As always in March

At the beginning of the week, FitBit gave me another badge, which made me feel a little less like a lump.  I've struggled a couple of days to meet the 10,000 steps challenged, and to move each hour.

At the end of the week, I headed to Dallas:

Once again, as a manager in Performer Products, although if the other manager had been able to attend, I would have shifted to being a swing volunteer and supported many other areas.  I did volunteer for the Fun Run - not as a runner, of course (although they offer a "Zero-K" option for people who just want swag) but handing out packets and personning the bag check.

This year I also received a medal.

So these are photos of the masks I wore during the trip, since mostly I take and post videos that allow my mother and others to experience the event.

I also wore appropriate socks, such as these on Friday for the opening of NTIF:

On the River in Germany

I am taking a cruise, and while not as social as some aboard, I am interacting with others and making acquaintances.  I've been enjoying the tours, buying very few items but capturing many photos.  Here are a few, the first set from my day in Basel before embarkation:

In Basel, even the circulars - and there are MANY! - have
artwork in the centres.  This is a favourite of mine.

More artwork in Basel.  This one works if you have
enough people to manage the sticks.

Interior of the Basel History Museum, in an old church.

The other side of the history museum.  The church was
deconsecrated during the Reformation and repurposed.

Basel Rathaus, or Town Hall, and Marketplatz.

On Wednesday, there were pop-up markets all over.  In front
of the history museum, what Americans call a flea market.

We're seeing a LOT of churches:

More after I get home and sort the photos properly.  The handy thing of the cruise is that we are unpacked once and the boat moves to a new town or two every day.  Good thing I am doing many walks and hikes because they feed us very, very well!

The third and final ten of 2023.

Day 21: Thankful that not only do I have enough food, but that I have enough to share, whether a cake for an event tonight or donating to the local food pantry so others can have Thanksgiving meals.

Day 22: Thankful that I had my grandmother for as many years as I did. My Facebook memories popped up a few photos I'd posted on a post-turkey walk five years ago, and I realized it was the last holiday we all had together (the following year my father was ill - not horribly, but too much to travel, and my mother stayed home with him, then pandemic), and I started missing her terribly.

One of my favourite photos of the two of us,
when we visited the Morikami Gardens.

Day 23: Same as every year, thankful for this guy:

My baby brother, as a toddler.
He's older now and has much less hair.

Day 24: Thankful that I didn't need to go out into the Black Friday crowds, and that I could shop online for the things that others (Toys for Tots, Durham Rescue Mission Angel Tree) need. And my brother loved that this year his birthday gift was that 42 people had Thanksgiving supper plus extras at the Durham Rescue Mission last night.

Day 25: Thankful for all the people who run a small business. I know how hard it can be, and try to shop at as many of them as I can. Just a few of my favourites:

• Kettlepot Soap
• Hartford Prints
• BiCi Co. (technically a community non-profit, but great for bike stuff)
• Hein Farm (in addition to produce and eggs they sell gift items, most produced locally)
• Clatter Ridge Farm (not just for produce and meat - they sell yarn and woolen goods, cards, photos, and a great calendar)
• The Produce Box
• Buttercream Duo
• Misericordia's Hearts & Flour Bakery

And more independent hand-dyers (also called 'indie dyers') and local yarn (and other craft supplies) shops than I can list!

Day 26: How can I not be thankful for museums on Museum Store Sunday? I've been going to museums since I was carried in my mother's arms (and probably when I was carried in her tummy), and they are one of the places I seek out wherever I travel. I've lived as close as across the street and definitely took advantage of that on some lonely and weather-dismal weekends when I first lived in that town. I've met interesting people at museums and made a number of friends from those contacts. Plus ALL THE STUFF I'VE LEARNED!!!!!

As a note:  Museums are not just stuff in buildings.  Some are open-air spaces that teach about how people lived during a time, or in an area.  Some are just a room in a larger building.  Keep your eyes open and look for all kinds, as sometimes the less-standard-looking ones are most interesting.

Day 27: Thankful for technology. Not just because it is Cyber Monday, but all the technologies that help people I know (pacemakers, cochlear implants, motorized wheelchairs), medical technology for surgeries and treatments of all kinds, technology for transportation and communication, and so many more things that we take for granted. Every day there's something new and different - I applaud the breakthroughs and encourage everybody to use technology for good.

Day 28: Thankful for my family, and since it's Giving Tuesday the lesson about giving to others. From a young age I was taught that I should share what I have and help people who need helping. It has stuck with me, and is why I donate items to thrift stores, or Habitat for Humanity and shelters and other places that can use things. I knit and crochet items to donate, and I contribute to food pantries and community gardens. Even when I didn't have money, I could give time by helping to make sandwiches, build a house, or sit with somebody in hospital. Giving doesn't always mean money.

Day 29: Thankful for all the first responders: Police, EMTs, Firefighters, and others who keep us safe and help when needed. I know that this can be controversial, given the last few years. I have friends who are in these roles, and others such as firejumpers, and I know what they commit to the job and the community. Not all people who wear a uniform or a badge are bad people, but of course those are the ones who get the most publicity. Two of my close friends lost their fathers in the line of duty, and in Chicago I supported a group that fundraised to provide for police officers who were disabled from injuries received on the job, and their families, and the families of officers who died on the job. More than once I've needed help from somebody in one of these roles, and I am glad that I can call upon them when I do.

Day 30:  Last, but never least, I am thankful for my FRIENDS. I don't have hundreds on Facebook, and except for a small percentage (usually friend-of-friend with whom I have strong common interests) they are all people I've met and often with whom I have spent time in the past. I also have friends who aren't part of my Facebook circle; we do it the old-fashioned way! Some people I call "friend" I have not seen in person in many years, but I know if I turn up on their doorstep, I'll be invited in and we'll catch up for hours. If they turn up on mine, I'll probably invite them in for tea and cookies. I've gone out of my way for some, and am always surprised and touched when they do the same for me.

So the month ends - different every year. It's an effort to remember to post on Facebook every day, and sometimes to find something new to say, but it's a good reminder every year of all the things for which I can be thankful.

Team Turtle Walks in San Antonio

This year the Association of Corporate Counsel Annual Meeting was in San Antonio, a city where my family has lived since the late 19th Century.  A number of years ago, I started Team Turtle so people can get together and walk in the morning before the sessions began.  This is a time to socialize, but being in a hometown (of sorts) I had to add some history to our walks.

An historic T-shirt that I wore on one walk.

For those who were available on Sunday morning, I suggested we go to the only UNESCO World Heritage Site in Texas, Missions National Park.  Most of us arrived in time to walk around and some went to see another mission while others took the early tour of Mission San Jose.  Our guide was happy to pose with Turtle, our walk mascot.

Day 1 of our official walks, of course I had to take the group to see The Alamo.

It was before opening hours, so we had to peek through the fence.

San Fernando Cathedral, home of the oldest
continually active religious community in the city.

Bexar County Courthouse, oldest continually
operating courthouse in Texas.

Day 2 we went to El Mercado, a bit challenged due to roadwork, and again before the shops opened.

Dia de Los Muertos decorations abounded.

Too early for churros.  Turtle was sad.

Day 3 we went to La Villita, which I chose because it was close.  My mother insisted I be sure to take the group there, because of its history and current status as an arts community.

One of the many sculptures in La Villita.

Ojos de Dios on the fence surrounding the church.

We passed the Briscoe Museum of Western Art.

The parties were too late for Turtle to be out, but I went to a few.  Not many pictures except of the man hand-rolling cigars.

This style is called a cheroot and is completely by hand.

"We will only have peace when....."

It's been a week, in many ways.

This quotation from Golda Meir is striking to many of us right now:

In non-political news, work has been busy and I am getting ready to go to a conference that begins next Sunday, and then I drop by to see a friend in a play in North Texas on the way home, going on a Thursday evening so I can be here for the North Carolina Opera's season opener.

    

Tonight finished the local play where I'd done props and set dressing - not much needed of either:

I haven't finished the blanket I started last week, but it's close.  I am at the chaining-up phase.  One reason I didn't finish is that I realized in putting the cakes together that I would end up with a very wide band of the dark brown, and I didn't like it.  So I took out a bunch by making a blanket piece for Warm Up, America!  Since it would be a solid colour, I wanted to do some definite texture, and decided to practice the looping-up technique.  Stitch counts all made up by me on the fly:

Just before pulling the loops through each other.

I am REALLY not sure how this happened.

Finished block, with a border because it was
a bit smaller than the standard size.

Because I needed something small to carry around, I started a cowl.  Four times.  I am still having issues with getting the stitch count correct for the initial band.  But persevering!

While looking for something small and carry-around, I decided to start a baby item for the fall Arts & Crafts Collective Holiday Sale, since I have a cake of very pink yarn that wasn't used in the purples-and-pinks blanket.  After looking at patterns online and checking yardage, I decided on Bernat's Striped Crochet Coat:

After being several rows into the bodice I realized I needed to make an adjustment and increased the size of the buttonholes to accommodate the buttons I want to use.  Yes, frogging was involved.

Reading-wise, I gave up on Don't Pee on my Leg and Tell Me It's Raining, which I think would make a good essay but is much too long as a book.  Or I was too involved in that type of court when I was in private practice, and so none of what the book says is new to me.  I'm now reading Charlie Wilson's War, which is one of the suggested readings for a programme I am attending in November.  Definitely much more interesting to me.

Fiche blain

This weekend was the 41st North Texas Irish Festival, and I went to spend the weekend doing my usual work at the Performer Products area (I am one of the managers) and enjoy a lot of Celtic music.

They restarted giving out thank-you pins, and after a bit of maths (my first was in 1998, a few months after I moved to the area, but I missed a few, such as the pandemic year of 2021 and a year I memorably had a horrible strep throat) we figure that I qualified for this:

I took only a few photos over the weekend, it was mostly videos of bands.  Lots of bands.  A benefit of the Performer Products area is that we are next to a stage, so don't have to go anywhere to hear live music unless we want to hear a band that isn't performing there.  After a terrible Thursday (luckily, I was not flying in that day), the weather all weekend was glorious:

A fun bit of NTIF tradition is that the 501st comes out, with a few members in kilts:

A little girl was thrilled to find out that women can be stormtroopers also, but I didn't get a photo.  The 501st love getting pictures with dogs, and one of their non-armored associates fangirled over the Irish Wolfhounds that wandered over.  Those dogs are about the size of the smallest stormtroopers.

I did get some knitting done, but nothing worth reporting.  Of course I brought more projects than I could finish, or even start.

Two special events today:  First, it is the Jewish holiday of Purim, commemorating the story of Queen Esther's bravery.  My congregation often tells it in a silly and musical way, which of course I missed because of being here.

Second, as any Texan knows, this is the day in 1836 that the Alamo fell to Santa Ana's troops.