Clearing Out One's Parents Home

As you all know, this has been a year of huge changes for me. Apparently I am not done with change yet, because my parents threw me a loop at the end of March.

They've been talking about moving into a retirement apartment or something like it for literally years, but felt they had to go through everything in their house, throw out and sort, sell the house, etc., before they moved. And they did nothing. My Mom literally was past it, and my Dad has never done that kind of thing, and wasn't starting now. I finally told him that he might as well quit talking about moving because if they had to do all that before they went, they weren't going. I also said that was fine, and we could figure out what to do so they could just stay in their home. But, if they were really moving, they'd better take what they wanted and leave the rest for us (my sister, brother and me) to deal with.

Well....I really must have lit a fire under him, because within two days they had picked out an apartment in a very nice retirement community, and they moved 4 days later! My sister came from California as fast as she could, and she, I, and my brother spent 3 weeks working steadily to clear things out. They'd been there about 36 years, and it's a large house with LOTS of storage, and it was full. We got through most of it before Lisa had to go home, and my brother and I are finishing up slowly. They've sold the house, and so actually, everything has gone pretty well. Everyone is so glad they made the move, and they love it there. My Mom doesn't have to cook, the food is great, they get housekeeping, and lots of other nice perks. The very day they moved, we noticed that my Mom looked so relaxed, and about 10 years younger. It was amazing. I really think it's because she no longer was surrounded by things that she thought she needed to be doing something about, and feeling guilty because she wasn't. Her memory seems better, she's walking better (getting more exercise and it's helping it seems) and she just seems more alert in general. My Dad still participates in his favorite activities of duplicate bridge and pool, and they're starting to join in things in their new community. Quite the success all around.

There have been so many changes in the last year I'm not sure whether I'm coming or going, but I'm still here, so that's good. Now I just need to find the time to do some of the things I need/want to do for me.

Inspiration Welcome

Summer always seems to be a hard time to get a lot of serious sewing done. There are just so many things that need attention right now, and sewing is one of the things that gets put on the back burner for a bit. I'm still getting some knitting done, as I can do it anywhere, while the sewing is much less portable.

Except for the planning and inspiration processes. I'm almost never without a small notepad or notebook, and I love to make lists of planned garments, coordinates, fabrics, etc. The fun just never ends! As an adjunct to this, I am looking at lots of publications for ideas, as well as online sources of course.

I just ordered the new Marfy catalog (Fall 2007/2008) today.

There are supposed to be six free patterns with it this time. The Spring issue had 3 more free patterns than advertised, but I think that was a fluke. I'm kind of excited to know that it will soon be here. I went ahead and ordered it with courier delivery, so it may even be here next week!

I got my new copy of Ornament Magazine yesterday.

I really like this publication. It has a lot of things besides textiles and clothing, but everything is of a very high standard, and one idea does lead to another....

I've also been redoing my closet and finally decided to seriously begin using my former sewing room (an extra bedroom) as a dressing room and closet adjunct. So, with a lot fewer clothes in my main closet, it's much easier to see what I have, what I want to wear, and where it all is. I also ruthlessly weeded things out, much more so than I've ever been able to bring myself to do before, and I'm so pleased with the results. It's definitely a work in progress, and probably always will be, but I'm going to try to keep it up.

I'm happy to say that the wisteria is finally blooming, although certainly not as much as it would have earlier if not for our very late, very hard freeze this spring. Since the vine is fully leafed out, it's also not as dramatic as the earliest bloom usually is, but it's very nice to see it. I've been pruning bushes, weeding the lawn and flowerbeds, and dividing waterlilies and moving them around to various ponds which need more or less shade. I just keep telling myself that it's really good exercise.

Many, Many Things, None of Them Fiber-Related

From Inbox

It's been quite the day, or two days, actually.

Yesterday I was basically gone all day from about noon until after 8pm. This is not conducive to getting to the things that I want to do, since there's always about so much time that's taken up by things I have to do, and there was barely time for that!

Today was rather similar, although I was at home more. It was a beautiful day today. Over 60 degrees, so I had planned to fill the fish ponds, which lose quite a bit to evaporation during very cold weather. The level falls until it's warm enough to fill them easily. It was a good day for this, but I ended up having to clean one filter, and rescue a smallish fish that was trying to swim up the tubing to the pump, and then got stuck! He seems to be fine, although I'm not going to believe that he's really okay for at least a few days anyway. Fish who seem fine after some weird adventure often suddenly die a few days later.

I also did a bunch of yard cleanup, and among other things, disposed of a topiary tree that seems to have met either a crabby woodpecker, or a Lilliputian Lumberjack.

From 12-5-06

I honestly don't know what happened to this, but I thought it was really funny. It's time for something new, anyway. I took this at the same time as the sunset photo. It was just really beautiful, and I was surprised it even looked anything like it really did, because sunset photos are usually very disappointing. They're like whale photos. It's unbelievable that a photo of a whale, the largest thing on earth looks like absolutely nothing, but it always does.