HOUSE PARTY ALL WEEK

 Elena and two of her three dogs are staying with me for six whole days--and it's already wonderful! 

Conway (Twitty) is a blind and arthritic Australian Shepherd who barely moves about anymore.  He's reached the stage in his life when he prefers to lie in the sun or on the floor for hours.  

Charlie and Luci are about the same size, Charlie an adorable poodle mix.   They are all three so sweet and agreeable.  When I asked Conway to come inside where it's cool, he slowly got himself on all fours and followed my voice inside, where he seems perfectly content.  

After school, I drove to Bulverde for a volleyball game. Aftewards, we went to Specht's Store, Kate's restaurant for many years, sold ten years ago.  I had to have "Kate's catfish" again and it was delicious!  Elena had the salmon, equally good.  

I hadn't been to Specht's in years, not since Kate sold it, but I'll be going again.  The new owners have managed to keep the Kate vibe intact and it brought back many happy memories--including a night when a group of us friends went there and Kate's son and Will played guitar and sang.

If you want a fun old Texas tradition (the bar dates back to 1910) it's worth the drive, especially on weekends when they have live music!

Meanwhile, Will and Bonnie are having dinner with Nathan in Lubbock on their way to Colorado.

Finally...

Today I made the most challenging book yet--a deceptively simple-looking binding called the buttonhole stitch. 

When Jan came over before we walked tonight, I told her, "If I can make this, I can do anything."

She--generously--agreed.

This book has 12 signatures--that's 48 pages--of smooth Stonehenge paper, torn instead of cut to get the deckle-edges.  The cover was ridiculously difficult, but I love it so much I'll do it again.  It's made of thin Japanese paper laminated to a thicker paper, with a window in the spine.  

Tomorrow in the light, I'll take a picture of it.

Making books is, as I've said many times, good medicine, good therapy, and a wonderful way to get back in touch with myself after being away for a while.  It requires concentration and focus more than anything I've ever done before.  One simple mistake can throw off the whole thing. 

It's not a utilitarian project.  I have plenty of blank books.  It is, rather, an opportunity to learn a complex chain of individual skills in stitching and measuring and folding; choosing and ordering the right papers; bonding fabric to paper to make book cloth; and executing stitches I'd never heard of before before I signed up for the Handmade Book Club. 

Furthermore (and maybe it's just me), whether or not you ever intend to make a book, watching bookmakers' videos is fascinating.  Some are detailed tutorials, but there are also videos without words, usually just the hands of the maker whipping up magic with beautiful papers and threads. 

Centennial Birthday Party for My Mama

 If you're like me, one of your least favorite and most infuriating things to do is to make a tech support call: thirty minutes to get a human, then when you do he can't understand you and vice versa, then it goes on and on like that for an hour or two until, if you're like me, you hang up with no solution and in tears!

So this morning, locked out of Google and You Tube and a whole bunch of other Google-related sites, I called Daniel.  For $40 and fifteen minutes of his time, all issues seem to be solved--so I'm back on the blog and can post a few favorite photos from Carlene's 100th birthday.

Carlene, me, Jocelyn and Bob on her actual birthday, August 24th, at Presbyterian Village.  There were 12 of us family members, and after lunch we went to another room where she opened cards and gifts and read aloud the book I made her of her writing.

The day before, her friend Cathy--who lives in a house in independent living--hosted a luncheon in her home  and the birthday girl even took a few sips of champagne for the occasion.  

Now that I'm back in, I'll continue later.  If anyone local needs Daniel's phone number, just contact me and I'll send it along.  

Friday

Being home feels good--except that we're still in triple-digits in the afternoons. 

Carlene's 100th birthday was exactly what she wanted, twelve of us family there to celebrate with lunch and a cake, card, and present party afterwards.  My gift to her was a book of excerpts from her own writing over the years, and she read the entire book aloud to family,

Bob spoke about those who weren't there; Jocelyn beautifully decorated the dining room and activities room with balloons, flowers and two cakes; Andrew read aloud a poem he'd written; and many of the staff members showed up to hug Carlene.  By bedtime, she'd gotten about 200 cards from family members,  lifetime friends (including many of mine), and the new friends she's made since moving into Assisted Living in Athens a little over a year ago. 

On the day after her birthday we went to Best Buy to purchase a new laptop--because she wants to write about what it's like After A Hundred! 

We're all thankful for her great health and the fact that she's loving where she's living.  

I'll write more as I get settled back in.  

Travel Update

Freda recently reminded me that I once said, "Please remind me if I forget--never take a road trip in August!"  I was glad I asked for that reminder. 

So I have postponed my road trip with Luci until the fall and will be flying to celebrate my mother's 100th birthday instead.  As the ad for Viking River Cruises says so memorably,  "Spend less time getting there and more time being there." 

This advertising meme doesn't usually fit my traveling style, but in August it does.  

Storytelling

The Moth is one of my favorite programs on NPR, featuring storytellers from all over. Their website and podcasts contain all their past episodes, short personal stories that are great road trip company.  

As a narrative lover all my life, I can get lost in a story.  But I can also find myself in them.  

Finding ourselves in a story is one of the reasons we read. 

From the epic tales of myths to the personal anecdotes we tell each other, great storytellers have a way of honing in on the details that make a story so real that, years later, we think it actually happened to us.  We remember it as if it did. 

I actually remember being on the back of a horse with my daddy when I was about two years old.  Suddenly the horse started running for his life, leaving little tiny petrified me holding on to my dad's back with all my strength as we raced across a field.

I remember us finally coming to a halt, dismounting, and discovering that what had set off that old horse was an accidental burn from the tip of my dad's cigar!  

Turns out, a few details had transported themselves from my dad's memories to my mind: the sudden run-away of the horse (though it wasn't a horse, it was a mule); the accidental burn that set it all off; my daddy pulling on the reins with all his might to stop the wild animal. 

But when all that happened, I (the girl on the back) was not even born!

He told me this after years of my believing I was there: "No, Sugar, that was back before you were born." 

I've been thinking a lot lately about stories and why certain ones have staying power, why some are buried so deep in us that they only come to the surface when we need them.  About a certain story that I heard in college that impacted me for years to come. 

I've been wondering why certain stories capture the imaginations of generations of people, why others are maybe just as good but soon forgotten.   Thinking about the ways we literally hold our breaths a minute waiting to find out how a story turns out. 

Maybe that's what I'm going to write about for a few posts coming up. 

I'm not exactly apologizing for yesterday's angry post (already deleted), just saying that angry posts should be tamped down just a bit--even if that post was tamped way down from what I really wanted to say!

But overall, when I recovered, I re-thought putting it out there.  Our screens need more kindness and peace.  

Where do I find those on my screen?

Numero Uno: any videos by Jon Batiste, the most charismatic human I can name at the moment.

Numero Dos: videos of dogs being dogs, responding to humans but also giving humans a joy that can't be found many places.

And of course, videos of people making beautiful things, following the arc of their own unique passions and playfulness.

So today I just wish anyone reading this all the joy and goodness you can find, and anything we can do to inject peace into this broken world. 

Another scam out there

 A month ago I got a letter from the Department of the Treasury saying that my social security benefits would be cut if I don't settle a medical debt before August 1st.  I figured it was not legit, so I threw it away.

This month, they persisted, another letter.  An itemized bill that included three different providers, but strangely 25 sessions with Joe, the physical therapist, all in the month of September 2022.

I called to check on it.  (Jan said never call these people!)

They wanted my social security number and a credit and my $955 payment immediately so as not so interrupt my social security benefits.  "I'll call my insurance company and check it out," I said--and she said, "no, don't call them.  They can't handle this kind of issue after 3 years." 

Jan has been researching scams and she assured me this fit the bill.  Blue Cross agreed.  

Just wanted to warn you.  

As Jan said, these scammers are getting more and more sophisticated and they have a lot of our data.  The three providers on their list are actual doctors of mine.And their letterhead and pages of legal words looked official.  

Suggested Reading if you're in the "second half of life."

Just back from the airport--delivered the Pritchetts to begin their two week summer trip to Greece and Italy, Nathan's graduation present.  He's always been interested in Greek and Roman history, and in particular the mythology and warfare of antiquity.  

I'm reading two  books this week:

The Fifth Season: Creativity in the Second Half of Life by Mark Nepo

Hagitude: Reimagining the Second Half of Life by Sharon Blackie

The subtitles and content of these two are almost identical.  Both well written. 

Earlier I included a third book with a promising title (The Creative Act), but it's going back.  

Making As Meditation (even, sometimes, medication!)

Decided last night to upgrade my world--by paying for ad-free You Tube.  What a difference--to watch tutorials without having to stop and watch AI-generated commercials for a salt-cure that will melt pounds away, presented by the magic of AI by a young Oprah.  Or so-called doctors advising you on gut health and gadgets galore.

Even if you never plan to bind a book, if you want a meditative experience right in your own bedroom, with or without a dog to cuddle, check out Mr. Agassi binding books.  In a beautiful Italian-looking book-bindery, this man--who grew up binding books with his father--has no frills, no music, no mass-produced tools.  His tools are as authentic as his teaching style: brass bars for weights (I use large soup cans); simple knives, and a genuine antique book press any book binder would almost-die for.

He takes his time.  No rushing, no speed-ups.  It's all done in real time.  You simple sit back and watch his hands do magic while he explains what he's doing.  A true master of book-craft, Ido Agassi is precise in every move, a generous teacher.

Sea Lemon is one of several Asian book-makers.  Their hands move like dancers.  They are not forever dropping the needle on the floor, as I am.  With soft music in the background, no words are necessary as you just watch the smooth movements of needles moving through beautiful paper until, voila!, a book is complete.

If you're feeling stressed or exhausted by news and noise and traffic, watching book-makers make books is great medicine!