Thinking of my in-laws

They would have loved to see my son graduate from high school. 

I'm wearing my MIL's class ring from 1933. 

Written while sitting in the auditorium waiting for the festivities to begin. 

A new stitch a day strikes backwards again

My latest sweater has this stitch showing on the reverse side. My pattern calls it a garter stripe.
I have slowed down on my progress. Maybe I can get some good flying-and-knitting done this week.
See earlier post from newstitchaday.com.

I didn't get emotional until

I have been going through the last few weeks, marking off the this-is-the-last-time's as my son heads for high school graduation. I have been keeping myself under control. My son hasn't been too embarrassed. Today the Supreme Court upheld the Affordable Care Act, a.k.a. Obamacare. I'm in tears of joy.

The grave yard

The local bowling alley is updating.

Prom suit is here

I took my son to pick up his tux rental. 

May he have some wonderful memories that won't be returned in this bag.

A long day

I was able to cross the new bridge on the day after the solstice.

It has been a year

I started recording my walks one year ago. I may be slightly obsessed. But that's a good thing. I want to thank my friends for encouraging me.

It is possible

We used public transportation around Dallas this whole visit. My son was boasting that we did it all. I reminded him that we needed to use Uber to get to the airport for our early flight. While it was possible to do it it meant getting up an hour earlier.

The eye of Bill in Dallas

From my walk during a break in the clouds.

You can't get there (easily) from here

If you want to get me started, just bring up how inassessible public transit is in the U.S.

This is the view from the hotel. There are stations for two different trains within walking distance, but no easy way to get there.

We end up taking either of two bus routes and then switch to the train closer in. 

Is it the journey or the destination?

That was exciting. 

Since rounds are located up in the Towers, they asked us to use stairs when going a few floors. I just took stairs down and ended in the kitchen on 2. 1st floor door was alarmed. I delighted the prep ladies by asking if I could pass through. They handed me off to the supervisor who spoke some English. He cautioned me not to slip as we walked by the bank of huge mixers. 

I wish I had taken a picture. 

Almost like Canyon

Smiled to myself when I saw the bindweed growing on the cactus.

If they only knew

I was walking to a diner to have breakfast and consumed a gazillion more calories then I burned!

Plan B

The daisies didn't return. So I've put out pots of tomatoes and chilies sprouted under my lights. For the record, the herbs didn't survive transplanting and neglect while I was out of town for a week.

After the rain

I suppose I should celebrate the complete life cycle. The rhododendron season is over.

I couldn't go over, not yet

Not much was stopping me from crossing the bridge on my night's walk.

I went back a few nights later and it was almost ready. The temporary fence was gone with only the yellow tape up. Straw was spread over the newly-seeded approach where the crane had been.

I suppose it'll be open when I get back next week. 

Sounds good to me

At my three month check-up, my doctor thought it was time to take me off one of my diabetes meds. My blood sugar averages dropped again.

It may have taken a year to get my whole life under control, but progress continues. You may notice that my weight is up slightly. I won't blame leaving on heavy shoes. I just haven't been able to get up into the hills to hike that much yet. 

The yearbook is out

I started in ad sales and moved up through the ranks from advertising manager to full editor my senior year. Nothing would stand in my way. The statute of limitations has long pasted, so I will admit to a copyright violation when I clipped an ad from the yellow pages to use for Prim's Auto Parts. It was "clip art" in the traditional sense.

No need for my wax pencil this time. I scanned the old passports, uploaded, edited and formatted using the template provided on the website.

Congratulations and bon voyage into your new life, dear son.

You never know what seed falls on fertile soil

Remember the applications from the end of March?
I've made the cut on two of the positions.
Working is good. Local is good.
Not to jinx it, but I may come out of retirement.

Emily and 67

I took two BuzzFeed Quizzes last night. You know the sort that pop up on your feed, such titles as "What Body Part Should You Tattoo?" or "How Well Do You Remember 'The Goonies'?" or "Are You More Dude Or More Bro?".

I ignore about 99% of them. I have learned that I'm sufficiently out of the mainstream of popular culture so that my answer to the questions posed is often "None of the above/Not Applicable". There is no box to click for me. I take it as negative feedback. I'm not cool. I'll accept that. I know where I'm not wanted.

Those I do take are a secret pleasure. I rarely share my results to pass on the quiz to my feed. Some things are best kept behind your closed door, only the glowing screen knows. Well, yes, I suppose that some advertiser is keeping track of it all in a mound of metadata.

The first quiz was "Which Gilmore Girl Are You Actually?". It was in 2011 when I was left in a mostly empty house in Texas. After the movers had taken most of our household, I stayed behind to help organize the sale of what was left and to arrange for the renters to move in. I checked out the DVD of season one of The Gilmore Girls from the library. It was great fun and helped get me by the long nights. I made some effort to find the later seasons, but it wasn't until Netflix acquired the rights in the last year that I was able to follow up on my girls. I haven't finished it. As is the case with many TV shows, the last couple of seasons don't live up to the original experience. But I like to think of the characters still romping through Stars Hollow, solving life's mysteries.

So, "Emily"? I got Emily, the well-coiffed mother more interested in her DAR meetings and charity fundraisers than in supporting her pregnant teenager. It doesn't exactly seem to describe my life right now.

And then, to add insult to injury, in answer to "Can We Guess Your Age By How You Use Technology?", I got 67! They didn't ask me if I blog. That would have lowered it, right?

So there you have it, I'm Emily and 67. Somebody is watching. There this ad that keeps popping up on different sites. I can't look at it. The first glance was too much. It is something about the incision lines necessary to return my tummy and underarms to their youthful glory.

Born in Flint

Three beauties from 1955 at the Cruise In on Main in Oneonta.

Long awaited

The city is replacing the bridge in the park by my house. It crosses the creek on the edge of the lower meadow. I often use it for evening walks along a nice mile loop within the park on well-lit paths. They removed the old bridge late last fall and many people in the neighborhood missed it.

I watched the process for a while. There was the flatbed truck and driver, the crane and operator, the supervisor and a few more watching the guy who couldn't find the right size wrench to tighten the nut on the bolt.

I decided to walk on up the hill.

Challenges

It's fun. I'm in the top 5%!

Rhododendron season

Just as I realize that the lilac blooms are fading in the cool rain, there is no time to mourn. My attention is drawn to huge bushes with balls of color ranging from pale pink to maroon. It seems like every house in our town is proudly displaying at least one bush and often whole groves.

Our small tree in the back struggles to produce a few bursts. I am delighted to see the green leaves coming back on the lower branches that had been stripped this winter by hungry deer.

Rhododendron, rhódon déndron, ῥόδον ῥόδον, rose tree, is the national flower of Nepal.

Rose tree, I like that.

My shared birthday week

My sixtieth birthday is at the end of this week.

I was delighted to find that a special person is less than a week older than me. Bruce Adolphe, of Piano Puzzler fame, celebrated this past weekend. There was a special segment on him last Friday, at the end of Hour One of Performance Today. A singing parrot has been his pet for the last 50 years. Featured is a performance of Light, Speed, Grace, with Joshua Bell and Marija Stroke. It is from a documentary due out this fall celebrating the 100th anniversary of Einstein's Theory of Relativity. You can read a bit about it on Bruce's website.

And I send out special birthday greetings to my sister and my niece.

Let the celebrations begin!