Each morning, Lizzy takes Himself for a walk in the park. The park is adjacent to the high school and it's a rustic park rather than a formal one. It's completely wooded, with a "crick" and trails and hills. There's a small playground area and a surface that in the winter is flooded for skating. The park extends across a couple of well-trafficked roads and when we were kids, we were fascinated by the White Tunnel -- a huge drain pipe that led the crick under the road to the other side. Crouching slightly (we were kids, remember), we'd put a foot on either side of the stream of water and hobble our way through under the road. Once we got there, of course, we didn't know what to do with ourselves, so we'd turn around and waddle back. We never felt the need to explore that side of the park, and I don't know why.
The park is home to at least one breeding fox family, and on many mornings, upon their return, he'll say, "We saw six ladies," i.e., does, bedded down. The other day he was delighted to share this photo of the buck. It's funny how in the picture the antlers get all confused with the bare trees.
A week ago, we were settled in for the night, watching All Creatures Great and Small, and kept hearing helicopters swarming overhead. When the show ended, Joe and Lizzy went out for their evening stroll (through the neighborhood, not the park) and to find out just what was going on. It turned out that there was a massive fire about a mile away at a factory that's been in our town for over a hundred years. There'd been an explosion and the flames were intense. It took a few days for it to be completely suppressed; schools were closed, two nearby neighborhoods were evacuated, and a shelter-in-place order was posted. Upwards of 32 different fire companies came to help. At this point, all is quiet, the air quality is deemed safe, and a couple hundred people are out of work. There were no injuries and no lives lost.
I spent some time working on the flags quilt, still hoping to feel patriotic again someday. It's an easy pattern and, IMHO, a terrific one. My plan, once it is finished, is to put it in the living room just before Memorial Day and leave it there until after Labor Day. I'm hoping to get the main central part of it together before mid-March when we go on retreat. That's when I plan to figure out the borders and get it finished.
I'm continuing to baby my right hip. So far none of the remedies has helped and now I'm waiting to see if the recent cortisone shot will have some impact. Staying home more, reading more, continuing to hand-piece Glitter blocks (oh, when will it ever end?), and generally feeling Februaryish, Near Philadelphia.
Comments
Love your flag quilt. I, too, hope to be proud of our country in the future because it's a dismal horror now.
Ah, forbidden places from childhood ... our neighborhood was a cove and also a peninsula - sort of. We had drainage ditches on 3 sides behind the houses and were forbidden to play in the ditches or on their far banks. When I was 4, the ditch behind the houses our our side of the street flooded, garbage cans bobbing along, but no homes were flooded. Outdoors was a stinky mess for a few days and caused the city to build a wide concreted ditch on our side of the street. As we found out by going into the ditch (as you do), that ditch went under Highland street and all the way past Holmes! That was where we turned around and when back home. The one kid who wouldn't go with us tattled and we all got in trouble. So worth it!
Barbara Anne