Off Track

I had every intention of going right downstairs to sew doll clothes first thing this morning after yoga-ing and newspaper-reading and puzzle-doing but I got sidetracked.  See when I went out to set a hose to water the lilies and rudbeckia I thought about the umbrella clotheslines in the garden shed.  When I left KW's house on Sunday afternoon I saw that one of her neighbors had sheets on the line.  They were billowing and glowing in the breeze and bright sunshine and suddenly I wanted to hang out laundry.  I ignored the impulse on Sunday but then yesterday Sonya Philip posted a photo on Instagram of her bright shirts and pants drying on a rack instead of in the dryer and that was that.  I remembered that I still had the capped pipe to sink into the ground to hold the clothesline pole (and knew where it was) so all I needed was my narrowest trowel and a sledge hammer so that's what I did this morning.  Then, of course, I had to wash a load of clothes so I'd have something to hang on my newly erected, old-fashioned, clothes drying machine.  After that I had to go out, dig out some garden soil, and tamp it down and water it in around the pipe in the ground because the wind was blowing the clothes and the hole was getting bigger around the pipe and pole so it leaned drunkenly whichever way the wind blew.  I even still have a bag of clothespins.

I've been thinking of how to make a play house tent thing for LC and OJ to play in so I took an old sheet, a dowel I found in the basement, a few rubber bands, and an extra patio table and got to work.  This is what I came up with.  It isn't very enclosed but OJ might like it.  He likes crawling under things and he loves the playhouse in his backyard so maybe he'll like this.  At least it's something I can fold up when it's not in use.  (Looking at it now, it looks kind of lame, but OJ's 18 months old, what does he know from lame?  LC is a different story; she's over 3 1/2, she's harder to bamboozle)



Once I was done goofing around outside (it was just too nice out to stay inside) I did go downstairs and put together the first doll shirt and diaper set.  The neck needs to be finished with binding and the Velcro closures need to be sewn on but I like it.  It fits pretty well too, thank heavens.



October 4--Hidatsa, Shield Cover.  The wolf-man stood upright brandishing his claws at the sky, eagle feathers strewn at his feet.  The deer hide bore signs of ancient graffiti and its edges were worn from a hundred years of handling.  The figure was obviously male and Lynn wondered why such a fragile and sensitive organ had come to represent power.  She thought if she were in charge, the symbol wouldn't be something so easily distracted or injured.  What had life been like for the man that made the shield?  Had he been a good husband and father?  Maybe there was a book in the museum shop about life in the tribe.

And that's my day.  It's taken me twice as long to type this post because at the same time I'm scanning in photos from one of our first dive trips (check out my perm; I was an early-90s vision) so I get interrupted every 30 seconds or so by a chime so I stand up, change the photo on the scanner, press the button, and then sit down.  Kind of aerobic blog posting.  I'm determined to keep working to get all of our photo albums scanned in and put on CDs.  Then I can learn how to put slides on the computer and onto CDs too.  I'll get there.  I've got time.  I'm retired.
--Barbara