Greatest global online bookclub in town

I, like many of you did a good bit of sewing at one time but now it is mostly mending. I do have material for two housecoats and I have the pattern and the zippers and the thread so maybe one day - - - - -

dh ask me to stitch a tear the other day and in that process, I cleaned out the drawer at the machine. I found an Oxmoor House Point Turner. Don’t remember ever seeing that before and had not a clue what it was so I took it to a meeting of friends and ask them. Only one or two recognized it a gadget that enable you to make pointed collar and other such pointy things in a crisp, neat fashion. There was also another gadget that no one had a clue what it might be.

I got Mike Leonard’s book about a road trip with his parents and some of his adult children. I have only read a few pages but I am enjoying it. His parents have been married 50+ years (I forgot the specific number) His mother is a pessimist and has no hesitation about speaking her mind. His dad is an eternal optimist and sees good in every adventure. There is also a DVD in the book and I watched that. Mike Leonard is a contributor to NBC and he lives in Winnetka, Ohio.

Happy May Day (almost)

Georgianna

Like you, Jo, I used to sew all of the time. Took a tailoring class after years of sewing and made coats, jackets, slacks for my son, all of my own clothes, etc. I loved it. Sort of a Zen thing - I could get totally absorbed and if I had worries, they disappeared when I was sewing. I also made all of Mama’s dress clothes and mailed them back to Minnesota. She loved that - I was pretty good at it.

I haven’t done any sewing now in about two years and then only because I joined the Red Hat Society and couldn’t find
a purple dress I liked in the shops. Too difficult now to lay out a pattern and cut out with my back problems. I do miss it, though.

I’m about half through the Team of Rivals, Lincoln, and have not come across his wrestling, except politically, but the book doesn’t go into his younger, unpolitical years. And I thought that the singer died from choking, but the weight problem makes more sense.

Tomorrow we have a benefit for our mayor, he’s only 54, has diabetes, which resulted in several strokes. He’s divorced and I don’t think he eats properly. He’s a nice man. I think his working days are over. He’s also the commander of our American Legion. He has a son with a family in our area.

Jacky

I’m no idol to look up to - I haven’t sewn much of anything useful (!) in years. I did use my little Featherweight Singer while I was in TX to do a couple of quilted hangings but my full size quilts I did all my hand.

True story: I once pieced a quilt top (kids were small) and sent it out to be quilted. Woman quilted it diagonally from top to bottom and charged me $40. I could have done that myself! I was disgusted.

I used my Mother’s old Singer which gave a shock once in a while and if you sewed fast it made little stitches and big ones if you sewed slow. It was OK for the mending and little sewing I did. When my girls started taking home ec in school I decided to get a new machine in case they learned to sew. I did and they each sewed one thing and I use tape or pins if anything needs fixing. I think I did sew one dress but I just didn’t like doing it. I admire people who can sew.

It is a beautiful day here and I am going out to buy some bedding plants and hope to get some in the ground.

When my boys were really young, I used to make all their shirts and elastic waist shorts. I made ONE (1) pair of boy’s shorts with a zipper and that was it. What a pain. Back to elastic. And I made a good many of the girls’ dresses, too. My Navy ‘white hat’ (plain ol’ seaman) didn’t make a whole lot of money; every time he made a new rating, I had another baby. Finally BOTH came to a screeching halt. OH yes, I also made a good many of my maternity outfits - I was pregnant a lot, y’see…five times in seven years! Did I get tired of being pregnant or what!!!!!!!!!

I have a wash and wear cut, with a little tweaking with a curler, and I’ve been sewing, a Little House on the Prairie dress for our 10 year old gd in St Paul. She outgrew the first one I made and I spose she’ll soon outgrow the desire for all of it. Its fun though, I used to sew for our three daughters before they moved up into jeans and sweatshirts, ect. And my little wheel moves the page up, but does not change the size of anything, but I haven’t tried the Word stuff.

Rainy and cool here, and we don’t need moisture, but it does clean things up, our river is so full of soil, like mud.

Jacky

I love my short hair and it’s been that way for eons! So easy as Leah says.

With regard to summer haircuts, I got mine yesterday. Short and easy to take care of: wash in shower, run a brush through and I’m done!
As for McCall Smith, I met him a year or so ago when he was in New York promoting his then latest book. Now he’s coming here again, this time to raise money for the local public radio station;. I be lieve he has another new book now; I’ll prolly try to get it from the library.

One of the opening news pictures on Comcast is titled Fact or Fiction with some statements such as this one this morning: Pancake mix mold can be deadly. So, on general principles, I thought yes and then clicked on the statement. Up came a Snopes window with the answer:

http://www.snopes.com/medical/toxins/pancake.asp

And guess what - it IS!

There are other statements like: Abraham Lincoln was a wrestler (he was). I rather enjoy this feature; I like seeing how many I ‘guess’ right. And by the way, Mama Cass did NOT die from asphyxiation caused by a bite of a ham sandwich. Her weight was the main cause of her heart problems which caused her death.

Now then, weren’t you waiting all morning for that bit of news??????!!!!!

LOL
Jo

I tried it in Word and it works there–so far that’s the only place I’ve found but it is a neat thing to have.

Candace

It works on some of my stuff like my files in Word but not everything. It doesn’t work for my blog messages.

Did you hold down the control key when you moved the wheel?

What a bummer! I dunno what to tell you! Sorry.

I have the wheel and a control key but nothing happens when I do it.

Candace

From Shirlsbt (ie., Shirley Tibbetts). I don’t have that little wheel in the middle of the mouse and I don’t know whether or not it would work it the scroll up/down key or not. But - for those for whom this WILL work, good enough.

It does work
Great keyboard trick! This really does work….Try it!!!!

This is for everyone whose eyesight isn’t what it used to be. It’s very useful when trying to read small e-mail print (especially in the early hours).

If you hold down the Ctrl key on your key board and turn the small wheel in the
Middle of your mouse, the print size will change - it will either get larger
Or smaller - depending on which way you turn the wheel.

Pass this on to other friends who may find it very useful….I’m glad I was
Told.

I may KNIT this next one!

Another great grand, Jo! Just when you were about done crocheting for the twins–you’ll be starting another. Lucky babies to have great-grandma making cuddly things for them.

All the talk about reunions caused me to do some counting. Hard to believe my I graduation was 65 years ago this month. I could be the only one of the nine in my class still living. I know the other two girls and three of the boys are gone–haven’t heard anything about the other three in decades.

If any of you who enjoy Alexander McCall Smith’s Ladies No. 1 Detective Agency stories or his other books have the opportunity to see him during his book tour, you have a treat in store. He is on a 13-city tour of the U.S.–I don’t know all the cities but he has a web site–two in fact, where his itinerary could be found. His sense of humor and personality are a delight.

Candace

I took Eb for her summer haircut and at least I recognized her this time. The first time I had it done, I didn’t recognize her when I went to pick her up. She likes it.

I don’t watch HOUSE so I can’t make any comment on that. But I’ve seen various shows or movies when I’ve had that same feeling.

Reading all the talk about reunions makes me rather wish I had had the opportunity but I guess I don’t miss it so much.

Jo

One of the things that I looked forward to when I retired was returning to the small town where I grew up and graduated from high school. I didn’t attend any of the class reunions that were held every five years, until our 30th reunion. I found that I enjoyed them very much.

It has been nice to reunite with classmates who have also retired and returned to Stigler.

The woman who was my best friend all through high school has bought a home here and she and her husband will retire a year from this coming June and move back. I look forward to being able to spend time with her again.

In two years, our class will have our 50th year reunion. All class reunions are held on the third weekend in June. The entire town celebrates reunion days with arts and crafts down on the courthouse lawn and games for the kids. It is a wonderful three day celebration each year. On Friday nights the classes meet individually. There is a community breakfast on Saturday, a dinner and dance on Saturday night and a community church service on Sunday morning. Many plan their yearly vacations around ‘reunion days’.

Judith

Have enjoyed catching up with your messages. Had forgotten my name and password, but Jo helped me through it and now all seems to be back on track.
When I enter this site, I start at the bottom and read upward, to get the right sequence.
Was so impressed with the Minnesota flood pictures. Amazing how the dear old Engineers can levee complete farm “home places” like that!
You were talking about keeping up with old friends: Like Jo, I was an Army kid, so no telling what happened to all my childhood friends. From about 7th grade onward, I would write to friends when we left for another post. That got me into pen-palling — and I’ve had those pen pals for decades now. Actually got to meet some in England and Australia. Alas, the French girl must not have survived WW 2, never heard from her again. There was also a girl in Finland, but that petered out.

Have lived here in the Chattanooga area since college, but oddly enough, don’t keep up with them at all. Try to get to the reunion every few years — but my classmates keep dying off, so not much point in going now.

That is great news Jo. You are amassing those great grands pretty fast.

I just watched an episode of House that I taped last night and am irritated. The story line was one that I think was copied from a book Mark Saltzman wrote, Lying Awake. His book was about a young nun who had visions of God and would have severe headaches either before or after, I have forgotten which. Anyway it was proven that she had a brain tumor causing the symptoms and she had to decide if she wanted to be cured or not as she really believed she was talking to God. There was more to the story when you found out the young girls background. The House episode featured a 15 year old boy who talked to God and healed people. He also had tumors. It appeared that he healed a cancer patient. It turned out that he had herpes and his past played a part in the picture. The stories were so similar that I wondered if it is legal to do that. I liked the Saltzman book very much and I also liked the House episode but it still angered me. They were so similar. I wonder what others thoughts are on this type of thing?

Delightful news!

My granddaughter (#2 son’s daughter) is expecting her first come Christmas. She wrote to let the family know this morning. She’s sister to the young fella whose wife is doing twins. The twins are in HER family, not his.

Lise has been married before but her first husband died suddenly and she remarried a couple of years ago. This will be her first and I do hope all goes well with her as she’s in her early 30s.

Is it still harder on 30+ year old women to have babies? Medicine is so good these days that I doubt she’ll have much trouble, however.

Anyhow, that’ll make six great-grands.

I’d forgotten that bars were “beer parlors” back when, Darlyne. As I wrote about Oslo’s, I was picturing how differnt our’s are than in large cities, but maybe the needs are sort of the same.

Living where I was born, I have many people I’ve known all my life, but out side of my family, the best friends I have are folks I’ve met in various church settings including our own many of whom moved here as teachers or whatever. I belonged to an international Bible Study for 6 or more years, the same lesson each week all over the USA, and in most large cities. It really helped as we traveled in our motor home, and I often felt lonely. Its called Bible Study Fellowship, but our Grand Forks
couldn’t keep the required 100 plus members so its no longer here. It was started by an Engish Episcopalian philosophy agnnostic woman, who came to belief while attending school in Paris. Her auto biography is interesting Created for Commitment, A. Wetherell Johnson.

I attended a class in San Fransico and it was like being in the UN, many races, but a common faith, and one near Perry, GA was fun with the very southern accents.

Friends are wonderful, new or from way back, but having history with another makes for different sharing.

Jacky

Thanks, Jo, for the link to the pictures of the flooding. I finally got to it today. It is really awsome.

“It is true I think that child hood and HS friends probably are the closest ones people make.”

Exactly my thoughts. In my opinion, one may have four “families” during a lifetime: home, school, service and work. These relationships remain with us for life.

Huggz all,
Jerry