Wandering around downtown St. Johns while waiting for my movie to start, I came across this flyer:
What a fun activity! If only I had known about it earlier.
I wandered by, and it looked like a pretty good turnout for the cakeluck.
While I’m three weeks away from being officially 50 years old, the AARP doesn’t want me to forget about their grand organization I will soon qualify to join.
As with all things that mark the passing of time (that aren’t my body breaking down) I enjoy the milestones. And while I think 50 is a little early to join the retired persons association (especially since full retirement isn’t until age 67 for my age cohort) I look forward to their mailers.
Matt channeled his worried energy re: the 2024 presidential election into writing letters for Vote Forward encouraging people in Georgia to vote.
He wrote 300 letters, for which he had to get extra permission. 200 is the letter-writing max.
This is not the first year Matt has done this. He wrote letters last fall, and for previous elections. Here is 2022, for comparison.
*Book group selection | Bolded means favorite
*Time to Make Art by Jeff Mack
*The Spaceman by Randy Cecil
*Not Nothing by Gayle Forman
*Impossible Creatures by Katherine Rundell
*Ash’s Cabin by Jen Wang
Geek Girl by Holly Smale
We Can’t Keep Meeting Like This by Rachel Lynn Solomon
Lizzie & Dante by Mary Bly
Between Two Strangers by Kate White
Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng
Slow Dance by Rainbow Rowell
Pioneer Girl by Bich Minh Nguyen
The Summer Wives by Beatriz Williams
The Bridesmaids Union by Jonathan Vatner
Vatner’s Carnegie Hill charmed me by being about self-involved rich people, but also incredibly relatable. I was less charmed by the Bridesmaids Union because the main character really needed to say no. And she didn’t. Repeatedly. So the novel could happen, I guess?
I’m also quite happy that my era of attending weddings was much more low key than the one this book depicts.
That Summer by Jennifer Weiner
Weiner finds an interesting and multilevel way into #MeToo.
The Art of Ruth E. Carter: Costuming Black History and the Afrofuture, from Do the Right Thing to Black Panther by Ruth E. Carter
*Shift Happens: The History of Labor in the United States by J. Albert Mann
Cousin Ron sent this postcard from Tartu, Estonia. He sent it in an envelope, so it’s in quite good shape. He said that he and Janelle are spending a few days in Estonia before heading back to Helsinki. They’ve been walking everywhere and the weather has been nice.
Here are the fun stamps that got this to me. It also took 24 days to arrive, not a terrible record for Europe.
This postcard was spotted by Shawn while it was laying on the ground near the entrance to Cal Poly Humboldt. He suggested Sara grab it and send it to me. She thought there was no way it would be blank. But it was!
And now here it is with me. She reinforced it with some clear tape around the edges before she sent it.
This took me the entire summer, and I’m not sure why, as the finished sampler fits in a 6-inch hoop. Maybe I need the motivation of more colors? Maybe all this blackwork was just straight stitches in different ways, and I got bored? Not sure.
I’m pleased with the results, though. And that floral lace looks really pretty. I’ve learned to make the sample stiches surrounding the main picture the last thing I do, so I’ve had adequate practice. Even then I pulled out many stitches where I didn’t get the needle in just the right place.
The bonus item was quite fun and stitched up quickly. They make a fun combo.
Back views!
I think the back side of this looks a little creepier than the front. The house looks disheveled from this side.
And the back of this one had a thread stuck to it. I was too lazy to collect the scissors and cut it off before I took the picture.
Here’s the final result of this piece, last referenced in this post.
I’m quite pleased with the result. And I will be taking it into work to catch the drips from my tea and water vessels, as I will be sharing a desk on the one day a week I’m in the office.
This view shows that it ended up rather thick, but I think that works well. I used part of an old shirt of Matt’s for backing, and I like how bright the blue was.
The upside of using Bankie as the filling is that this item has very good energy.
The first is from my mom, where she reports that they day was gorgeous and that the coast has been very windy.
Sara has sent me this postcard before, though without the sticker annotation. She writes that the previous evening she received an award, and that her day on the day of writing was filled with meetings.
Finally, cousin Ron wrote that Helsinki has grown and changed in ten years, but he and his daughter have mastered the transit system, along with second-hand retail.
I also liked this stamp quite a bit.
It was a really great mailbox day!
Friend Kelly sent this postcard that she wrote while waiting at “the very crowded gate at (EW!) Ronald Regan Airport.”
She said the MLK monument was awesome, as was seeing her college roommate.
As you can see, an official worker badge has joined my Multnomah County Library card.
I will be working in the Finance and Facilities division.
