remember - lisa genova (2021)

neuroanatomy made sexy.

that's wot this is.

readable and impressive.

the way to my heart

that's a pretty dress, the old man says to me.

why, thank you sir!

he makes my day. even if he be ninety-one and his memory be not what it was. a compliment is a compliment and gallantry is gallantry. 

game changers

when you've been stitching for thirty-odd years and have learnt the following in the last half year:

• loop stitch
• pin stitch
• gridding
• floss organizers
• needle minders
• fabric markers

thanks to youtube and facebook.

a series of unfortunate reads

in chronological order of disappointment:

a death in the lucky holiday hotel - pin ho, wenguang huang (2013). too much gossip and too many points of view for a girl schooled in the agatha christie one-clear-villain-gets-clearly-trounced tradition

einstein's god - krista tippett (2010). so much promise and too many words 

the fraud squad - kyla zhao (2023). much excitement but much let down. lots of glittery material preoccupation, at least in the chapters i managed to internalize. possibly my preference and  fault?

die trying - lee child (1998). i start this seeing as i enjoy the first book. i stop it when i remember what i dislike about killing floor: lots of great action lost in much rumination

losers - michael lewis (1996). i forget why i gave up on this book. if i did. or did not

four thousand weeks - oliver burkeman (2021). this comes to me with superlative words of recommendation but he really has a pedantic way to say what he wants to say although he does have good things to say. but it's just too much hard work plowing through verbiage to get to the ideas

the wind in the willows - kenneth grahame (1908). childhood favorite that it is not time to revisit just yet. owing to rather too accurate portrayals of real life characters that one can recognize too easily in adulthood

zuri ❤️

gorgeous bold sharp saturated prints.

like a tent but with a good shape.

and side pockets!!!

you could call it my new sartorial love.

empty nest

we'd like two children, God willing, our young selves say. and God was willing.

we'll bring them up, God willing, our young selves say. and God was kind and merciful.

they'll grow and leave and it'll be just us one day, we tell each other. and God has made them fly.

and suddenly it's the two of us again. thanks be to God for indescribable grace.

gift

the hand-cranked sewing machine makes it from malaysia to singapore to J2 lovingly encased in a styrofoam fortress and heroically transported in a car a taxi a plane an air train and another car. my mother's, as part of her trousseau, my mother tells me. to my grand-daughter now, as she weds.