Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Three


More pictures here for those doting grandmas so far away...

Monday, August 16, 2010

Quilt top done


Tonight after Audrey's in bed, I'll pin the top to the batting and backing. Since I'm tying the quilt instead of hand or machine quilting, and have cut the back slightly larger so I can fold it over to be self-binding, the assembly should go pretty quick!

Monday, August 09, 2010

Take me out to the ballgame




Back when Jim and I were dating and our relationship turned serious, I watched carefully for signs of sports obsession. I had gone out with a few guys who were rabid football or basketball fans, and it was a trait I disliked. Intensely. I asked some very pointed questions but as far as I could tell, he had little interest in professional sports, so I married him (not just because of that; he also makes the best brownies I've ever tasted).

Fast forward to seven years later, when I caught Jim watching a Mariners game on TV. I didn't worry too much, until it happened multiple times in one week, and then in overhearing him talk on the phone with his brother John about a recent game, I realized he knew the names of all the players. When I confronted him, he confessed he had played baseball in junior high and even managed his high school team when he didn't make the cut.

Rather than feeling betrayed by this latent love of baseball (which he had so successfully hidden from me during not just the critical courtship period, but the ensuing years as well) I tried to be open-minded. I tested the waters to see if it was something we could do together. I watched the next game with him, and found I actually enjoyed it.

We started following the Mariners on TV and going to a couple games a year, back when we still lived in Bellevue. We even took Jimmy once when he was very little, but we hadn't been to another game since we moved over the mountains.

Until last Saturday. Jim's brother John had tickets to some sweet seats (27 rows back behind the Mariners' dugout), but couldn't make the game due to other commitments, so he gave them to us.

When Jim asked Jimmy what his favorite thing was about going to the game, he said, "Everything." Pressed for specifics, he named (in this order) kettle corn, cotton candy and red vines. Asked the same question, Audrey--to my surprise--said, "Baseball."