This and That

 - Tuesday, during my little band's "set" at the Lutheran Home, my friend Susie brought me this card on the left.  How did she know it was just what I needed?

- In my last post, I referred to Chuck (Korean War veteran, candy maker, book writer and all around fantastic person) as a hero.  When we met yesterday, he asked me to remove the word "hero" from a sentence I had written.  I'll take it out of his book, but I'm not removing it from my post.  He masterminded (he'd hate that word, too) an escape from a North Korean prison camp and saved 36 men's lives.  Sorry buddy, that qualifies as a Hero on this blog.

 - This writing thing is playing havoc with my housekeeping skills.  OK, so I know I don't really have any housekeeping skills, but I've washed the same load of towels 3 days in a row because I keep forgetting to put them in the dryer.

- Writing's also playing havoc with my dog care skills.  I was hard at work the other night, and when eyelids tried to slam shut, I realized it was 1:00 AM and I hadn't let Zoe out.  She really had to go and launched herself off the front porch, but an abandoned cat who's been hanging around was annoying her, and she kept prancing farther and farther into the misty darkness to get away from him.  I called but she didn't come back -- I went inside for shoes and an umbrella, and called and searched all over the yard, but no sign of her.  I went in to wake up Will and tell him I was going to drive around the neighborhood to find her, and as we were headed out the door, up she bounced back onto the porch.  I was too relieved to scold her, but I sure would like to know where she was for half an hour!

 - After meeting with Chuck yesterday, I made a stop at the teacher store for Sharon then went to Jo-Ann Fabrics, just for a look-see.  I do believe it is the very first time I've left a Jo-Ann's without buying something.  Sort of proud of myself.

 - Knitting.  I whipped off a fluffy pink scarf on Monday for Jolene, a little sweetie in kindergarten who is moving back to Texas -- Bernat Boa in hot pink held together with some hot pink Red Heart on size 13 needles.  Jolene probably won't have too much need for a fluffy pink scarf to keep her warm, but I am guessing she'll use it for dress up, because she's just that kind of little girl.  I'll miss her.

I also have another Branching Out scarf on the needles.  This is one of my favorite patterns; I've knit it several times, and always recommend it to knitters wanting to try lace.  I visited a sweet little alpaca farm last week, and bought a skein of brown sport weight; it is working out beautifully in this pattern, and hope to take an hour or so today and knit a few more repeats.  Photo soon.

- Reading.  I'm not really reading anything but Chuck's book, over and over.  Oh, and a little Korean War history, too, but I think I'll go to the library today for a girly novel to give my brain a break.

- Last weekend, we had a visiting priest from Food for the Poor.  After noon mass at B'town, I told him a little bit about the plans for the Community Diner soup kitchen.  He said he was proud of the community for taking on the project and that he would pray for its success.  All I'm going to say is he must have some pretty powerful prayers, because things really took off this week.  Maybe not as I was hoping --I have lots and lots of questions -- but at least there's some sort of progress, and that's a great thing, right?

- I miss my husband.  

- And, because it is a dreary old day, and because my sister shared this with me on Pinterest, and because I have seen this very look on my own corgi's face, I send another little smile your way:

Peace.