review of the week

The big event of the week was our Thursday outing. Our schedule said, trip to Silverdale. We left at ten on the bus with our great driver and friend, Keith. It was the last possible day we could go, for the next day the bridge over Hood Canal was cut in half and it will remain closed for six weeks. I read in the paper that 15.000 cars and trucks go over this bridge every day. The same paper gave us several routes to take if we should want to go to Seattle. A trip that normally would take more than two hours will now take five. Everything that is made elsewhere has to come that route. Will our groceries, already expensive get more expensive? For people who are building their dream-house, will the cost rise because everything will have freight costs doubled.

At the mall in Silverdale, things were not normal. The food section was virtually empty. A friend suggested to me that we eat in Barns and Noble bookstore. We walked for what seemed like miles and saw almost every store we passed devoid of customers. It was a depressing walk. Our lunch was good, but again, a place usually bristling with many people, was nearly empty. Two men were on our bus, one came back with big packages, one woman passenger bought new shoes and if the others bought anything it must have been small enough to fit in purses or pockets.

A large Rhododendron bush decided this was the week for it to bloom. It is standing in front of my bedroom window. A week ago I noticed that the buds looked as though they might burst open some time during the next month. Overnight it was in full bloom. It is breathtakingly beautiful. Next to it is a little Oregon Grape and its yellow flowers bloomed at the same time.

My wednesday at the Senior Center playing bridge was uneventful. Medium kind of cards all day. But the fellow players are such good friends and the opportunity to visit is enriching. Best of all was the return of a very good player. She lives in Stockton, Ca. during the winter. And two other people from Ca. had returned the previous week. One couple returned from Florida. Soon we are going to have outgrown the room we are assigned.

Today is Sunday and my plans are to go to my favorite nursery to buy herbs to plant on my patio. I no longer cook any meat or fish in my kitchen. I even cook the bacon on my BBq. When I first moved in, I used the kitchen sometimes, but soon discovered the smell would steal into the closet and my clothes would smell less than fresh.

I have been working on a Fake it in Fabric and finally took it to the framers. It is a Picasso, depicting two sides of a woman. It is beautiful and if I can find someone to take a picture of it I will send it to my granddaughter who will put it on a blog. I am especially proud of it for it took forever to finish. Yesterday I spent the day watching golf, hoping Tiger would be exciting and when that was over, the Mariners were playing Oakland and up till the last moment we had a chance to beat them again. But no such luck this time.

That's my week more or less.