PNewL PNewS Volume 27! Issue 1!

PNewL PNewS 

Volume 27 Issue 1              "All the pnews that phits.”                  April…er…May 2019

More than You Need to Know

    My favorite yarn store went out of business about a year ago, which broke my heart and saved me a lot of money. This past week the owner had a pop up shop to sell off everything, including fixtures. Prior to the sale, I inventoried my yarn stash, which was humbling—I have accumulated a lot of yarn. The number of times I picked up or rather fondled a skein and said out loud, wow, this is pretty, would have been embarrassing had anyone other than Roger been a witness. 

    Let me say again, I have a lot of yarn. It will turn out to not always be the right yarn...for instance, I just saw a pattern I really want to make which requires a sweater quantity of fingering weight yarn—also known as sock yarn—which I don’t have. A shame really—there will have to be more yarn purchases in my future. Meanwhile, I can go to my yarn room, also known as the guest room (which reminds me, I need to straighten it for guests) to be inspired to make something out of already bought stuff. (I should mention in my defense that I have not purchased all this yarn—I have been given a fair amount as people have moved on from knitting.)
     In the course of this inventorying project, I have been adding the yarn to my Stash list on Ravelry. For those of you don’t know and more likely don’t care, Ravelry is a remarkable website where yarn people go to waste/blow through a lot of time: inventorying yarn, listing projects complete with photographs, and looking at patterns, endlessly looking at patterns and pictures of other people’s completed versions and comments on those patterns. We can buy patterns—there are almost 400,000 available now, communicate with others who share this relatively healthy obsession, and participate in KAL (knit-a-longs). I just finished my first MKAL (mystery knit-a-long), in which the designer releases patterns in little bits. This pattern was for a stuffed gnome. There were close to 800 people from all over the world participating. Who knew?

    Some interesting (to me) statistics from my Ravelry account: I have over 700 patterns in my “queue” and another bunch in my “Library.” By my figuring, I have to live another 37 years to finish all of the projects I want to make at this moment. [Ed.’s note: Since I started writing this I think I may be up to 38 years worth of patterns.] By the way, I do not have 700+ projects worth of yarn—in case you were wondering.
     Meanwhile, back at the pop up shop event, the owner of the closed knitting shop did a good job of advertising so the crowds were thick on the morning of the first day and the lines were long. I went with ideas and lists…but it became immediately apparent that the inventory was going to dictate the purchases—that and being able to get anywhere close to the goods. Lively conversation was everywhere—this was, after all, a room full of mostly women who share a passion. It was oddly fun…even for an introvert.

Things I am Learning

& Miscellaneous Observations

• All the clocks in my life seem to be on a different time. The one in the bathroom is pretty good but it’s battery-powered and I use rechargeables, which are sadly unreliable. The one in the bedroom and kitchen are electric and my power goes out a lot so they are sadly different. In the car, the clock picks up a minute every 4 or 5 weeks. It was okay when it was ten minutes fast but now it’s 12 and that’s kinda bugging me and is also just sad. It also makes me question which clock is right and wrong and oh the one on the thermometer is okay half the year and off an hour when the time is changed. In other words, I have no idea what time it is.

• Spring has finally committed itself. The weather is volatile, the greens are fresh and vibrant, and there are flowers everywhere. And stuff is growing like gangbusters. I love Spring for all of those reasons and also hate it for some of those reasons plus a few others. Grass is growing so fast it’s hard to keep up. The vines have grown into the blueberries and the bushes want to be free. The vines mat the ground around the bushes. Pathetic I am in being able to combat this. They took over the back fence as well. When I finally pulled them off most of the fence, I realized that the split rails are starting to rot. Okay, they started to rot last year, but I don’t think I can avoid dealing with them much longer. The other day we had the rainiest day in 101 years. It was epic—my road, which is gravel and dirt, was badly damaged. My gutters were gushing and I was out there plunging them until the thunder and lightning started. I find the sound of water gurgling into the downspout very satisfying.  Couple days later I had my first outdoor shower of the season. It was not perfect. Afterwards, I pulled off the showerhead and found there was some gunk in the pipes. It is always something. The upside to the lousy grey winter is I am inside and not looking at all the work there is to do outside…

• I was driving down Reems Creek Road the other day and thought, everything is popping up this season… including new houses. I know that 14 or so years ago, my house was the new house on the block and some people didn’t like that very much, but it is startling to see where they can tuck a house now. I remember when I moved here Gini said the problem with empty land is you never know what someone’s going to do with it. I am learning about that here in the ‘hood. 

• Mail recently received:

>From the Republican National Committee confirming that I am a registered Republican (I’m not.)

>An ad for a luxury Volvo SUV (not from the local dealer but from Illinois.) I can lease one for $549/month. Such a deal!

>Chewy.com pet food ad addressed to my sister Evie who has never lived here and does not have a pet, that I know of. 

>Letter from Mike Pence. nuff said

>Dartmouth professors asking me to respond to a survey on politics. 

>And the usual old people mailings about audiologists, long term care insurance and other cheery I’m-not-that-old stuff.

• In March, Gini and I had our annual retreat, this time in Lakeland FL which is somewhere Gini is considering as a place to land some time in the future. It is conveniently located between Orlando and Tampa (two good airport towns which is important to me). It is small but not too small and there are breweries, a farmer’s market, and some good coffee shops. There’s also Florida Southern College, which is home to a large collection of Frank Lloyd Wright buildings. Surprise! Seems one can find treasures everywhere. Oh yeah, and there are a lot of lakes in Lakeland. It’s lovely and a good time was had by all.

     En route, Roger and I made several stops in the van. Our first night was in a campground not far from I-95 in Georgia. When I pulled in, the nice man said they were full but when he looked at my itty-bitty van and the honking big RVs surrounding us, he figured he could find a patch of grass where I would fit. He said he didn’t want to send me back out on the road at this hour. You gotta love the South. The next day we drove down to the Hanna Campground, which is in a city park in Jacksonville. It was FAB! The park is on the ocean and the St. Johns River. Both the park and the campground are huge, and lush and ever so pleasant. I got to spend some time with cousins Lucy Lee, Jack, Shannon and Kelsey and their gangs. It was great to catch up. 

     From there, we headed a bit south to Port Canaveral. It’s past the space part to the cruise part. There were huge areas for cruise ships to arrive and depart…and it was pretty much deserted. There was a HUGE ship in port but no people around. Eerie. The campground is just past all that and near the water but it was surprisingly soulless.  I had a reservation and had even made it over the phone with the woman I talked to at the front desk whose voice was memorable as it was similar to nails on a chalkboard. I was told on the phone that I could park in the tent area and sleep in my van but to do so, I had to put up a tent. Mm-hmm. Instead I booked a more expensive space where I could park my van and presumably sleep in it. Au contraire! When I went to check in, I was asked if I had an RV sticker on my van. I am assuming this is something RV makers put on RVs so people will know they are RVs—she could not give me any better description other than everyone else had one. I am not saying I understand any of this nor that it makes any sense whatsoever, I am just trying to tell this incredibly frustrating story. She said it wasn’t me—they were just trying to prevent the sort of people who wanted to sleep in their cars from staying there. (This is a $50 a night campground—it is not the sort of place people who want to save money by camping in their cars would choose.) I said this was not a car—it was a van, with a bed, a pop-up, a sink, stove, refrigerator--it just wasn’t 30 feet long and burning 4 miles a gallon. Finally she got permission to let me stay—ONE NIGHT ONLY. Then, she said—you don’t have a dog or anything right? Why, yes I do. Do you have its rabies certificate? No I don’t. She literally threw up her hands and said, Well, that’s it. You can’t stay here. I was relieved…after the frustration wore off. 

     I pulled out, parked near the huge empty cruise ship parking lot and wondered about Plan B. I texted Carla, who was heading north to meet me, that I was heading south. A1A was hectic. We finally united in a Walgreen’s parking lot and then found a recently robbed Chinese restaurant (they were trying to put together their clipped wires so they could take orders) to get some to-go food and sat in that parking lot and ate it. You can’t make this stuff up—it was an oddly awkward day—and did I mention it was St. Patrick’s Day? But Carla and Allen and Roger and I wound up having a good visit and some good meals and a nice beach walk and alls-well-that-ended-well sleep in the parking lot of Carla and Allen’s condo (don’t tell the neighbors!).

• Yesterday, I was at a local event celebrating 25 years of work to dismantle racism here in Asheville (still working...obviously). The keynote speaker was Dr. Jacqueline Battalora—her book is Birth of a White Nation: The Invention of White People and Its Relevance Today. Did you know there was no such thing as White prior to the mid-1600s and it was in 1681 that the first law in the world that differentiated between “whites” and everyone else was put on the books, sending us on this 330 plus year history of White Supremacy? Dr Battalora reminded us that from the moment we are born (on our birth certificates), race, something that didn’t exist but was created to form this divide, is part of our lives....!!! I am clueless.

• Oh yeah, and the PNewS is in its 27^thseason. Ta-dum.

“Cranky old rich people: now there’s a demographic that’s a menace to society.”Barbara Ehrenreich, This Land is Their Land 

(A quote I love though it is taken out of context and there is sarcasm there…)

PNewL PNewS Volume 26 Issue 6

PNewL PNewS 

                                 Volume 26 Issue 6             “All the pnews that phits.”              February 2019

In Search of a Title

     Next winter, I am not making plans to leave the house between November and March. It’s too stressful to watch the weather reports and experience the heartbreak of bad weather on the few days I really want to do something.

     One day that didn’t mess me up this winter started at 3am. A successful before dawn drive to Greenville resulted in a slow but successful trip to Puerto Vallarta. En route, I met up with other members of the class I would be attending and the transfer to Hacienda Mosaico was painless.

     I have taken classes with Molly, a talented metalsmith and supportive teacher (even for those of us with Itty Bitty Skills), before and I knew jewelry was not my strong suit (and come to think of it, I have an even weaker skillset with clay). The class is called Silveramics, the setting a lovely super-artistically decorated hacienda in warm weather in the dead of winter. The draw of travel and artful crafting was irresistible.

     Silveramics is the creation of Molly, the silver part, and David, the porcelain guy, First we learned to layer colored porcelain to make cool patterns. Then we formed them into something hopefully useable, and then we waited…for the kiln to tell us if we’d done it right. Then we started playing with jewelry designs. It was exciting and inspiring to see the results and to see how each student used what they had made. (Shameless plug: https://mollysharpmetalsmith.com/silveramics/)

      We ate well, we worked hard, and we had a congenial group. Oh and we could swim after lunch. Lunch? Oh my. The food was incredible and beautifully presented. Jorge, the chef, was a magician.

     Then, not with a bang but a whimper, I was off to the next phase. A taxi to a bus to a meet up with Doug and Barbra and a taxi to a beach town that will remain nameless to protect its simplicity and charming atmosphere ended with an icy beverage and perhaps a sunset—the sunsets were stunning.

     When I first arrived, the silence caused my ears to ring—it was so different from the hustle and bustle of PV. Our accommodations provided a great outdoor space to decompress after a lot of people time. (My fellow students were good talkers!) Doug and Barbra have an impressive community they’ve created over the 12 years they’ve been going so mostly, I hung by another pool and watched them come and go on their adventures.

     I have wanted to visit them for a while. As one who doesn’t usually return to places (except for a few islands that come to mind), I was curious. Now I get it—it’s an easy place to be with nice people to be with. And there’s good food available and things to do and plenty of opportunity to just hang out.

     I am beginning to see the appeal of going some place warm and sunny in the winter. Perhaps it’s aging or maybe I am just getting smarter.

Things I am Learning

& Miscellaneous Observations

• I went to a volunteer gig last week and my “boss” wasn’t there so I left…and suddenly, I had FREE time. I have a lot of free time actually but this was unexpected and somehow really special—and Roger the dog wasn’t expecting me! I didn’t go on some grand adventure, but I did stop at the grocery store on the way home. It was 10:15-ish and apparently that is when people like me and older go to the grocery store. It made me laugh. (Coincidentally, I have wound up at Trader Joe’s and another grocery store since then and have found the same scene…few people, all with grey hair.)

• I couldn’t fall asleep last night so I was thinking about visiting different states in this country. I have been to all of em but have not slept in all of them. So then I went across the country in my mind to figure out which I haven’t slept in. I am pretty sure I haven’t slept in Delaware or Rhode Island. On the other hand, I don’t remember why/when I would have slept in Wisconsin, Indiana, Mississippi, Alabama or Maryland. Several I would rather not sleep in again (probably don’t want to even visit—see notes on visiting Kansas a couple years back), but I haven’t made that list yet.

• I know I have said this before but it’s happened again—I am wasting time on a website for tools wondering what I would need these things for. Then I have to remind myself, if I don’t know what it’s for, I don’t need it. Move on.

• Based on the crap that has been done to my teeth during my life—starting with a sadistic dentist who drilled massive holes for the bad brownies (cavities) without Novocain, through braces and an orthodontist who refused to complete the process after I broke my front teeth, through a bajillioncrowns on the front teeth, through the resulting trashed teeth because of the sadist’s massive holes—one would think that I would be used to dental disasters. Last night when the crack the dentists were watching caused half the tooth to fall off, I was once again startled. It’s like vertigo I think. Unsettling. By 3pm the next day I had a temporary crown and the worst…for now…is over.

• Wash your sweaters!! It makes a difference.

• Also, send some hot water down your plumbing every once in a while. I dropped an earring down my bathroom sink and spent a couple days trying to get the pipe off. Finally, I sat in front of it and thought, “What would Jeff do?” and I tapped all around it and it finally unscrewed. What a scary mess. I found the earring but it was like the Creature from the Black Lagoon in there. Very satisfying to clean it up but it made me wonder about other fixtures. I remember when the nice man spent hours trying to clean out some pipes in the Florida house—he said houses need people to live in them, run water through the pipes regularly. Huh. Good advice. (To clarify: I do live here, I just don’t always run as much water as most people do. Comes from living in the land of drought during my formative years.)

• Sometimes I get good information from seemingly goofy places…like articles titled 5 Things that Tidy People Do That You Don’t or something like that. Tidy people pick up as they go. I do not. But I am going to try. They also don’t store stuff on the floor, which is like a WOW moment to me. I thought that was what the floor was for…What does one do when all the horizontal surfaces are already covered? Okay, will work on that too.

• There was a nametag for Diane in my bathroom garbage. Who is Diane and where’d that come from?

• I told my doctor that I didn’t like to visit her because it was in her office that I had to face aging—that I was told that what was happening was age-related. I told her she needed to be a cheerleader: You’re aging beautifully! Go girl go! This annual “wellness check” seemed especially short. Didn’t take off my clothes, just lungs heart (listen)  ears and mouth (look). That’s not how I remember annual check ups before. Perhaps she didn’t appreciate my comments. 

• Speaking of aging, I think it was at about my age that my mother was diagnosed with emphysema. Humbling.

• I am thinking of dropping my landline. Then I thought, I’ll send out an email saying delete my landline number, and since most people’s records are not perfect, I figured no one would know which was which, and then I thought, it doesn’t really matter--I don’t answer either of em! 

     Speaking of dropping the landline, it is interesting. I have had one since…well…forever, and it feels odd to drop it. How will I find my cellphone? How can I multi-task with a cellphone? It doesn’t fit in the crook (?) of my shoulder as well as my cordless does. For instance, I finished cleaning the refrigerator (OMG, what a nightmare—I thought at one point perhaps I should just buy a new one!) while talking to Peter on the landline—I couldn’t do that on my cellphone (and I am not so good at speaker phones.) And I love my phone number. But…well, stay tuned.

• I told a friend that I was feeling kind of obsessive about travel this year—more than average, and she said her husband put it this way: It’s the go-go 60s, the slow-go 70s, and the no-go 80s. I’m going with that—only aren’t the 70s the new 60s or something like that?

• I’ve read many good books since last I listed them so I thought I’d make another list. I’m an audiobook junkie so most of these I “read” with my ears.

*Waking up White and Finding Myself in the Story of Race/Debby Irving. Ignore the part about journaling and answering her questions—I did.

* Tears We Cannot Stop: A Sermon to White America/Michael Eric Dyson. A little dry but good and he lists a ton of authors and books to read towards the end.

* We’re Going to Need More Wine/Gabrielle Union. Funny, honest essays.

* Eloquent Rage: A Black Feminist Discovers her Superpower/ Brittney Cooper. Fast sharp great audiobook. I’ll listen again because there is so much in it. (I’ve started buying some of these and donating to the library so they’ll be there—kinda like a public storage unit.)

* Becoming/Michelle Obama. Listen to her read it…she’s awesome and honest.

* You’ve Been So Lucky Already/Althea Black. Good frantic honest and not race related!

Plus a John Grisham, a James Patterson or three, a few Michael Connellys, etc.

Re-reading this, I suppose I should be embarrassed by my horrifying cleaning experience, but I’m not.

“There is no social change fairy. There’s only the change made by the hands of individuals.”Winona LaDuke

PNewL PNewS Volume 26 Issue 5

PNewL PNewS 

                                 Volume 26 Issue 5             “All the pnews that phits.”              December 2018

The Hamilton Edition

     I am going to write this now while it’s fresh in my mind and because I have 38% battery and the hotel I am staying in has no power so after that I will be sitting in a dark room with nothing to do and it will be, like, 5:30pm.

[Ed. Note: I have now been fiddling with this for a couple weeks + and I think I have to just say I am done. I am done.]

I saw Hamilton. (Big bucket list check.)

     In retrospect, I could have bought a $500 ticket a couple years ago and saved money and wear and tear, but since that seemed outrageous at the time, I guess it is appropriate that I did it my way.

     In March of this year, I heard that Hamilton was going to be part of the Broadway Series that comes to Greenville SC each year. I got on the “I want to buy a series of tickets” list because darn it, I was going to see Hamilton, and theatre tickets were things that grown ups buy and I am an honest to god grown up, though I don’t act like it much. In June, after trying to sign up online, I reserved on the phone because I could not figure out how to do it online—proving I am an old grown up. The nice man got me great seats—I got two because it’s a distance and I thought it would be more fun with two.

     The tickets arrived—except for the Hamilton tickets—in August and I wondered what I was thinking. What are these plays?...But I am going to see Hamilton! The first play was silly (The Play that Goes Wrong), the second was pretty (Anastasia). They were well done and well staged, just not my thing. And while it kinda is more fun with two, it can be complicated. I think this is an experiment that is a slight fail but there are still several to go so I shall reserve judgment, and by the way, did I mention I saw Hamilton?

     By the way, the actual Hamilton tickets arrived later, much later. Turns out there were some discrepancies (hacking?) and so those tickets didn’t arrive til about three weeks before the show. Security has been tight—recommend covering the bar code if taking a picture of tickets and posting them on social media. Wow.

     The week before My Hamilton—December 9—weather reports started ramping up for one of those Storms of the Century, which either will or won’t happen. As it got closer, the bulls eye of the storm was going to be My Hamilton Day—Sunday December 9^th. Kinda reminds me of the time I was coming home from Cuba right into the center of a triangle of a surprising storm that stretched from Atlanta to Charlotte to Knoxville while the rest of the country was quiet—welcome to my world. (I wound up in a motel far from home then too…) Anyway, yes, I am very lucky to have these opportunities but I sometimes find the circumstances, like…really? I love me a good storm but I prefer to be hunkered down and ready to play in the snow, not trying to drive somewhere I really need and want to be.

     After they started talking about Jim Cantore from the Weather Channel coming to town, I figured I needed to get prepared. Patsy and Ernie and I were planning to go grocery shopping and see Marnie and Stephen 2.5+ hours away each way on Friday so I decided to send Roger the Dog to Puppy Camp for the weekend. We had a great trip to Greensboro, shopping til we dropped whilst visiting. (I’m sure Roger’s time was equally great.) Meanwhile, I spent way too long trying to decide where to stay in Greenvillefor the show. Since I was beginning to question whether I was going to come out of the show and be able to pop onto the road and drive back home, I figured I was in it for two nights so I’d aim low and a little bit away from downtown. I went for a La Quinta, which on first look was walkable to downtown, but turns out was a lot of freeway away. 

     Driving down the mountain on Saturday morning to beat the storm, the snow started to fall but nothing was sticking and it wasn’t slippery. When I arrived at La Quinta, it seemed pretty calm—cold rainy but nothing ominous. I stocked up on snacks to supplement the supplies I had brought from home in case getting out for dinner wasn’t possible. When I got to my room, which was fine, I found the Internet wasn’t working. Bummer. 

     Oh and did I mention I was getting a cold? Friday morning, as we took off for our long distance grocery shopping extravaganza, my voice was getting rough and my throat was rougher. (Dr. Ernie recommended Motrin for a sore throat and, by jingo, it helped!) By Saturday, I had a cough and the start of laryngitis. By Sunday, I was pretty much silenced. This was just the latest in a series of illnesses that started in early November. I was whipped.

     Over night, the weather deteriorated. Glazed tree branches scraped against the windows throughout the night as high winds buffeted the building. When I woke up before dawn, I realized there was no power in the hotel.  “Emergency lighting” in the stairs were those green light sticks that were standing on the top of what should have been lit in an emergency. There was no warm breakfast but the cereal and yogurt were fine. The front desk was taking notes on clipboards. I can’t imagine how they deciphered what they had written. The phones were out.

     When I determined I didn’t want to drive to the show—it was a skating rink out on the roads, I ordered a Lyft and got nervous as it took a while for a driver to agree to come. I waited up on the main road and shortly before the driver showed up, a large tree cracked and fell, breaking all the wires across the road and taking out a pole. Explosions and fireworks. I looked around and I was the only one witnessing this—it felt like the Twilight Zone. Not much hope for power ever returning to La Quinta! My Lyft arrived and he was a nice guy in 4wd and I felt very safe. I tipped him well.

     My second ticket was supposed to be taken by a friend who finally figured out she wasn’t going to make it and fortunately found someone who was not only thrilled to be going, she would also pay for it. Score. I met her out front of the theatre—we took pictures of each other in front of the Hamilton sign. She was darling—a 20-something med student. She was very excited. And she spent most of the time in anticipation of the show on her phone. She convinced her dad to take me back to the hotel after the show, where the power was still out but they had added more emergency light sticks! I was almost tearfully grateful—for the ride, not the light sticks.

     The show was great—energetic, inspiring, with fabulous music. There had been discussion prior whether we needed to study the story and learn the music. Most of it was familiar and I had only done a little of each. Aaron Burr was my favorite actor. Oh and King George. Totally worth it and I hope I don’t have to go to such extremes again. And I have seen Hamilton!!!

Things I am Learning

& Miscellaneous Observations

• There is much to be said for how you spin it. There was one woman at the front desk of the hotel (motel?) who responded to my questions—two on two separate days—by saying that what was happening (the internet being down on Day One and 27 hours of power outage as I was leaving) was not their fault. As I was checking out, I said to one of the guys, something like I’d like to say it was a pleasure staying here but well you know (haha), and again, the woman at the front desk who I was not talking to said, you know none of this is our fault while the guy said, this has not been the kind of service we like to and typically do provide our customers. I prefer the latter.

• Batteries and zippers – the weak links in my world.

• Alexa doesn’t do so well with a voice afflicted by laryngitis.

• For the 39 hours I was at La Quinta, the power was out for 27 and of the remaining 12, I was asleep for 8 of them. No internet, no phone, no refrigeration. No discount.

• If you are heading into a possibly incapacitating weather situation, bring snacks. On top of being inconvenienced, being hungry doesn’t help. And a battery phone charger is another good idea. Pretend you are going camping. Bring all that stuff.

•  I just received the request from La Quinta to evaluate my stay, The questions are hard to answer—how was the bathroom? Hard to tell, I couldn’t see it!  Breakfast? Hmm. Not worth discussion. [Note: I did fill out the form and mentioned the employee who kept saying it wasn’t their fault. I got a phone call from the manager, I think, wanting to follow up on my evaluation. I lost his number. Oops]

• I think the most frequent call I get on my cell phone is me trying to find it…

Things I am Thankful For

& New Years Resolutions

Thankful for…

• Cool smart people I have met this year or gotten to know better who inspire me.

• Roger the Dog

• Opportunity

• The van

• Sock darning videos (among others—youtube in general)

New Year’s Resolutions…

• Darn the socks

• Make more donation toys

• Learn more about the trees that live near me. (I don’t know why I can’t retain this information…)

• All the usual suspects continue to apply: Eat better, get more exercise, laugh more, have more fun, dance more. Figure out something to do at the holidays other than getting sick.

“Overcoming fear is first and foremost about having the courage to look under the bed.”Brittney Cooper, Eloquent Rage

Emergency Lighting at LaQuinta

PNewL PNewS Volume 26 Issue 4

PNewL PNewS 

      Volume 26 Issue 4             “All the pnews that phits.”           November 2018

We're so Eclectic

     The last couple of months have included a pretty interesting collection of events and things to do. I am grateful for all the things I am able to do and frustrated by the number of things I simply can’t find time for.

     It all started with the Asheville Van Life Rally at a new event venue in the hills to the west of town. It was a lovely setting in pristine condition, complete with retro Airstream trailers that had been refurbished and set permanently in place as accommodations. Very classy. The organization was soorganized. Van Lifers were permitted to arrive on Friday afternoon and when we got there, folks were already deploying their rigs. Gini and her dog Blaze had come in especially for the event. We, each in our van with each of our dogs, were directed to the end of the line, which wound up being perfect. We were up against the woods, which provided much needed shade and we were far from “downtown” camperville. 

      On Saturday, the van population was at the max and the event was opened to day-trippers only. Throughout, there were vendors and food and drinks and music and demonstrations. The atmosphere was truly wonderful—like-minded people wandering around chatting and comparing set-ups. I wound up learning a fair amount I hadn’t known about the company that created my converted van—folks had read about it but never seen one. It was fun. I wound u volunteering to help at the front gate for a bunch of hours and that was pretty fun too. The front gate was closed to anyone but vendors and volunteers—everyone else had to be directed to the lots where they could park and ride back in a shuttle. As I started to greet folks, I asked, What’s YOUR story? being a bit smart alecky and soon I learned, everyone did have a story. Through three plus hours of standing at the gate I would guess maybe four people were rude—mostly entitled people in expensive cars. Pretty good odds.

     The next weekend was the Asheville Quilt Show, which we describe as a regional show with a national reputation. Because we offer some pretty nice prize money, we get some pretty nice quilts to exhibit. This year was no exception. It’s a well-done event, which, to my mind, requires a ridiculous amount of work. Fortunately, there is an army of worker bees and Type A-s to coordinate all of the bits and pieces that add up to a successful show. Year after year.

     Meanwhile, I started taking a class called Building Bridges, which is offered by yet another dedicated troop of volunteers. BB is a nine-week course aimed at providing a safe space to look at racism, historically, big picture and here in Asheville. I believe it has changed my life. While it is easy to think we have a handle on this in our own minds, trust me, we don’t. It wasn’t always fun but it wasalways enlightening. Through readings and large group presentations and small group discussions, we explored some pretty sensitive issues. One of the evenings started with a slide show of pictures of the Jews killed at the temple in Pittsburgh and the two African Americans killed at the Kroger in Kentucky--all victims of white supremacy. We were asked to take a few moments of silence. I cannot tell you how emotional this was to me. It is easy--well I am not sure easy is the right word--but it is a bit of a remove to talk with friends about how depressing and crazy and messed up this world is and not necessarily really feel it but to sit in a room that used to be a place of worship--a room that has to be locked once we are inside...just in case--with a group of people who are trying to better understand this crazy world...to be quiet and watch the names, ages and faces of the people who were now gone: It was incredibly powerful. (Later in the small groups, the facilitators said there has had to be one of these altered programs in something like three out of the last six sessions because of the frequency of episodes of violence in our country.)

     Did you know there is actual research that racism is having a huge health impact on people's lives--the stress causes cancer, strokes, heart disease, premature babies etc. in higher numbers among people of color? Did you know that the African American population in Asheville has gone from 19% to less than 10% in a decade? If young people can get out, they do not come back—I think this may be true of young white people too but have no data. 

Have you taken these tests? Highly recommend

https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/takeatest.html
http://www.antiracistalliance.com/Unpacking.html#top

Have you read these books? (Highly Recommend)

The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America's Great Migrationby Isabel Wilkerson (I didn’t even know about the Great Migration.)

The Hate U Give, Angie Thomas

I'm Still Here: Black Dignity in a World Made forWhiteness, Austin Channing Brown

When They Call You a Terrorist: A Black Lives Matter Memoir,Patrisse Khan-Cullors

     In our final small group, we agreed that we had only just begun. The youngest member among us said she wished she knew 10 years ago what she knows now--one of the oldest members said she wished she'd known it 55 years ago. Several of us mentioned conversations we'd had with friends--some who didn't believe in white privilege, some who we felt we'd made to think. I said I had found a great deal of comfort in being part of it because while the worldiscrazy, I at least felt like I am making an effort to understand some of it better and to be hopefully better prepared to be part of the change that is coming. 

     And finally, during October, I took at class on Smartphone Photography. It wound up being very helpful. I learned some about photography, some about my phone and some about apps—there are tons—for free or for a buck or so. Seems there was something else I was going to say, but I s’pose that’ll do for now.

Things I am Learning

& Miscellaneous Observations

• I am going to a conference in a few days and I need to sort out my knitting projects. Conferences tend to mean I need mindless projects—those where it’s pretty much straight knitting, very little pattern to follow. I started one project that had a lacy edge followed by solid knitting for miles. It’s a new pattern that hadn’t been debugged. I was stumped. The creator finally wrote back with the fixes but I had, meanwhile, started several other projects…just in case. One I started has a pattern that seemed memorize-able. Just in case that doesn’t work, I have a piece that has a lot of boring with a little something here and there that can be worked around. It’s a good thing I am taking a big suitcase.

• I just realized I have lived in NC almost twice as long as I lived in Florida. That’s weird.

• It seems to be the season of burned out headlights. I thought it was just out here in the boonies, which is a scary place to be driving towards a Cyclops vehicle but in town it is the same scenario. I wonder why—change of temperature kills a headlight? [Ed. Note: There seem to be a lot of burned out headlights here in Portland as well.]

• My neighborhood has been sounding like a kennel lately—large numbers of barking dogs. For a while I thought it might be coyotes but I have been told it’s bear season so the dogs are on the hunt.

• I thought I was kind of unusual because I have a very narrow range of temperatures that are perfect to me—and wind and humidity have an impact as well. Recent conversations prove it’s common. My favorite temperatures used to be higher but I’m close to dipping into the 60s. 

• I think shoelace designers (there has to be that job, don’t you think??) should be ashamed of themselves. For years, laces have been so long I have wondered where all that lace is supposed to go. Recently I bought a pair of shoes with laces of a reasonable length but they don’t stay tied. People! This shouldn’t be that hard!

• A few days ago, I took what might be one of the last outdoor showers of the season. I waited until the sun was on the shower and it was over 60 degrees outside. It was hard to get started and then I found, once the water was hot and the breeze was cool and the sun was bright and shiny, it was hard to get out. Delicious.

     This morning, I brought the soap and shampoo in from the outdoor shower because the temps were in the 30s. This afternoon, I took a shower in the outdoor shower because it was warmer outside than in. My furnace has been out for 11 days—the joy of living in a small town is that furnace fix-it people get backed up and just can’t make any more appointments. I have learned how depressing being cold is. I feel for people for whom there are no choices. [Ed. Note: The furnace fix-it man showed up within the window promised (score!). He was way nicer—and more sympathetic--than the person who made the appointment, thankfully. He disappeared into the bowels of my house and came up with success…the problem was bees. BEES. They had set up shop in the…exhaust pipe?...of my furnace which was somehow preventing the blower from going on. I don’t know—I can’t hold this info in my head…anyway, it’s fixed and it was relatively inexpensive! Yay. And now when I come inside, it’s warm…almost hot because I am not used to any heat. Yay again.]

• I know I am sick…when all of my cordless technology batteries die and I don’t care; …when I realize I actually have a whole bunch of food in the freezer that can sustain me without having to go to the store (a gallon of homemade chicken broth= score!);…when I am willing to accept help.;…when reading the newspaper in bed is hard.;…when I stay in the same clothes for several days at a time;…when I walk in from a trip and can’t unpack my luggage or unload the dishwasher;…when the thought of red wine upsets my stomach;…when I am so close to finishing the PNewSand I just can’t get the middle part right…for days;…when I can’t do anything other than pet Roger and sleep—no mindless knitting, cooking or quilting;…when I actually think to take my temperature and it’s 102.

• On a related topic, please get a flu shot (Yes I usually get a flu shot, no I hadn’t made the time for it yet, yes I learned my lesson.) Feel free to think you never get the flu, you do other things to avoid it, and you are not the flu type. But should it hit you—it takes way longer than you think. And according to Ernie, it kills more people annually than car accidents. Plus it makes you feel very weak and old, which is sad.

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PNewL PNewS 26.3

PNewL PNewS 

      Volume 26 Issue 3                                            “All the pnews that phits.”                                                      September 2018

Queen of Good Enough

     While mowing the other day, I wrote a brilliant version of the PNewS. ‘Course, whilst perched upon my riding mower, I could not write anything down or even record it so it’s all lost but the gist of it is…I am a perfectionist wanna be, but truly, I am the Queen of Good Enough.

     As I was taking fast turns and avoiding roots and rocks, I kept thinking I would go back and weed whack those parts I skipped but chances are not good that this will happen. I have other stuff to do, it’s bleeping hot, I can catch it next time around and (my favorite because this is how I got here), it’s all going to grow right back. I am trying to eliminate lawn and every time I tend to mow less and then it looks like hell and well, that’s just the way it is. But it looks better than before I mowed so generally I’m happy.

     Today the nice man from down the road came by. He’s a stone wizard. I am hoping he will make some order out of at least some of this madness. As we were talking about “next steps,” he said, well first we need to be able to see what’s here. Good point—the weeds have the upper hand…for now. He said he’d be willing to help. The lawnmower fix-it man said the same thing. It must be bad that people who barely know me take pity on me and offer to help, but to me, in some ways, it’s good enough.

     But it’s not just the yard where I tend to think I can live with Good Enough. Cleaning? You betcha. Following a recipe? Yep. That applies to pretty much anything with instructions. I have a quilt that used to live on my bed, then moved to the guest room and is now in the closet til winter. When sewing on the binding, I ran out of thread about two inches from the end and I figured I’d get to it one day. That day has apparently not happened yet. I am in a couple knitting Facebook groups and people are often mentioning how many rows they had to “tink “ (Knitting backwards aka frogging “ripit ripit”—aren’t knitters funny?) to get to a mistake they had made. Seriously? Who is going to notice it? Well, okay someone might and I might even, but can I live with it? Indeed!

     I truly wish I were burdened with perfectionism. It seems so…admirable and unattainable and thus so human to want it. Alas, I have decided that Good Enough works for me. And so it shall be.

Things I am Learning

& Miscellaneous Observations

• A friend of mine, whose counsel I value told me recently that her mother’s words to live by were, "Don't be a pain in the ass." It’s a good reminder that I don’t need to make anyone’s day worse. I am trying so hard—and I find it is hard work. I don’t send emails as quickly (or I wind up sending an apologetic one later), I haven’t screamed too loudly at anyone in traffic. This morning I was so darn friendly when the nice person at the tire store told me my van has snow tires on it which turn out are softer than regular tires which makes them wear faster. I said, “Weeeee! New Tires. Bring em on!” I did. And the woman at the front desk who was having a bad day actually smiled at my enthusiasm and maybe I made the last several pains in her behind a distant memory…at least for a moment. But as I said, this is hard work. I am not accustomed to cutting people slack--mostly I want them to get out of my way and let me be. 

     And when I got home with my beautiful new Made in America tires, I had to deal with a project that sometimes feels endless because of people who only answer one of the four questions I ask in an email, or who charge my credit card twice (“Oops! Not sure how that happened!”), or who just generally take five extra steps to do something that should only take a few. I am trying to not be a pain, but perhaps I should share this mantra with them so they could stop being a pain in my…neck. (One of my friend’s mother’s other quotable quotes/mantras: when asked what her charitable giving strategy was: “Write more zeroes.” Please feel free to borrow either. They are free…and challenging!)

• One of the many things that is a trigger for my being-a-pain behavior is having my credit card declined. I do all the right things, set up the travel notice, write down every flippin state and province I am going to be in and the third time I use it to get gas just minutes from the Canadian border, I get declined. I should have taken a deep breath and thought of Becky’s mom being all calm cool and collected, but no, I dialed that number and got kinda hysterical on this poor woman at the credit card company, and she kept saying “No problem” and I explained to her that it was no problem to herbecause she wasn’t about to be miles from anywhere with no access to credit or a phone. Sigh. It wasn’t pretty. I would like to explain to her that this is an issue for me and it had nothing to do with her but she is in some far away country and I don’t remember her name, so to you whoever and wherever you are, I shouldn’t have taken it out on you. My apologies.

• I am among the many who have been lured into the deep dark web of Amazon Prime. I like fast “free” shipping and no I don’t want credit on something to wait five days, and I don’t like those “Oops it’s going to be late, but it’s on its way” emails on the day something is supposed to arrive because a) I like practically instant gratification—which by the way you enabled by offering it, and b) you knew before today that it was going to be late so ‘fess up and don’t mess with me. Recently I ordered some fabric and a fascinator online. (The latter because Ann has two and I wanted one, and who knows when I might be invited to a Royal wedding?) One came from San Diego, the other from Paducah. I believe they came by stagecoach. Epically slow service and shipping. The funny thing was that it was such a mystery when or if they were going to show up, I was tickled when they finally arrived. Maybe there’s something to slowing expectations down a bit.

• Does it ever make you wonder who decided where the boundaries are when it comes to autocorrect? Sometimes I get close to a word which my phone autocorrect would fix, but it doesn’t on my laptop and it may or may not on an iPad…another first world problem.

• I am at the stage in trip planning/prep when I feel like it would be easier to stay home. I’m almost a little afraid. This too shall pass…it always does and it is, 99% of the time, the right thing to do—to go.

• My lawn, which is partly grass and mostly weeds but they are green and cover dirt, looks fabulous this year. Relatedly, we have had record-breaking rain. Twenty inches in 15 days in May. July was the second rainiest month in history. This is proof that lawns are not a sustainable thing.

• I got an invitation to a Country Club…in Asheville! Who knew such a thing existed? Who knew that I knew anyone who belonged? I was honored to be among a small group of people at a very nice lunch, but I am jumping ahead. As I drove there, I got a little anxious. I have not been to a Country Club since most of my friends of the older generation died. While those places are not unfamiliar to me, I never belonged to one and while many of my friend’s families belonged when I was growing up, I never felt like I belonged there. I always felt like I was going to do something wrong and get in trouble. As I walked in to this one—through the wrong door of course, it was so familiar—the deep carpet, the hushed tones, the dark wood, and silver winner’s cups. Very tasteful, nothing over the top, but comfortable luxury. A bit awkward in anticipation, but I was fine once I sat down to lunch and we got into the conversations of how to improve the world. 

• I am a late adopter of emojis. I always thought they were kind of hokey, but like a lot of things I feel that way about, eventually I’m using them too. I like the crazy one, and the green barf one, but that giant green check when I type “done”? A bit much—overstating, in my humble opinion.

• It is always surprising to me when friends pay attention to the Perseid meteor shower. To me, it is an Osawa family thing, lying on the dock, watching shooting stars. I didn’t know it was a thing for other people!?! Osawa is not the center of the universe???

• I like technology though I am beginning to think I am not very good at it. This year, I brought all my gizmos to the wilds of Ontario far from connectivity and found that the Kindle I got at the Unclaimed Baggage Store* has lots of books on it but they are archived which means I can’t access them unless there is wifi, which I did not have. And I downloaded half of several audiobooks before the Travel Pass said I hit my limit for the day and would need to wait til tomorrow or pay them more money today. (Either way, it costs…) Oh and en route with the Travel Pass, I ran out of data midway through my drive and the map on the van GPS had no idea where I was. Lesson learned. Bring hard copy books and maps.

• My friend Joseph, sent me a link to an online collection of writing called Bitter Southerner and I have become a bit of a fan (check it out). He was researching the South as he was going to be doing some work there and he wanted to be prepared. As a relatively new resident (TEN years, surprisingly, but that’s not long for the South), I didn’t feel like an expert but I said, “It’s possible you will assume some are stupid because of how they sound...sometimes you are right, sometimes not. I am in northern GA/near TN now and we went to the Unclaimed Baggage Center in Scottsboro AL* yesterday and in some of these places, it’s hard to understand folks their accents are so strong. When we stopped for a side of the road hot dog, Gini asked me if I noticed the woman at the stand and I said no because I couldn’t stop focusing on the man's teeth (or lack thereof). It is in some ways a different world. But I think you might find people friendlier (helps being white). Parts, like where we are now, are lovely. Parts are unspeakably poor. Hard to imagine it’s considered a First World country. It’s ‘good for you’ (and all of us) to see this stuff...after I drove thru small roads of western Kentucky and Southern Illinois, I understood why some folks vote the way they do.”

• It is a season of non-profit events which involves standing around chatting. When I excused myself this evening, I said to one of the organizers that these were just not my thing—loud rooms of a lot of people chatting. There were lots of familiar nods: hard of hearing old person. Nope, not my issue yet. I just would rather hang out with a few than try to have a conversation of any depth standing around with a beverage and a nosh.

• On a similar topic: From an online article on introverts and socializing: “Literally anything is better than small talk.”

• I went to the doctor last month, which I describe as a less than positive experience. The one thing she said which has stuck with me was that something she was offering provided accountability. I think as a privileged person with adult onset ADD, I have a lot of opportunity not to stay on tracks that matter to me so my challenge is finding people who want to stay on some track or other and support each other.

• Why is it that the Roger Dog is so good at knowing when I am actually focused on something? He goes to his ottoman (which I learned in a mystery audiobook is something only affluent people have and it’s for my dog…) and sits at the window and barks until I come to find out what’s the matter and he looks at me like, “What? That wasn’t me.”

• Is 5000 staples a lifetime supply for a home stapler? I borrowed this stapler from a company I worked for in southern CA and apparently either borrowed the staples or bought a box at that time (early ‘80s) and I still have half left…

* In May, Gini and I met up in Chattanooga and on Lookout Mountain for our annual retreat. We had our usual fun with dogs in, this time, VRBO houses. Two different ones, to be specific. Chattanooga is an up and coming place—construction going on everywhere—with a fab aquarium. Highly recommend. Lookout Mountain is lovely and peaceful and includes Cloudland Canyon State Park, which is also very nice, and my blacksmithing/welding teacher Julie and her husband Bruz, also very nice. Whilst there, we went to the Unclaimed Baggage Center in Scottsboro, Alabama. This has been a dream of mine for years. It’s the only one in the country. And it’s not on the beaten track. This is another “I did it so you don’t have to.” You are welcome.

     It is the place that things that get left on the plane and baggage that gets lost and just can’t find its people go as well as things that fall off trucks and stuff like that (seems there was another category but it’s been too long and that info didn’t make the transfer from short to long term memory). There are deals to be had. I have a nice Kindle for $15 + $1.50 for the cord. (There were PILES of Kindles.) There was, oddly, very little luggage. But sporting goods, bathing suits, jeans, gowns? Plenty. 

   I have been to better consignment/thrift shops—matter of fact, the Goodwill in Scottsboro is right down the street and it is awesome. I bought the skirt I am wearing right now there—for $3. I got a nice pair of jeans at Unclaimed Baggage for $4.50 I think and a pair of earrings (new) for $12 or $15. I wouldn’t go out of my way to go back, but it’s a check off on the bucket list, which made it worth the trip.

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 “Travel isn’t always pretty. It isn’t always comfortable. Sometimes it hurts, it even breaks your heart. But that’s okay. The journey changes you; it should change you. It leaves marks on your memory, on your consciousness, on your heart, and on your body. You take something with you. Hopefully, you leave something good behind.” – Anthony Bourdain

Asheville Van Life

So Gini and I are signing up to go camping at Van Life in September. We have to have pictures of your "rigs" online. This seemed like a likely place. In all their glory, here they are "fully deployed."

The first one is my baby. She is, to date, only named the Rogermobile but I don't use that name often

Below is Gini's Ruby Jo. This is her everyday car. She turns it into her home on wheels each summer. She's a veteran of this life.