In My Easter Bonnet...

We had a lovely Easter.

We started out with an Easter Breakfast with Handsome Son and his new girlfriend, who was delightful.

I wore a truly exuberant Easter Bonnet, with all the frills upon it.  It was truly impressive.

Later in the afternoon we went to my cousins' house for lots of chatting, a bit of stuffing our faces with delicious goodies, a few games of Bocce Ball in the spring sunshine for those who could do such things (there was lots of laughing, which was wonderful), and the obligatory group photos.**

In front of the Easter Bonnet there is Lovable Sister and Charming Parent; in the middle - next to the Easter Bonnet - there is Handsome Son (who has enough hair for both of us) and Beloved Husband; and in the back - peering out from behind the Easter Bonnet, which apparently likes to chew up the scenery - is the other Charming Parent.

The Easter Bonnet had a grand time.  I did, too.

**And I mean 'obligatory' quite literally.  Cousin Mary was very forceful in rounding us up and making us stand still, in all our squinting glory.  It wasn't an easy job, but she was determined.  She'd make a fantastic General.  Thanks, Mary - we grumped about it at the time, but we're awfully grateful for the photos now!!
And many, many thanks to Mark and Polly for hosting the event.  You pulled it all together brilliantly, as always - we never take that for granted.  I am very, very lucky to be part of your family!

What Do You Think?

** Warning: this post is in part a copy of a post over on my other blog.  I reward you for your patience with a homely picture of myself in cute charming hat.  The photo does not do justice to the beauty of Timary's needlework or to the lovely colors and gloss of the yarn used (if I do say so, myself).  It just sort of hints at it.  You pays your money (or in this case, your attention) and you takes your chances, people...

Here is the darling beret that my brilliant friend Timary made for me.  It's a new design of hers, so I hadn't seen it before.  You can find her patterns (including this slouchy beanie beret) at her Etsy store right here.  Go ahead and check it out, especially if you are a crocheter - you'll be glad you did.

Thing is, when I got the hat she sent, I thought, "Ooo, FUN!!"  And then I thought, "Ooo, the colors are so ME!!"  And then I thought, "Ooo, this yarn is so soft and pretty!!"  And then I thought, "Hey, this yarn looks sort of familiar, actually..."  And then I realized... Timary bought my yarn a while back, and put a lot of work into making something out of it, AND THEN SENT IT BACK TO ME.  It was my own handspun yarn!!

So now I am going to send her more.  Some of it will be for her... and some of it will be for the really cute 20's Flapper Hat.  Because I don't crochet, and am not up to learning how at the moment, but she has designed one darling hat, I must say!!

So, what do you think?  Should I add a big fancy pin to one side?  Or just leave it as it is?

I also bought a couple really cute, silly, fun hats yesterday - just in time, since I lost about half my head overnight last night.  I'll model those soon, but I know you shouldn't be expected to handle so much feminine pulchritude at once.  (koff, koff...)

Now I have these really cute hats, and no place to store them properly (the only hat I've got stored/displayed currently is my floppy old straw hat, which is sitting on the head of my son's wooden rocking horse.  It's very fetching, but not very protected).  So if anybody just happens to have a nice big hatbox sitting around, and wants to donate it to a needy cause, I'm it.

Been There (Both Sides)

With thanks to dear friend Debi, I give you this.  Is it a tad manipulative and simplistic?  Well, heck, yeah.  Does that make it less true, or less important to remember?  Well, heck, no...

The New Year Begins Nicely

Look at what I found in the mail last night!!!

This is the prize for the recent contest on the Knitty.com blog (click the blog link to see some really cool 'guerilla knitting' and other wonderful fiber-related stuff) - two lovely, soft, huggable skeins from the Loopy Ewe with which to make Cuckoo Mittens (click on the link to get the pattern for yourself - Knitty.com is a wonderful online magazine full of great patterns and informative articles.  Not only that, but they pay their designers decently and then provide the patterns to us for free.  Please support this community-minded effort by also supporting their advertisers and sponsors - we definitely want Knitty.com to stay around for a long, long time!)

I want to put in a special plug for the incredibly efficient and kindly folks at the Loopy Ewe.  They must have mailed off the package about one second after they got my address... and I almost suspect they asked Scotty to Beam It Up, it got to me so quickly.  Not only that, but the prize itself was only supposed to be the yarn - but as you can see, they thoughtfully added an extra special treat to the mix.  How cool is that?

On Being a Donor

My beautiful and big-hearted sister-in-law is doing a fundraiser for a friend of hers who has recently had to undergo liver and kidney transplant surgery. The transplant, luckily, was a success, but it was a long and difficult struggle to recovery; Tom spent three months in the hospital, which means that he and his family are now left with a very heavy financial burden to carry.

If you live anywhere near Cambridge, MN, I hope that you will take a little time out of your next Saturday and attend the Plant Sale at the Fleet Go parking lot in Cambridge, from 8am-5pm (or until the plants run out), and/or on Sunday drop in at the Pancake-and-Sausages breakfast and auction at the American Legion building at 6439 Elm Street in North Branch, 8am-Noon.

This is a case of getting a good deal AND doing a good deed - which means it's a great opportunity that shouldn't be missed.

Another opportunity you shouldn't miss is the opportunity to list yourself as an organ donor. It takes no time or effort on your part, and gives you the opportunity to improve or save many lives.

One of the bitterest things about having cancer is that I am no longer eligible as an organ donor (although my card still lists me as one). I hope that others more fortunate realize what a wonderful thing it is to be able to make one's own death meaningful by enabling someone else to live a better life and be a blessing to their own families for years into the future.

More information on organ donation - and the opportunity to register as a donor online - can be found at Donate Life Minnesota. Quick! Go do something good, and make yourself proud!

Home From The Holiday

The vacation was on the whole fabulous, other than the hours spent in Urgent Care for the massive inner ear infection (and the Whale Tour that I couldn't go on because of the same). But that is a quibble, really, because for the most part it was lovely.

We went to Monterey,






then to Morro Bay,

then San Simeon,













and then Santa Barbara - oh, yeah, that's totally me -



then back again to Monterey

and Carmel.















I got a US Open At Pebble Beach shirt for Scott, so that he can watch the Open in style. I took about a billion photos, got run over by a horned lizard, and mom survived the Thunder Cloud Of Bees.

We communed with humpbacks
(too close to get into the screen)






and talked to seals

and ogled otters.


We got to experience a Stormy Sea,


but most of the weather was glorious...
and California smells *wonderful* (being carpeted with flowers at the moment).


But the two best things aren't things I could photograph.

One being the joy of spending a wonderful day of laughter and exploration with kindred spirits, Roberta and Richard. R & R are both fellow bloggers we've connected with in the past couple years; they share with Mom the experience of having lived in Scotland, and they share with Scott and I the experience of dealing with this ravening monster within, terminal cancer.

Once again, my experience of meeting online friends in person was everything I could have hoped for. They were sweet (Roberta) and funny (Rich) and incredibly kind, warm, and accommodating under rather trying conditions (having to work around my medical shenanigans). Mom and I knew they were interesting, likable folks from their blogs and correspondence - but now we know for a fact that they are also supremely lovable. It's nice to confirm one's own good taste in friends!

The other thing - the very best thing of all - was having the opportunity to spend ten whole days with my mom, just going where the wind blew us and doing as we pleased, gathering memories to tuck into our hearts and warm us in the hard times that will inevitably come. It's been a tough road we've walked together in the past sixteen months; being able to take this gentler, joyful journey was a tremendous gift. Mom's intention was to give me the opportunity to be near the ocean again, since it was the only item on my Bucket List. That, in itself, was a great kindness. But the real treasure was in being able to just be with her - to Just Be, together.

Thanks, Mom. I love you.

Important Announcement

If you live in Minnesota, you have a wonderful opportunity coming up this week. On Nov. 17th, from 8am until the following 8am, you can give a donation - it doesn't have to be big, any donation will do - to the charity or organization of your choice, and if you make that donation through Give MN, they will make a matching donation of 50 cents on the dollar.

So if you were to give $10 to, oh, let's say Pathways or Gilda's Club or Vail Place or the Weaver's Guild of MN (just, you know, choosing at random, *koff*), if you made the donation through Give MN, it would be worth $15. Great deal!

Here's what you do:

1. Go to www.GiveMN.org.

2. In the box that says "Donate," type in the org of your choice next to "Find a nonprofit."

3. Click on the link for your org when it comes up.

4. Enter your donation amount, click on Donate, then complete the form.

Give MN has a $500,000 matching fund available. I imagine your favorite nonprofit could use a little bit of funding at the moment - it's been a bad year for them, too. So scrape just a little bit together on the 17th and give. Starting a bit early in this Giving Season will go a lot further this Tuesday, and we're all for stretching our dollars this year!!

On Gratitude

I've been struggling for a while with the impulses that gratitude inspires, and the fear that in thanking the many people who have been so kind to me in the past few weeks, I am going to seem to be asking for more.

It's a quandary. Do I want to sound greedy? Or do I want to seem ungrateful?

Having spent much more time than I should in hovering between the two, I will now err on the side of expressing my feelings.

I am so grateful to all the lovely people who have been sending messages of encouragement and support. I cannot express what each and every kind word has meant to me during this very difficult time in my life. I know now that I do not walk alone, and that understanding is infinitely precious.

That said, I also feel the need to acknowledge the extra thoughtfulness and effort that some people have gone to in order to shine extra light in this rather dark time. I am unendingly grateful to Nancy and Tom for their gift of art and inspiration; to Pat, Dori, Annie and Pat F. for their ongoing advice and support; to Timary for her encouragement and tutelage; to the Paos and to Gretchen for their invaluable gifts of laughter and fun; to Deb M. for providing something to occupy the hands while the mind is full; to Carol Lee, Stephanie, Jane and Timary for helping me breathe just that little bit easier as the medical expenses mount; to Jane, Denise and Nancy who are giving me something to look forward to (see you all at Shepherd's Harvest!)... and to all the women I've met online who are traveling on the same road, and sharing the same burdens.

And most of all, I need to thank my family for their patience and love and support. Especially my mom, who has been there with me every step of the way and never lets me fall.

You are all a light and a blessing, and the world is a better place because you are in it.

Thank you.

White Christmas, Grey Fog

The Fabulous Susan and I went on one of our Light Tours last night. The two of us look forward to this every year (last year she couldn't visit for Christmas, and fittingly enough there was a distinct paucity of lights displayed in the neighborhood last year, very sad), and although it was very foggy and difficult to see properly through our spotty windows (the unclear nature of things also perhaps reflective of the state of things for us this holiday season), we had a lovely time.

As usual we toured up and down Summit Avenue in St. Paul, which put out a bit more effort than last year, although it still isn't up to the standards set by the exuberant displays of the past. We ate at Cafe Latte (I shook my fist at the Universe and defiantly ate carbs in the form of Chocolate Amaretto Cheesecake, but meekly drank water instead of the traditional Swedish Moo), where the Fabulous Susan told me very encouraging news about her family's Christmas do and we decorated a silly little gift bag together and she bestowed upon me a friend to keep me company (is it kosher to have two black sheep in one family?) while she is back in NYC.


We gave our usual greetings to the Santa Butt on Lexington Avenue. We trekked out to Minnetonka, where the Fabulous Susan had discovered a little closed circle of houses that were all so gorgeously and joyously decked out that these neighbors must either be close and loving friends or viciously competitive monsters (I vote for the former option, myself).

I've been easily pooped out lately, so unfortunately our tour ended at midnight rather than our usual 2 or 3am, but our enjoyment was not lessened one jot.

Thank you, thank you to all the lovely folks who labor each year to deck their houses in gay apparel for the holiday season. It's a community service you do that nourishes the heart and soul!

Joy, Joy

Sometimes there's a video that really deserves to go viral. Some viruses are GOOD for us. A few are very, very good for us.

This video came to me by way of the lovely Enchanting Juno, and now I give it to you. As she says, we'd all be better people if we watched Matt dance every day. Even better if we danced, too...

Sunshiny Day

It was a beautiful day today, inside and out.

Out, because I spent much of the day sitting in the car or walking around campus while the Thug did a college tour and info session, attended a class, etc. There was a cool breeze, but the sun was shining and warm, the grass was green, and young people were smiling.

Inside, because I received a package in the mail from the UK, and inside I found a lovely birthday card from the beauteous Mrs. Pao and her doting spouse, along with this:


The treacle toffee is a special and very thoughtful treat, as the Paos are aware that I have a passion for it and cannot find it anywhere locally. The Motoring Sweets are a joke re my navigation skills (see Mrs. Pao's story in the comments section for my contest) - although she very kindly implied that it was in commemoration of the driving tour last year in which we dragged the long-suffering Paos all along the Wisconsin side of the river bluff area. And the roving - well, that's for beautiful and to provide me with wool that obviously came from a sheep with a much higher-class accent than the sheep around here!

Thank you so much, wonderful Paos!! I can't think of a lovelier (or sweeter) birthday present!