A; What did you do before you came to this place?

B: Well I’ve been retired some 30 years. It’s hard to remember what I did before that. But I guess I worked in agriculture – you know crops and stuff – in California.

A: Oh you were an Agricultural Economist?

B: Nah, not that psha. I worked with fruits and vegetables, things like that.

A: thinking …..hm I used to teach Agricultural Economics at the University of the South Pacific in Suva Fiji…….THAT was a long time go. And I knew zilch about agriculture – my fields were International Trade and Economic Development. But I could talk with with you about fruits and vegetables in Kenya.

B. I wish I had better eyesight.

A. (Lost in thought)

Early on in the years we lived in Dublin we went to a small event where Jack Lynch was the featured speaker. I didn’t have a clue as to why this man was so important. But I was urged by my husband to shake hands with the man, Jack Lynch. Now in later years I read the Encyclopedia entry for Jack Mary Lynch, a very significant figure in Irish politics – for one, he served as Taoischeach, equivalent to Prime Minister in the United Kingdom or President in the United States. In 1969 when my husband and I listened to Jack Lynch, the Taoiseach, speak in a relatively small meeting room it was just before the “troubles” really flared up in Northern Ireland. Jack Mary Lynch, 1917-1999. Famous Sportsman, Politician. From Cork Ireland. In retrospect I wish I had shaken hands with the famous man but at the time I was too shy.

When I was a little girl my parents and I were on a bridge watching a train which had stopped in Back Bay just before proceeding to South Station in Boston. A man stepped out on the platform of the end carriage and he waved to us. IT WAS THOMAS DEWEY. (He was a candidate for President in 1940.)

Who would have thought that 2 “elderly” ladies in an Assisted Living facility in Seattle became best friends even before they discovered that many years ago they had each bought looms for weaving. And furthermore they had made these purchases in New Zealand.

No, they didn’t purchase backstop looms as pictured in the painting below.

Mocha was a mix but with the name Mocha I’m going to call her a Chocolate Lab.. That dog was devoted to my mother and the 2 were great pals.

II was prompted to search for this picture from my files when I recently received a postcard and receipt from one of my postcard enthusiasts. The receipt included a picture and information regarding his Chocolate Lab named “Mouse”. Mouse sheds enough hair to knit a sweater – no hair was inadvertently included.

Here we are well into March and I want to see some sunshine.

From a very young age I wanted to make rugs. My initial efforts consisted of pompoms sewed on to a canvas backing. I soon moved on to braided rugs and made several for my own use and as gifts. Included in my repertoire were hooked rugs – mine were very amateurish – not a patch on those hooked by my female New England ancestors. But when I got into making rya rugs I was really getting somewhere, both with color and design. After some years though, I finally got a substantial loom for weaving and then my textile efforts really took off.