I'm Still Here

I have not been a very faithful blogger lately due to other pressing matters requiring my attention. Here is an update on what's happening at our end of the pond:

1. The Big Kitchen Dig at O'Brien Manor is over. Thank goodness! Dear Husband could not be happier. He did a fantastic job designing the space. Taking down the elevated breakfast bar was a fantastic idea; it really opened up the room tremendously (see picture above). Everything is so beautiful and functional too.

2. Quilting continues. I now have a number of projects going at the same time. After teaching myself how to hand applique by watching a YouTube video, I am so enjoying spending time with my needle and thread tacking down the pieces I applique via fusible web (love this method). I am working on a quilt top (it will be called "Seasons of Sicily") for a class, am making a t-shirt quilt for a friend's daughter, and am hard at work on a Christmas quilt for our living room. Then there is the dog-theme quilt I am making for the SPCA benefit in October. 

3. Toying with learning to make jewelry. I am dabbling in jewelry making, with the ultimate objective to make vintage-style jewelry for gifts. Just getting started with this so it is too soon to tell whether I will like this hobby and stick with it, as I have quilting.

4. The "skate" goes on. Still preparing for the October competition and working on Free Dance 5 test. I am not skating nearly as much as I 'should' but life gets in the way and the schedules for ice time at the rink have been changed numerous time due to summer camps for kids. That said, I had a good run through of my "Fallen Embers" (Bronze Open) program last week. Coach even looked happy with it and that's saying something!

5. Doggies are hot. While it is true that our dogs are primarily indoor pups, they like to go outside and also have to. It's too darn hot for Collies right now. We got DeeDee an adorable little summer cut (not shaved; just trimmed her skirt, tummy and feathers) so she is no longer dragging in entire rose bushes when she comes in from the backyard. She seems to be happy with her new "do" and we think she looks cute as can be. Definitely planning on leaving her this way. Our old boy, Merlin, is hanging in, but continues to slow down. Can't write about that now. Just makes me too sad. We love them both very much and are honored to give them their forever home.

6. Migraines are . . . well, still migraines. I've been to the UCSF Headache Clinic and will be starting a new treatment regimen there on August 19th. After a few weeks relative peace, I'm back in a bad patch getting four major migraines in the last 9 days. Such a drag!

Onward with hope, optimism and a wish that the heat would end soon. But then again, I say this every summer, so what else is new?

The Big Kitchen Dig

Things are moving along with the kitchen remodel! We now have the granite slabs on the counter tops, the new sink and fixtures and the appliances installed (but not all functional). Woo-hoo!

Dear Husband did a fab job of picking out the granite. The fireplace (left in background) is still in progress. The fascia (granite) has been affixed, but not the mantel, which will perhaps be done next week.

Still left to be completed is the back splash, lighting, plumbing and clean-up (ugh!). There is not one drawer or cabinet that isn't filled with some building material. Then, there is the matter of putting everything back in its proper place.

All things being equal - which of course they rarely are - we should be done by the end of next week. Could this be true? Dear Husband says this process has been more painful for him than the master bath suite remodel. No way, DH! Nine weeks sharing a small bathroom was torture for me. O.K., that's a little dramatic, I admit it.

Congrats to DH for being the designer extraordinaire. I didn't renew my interior design license after the disaster with the first attempt to "upgrade" the master bath that resulted in the major remodel in that room. I'll stick to something I can actually do marginally well - like quilting.

"Grilling" is the word for this July 4th. DH's famous veggie potato salad, BBQ chicken, grilled veggies and perhaps some homemade cobbler for the finishing touch. 2,000 calories on a plate.

Happy July 4th, Dear Readers.

Onward, happy to be almost finished with the kitchen dig.

Thought for the Day and A Little More

“Let us be grateful to people who make us happy. They are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom.”

—Marcel Proust

After visiting my little veggie patch this morning - as I do each morning - I stumbled on this quote. What a simple and beautiful thought to hold as we cherish this day we've been given. Just wanted to share it with Dear Readers in the hope it will make you smile. 

Off to skate today and practice the footwork that Coach C conjured up to torture me. I'm certain I will, by the end of two hours, feel much more comfortable with it than I did on Wednesday. 

Big Dig in the kitchen is moving along nicely. Think we will actually have some parts of the kitchen back and in usable condition by this holiday weekend. It's getting a bit old using the laundry room as a place to prepare food, feed the dogs, wash clothes, etc., etc. Don't think it's very hygienic either. :(

Going to do some hand applique for a bit while I have morning coffee and spend some quiet time with the doggies, who having had their breakfast at 5:00 am are peacefully sleeping. Not so probably for the neighbors they woke with their barking when I let them out after eating. Oops! 

Happy 4th to one and all. At O'Brien Manor, we treasure our freedom and honor the lives lost and changed in the protection of it. 

Humbling At Best, Public Humiliation at Worst (And It's A Long One)

Yesterday was one of those days when I came face-to-face with reality. Not a pleasant experience, if one is in the "Perhaps-I'm-getting-a-little-better-at-this-ice-skating-stuff" mode. Let me explain.

I went to a rink 65 miles away from my home to have a 'marathon' lesson with Coach Chris. The objective was to finish setting my ISI Free Dance 5 program so I can attempt to test (read "Pass") this level to compete with Coach C in Las Vegas.

The drive was nice, listening to Beethoven all the way down, with my venti soy decaf sugar-free vanilla latte. I made great time and had a little extra to visit the Ross for Less store at the Vacaville outlets.

The rink makes me appreciate even more my home rink, Skatetown in Roseville, CA. The Vacaville venue is this strange, rather other-worldly combo that looks like it doesn't know what it wants to be. Is it an ice rink, a gymnastic facility, or huge cave for general sitting around activity? Weird. I always feel a little strange going to another rink; one doesn't know the "local secret rules" - like how you can play your music on the overhead speakers, who gets to do what, which coaches you want to avoid, etc., etc. It's all part of this sport called figure skating.

I won't go into my lengthy list of complaints I instantly voiced to Coach C, such as "This ice is wavy," "It's too hot in here," etc., etc. Of course, these were all distractions to avoid the getting-down-to-business part. He might not have recognized my ability to delay the inevitable, for which I was paying. Go figure! I was excited, but a tad nervous too. After all, he is an exceptional skater (and did I mention, as you can see from the pic above, his Hollywood good looks?) and I the lowly "mature adult skater" (yuck, I hate thinking of myself in those terms). But, Coach is always very gracious to me and so we launched in.

First item of business that sprung from Coach's mouth: "I changed the beginning." I'm thinking, "O.K., I'm fine with that." Then he asks, "Can you do toe steps?" I'm now nearly quaking, as he has chosen one of about ten things in skating that I really don't like; anything having to do with toe picks scare the living jelly beans out of me. But, like the big faker I am, I say, "Sure." He demonstrates, I copy. The result: BIG SPLAT and we aren't even a minute into the 120 minute lesson. First big hit to my pride. I was so humiliated that I wanted the ice monster to appear and drag me to his lair and take me away from all this. Coach inquires, "Are you alright?" I'm thinking, "Wait, if all my body parts of still attached, I must be alright." Up I stand, brush off the ice, and onward we go. I'm musing to myself, "This poor young man, he has 119 more minutes to put up with. Boy, he doesn't make nearly enough money!"

We move on to the dance spin, which we agree is stupid. It's 3 revolutions in a camel position, then 3 in arabesque position. Coach thought this would be the most difficult part of the program. Surprise! We hadn't gotten to the footwork yet. Alright, now it's about 37 seconds into the required two minutes. I'm wondering whether they serve adult beverages in this rink; a Cosmo sounded like a great idea at this point, even though I haven't had even one ounce of hard liquor since I was in college. No kidding. My wonderful friend Mary - my Cosmo expert and sophisticate extraordinaire who takes me to Neiman Marcus to drink champagne while trying on furs, which she knows all about - would have encouraged me to "make it a double." I'm musing, "Still haven't broken anything. Good sign!"

We peregrinated through much of the program. I took a very ungraceful fall on a change edge spiral (give me credit, Coach; you did make a left turn without telling me), but again, nothing more than my pride is suffering at this point. However, mind you, we were still on a public session, which was sparsely populated anyway. I really enjoyed what Coach had done with the dance lifts. He is a brilliant choreographer with a real sense for how things should flow. I'm really liking what he has included.

We get off the ice for the cut, before the 1:30 FS session. I must mention that I was happy to find a lack of pre-teen/teen skaters staring at me like, "Oh, are you pulling your daughter's skate bag? How nice of you." I always want to yell, "I am not the skating Mom. I'm the skater!" By-and-large, most of the skaters just ignored me, although the hero worship for Coach C was evident and even greater than at Skatetown. I'm sure some of those girls thought, "Oh poor Coach Chris having to skate with that older woman." Unlike my home rink, the "eye rolling" was minimal, even when I accidentally cut off a teen skater who was probably going to execute a triple salchow, double loop - or something else incredibly impressive. She just veered the other way.

Then it was truly time to walk the figurative plank; it was time to focus on footwork. How to describe this? Oh, I know, "The wheels totally came off." Not only could I not remember anything, I could not get into my head directions, elements, or how to do things (like a twizzle), which I had just shown him. The footwork is cool, but hard for me right now. Rather, I should note that parts of it are difficult. But, I like this aspect because it is challenging, a growth-opportunity, and terrifying - all wrapped up in 11 steps. Doesn't seem like much to some, I know, but it's Mount Everest to me.

At one point, when we had worked for 15 minutes on maybe 5 steps, Coach put his hands over his eyes. I skated over to him and said, "Oh God, please don't do that." He looked so incredibly frustrated. He most likely wanted to flee the jurisdiction - or at least find a way to get far from me. Being a very kind, caring person, he asked if I was tired. I was beyond tired, I had moved into the next galaxy of exhaustion. My mind was mush, I was starving, and I was embarrassed. Public humiliation is not my favorite experience. Here I was at Coach's home rink, among his colleagues and students and I'm skating something akin to a first year skater. Ugh!

I drove home with a blazing headache, but thinking that this is a beautiful program, to the theme from "Legends of the Fall" complements of my best skating buddy. The program is set, so now it's practice, practice, practice to get ready to test in a month, maybe six weeks if we're lucky. I don't know if I can do this, but I am certainly going to try. I love Free Dance skating and do feel rejuvenated in my skating pursuing this discipline.

Anything that's new for me is always difficult. As I explained to Coach C, "You will have to show and or tell me something a thousand times, but once I 'get' it, I will take it to my grave." This is how I learn.

Despite all this humor, self-deprecating, wry content, it was a wonderful two hours spent with a fabulous ice dance coach. I'm on a new path and the journey will be an interesting, challenging one. Now, if anyone has any patience they'd like to sell me, money is no object!

Onward we go!