To Kansas City and Back

Hubs and I were gone for six days, on an 18 hour (each way) road trip to Olathe, Kansas to visit my Dad who lives in assisted living. He's been hospitalized three times since September - the latest being from the day before Thanksgiving to the Sunday after Thanksgiving. The timing of our visit was such that we could take him to two different doctor appointments, and pick up a prescription, as well as spend good chatting time together. We're happy to see him recovering. He's back to his usual activities that include daily exercise either walking or pedaling a Nu-Step recumbent stationary bike, and keeping up with several farming-related Vlogs that he subscribes to.

Thirty-six hours of passenger time meant handwork for me. This is what I did:

• Completed five knitted dishcloths with Sugar 'n Cream cotton yarn. 

• Hand-pieced ten more Glitter blocks

• and joined two rows of English paper-pieced Prudence blocks.

Seven more rows need to be joined, but because I usually stitch these only while in the car, it may be months before that happens. 

Before going to Kansas, I bought vacuum cleaner attachments from my favorite local sewing machine shop: Sew Together, also known as Sharky's. With this bundle of narrow tubing and tiny brushes, I can do a better job of cleaning my sewing machine - only a $30 investment. 

Another recent purchase is the ring on my index finger - a Threadcutterz ring with recessed blades for cutting threads. Mine is decorated with six aqua crystals in a glow-in-the-dark setting. Velcro makes the ring adjustable for any finger, or it can be wrapped around a spool of thread. The green "ring" on my middle finger is a long-ago made pin cushion fashioned from a two-liter bottle cap. 

While in Olathe, one of several special stops was a first-time visit to Hy-Vee (a Midwest grocery store chain) Market Grille for lunch. Hy-Vee is a Kansas City Chiefs sponsor. 

 

Thinking I'd have a light lunch, when each of us saw pork tenderloins on the menu, we were "doomed." Oh gosh... eating this was heavenly! No place in the US makes pork tenderloins like they do in the Midwest. As you can see, the tenderloin, which was also at least a half-inch thick, was much larger than the bun. The French fries were fresh. I could not eat it all, but I tried valiantly! 

Book Recommendations

Fellowship Point by Alice Elliott Parker is a long, 20-hour audiobook listen. The story spans three generations of the Lee family who, together with close friends, built summer homes on wilderness land in Maine. Each summer, these families gather to escape the mundane and heat, and make memories.

Agnes Lee is an intractable woman who has found financial security as the author of a series of "When Nan..." children's books. Agnes shares life with her friend and married next door neighbor, Polly. Untold stories in Agnes's past come to light when Maud, a budding publishing editor, initiates correspondence with Agnes to convince her that she should write a memoir and share Fellowship Point - its beauty, and how "When Nan" stories came to be. But Agnes doesn't want to share everything. Yet when she begins to do so everyone is irrevocably impacted. 

Though the scenery in this book is marvelous, my score reflects the fact that I didn't enjoy the book's philosophizing. 

Linda's score: 3.5/5.0

Trespasses by Louise Kennedy takes place during Northern Ireland's turbulent years. I'm not familiar with issues between Catholics and Protestants, but this is the era of the story.

Cushla is a 24 year-old Catholic primary school teacher who has a special fondness for a student, Danny, whose family is poor and ostracized. When she helps them through difficulties, she makes problems for herself and her family who run the local bar where Cushla is an occasional barmaid. It's there that she meets Michael, a handsome, married barrister with whom she develops a relationship. To cover their impropriety, Cushla also spends time with Jerry, another school teacher, who knows something illicit is going on. All their lives drastically change when a death occurs, and the police take Cushla in for questioning.

I didn't like that the author wrote with explicitness and vulgarity. But I enjoyed hearing the narrator's Irish brogue... albeit at times, difficult to understand due to the accent and colloquialisms.  

Linda's score: 3.8/5.0

Linda