Memorializing our chairs

Today was a spectacular day. We all gathered to celebrate our chairs and our special world of knitting at The Grove with our beloved Susan. We were so blessed to have Richard come in and do a big time New York photo shoot. I like to think of our little new spot as Manhattan.  Richard has been gracious, but said one of the windows in Susan's old historic building looked more like the Bronx and he wanted it covered up. I suggested photo shop and we moved on. Richard should receive a lifetime achievement award for putting up with us. Not an easy group to reign in.  He was stellar. Never missed a beat or even showed a minutes irritation when Val's cell phone kept ringing and she kept running to check it. He calmly asked her to kill it, yet was still calm when she didn't. Man oh man, this guy is a pro! I guess if you can deal with brides the five of us may not be so bad. As far as photo shoots go it was as much fun as possible. Champagne, strawberries and chocolates all provided by our dear Susan. I harken back to one of the hundreds of photo shoots I have had with the family and DH. He often ends them with saying something like, "man, that felt like the longest day of my life, I hurt from smiling so much" He is a great sport. Well, not so much. Just tolerates what his girls demand of him. 

I post a few of the only pictures Richard didn't take. First, the amazing felted Grove Girls container Val made for the shop. A flower for everyone and a button flower for Jake, who really is one of the girls. Judy wanted me to capture Richard looking at his camera display with the big giant magnifier we use for lace work and beading. He is so cute. Susan wanted Val in her felted scarf for a class image. Maya just demanded attention in her Mommies chair. So... those are the highlights from our day. More photos to follow from Richard, who will make us all look thirty again. Thank you dear Richard for the day you spent with us. We look forward to pictures. You and David are one of the girls. Don't know if that makes you feel happy or distressed. But, you have no choice. When we bond that is it. That is just the way it is.

Good night to all the girls and boys I love,

Gail

Gail's house!

Finally I'm home long enough to join in on the Tuesday fun. Yesterday we were treated to a day at Gail's house. What a lovely lovely space she has created. Warm and inviting and colorful and comforting in every corner. I loved it and loved getting to know everyone in their own spaces. Of course I new it would be creative and wonderful but to experience it was the best.



Some beautiful flowers on the kitchen counter and a delicious lunch.

We all beaded yesterday, kind of a treat for me. I love that you are all loving it. So fun ...


Val showed us her latest creations, a darling sweater with needle felted pooch and matching skirt. Loved it, but not something I could wear so my attention was immediately diverted to the funky but fashionable purse that was in process, waiting it's strap. I want it, but then Val might keep and I'm pretty sure Gail liked it too....

I ran off early to do some shopping and was successful. At Weeds and another store whose name I don't recall. I did get a floaty white skirt and yellow top to go with the shawl and some cute black pants and a white morroccan top and some funky striped pants. It's summer, or it will be soon and I needed a 'few things'

Love you all

I love right angle weave

Dears,

Thank you for another great day together. Our energy is so contagious. I picked up my cuff and beaded all the way through our new president's talk. Even with the Ott light it is hard for me to bead at night, but I preserve-red through the entire speech and yipee I got it to the right lengh and next step. So... I am out in the studio blogging and picking up the pieces of my old life. Ipod playing on my little Bose speaker. Fred at my feet. Life is good. 

Trying to figure out the details of Joe's 70th birthday that is so important for the kids to have. Another huge complicated thing for me. I just don't have the energy to pull off the kind of affair he deserves and does not want. The boys want something and the wives do too. We will work it out, but man oh man, Joe an I have been to so many big affairs we have just have lost the interest. Have to respect the kids desires. Trying to balance all of it. Delicate and complicated. Thus, I am out here writing to you guys, who don't know or care about the history. But, you are my daily talk to guys who may offer more insight then then friends of thirty years. One of the many parts of the problem is that to have a party for Joe it either needs to be really small (closest life long friends) or hundreds. He has never met anyone who does not consider him his best friend. He is just that kind of guy. We could never have it at the club, we would have to invite the entire club. There are worse problems to have. Each day I wake up and feel lucky to have anchored myself to this guy. He kinda walks on water in my world.  I have never, ever known anyone like him. The music is getting even better out here, but I must go visit the boy.

Thanks for sharing life with me. You all mean so much to me.

Love,

Gail

a day in the life of the Grove Girls, or most of us

It took me an inordinate amount of time to load and organize these photos. I need some help. Never the less here are some images from our very lovely day. We did a lot, understatement. We all met at The Grove for our eleven o'clock felting class. Well, the teacher had the wrong day! So...we all agreed to postpone the class until two. I screamed lets go to Ikea! Val quickly confessed that she wanted a chair of her own, Susan had already talked about looking for a smaller desk for her pear room, and I had concluded that all would not be right in my little studio if I did not add another lucite chair. I cannot host all of you, but sometimes it is just a few of us and I needed to make the studio more inviting and more separate from the house for our projects. In Susan's absence we three headed off to Ikea on a mission. Man or man did we do well. Got Val's chair, my chair, side tables for the knitting circle (Susan you don't know about this yet) and many other Paris themed things. (thanks to Judy's ever astute eye)

The pictures tell a little more of the story. First we looked at smaller desks for Susan's small beautiful room at home. Then we all fell in love with the little Ikea room I have Val and Judy posing in. An entire room beyond belief for $599. Susan, you don't need half of it, but we all got so excited. Val did not want to leave the little room. If if was not for limited time and our mission we would have had to pry her out of this tiny little lovely office/studio/space for every girl.

Then some of the last pictures are of my work in progress Monets garden lily ponds scarf. I am in love with the process and the product.

But, my favorite picture of the day is Val with her gift to the girls. A Grove Girls very special felted bowl with flowers for each of us and a very sweet message. A treasure!! Val picked gorgeous fabric for her chair pillow. Judy will do her magic and we will be the fab five!

I must go do dinner. I am looking at the preview and the photos are all out of whack. Need some instruction, but you get the idea.

Hugs to my girls,

Gail

loving our new chairs and pillows

A few pictures to show off our new knitting circle. Yea Judy, we love you!

My studio makeover in progress

A few pics of work in progress in my studio. As you can see I have lots of sorting to do. I have even emptied cupboards and drawers. I am headed out for a day of work and cleaning/organizing. Hopefully, an update later today. Gail

Carried Away with Color

Judy came in first thing this morning to position the head rest covers. Oh my, they speak for themselves! Well Gail & I got carried away thinking how we needed lap throws to match our head rest covers so here they are:


Marcia's:

Judy's/Val's:

Gail's:

Mine:

Somebody help us!!!

The Current "Ms. Awesome"

Judy, that is.

Look at that! How great, and so unique. When all the pillow covers are on the chairs, it will make the yarn area sparkle with all the colors. It is the perfect finishing touch to the fabulous chairs. Thank you for including me, "V", Judy, on your cover. Now I will put on my thinking cap to see what I can add to the mix...

Judy's Embroidered Headrest Covers

Now if you look under Judy's right hand, you will see the embroidery that she so masterfully did with the satin stitch on her machine (not an easy feat, I imagine!) Unfortunately, the colors in this picture are washed out so you will just have to see them for yourselves on Saturday! I know she's working hard on them so she may just have them all for us on Saturday. But no pressure intended!

Little Brown Pen

Who Is She?

Little Brown Pen, that is. I don't know anything about her, but I think I love her. I think I love everything about her, and now I even want to be her. Living in Paris, writing her blog, living her wonderful life. My, my, my...

Me, me, me. Not nearly so interesting now that I spent some time with Little Brown Pen. So, I will post my one American photo that suites this Parisian post, and then I will say bon soir. I will return soon to post photos which aren't quite so French. Tonight, I will go to bed with images of creme colored French doorways floating in my inner sanctum, and will dream dreams of parlez avec moi, and will sniff the flower filled rainy Spring Parisian air, and will savor long forgotten fromage avec du pain chaud et un cafe. Bonne nuit, mes amis doux... Avec amour, Val

Who Knew

That 'the girls' would be really good beaders, that kitting would be fun, that I would need to dole out the 'good jobs' diplomatically.

'Gail, get's all the good crystals'

'I have to do labels'

'yes but you get the pretty labels, I get the boring labels'

Thanks for all the help, it was the best!

A good day

Today was another very productive day for me in spite of the rain. The boy and I spent the morning hunkered down enjoying the storm. Couldn't even venture to the studio in the morning, afraid I might get wet and melt away. Joe was not happy we had to go out to lunch in the driving rain, but I had nothing lunch having expended all my effort to make crock pot stew for dinner. Man, I even had to chop onions before ten and I still smell like onions and cried for at least an hour.

But, my afternoon picked up. The rain let up and I headed out to the studio to continue my major organizing/cleaning binge after having bribed my dear friend David to come over and help me today. OK, it was low, but I played the hormone card, not really knowing how much he knew about menopause. I was pleasantly surprised. "Gail - I know more about menopause and hormone replacement and all than you might imagine, but not because of you - someone who, when out of sorts on any level, just laughs less and is more pessimistic. I've had, I'm having rounds with menopausal stuff with ol' Lisa whose "out of sorts" are out of this world."

Here are some pieces of my plea last night to David. "I have the move all figured out. I want to move the printer back to the corner where the big copy machine used to me. Then I have measured and concluded I can put the old antique red table in the space the file cabinets currently occupy!!! Yipee, I am beside myself. New focus and I am finally ready to put my energy out there again. It is and has always been my magical space thanks to you. I just need to get back out there and start enjoying it again and allowing it to let me focus on my art world again. This is the year of the bead. I have taken up beading thanks to one of my dear friends. Maybe even start to move some of the yarn out there. But, the most brilliant immediate move is to take all the style books out of our den bookshelves and turn that space over to novels, something that makes Joe so happy. I can organize them for him and make it even more beautiful. The stacking books can go!

So..I need you for about an hour. Don't laugh, it is just a moving the printer, and moving the file cabinets and placing the red table under the flat files and counter top. Love, that they are all free standing, cause we can do this easily. The table happens to be the perfect measurement to support the flat files and counter top. How lucky am I?? You are one of the few people in my life who really understands, when I decide to go in a direction nothing can stop me if I have your support. Well, Joe gets that and always has. He said to me recently, "like I could talk you out of anything your have made your mind up to do" Am I that transparent? Love you my dear lifelong friend, you have been through everything with us as we have been with you. As I say to my cancer group friends, I am so glad to be on the journey with you through good and bad, I just like the good times a little more."

OK, that is me all wound upon hormones, which I certainly was last night. I was out there after lunch cleaning and considering when my hero arrived and in minutes had my entire plan completed. I am thrilled. Spent hours after he left cleaning out flat files, watercolor paper, painting supplies and lots of other stuff. We kept taking out stuff to the garage to put into more remote storage. I am lucky to have a lot of prior custom artist storage built out for me by David. I have storage for paintings, vertical storage for mat board, portfolios and many shelves for the overflow painting supplies, easels and many other things. I just need to take some time and get it in better order. It has all been neglected for the last two years and I don't have to tell fellow artists what that means. I finally have a clear view of what Joe looks at regularly and feels like I dominate all the storage. David always defends me at least to my face saying, "well yea and that is all the stuff necessary to run this house, he is also Joe's good pal, so I am sure he makes fun of my in my absence.

I feel like I have moved a mountain. I have a pretty clear idea of what I want to do. I have to save a few things for later. Can't wait to share with my girls.

Love,
Gail

Happy Valentines Day end of day

We have just returned from a lovely Sushi dinner. Amazingly enough, we walked into a KPBS special on aging well and tips to keep you in the game. I really get it, but for Joe I hope it is impacting him. They are talking about not settling, for life that is not of quality. Using your mind to strengthen your day to day life. Reconstructing memories of our individual history, that become who we are. Maintaining that sense of we are keeps us vital in our lives. Something Joe actively does daily. He is the most sentimental soul I may have ever known. Before dinner he was watching another KPBS Ernest Borgnine special and reminiscing how much his parents, especially loved him and laughed out loud watching him. He was laughing out loud, even though I smiled sincerely and did not find it laugh out loud material. But, I love anything that makes him happy.

For those of you who did not have to suffer my presence as I sailed into The Grove bemoaning my difficult morning, you were luck to have missed it. I came home sans VD card at the boys suggestion, since he said did not have one and begged me not to succumb to the greeting card holiday , only to find one on the couch for me. A sweet sappy card (typical for him) "thanking me for all I do". Guess you read the boy pretty well Susan. I did not see that coming. We had a lovely and delicious Sushi dinner. No white people in the place. This is our local Sushi place right in the hood, that son Bill claims is the best Japanese food he has found out of Japan. Always miss Bill when we eat there, cause he knows all the best stuff to order and can speak Japanese which really impresses me. I am so easily dazzled, I want to scream, I knew him when he was fifteen and nothing but a skinny smart guy.

All is well in the Ruff world, in spite of a difficult day today dealing with more of the many details of Joe's Uncle's care and finances. We accomplished a lot today which will make the upcoming work easier for me, since I am the only one who understands any of it. Sometimes I feel the biggest challenge is managing Joe and the demise of his favorite uncle.

Joe is asking me what I want to do tomorrow. I am biting my tongue thinking, well duh go knit, see if Judy got our pillow covers done, so I can swoon, but being wise like I am, I am saying, what would you like to do my darling? He never has many ideas, newest being he could read his brand spanking new library book and we could have lunch. I made his VD day when I told him I was feeling like cleaning out files in my office and the garage, consolidating and throwing a lot of old outdated stuff that we never want to deal with. Something that only I can do that he would like done every week. Maybe doing some garage editing (happiest words he has ever heard, the man lives for a sparse garage) Little does he know my motivation is to clear out space in my studio/office and make room for my team to come in and give me advice on how best to enhance my little world out there, that I don't properly appreciate these day. I am thinking with diligent editing I can clear out my three unitarian file cabinets (well that is a dream, but who knows) and put the files in my garage file drawers if I properly edit them and don't let Joe know how much space he might be losing. He can have banker boxes, something all attorneys are married to. I am pretty excited about this because it will start to free up some major room in my studio. And that gives me energy to focus on what comes next. Something I don't know what it is, but so happy to be on the journey there.

My boy has gone to bed, so sweet, happy and tired. He actually ate a huge sushi meal, so I am delighted. I know I shared with all of you my weight gain news, it is so hard, I spend every day trying to get him to eat and add calories. He has gained weight, but I have gained more and I hate it, just can't dig my way out of the plan. It is more important for him to gain weight then me to loose, we all know I am not a cook who will be making one low fat and one high fat meal. I am stuck here and feeling fat and not happy about that. Wow, I meant to stay on the happiness of the day of love. Well, I never really never left the topic, just roped my pals in.

Happy day of love,
Gail

Update from Gail

I spent the morning adding photos to my first post and trying to learn to navigate blog land. Go back and take a look, a few more photos of our memories with more to learn about text. Sorry Judy, i could not figure out how to show you the real you first and the witch at Halloween. Oh, well think of as a little witch magic. You just refused to be moved. It is such fun to finally be in the world of blogging.

I have no photos to post from Marcia's yesterday. :o< Another wonderful day of kitting, beading, eating and drinking. I think I consumed every possible beverage. Thank you Marcia for the beautiful Valentines Day lunch.

I came home very inspired and sat at my little secretary desk playing with beads and bottles. I even ventured out into my real studio and did a little cleaning. (Joe actually bought me file folders yesterday!) More organizing to come. That always seems to be the beginning of inspiration for me. Looking forward to having all over to my house on our next Tuesday girls day on the 24th so we can start to picture everyone in their little spots when we share memories. I love seeing Susan in her lemon and pear sun filled room and Marcia in her beautiful light filled studio, and Val spread out on the dining room table in her room of windows with the ocean out back and surrounded by her beautiful garden.

We are actually going to attempt the dreaded bank meetings today. We shall see how far we get. Then a little lunch and a sneak into the shop in the afternoon. Gotta gat a Valentines card and visit my chair and see my girls!

Off to shower and get moving!

Our Chairs!!!

The date was Friday, February 6th. Gail, bless her heart, insisted that we go to Ikea and finally pick out our comfy chairs that would truly create the knitting circle I've always wanted. Of course, we had to fortify ourselves for the task ahead at C-Level. It was a rather stormy afternoon and we split an Ahi Tuna Stack and Lobster Mac & Cheese. Oh, yum! Gail looked absolutely gorgeous in her cashmere vest which was fresh off the needles. I took her picture hoping that it would show that her vest is the same color as her eyes.
I made her promise that if I die before she does that she will make sure that my ashes are sprinkled over the rocks right beyond C-Level's windows and that she will have a Mac & Cheese in my memory. Kind of morbid perhaps but it underscores how crazy I am about C-Level!

And Judy, bless her heart, met us at Ikea after having worked the morning. We had so much fun trying all the chairs out and finally deciding on black leather swivel chairs that recline. We got a perfect coffee table to match along with crocheted coasters. David agreed to put all the furniture together for us the following morning. I bribed him with the promise of an egg bake at the Brickyard Cafe (the place Judy and I haunt every Monday morning rain or shine).

By the time I got back to the Grove (after taking an after breakfast snooze and oversleeping!), Gail and Judy had made tremendous headway on reorganizing the knitting department. Judy had snuck an awesome rug out of the house which looked perfect under the new coffee table. Under the pretense of a Trader Joe's run, Val stopped by to see the transformation.

As Gail said, she was on a mission. In no time at all she had consolidated all the old patterns and magazines...to put them on sale. She emptied the bottom shelves of all sample books except for the ones I actually use. It was amazing what "we" got done that day.

Judy left to get her hair done and if Richard didn't come in soon thereafter. I wanted to throw myself on the rug to cover it because he doesn't know we have it at the Grove (oye). But he didn't notice at all. He did agree to take a picture of the 5 of us christening the chairs which is very generous of him and downright non-judgemental...he never said, a christening?!# of chairs#@!? You can't help but love the guy.

A Special Friday Afternoon

What a special Friday afternoon this was when Trista joined us around the knitting table at the Grove and Judy showed her how to knit.

Marcia made it even more special when she showed us the jewelry featured in her upcoming book. We decorated ourselves and each other with her amazing, sparkling works of art. What stands out most in my mind was how beautiful Trista looked wearing a pale rose necklace that matched her skin tone perfectly.

Soon thereafter, we had the pleasure of meeting Marcia's daughter, Casey, who came by the Grove to meet Marcia for dinner at Vagabond. Oh, we love the girls!!!

Reflections

How great is that name for our first Right Angle Weave project? "Reflections". Especially with our tales of how we first met. Too special.

Oops. I'm working on Reflections, and don't know if the reverse bracelet has a different name-? I think I'm the only one doing Reflections. In any case, here are some of my Reflections on yesterday....

Another wonderful day spent with the girls at Marcia's beautiful studio. Kitting and helping, we were in love with every project and every bead. Then, out came the Tucson stash. More oohs and ahhs and beauty galore. Marcia, I don't really know how you don't go bead crazy at those shows. Oh, wait. I guess you do. The good thing is that Greg was even oohing and ahhing when I showed him my beads and project bracelet. He asked me if I would be wearing it on our big weekend in Palm Springs. I decided then and there that I will need earrings to match. I'm going all out in just short of a "Gail" way. I am excited! Just look at that Miss Maya right in the middle of everything. She is truly excited too.

Right Angle Weave just seemed to jump into my brain with perfect sensibility. I am about half way finished with the base beading, and that's after I kept going after leaving Marcia's yesterday. Even with Marcia's words ringing in my ears, 'Just cut it apart and start over with the white fireline'. Being the difficult Virgo sort I am, I just thought I'd press on and switch out to the white when the line from Marcia ran out. Well, that's when I saw that the beads went a gloriously different color over the white fireline, so no looking back! Rip and cut away, and begin again. So, the lesson here is that I must always listen to Marcia, Queen of Beads. In the long run I will save myself the questioning, 

the pondering, etc. Marcia, I am putty in your hands, and will follow, follow, follow until you feel we are ready to be set free. It is hard to reel in a headstrong Virgo, but consider me reeled and latched in Marcia's oh-so-capable beading hands. I just can't wait to get to the accent beads, and so, after this post, and amongst my promises to Greg that I really will finish up with the tax figuring (yes, I really, really promise I will). But first, I will just fit in a little tiny, teeny tiny beading time, just a few small rows. Perhaps it would be a good idea to put myself on a timer. Sigh.

I can't wait for Friday, and to get Judy in the mix. Mostly, I can't wait to see Judy's beads :o)

Finding My Girls

When we opened the Grove 5 years ago, there were days when we had only one or two customers. The neighborhood was so different. Rebecca's was across the street in a tiny little space. The building she is in now was vacant. The warehouses on Fern were boarded up and vacant. And, okay, once I had to call the police because there was a guy sleeping in front of our doorway who could not be roused!

You can imagine how delighted I was when Val popped in one day. She told me that her mother had tried to teach her to knit but she just couldn't seem to learn from her. So I offered to teach her. She was such a quick study that I don't even consider myself having taught her. She sort of taught herself. She had a wonderful sense of color and love of textures and before I knew it, she was designing her own accessories. She'd bring in pictures of things from catalogs she wanted to duplicate and say, I think I could do this, don't you? Why, yes I do! In the days of crazy scarf making when everyone was knitting, Val helped me in the store. Whatever she touched, she made beautiful and orderly. So much more to say, but since we're limiting this to first impressions, I will end with this thought. Val was my first and will always hold that special virginal place in my heart!

Then I met Judy. What I remember most is her easy laugh and how delighted and quick she was picking yarns. I can still see her in her black raincoat, facing a wall of yarn and reaching out to touch and select yarns, delighted with what was in her hands. When I saw the throws she was working on, I was knocked out and I asked her to teach for us. To my delight, she was most willing. And one day she stopped by to show me a drag queen she had made for Andrew, her business partner. It was such a hoot (anatomically correct as I recall) and I realized that this woman had talent and skills beyond anyone I had ever met! All these years later, I know with certainty that there isn't anything Judy can't do! So much much more to say, but again, I'm limiting this post to the "early" days.

And next, I met dear Gail. She had taken an intro knit class from another teacher and came in mid-week with questions. I was so impressed that she was pursuing knitting so diligently. I remember she was working with Cork by Rowan. I had Judy's red throw spread over the grand piano and Gail just loved it. I can still see her placing yarns on a table and standing back with her head tilted deciding upon the right color combinations. She bought in fabric swatches from her living room to match up with the yarns. There is nothing that Gail does that isn't beautiful. When I learned that she was a talented and accomplished artist, she eventually had an exhibit at the Grove. Oh, the walls were covered with her work. And it was soooo lovely to be surrounded with these watercolors depicting marketplaces, lavender fields and European hillsides. I'm not sure how we first started emailing, but we've always had a lot to say to each other even though we gladly and gratefully spend a good deal of time together. There is so much more to say, but I just have to limit this to my first impressions!

And last but not least, I met Marcia. You don't forget meeting Marcia. She has great impact! I first met her at a fiber show where Anne and I had a table. I told her I loved her hair and she gave me Casey's card which I kept for years. She bought a Rowan magazine so I knew she must be a pretty serious knitter. Quite some time passed, and she wandered into the Grove with the most gorgeous felted shoulder bag I had ever seen. I remembered her. I followed her around the store saying loudly, "MUST HAVE, MUST HAVE". So she taught the mobius purse class at the Grove. Judy and I missed the first one, I think. I just remember we went into class late and were way out of step with everyone else. And then I learned that Judy didn't even know how to purl! Hah! (Even though she cranked out those throws! But damned if she didn't make a gorgeous mobius) I bet we were pretty trying but Marcia was so gracious and such a wonderful teacher. Beyond that, I don't remember ever not knowing Marcia. And that actually goes for all of my girls.

The Grove was my dream come true. My girls are way beyond my dreams. I cannot imagine life without each and every one of you.

kitting innaugration

We made 70 kits today and we weren't too distracted. Susan announced on arriving that we had to focus, we were not to see the Tucson stash until kitting had been accomplished....I held out for the first 20 kit session and then couldn't wait any longer to bring out the lovely fire polish beads I had chosen...Everyone picked a color they were happy with and a rivoli to match and a size 8 and 15 seed bead to coordinate. We had lunch and kitted some more and then a right angle weave lesson commenced and everyone got it and quickly, they were all really quick studies and there are going to be beautiful bracelets in beautiful colorways and I'm so happy my girls love the beads.

Thank you! for all of the help.

Marcia

Gail's story

Early in 2005 I decided I wanted to learn to knit. A friend told me about the Grove and we signed up for a beginning class. Little did I know the road I was headed down. It is impossible to meet Susan

and not succumb to
her charms. Her joy is infectious. She zapped me with the knitting bug and I must say, it was not long before I was hooked.




I met Judy when she brought in the most amazing freeform afghan I had ever seen. I had to make it! I met Val at the Grove when she started helping me pick out yarn for the gorgeous afghan. I think the process of making that huge lovely is when I really learned to knit and along the way found Judy and Val.














Scarves turned to hats and then ponchos and tank It was not long before she had me making baby clothes and animals for my grandchildren.




I met Marcia when she wandered into the shop one day looking fabulous and carrying the most amazing colorful felted purse I had ever seen. I started screaming and begging her to teach me. She started with a felted wallet class, and moved onto the Mobius purse class that we all attended. The bond happened there and has just continued,

In October of 2006 my husband was diagnosed with Stage IV Gastric cancer. My world turned upside down and everything was put on hold to care for him. I really dropped out of the picture for more then a year. I sent emails updating our friends of Joe's journey, but that was pretty much it for outside world contact other then family. Susan had sent me to the hospital with the most beautiful knitting project. A cocoon coat in all the most yummy yarns and colors. The yarn was meant to make me happy and keep my hands busy. Unfortunately, I could only focus on Joe and the bumpy road we were on. Knitting really got put aside. Then in the fall a year later I picked up the coat and commenced knitting, sitting in our living room with Joe in his hospital bed passing time. Just as I thought I had finished it, in time for birthday and Christmas, I tried it on and saw it was hopeless. I left it in the shop and headed home to lick my wounds. Upon my return Susan said she was done trying to fix and handed me the shop sample which has been mine ever since. Every time I put it on I can feel Susan's embrace and I feel warm and loved all over.



As I slowly started to re-immerse my self into the world my girls were there gently holding me up and surrounding me with a body of strength. Along the way we made an amazing discovery, and bond connecting us in so many ways. We have marveled at our luck, inspired each other, supported each other and shed a few tears together. It is our safe place. Together.

We made pumpkins together for Halloween and one of us even turned into a witch.






















We celebrated good times at the Grove.
















We celebrated birthdays even though we could not all be together.

























We celebrated with Louisa Harding at The Grove and strutted our stuff.

We missed and missed Marcia celebrated her brief visits back as much as possible and kept in touch every day through mail for the entire year. We celebrated her return last month. For good this time! And I think along the way in our daily writing we all learned a lot, especially about what is really important in life. I can't write any more for now, my eyes are kinda flooded.
Love my girls ,Gail