I'm Back!

Where did the summer go?

I had every good intention of continuing my posts and finishing up my tales of our recent (well I guess not-so-recent any more!) adventures on the Panama Cruise but as I often tell my kids..."life is what happens when you're busy making other plans!"

Not that I was just slacking off this summer. I spent six fabulous weeks with my sister (Dona) who came down from Alaska to spend some time with me. We had visions of completing many "UFOs" (UnFinished Objects) of the quilting persuasion and I will admit had the new long-arm quilting machine not malfunctioned we would have made serious in-roads on that commitment. As it was, we got many, MANY projects all bundled up with ONLY the actual quilting remaining. Now that the long-arm is back in action, I hope to do more than merely start that process today (in the ultimate hope of regaining some of the "real estate" it now claims in my upstairs!)

And we've had other visitors as well (my other sister (Margo) joined the sewing frenzy for the 4th of July weekend) and we've enjoyed the most amazing summer weather. The Seattle area is not known for it's long dry hot spells (I'm surprised my ice tea maker continues to function after all the use/abuse it's had in the past 3 months!)

One of the highlights of our summer has been spending time with our grandson (Mattias or "Tias" as he sometimes calls himself) who came from Sweden for a 3 week visit with his parents. Though he's only almost two (9/5), he is quite the "chatty" little man - conversing equally well (well as far as I can tell?) in both English and Swedish (and now he's apparently trying to teach himself Spanish too!) He's back in Stockholm now and I'm already looking forward to Christmastime when they will come for another visit!

The other main event this summer was the arrival of our newest grandson (Jackson or "Jax" as he is called). Weighing in (at birth) at 8 lb. 9 oz., I guess we never really could call him the "little" man but he's awfully adorable and Gerry & I are headed down to Missouri to check him out in just a few weeks.

Though I've taken a bit of a break from my studies to become a travel agent (if nothing else I will have accumulated a lot more "trivia" information!) but I'm gradually reconnecting with that as well (maybe it's the "back-to-school" sales that remind me of classes I should be tending to?)

All in all, it's been a whirlwind of fun and activities around here. I am determined to complete my postings about Panama and our summer vacation and visitors and grandsons and more. But for now, I leave you with this:

The Michigan Humane Society released this poster for "Catfax," which allows would-be owners to get the history of their new cat before they adopt. The cats even come with "a free "multipoint inspection" including spay/neuter surgery, vaccinations, behavioral evaluation and grooming.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32450862/ns/today-today_pets_and_animals/

(hopefully not too much) later, tw