Onward and Upward
5:49 p.m. - 2007-09-10


Today I had the stressful yearly visit from the PG&E person, who checks my heater and water heater and tells me if all is well, which it is (sigh of relief). Now I just have to do the yearly roof inspection and patch-up (waiting until it is not 120 degrees on the roof), and I will be ready for winter, if it ever cools down enough to be winter. This is not a bad chore, because I like it up there on the roof, all alone and close to the sky. The tricky part is getting back onto the ladder on the way down while carrying a can of roof cement, broom, and other tools, but so far, so good.

There was a library book sale on Saturday, but I forgot about it until too late. I see that there are two other sales coming up in October, so I will have to try and remember those. Not that I really need any new books - what am I saying, a person always needs new books.

Yesterday we drove over to the peninsula to take Abby a package that had been delivered to our house. Apparently, the glass turntable in her microwave decided to shatter itself, so she called up the company and they sent her a new one free. They sent the small piece in a huge box with more bubble wrap than I have ever seen in one place before. This gave us the opportunity to take over her bike and helmet, which she has been wanting anyway. She treated us to dinner of spaghetti, sauteed corn, and fruit salad. Before we got there, she was busy watching her new Office DVD with Melissa, so she requested that we not show up until 4:00, so we first drove over to Half Moon Bay to look around. They have a store there full of Amish furniture that is so beautiful it makes you wish you were rich enough to afford it. Simple clean lines and beautiful wood. If only I had about $20,000 to spare! I still love Abby's apartment, and every time we go over there, it looks better. She has made a skirt for the bathroom sink and hung up posters and pictures.

I am now sewing the Cinco de Mayo shirt, a very colorful red print with chilis all over it. Sometimes I just walk through the fabric store and wait for the sight of yardage that just makes me happy. In a few weeks I get to start a class on fitting, and I hope that it is good because I would love to have a class with a really good fitter. I don't know how people get bored, there is always so much to learn and do out there.

And January, if you are reading this, I heard that there is a fabric store in SF called Fabrix on 101 Clement St. Here is what they say about themselves: 'Fabrix has been in it's San Francisco location since 1993. Fabrix features off-price surplus and closeout fabric and trims from Designers,Manufacturers and Mills. Fabrix has about 25,000 yards of fabric at this location. About half of it is priced at $1.99 per yard or less.' I would seriously like to go there. How about a field trip? Looks like they are open on Saturday and Sunday too. Because no one ever has enough fabric. I need some good knits for T-shirts for the girls.

Let's seen what else is happening around here? Because I have been so nice to the birds, keeping the birdbath clean and full, we have many many birds that visit the yard. As a result, the yard is now popular with the wandering neighbor cats, who skulk around eyeing the birds. So far unsuccessfully. And in other yard news, the huge stump excavation is now half filled in. He told me that there would be extra dirt after he has filled in the hole, but I told him that that was impossible, since the stump took up lots of space and is now out of there. He is just going to have to make it all fit back together. To this end, he puts in several feet of dirt, then waters it down to compact it. So far so good with this too.

The gored hand is much better. I think that I am going to escape the visit to the doctor for antibiotics, which was my unfortunate fate the last time I had a deep wound. I am still a little wary of crochet hooks though.