The great escape

A couple of weeks ago my friend, Robin, and I took off for the tiny town of Neskowin on the Oregon coast. We had nothing planned, nowhere we had to be—we packed up her car and left Portland behind as we meandered down the highway toward the coast. We stayed in a funky condo right on the water, and spent a blissful five days doing whatever we wanted, whenever we wanted.

                Robin's amazing fabric hearts

We stitched (well, mostly she stitched); we watched the ocean change moods almost hourly; we ate a whole lot of really good food; we walked a bit; we went rummaging through antique shops; we drove; we ate some more.

                            My little stitched 'no-things'

I took a good fall one morning when I ran outside and slipped in the mud, landing flat on my back. Check out the cool mud pattern on my sleep shirt (yes, I still had my jammies on--don't ask).  This is only a smidgen of the damage to my clothes; I completely ruined a brand-new sweatshirt.  Luckily, I was able to limp walk away with just a bruised tailbone and some neck/back pain for a few days.  I got off easy, that's for sure.  A good reminder for me to slow down...

Robin and I met some years back when we both attended Artfest and shared a rental car from Seattle to Port Townsend. I had already planned to stay over in downtown Seattle for a couple of days after the retreat, but Robin was due to head back to Sacramento. On the way to the airport, she turned to me and asked if she could use my phone.  She called her husband and told him she'd like to stay a couple more days...and the rest, as they say, is history. We don't get to see each other more than once or twice a year, but we just pick up where we left off.  Our friendship is easy, and solid, and true--and I'm very grateful for it.  It sure is comforting to know there's someone by your side just in case you take a little tumble from time to time.

And boy, was I in for a big surprise when I got back home.  Max had taught himself how to read while I was gone—take a look!