I'm Back

I'm back! Good heavens, I wasn't sure I would remember my password! I've been very busy with life and travel nursing, and keeping up with my health. I'm no spring chicken anymore and must be vigilant to stay healthy. Knock on wood, I'm okay.

Currently I'm in a little Northern California town called Quincy, living in a tiny apartment in town above a tobacco shop, a pub, thrift store, and at the end of the block is a theater with a brewery. Pros and cons: I love being in the thick of things. This little town is dynamic with many events, a college, a few nice eateries and bakeries, and like I said, a live theater with a brewery. It's also on a state highway and can be noisy. Working nights mean morning traffic. But it's all good. I am getting back to two things: writing and my crochet. Anyway, I shall return later tonight. I need to get dinner done.

A New Contract, and So Much to Think About...

My Washington license application will take a while. As of now, nothing has been processed. They haven't even cashed my check yet. It's been weeks. I had hoped to at least get the fingerprinting done when I arrived, but no go. So, no Wenatchee. And with bills needing payment and money getting scarce, I called my recruiter last week. Long story short, I signed a contract with a Sutter hospital in Antioch, CA yesterday. I actually know the area, it's an old shopping stomping ground when I worked in the Bay area and lived in Pittsburg. Yes it's a city, but more laid-back than Frisco and Oakland.

As I said in my last post, this is going to be quite a year. While in Quincy, I developed and nurtured a relationship. And it's serious enough to talk of permanence. And we talked this evening about it. We'll talk more as the days go by...okay, Curious Reader, I am happy. That's all I can reveal on the matter. I am happy.

So this is going to be a very busy week. All the medical requirements (PPD, drug testing, pre-employment physical, etc. ect.) are getting done, online skills tests I need to finish, housing I need to find, packing I need to do. I leave Saturday to arrive Sunday with an overnight stay at Klamath Falls. I start Tuesday, giving me Monday to relax and do some shopping. I hope I get a studio apartment with a kitchenette, or a motel with a kitchenette, or a room with kitchen privileges. You get the idea. I need to cook my own meals.

So my interim at home is short and busy. And since I needed to go back to Cali, I wished it was to Quincy. More later..

Hello, 2018!

...and here I am, two years later. Travel nursing has taken me to rural areas with poor connections and a very busy schedule. Mind you, I love rural nursing, I learned so much because I need to wear many hats. And rural nursing has put me back to old-fashioned bedside nursing, of caring for folks of all ages. I like that. But as for blogging, it had been put aside. I had a hard time accessing this blog. And I cannot pass up living in rural communities. I simply must be a part of it. Good bye, city life, I am a small-town country gal at heart to begin with, and had despised the noise and traffic and rudeness and loneliness of cities, and I enjoy the gardens and local shops and live theaters and the friendships.

So, right now, I had just gotten back a week ago from a year-long assignment from a rural town in Northern California one hour from Reno. Getting over the flu and sleeping a lot. But it didn't take me long to get back to my at-home ways, of cooking and baking and crocheting and reading. Bills got paid. Cleaning got done. I talked to my recruiter for the next job -- quite possibly I will go back to Quincy, but I applied for my Washington license. I really, REALLY, would rather find work here and live at home. Poor Miss Bayles, my cat, was so perturbed at me for my being gone too long, that she lectured me a long time, and then couldn't leave me out of her site and has taken to following me from room to room and jumping on my lap as soon as I sit down. Right now she sleeps on the pillow next to me, contented after some fresh tuna..

And there's my writing. I was able to get some writing done while away. Poetry. In legal pads, but better than nothing. I need to edit my old novels, and this is the month to start. And this is the year to make submissions, even if just my poetry.

And what a year this will be! Stay tuned...

First Winter at Home

*Miss Bayles would rather be indoors than go hunting at the moment.

*Icicles on the front porch. We had to knock them off because of the stress on the roof. I was also told they can be painful.

*Moose on the loose. The one on the left was on my back patio earlier.

*Old Glory

*Vacant bird house amidst the snow-covered trees. I look forward to seeing it occupied in the Spring.

*A fireplace was a must when I bought the house. I love a lit fireplace even before the snowfall. This winter it's SOP to light it up in the afternoon and let it die out before bedtime. I can be found with a pot of tea reading or crocheting here after dinner.

Wool Omnibus by Hugh Howey
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I came across Wool while combing Twitter for books to read, and the Wool Omnibus Edition on Amazon Kindle. I don't know how I missed this story since I love dystopian lit, but as good stories go, one may read it decades later with enjoyment. Part 1, a stand-alone novella, sets the story of a post-apocalypse world where society lives 144 levels underground and of Holston, Silo's sheriff, and his investigation into his wife's death which eventually puts into motion the unraveling of Silo's secrets revealed in Part 5.
Well-written. I enjoyed it and do recommend it. I wished the back story was fleshed out more in this edition but no worry, I see a Silo saga in my future.

View all my reviews

A Little Crochet and Miss Bayles

Let me get rolling on this blog with this post. Because, I have a picture that my cat decided to photobomb lol

Last November while on travel assignment I subscribed to Jimmy Beans Wool Beanie Bags. For $10.00 a month I get a bag of four yarn samples, a fiber art notion, a card of yarn info, a packet of yarn soak, and a pamphlet or a link to a pattern to knit or crochet a small item for a yarn "test drive". I have three such bags and I decided to work on the crochet project from the January bag, a little neck scarf.

Right when I snapped the pre-WIP picture, Miss Bayles dashed in and came to a screeching halt when she saw the tabletop. Oh, the look in her face. If she can talk! What, mother? More yarn??

My cat is yarn-shaming me. They're little bitty skeins of yarn and I didn't break the bank, kitty cat...

So. Anyway. I have four 20-yard Cascade samples in purples:

*Lana d'Oro of alpaca/wool in Berry Blend, a classic plied yarn.
*Highland Duo of alpaca/wool in Purple Orchid, a single ply yarn.
* Cloud of alpaca/wool in Loganberry, a chainette yarn.
*El Cielo of superfine alpaca/nylon in Bordeax, a soft fluffy lace yarn.

The bag also contained a sample wool soak and pretty Knitter's Pride shawl stick which will end up on my hair :)

I'll get started on little scarf after I get back from jury duty today. Right now it's time to brew coffee, put away the bag of goodies before Miss Bayles gets any ideas, and get ready to drive into town.

Staying Put

I want to return to blogging. I've thought about it for months. I've had friends ask me about my blogs. I was about to close this one along with my fiber arts blog (Yarntails) and resume blogging over on my first blog (Daily Inklings). I even posted a short entry over there a few days ago, but ... well Daily Inklings had run its course. Some things need to end, and I will close a blog I've had for over ten years. I'm burned out with politics and culture, and I'm embarrassed for not being able to blog "Daily". I don't want to rant every day!

Oh I still hold true to my values and opinions. And I will still express them now and then but I will do that here. I'm a whole person, and while it was once a good idea to separate my blogs according to interests, it bogged me down. The upkeep was too much and my personal life is more important. Heck, at one point I'd actually forgotten I have three blogs, and it took me all of last evening to find the URL to this one (I forgot I have it on my Twitter account of the same name) and do the "forgot your password" routine. Now I need to find Yarntails and look into the feaseability of transferring its contents here.

So there will be some upheavals here, some remodeling and new furniture. The Curious Reader will on occasion read rants, but most of the time I will post life journals, books I'm reading, pictures of knitting and crocheting in progress, my writing, my Traditionalist Catholic faith, prepping, what ticks me off, what makes me happy, cooking, gardening, my cat Miss Bayles,  the beauty of the Inland Northwest, and whatever else I want to write about. The key here is to go back to WRITING which I've been very much remiss in doing to the detriment of my spirit!