and his name was Yeti.

On Friday, April 18th, Yeti left us. He was 8. He had been getting creaky all winter, had an increasingly difficult time standing up, but started a real nosedive this week. He whimpered off and on on Tuesday. Wednesday, when I got home from taking Paul and the boys to the airport he barely lifted his head, and didn’t get up when I arrived….very unusual. On Thursday, I called Paul and the boys (in California collecting mom’s car to drive it cross-country to Maine while I’m teaching in Paducah), worried about Yeti. At 2:36 a.m. Friday, I came downstairs to Yeti whimpering again, asked if he wanted to go out. He didn’t, but was panting horribly. Since he didn’t seem able to get up I brought the water bowl to him, and he could barely lift his head enough to get water from the bowl, which he eventually drained.

Here’s Yeti snoozing by the fire this past winter, with his buddy Pigwidgeon:

On Friday morning, it took over half an hour to get him on his feet; I immediately took him out, but he wobbled like a drunk he was so unsteady. I knew he needed to see the vet, so rather than take him back up a couple of steps into the house, I tethered him outside near the back of my car. Since he is (was) 150 pounds-plus, I tried but failed to hoist him into the car. I called the Camden police (station is about a mile from my house) and asked, saying I thought my dog was dying but I couldn’t lift him into the car alone, if an officer wasn’t busy could they possibly come help me (nieghbors are either old or have a bad shoulder). Officer A. Smith did, and while I was waiting for him to arrive, I noticed two very small spots of blood on Yeti’s extremely furry leg. Under them was a large, hard growth and the skin wasn’t pale, but florid red and nearly black. Hmmmm….not good. And thanks and blessings (once again) to the Camden police. (Reminder to self: write thank you note today!)

I got to the vet’s and said I was worried this might be the last day of his life, and the nice vet said gently “it should be.” Sob. Turns out the growth was a tumor…. larger than my fist. And the discolored drool was bloody (internal bleeding of some sort). Worse. She figured it was probably a malignant tumor that had metastasized. It was about 6 am in San Francisco, Paul’s cell wasn’t turned on, and I didn’t recall which hotel. I dashed home for the number and returned to the vets to hold the cell phone to Yeti’s ear so Paul and the boys could say goodbye. Sob some more.

When we first got ‘Widgeon, Yeti was so patient, letting the little guy play

and harrass him,

and even sleep on him:

So Yeti, the dear dope, is gone. He doesn’t hurt any more, and I was able to stroke his head and muzzle as he died. And he knows we love him. Sob.

One of Yeti’s favorite things here in Maine was to romp in the snow, and bury his face in the snowdrifts, eating bites of fresh snow.  Just last week, he was still trying to nibble snow… despite the fact the remaining bits were hard, crusty, covered with road sand.  Here he is a couple of winters ago, happy as a clam while I shoveled and the boys played:

Yeti may have sometimes been (said affectionately) a large, hairy, loud-barking misery, but he was ours, he was sweet, and we loved him and will miss him. He’ll be cremated, and we’ll bury his ashes or some day take them back to the island where he romped and scatter them there. It’s weird not hearing him plod about the house, his claws clicking on the floors, or his enormous booming bark. Bye-bye, Yeti-Yeti Dum-Dum.  Sniffle.  Going for more kleenex.

Well, I was tagged quite a while ago (Susan and Marie), but I’m only now digging out from underneath enough to come play! So here goes….and if you want to know why this photo, you have to read to the end (yes, I’m wicked! <grin!>)

So, according to the instructions I am supposed to

• post the rules (which I’m doing now)
• tell you 7 things about  me that you might not know
• share 7 favorite blogs (as usual, I didn’t follow the rules)
• tell the 7 people I tagged (and I’m also telling them since many of them have already been tagged, they don’t have to keep on keepin’ on, if ya know what I mean!)

Seven things you might not know about me:

1. I come from a very small immediate family, and we are rapidly diminishing in number! My dad was born in 1899 and lived to be 96. He married and had two sons, divorced, married my mom, and had me (well, mom did the hard work on that one). My mom, older half-brother’s wife Joyce, and I are the only ones left in the immediate family. So, I am amazed at and intrigued by large families!

2. I learned to speak Spanish before English (my parents lived in Madrid, Spain, when I learned to speak), and then when I was little also learned French (while living in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and attending the Alliance Francaise school). When we returned to the US, a few weeks after Kennedy was assassinated and when I was 6, I decided I was American and was going to speak only English, so forgot it all (but learned both languages again in high school).

3. In high school I could have chosen to become a professional ballerina. I was taking lessons at the San Francisco Ballet School at that time, but was 5’5″ and change (tho I still maintain that at 5’5 1/2″ or 3/4″ I can really say I’m 5’6″). At that height, I was too tall and heavy for the guys to lift, so would have only ever been corps de ballet, not a soloist. I decided college was better than too old, washed up and with bad feet at 25 (typical for a dancer) facing a life of teaching kiddie ballet. Good decision.

4. I wanted to work in the arts out of college, but due to extreme parental pressure and a bit of practicality, majored in the Humanities in International Affairs and did something practical that paid regularly and reasonably well. Now I’m 50 and finally doing what I WANT to do! Art! WELL….. when I can fit it in when family stuff permits.

5. I ‘ve always wanted cats. When I was little, my friend Mary Farkas had Siamese cats which they bred and sold the kittens. One time, Lapsang Suchong (the mom) got out at the “wrong” moment and met up with a randy alley cat. So that litter they were giving away. One kitten, Ivanhoe, used to follow me around her house like a puppy. He slept with me when I spent the night. They wanted to give him to me (he was charcoal grey with a white blaze on his little chest), but my dad absolutely refused. So as soon as I got my own place after college, I promptly went and adopted Cassy from the Arlington (VA) Animal shelter. She is one of the best cats ever to have lived, and I have been owned by cats ever since (they even consented to my insane travel and living abroad!).

6. Ummm…. OK… does anyone really have ANY interest in all this drivel???? Well, I’ll keep on….

I love to read, too! One summer in High school I earned all of $37.00 cleaning houses (my parents mostly wouldn’t let me work, but I filled in for a friend who had cleaning jobs and needed someone to cover for her). I spent $35 of it on ONE book (hardbacks sold at the time for maybe $5): a leather(ette?) bound Lord of the Rings Trilogy which came in a slipcase. The hardest part about living on a pension is not being able to buy books at will, tho having an Amazon visa card (you can spend the rewards on books!) and now moderately predicatable (albeit modest) income from quilting means I can indulge this passion a bit more.

7. Ummmm…. what else could you possibly want to know? OK, I now have two pairs of lime green shoes. One are sneakers and one are new, the Merrells at the top. I decided to wear one of each for the photo! Since I wear SO MUCH blue, and since we know it is nearly impossible to get blues to match, it is much easier to wear lime green. Fun too!

Seven bloggers you should know:

1. Marie! Aka Marie Johansen, My best friend, who always amazes me at the caliber of her art, her creativity, her prolific output (I’ll confess to being a tad jealous!).

2. Susan Brubaker Knapp, who tagged me for this….keep your eye on her… I KNOW we’re gonna see more of her work in the top echelons of quilting.

3. Dijanne Cevaal, a textile artist originally from the Netherlands, living in Western Australia, frequently travels to Europe and the Middle East, and whose work always intrigues and inspires me.

4. Jinny Bowker, also Australian. I first saw her work in a sewing machine company ad in an Australian quilting magazine and have been following her ever since. THEN I learned we share something else… diplomatic service! Her husband has been Australian ambassador to assorted places, most recently Egypt.

5. Planet Textile Threads isn’t a person, but a selection of interesting blogs… I like it (and not just ‘cuz I’m included)… it really is about textile artists literally all over the world. Cool!

6. Deborah Boschert is one of the first art quilters I met in Maine, became a dear friend (and I really miss having her here… she now lives on the far side of the universe, aka the Dallas metro area), and a fun and interesting blogger!

7. Kathy Daniels is another dear friend here in Maine and a totally amazing artist. When Deborah and I started talking about getting together a mini-group, Deborah wanted to invite her friend Kate (who alas doesn’t blog as she is WAY too busy), who wanted to invite Kathy. WOW what a group! We have since added Hannah (who is beginning to blog, but I still don’t have her blog address… AHEM! Hannah? Are you out there? Link please!), and we are the Frayed Edges!

8. Since #5 isn’t really an individual, I really wanted to add Terry Grant here. I love her work, I love her blog, I love sharing her life and art.

Thanks Susan and Marie for the honor of including me in your lists! And I hope I haven’t bored you all to tears… I promise, quilty content IS coming (I’ve actually QUILTED something this week~! Even if it IS a class sample for Paducah, I really like one of them a LOT!)

Eli competed in a tournament for the first time in Isshinriyu karate, an Okinawan style. He had a fun time visiting with the kids from the Tae Kwon Do school (where he started his martial arts training). He performed his kata (routine) very well … the second time. Alas, when he was almost done, he blanked out and got lost in the routine, so asked to start over. He did, and performed very well. If he had not had the mandatory deduction for starting over, he would have placed first or second! Here is the opening part of his kata:

The main judge came to me afterwards and said Eli had done very well despite having to re-start. She said that most kids who forget, just totally blow it on the second attempt, and Eli had done even better on the second try than the first. I think that is awesome… that he had the guts to say I forgot, start over, and then do it BETTER. Good on Eli! Here’s another photo from the end of the kata:

In fighting, he survived three rounds with other kids, despite the fact that he hasn’t sparred with kids in over a year.

He does practice with the adults in the Isshinriyu dojo, though, and is quite good. Still, I think he would benefit from being around kids more. Eli learns more of the martial arts in the dojo, and because he is so intense and focused, this is a good thing for him. But being able to goof around with kids is good, too! And being fit and strong is best of all!

WOOT!

My copy of the May/June issue of Quilter’s Home Magazine arrived, and I’m IN it! Page 41, to be precise! Back in January, I received an e-mail from editor Mark Lipinski saying “YOU CALL ME tomorrow for an article on you. xoxom” Ya think I called? I sure did! I am totally and completely thrilled with the article, and still amazed that he asked *me* to be in the magazine! Here’s the cover of “my” issue:

And… lookit the table of contents…. who ever woulda thought that I’d be in a national quilting mag’s table of contents, but there I am (if you click on the photo, they’ll pop up a bit larger, but you’ll need a real copy to be able to read it)!

Originally, I think the article was going to be one of his intermittent series of articles on things like the contents’ of famous (definitely not me) and not so (still probably not me, unless you drop the “so”) famous quilters purses, refrigerators and the like. This set was to be “Hometown Favorites.” Mark e-mailed a long list of questions, to which I replied by e-mail, and then helped him out by sending a CD of photos of various of these places. At least half of my (lengthy…sigh) replies made it into the article.

THEN, while I’m out in California in February, I’m standing in the grocery store with my frail, wobbly 89-year old mom, when my cell phone rings. It’s MARK! He had been trying to reach me by e-mail, but I’d been off helping my sick mom get a root canal (we had just come from having it done no less), so hubby gave him my cell number. SO, with mom propped up on the grocery cart and the Novocaine wearing off, I’m doing an interview with Mark on my cell in the middle of Scottie’s Market in Terra Linda, California! Here’s the result:

I couldn’t be more thrilled and honored. And he used my photos! I’m still amazed that he asked me, and grateful that he did. One step at a time, I’m getting to pursue doing what I love for a career (tho it’s a long way from a full-time wage!), and I so appreciate the exposure for both me and my wonderful home town of Camden.

Quilter’s Home has been out for about two years now, and they began subscription service (at long last!) at the end of last year— the magazine is truly a breath of fresh, sassy, quirky air in the world of quilting mags. So, this issue will be on newstands soon… go see what’s fun and new in quilting mags and see what a nice job Mark did… especially on page 41! And thanks again, Sarah

This may qualify as a not so small miracle: we hit our 25th wedding anniversary, we are both alive, and neither of us is in jail for homicide! I had absolutely NO idea what to get for Paul: he doesn’t have many hobbies, it is impossible to know what he has read or hasn’t, etc. Kristina, Joshua’s girlfriend, had the best idea of all: a night away with a nice dinner. However, what to do with the kids? Since we’ve had one night alone (which happened at the last minute as both kids had sleepovers the same night) in 14 1/2 years, the likelihood of being able to swing this again was miniscule. So, I opted for dinner. I made reservations at a really nice restaurant in town, and mentioned that it was our 25th, and we hadn’t been out alone to dinner together in 9+ years (no nearby relatives or babysitters, which cost a fortune). Look what the owner did:

He changes the menu daily, so prints up menus every day. He made special ones just for us!

I had the Jerusalem Artichoke soup, and could have been happy with a vat of that and french bread! Paul had the salad minus the crab (he’s allergic), and we both had the scallops. OH MY. Good food is GOOD! And the drink of the day was a passion fruit Mai Tai with sour cherries. Paul ordered one while I decided — so I had a sip of his and ordered one too instead of wine! Good thing I didn’t have to stand up soon LOL!

Anyway, I asked a friend of Eli’s parents if they could field Eli for the evening; Joshua went to Kristina’s (we made sure an adult would be there… they are at the age of needing chaperones LOL…EEEK!), and I alerted Coach Cassidy that it was our 25th and Paul would need to bug out early to shower for dinner. Imagine, a mid-week dinner, in a restaurant, with NO kids!

Paul suprised me with an iPod Classic! Alas, and uncharacteristically, Apple goofed (it is a website glitch it appears) and the engraving on the back…. Sarah Ann Smith Happy 25th Anniversary …. didn’t happen, so we returned the one I got and they are sending out an engraved replacement post haste. After Paul got off the phone with support he said, Gee, they are nice and easy to work with. Yeah… Apple does do customer service right! So it will be here soon, and I will set up my computer with three libraries: one each for me, Joshua and Eli. And I plan on adding my quilts and some podcasts to mine, too! WOOT!