last spring and summer, I went walking with another woman in the neighborhood. The habit dropped this fall when she and her family were out of town for the fall semester. Connecting up again has been kind of chancy what with everything going on in both families, but we finally managed this morning.

The plan was to meet up at The Caffeinated Cat near Shattuck and Vine, grab drinks, and walk around a different neighborhood for a change. But both of us had forgotten a key point. Today is President’s Day in the US. It is a federal holiday which also means that schools are closed. The day was also bright, sunny, and heading toward not cold. As a result, there were students everywhere along with the local crowd doing its “work from home” at the local coffee shop.

The place was packed. As an alternative, we decided to motor over to Berkeley Bowl West, let Barbara get in a bit of shopping and grab coffee/sandwich from there. Respectful of their employees, the Bowl was closed. As a final effort, we stopped at Safeway where I had already been once to grab bagels so that she could get dinner ingredients. I got sandwiches which we wound up eating on our back deck.

So much for the walk. Hopefully next week

—–8-< ———

The Barbara Ana is complete – I fought through the Diamant (the metallic gold in her hair and the last key) as well as finishing her sleeves. Those last 65 stitches took a frustrating hour.

Clue #3 on the Supernatural Monsters arrived and was stitched – the summoning Sigil.

I am finding the stitch-a-longs fun – I have never seen the show. I am now worried that if I watch it, I might not want to finish the stitching.

And finally – we are apparently now in Pisces – so the next Nora Corbett Zodiac Girl got started.

doesn’t look like much, but it is a few hundred stitches starting at the top, stitched on 32 ct Vintage Country Mocha linen with the called for floss. Hello? It is DMC!