Greetings and Salutations Friends!

I am beginning this with crossed fingers that I will be able to publish it. Naturally this makes it much more difficult to type.

We shall see how it goes.

I haven’t written since just after knee surgery in April. By now I can successfully close the recliner footrest, snapping that puppy closed often on the first try. WooHoo! All that rehab and pt has been worth it.

Since it’s been so long since I’ve written though, there is a veritable hodgepodge of stories to tell. Transitions will be few and far between, I fear.

First up is today’s PSA. This involves staying at the DoubleTree Hilton in Austin, MN. It’s a great place with great banquet food and comfy beds. The PSA involves the body wash in the shower. DO NOT GET IT IN YOUR EYES. It is worse than I remember any previous soap in the eyes encounters that I’ve had. PSA over.

We were there for a quilt retreat weekend a few weekends ago. Such great fun. The ballroom is filled with at least 100 women with their sewing machines and their quilt projects, a snack table of your dreams, and a mini version of the quilt shop that sponsors the retreat: Calico Hutch in Hayward, MN in case you run out of anything. In the hallway outside are 5 ironing boards, four cutting board stations, two design boards, and a counter filled with free books and magazines that the quilters are willing to part with. And Brad.

Brad is a lifesize cut out of a hunky surfer decorated with the retreat’s theme. This year it was ugly Christmas sweaters. He’s by the photo op station so appears in all the shots.

It’s my kind of place.

Just be careful not to get the body soap in your eyes.

*******nope. No transition here****

You know that you’ve got to try different things to see what you like, what you don’t like, what you’re good at, what you completely suck at. In my case I completely suck at lobbying for something.

I learned this when I lobbied at the office of Senator Al Franken. Yeah, it was a while ago. I was part of a team that was lobbying for the inclusion of lymphedema garments under Medicare. I met the team at the office building over in St. Paul.

We did not meet with the senator himself, but with his legislative aide. We sat around a table for an hour or so talking with him, telling our stories, then spent another hour or so having lunch afterwards, just the team.

Out. Of. MY. Comfort. Zone.

Totally.

The others on the team were extroverts also considering flying to D.C. to lobby further. I listened to their stories and thought I’m certainly glad that they can do this because it was not a good fit for me.

And the best part? I was okay with that.

And with the beginning of 2025, Medicare is now helping with lymphedema garments. Yes, it finally passed. The spark plug for this movement was and is Heather Ferguson in NC, whose twin son was born in 2006 with lymphedema. When she found out how insurance was not helping pay for the garments that were necessary to hold the lymphedema in place, she became active and started the Lymphedema Advocacy Group. Session after congressional session she lobbied, congressional representatives and senators learned about the condition, and the groups in each state grew.

It passed with the last session. One person can make a difference.

********nope not here either******

So we stayed in Duluth this summer. We have done this before. But this trip was memorable for one thing: I forgot my suitcase.

Oh yes. I realized it as we were in the driveway of the house we were renting.

What?? How could this happen? Yeah, it was a confluence of coincidences. Less than twelve hours before we left for Duluth, I was staying at our son’s place with said suitcase. I was taking care of the pets while they were on their honeymoon. And I had packed for both trips in that one suitcase.

I came home in the dark that night. Then the next morning, I planned to move my suitcase from my car to the hubsters for the trip to Duluth.

But.

Because I had taken my sewing machine with me, it was in the back of the car and my suitcase was in the front seat. So I didn’t see it. Out of sight out of mind.

But the hubster saw it and moved it into the living room, thinking that it was the suitcase for the pet trip and not the Duluth trip. And that’s where it stayed as we drove to Duluth.

Sigh.

There is a silver lining to this story, though. We were pulling the camper along with us on the Duluth trip, thinking that we’d take it camping on the North Shore after we stayed at the rental place. We had secured a spot in the parking lot at the D.E.C.C. It was a place for the camper to sit while we stayed in Duluth.

And that’s the good news of this story because I have carefully curated clothes for all seasons in my fabric cube camper closet. So we didn’t need to buy any emergency clothes!

*******why do you look?*********

Camping this summer was, um, arduous at times, glorious at others. On the arduous side, we had a nighttime experience with quiet skeeters. They didn’t whine, they didn’t buzz. They were quiet while they sucked our blood.

I think it was the itchiness that woke up the hubster.

And we spent the next hour back to back, circling in the middle of the camper, flashlight and hand towel in hand trying to rid ourselves of the suckers. Blood swipes everywhere.I had to clean more off the walls in the morning.

Now I’m a Minnesotan born and bred. I’ve lived with mosquitos my whole life. But quiet ones???This was something new. We packed up and went home.

*******no**********

If you enjoyed Absolutely Fabulous about two women who were totally self absorbed and definitely not role model material, you may enjoy “AP Bio” on Netflix.

Also “Shrinking” on Apple is good.

On the reading side of entertainment, Elizabeth Stroud writes about people who live in a small town in Maine. Start with “Olive Kitteridge.”

*****

And I will finish today’s post with a little about invisibility. If you’re my age and female, chances are that you’ve felt invisible in the last five years or so. It seems to be a thing.

Well, it occurred to me this morning that maybe that invisibility might come in handy. I just haven’t figured out how that looks yet.

Or doesn’t look, you, know, because of the invisibility thing.

Anyway, have a pleasant Sunday and a fabulous week ahead. Hug your friends. Curl up with a good book. Listen to some good music that lifts your spirits. Eat some turkey. Enjoy the redness of the cranberries. Celebrate your family.

Love,

Janet