Written December 20th, 2015

Hi Mom and family,

It's a little after 4:00 AM. It's nice to sit here snuggled in my fluffy throw, with the fire crackling in the Ben Franklin, and look at the Christmas tree which I put up last night, glowing in its dark corner. It's not as cold as it was for a while, but still chilly enough in the mornings and evenings that a fire is nice.

Yesterday was very productive, even though I fell back asleep for a while after my early start. My "beading, embroidery, and handwork" meetup was well-attended. After that, I went to the laundromat and did four loads. Then it was a half-hour drive to Barnes and Nobles to buy books for the grandkids' Christmas gifts. And in the evening I got the tree up.

I have really lucked out with the mix of women who have been attending the handwork meetup. They were all really pleased about it and were chatting away enthusiastically. We put three tables together at Starbuck's, in the corner near the entrance where the light is good.

My favorite thing that happened was that one of the women had a problem solved by one of the other women. (They are the two at the far left of the photo). The former brought a scarf which had started coming out differently than it had in the beginning. She didn't mind that the middle was different than the end, but she couldn't figure out how to do what she had done in the beginning! Another woman (the one in red) took a full half-hour figuring it out, and then knitted several rows herself to make sure it would come out the same. The first woman, who teaches math at Scottsdale Community College, was so pleased because she intended the scarf to be a Christmas present for her son.

It turned out that what she had done in the first part of the scarf was to off -set the ribbing, so that the knit and pearl stitches were opposite eachother each time. It made ribs that had less of a tendency to "bunch up".

There was a pretty amazing variety of projects there. The woman to my right (the one in light blue) a former art teacher, had an applique of different ethnic prints, of her own design,the form of a rabbit surrounded by a variety of foliage, the whole richly embellished with beads. Another project was minute, detailed bead-weaving, done using a purchased pattern (that woman was new, a hairdresser turned phlebotomist). Everyone was so pleased to have such a group to come to, which gave me a glow of satisfaction for starting it. Helps a bit to off-set my disappointment in the two meetups which I've started which have not, so far, been successful! 

The laundromat was easy-peasy because so few people were there. It only takes an hour because I bring the clothes home to hang up on the lines on the patio.

Someone had left some items in a washing machine, so I asked the other person in there, a stocky guy with a gray beard and a plaid shirt and jeans, if he had used that machine.

"No," he said, "I'm a guy, I use the big machines, the manly machines."

Barnes and Noble, the only bookstore at all near here, is in a shopping center which is unusually pretty. I always enjoy the tall date palms and fountains.

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The eastern sky was dark-gray, making a wonderful contest with the golden light thrown on everything by the lowering sun in the west.

I lucked out because there was a really helpful employee in the childrens' book section. She had enthusiastic recommendations for girls of Shelby's age. For the little ones, I just went on my own instincts.

On the way home, I pulled over to take this photo of Superstition Mountain:

 
 
When I got home, I felt tired and sat there, upset that I couldn't find the energy to start putting up the tree. The sound of the TV felt jarring to me, especially the advertisements. It took about an hour to for me to convince myself to go out and start trimming the tree so that it would fit.

(I had had the guy cut about a foot off of the bottom, because they didn't have any trees small enough, but had asked him leave the branches on close to the base because I wanted to trim them off myself and use them for decorations.)

It was easy to find the Christmas-tree stand, because I'd left it sitting by the patio, all blankety-blank year!

I felt really cheered up once I had it in place and started putting on the lights and decorations. There are so many with sentimental associations. Dale Sr. went to bed, and I turned off the TV and sat in his recliner, just looking at the tree with a sense of satisfaction. I was almost tempted to just sleep in that chair so that I could open my eyes at any time and look at it. But the thought of the soft mattress, pillows, and comforter was too much pulled me also.  I unplugged it the tree,  got into my flannel nightgown, moved the dog over (with great effort), and crawled into bed.

Love,
Lennie