Friends

Today I had a wonderful lunch with my friend, Marie.  We went to Patty's Eggnest in Arlington, which I think is one of the best places to go for breakfast or lunch with friends.  The food is good, they give you enough for two meals, and the service is great.  Plus they don't seem to care how long you sit there and visit, they just keep filling your coffee cup and being nice.  Bear was happy because he got Marie's leftovers (I ate mine for dinner). 

We missed having Mary join us, but hopefully her back will get better quickly and we can do this again soon.  I miss my old neighborhood and the wonderful people I met there.

I have to say that I miss having the constant interaction with the people I lived near, worked with, and saw on a daily basis.  I think it is the downside of retirement and moving.  You just lose contact with the people you saw day in and day out.  I guess the reason the people at Walgreen's think I'm always such a pleasant customer is I'm just happy to see them.

January 1 time for a do over

It's January now and the day was crisp, sunny, and cold.  Not cold like Alaska cold, but cold for Washington.  It was a good day.  I actually went through some clothes, washed them, and now they are in the Goodwill box.  I haven't worn a dress since I attended a funeral shortly after I retired, so I'm passing them on to someone who might need them.  

Why is it so hard to give clothes I haven't worn in ten years?  Why do I think that I will suddenly start wearing dresses and jumpers, it's not like they are even in style anymore.  Still, even though I know I won't be wearing them, I put three jumpers back in the closet "in case it get hot this summer".  

I put out some bread chunks for the birds the other day and last night something came any ate them.  I don't think it was birds, because there was half a loaf of toasted bread yesterday and today there are about three chunks.   Plus Bear was really sniffing in the area . . . coyotes?  Probably.



 

Hello 2013

Wow, it's so hard to believe that we are already almost in the year 2013. I remember vividly the worries and stress of turning from 1999 to 2000 and how we all thought the computers were going to crash and the world would never catch up. Surprise, we made it. 
 It's been a long time since I blogged anything, and it may take me a while to remember how to do things. Seriously. 

So here we are on the cusp of 2013 and I think this is an excellent time to set goals for myself. These are not resolutions, because I never manage to keep resolutions and it's not a bucket list, because it's not going to be life changing things.  Here they are, in no particular order:

• Read at least 50 books this year. 
• Knit six pairs of socks. 
• Knit six hats. 
• Attempt cables, oh wait that was last year's goal - - oops. 
• Knit one thing that is not a a hat or a pair of socks. 
• Get rid of the clothes I'm never going to wear. Even the ones with the tags still on them.
• Continue doing my 26 random acts of kindness.
• gift card for a stranger
• soup for mom 

I'm going to keep adding to my lists and keep trying to be a kind person.  Who knows, maybe 2013 will be my best year yet.  

Cruel Intent by J. A. Jance

Cruel Intent is the fourth Ali Reynolds book by J.A. Jance. In this installment Ali is busy remodeling her mansion, choosing a recipient for the Askins Scholarship, dealing with identity theft, and trying to prove her contractor is not the one who murdered his philandering wife. She's also trying to plan Thanksgiving dinner and helping her son not have his grandmother take over his wedding.

For the most part, Cruel Intent is standard murder mystery/thriller fare, but the ending was so intense that I couldn't make myself put the book down when it was time for bed. I look forward to the next Ali Reynolds installment, just as I like the J.P. Beaumont and Joanna Brady books.

Books I've read in 2009

The Sweethearts' Knitting Club by Lori Wilde
Miss Julia Delivers the Goods by Ann B. Ross
The Postmistress by Sarah Blake
The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown
The Shortest Distance Between Two Women by Kris Radish
Under This Unbroken Sky by Shandi Mitchell
Twenty Wishes by Debbie Macomber
The Blood Ballad by Rett MacPherson
Twilight by Stephanie Meyers
Fearless Fourteen by Janet Evanovich
Of Bees and Mist by Erick Setiawan
The Divorce Party by Laura Dave
Shadow Dance by Julie Garwood
The Tales of Beedle the Bard by J. K. Rowling
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows
Chicken Soup for the Soul Celebrates Sisters by Canfield and Hansen
The Crucible by Arthur Miller
Knit Two by Kate Jacobs
The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane by Katherine Howe
Family Skeletons by Rett MacPherson
Casting Spells by Barbara Bretton
Fleece Navidad by Maggie Sefton
Sag Harbor by Colson Whitehead
Blood Relations by Rett MacPherson
Murder Among Us by Jonnie Jacobs
Drunk, Divorced & Covered in Cat A Hair by Laurie Perry
Murder Among Friends by Jonnie Jacobs
Murder Among Neighbors by Jonnie Jacobs
A Fortunate Age by Joanna Smith Rakoff (ARC)
The Good Wife Strikes Back by Elizabeth Buchan
T is for Trespass by Sue Grafton