Dear Friends, Neighbors, Fellow Countrymen Avoiding the Smoke from Canadian Wildfires, and Any Aliens Who Are Listening In,

Ufda! It’s been a long time since I’ve written to you. It’s not for lack of things happening.  I think I will attribute it to not wanting to write inside and we have been stuck inside during the hot, hot, hot temperatures and the afore-mentioned Canadian smoke.

But this morning, I am writing from the porch, fully realizing that we are still under a poor air quality  notification. I can’t smell any smoke, so will buck the system and be outside. Please don’t tell Governor Walz.

Well, as I recall I haven’t yet told you just why the cats aren’t going camping with us anymore.  It was Buffy the Destroyer.  As I was gathering the cats and putting them in the camper the day before we left, she discovered the weakness in the screens, pushed them aside and jumped the six feet to the ground and ran for the front door.

Now you may be wondering why I gather them the day before and then sleep out there with them while the camper is still in the driveway.

It is because they sense we are packing up and then hide. Truth be told, Buffy isn’t the one that hides well. It’s Katya. And she is a Master Hider. We have had to unload Buffy who was all strapped into the back seat of the car because we couldn’t find Katya after 30 minutes of aerobic searching. Seriously, I’d be sweating. And we’d have to leave them home, necessitating all the extra food and water be left out.

So now I load them into the camper the day before we leave and before we start to pack, and then I spend most of the day and the night with them.

Until Buffy jumped out of the camper window.

Well, I just picked her up and marched her back into the camper and gosh darn if she didn’t do the same thing out of an even higher window!

Okay. I got the message. Buffy doesn’t want to go camping. We did take Katya on that trip, though. She cried and searched for Buffy and walked all over my face the night before we left.

So we decided that this was the last time we were taking a cat camping. Even though Katya seemed to enjoy our company and the camping trip and really wondered why we were rolling that ball back and forth. ( making ice cream while it was raining outside)

It’ll be lonely. We will miss their company. But I won’t miss sweeping up kitty litter from the floor.

And speaking of cats, I have a new catnip for hand sewists. ( I know, I know, it’s a thin transition, at best. Work with me here, folks) It’s a beeswax thread conditioner that smells oh so lovely. It’s called “Granny’s Threadtastic” and I bought it at the Wabasha quilt store called “What’s Brewing Quilt Shop.”

Often I’ll just open it and smell it without not even having any thread to condition.

Note: you use this marvelous substance to coat the thread you’re using so it doesn’t twist and snarl and knot on you. As you draw the thread across the top of the beeswax, you lightly press down on the thread.

Anyway, I’ve only seen it at ” What’s Brewing,” which is worth a stop even if you’re not a quilter, sewist, embroiderer, knitter, crocheter, cross stitcher, or general fabric hound.

And here’s why: this store is also a coffee shop, and, wait for it, an ice cream shop!!!!!!!  Well, heaven on earth! If it had a hardware store next door, the hubster and I could  just park the camper outside and live there!

In addition to all the lovely things you can treat yourself with, the owner is a generous, lovely, artistic human being.  And here’s how I know this to be true. I was looking at her section of needle punch tools, patterns, thread and books. She came over to ask if I had any questions. Yes, I had a few. She answered them and then offered to loan me her books!!!!!!!

Wow! I told her that I didn’t live in Wabasha, that we were camping nearby. She said that was okay; I could just send them back in the mail when I was done with them, her address label was on the cover.

Unbelievable.

I’ll tell you here and now, she’s got a customer for life!!!!!

The last time I visited her shop, I noticed another thing that made me a lifetime customer. On a big blackboard on the wall behind the checkout was a weekly calendar listing all the times and meeting places of crafting people in Wabasha. What a great community service. Another Wow!

Nope. No transition here, either.

Well, I have promised myself that I will start learning how to knit socks and have two inches done by the end of the week. Today is the day to cast on.

It’s been real nice to talk to you again. I realize that social skills were strained during the last year, and it’s difficult to get back to talking with more than one person. I am taking baby steps with occasional big person jumps. And I am getting there. I remind myself to be kind to myself.

So that is my thought for the day: be kind to yourself. Give yourself a hug for getting out of bed this morning and getting on with it. You are a champion.

Love,

Janet