The party

We stayed in bed late, sleeping or not. After I got up, I drank a bottle of mineral water and checked my e-mail, responding to some, deleting others. I had trouble playing video links so I rebooted my computer. I read that Google was de-listing alternative medicine sites. I came across a petition to the whitehouse because of Google de-listing all the web content of a particular site. I wanted to check it out. I found one video that was a rant against Google. I listened to it as I did my exercises. It was very inflammatory and Chris wanted it shut off. We had a discussion about Google's practices. I found an article describing Google's ways of diverting traffic to or from web content and how destructive it could be to companies caught in the middle.

I made and ate breakfast even though it was lunchtime. I read e-mail. I auditioned more fabrics, hoping for a new border. But still, only one made a good binding and it did not go with any of the backings. I searched through my batting stash and found a suitable piece.
I put away all the fabrics not suitable for the quilt. Chris put a white load in the washing machine. I folded up the embroidered bag and tied a ribbon around it. I put it in a striped plastic bag. I got the pot of lip balm from the back bathroom. I washed and dried 8 little pots. I carefully filled them with balm and put the lids on. Then I put them in a plastic ziplock bag. Then I put on my coat and shoes. Chris was ready so we headed down the street.

We arrived at Mandi's house. There were purple streamers down the front walk, and purple balloons above the door. Someone opened the door and we walked inside, removing our shoes. I did not see her. But there was a group of Philipina women sitting together on the couch. I figured they must be new families or ladies I hadn't met yet because the Philipinas hang out together. I handed out lip balms to those who I hadn't met, which turned out to be all of them. I only had one left. Then I found out that they were not from the base, as they had Korean husbands.
Mary was there. She and I talked for quite some time, first by the door then by the cupcake table. The purple decorations were lavish and the spread was impressive. There were two tables full of food and more was brought out. Mandi was wearing her apron and working as well as supervising. The house filled up with adults and children, some of whom were quite active. Father Mark showed me a picture of Chris leading the singing at the Catholic service last Sunday. Then he showed it to Chris. Later, Father Mark gave a short prayer and then plates were handed out so we could all eat. There were plenty of vegetable dishes without noodles or rice so I got a plateful. I ate with Mary who was sitting on the floor. By then Myra and Scott had come. Anna was there, too, as was Suzanne. So I got to talk to people I knew. Then one of the Philipina ladies asked me if I had any more lipbalm. I asked how many did not get one and she said three. So I went home, and got out the big pot. I washed up six little pots and filled them from the big one. I put on a warmer coat and walked back. The ladies were so happy with the balm that one of them wanted to buy more. I told her I could not sell it, but that she could make her own. She gave me her e-mail address so I could send her the recipe.

After a while, people started leaving. I was thinking of leaving, too, because the kids movie on the TV had given way to music videos with a flashing ball. Some of the images were disturbing. But then Dynee came and I didn't want to walk out on her. She met Mary and told us about the Korean wedding she had just attended. The guy in charge of the music line-up announced kareoke. So I waited for that, but no one did it. Dynee and Mary and I talked about the music we knew. So then I asked the man for an ABBA song, but he did not know what ABBA was. We explained that it was a band that played “Dancing Queen”. I thought he was going to look it up, but I guess he didn't. The Philipina ladies asked for something called Gimme Gimme. While he was looking on his phone for that, I leaned out the back door. Chris was sitting there with several other guys around a fire pit. I signaled him to leave, then came back inside. Soon he came in. We bade the host and hostess goodbye. I handed the last lip balm to an older lady who seemed to be with the Philipina women. They all thanked me again for the lip balms. I put on my coat and we walked home.

I swallowed some magnesium and melatonin. Then we watched two episodes of Merlin. I started writing my blog. I remembered the picture Father Mark had shown me and went looking for in on the chapel web page. It turned out to be a video from the live feed on Sunday morning. So I used the snip tool to capture Chris in action. Chris went to bed and I finished up my post so I could join him.