Not much to blog about

According to clues around me, Christmas is coming.


My cacti began competing with each other about a week ago.

One pot at the back has a pale whitish pink.

One to the left is a bright red.

And one at the right has a rather orangey salmon pink. That one I first saw blooming one summer in my brother's home.  I had never seen one that color and brought home a cutting wrapped in tissue in a zip-lock baggy. Actually I have never purchased a Christmas cactus. My first one came back in 1963, a pressed flower in a Christmas card. That cutting went into a pot and flourished, giving off many cuttings over the years.
Actually, other than the one I brought back in my luggage, all these have been grown from accidental fall-out. I have a few pots with several varieties sharing the pot ... Fall-out found on the floor of my little greenhouse-bedroom.

Right now I should be working frantically to finish up a gift for my second daughter and get it into the mail. Sadly, that gift is going to be way late. Even the tissue box cover is only in the drawing stage and the door decoration is also still on paper.

The past week I have had a really bad cold and cough. My main activity has been filling the wastebasket with used tissues. Finally, at the end of the week, I let Paul talk me into a trip to the doctor. I usually just let a cold run its course but the coughing was cutting into my sleep.  At last I have been able to get some sleep and today have begun hunting things that got moved to make way for the little Christmas tree, decorated by my granddaughter.

I cut a lot of the scraps of muslin left over from the backing on the tree skirt into blocks.

Well, I marked and cut the smaller pieces into two or one inch squares. (The larger scraps are still waiting to see what I will need on a new project).

The Celebrate Hand Quilting facebook is in the midst of a "9-patch quilt adventure" and I guess there might be a way to use the challenge to get rid of the excess pieces in those two tins. The only  other alternative would be to get new tins.
Anyway, this can be a good no-brainer take-along project until I get my act together.

Waking in the middle of the night, I recalled another project that is nearing a deadline.

I promise my graduating Webelo Scouts each year, that if they make "Eagle"in the future, they should let me know and I would carve them an eagle neckerchief slide.

Most of those scouts are here in Japan for only three or four years, then move to another country or back to the states. I think scouting is a good way to make friends and keep connected and my promise has been a great way to keep in touch and celebrate their achievements.

I wish I had kept a list all these years of how many eagles have flown across the sea. Matthew, who earned this one will have his Court of Honor next month. He left here long ago, still a cub scout. His father was my Pack committee chairman. It is always hard to think of these boys, all grown up and heading off into the big world because they remain in my mind as they were when they left.

Once, while at a training session at Philmont, in the states, a young man came up to me and said, "Mrs. Fukuda, don't you remember me? I am Kevin Blake." Indeed, I did remember Kevin, but in my mind he was still little cub scout with a squeaky voice, coming up to my shoulder.... Not a six-foot something young man.  Would I know Matthew if I should see him today? Maybe not, but it has been a joy to share a small part of his life.

Time to get out the sandpaper and sharp tools, cut those feathers, and add the paint. Time does not stop for the sniffles.