Sad news about a tatting friend

I think most of you remember our tatting friend in Toronto, Fox. She had a blog for many years called tat-ology.

I saw recently that she is with us no more. Carlie died February 22 2023 after a brief battle with cancer.

I saw this on Instagram under her account, torontofox.

This makes me very sad. Carlie was very creative, and I enjoyed her descriptions of her life and surroundings. I especially enjoyed her pictures of her cats. The last cat was a gorgeous Siamese she called Mr. G.

Bless you Carlie. You will be remembered.

Tatters are the nicest people

First off, I really, really appreciate the sympathy and warm wishes after our recent fire. Folks have been so kind to us. Lots of people have reached out and sent emails, cards, and more. I feel really fortunate. It's good to be loved.

And if I haven't responded to your email, don't be offended. I'm, um, kinda busy.

By the way, things are going pretty well. We are moving into a furnished rental home on Friday, all paid for by the insurance. It's close to our old place (AKA the ash heap), it's the right size, and quite by accident, it's on Moe's school bus route! I can't wait to have a kitchen again - eating out all the time really gets old. 

Back to tatters.

I found a lovely card that appeared in my mail.  

It was a card from my friend Joanie, with this pretty tatted angel inside. Wasn't that nice? It made my day. The angel is beautiful. Thank you, Joanie.

Later in the week, a box appeared. (BTW, my neighbor is getting the mail. My house burned, but the mailbox still works great.) What could be inside?

Wow! A treasure trove of things, all the basics any good tatter could desire. All courtesy the wonderful Georgia Seitz. Three balls of Lizbeth, a crochet hook, two shuttles and picot gauges (made by Richard Seitz), plus a ton of tatting patterns. I'm overwhelmed. So thoughtful. Thank you very kindly, Georgia.

Now - on to deal with all the stuff that happens with moving. Utilities, deposits, furniture, etc.

I think I will fix meatloaf the first night. The Stooges like meatloaf.

Back to normal soon....

Last days at old job and a new bag

Elvis has left the building. I am now free of my old gig. And Monday I start my new one. Hurrah!

I have to say - I went out on a high note. I gave appropriate notice before leaving (that's two weeks here in the States) and I did excellent turnover of my responsibilities. I spent a lot of time documenting what I did and then I trained people on my old duties. And I think there was some appreciation of what I had been doing.

For example, while going over one large section of my work, my immediate supervisor's eyes started to bulge and then glaze over while he began to comprehend what I was doing. In the past, the guy (who's really very nice) had done basically nothing to supervise me. The sum total of his supervision was to ask me for a report that I gave monthly to my user community, and to ask me to write my own performance evaluation. Really. So he was a little taken aback once he was forced to pay more attention. Heh.

But in the end I turned over everything and no more questions came.

And then there was cake.

My director threw a little party for me, inviting all of the department for cake and ice cream. (The cake was roughly the size of an air craft carrier deck. The leftovers stayed at work.) Some very nice things were said, and I was especially surprised when I received a lovely card signed by the group. And there was money inside, a group gift!! Woo-hoo!! How nice!

And then there were balloons.

Balloons from Accounting

The next day - my last day - my group took me out to eat. They also invited a number of my client base, who came bearing balloons and gifts and cards. And questions like "Who's going to help us now?" When I told them, their faces fell. Oh Dear.

But everyone was super nice and hugged me and congratulated me. And I went on. Time for the new job!

I do feel very good about the way my old job ended up. Sometimes people can't wait to push you out the door. But not this time. What a lovely thing...

And after I ended up at my old job, I found a cool new toy.

For those of you who have a Aldi near you, they have this great rolling bag now for $15. It's nylon and has outside pockets and a top that zips and a long collapsible handle. It would be great as a tatting bag (especially at conferences) or a bag for travel. It's the right size for using as carry on for airline travel too. It comes in several colors - go get one now! I'm going to decorate mine with tatting.

Next week - new job! Hurrah!
 

Gratitude

Just a brief post on things I'm grateful for.

My friends, who support me and who understand my warped sense of humor.
My children. Much about them seems magical and wonderful.
My husband.
Those who have supported me through the very tough situation we are going through.
God's grace. It's given me strength and the ability to remain calm.
The fact that something told me to stash money away as hard as I could for a rainy day.
My tatting - it makes me feel good.
My home and the ability to keep it.
My tatting buddies, near and far.

Oh, and turkey! Here's the 28 pound monster Larry brought home for us to eat Thursday!
 

People you see at Tat Days

You meet a lot of fun people at Tat Days.

Like Jane and Georgia. They are the best tatters - and so much fun to be around.

And Marilee and Sue Anna. They brought some of Marilee's lovely HDT to share.

Here's cute Livi and her mama Jess. Jess had yummy thread to sell!

Isdihara (AKA the best roommate EVER) and Anita. They're in the same VA lace guild.

Nancy and GR-8 brother Randy. Da Udder Brudder was recovering from an accident - we missed you Gary!

Krystal Dawne's mama Karrieann, working on an angel in my class.

Arlene, showing off the bracelet she made in my class. Isn't it cute? Arlene is the nicest person.

Spouses David and Sharren were there. Sharron is a hoot, and David is a dear. He's her tatting sherpa!

President Donna at the podium, with new president Teresa on the right. This was at our banquet. These are NOT stuffy people. There was MUCH laughter at the banquet.

Here are folks going to the banquet - Isdihara, the lovely HJ Hess, some unknown lame tatter, and Susan Fuller (who wrote Heart's Desire!)

More folks at the banquet - Hannah Lindhom (of Sweden), Linda Adair (Gina Brummett's sister), Sally and Riet. Hannah's sister Sara Bergman's dark head is in the foreground, next to Laurie Simmons, Gina's daughter.

Hannah provided entertainment for us at the banquet! She was quite good.

Folks gathered to have fun afterwards. Front - Isdihara, Jane and Sally. Back - Karey, some old fool, HJ Hess, and Sue Anna. Don't worry - we were toasting with grape juice. Ms. Hess's TBH took the picture.

After all the fun, I had to buy a few things. The loose HDT is from Jess, the bagged HDT is from Karey. Yes, that's a GR-8 double shuttle, in ebony! Plus books, beads and more shuttles - woo-hoo!

It was TONS of fun. For those who haven't ever been to Palmetto Tat Days, you should at least try and go some day. It's worth it!

Lily (who Larry calls 'weapons-class adorable') didn't care about tatting. She was home sacked out.

Visitors plus quick Tat Days update

I've had company. Some of you may know who it was - but now you all know that I had sisters Jane Eborall and Sally Kerson visiting from England.

Sally and Jane, in my kitchen!

 They are loads of fun. And really really nice, delightful house guests.

Jane is a card. They had fun with me for a few days, then we went up to Tat Days. Before we left, I did have to do a counting of my cats to make sure all three were there - the sisters threatened to kidnap Lily!

Isdihara and Anita mug for me

Palmetto Tat Days is the most fun! There were lots of folks there. One hundred and one tatters, plus spouses and vendors. It was phenomenal.

One of my student's work in progress

There was lots of tatting done. I taught 3 classes, all my own patterns.

just a few of the items...

We had a silent auction and a big live auction. The auctions all are for scholarships so that folks can attend Tat Days who might otherwise not be able to afford to, a terrific cause. For many of us, Tat Days is respite from our regular stressful lives.

Arlene, Carol, and Marsha working away in my class

There was more tatting....

Hand dyed thread from Jess! Good enough to eat.

And lots of things to buy. My bank account now has a hole in it.

This ain't all, folks

It was over all too soon. I came home with tons of purchases, plus - swag galore!

I'll update you later with all the details. Can't wait 'til Tat Days 2013!
 

Sorry I've been away

I've had a lot to do at home, and not much time for anything else lately.

Some updates:

Moe has started back to school, his sophomore year in high school. I'm very pleased with his schedule (which he chose!) of Honors Math, World History, 10th grade Lit, French II, Chorus, AP Biology, Modern Military History, and Computer Apps. Excellent schedule. He's also now leading all the Scout troop meetings as SPL, and has to run the annual planning workshop this weekend. (He's nervous about this, but the troop's adult leadership will make sure he'll be successful.)

Sunday night, I gleefully mowed Moe's hair with the clippers. It looked attrocious before! Now it's a nice, tidy 3-guard length.

Larry is finally back at work, doing light duty. He started back last Tuesday. He's not getting many hours, but at least this is wedging him OUT of my basement. He's going back to class later this month, hurrah!

Larry does have a pretty funny sense of humor. This is a tableau he set up, with Power Rangers and Godzilla, sipping tea. Please note the tea cups.

Curly is back IN our house, after having massive roommate issues and finance problems, most of which were not his fault. He's car has been giving him fits - he spent all weekend working on it and is pretty happy with it now. He's only supposed to be in the house until September 1, but I suspect it will be longer, as he's had to spend a LOT of money on car parts. He's a better boy than the one that left though, much more considerate and willing to help. I'm so glad.

I have to take DH to have outpatient surgery on Monday, getting yet another basal cell carcinoma removed. The one on Monday is on his lower leg and is the size of a quarter. He has 4 more to come off on the 27th, none are as big. DH is paying the price for growing up outside in Florida sans sunscreen.

I've been enjoying the bears, but many times I need the calm of watching the fish. OMMMMMMM.

I did make it to my knitting/crochet/tatting group. They always have things to show off. I'm trying to get them to come to Tat Days!

Did you this month would be Julia Child's 100th birthday? She was the best.

Cisco doesn't care about Julia Child. He just wants more petting.

A trip to remember

This weekend I went on a little outing that I'd been planning for some time.

Vader helped me pack.

I went with my good friend Mrs S - she's a lot of fun, but we don't get to see each other very often.

In preparation, we both got pedicures. Don't we have cute toes?

the view from the inn's porch

On Saturday, we drove down from Hotlanta into the southern part of our state. We stayed in a lovely little inn in this tiny town, an inn with historically themed rooms.

Ours was the 1940's room - very cool.

It was totally decorated in the 1940's style. Check out the bathroom - the tub has tall feet (which proved sorta treacherous at bath time, but we survived).

The bedroom was lovely. This was the only room with 2 beds at the Inn, and it's the reason I picked this room. (I'm very fond of Mrs. S, but I'm not up to snuggling with her at night.) I loved the decorations! Everything in the room was from the 40's, or appeared to be - with the exception of the AC and the television.

Reading materials were provided for us, a book on each bed. They were part of a 40's edition of the Waverly Novels, written by Sir Walter Scott. The one is Black Dwarf.

The inn was really lovely. There was a nifty kitchen area...

And cool stuff in the hall.

Mrs. S and I went window shopping on the street. Then we headed off to bed. We had to meet someone important the next day!

Bright and early we got up and made our way into church, where we got some etiquette lessons from Miss Jan. Miss Jan is really sweet, but you best not cross her. She will make you pay!

And then it was time to see what - or rather who - Mrs. S and I had come to see.

It was former President Jimmy Carter! (No telephoto lens used here - I was close enough to touch him!) Jimmy still teaches Sunday School in his church the tiny town of Plains, GA, and yes, you can go to his Sunday School class! This is his regular gig, and he's been teaching adult Sunday School classes since he was 18. He continued to teach while he was President. No other sitting President has done such a thing.

 Jimmy was wonderful.

He works as sort of a handyman at the church. The past week he mended one of the church pews. He made the plates used for the offering. (They're signed on the back.) His wife Rosalyn lined the bowls with felt.

Jimmy taught on prayer, and gave a terrific lesson. (I was moved to tears.) He's still very, very sharp. He taught for forty-five minutes, speaking without notes, remarkable for someone who's 87. He knows his scripture - and he walks the walk.

I love Jimmy. I always have. As I said, he walks the walk.

I wore my special Jimmy pin. And yes - I was there at the World Congress Center in Atlanta on election night in 1976. I stood up all night on those hard concrete floors, and was at the barricade when Jimmy came by shaking hands on the way to the podium to deliver his victory speech.

Mrs S and I stayed for church, along with the little congregation and their visitors. This week's group included a large group of diplomats, folks from consulates in Hotlanta. And people from all over the country.

After church, we got to have our pictures take, quick quick quick, with Jimmy and Rosalyn. And as former President and Noble Peace Prize winner Jimmy Carter slipped his arm around my waist for the picture, he whispered to me:

"I like your pin. I noticed it all through Sunday School."

Thank you, I replied, I got it honestly.

And then it was over.

Mrs. S got her picture, and we went home, having had a day we'll tell our grandchildren about.

If you want a remarkable experience, go see Jimmy Carter teach his Sunday School class. He's a fine man, a remarkable Christian, and he won't be with us much longer. Go. Go soon. Miss Jan can tell you how.

And you can read another description of the Jimmy experience here.

Mrs. S is a bit nutty!