Beautiful Day for Mah Jongg

 Yesterday was our Tuesday group.  If I go to Mah Jongg at 1:00, I waste the whole morning until then.  I had some coffee early and then ate lunch - some leftover lasagna - because if I skip lunch, I get too hungry by 3:30.  I'd much rather play in the mornings, but afternoon is when the Y gives us a room, and we haven't get started playing in our homes - not sure we ever will since Tom and Jan don't even live here.  It's so easy this way.  They furnish a nice quiet BIG room, tables and chairs and the game, so all we need to do is bring ourselves and our card.  I always forget to take pictures there.  It's nothing special in terms of a room (it's an added-on prefab building where children have an after-school class) but it serves us fine.  They even ordered some new card tables for us.

Yesterday, there were 5 people for another table.  They play faster than we do and talk more than we do.  It's ladies who have known each other and played together for many years, so they have a lot in common.  Our table is quieter and more studious (nervous), and Tom doesn't put up with much chatty nonsense, so we're pretty focused!  

Almost all of us had a mah-jongg during the afternoon.  I think.  I can't remember.  Sharon tried the Halloween card, which is hard to focus on since we don't use it all the time.  She was within a pair of reaching MJ.  Then Jan had been blessed with 5 jokers and had a pretty hand of consecutive number lineup, all Bams.  Next Tom laid his winning hand on the board, and it turned out that he had forgotten one simple rule about a concealed hand (you have to actually conceal it), so his was declared dead while the other 3 of us finished the game.  I got close on that one, but it turned out to be a Wall game.  Next game, I tried the same hand, and it worked out.  There were only about 3 tiles left, and Sharon and I both claimed the tile when it was discarded, but I was ready for MJ, so I got it.  We learn a lot and have some laughs.  It's a good way to spend an afternoon.  Sharon and I will play again Thursday with Elisette and either Gina or Adriana.  We're all still in the learning phase, so it's low key and fun.  

I worked on cleaning my sewing room out when I got home and not much else.  After it got dark, Elise reminded me that I had forgotten to pick up or order cat litter, and I wasn't going out and risk hitting a pedestrian.  Nights are for not driving for me.  I was getting ready to make the laundry exchange for Emily, so I asked if they had some extra litter we could get to tide us over until the next day, and Ryan, who was going by the grocery store anyway, brought me a big box of it.  It's nice to have family to get you out of trouble.  

I finished my book, which I was proud of, since it was not that great.  The Boyhood of Cain by Michael Amherst - recommended by some book club or something.  I returned that one and had downloaded a few more from another book club's recommendations:  

1.  Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman.  I've read this and remember really loving it but have forgotten it.  So I'm reading it again.  I'll also see if she has any new books I haven't read.  Eleanor is ''an eccentric and regimented loner whose life beautifully unfolds after a chance encounter with a stranger."  The eccentric loner appeals to me. This is from the Reese Witherspoon Book Club.

2.  Sipsworth by Simon Van Booy.  Again, this book involves a chance encounter, but this time it's with a pet mouse that gives a woman the will to live.  I have to admit it's not my unusual type of book, but I'll give it a try.  I'm all for second chances, I guess.

3.  The Wedding People by Alison Espach.  Seems like I've tried to read this one, but we'll see.  "A Today Show Read with Jenna Book Club Pick, a Goodreads Choice Awards 2024 Winner, and long-listed in many Best of the Year 2024 picks."  It certainly has good recommendations.  Reading a review, it's once again a new beginning for someone named Phoebe.  There seems to be a pattern evolving here.

4.  The Storied Life of A. J. Filkry by Gabrielle Zevin.  Another new beginning, it looks like, this time from a man, "owner of Island Books, the only bookstore on Alice Island, who has lost his wife."  I think we see where this one is going.  I must have found the new beginnings in old age section to pick my books.  I'll get started on Eleanor this morning.

The only other things I have to do is make some cookies for the girls and check their salty snacks since they'll be coming over after school today.  Graysen is loving not having to stay after school for cross-country and has nothing scheduled until soccer starts.  There is a Halloween dance this weekend.

 I might work on the sewing room some more.  I do have a few little projects I want to finish.  Actually, more than a few.  I opened the trash can last night and just let go of some old stamps I had had around for more years than I want to think about.  I never stamp anything, and it's extremely messy dealing with stamp pads.  I'll organize the other projects and try to make myself accountable to finishing a few things.  I found 6 partially finished quilts - or maybe more if I'm counting.  I'm not sure I'll get back to those but might leave them for the girls to have to worry about.  I'm more in the mood for small and quick things.  I made some gray dishrags last week that turned out pretty with no effort, and we were really needing some.

Now for a cup of coffee.  Elise called me from the grocery store Monday to ask which flavor of coffee I wanted since they had their new K-cups on sale.  I am never able tell much difference between them, but I think she got some cinnamon and hazelnut flavor.  She's a pushover for flavored coffee and tea.  I enjoy the Holiday Blend at Christmastime every year, but it's not out yet, I guess.  

Bowie can hardly wait for me to get up in the mornings, so he can have my spot for a little nap.  

  

Nice Fall Days

 I wish each day was twice as long as it is.  I can't do everything I want to do, and now that I'm dedicated to cleaning out my sewing things, I've added a bunch more projects to my already jumbled thoughts.  

So what am I doing?  Nothing of any consequence - just anything I see that pleases me.  I'm going down my list and checking them off like it's a job, or I would just flounder around and get nothing down. 

1.  I'm still doing the girls' laundry.  I had to beg for it, because parents never want to admit they could use some help/can't make their children love laundry chores/think I'm not supposed to be working at my advanced age.  I've done it two weekends now and loved every bit of it.  It's two baskets, and when I'm through, they know they'll have clean soccer, cross-country, and martial arts uniforms for the upcoming week.  Socks, underwear, and pajamas get washed as well as whatever they wore to school that week, including barely worn T-shirts and hoodies now that the weather is cooler.  They also get the bonus of having repairs made if I see any and spot removal.  The orange shadows around the white fleece jogging pants look suspiciously like Cheeto stains from fingers, and the tear in the kangaroo pocket of one hoodie is justified, seeing that it's from about 1990 - the Upson-Lee Rebels Danceline hoodie which fits Kate perfectly.  With her auburn hair, she looks so much like Emily did at 13.  All stainfree and repaired now.  They told me they put everything up as soon as they got them home and didn't fuss about it at all.  Hope it lasts.  I love washing and drying and even ironing sometimes, and it one of the few things I have enough energy to follow through with.  

2.  Reading.  I've downloaded dozens of books lately, and most of them never made the cut past the first few chapters.  I guess I can be picky now since choosing and downloading them are so easy, and sending them back is just as easy.  I made a 2-page list yesterday of books I know I've read but have forgotten and about 30 or 40 new (to me) books.  I'll give them all another try and see what I can find that's good to read.  Elise is hooked on short stories and brings home thick books of them to recommend to me.  I usually end up reading the whole book of them, so I can count that as a book, I guess.  

I just finished one last night that I had to struggle to get through.  I'm not sure what made me keep on.  I guess I thought it would get better or I'd relate to it, but I listened to the whole thing and still didn't enjoy it.  

I'll do a better list later.  My night is getting away from me.

3.  NYT Puzzles:  I don't enjoy the NYT crosswords as much as Mike did.  I don't like to do them online, and I decided to stop taking the Seattle Times just for a crossword puzzle when I never finish over half of one.  But I never miss WORDLE.  A few times lately, I've been stumped over one, but usually I'll pull it out of somewhere.  I even got a 2-try one lately.

Then I do Connections, which seem harder lately as well as Strands and Pips.  That domino game was intimidating at first, but the more I play, the quicker I can do them.  I started an online jigsaw puzzle this morning while I finished listening to my uninteresting book, and when Kate came after school, she took over and found several pieces.

I'm really boring myself, so I'm going to bed and hopefully will wake up with more interesting things to mention, including Mah Jongg, which I'm playing tomorrow afternoon.  I just got a new strategy book today that I need to study.  I can't play defense at all.  It takes everything I have just to pay attention to what I have.  It'll be nice to see the MJ folks again after taking a week off.

Just for the sake of a picture, here's a quince that Emily water colored yesterday.  I think she's quite good, although she complains about it.  

Tuesday in October

 It seemed cool this morning, and I really didn't look forward to going out, but Elise and I had returns to make, so we went up to the UPS store and got that done.  It was nice once we got out and found the sunshine, and I ended up walking home while Elise drove.  Such a nice walk.

I'm enjoying seeing the strawberry-vanilla hydrangeas as they turn different colors.  I thought this little pot of dead-looking stems would never leaf and bloom.

I'm not sure the temps got low enough to hurt any plants, but we dutifully brought them inside last night.  I wish they had looked this good all summer.  These are the ones we couldn't find a place for in the apartment.

I met the others at the Y for mah jongg this afternoon, and we noticed we were playing along at a good pace and not having to sit there saying "Where were we?  What are we doing?"  I did get the perfect hand my first time and reached mah jongg early.  Things just fell into place nicely, and it was a pleasure.  Sharon won the last game, and there were two wall games.

Sharon had made us Halloween-themed cards to try, and she did one and won, but the others of us kept forgetting to try it.  Maybe during the interval, we can at least look at it and get familiar with some of the hands.  I guess I'll go Friday unless I get a chance to go to the cross-country meet.

The girls both came after school and had a lunch of sorts - Gray had tomato basil soup and cheese toast plus half an apple and some chips.  Kate had mac and cheese, cheese toast and the same snacks.  They watched a Mystery show with Elise while they ate and then tried to work on homework.  Gray's especially was so hard.  We got a little frustrated at word problems talking about refilling bird feeders and fractions and those greater than, less than signs.  They have soccer practice and/or DMW tonight, so they left pretty early. 

I'm going to get warm and put on pjs and have a cup of coffee and read some.  Elise has me interested in some Flannery O'Connor short stories, and I have some blogs to read.  I feel a little down tonight for no particular reason, but my blogs always cheer me up.

A little bonus:  Ryan called and said he was bringing some laundry over - I've volunteered to do some of the girls' laundry to take some of the weekend backlog off them - and I love to do laundry.  He also brought several pieces of banana bread he had made, which made having that cup of coffee that much nicer.  Good-smelling clothes, coffee with cinnamon-vanilla creamer this week, and banana bread.  Nice night after all.  

Recovery

 After a long nearly 2 weeks of someone being sick and/or testing negative for COVID, life got a little back to normal today with the girls going back to school and Emily to work.  I had a slow morning getting started, but by afternoon, I was feeling great and expecting Kate after school.  

She was starved - FINALLY - after not eating anything for nearly a week, so we fixed her up with mac and cheese and a few snacks.  She had watched the first 3 innings of the Mariners game at school.  Don't ask me what the lesson plan was for Mr. Rooney, but he is not going to miss his Mariners.  It was 3-2 when we first found the ESPN gamecast on the computer.  Neither one of us loves baseball enough to sit and look at a TV for long, so we did other things and kept checking back.  A few innings later, it was 6-3, and we were happy.  We devised our own method of "watching."  She called out the pitches and whether they were balls, strikes, or fouls - or HITS and the MPH.  I called out the on-deck batters that were listed by last name and first initial, and we tried to guess the first names.  Never did we get one right.  The 3 Js, we called Javier, Jose, and John.  They were actually Julio, Jorge, and Josh.  I just treasured these interactions with her after not seeing her in so long.  She is just so knowledgeable and knows so much than I do already.  About baseball that's not much, but with the computers too.  She asked me where she would go to customize my computer.  After staring blankly at the screen, I suggested maybe the Start button, and she was off.  I'm not sure of what I'll find tonight.  

Emily kept us up with the cross-country meet.  Gray wasn't on top of the world after being sick and out of school for several days and was just going to take it easy and run the route slowly, but she ended up coming in second overall.  I'm not even sure of the school we were competing against, but I'm so proud of her.  She just takes running for granted, and I hope she'll always be happy doing it.  

Kate and I conspired to not give away the score to Ryan and Emily in case they wanted to watch it from the start when they got home, so if they happen to read this - fat chance - don't read any further.

We ended up winning 10-3, which is a big contrast to the low-scoring prior games I've followed.  I even stayed up for the 15-inning game Saturday night, and that was exciting, somewhat.  

It's supposed to dip down to 31 degrees tonight.  Hoping it won't.  Elise and I have been deciding which plants to bring inside and which to put in the garage and which to leave outside.  Naturally, everything is at its prettiest the last couple of weeks, and it's hard to bring them in and punish them.  We don't enjoy the cooler weather that much, but we're going to make ourselves get out and try to layer up and walk.  

I'll be going to mah jongg tomorrow afternoon and maybe Thursday too.  Graysen has her cross-country final Thursday, so I'll want to leave early if there is a chance I can make it to that.  Not sure what town it's in, but I think it's Carnation.  I need to see her run once more and also see another of Kate's soccer games before it gets too miserable to sit out there and cheer.  

I've asked for some pictures of today but haven't gotten any yet, so I'll post some old ones I found.  These have been either missed by me or forgotten, but they bring back sweet memories.

Our first peek at this girl that changed our lives.  

My grandmother made these little dresses for Elise and Emily and they naturally didn't wear them much.  I wasn't really in a position to iron much in those days!  Graysen seems a little dubious about them too, but they were made with love and Grandma's talent for sewing.

I think they all liked this shirt better.  Perfect position.  I hope Kate got to wear it too, knowing her love for martial arts.

Crazy but typical picture I named Chaos.  But happy chaos.  I wish I knew what the discussion was all about.

Good Running

 Gray's third cross-country meet was Thursday after school.  Twin Falls Middle School was their opponent.  Life gets complicated though, and I didn't get to go watch it.  

It seems Ryan and Emily both have/had Covid, although they really wanted to be there to support her.  As they had been sick for almost a week, they felt like they were less contagious but could go and stand at a distance with masks and cheer her on.  I was in charge of Kate who had crossing guard after school and then martial arts later on.  

It hasn't been the best of starts for Graysen this year after having such success last year.  She was beginning to lose confidence and take not winning too hard, although the last school they competed against has a huge team and do cross-country all year long, where SMS just has one quarter a year.  

But she's a good runner and a fierce competitor, so I think she went into it with a good attitude.  

Carly, our friend and neighbor, ran with the 6th grade team and went early, so Wes and Linda kept me up with how things were going.  I'm not sure how Carly placed, although Wes mentioned more serious off-season workouts!  Like they couldn't all do better!  I'm sure she did fine though, and it's fun and a good experience for them.  I was a little nervous when I didn't get a text when I thought Gray's race should have ended, but then Wes sent me two pictures and said, "Looks like Graysen might be gaining and might catch this kid!"  

The kid is her friend Maija, and they run almost neck and neck every race.  Today was no exception.  Gray never exactly caught her, but there is a smiling picture where she has made a big gain and is heading for the finish line.  From the pictures Emily sent me, it looked like a perfect tie, but Maija came in just ahead of Gray. (I have to do a correction.  After talking to Emily one day, she said that Gray did pull just ahead of Maija, not that it matters a bit in their competition.  Maija did get the MVP award for the team this year.  Yay, Maija!)

These races are so hard on them - 2 miles after a full day of school - and they get so emotional, but I think it was a happy ending.  These two came in first and second, and I just don't know how the rest of the team did or if they actually won the meet - since I wasn't there, and no one wants to ask the sick people every little detail.  Maybe Kate and I will get to go to the next one.  

I got Carly's dad to send a couple of pictures of her running in the 6th grade race.  Looks like she was all alone - which is usually a good sign since I see people way behind her!  Hopefully, they'll get to go out and run some this weekend to get ready for a big meet Wednesday afternoon.

I see little sister's hand, I think.  They were there to cheer on both girls.

Kate came in after school and had a snack, watched a short TV show about magic - Elise and the girls are all into that but not me - and then did her stretches.  We walked down to the DMW class then.  She is such a joy.  Any time we cross a street - twice - she slows down and comes and stays right beside me and holds my hand.  How life has changed from my holding her hand and guiding her across streets!  She and Gray both are very conscious of making sure I don't hit one of those sidewalk eruptions and trip.  I'm pretty concentrated on that too.  

The other class was finishing up when we got there, so I found a seat and she came and stood behind me with her arms on my shoulders.  Such a tough girl on the mat but such a Mimi's girl beforehand.  She showed me which classmate was Juliet, the one whose mother had become my new Mah Jongg friend that very day!  I introduced myself and wished her a happy birthday Saturday, and then Elissette and her husband came in, and I met him.  It was nice to have someone to chat with while we watched the girls.  

I am usually on the wrong side of the room, but I did get a few good pictures and maybe a video.  There is a room full of kids, mainly boys and all so well-behaved and attentive.  The leaders/teachers do a good job with them.  The little talk before class was about bullying and how to insert yourself to give kids who are being bullied a safe place to get away.  

Juliet on the left and Kate on the right - hidden most of the time.  They sure have their serious faces on.

Since today is Saturday, there will probably be a soccer match, but one of the girls is off today, and the other is out of town, so I won't be going out today.  I'm really tired from this week.  It seems like I've been involved in something every day.  It's the first time I've played Mah-Jongg twice in a week, but I really like it.  We learn a lot and have fun doing it.  The Y is using our room for something, so we'll take a break this week.  We could meet somewhere else, but we probably all have things we'd like to catch up on.  I think I can find a few things.  Elise is aggravated with me because I won't get serious about putting some fall decorations out, but I did clear the Mah-Jongg stuff off the table and put it up, so maybe I'll find some incentive today.

I ordered some bats with green lights for eyes to hang on the porch, but they look a little complicated to put together.  I hope I'm up for the task! 

Elise and I are determined to take a car load of donations to the high school this morning.  The Mount Si FFA is collecting items for a fundraiser, and we have filled up a few boxes and bags of our stuff.  I gave away a good many toys and games last month that the girls have outgrown, and we sure do need the room.  I guess I'll start on my sewing room next.  It's not like I can get to anything easily to complete a project.  I keep a mending kit in the bedroom beside my chair to sew on those patches that the girls seem to always be needing and darning socks.  

Speaking of socks, this was one of my birthday gifts:

She knows my obsession with Mr. Darcy, and if I have a favorite all-time actor, it's Colin Firth.  She got another set for herself and says she'll take the Elizabeth ones for herself and let me have Mr. Darcy on both my feet. I'm not sure I can take being constantly judged by those eyes!

  

Noreen has been off for another week-long trip to Bellingham, and it will be good to have her home again.  With this cooler weather, we'll be up for a few morning coffees, I'm sure.  I first need to see what the weekend has in store for me.  I went to bed so early last night that I was up and ready for the day at 3:00 a.m.  A nap will probably be called for this afternoon.  I think the vitamin B12 gummies I got have helped a little with my energy levels - or maybe it's wishful thinking.  I'm doing everything I'm supposed to be doing and just have to be happy with a little progress at a time.  

All of a Sudden - Busy

 We've been waiting for our pretty trees to get beautiful and almost missed it.  I took this picture around 6:00 on a drab day so will try to get some better ones on the way to Mah Jongg in a few minutes.  Not that it's bright and sunny, but the sky is blue enough, and it's warm enough for me.  

I played Mah Jongg and after two blah hands, I won the third.  We were all close, so it was a good game.  I met a new friend Elissette, who has a daughter in Kate's martial arts class, Juliet.  We'll have to get them together to play sometime since they know each other somewhat although not going to the same school.  And now it's time for the cross country meet.  I'm not sure if I'm going to be keeping Kate here.