Now that I'm running the web site, I find I'm doing a lot more mailing these days. Mostly I use stamps.com which is excellent in many ways. But I had to go to the actual post office yesterday and I had to buy stamps. I didn't 'have' to buy them, it's just that these stamps cried out to go home with me. 

I do use stamps and I have always thought that it's better to use interesting stamps. I give sheets of stamps as stocking stuffers so I like to 'stock up' on the good ones. Buzz Lightyear is my personal favorite of this bunch…

I got to visiting with the postal person at the counter. These are all forever stamps so won't be affected by the rate increase in January. Stamps go up a penny. Not that big a deal for what you get, we agreed. Which is really where I am going with this post… 

Am I the only one who is amazed that you can send a letter or package to a specific address almost anywhere on the planet, afix postage, and that letter or package will usually get to the intended place? I sometimes wonder why we don't have to pay a lot more for this service.

In my town, as is true in many places, we often navigate by landmarks. For instance, I live near the old Dillingham – which was torn down years ago. It no longer exists. When I tell people I live south of the old Dillingham, they know where I am – unless they didn't live here then. It drives my mother, who navigates by street names and addresses, crazy.  

The more I think about it, the more amazed I am that we, as a human race, have devised a system of addresses that work. I know that address formats differ from country to country, but that doesn't seem to matter. Every place has a set of coordinates that tell you where it is. Addresses are so much better than landmarks. 

As I said at the beginning, I'm shipping more because the website is now my baby. So, on a mildly related note, I've put some new things on the POC home page. If you've read this far and have time, you might want to see what's there. While it's still there. This is sort of a quiet sale, so that I can see what it's like to get a many orders at a time. I hope I handle it as well as Linda always has.

The rock was delivered as scheduled on the 19th. I know I said I'd post when it came but there you go. I've been working the website into my life. You know, I used to think I was busy and then Mom had her surgery and my life changed. Mom's life, Chrisy's life, their lives changed more. But still, I didn't fully appreciate how nice it was to just be in charge of my own self. But back to the rock…

Mom bought a forklift-rock. It is 2+ tons, the biggest rock in the yard. She didn't go intending to get the biggest one but this one sort of stood out. Because it was the biggest rock.

I know that many of you live where big rocks are common and cannot imagine why someone would buy a rock. We buy them because we live on a prairie. Rocks live under the dirt here and when you dig them up, they aren't pretty. We don't have mountains or boulders just lying around. We have to get our rocks the hard way, with cash. Because I know you are curious, this is about a $350 rock, delivered. That's why Mom only bought one. If they were cheaper her yard would be littered with rocks. Mine might be too.

Here's Mom, on her rock. The rock's function is to keep people from driving up on her yard. That drive to her left is the entrance to the alley that runs behind her house, my house, and many other houses. I made sure that the rock was placed so that I wouldn't hit it. I figured it if was safe from me, it was also safe from the neighbors.

We'll be planting something near the rock to keep it company. Maybe a crepe myrtle, or a tree. It's too soon to plant that sort of thing so Mom has time to decide.

I've spent the last two days making my computer work with the new inventory, making sure our site is linked to me and not Linda, making sure all the emails come to me… Steve has come home to a very stressed woman for two days. My ear is tired from all the tech support BUT things are looking up! I think (knocking wood) I've got most of the kinks worked out.

There is, in fact, something new on the site. I've uploaded 4 new tutorials. Click on the 'Lessons" link on our menu bar and you'll find them.

Also, I went with mom today to buy a rock. A 2+ ton rock. I'll take a photo tomorrow so you can see it in her yard. Mom loves rocks. We have a pile of her rocks by our driveway that will make it down to her house later.

The center of this pile is composed of rose rocks from Oklahoma:

…and this concrete 'pie'. It's a tradition in our family that when we have leftover concrete we make paving stones. And when there's time, we write in them. This is one Mom and Christy wrote in in 1990.

I say that a lot. I believe that this is true but there are days, lots of them, when I'd like to be less busy. I don't think I've got any of those sorts of days coming up in the near future, but that's OK because "it's good to be busy!"

The business end of the Piece O' Cake website is now mine. Linda was ready not to be tied to shipping any more and I cannot blame her. She's a bit older than I am and when I'm where she is I don't know that I'm going to want to be tied to shipping either. But that's many years from now for me. So Linda is doing a happy dance – looking at a calendar that is hers to toy with. She is going to have time to do lots of stitching!

I, on the other hand, have spent the weekend figuring out how to blend the new workload into my life. Lorna, my DIL in Sherman, will be on staff now. You may be hearing from her if you order from our site and I'm happy about that. But I still write our site and have my fingers in the data stream. My hope is that if you order from us/me, you won't notice any difference at all. Know that your emails will now come to me and I hope to be at least as good as Linda has been all these years. I have big shoes to fill.

I've been glued to the computer this weekend but I also spent some hours digging in the dirt at Mom's. I promised to work on her yard when it got wetter and cooler. Well, it did and so I'm honoring that promise. I like to work in the dirt so I've enjoyed this. Mom sits out and visits as I dig. She would really love to be the digger but at 79 with a bad back that's not happening. She does get to prune the tall roses. You might want to pray for the roses :-). I'll send pictures of her yard later.

Steve did honey-do's for me this weekend. Top of the list yesterday was hanging our bedside lights:

Hanging these porcelain lights has been on the agenda since last January. Mom's surgery, recovery, her and Christy's move, house-buying and remodel, Christy's life and death… all of these things delayed hanging the light. Needless to say and I happy to have them up. It feels like life might be getting back to normal. I really like normal.

We bought the LICHTs from MUD Australia when we got our dishes over a year ago. They were a special order, blue inside and white outside, that came wrong the first time. We had to wait weeks to get the correct lights and it was worth it. The new ones have been sitting in the closet for months, patiently waiting to be hung.

I like to read a bit before I go to sleep. Last night, for the first time in a long time, I didn't have to read by flashlight. Life is good. (I do have an iPad2. When I read from it no light is required. But I like to read TIME at night too which required the flashlight several nights a week. Didn't love that.)

Today Steve got back in the attic to run the cable and ethernet to the 'new' Piece O' Cake office. Remember the Murphy bed Steve built last summer so that I could move the web business to our smaller, 3rd bedroom? This room is the new POC office. My studio is still where it has been, right off of our living room.

The trick for me will be figuring out how to keep all the balls in the air – work and home. I'm not going to complain because those are the balls we all juggle. So here's hoping we all keep our balls in the air :-).

I saw this on the walk back to Judy's car after the lecture yesterday. "This" plastic construction fence looked like "that", dupioni silk. It practically glowed in the sunlight. I wonder who else noticed?

I left Pennsylvania on Friday and traveled to Poughkeepse on Friday. It took all day to travel what might have taken 3-4 hours by car. I had to fly to Chicago, then to Hartford, followed by a 2+ hour drive to Fishkill, NY where my hotel is. It sounds worse than it was because I took advantage of the shopping and eating opportunities in both the Pittsburg and Chicago airports. 

The Pittsburg airport has a sock shop that I was looking forward to visiting. One of the perfect finds was a pair of B/W striped knee socks that I wore today:

Picture these legs with a black, below the knee skirt, a B/W striped t-shirt, and a black cardigan. The ensemble was both cute and memorable. I watched as people first noticed my legs, then me, then my legs again. I expected this reaction. I generally don't dress to be noticed but there are days when I embrace the grins I get. Seriously, you don't put on socks like this if you can't take the interest they generate.

I'm in NY to lecture at the Duchess County Quilt Show and to teach a class tomorrow for the guild. Before today's lecture Judy took me to the Walkway over the Hudson. It's a 1.28 mile bridge that used to be a for trains only.

In 1974 it was 'crippled' by fire (I have the brochure) and 35 years later a grassroots nonprofit began the work to make it what it is today… a really fine walkway over the Hudson River. My socks and I went much of the way across before heading back to the car. 

 It was a beautiful day. Lots of people, and dogs, out for a stroll.

The bridge starts over land. It's fun to see the houses from above but I'm not sure I would want that many people looking in on me.

There is another working bridge not far away. There is barge traffic on the river but not so much today, a Sunday. All in all, this is a very nice place to visit.

Tomorrow I have class (my last in 2011) and then I fly home on Tuesday. Oh happy day! I've talked to mom most days and she is really looking forward to me being home. Steve is also looking forward to it but I think my mom is more. I'm finding that it is really nice to have my mother nearby :-). Isn't it funny, the turns your life takes…