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I have a fondness for rubber duckies. Of all the fabric my mother collected over the years there are some pieces that she definitely bought with me in mind. Among them was a piece of cotton flannel, dark blue with bright yellow duck feets. Somehow I just knew that fabric wasn't going to be used on a new vest for my brother. About seven months before she passed Gus and I took a road trip out to visit. She sent me home with that piece of fabric and her old Singer Slant-O-Matic. As near as I can figure she got that machine around 1960. I remember her teaching me to thread and use that machine so very long ago. She also gave me a pattern for boxer-style shorts, the type I like to sleep in. I had all I needed to start
sewing.
A local friend of mine, a sewing genius in my estimation, suggested I get a piece of fabric to practice on before cutting up the good stuff. I bought an old bed sheet at Value Village for $3 and proceeded to teach myself how to sew. After trying the pattern twice with some modifications to help refine the fit, to no avail, so I decided to ditch the pattern. I had an old pair that fit well but had been retired as they were rather threadbare. I got out my seam ripper and while watching a movie I deconstructed them. From those pieces I drew my own pattern. I also bought a piece of flannel so I could make sure I had it right before I cut the duckies.
Dang if they didn't turn out!!! The legs were, erm, generous i
f a bit short, but they fit. That was way back in Nov 2006. The seams were far from straight and I didn't know I needed to fold the fabric over twice to keep it from unraveling. The fabric wasn't duckies but it was cute, little starfishes.
Early summer I made another pair, a bit longer and legs not quite so wide this time. The seams were somewhat straighter and there was less unraveling. This print had little moons and stars. Turned out pretty well. In August I made my third 
successful pair. The flannel was awesome, small pink squares with little rubber duckies! I used a double needle and finally figured out how to roll the edges under for a more finished look.
Last weekend I decided I was finally ready, ready to cut the duckie fabric. I took a deep breath and began to cut, again modifying the pattern, a little longer this time. It was getting late Sunday evening, I just wanted to pin a c
ouple of the seams. Then I thought, 'If I sew this one seam I can pin this other part'. Next thing I realized it was around midnight and I was nearly finished, very tired but I didn't didn't want to put it down with only the waistband to finish. At 1 am I had completed my, uh, masterpiece? I tried them on and they fit great. I thought they looked pretty good, too, but then I am partial to the duckies!
I think the mother would be pleased with how much sewing I've been doing. It was rough to get back into it after she passed, I think it took about a year. I know she was pleased to see my first pair of shorts. I had the chance to show her before she passed. I think I'm ready for the next generation: side seam pockets!
Have you spent much time on Facebook? You can easily get sucked in for longer than you imagined. It’s an interesting way to keep in touch with people and reconnect with folks you haven’t spoken to in many, many years. Case in point: A few weeks ago I got a friend request from a woman I knew in junior high school, we were Branciforte Bees together way back in the day! I was trying to remember the last time we spoke and as near as I can pin point it I think it we were juniors in high school. By that time we were at different high schools and had started to drift apart somewhat. Anyway, she lives in Poulsbo now! I was planning to be on Bainbridge Sunday for a potluck at a friend’s house and thought “What the heck, we should try to get together for a cuppa or something!”
I took the 10:35 ferry over, got off the ferry and looked around somewhat bewildered wondering how in the heck would I ever find her. I heard my name, my junior high name which I decline to share with you here ;) and recognized her instantly! The memories came flooding back. We both proclaimed the other hadn’t changed a bit. Perhaps regarding curves and figures, well, let's just say we don’t have our 17 year old bodies any longer, but our faces, wow, those haven’t changed.
Do you have any friends that you can go for weeks, months, years without speaking to and when you see one another again you pick right up where you left off? Katie is one of those friends. We were instantly comfortable together, talking about everything/anything, I found myself telling her things that I haven’t ever told anyone except my mother, there was just that wonderful ease of presence together. What a wonderful feeling. And then there is all that shared history as well. We chatted and laughed trying to fit all of the last 25+ years into the conversation right now. Then I realized it was past 3 o’clock and I really ought to make an appearance at the pot luck, I had brought a frangipani tart and everything.
I am certain that we will see one another again soon, and I can’t wait!
There's lots that has been happening and I'd like to bring you up to speed. It would be far too much to post it all in one blog entry. I think I may post multiple individual entries on a given day. Just fyi!
Saturday August 30 was the big change out race that SSP and Kikaha co-host in Lake Washington.
The course starts out at the SSP beach heading east towards Kirkland until we pass the point near the dog park, then we head south under the eastern highrise of the 520, along the Bellevue and the western coast of Mercer Island, under the western span of I-90, around the southern tip of Mercer Island, under the eastern span of I-90, back north under the eastern highrise of the 520, around the point and back to SSP. An easy 26 miles!
It’s called a change out race 
because we have a nine member crew, 6 in the OC and 3 in the escort boat. Periodically the escort boat will drop paddlers into the water and the OC will come alongside them, they grab the gunnel and heave their-selves into the moving boat as their seats occupants fling themselves out the other side to be retrieved shortly by the escort boat, another experience in heaving ones-self into a boat. We do this over and over until the race is finished! When in the OC you paddle long and hard, trying not to think about being tired or 
thirsty (we don’t wear our hydration packs during a change out, we keep bottles of liquids in the escort boat), or cramps, just paddle strong until your seat is called to jump out of the boat. Once in the escort boat I change my wet shirt for a dry one, put on my fleece, and start re-hydrating and snacking for the next go round.
There was one other women’s crew, they were from Kikaha. They started out strong, staying in front of us for the first mile or so until their first change. Their second crew was not as strong and we were able to overtake them. They were
changing more frequently than we were, every 15-20 minutes to our 20-30 minutes. At times we were ¼ mile ahead of them, at others they were nearly even with us. Being that close made them hungry to catch us and made us hungry to stay ahead of them.
At the last two miles of the race we made what we thought would be our last crew change and Kikaha brought back their strongest crew, we could hear their yells, they were entirely too close for comfort! Kristen wanted Lianne and Minnie back in the boat NOW! They 
had only jumped out maybe five minutes earlier. Our finishing line up was Meilee, Lianne, Melissa, Jen, Minnie, and Kristen. Within a couple of minutes Kikaha’s voices faded to silence. The SSP women went on to beat them by over a minute. What an excellent race! It was awesome to have such close competition really keeping both crews motivated.
The full SSP women’s crew was (in alphabetical order): Jen, Lianne, Kristen, Meilee, Melissa, Minnie, Rives, Shelly, and Tanja. Way to go ladies!!! And big mahalos to Dave for being our male escort (boat driver) and Marth for coordinating our changes!
Gus is now six. Hard to believe he's been a part of my life for six years now. Oh, how my life has changed during his lifetime. He came into my life during a period of unemployment. My mother thought getting a dog was not a particularly good idea at the time but came to realize that Gus gave focus to my life when I most needed it. I'll admit that I nurtured him to be somewhat of a momma's boy, he loves me and only me, tolerates everyone else, but only because I insist. He's a wonderful dog and I'm so glad he's mine.
It was a surprisingly busy week at work so I didn't really have time to get anything for Gus' birthday. Since Friday is my not working day I plan to take them both down to Three Dog Bakery and get some nummy treats for them. Then maybe we'll head out to the dog park for some good runnin' & fetchin' and sniffin' & peein' all the things dogs love to do.
Here's a photo from Gus' first birthday. He wore that party hat for at least 20 minutes, until his doggy pals arrived for the party. He was even fetching that ball while wearing the hat.
Since I'm back I think I need to not beat myself up if I don't post daily. I think a more reasonable goal may be to aim for two posts per week and if I make more than that I'll be pleased. Geez, look at the time (10:55 am) I gotta hit the shower and hit the road, off to visit a pal in the hospital recovering from surgery (he should be going home tomorrow) and then off to a birthday party for the little red-headed girl, she turns three today. Wow, three already! And I still have to wrap her present, a Curious George combo sticker book/coloring book. I hear sticker books are hot items for her age group.
I'd have had more time to write if I hadn't gotten caught up watching this video shot from an OC1 paddling down the Columbia River Gorge. I did a down wind run as well, this guy is a much better paddler than me!
Hey all, long time no post! To ease back into it I'm going to give you a little chemistry lesson. For a chemical reaction to occur a number of conditions must be met, one of which is the activation energy must be overcome. Basically that means the components of the reaction will sit together quite happily co-existing until you dump enough energy into the reaction vessel to overcome the activation energy after which the reaction will speed merrily along. And here's a picture I found on wikipedia. I know there is a lot of ugly looking math on the picture, the take home message is that you have to get over the hump for things to move along more easily.
With all the whatever going on in my life I sort of closed in on myself a bit, go paddling, go to work (still only 4 days a week), play with the dogs, not write my blog. Even though I had lots of ideas that I wanted to put down. As more time passed between postings the harder it became to sit down and write, my activation energy was growing higher and higher until it felt insurmountable (insert pity party here). This morning I finally decided that it didn't really matter what I wrote so long as I tapped out something! Activation energy overcome the posts should be flowing a bit more freely now. And I have so much to tell you!
More details on the Gorge Games race in a later post but for anyone who gets Fox Sports News (FSN) they have an outrigger segment! I haven't re-watched it in super slow-motion but I think you can see the women's crew, I know you can see one of the men's crews (seats 5 Ernie & 6 Troy) in a red and yellow, borrowed, boat. Here in Seattle the entire Gorge Games coverage will be rebroadcast on Saturday. The outrigger portion was on the 4th day/episode, approx 20 min into the 30 min show.
sewing.
f a bit short, but they fit. That was way back in Nov 2006. The seams were far from straight and I didn't know I needed to fold the fabric over twice to keep it from unraveling. The fabric wasn't duckies but it was cute, little starfishes.
successful pair. The flannel was awesome, small pink squares with little rubber duckies! I used a double needle and finally figured out how to roll the edges under for a more finished look.
ouple of the seams. Then I thought, 'If I sew this one seam I can pin this other part'. Next thing I realized it was around midnight and I was nearly finished, very tired but I didn't didn't want to put it down with only the waistband to finish. At 1 am I had completed my, uh, masterpiece? I tried them on and they fit great. I thought they looked pretty good, too, but then I am partial to the duckies!
