Colleen and Anna stopped by this morning, partly to bring over the quilt labels I needed printed before the quilt show in a few weeks (still have no working printer....) but mostly to visit.  Anna helped Tom feed Pokey.

I also wanted Colleen to chose one of Carol's quilt tops before I hand the rest over for Busy Bees' Charity. She admired all of them, but had no real difficulty choosing a favorite; it even matched her shirt!  The top is large enough that once quilted ("is it done yet?") Colleen should be able to snuggle under it with all the grandkids!

Colleen is in charge of the Nimble Thimble Quilt Camps, and hasn't quite filled all the available slots for the upcoming one at the end of March.  So I'm seriously considering signing up. Mostly it depends on the irrigation cycle, and Tilly!

We sat poolside while we enjoyed some fresh OJ and talked about important things.... like when the pool will warm up enough to be swimmable.  Of course my thoughts on that will most likely <g> differ from those of Gracie, Anna, and Harrison...

Rubber Ducky's thermometer is currently reading in the 60s - 

WAY too cold for me!

Off in a bit for my Monday workout at the gym.

Yesterday's MIA penguin shirt is appearing in my Image file today  :)

along with this one that I was able to save this morning.

Also forgot to share one of Mom's stories from a recent phone call.  She wears a medical alert necklace, even to bed, because if she takes it off and leaves it on the nightstand and then is on the other side of her King-sized bed when she experiences an issue, or she falls on the way to the bathroom during the night, she would have no way to call for help.  

Of course it's inevitable that occasionally she will roll over in bed and set it off.  At that point she gets a phone call from Security to see if she really needs help.  Recently there was a thunderstorm, and after "the loudest clap of thunder ever" many of their phones were knocked out until the next day.  Mom has been deaf in one ear since early childhood, and is hard-of-hearing in the other.  Of course at bedtime she takes out her hearing aid and sets it in a little dish.

Apparently during the night she set off the alarm, and since they had no way to call her they came over to the apartment and knocked on the door.  Even if she were awake she would not hear that from her bedroom, and once she's asleep there's no chance.  So of course they came in to check on her.  She's always been a very sound sleeper (even as young kids we knew to wake up Dad during the night if we needed something) so it's not surprising that Security had difficulty waking her up, and were pretty sure she'd had some sort of medical emergency.  Luckily all was well - and she says she's "getting used to" waking up in the middle of the night to find "strange men" in her apartment.

I don't know how many times this has happened, but sure hope that the Security folks at Riderwood don't get complacent at some point after all of her false alarms!

I watched the Oscars last night, and look forward to getting to see many of the winning/nominated films at some point on Netflix!

Forgot to mention that I watched a wonderful hour-long documentary on PBS's Nature series last night, about the life of an Emperor Penguin chick.  I was reminded when a pic of a great penguin shirt came across my FB feed this afternoon.  But for some reason (other than computers love to aggravate me?) and despite multiple tries, the pic won't show up in my file and allow me to share it here.  It really was cute!

Today I also vacuumed/swept all the floors, and lost count of the additional loads of laundry I did.  After Patti came by (I gave her the entire half gallon) I juiced the rest of the oranges so we also have half a gallon of fresh juice.  While there's always stuff left to do, I'm feeling like I accomplished a fair amount today, and plan to just kick back and watch the Oscars tonight.

this afternoon I made up another half-gallon of OJ, maybe using up half of the oranges from the most recent pick-up.  Patti is going to stop by at the end of her errands with a quart container, and then I can squeeze some more and refill the jug.  No doubt when that half gallon is gone there will still be plenty of oranges awaiting their turn in the juicer.

While I squoze I watched some pre-Oscar hype on TV.  Whoever scheduled the commercials obviously has a devilish sense of humor - because immediately after finishing the segment on the movie Spotlight (about the Boston Globe's "Spotlight" team, the oldest continuously operating newspaper investigative unit in the United States and its investigation into cases of widespread and systematic child sex abuse in the Boston area by numerous Roman Catholic priests) they aired a commercial asking people to "come back to the Catholic Church".

I haven't seen many of the films up for awards,
though the majority are "on my list".

While reading out back yesterday, I was startled when Tilly (who had been sharing the lounge with me) suddenly took off and sprinted for the fence.  Apparently a cat had the nerve to be walking by, and (though safe enough on the other side of the fence) immediately took off when Tilly raced over, barking furiously.  A little later she sped off again, this time out of sight around the corner of the house.  I assumed it was another cat because we get a fair number of cat 'visitors' in our yard; though luckily it's not as bad as this!

But this time she wasn't chasing a cat... streaking back across the yard came a bunny with Tilly in hot pursuit.  Luckily the bunny was able to escape through the irrigation pipe; no idea what Tilly would do if she actually caught something.  Tilly would have loved to follow, but luckily she can't fit into the pipe and thus escape into the Back 40 - though she did hang out there for a while waiting "just in case" the little guy reappeared.  

Since fox terriers "were originally bred to flush foxes out of their hiding places during fox hunts" it's in her nature to chase creatures.  

This fox seems to have come up with a novel plan of hiding in plain sight!

I did some more puttering (topped off the pool, watered all the plants) and put off going to the grocery store long enough that Tom went.  While I still get to cook the steak, at least I was saved from deciding and shopping.  That counts as a WIN!

Did take another nice soak (I'm counting it as hand therapy....) and relaxed while I listened to NPR.  With the Oscars coming up tomorrow night, they aired a segment on NOTscars, "for everything you won't find at the Oscars!" Of course <g> it was entertaining.  I missed the beginning parts, but I got to hear the portion about the competition between airlines to compose the pre-flight safely video that people will actually pay attention to.   (Over the years I've seen YouTube clips of flight attendants giving their spiel in a comic and entertaining way - though it hasn't happened on one of my flights.) 

http://www.wnyc.org/story/episode-338-the-notscars-special/

Then there was the blurb about the Ernie Awards (in Australia) that I'd never heard of.  

Welcome to the Ernie Awards for Sexist Remarks. This strange institution is now in its 23rd year. Each September 300 women come together at a splendid dinner in NSW Parliament House to judge the most sexist remarks by public figures during the previous year.

The winners are chosen by whichever nomination receives the 

loudest boos. In tight contests, a boo-off is required.

IF they included Americans I'm pretty sure that Donald would have a lock on this one.

I also picked up another crop of downed oranges, and easily have more than I need to whip up another half gallon.  So to get ready for that I finished off the last batch while I read.  Maybe I'll juice tomorrow...

Yesterday and today I have spent time tracking down gaps in tax info, and though it took longer than it should have (bet everyone can relate to that) I seem to have found most of what Matt is missing.  

I'm also trying to make plans for my May trip to visit Mom when I'll help her celebrate her 89th.  That means checking with various people to coordinate with their schedules before I commit to any flights.  So this morning I made phone calls and wrote e-mails, and now am just waiting to hear back.

I did take a soak this morning,  washed sheets and changed the linens on the beds, and also did a little quilting on Don's birthday gift though I still have more to go.  It's obviously not going to make it into the mail in time (his birthday, which he shares with Dr. Seuss, is on Wednesday) but instead will head back to Texas with Marilyn when she leaves.  I'm glad that she and Frannie are schlepping out here next week for the dog show, though the irrigation schedule could NOT be much worse.  

I have to do the gates on 35th Ave. Friday "morning" @ 1:33 am, and then let the water go in the Back 40 @ 3:50 am. - not really conducive to a good night's sleep...!  It also means that the yard will be underwater (and then muddy) for their entire stay. That will force us to do the "living in an apartment and having to walk the dogs" thing her entire visit: not only don't I want muddy dogs in the house, but Frannie has to stay clean for judging!  

She also has the very first ring times, which means with all the prep and driving and schlepping and setting up Marilyn will be getting up VERY early on Saturday and Sunday mornings. I'm an early riser and a morning person  - and her projected wake-up time sounded outrageous even to me!

At least we have lots of yummy grapefruit for her, which should hopefully make up for some of the hassles! Isn't it great when something we love to eat turns out to be healthy? Too bad most of my favorites seem to start with the word "chocolate"...

I'm on KP duty for dinner tonight (Tom is tired of cooking) so I may have to take another soak to gear up before the stress of deciding, shopping, and cooking dinner.  In the recent batch of Washington Post clippings Mom sent there was a lengthy article about a woman who loved to cook (already amazing to me) who lost both hands and feet to an infection, yet is still cooking (and hiking, and doing all sorts of incredible things.)

Time to get back to something productive.  Like Poop Patrol....

Good leg workout at the gym today, with cardio beforehand. I managed 10 minutes/400 steps on stairs without too much effort, which is a major improvement from when I first started, and then walked the treadmill until it was time to work out with Jim.  We're still doing legs; I won't be allowed to do upper body until I'm (at least) 8 weeks post-op.  The 'strange' thing is that it doesn't hurt me to move my thumb, but there is an issue when I bend my wrist.  I'm sure the OT will address those issues.

On the way home from the gym I was listening to Here and Now on NPR, and heard the interview with Becca Pizzi.  What an incredible feat!!!  And I was feeling so impressed with myself.... lol!

A Massachusetts runner made history by running seven marathons in seven days on seven continents. Becca Pizzi of Belmont won them all, and also won the World Marathon Challenge. In doing so, the 35-year-old single mother also set a record for the fastest women’s time ever run for the week, completing all seven marathons in 27 hours, 26 minutes and 15 seconds. Becca Pizzi joins Here & Now’s Robin Young in the studio to talk about her Herculean feat.

http://hereandnow.wbur.org/2016/02/26/becca-pizzi-world-marathon-challenge

Mary brought over her 'Pizza Box' yesterday for me to take to Foothills for the March meeting (when the first swap occurs) because she'll be out of town.  Her block, of course, is stunning!

And she has some gorgeous fabrics in the box. 

I didn't sign up for this year-long project because I have no idea what my hand situation will be, and when others are counting on you that's just not fair.  Basically it's a twist on the Round Robin idea.  For this project the ladies collected their choice of fabrics and made the first block.  Each month the box of fabrics (and already completed blocks) will be rotated to another quilter, who will select from the fabrics to make another block.  At the end of the year the box will be returned to the original quilter who can then turn all the blocks into a quilt. 

I realized that I never finished posting pix from last weekend's trip to the quilt show in Tucson.  So here are some more of the quilts that caught my eye.

I've always had an affinity for star quilts, and we all know that I like color!

This one was certainly eye-catching!

I liked the arrangement of these 4-patches 

and scrappy half-square triangles.

This turned out lovely, partly because of the beautiful batiks she used.  Talking with her I found out that she spent a lot of time auditioning different fabrics until she got just the effect she wanted.  I know that feeling!

Yes, these are tiny little squares.

Black and White and Red - always a winner!

See all the purple buttons?  Thought of Mel!

Beautiful Double Wedding Ring with appliqued border!

Not only were the birds outside the "window" well done, 

but I enjoyed the addition of the kitties watching them.

The fabrics and threads in this quilt, some of which were metallic, 

were very effective!

Landscape image in batiks:

Another scrap buster quilt - apologize for blurriness.

This was one of the quilts that got my vote;

her thread doodles were most effective!

Tulips for Mom :-)

This was another cute scrap buster. with simple 9-patches on point 

and ladies (which could be SBS blocks, Linda!) around the edge.

Of course every SBS quilt makes me think of Linda.

For some reason I don't have a shot of this entire gardening quilt, 

just a close-up of one block.  Thought of Sandy!

I know several people who love dragonflies.  Sadly the lighting wasn't the best, and the colors don't show up well in my photo.

The close-up of one block turned out better.

Wonky Log Cabin:

And as a reward for Mom for getting to the end of all the quilts, here's one of the stunning thread quilts.  NO fabric in this one, just miles and miles of thread.