Sketches

To remember:

• seeing a good friend again after a few years of not being in touch
• being impressed with her children, her life outside the U. S.
• having a fun weekend with my parents visiting—one day of high culture (the Getty), high society (driving through the Westside of L. A. and a wedding in Malibu), with a beautiful interlude at a deserted California beach (it had been raining earlier in the day) and one day of ordinary things (church, my dad putting together a collapsed set of shelves for all my knitting projects and "stash" and then washing my car, my mum cleaning a cluttered kitchen counter for me, and a Scrabble game)
• outfitting my bike for commuting to work (now just need to get brave enough to try using the bike rack on the bus for the first time)
• continued church responsibilities
• still feeling that New Year's flush of wanting to organize everything—reading, knitting, finances, correspondence, being a good friend, life plans—and, of course, write about it all here
• ten wonderful days in Washington between Christmas and New Year's, some of which may be described here but which at least are recorded on paper
• the Staggerford book series, by Jon Hassler, I've just started reading at the recommendation of a high school teacher I had coffee with while in Washington