Labor Day, 2014

Someone wrote to make sure I was all right; I am. My posts have been less frequent this summer,  and in most cases, seem to lack their usual sparkle (my observation, not my reader's).

It feels like a busier summer than usual. Nickel-and-dime busy rather than big bucks busy. Though we certainly did drop some big bucks. We put in central air and have enjoyed it (though this has been one of the nicest summers I can remember). It started out with great concern about a sick friend (who is flourishing as of this writing) and ends with concern about two friends' husbands. Support has been needed by a couple of friends undergoing stressful family situations. Haven't seen as much of my daughter and her family as usual; they've done a great deal of traveling.

Early in the summer I rather quickly put together 4-1/2 tops to turn into lap quilts for veterans in wheelchairs. There they sit. I really want to get at least a couple of them completed for the ingathering we have set for the first week of October. Sewing-wise, Birthday Party sits waiting for me to order the fabric for her final border, I've begun hand-buttonholing nine Monster blocks for my #6 grandchild's 2nd birthday/big-boy-bed quilt (in May), and have all of the fabrics washed and ready to go for the Lady of the Lake Swap. Have learned of a couple of pregnancies, and have some baby quilts in the planning stage.

My blogging mojo has been hiding; I don't think it has vanished. I'm grieving the loss of the autistic school from The Little Church. A vigorous search for a new tenant is underway; possibilities rise and fall, rise and fall. One day one of them will take. Meanwhile, it is lonely in that setting. Monthly lunches with my sweet cousin are still a pleasure, but we see that she is losing more memory and becoming more clumsy. This is the second consecutive summer in many, many years that Labor Day doesn't mean back-to-school for me; perhaps someday I'll get used to that.

Our almost-a-week at Chautauqua was enjoyable despite some snags, and this past weekend we traveled to Baltimore to meet up with Tom and his family. The Inner Harbor area was mobbed and waits at restaurants seemed interminable. The little ones were real troopers. We all enjoyed the National Aquarium.

A couple of really wonderful things that happened this summer are somewhat related. In late May or early June, a friend's daughter applied for a position with the government that would place her overseas for a year. She needed a non-family reference and asked if I would write a letter for her. Then, just a week or two ago, another friend's daughter contacted me to ask if I would write a letter of support as she embarks on an adoption process. Of course I am at the age and stage of life where these kinds of requests should be unsurprising, but I was surprised to be asked, surprised and honored that my input should be valued, and I loved thinking back over the years I have known these two women and how exciting their futures are. A third friend's daughter leaves in a month on a mission trip to India; she didn't need a reference, but I was genuinely happy to help her out financially.

Re-reading this, it appears I'm in A Phase.

Phases pass, thanks be to God.

And thanks to the friend who asked if I'm all right.