My friend pool tends to be dwindling!

 I am on facebook.  A couple days ago I was notified of a friend who was having a birthday, so I clicked on the "wish her the best" button and sent her a happy birthday wish.  Yesterday I got a message from her daughter that she had passed away 4 months ago.  Of course I had been meaning to call her.  Mother always said "The road to hell is paved with good intentions."  And of course momma was right.  

So in my inimitable way, I looked for someone else to blame for my neglect of my friend.  Blame it on Covid.  Blame it on my having a 4 year old to take care of while his daddy works.  Blame it on the Pueblo Chieftain for raising the price of a subscription so high that I can not afford the paper and thus can not read the obituaries.  

Darn!  It seemed that only last week I had seen her at Walgreens and we talked about lunch.  Her step daughter and I were friends.  But as I set here thinking back, I do not know the last time I seen her!  It was not this summer, or last summer.  Maybe 3 summers ago.  Nope! Longer than that.  She does not know Bret has a son and that son is now almost 5 years old!  Damn!  I am not sure she even knew about Sherman and he passed in 2012!

A lot of my problem is this damned pandemic!  I could always keep track of time because I attended church every Sunday and that started my week.  My church has been closed since March, so there is no longer a start to my week.  The days just run together.  Monday and Tuesday are Bret's days off, so if he is hanging around the house during the day, I know it is Monday or Tuesday.  After that it is all down hill.  I may have to actually go find a church that will let me in just so I know what day it is.

Now I am setting here realizing that I am suddenly old. My life is marked by milestones.  There is the period before Kenny.  That is anything prior to 1980.  Then there is life after Kenny.  That is 2003.  And there is life now.  Not sure it is very much to write about, but it is what it is.  I tend to spend a lot of time just wondering where this is all going to end.  Hopefully I will just wake up dead some morning and my ride will be over.  This is going to surprise a lot of my kids who are harboring the idea that I will live forever!  And every morning that I open my eyes and look over at that clock that continues to mark the hours and minutes of my life, I am amazed.  Mainly I am amazed that I have managed to spend this many hours, days and years on this little green and blue ball without sending it spiraling off course.  But then I am not done yet, am I?

A friend sent me, completely out of the blue, a gift the other day.  It came in the mail and when I opened it I was pleased to find a beautiful  purple tee shirt.  I love purple!  And this was the perfect shade!  I called him when I got it and before I opened it.  I had a little trouble grasping what it said on the front in big white letters, but reflecting back, I realized that he had summed up my life with these words: 

UNDERESTIMATE ME

That'll Be Fun

So, thanks, Ross Barnhart, for reminding me that there are still people out there who care and think about each other.  I like to think that some day our lives will go back to normal and that we will be able to meet for lunch or pop in Starbucks for coffee.  It is sad that this year had to happen, but maybe it will wake us all up.  Maybe I will start calling people and checking on them.

Or not. 

Eleanor Burns and the Quilters Retreat here in our fair city!

 I am hoping to get a slide show up and running here, but I am not having much luck right now.  So here is the deal, Bret works for Sprinkles Sewing Center.  And so does his girlfriend, Amanda.  It is just one big happy family over there as near as I can tell.  Now Sprinkles is a very successful business and Jerry and Kathy know how to make it pay.  They put the customer first, which is always a good thing.  They have a beautiful store on Eagleridge on the North side of town.  They recently opened a store in Canon City.  Along with the machines they offer personal service and lots of classes.  I have attended the classes and they are great.  Always knowledgeable staff.

   So now they decided to put on a 3 day extravaganza and call it the "Eleanor Burns Quilt Retreat."  Three full days of Eleanor Burns and quilt classes up the wazoo.  An event like this does not throw itself together without a lot of planning.  First arrangements had to be made for the Convention Center.  And that costs a pretty penny to lease that thing for 4 days.  The Convention Center is one of Pueblo's jewels.  In the slide show you will see several shots of the wall of heroes and the statues out front.  Pueblo is the "Home of Heroes" because it has four Congressional Medal of Honor recipients in  its population. http://www.pueblomohfoundation.com/

   Back to the event.  Eleanor Burns has/had a quilting show on PBS for many years and I used to tape her shows back when I had a VCR.  She would pop in every Tuesday afternoon  at 2:00 and teach me how to make a quilt.  She made it look so easy.  And I did actually make a quilt or two from the show.  Wonderful teacher. But I did not sign up for this event because I am just not that into quilting anymore.  I weave now.  But since the kids were on me about just stopping in I thought I might as well.  They have a mini store set up there on the floor and quite a reduction in price on lots of notions, so I thought, why not.

   Well, I must say I was most impressed.  First with Bret and Amanda and the professional manner in which they conducted themselves.  See, I am used to the slobs that live here, not the well mannered, helpful couple I encountered at the event.  There were people everywhere and I took the opportunity to check out the classrooms.  Seems there were three of them.  I did not take time to count the machines, but there must have been 100 machines in those 3 rooms.  And there was some learning going on.  When Amanda asked if I would like to meet Eleanor Burns I jumped all over that!  And I must say, she was as lovely in real life as when I watched her on television.  First thing I told Amanda to take our picture and Eleanor decided to share her pink boa with me.  I just thought that was right neighbourly of her!

   Of course when I told her I was Bret's mom she was most impressed and had to tell me how much she liked him and what a fine boy he was.  And how handsome.  And how much she liked Amanda and "oh, they are a couple!  How nice."

   Well, by then I had pretty well shot my wad so I wandered on outside.  What had started off as a fairly normal day had sure turned into a bright spot for me. Little story I can share with my grand kids.  Like they will have any idea who Eleanor Burns is.  Maybe I will dig out my VCR tapes.  Can I play those on a DVD player?

   Any way, I met a lovely lady today and shared her boa.  Had lunch with my friend, Tim.  Visited briefly with my friend Andy.  Pulled a few weeds.  Watched the geese swim in the new stock tank and made a batch of soap. Touched bases with my friend back East.  And now I am ready for bed.  Kind of makes me think I might have happy dreams tonight.