages people to keep a gratitude journal - keep a list of 5 things every day that you are grateful for. So many times that one simple act can help you see that your glass is not half empty, it is actually half full.

One of the things I have liked best about writing my blog is reading the other blogs that I come across. I have made some truly wonderful friends and have been treated to some very interesting ideas. Robert Fulghum, a well known UU writes a wonderful blog (www.robertfulghum.com/)(and, no, he’s not one of the friends I have made, but I do enjoy reading what he has to say….)

In a recent column he wrote: “Out of my own desire not to drown in the news of evil, I search for the good stuff in the world in my own life. I don’t want to miss it. And when I find it, I pass it on. Often it makes me laugh. We are all characters in a comic strip at times. And I say, over and over, in one way or another, ‘Meanwhile, don’t miss the good stuff. Pass it on.’ If I have a message, that’s pretty much it.”

Now, I don't’ mean to sound like a Pollyanna - but, I really do feel that we ingest way too much “negative stuff” these days - murder and mayhem on the TV - and recently in real life - even TV shows that are meant to be “comedy” are filled with people being rude or thoughtless to each other. Maybe the idea, as Fulghum puts it is to take a step in the other direction."



My gratitude journal will begin with the folks who spend a few minutes and leave me comments on my blog - Thanks for thinking about what I say and I hope everyone's New Year dreams come true.

What I took for Show & Tell

These are the four skeins of yarn that I took to our last Spinner Guild meeting for Show and Tell. (none of these have been washed yet) From left to right:

(white) Luna's prize winning fleece that was "over" processed into sliver or pin drafted roving - it's full of little noils but they seem to help add to the texture of the yarn. I'm going to make this into a scarf for someone who purchased it at last year's church auction.

(turquoise) This is some Blue Faced Leicester that was part of the first yarn project that I spun when I took my second spinning class a couple of years ago. It was very poorly plied and when I took the class from Judith M-M last month, she mentioned that yarn could be replied - well, by golly, it worked pretty well. I'm going to make a pair of slippers for myself from it.

(dark brown) That is Moni's fleece from last year. I'm going to just start spinning up all our Shetland fleeces so it is available to use for projects - like another vest for The Shepherd (if he'll ever let me get the measurements for the first one...) I also have a Shetland color sampler project in mind that I'd like to make -

(lite blue/pink) This is from some corriedale cross combed top that I got last summer at BSG. Wow, it was really fun to spin - and I know that is directly because of the November class - letting loose of the killer grip that I had previously used - (you spinners will know what I mean) I have about 1 1/2 pounds of yarn - and had originally purchased it with making something for our god-daughter in mind - probably a hat (for outside) and a little shawl (for inside).

That's all for now. This next week I have my church newsletter, my spinner guild newsletter, end of month billing and payroll at work, so you probably won't hear much from me til after the new years. Gosh I can't believe that it is about to be 2010 - Do you remember the hysteria about Y2K??? Now the hysteria is about 2012 - Well, I guess we'll find out in a couple of years, huh? Anyhow, Happy New Year's to everyone.

Oh, Really?

So, do you suppose you serve this with lamb?

Merry Christmas, Baby...

Rockin' all night long -

See more funny dog and puppy pictures HERE!


Hope you and yours have a happy one!

The Color's of December

I was inspired by my friend Sharon, who was inspired by her friend Sue to show you some of the Color's of December in my part of the world.

My friends have lots of grand kids - and their house is beautifully (but kid friendly) decorated up for Christmas - or Christmouse, as the case may be.

The Color's of December are Sparkling and Light!






This is our church choir taken Sunday night after our Christmas service. We're small but we have big voices. Everyone said it was our best performance ever...of course, they always say that...

The Colors of December are filled with Love and Song.





And this is the other Color of December around here - just a little big gray around the edges.

I'm almost done with my Christmas "shopping" though - I discovered a wonderful gift card kiosk at my local grocery store - did a happy dance when I found that Barnes and Noble card for one of my sisters - now I won't have to brave traffic in the "mall" area to get one for her! Yahoo!

Front Row - Center Stage

Photograph by bhpimages.com
Okay, so we were in the third row back - but in the intimate setting of The Amadeus Project in "beautiful downtown Bellingham - it was like listening to one of my all time favorite artists, David Lanz playing Christmas music in our living room (although I don't think a grand piano would really fit in our living room, but one can always dream...)

We went to his Christmas concert last year (he lives here in B'ham now - it's a new "tradition" - one I hope will continue) We thought it might be an "extravagance" to go to this year's concert (due to "current fiscal conditions") - but it was The Shepherd's idea to go this year and I'm glad we did.

I have been a fan of David's since the late 80's - his Nightfall album got me through a rough patch when a friend moved to California and I thought I was going to die of a broken heart (didn't we always think that???) - I think I practically played the tracts off that disc...

As one of the first recognized "new age" artists, he recorded on the Windham Hill label for many years and has his own label now. I have seen him in concert many times and have never been disappointed. He is engaging and his stories are very entertaining - and he's not afraid to laugh at himself.

Tonight he played a few songs from his newest album "LIVERPOOL . . . Re-imagining the Beatles". Like many of us, he grew up listening to and being inspired by the Beatles and the other great music that came out of Liverpool and it's surrounding area. I haven't listened to the whole album yet, (you can hear snippets of the tracts here or you can also listen to "David Lanz Streaming Radio here). I hope you enjoy his music - I do.

I am so NOT ready for Christmas.......

see more Lolcats and funny pictures here

Looking Back Sunday

Whatcha doin T.?

Oh, I'm looking at pictures to see what I want to use for my Looking Back Sunday post.

Did ya find one?

Yes, I'm going to use the picture from when we took Susie up to her new home with Ellen and Mike in Rockport. She needed to go to a home where there were no rams around, because she shouldn't have any more babies.

I saw Ellen on Saturday at my spinner guild meeting. Susie is very lucky that she got such a nice new mom.


Off she goes to check out her new digs and her new suite mates. Ellen said she is happy and healthy with very long wool (but she'll wait til spring to shear her this time...)

Thanks, Ellen, for giving Susie such a good new home.

Speaking of rams, weather and road conditions permitting, HB & Cooper are going to the auction tomorrow. It was a nice idea to have three breeding groups, but not so nice when the bored boys started tearing things apart last week. It cost The Shepherd many many green papers to buy repair parts for the fences and things that they have torn apart. I will miss the big lugs, but I sure hope the roads are passable and that the auction will be open tomorrow. This is not a good time for us to have to shell out many green papers to fix things around here, if you know what I mean.

I'm going to go have a cup of tea (hopefully it will get rid of my sore throat) and dive into the new Joanne Fluke mystery that my sister Nance sent me last week. It came in a box with a beautiful Americana egg blue sweater and salmon colored blouse (although I'm not too sure about the ruffles...) that she got at Value Village. I love it that she loves to shop - she's get's outrageous deals on stuff and most of the time things fit (which is amazing because we have pretty different body types - she's got a good eye, I guess) - & I don't have to go shopping.

She also sent me a pair of knit slacks in the most remarkable shade of purple. They are very comfortable to wear about the house, but I don't think they'd be socially acceptable to wear out in public. What is it that makes companies produce clothes in my size in colors that are beyond comprehension? One of the many mysteries in life, that include Rubik Cubes and Sudoku.....

Have a good week, and stay warm.