Sunday, February 22, 2009

A Whine... not much quilting

Okay, when I sounded upbeat in my last post, that was before driving all the way to Canal Flats and back for the fifth time in 5 months. I am exhausted... too exhausted to move. I'm even too tired to make myself some breakfast which I desperately need because I haven't been eating much for the past four days and certainly not eating well at all in that time.

Whoops... off to the Kitsap Quilt Show in Bremerton. (Back again) Quilt Show was the previous day so we missed it and instead went shopping. ;-))

We left the island on Wednesday the 18th and missed the 10:25am ferry because we had to go to UHaul and pick up a trailer. Seemed easier than trying to find a trailer in Canada that would have allowed us to take it over the border. Missing the ferry should have been a sign that all was not going well although we had a great breakfast at a close by restaurant... we had to wait over an hour for the next ferry... which we did. This was setting us up to arrive in CF around 8 - 9pm... late. Uneventful trip until we got just south of Bonner's Ferry in ID where the Jeep suddenly wasn't behaving properly. Steering was difficult and it was overheating... ready to explode so we pulled over and called AAA. Someone decided to shoot off their automatic machine gun... maybe to scare off visitors... but then a cop came by to check us out in the pitch dark and cold and he said many people had guns in the area and it wasn't unusual to hear gunfire, even automatic. The tow truck came... shout out to Jacob's Auto Repair... and towed the Jeep to an auto repair shop and us to the Log Inn motel where we stayed for the night. Jeep was ready... belt replaced... by 9:30am and we were on the road again. Arrived in CF about 1pm which didn't give Liza much time to pack up what she wanted to take with her. She left lots behind but at least she's gone from that place and won't ever have to return. Shawn would be proud of her for taking that gigantic step, I'm sure.

So, the time has been spent buying furniture because we didn't bring any of the old stuff and making the new place feel like home. Liza is doing a good job of doing that and Laura is going to move in in a week or so.

Monday, February 16, 2009

Here now, but back again!

My dd has moved into the cottage with her big doggies. My gdd is still staying at her uncle's house so she'll have internet access. Typical teen, huh? So my dd and I will be driving back to their home in CF to get some things they left behind. Leaving Wednesday and returning Friday. Oh well.... this is my life.... back and forth, back and forth. I don't really mind... what else do I have to do?

Thursday, February 12, 2009

Life throws a fastball...

Got a phone call on February 5th from my dd, who was having serious problems trying to maintain her lifestyle in the small town she lives in - Canal Flats BC. She has two dogs who have been of immense comfort to her since she lost her husband last September. The dogcatcher knocked on her door and said that he was going to take one of her dogs in to have him euthanized because he had scared someone in the neighborhood. Didn't bite anyone or even attack anyone.... just barked at them from his own porch. I flew there on the 6th and drove her, her teenage dd, the two dogs and one cat out to my area. It was a 12-hour day to get there, changing planes in Vancouver, then a 10-hour drive back home.

In the past week, I have had the company of my dd and the two big dogs; my kitties are coping well even though their food is gobbled up fast if they don't finish it all... no more leaving a little for later around those big guys. The new kitty is over at my other dd's house and the teenager is set up at her uncles' house. The whole family broken apart... for now. We have found a nice cottage pretty far up the island but it has a water view, a large yard and three lovely bedrooms with a large workshop in the back. It's perfect... but I haven't heard if they can move in because they're still showing the house. Waiting is now my middle name.

My dental work is almost complete but I'm still seeing the dentist because for some reason, I have ulcers in my mouth ... and swollen glands in my neck. I take methotrexate which depresses my immune system.

Monday, February 02, 2009

John Lennon was right

An article in the NYTimes opinion section today told me that "change is coming but maybe not for poor women". Read it and weep for poor women:

.... it was distressing to see President Obama strip Medicaid coverage of family planning services out of the House economic package at the last minute in what turned out to be a futile effort to secure Republican support for the huge recovery bill.

Under current law, states wanting to use Medicaid money for family planning services, including cancer screenings, must obtain a waiver from Washington, as some 27 states have done. The modest provision that was cut would have done away with the cumbersome process. The Congressional Budget Office has estimated that the measure would provide coverage to 2.3 million women by 2014 and save $200 million over five years.

The Medicaid family planning provision would reduce the number of abortions by helping an estimated half-million women avoid unplanned pregnancy, according to a study by the Guttmacher Institute. The knee-jerk opposition of House Republicans was but the latest sign of G.O.P. insensitivity to women’s rights and health. President Obama should no longer placate it.


I do hope that women will not be left out of the change that is supposed to come. Back to quilting......

Sunday, February 01, 2009

Women's Names


My paternal grandmother's name was Lucinda Young Burrows. My maternal grandmother's name was Caroline Jane York Cory.

As a quilter, we are a breed that makes history with our work. At least that's what we intend when we make something with our hands. Yet, few women can evidently name their grandmother and just imagine how many could not name their g-grandmothers.

I thought this quilter's blog at White Lotus Quilting said it quite well. We need to stop making women invisible. Do you know your grandmother's name?