The ladies, as usual, did a fine job of cleaning yesterday, and (for a short time at least) there was no monsoon dust in evidence.  

The skies did start to cloud up shortly after they left, and then around 6:00 we actually got rain!  When I went out front, I could hear Ben & Estera's kids in their backyard, enjoying it (like all kids of the desert.)  Brought back memories of my kiddos whenever it would rain.

Definitely a lot more than a sprinkle, the rain came down with enough gusto to wash things off - at least for the 5-10 minutes that it lasted.  I saw from friends' posts on FB (and flash flood warnings on the TV) that other areas got considerably more.  But we'll take whatever we can get!

Popped up to Marcie's for a short visit (the cleaning ladies were here during her usual break-time visits) and saw the progress on her StarBox quilt.  

It's comprised of 22 columns of very carefully placed triangles, and she now has 21 of those columns completed.  It's a toss-up whether she'll get the last one finished today before she heads to Oregon tomorrow for a family visit, but barring a real crisis I'm betting she will.  

The best news is that she noticed one little section of 4 triangles had been sewn in upside down, which (once she gets back home) will be an easy fix since the strips have not been sewn together yet.  (Of course it would have been somewhat of a disaster if she hadn't noticed until too late, down the road when it was all quilted!)  Again, if a detail-oriented quilter like Marcie can make a mistake like that, what chance to I have?

  

Paula always said that there are no mistakes in quilting...

just 'design opportunities'. 

But when you're doing a geometric pattern like BoxStar, 

accuracy becomes much more crucial to the finished product.

I didn't read too long last night (turned out the light before 10:00) so I only slept until about 6:30 this morning; looks like I'm back "on schedule".  I've just started The Tenth Gift, a book in which "the art of embroidery uncannily links two fascinating women of different eras."  Have already learned that crewel (one of the first types of handwork I learned) is from the Welsh word for wool.

Still feeling fine, so no excuses to skip the gym today.  My upper body is still a bit sore from Tuesday, but today is legs so that won't matter.  At this point still planning to make an appearance at Boot Camp on Sunday.

Andy got right on it after I reminded him Wednesday about the Torts class this semester, and sent this to the powers that be:

Hi Mary Alice.  As you may remember, last Fall my sister Bobbi, a long-time and devoted friend of the Carey School, audited my Evidence class via video. A glutton for punishment,  Bobbi has asked about auditing a Torts class this Fall.  I spoke to Don Gifford, and he said he would be glad to have Bobbi as a long distance guest in one of his Torts sections this semester.  At this late date, would it be possible to arrange to give her online privileges to do so?  Bobbi has a UM ID from last year, but I imagine it would have to be reactivated.  Thanks for letting me know. Andy

Today I received this: 

Welcome back to UMB! You will need to reset your UMID password to access Blackboard.  Once you have reset everything successfully, you will be able to access Fall 2018 TORTS – Gifford on Blackboard via the following instructions.

Unfortunately I encountered the same issue as last year: I can't sign in on the link without a (bogus?) student ID number.  At least this year I know what the issue is, and am hoping a quick phone call at Andy's end will solve things. Classes at the law school started this week, which means I'm already behind... and I still need to get hold of the book for the class.  On the plus side, since it's a First Year class, in theory I won't be expected to have much "legal literacy"!

Time for breakfast, and then it's off to the gym.