Against the Wind

No luck buying a sewing maching yesterday.  I did manage to break the needle on about a $3000 Brother machine.  I really don’t need the top of the line machine, but it was slick.  When I was weary from walking around the show and the sales floor, I sat down beside a woman who had a top of the line machine and was considering buying a long arm quilter.  From the way she talked she needed to figure out how to justify the expense.  Well, me too.  When I buy a long arm I’d better be ready to go into quilting business, because you cannot spend 10K on equipment to set it in the spare room unused unless you truly have more dollars than sense.  As with quilting, sometimes having monetary constraints is a good thing.  It keeps you from going totally stupid and giving in the to gadget monkey we seem to have firmly on our backs. 

It’s election time a coming.  The coronation of Obama is almost a done deal.  I am so sorry to see that we’re still capable of electing a horribly worthless human for our president.  God willing the nation will come through it without catastophic damage to our respect for laws and property.  I fear for both.  Sigh.  The republican party put up the guy that had the greatest chance of election, the democrats the weakest candidate ever.  It is truly time for a third party to make an appearance, and push our system in some new directions.  I have a few I’d like to suggest.  I think four years of the Obamessiah, and we’ll be ready to go forward in direction more consistent with our history, and less pushed by the propaganda arm of the big tent Democrats.  They don’t much like each other under that big tent, and in power they will likely self destruct.  But the same can be said of the Republicans.  The big tents just don’t make any sense any more.  Anyway, it’ll all soon be over but the coronation and the shouting.

Today I have a lecture on color as well as a class on stars.  The quilt show is winding down, and I’ve got so many new ideas, the round robins will be a great way to test some of the new ideas.  I’m hoping for some quiet days between now and Christmas. 

Gail and I are off to the Convention center soon.  Have a great day.  I most certainly will.

So far the main real loss is my Winfield sweatshirt.  But I’ve spent a frustrating amount of time trying to locate whatever gizmo or geegaw I am currently missing.  Registration form for the current class?   Class locations?  Paper scissors?  Fuggitaboutit.  Today I’m on a quest.  Yes, Beth, I’m likely to buy a festival sewing machine.  They sell for about half price after coming out of the boxes new at festival, so if I can decide which model I really want and whether I can part with the money, I’ll likely have a new sewing machine.  The one that really grabbed me was one that likely won’t fit into the cabinet that I have which means I’ll be ready to part with my cabinet as well.  That’s the biggest argument against the machine with the 9 inch bed so I can hope to learn to quilt my own. 

The classes have been great.  The two day class on quilting photos seems managable.  I may make the round robin medalion out of that quilted photo.   Or of the little twirly nine patch things Jackie Robinson does with strip piecing and a quick slice.  Photos of the quilt possibilities are at the link.

We have four new round robin people for next year, so I’ll only send off my medallion and see it again at market.  But my only complaint about working on the round robin is that by the end of the year it eats up all my quilting time.  <end whine>

Deb has once again extended a warm welcome, and I’m doing as best I can to not abuse her hospitality, but I suspect next week, she’ll lie comatose, gazing at the ceiling after all this playing hostess.

Off today in another “shopping as contact sport” event.  Sewing maching.  Quilting treasure’s Aunt Josie’s Log Cabin Quilt.  Shop hop quilt.  I could easily spent $2000, which is truly not my style.  I also fixed my brakes so I can drive home safely.  I don’t seem to drive out without needing some sort of car repair. 

It’s a great trip.  I’ll be home Sunday evening and finally rejoin my regular life in progress… right after the election.

Drove to Houston today…quilt stuff begins in earnest tomorrow.  But spoke to Dana on the “HANDY.”  He and Robert were man handling mother’s move from two large rooms into one small one.  She’s not terribly happy with the entire deal.  Point of the mention is that Dana has posted some photos from the nuptuals.  He was playing music during the entire tying of the knot, so no photos from that phase, but several in directories at his website.  The photos look a bit distorted as they’re crammed into a dimention not suited, but click on any that appeal and see the phone camera photos he took to share with Mother.

One reason for going to Houston was to share the quilt tops that Gail and Deb and I have been working on all year.  I hope to finish mine during the week.  It’s almost there, but not quite.  Love deadlines.  They make such a great whooshing sound as they run past me!

Linda told me to brace for an emotional roller coaster. And the voice of experience was right on target. I’ve already told some about the wedding, and it was a lovely affair. None of my odd reactions are in anyway the fault of my daughter or son-in-law, who both went out of their way to make the entire experience as pleasant a celebration for us all as could possibly happen.

That doesn’t stop me from being me. Why I feel totally incompetent in social settings is irrelevant. I do. I had to fight that sensation all the way through. Some of my friends helped me in ways small and large, and I hope I managed to avoid embarassing the kids. That was my entire goal, and I do think I brought that off. Thankfully, Pat got me out to buy the dress. It seems that my dress was adequate. It was tough not to be the crone slightly resentful that the show wasn’t about me. I couldn’t have outshone the bride if I wanted to. I shone exactly enough to not be too out of place.

An event, a series of events like the last week where I feel like the mother of the bride is “supposed” to play more than a bit part, leaves some sense of doing it all wrong when you are barely playing a bit part. I had no energy for more than what I did. I have no idea what would have made me feel right in that respect!

In the final analysis, I love these kids as I love life itself. When Tania welled up, my eyes tested the limits of the waterproofing of the mascara. As the officiant mentioned that in their lives together they would face absurdity as well as tragedy, their journey would be their story. As she’s mentioning absurdity, a bicycle parade with loud whooping music rolled by on Esplanade right on cue.

Waiting for the guests to gather. Photo by Carlo.

Carlo left to Seattle yesterday, and the party is over. Now it’s time to finish my quilt top and leave things ready for Tara to meet my classes at Nunez. I need to get a test written today.

The Press, the Economy

I have no idea what is going on in the credit markets nor the economy. I’m on the same roller coaster there as the rest of you are. I’m not hurting. I’ll miss no meals. So I read what I can to try to make sense of it.

I’m not even sure what this is about, but it reinforces my sense that we’re sold a bill of goods. The press wants us to panic and vote as they would prefer. A lot is going on that we don’t hear about. Is it because no one can explaing it so we can understand? I really don’t know. Why can’t we have a better press corp?

Powerline points out that much of the predicted market panic just hasn’t happened.

A great deal of nonsense has been written about credit default swaps and their role in the recent financial crises, mostly by journalists

Amidst all the blathering nonsense from the ignorant about the role of credit default swaps in the financial crisis is today’s news about the huge Lehman Bros. debt issues covered by CDS contracts. When Lehman filed for bankruptcy on September 15, sparking the crisis, payment obligations from sellers of protection to buyers of protection were triggered. There was a certain amount of weeping and gnashing of teeth about the impact of this credit event and a fear that a cascade of interlocking failures of CDS protection SELLERS would trigger a catastrophic financial meltdown.

It didn’t happen. And there is very important reason why…

Maybe this will make sense to you? I really don’t understand the terms. I do understand that the press is selling panic. That’s what they do. Scream for attention.

Wisdom from Solomon

The Folly of Indolence

Go to the ant, you sluggard!
Consider her ways and be wise,
Which, having no captain,
Overseer or ruler,
Provides her supplies in the summer,
And gathers her food in the harvest.
How long will you slumber, O sluggard?

When will you rise from your sleep?
A little sleep, a little slumber,
A little folding of the hands to sleep—
So shall your poverty come on you like a prowler,
And your need like an armed man.

Proverbs 6: 6 - 11

Did I mention we had a wedding? We did. Tania and Bartley–Tartley 2008. The bride cried, she danced she socialized. The guests came from all over the country as well as from one of the Carribean islands. Tania’s friends included Tina from before grade school, to her coworkers in the television industry in NYC. Bartley had friends from as many phases of his life as well. I’m informed that in the grand scheme of things it was a smallish wedding. I think the caterer charged for 100 guests including 10 band members.

Tania knew it was a destination wedding and she wanted to provide plenty of activities as well as plenty of time for the guests to go explore the french quarter. So besides the wedding I’ve attended two dinners with Mr. and Mrs. Mulligan, a family gathering for all the immediate siblings in town and available to attend, a wine and cheese party on the roof at the Frenchman hotel just outside the French Quarter, a manicure, pedicure for the bride and sisters, including my fourth daughter, Kate, a gathering yesterday morning at Cafe du Monde as a send off for those who were still in town and cared to gather. By the time I drove home last night I was exhausted. And I’ve not done nearly as much as Marianne, Tara, or Kate, and nothing even slightly touching the amount of effort Tania put into it.

It was a grand success, many, enough people said that it was the best wedding party they’d ever attended for me to believe that it was indeed up among the great parties.

The wedding itself was held in a home just off Esplanade Avenue, though the address puts it on Esplanade. The Benachi House provides a beautiful setting. Tania decorated the house with paper lanterns and luminaries. Quentin managed to be the boy on duty and sent one of them up in flames.. no damage. The tables were decorated with little arrangements of roses in sundry vases and containers. The cupcake tree was topped with a little wedding cake that they cut…the gazebo and the chairs in the front yard were moved around to the back by the guests mostly for seating around the area where people danced.

So the wedding itself the cermony, the trip through the hallway to the back shaking hands and going heading to the buffet, music by her uncle, toasts to the bride and groom, time to eat and mingle, dancing to a New Orleans Brass Band, cake cutting and second lining to the pinata bashing, and the 11 pm’ish exit of the guests with a shower of white sparklers.

The bride wore a gown of ivory, a beautiful a-line style, with a drop fitted lace bodice, and a long row of buttons down the back. She had a flower of feathers in her up swept do. The groom came well dressed as well, though who noticed? A good time was had by all!

I drove across the swamps of New Orleans East last night with two very tired boys.  Cam Ollie at nearly three does tired at full volume.  Quentin plays him with great enthusiasm, as if the little one were his cello.  But I managed to not threaten to stop the car and thrash them both.  Wasn’t even really tempted.  I too was tired.  Working up energy on boys about a quarter my size would not have fixed tired anyway.

The day started with a change of plans, and I was afraid I’d miss something.  But we got to the Benachi house and started setting up… The caterer sent over tables, dishes linens,  Dana practiced playing through some of the music he had prepared, PM, Tania’s now father-in-law, Carlo, Bartley, Nick, all the available able bodied men got busy stringing Christmas lights around the house, I assembled paper lanterns, Marianne, Tara, Mary, and Winnifred poured sand into paper bags and got the candles in place for luminaries all round the grounds.  As I tried to figure out when and how I was going to do the 20 little flower arrangements for the tables, Tania decided to call in the some friends to help with that… so while we went to eat, and had the rehearsal, Kate, Miriam, and Mary put together flower arrangements, stuffed cones with babies breathe.

At lunch we met Scarlet, who will be the flower girl to Quentin’s ring bearer.  She and Quentin will provide a small side show I suspect!

Then there was a rooftop wine and cheese party at the hotel for all the out of town guests.  The Frenchman is a small hotel, and the wedding has it 100% booked as well as a few rooms in the sister hotels nearby.  So it was a nice meet and greet for the families to get together, as well as Tania and Bartley’s friends.  Tania had friends from grade school - college years as well as a couple professional friends.  Bartley had friends come from as many places as well, so the wedding should be wonderful.   I think there’s to be under 100 guests, I know the original plan was 75.   And finally I drove home with noisy boys.. who collapsed about 5 minutes from destination.

Now into today!

Another presidential debate tonight. Sigh. I’m still trying to figure how I can say President Obama without deep sadness. It’s looking like that’s the state of things. But I was about ready to try to say President Gore too, so it’s not over ’till the votes are counted.

Here’s the odd speculation for the day. Something odd happened when those pirates took a ship off of Somalia.

Frightening Speculation of the Day: “Cargo of Death” Iranian Ship a Massive Dirty VBIED Intended for the Coast of Israel

The wedding plans are continuing apace. I’m going to whip down some ribbon on a basket that will probably be judged not right for the flower girl. Tomorrow I do flowers for the table decorations. These are the first times really that I’m doing much other than working toward cleaning myself up. Long weekend coming.

The magician has changed toddlers into gawky girls into these beauties. I’ve no idea how it happens, why it happens, but the circle spins … wheeeeeee…..

Looked for some photos of an 8 - 10 year old Tania this evening. Don’t think I found what she wanted. I don’t recall that child anymore. So wrapped up in my own pretenses.

Linda warned me this would all be an emotional roller coaster. I’m hoping to mostly roll with the laughter part of it. I’ve got to let go of the fear of doing every thing wrong. Give it to the magician. Let him deal with turning unfounded fears into laughter and tears.

Quiet day for me. Tania and Bartley arrived, and I’m still in Slidell with Cameron on my lap while I type. Won’t last long, I can tell you.

The photo is from Winfield last year. Anne took it and shared it. I’m having it printed on a sign and, it will come to the wedding. Josee provided the inspiration by bringing the inlaws to Winfield a couple years ago when they couldn’t come. And the hat is from Josee.

So just checking out whether I can now blog at the old site. The password problem resolved while I was looking for something else today.

Here’s today’s to do list.

Saturday, October 11
Bartley & Tania arrive in New Orleans
Buy guestbook, floral foam, glass beads, white tulle, ribbon, dark purple paint for cupcake stand
Buy gift certificates for Café du Monde
4:30p @ Earthsavers @ Lakeside
6:30p Drive by Benachi House at dusk to assess the lighting – walkthrough of Benachi House – NEED TO CONFIRM

For my part, I’ve got silver polish, mascara and enjoyed probably the last relatively calm day.