Well, I’ll tell you…I don’t know.

That’s not true. That’s just what Tevye says in Fiddler on the Roof.

This is going to be my author and personal site. When I re-designed funkandweber.com, my author pages and Mike’s photography pages were set aside. Actually, I pulled them out of hiding some time ago so they can still be accessed, but they really need to just go away. I created those pages writing HTML and CSS from scratch. It shows!

I also hope to make this a sort of corral for my activities on the various sites. I think I can have feeds from all of them show up on a page here so that when I post something to any of the blogs, an excerpt appears here. This is so folks who want to read all my posts can do so from one place (that’s you, Mom and Dad). Aren’t I a thoughtful daughter?

I’m doing all this myself, not hiring a web designer—at least not for the time being—so it will take some time, but what’s the rush? I actually like figuring this stuff out. It’s a puzzle. I wish I were better at it and could make things look as I see them in my mind, but self-sufficiency trumps all in my world, so I’ll do it myself as time permits.

I hate to ditch this blog theme, but it’s been outdated for several years. I can’t search it, and I have to use all kinds of work-arounds to make images appear where and how I want them. Really, a new theme will make things easier.

Let the overhaul begin!

I am a list girl. My daughter is a list girl. My mother is a list girl. My son is a list boy … we are list people. Lists appeal to the total control freak side of my being. I like the idea of writing the list, then ticking off the tasks as I achieve them. There is a certain smugness associated with a completed list.

I have written several lists for the organisation of heading off to Sydney tomorrow (my time). I have a list for things I need to achieve before I finish the day job today. I have a list of jobs that my son and my Dad have promised to do (feed the cat, make sure the budgies have water and seed, etc) whilst we are away. I have a list of things that need to be achieved for my stitching life before I leave, and a list of things I need to pack and take with me.

Of course because I am such a control freak I often worry about what I’ve left off the lists I write. I have even caught myself thinking about writing a list of forgotten things … I haven’t actually done that one yet … but one day that desire will get the better of me I just know it!

My family know that once I start writing lists I am serious about achieving whatever the ultimate goal is. They nod sagely at each other … and mutter about Janie and her lists! When Em says she’s written a list I know she’s on track and getting organised. When my Mum writes a list I know the job in hand will be achieved successfully. I know if I give Tom a list he will follow it to the letter.

Funnily enough even DH has started to write lists.  He never used to … he used to just try and remember what he was supposed to be doing. Often the remembering didn’t quite stretch to the entire number of things that needed to be done. The list-writing achievements of the rest of the family obviously indicated the need to write lists. He’s good at lists now. I feel a certain sense of smugness knowing that DH is now a list writer like the rest of us.

I’d love to know if you write lists. Or not … and why.

So now I can cross  ‘write blog post for S4L before I go today’ off my list!

1. Christoph told Deborah and Zakariyya, about their mother’s cells:  “Once there is a cure for cancer, it’s definitely largely because of your mother’s cells.”  He then used an analogy about ownership rights of finding oil on property.  Discuss your thoughts about the Henrietta Cells and Oil Rights Ownership conundrum.

I am waving my hand around madly … any more of you out there?

Have you ever had trouble trying to interpret diagrams in stitching charts? Or sat in a class wondering what on earth is wrong with your brain because everyone else is busily stitching away at a new stitch and you just can’t seem to make your stitches work?

Well, for those of you lefties who struggle with new stitches that were obviously charted for the right-handed majority … salvation is at hand! (oh dear … sorry about the pun!)

Yvette Stanton of Vetty Creations (another left-handed stitcher, and fellow Aussie) has written and published a wonderful left-handed stitch guide called ‘the left-handed embroiderer’s companion’. With over 170 embroidery stitches explained in ‘left-handed’ speak it is the best book purchase I have made in a long time!

If you head over to Yvette’s website here and click on ‘lefthanded’ on the top navigation bar, you’ll even be able to flick through several pages of her book to see how amazing it is. Full of wonderful diagrams and photo examples of stitches, Yvette gently and efficiently guides even the most challenged left-handed stitcher through both easy and complicated embroidery stitches.

Now, I know all of you right-handed embroiderer’s are now starting to feel a bit left out. Well don’t feel down, because Yvette has thought about you too! Due to the success of her left-handed stitch guide, and the constant nagging of right-handed stitchers for their own version of this wonderful publication, Yvette has also published the ‘right-handed embroiderer’s companion’.

When I teach class I bring these treasures with me. I am now able to show stitchers, whether they be left or right-handed exactly how to execute the perfect stitch.

You don’t have to be a teacher to enjoy these books. You just have to be a stitcher!

But instead I am compelled to write about the very nasty cyclone  heading towards North Queensland, which is due to hit the coast late this evening or early tomorrow morning (Australia time).

Queenslanders are getting quite a battering (and this might be the understatement of all times by the time Yazi hits tomorrow) at the moment. First floods, now this.

Cyclone Yazi is being compared to Cyclone Tracy which hit Darwin in the Northern Territory at Christmas, 1974.

Except the Bureau of Meterology is predicting that it’s going to be a whole lot worse!

The pic above was taken by an unknown photographer in the week after Cyclone Tracy hit. I remember vividly, watching the TV footage of the devastation over the Christmas holidays that year.

I’m not big into doom and gloom, and I truly believe that every cloud has a silver lining. So I’m not here to make you feel miserable or helpless. But I am here to ask that as you read this post you send  love, good thoughts and prayers to the people in the path of the cyclone.

Who knows, if we all try hard enough we might be able to get the darn thing downgraded a notch or two before it hits!

I promise a fun post next Wednesday …

Let it be said she kept Thanksgiving well.

Test: Do the math.

See? A lot like yesterday’s image, no?

Of course you all knew to interpret “almost heaven” as a clue. It was fun to see what you did with that; you’re all so smart and creative. Here’s the rest of it:

Almost heaven, West Virginia, Blue Ridge Mountains, Shenandoah River.

I think most of you will recognize those as lyrics from John Denver’s song, Country Roads, which was written by Bill Danoff and Taffy Nivert. I suspect our Norwegian friend was at a disadvantage here, but don’t you love what she did with the clue? Woot, Harriet!

So, “Almost heaven, not directly adjacent to it, but nearby” means not WV, but the Blue Ridge Mountains and Shenandoah River. We were on Skyline Drive in Shenandoah National Park, VA. Sunshine, blue sky, warm temperature, windows open, autumn smells–almost heaven, to be sure.

Becca said, “This has the look of the Smoky Mountains to me,” and that’s exactly what I thought as I gazed out over the hazy valley. The Smoky Mountains are part of this range, so I call that a winning guess.

What’s the prize for winning? There should be some sort of payment, don’t you think? So I will pay Becca a compliment (sincerity required).

Becca, you are fun. You are always up for an adventure or challenge, no matter how busy you seem to be. You’re willing to take risks: You’re not afraid to be silly, make a mess, be wrong, or fail. I like you!

Thanks for playing, Everyone.

I’ll tell you this: It’s almost heaven, not directly adjacent to it, but nearby.

I attended the Traditional Home Classic Woman Awards ceremony as a guest of Mary Beth Schewitz, one of the award winners, a critique partner, and friend.

Every year, Traditional Home magazine honors six Classic Women whose volunteer efforts make their communities and the world a better place to live. Mary Beth started the Max Shewitz Foundation after her son, Max, died from a sudden cardiac arrhythmia at age 20 in 2005. The Foundation has two missions:

• To support education, prevention, and research of sudden cardiac death in young people.
• To support environmental conservation, a lifelong interest of Max’s. Specifically to support through education and conservation fragile and threatened reptile ecosystems and species.

Mary Beth’s efforts over the past five years have amazed, exhausted, and inspired me. It’s exciting to have her efforts recognized by Traditional Home and nothing short of astonishing that I was able to attend the awards ceremony with her, her husband, Chrissie (another critique partner), Chrissie’s husband, and several more of Mary Beth’s friends.

The luncheon was elegant and delicious, as you would expect. Mariel Hemmingway and the Traditional Home Editor in Chief, Ann Omvig Maine, hosted the event, introducing the award winners and telling their stories. And, oh, what stories! Schools in Cambodia, Cookies for Kids’ Cancer, respite and end-of-life facility for children . . . I was riveted. Every table was equipped with a Traditional Home Classic Woman box of tissues–this wasn’t the first awards ceremony; they know what they’re doing. Mariel had a box all her own.

Half of our online critique group: me, Mary Beth, and Chrissie.

It was inspiring and educational to learn how each woman’s passion grew into a program that reaches and improves an entire community. In each case, there is enormous support from friends, family, professionals, community members, and businesses–like Traditional Home magazine. I walked away from the luncheon charged up and eager to contribute to a giant and important effort to make the world a better place.

Check out the November issue of Traditional Home or visit the website to read these wonderful stories, and let’s all do something, anything, to help.

Taking off.

Making tracks.