Upholstery Class
About ten years ago, I was in school and didn’t like what I was studying very much, so I took a class in upholstering furniture. I loved it.
First you take the old furniture and your have to undo all the nails and take all the worn and dirty upholstery off, until you get the furniture down to the bones. Trust me, it is very hard work, and it is dirty. You can work at it all day, and your muscles ache at the end of the day.
If there are exposed wood surfaces, you have to strip them and sand them down and refinish them. That is very painstaking work. Then you have to re-foam and re-pad the seating and back surfaces. Finally, at the very last – you get to put on the new fabric.
Why am I telling you all this? Because that new fabric makes all the difference. I saw some new fabric today, and I have nothing to re-upholster. I love this fabric! I could see it on dining room chairs, I could see it on a sleek couch in my bedroom! It is so bright, so cheerful, so upbeat!
I am not sure AdventureMan would like that fabric at all. It’s probably a good thing I didn’t buy that fabric!
10,000 Steps Continued
As you know, I began an exercise program a few weeks ago called 10,000 Steps – you can find out more about it here: 10,000 Steps. I don’t have very good luck with gyms . . . it’s just a waste of money for me; I sign up all enthusiastic, and by the second day at the gym I am already trying to find ways to get out of it. I get bored. Exercise is BORING!
But I love walking. Actually I love water aerobics, too, when there aren’t a bunch of googly-eyed guys watching, and when I have a gaggle of girlfriends to laugh and pass the time with while we exercise and I just don’t have that opportunity in Kuwait.
So I got sick and tired of myself NOT exercising and decided to work on 10,000 steps. I’ve been doing pretty well, too, worked up to running 6,000 steps before I left, and it only takes me about 35 minutes.
The other day I bought a pedometer. Today I put it on for the first time.
You have to understand, when I come back to Seattle, I have THE LIST with me. The list is all the things that are hard to get or impossible to get in Kuwait, or just annoying to have to track down. Occasionally, like this time, I also have things to get for friends. . . just a little thing here and there, but it all goes on THE LIST.
Around noon I called my Mom and said I would be by in about an hour with lunch. When I got there, I remembered I had my pedometer on, and I checked it – I was already at 9,081 steps! By the time I got back to my hotel, it had started over.
I love it. I am tired at the end of each day from running around, my legs even ache and my feet hurt and I love it. Even the hot days – there were two of them, and now it is cloudy and it is going to rain and they just don’t get it at all that I LOVE the rain – the hot days weren’t that bad.
I am going to be in PAIN when I get back to Kuwait and face days of 115°F again! It is 70°F / 21° C in Seattle today.
Fuschia Morning
It doesn’t take much. When Yousef at Some Contrast asked for more fuschia photos . . . honestly, it was just the excuse I needed.
Fuschias are Sooooo luxurious. They come is so many gorgeous color combinations, and the stores get them in just in time for American Mother’s Day, usually around May 9 -10-11-12. You can actually grow fuschias in the ground here, in the right micro-climate (see, I am sounding like a Master Gardener now, aren’t I – and no, no, I am not) but once the weather gets too hot, they stop blooming. They are just made for the Pacific Northwest.
So Yousef, here are all kinds of fuschias for you, and then, at the very end, your other favorite – I found some lucious shades of tulips for you, too. Thank you for giving me the inspiration. 🙂
I’m sorry this one is fuzzy, but I included it so you could see the color – it is just yummy.
Three fuschia trees:
Trinity Sunday
This was Trinity Sunday, and I hesitate to even bring it up, because it always causes so much misunderstanding between us. No, we don’t believe in three Gods. We believe in one God, who is at the same time Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
I am not a theologian, so what I am about to tell you is just my interpretation of a mystery which has been debated by minds much greater than my own. I tell my Muslim friends that it is like this:
I have a relationship with my husband, as his wife. We communicate in a certain way, we understand one another in a certain way, to my husband, I am his wife.
I am mother to my son, we communicate differently, and he thinks of me as mother.
I am daughter to my mother, and we communicate differently, and she thinks of me as her daughter.
My husband doesn’t think of me as daughter, and neither does my son. I am all three, and yet I am one person.
That is grossly simplified, and God is much more complicated than I can understand. I just wanted you to know, we believe, as Muslims do, that there is one God.
We do not believe God had sex with Mary. We believe Mary conceived by the wish of God, she conceived immaculately, without having had sex. The Angel Gabriel came to her and told her she had been selected, but she could say yes or no, and she said “yes.” Because she said yes, Jesus was born of Mary.
This was a sweet Sunday for me, because I was able to worship in my home church, here in Seattle. We sang all the oldest hymns. It was a lovely service. Afterwards, I asked the priests if I could take their photos for you, my friends in Kuwait.
If you want to argue with me, it won’t do any good. I am not that smart about religion, I just believe, I’m a pretty simple character. Find someone smarter than I am to argue with!
A Feast for the Eyes
Since I can’t do a sunrise photo, I will do a Spring flowers photo, or more than one, a feast for the eyes to get you started this morning:
Tulips lingering into May:
Flowers to commemorate Memorial Day:
And my very favorite, baskets of hanging fushias:
Seattle Church
I saw this sign on my way to church this morning. It is not my church – my church shares the building with a Korean church. But I love it that they have an Arabic language service:
My First Favorite: 5 Star Pho
This is usually my very first stop when I get to Seattle. I CRAVE the 5 Star Pho salad rolls. They know me; they know I often stop on the way to my parent’s house to pick up an order, they have seen me fuzzy and smelly from my long travels. I bring my sisters and they put up with our laughter and chatter, I take my Mom here for noodle soup and green tea.
The owner and his wife always make us so welcome. It is a simple place, but they do steady business in the neighborhood – and it is also a favorite stop for the local cops.
Like Kuwait, increasing food costs have forced prices up everywhere:
When my aunt died, I got her little cat that always sat up above her kitchen sink in Santa Barbara. I was told that a cat with right paw raised welcomes guests, and a cat with left paw raised welcomes prosperity. I was told that these are Chinese cats, but my Chinese friends think they are Japanese. I don’t know where they originated, but you often see them in Chinese restaurants, too.
And finally – what I have been craving, what I have been waiting for! The 5 Star Pho Shrimp Salad Rolls (yes, there is one missing):
Colorful Display
This display caught my eye – WOW! Underwear so colorful that you either have to wear something that really covers it . . . or the intention is that it be seen. I can’t help but wonder where we are going, but I love the colors!
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