July Bits and Bobs

 

Hello, friends! I thought I'd pop in with a mid-July update. It has been a lovely summer here on Whidbey Island so far. A bit of rain in June, although less than last year, and gorgeous sunny, warm-but-not-too-hot days in July. (Sorry, California friends.) It's quite perfect, to my taste.

I can hardly believe it is the middle of July already. But July flying by is especially good news for me because I officially retire from practicing law as of July 31! I've practiced law since 1985 -- almost 40 years! Yikes! I have enjoyed it overall -- sometimes more, sometimes less. The variety, the intellectual problems to solve, the writing, have all been a good fit. I have been really fortunate to work with excellent lawyers and to have been trained as a young lawyer by ethical, smart people who valued courtesy and honesty. I've been able to create a flexible work situation that allowed me to do what I liked best and avoid the parts that did not suit. But it is time to stop. I'm just done.

Plus, I have SO many other things I want to do! I am not sure how I will celebrate, other than a whole lot of sewing and quilting and indulging in (gasp) daytime reading. I already have signed up for an online sketching workshop in September, some online lessons in machine embroidery so I can finally master the embroidery function on my machine, and a return to my usual Bishop's Ranch quilt retreat in October. I have a lot of exploring to do, both on and off the island. I am quite certain that I will not be bored.

Speaking of quilting, I was happily quilting away on a summery quilt when my longarm machine started shredding thread no matter how many adjustments I made. Turns out that the checkspring, a little wire hook in the thread path that contributes to keeping the tension even, had broken. The circled item below is the checkspring.

So, my Bernina dealer sent a technician over and within 45 minutes, it was all fixed, cleaned, oiled, and running perfectly. So now I can get back to this fun quilt, from a pattern called Lighthearted by Thimble Blossoms.

 

With my longarm ability interrupted, I had quite a piecing binge over the 4th of July weekend. I'd stumbled on a pattern that just looked like fireworks to me, so I spent the weekend getting this top together. (Side note: why do I cringe when quilters call a quilt top a "flimsy?" Am I the only one?)

It is from a quilt kit called "Holiday Americana Merry Making Quilt" from JK Quilts. I don't usually do kits, but this was half off at some point and was just so summer-festive that I could not resist. I'm looking forward to quilting it, and found some perfect fireworks fabric for the back.

Having finished that top, I have been sewing 2.5 inch strips to make a large, summery, scrappy Trip Around the World quilt. I love how fast and easy they are, and with light fabrics mixed in they look so fresh and light. They are so easy to make - great instructions here, from Bonnie Hunter, and here from Alli at Woodberry Way. I am following Alli's version, which uses whites in between printed strips, uses 21" strips, and makes a bigger block. No pictures yet as all I have is bundles of strips and a stack of blocks, but I'll be putting them up on the design wall soon. 

For cuteness purposes, here are Caroline's cats Kaya and Maybel. I had piled some things in the upstairs hallway before putting them away, and they quickly made themselves comfortable. As cats do.

All of a sudden, a bunch of books I've had on hold at the library have come in, just in time for retired life. I am ready for some serious deck and/or beach reading! I'm most excited to read Marisa de los Santos' most recent novel, Watch Us Shine. 

This is the fourth in a series with a common thread of family members and friends, with each novel focusing on a different character. I was so excited that I decided to reread the first in the series, Love Walked In, which I loved just as much as the first time. And that caused me to race through books two and three, Belong to Me and I'll Be Your Blue Sky, again. Yes, just as good as before, too. So I'm ready for #4.

 

Local Rainier cherries have appeared at the farmer's market, so I've been buying a steady supply and we've been eating cherries every day. At yesterday's market I bought a flat of local raspberries, and they are just gorgeous. A burst of summer flavor, truly.

In other exciting news, I ordered a new couch for our family room. This was quite an accomplishment, as it has been quite a hunt for something NOT beige, brown or gray. I have loved my red leather couch (shown here in a staging photo from my Healdsburg house) but it is just too big and too dark for the new family room. Plus, I'm ready for a new look.

After a lot of hunting, I found a blue and white pinstriped couch, in a store where I could actually sit on it and feel it -- how do people buy a couch online? But it will not be here for something like 3 months, so I have time to address the other pieces in the room. The red couch, which I still adore, will move out to the workshop room so I can sit and relax while sorting through all of the stuff in storage there.

I actually have some work to finish today, so I will close this this picture of yesterday's late afternoon summer sky.

Maybe it's just me, but the skies seem unusually beautiful here.

July pleasures

Good morning, friends, and happy July 4th weekend to you! 

It is a gorgeous weekend here. Last year at this time, when I’d just moved to the island, I was warned that June would be solidly cool and rainy (which it was) and summer would begin on July 5th, as dramatically as if a summer switch were flipped on (which it did). This year, though, June was a mix of drizzly, overcast, and clear sunny days, so it has felt like summer was easing in earlier and more gradually. This holiday weekend has been ideal. I’ve been watching early morning kayakers and mid day water skiers on my little lake, and I’ve had perfect late afternoons on the deck with a book and a cold drink. This feels just the way summer should be.  I apologize to my friends in Sonoma County, who have been sweltering through a heat wave. 

This week has been about home stuff. My wanderings have been limited to a few trips off island for medical appointments (my hand/wrist fractures are healing nicely, thank you, and Miss C’s eyes have been checked and new glasses are on order), with a bit of furniture shopping thrown in. 

I decided that I have been dissatisfied with the family room because my Healdsburg furniture is just too big and too dark for the space.  After much online perusing, I came to a vision I wanted to have in the room and I’ve been excited about creating it. No, this photo is not the vision, but it has that comfortable airiness I’d like to achieve. (This is from the beautiful home of blogger Kari from Thistlewoodfarms.com.) But gosh, the furniture offerings in stores are so beige! And gray! I’ve found sofa and chair shapes I quite like, but the fabric offerings are so drab. Even with leather, the options are extremely limited. I’ve found upholstery options I like online, but I’m quite apprehensive about ordering a sofa or chairs sight unseen and, more importantly, “unsat.” Amazon, Home Depot and other inexpensive furniture options make me wonder about long term durability with daily use. 

I will digress to ask if any of you have had actual good experiences with a white or cream couch without having to do weekly slipcover washes. I’ve looked at Pottery Barn couches but I’m wary. We spend a lot of time in the family room so the furniture gets heavy use. We occasionally eat in front of the tv, and yes, I’ve been know to spill my coffee or red wine. The dogs are not on the furniture, but they have been known to rub against it, and I don’t like the thought of grimy streaks around the sides and edges of white furniture. Sigh. So I’m researching and poking around.

Meanwhile, I’ve made exciting progress in the sewing room. I’ve been struggling with my well-loved portable design wall which works great in some situations, but has been constantly in the way in my funny room. After a bit of research from quilters who have had happy results, I ordered felt tiles from Feltright.com. The tiles come in lots of colors and shapes and the site even has a design area where you can plan out your design and audition colors. I ordered a variation of their “Quilter’s Star” design in light gray and white. I wanted something neutral that would not compete with whatever pieces I had up, but that would also look good when it was empty. The tiles arrived on Friday, and on Saturday I went to work sticking them up. 

The trick is to start with a level block and work from there. And voila, finished wall! 

These tiles are smooth so pieces need to be pinned. But I did that before anyway, as I’d had too many times of finding a carefully laid out design in bits on the floor after the dogs had rushed by the portable wall.  Look, here it is in use already! 

And what is that work in progress, you ask? 

It is a kit quilt I bought a while ago on a big sale, because I love how the star blocks have a firework-ish look to them and it just looked so fun and festive. The pattern is called “Holiday Americana Merry Making,” designed by Jocelyn Ueng of It's Sew Emma, and it’s available as a kit here. Don’t let all the triangles daunt you. The blocks go together quickly with half square triangle units. Here is where I am as of this morning: 

Perfect 4th of July weekend sewing! 

Later today I expect to be out on the deck with the novel I’m reading, The City and the City by China Mieville. It is an unusual story about a murder that has been discovered in a place where two cities overlap and are, for political reasons, treated as invisible to each other. The novel has quite an interesting premise, and is billed as science fiction, fantasy, crime, and speculative fiction. Miss C actually told me about it after she’d listened to an online review, and I was sufficiently intrigued to borrow it from the library. If any of you have read it, I’d be interested in your thoughts. 

In case you are worrying about the baby bunnies in my yard, I am happy to report that my lawn has been fully mown and no baby bunnies (or parts thereof) were found along the way. I expect to see them scampering about one morning soon. 

 

Always More to Read

You might remember that a while ago I came upon a flyer announcing that Nancy Pearl was going to speaking in Langley. I got all of my work done and sent off, so I was free to trot off on Thursday morning to see her talk.

Nancy Pearl is a retired librarian from Seattle. She has become known for her love of reading and her talent and at recommending books to others. You can read all about her here on Wikipedia. I didn't know that she started the concept of having a whole city read the same book -- "Seattle Reads" -- which has been adopted by any cities around the country. I knew her from her interviews on Public Radio, and from a few books she has published with lists of book recommendations.

Beforehand, I got my official Sno-Isle library card, giving me access to the Snohomish and Island County libraries. Isn't that a great name? Sno-Isle sounds like a magical wintry island where you can snuggle in, drink hot chocolate and read all day. 

Nancy Pearl's talk was held at the local arts center, and the place was packed. It was wonderful to be in a big room full of avid readers. It looked to me like a lot of book club groups had come together. As a newcomer to Whidbey Island, it was heartening to look around and see people who love books and reading. Will one of them become a friend, some day? This talk was Nancy's 25th talk in Langley, and the woman next to me had been to every one. 

 

The talk was about some of the best books that Nancy has read over the last year. Conveniently, the program included the list of titles and authors Nancy would be discussing, and people (including me) took notes to remember the ones that sounded most appealing. It was a delightful talk, and Nancy seemed like someone you'd want to just sit and talk books with for hours. 

She talked some about paper books vs audio books vs e-readers. Nancy has no prejudices against any of the formats. There was a bit of discussion about how a book/ebook is a dialogue between book and reader, and an audiobook becomes a conversation between author, reader and narrator. It is certainly true that audio book narrators can make or break a listening experience. (I recall one I tried to listen to awhile back where the narrator kept pausing or changing her intonation as if the sentence had ended...but it had not. It was very disconcerting and I stopped listening because it was just too distracting.)

And speaking of stopping, Nancy Pearl has become known for her "Rule of 50" which she has now adapted. Her view is that life is to short, and there are too many great things to read, to waste time on something you are not enjoying. Hear, hear! So her rule is this: You should read 50 pages and if you are still not involved or enjoying it, stop. (Her exception was if you are reading for a book club, keep going...  because then you have made a commitment to the other club members.) She also added: you are reading a mystery, not enjoying it much but reading only because you want to know who did it, for pete's sake go look at the end, and then walk away. Her new amendments are: if you are over 51 years old, subtract your age from 100 and that is how many pages you should read. For example, if you are 65, subtract 65 from 100 and you need only read 35 pages. And, she added, if you are 100 then you can judge a book by its cover and read however much or however little you choose.

Isn't it funny how we need permission to stop reading a book? For the longest time, I felt like I had to read to the end if I started it, and felt horribly guilty if I stopped midway. Some years back I let go of that, but I appreciate having a librarian's permission to abandon ship at will. 

Some of Nancy Pearl's previous Langley talks are posted on Youtube, so you can listen, get a flavor for her, and get some past book recommendations.  She's done a Ted Talk, which you can watch here. And she has done a bunch of "Book Lust with Nancy Pearl" author interviews on Seattle Channel, which you can find on Youtube also.

You want to know what Nancy Pearl recommended, don't you? Here are a few of the ones I noted:

  What Just Happened: Notes on a Long Year by Charles Finch

        A non-fiction diary of one man's experience of 2020 and Covid lockdown. Nancy said she didn't want to relive 2020 but the book was wonderful. You can see her interview with the author here. 

Revenge of the Librarians by Tom Gauld

    A collection of cartoons about books, writing, editing, reading. You might recognize his style from his New Yorker contributions. I went straight to the bookstore afterwards and bought this. I need more cartoons in my life. And it's delightful. 

 The One Hundred Years of Lenni and Margot by Marianne Cronin

    I had read this and really enjoyed it. It's the story of Lenni, a 17 year old terminal cancer patient, and Margo, an 83 year old woman, who are both hospitalized and meet in the craft room. They realize that their ages total 100 years, and they decide to paint images of their lives, one for each year, so when they are done they will have a collection of 100 paintings. I thought it was lovely, poignant, and not (surprisingly) not depressing.

 Thank You, Mr. Nixon by Gish Jen  

    I really want to read this. It is a series of linked short stories, about different generations from the same family. The publisher's blurb says: "Beginning with a cheery letter penned by a Chinese girl in heaven to “poor Mr. Nixon” in hell, Gish Jen embarks on a fictional journey through U.S.-China relations, capturing the excitement of a world on the brink of tectonic change."  This especially interests me. Caroline was born in and adopted from China, and our beloved guide when we were in China, Chen, was the (then very young) Chinese diplomat responsible for coordinating Nixon's travels through China. There is a Nancy Pearl interview with Gish Jen on Youtube.

The Christie Affair by Nina de Gramont 

    I have seen this book in a lot of places, and figured it was one of the many sort of derivative historical fiction pieces that seem popular right now. Nancy Pearl's comments about it made me want to read it, and I just got it from the library. If you're an Agatha Christie fan, you probably know that there is a real mystery about Christie's life about an 11 day period where she simply disappeared. To this day, no one really know what happened, and there is much speculation. Christie's husband was having a very public affair, and when Christie disappeared it was feared that she had killed herself. She was subsequently discovered, alive, checked into an inn under the name of the mistress. This is a take on that 11 days, told from the perspective of the mistress. Nancy recommended it highly, so I'm giving it a go. But before I start I'll watch Nancy's interview with the author, here.

 

Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin 

    This was on my "to read" list so I am looking forward tot his even more. You might know Gabrielle Zevin from her delightful novel, The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry. Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow traces the lives of two friends from their meeting as young students, to their decision to create a computer game together, to what happens after that. According to the publisher, "two friends—often in love, but never lovers—come together as creative partners in the world of video game design, where success brings them fame, joy, tragedy, duplicity, and, ultimately, a kind of immortality." Nancy raved about this and said you do not have to know about or like computer games to really enjoy this book.  

Still Life by Sarah Winman  

    I'd not heard of this but it sounds intriguing. Based on Nancy's recommendation, I've added this to my To Read list. Here is the publisher's description:

"Tuscany, 1944: As Allied troops advance and bombs fall around deserted villages, a young English soldier, Ulysses Temper, finds himself in the wine cellar of a deserted villa. There, he has a chance encounter with Evelyn Skinner, a middle-aged art historian who has come to Italy to salvage paintings from the ruins and recall long-forgotten memories of her own youth. In each other, Ulysses and Evelyn find a kindred spirit amidst the rubble of war-torn Italy, and set off on a course of events that will shape Ulysses's life for the next four decades."

After the talk, I wandered over to Langley's charming independent bookstore, Moonraker Books. I bought the Tom Gauld book of cartoons there, wandered a bit  -- so many tempting books! 

 

I ended my outing at Crabby Coffee, where I sat next to the fireplace, sipped a latte, and perused Tom Gauld's bookish cartoons. 

It was a wonderful way to spend the morning. And now I will appreciate Whidbey's rainy and chilly weather even more, because it is the perfect weather for snuggling in and reading.
 

 

Saturday Meanderings

I have been out and about again today. The day started off with a Zoom get-together with two dear friends, which was absolutely wonderful. Having moved to a whole new corner of the world where I don't know too many people, I treasure these zoom friend dates. They make me feel connected and supported and happy to spend time with wonderful people. 

Then it was off to the recycling center. I'm sure you want to know what it looks like, yes?

  

I had several weeks worth of cardboard and cans and such, so there were a lot of trips to and from the car. There were two adorable little boys whose eyes got very wide with surprise when I accidentally started dumping my aluminum cans into the tin can receptacle. Oh no! Rule breaking! They giggled while I fished out my errant cans. I'm glad I provided surprise entertainment this morning. 

 Then I set off on a back road toward Langley, the village that is nearest to my house. Along the way, I stopped when I came upon a barn quilt decorating a local grange hall. One should always stop to admire a barn quilt, I say. It reminded me that I have not yet found the two barn quilts that I painted a few summers back. They are in the garage in some box somewhere, I know. It will be fun to hang them in the yard when I do finally find them.

 But onward, to Langley. I love Langley. A cute little village, right on Puget Sound. What's not to love?

 

The "downtown" consists of two parallel streets of shops and restaurants. It's tiny but oh so charming. 

 

Heading in, there were big black crows lining the road for a stretch. Excellent Halloween decorations.

And look, fall flower pots accessorized with brooms and pumpkins. Far better than the typical bats and skeletons, to my mind. 

One of my favorite shops in town is the Star Store, a wonderful mercantile with something for everyone. There have home goods, clothing, shoes, cards, a wine area, and even a toy area tucked up stairs.

 

There is also a substantial grocery area, where you can get a sandwich made for you at the deli or various prepared foods to take home. I got a half-sandwich of ham and swiss on rosemary bread to eat later at an appropriate scenic spot. It was delicious. 

From there, I headed on back roads in the direction of Freeland, which is a bit south, along more tree-lined roads.

I enjoyed the Halloween decorations along the way. These guys were just hanging out at one intersection.

Following my GPS map and trying to just stay along the water's edge, I came upon a new-to-me area which appeared to be the Baby Island Homeowners' Association. And look, I think that must be Baby Island.

 

I got out of the car to get closer.  Mainly a rock, with some grass, I think?

Baby Island! That immediately reminded me of a Scholastic paper back book I bought in elementary school that still sits on my bedroom bookshelf - Baby Island by Carol Ryrie Brink, the author of Caddie Woodlawn. Remember TAB books, and how you'd check off your desired purchases on the newsprint sheet, and the books would be delivered right to your desk a few weeks later? This was one of those. 

Does this cover look familiar? This is the exact one I have. I have a vague memory of a story of girls who have to take care of a bunch of babies. Here's the Amazon synopsis:  

"When a ferocious storm hits their ship, young Mary and Jean become stranded on a deserted island. They’re not the only survivors; with them are four babies. Immediately the sisters set out to make the island a home for themselves and the little ones. A classic tale of courage and dedication from a Newbery Medalist author."

I may need to read this tonight. 

But I kept on going, admiring the Baby Island neighborhood.

 

I was enjoying the pretty houses set off the road in big fields.  (Excuse the less-than-ideal photography. I pulled over and snapped this fast.)

Then I'd turn and see water again. Remember, this is an island.

Oh, and I stumbled on ANOTHER dahlia garden. The stand was empty but I jumped out to take a quick photo. It made me so happy to see these flowers.

In Freeland, I ventured into a few stores. I was in search of better recycling bins for the garage, as the small ones I have are simply not very useful, and I need to have four separate sorting bins. (I must keep those tin cans and aluminum cans separate, you know!) The hardware store did not have what I needed. I popped into the "big" grocery store for Sunday dinner items. This chilly fall weather feels like roast chicken weather to me. 

I have saved the best for last. Look what I saw on the bulletin board at the Star Store:

Nancy Pearl will be speaking at the Langley Public Library in November! I love Nancy Pearl! Do you know her? She is a librarian who has written some wonderful books about books. My favorite is "Book Lust: Recommended Reading for Every Mood, Moment and Reason." I think she has made it her mission to introduce readers to older books that, to her, need to be revived. Based on her reviews, Amazon released a series of "Book Lust Rediscoveries." She has even been made into an action figure! I've heard her on NPR from time to times on I did not realize she was from the Seattle Public Library, so her presence here makes sense. But I'm excited and have the event calendared.  

The dogs were watching out the front window when I got home, and they are happy that all the members of their pack are under one roof again.