Competitions!

It' has been an eventful week. We've been watching the Olympics, especially the Men's Freeski Big Air event, because we know one of the American athletes personally. It was especially exciting, because he took the silver medal on Tuesday.

He has a very amazing backstory, worth looking into if you're interested. We've watched him grow up from just a boy. He's entered in slopestyle, too. The qualifiers were postponed due to weather, but I know he'll give us a great performance.

It was Colby, in fact, who caused my character Jolena to participate in competitions doing just what he does. Here she is coming in for a landing during summer practice at Utah Olympic Park. (They land in a pool at the bottom, which is why she's wearing a bathing suit.) 

I need to get a photo of her doing her tricks in the snow. That will be a challenge!

The new iPad arrived on Wednesday. I was able to set it up easily and load all my apps onto it. I had deleted some, because they didn't work anymore on my old iPad, without the iOS updates I couldn't get anymore. I tried out the camera and was very happy with it. I just held it up and took this random photo. I'm looking forward to using it on the photos for this week's story.

I was making supper, so I tried out the camera again on this salad.

I couldn't believe how realistic it looks, although I don't know if it will look as good in my blog post. (See recipe below.)

On Friday, I had a training session online and by phone with a specialist at Apple. I was waiting to get the iPad before ordering the case, because I didn't want to order the wrong thing. It was harder to work with without a case. It's sort of slippery without the case, and hard to hold, but I did a few things with it. I did have a major chore to do on Saturday, though. I had to gather all my receipts and records for 2021 for my book sales, so we can include all that on our taxes. I'm not making any money, but money comes into my bank account and back out again, and it does count as a donation for tax purposes. (The case arrived on Sunday and is installed.)

I'm almost done with my Rose City Yarn Crawl Mystery KAL shawl. It just needs blocking.

Of course, we had to watch the Super Bowl. One thing I can say is, it wasn't boring!

We met our new doctor this week. We really like her. When we first moved here, we couldn't get a primary care physician, so we signed up for a concierge doctor, because we had to have someone. He helped us with our immediate issues, and we're grateful, but it was very expensive, and since replacing the roof, we decided we couldn't really afford to continue. Also, his office used to be very close, and he just moved it to another location that's far away, by Bend standards. We had our checkups with the new doctor on Wednesday.

We've been trying to walk almost every day. Rocky rides in the stroller a bit, and then he wants to get out about the time we turn around, so he can walk. This was one of our walks. There's a big open lawn about where our route crossed itself at the bottom of the map. We stopped there, so Dusty could have some ball-chasing time. We use the Walk for a Dog app. They make donations to dog-related charities, funded by ads in the app. We get a nice little map and a record of how far we walked, how fast we walked (not fast) and how long we were gone.

If you have a few minutes and are willing, please go to Amazon and B&N and search for "Emil: Stories from The Doll's Storybook by Peggy Stuart" in Children's. Every click on the page for the book makes it more likely they will keep a good supply in their warehouse and stores. If you are outside the US, you may have a separate website for these retailers. If you have a copy of our first book, Mariah: Stories from The Doll's Storybook, it would help if you left an honest review on the websites, especially if you bought from them.

Where's my blog: If you want to follow my blog, go here and sign up to follow.

What's on my needles: Back to the emPower People bandana.

What's on my loom: Still....

What's on my sewing machine: Still its cover. I was hoping to get the quilt pieced already, but I may have to take some time out from all the other things I'm doing..

What's in my hoop: Still....

What's in The Doll's Storybook: In "Kaleidoscope Eyes," Pippa tries on Emil's special glasses and wonders why she can't see properly. 

What's on my iPad/iPhone: Still listening to Unthinkable by Jamie Raskin on the Audible app. 

What's in my wine glass: We're having Madroña Vineyards Lake Tahoe Zinfandel, one of our favorites.

What's my tip of the week: Here's my recipe for a variation on the Caprese Salad. The only ways it's different are that I don't boil the balsamic vinegar and I added cucumbers.

Slice enough cucumber and tomato for the number of servings you need. Arrange them on the plate with fresh basil leaves and fresh mozzarella. Drizzle a little balsamic vinegar and olive oil, then sprinkle some salt and freshly ground black pepper on top. 

Where are my books: The stories in each book first appeared in the blog and they are reproduced with few changes. Emil: Stories from The Doll's Storybook is now available for preorder from booksellers world wide. The link for Book Baby is here. The three stories are Best Buds, Getting What You Want, and The Boys Cook Dinner.

Mariah: Stories from The Doll's Storybook is also available. The three stories in the first book are Being Little, Besties, and Distraction.

If you don't get free shipping from Amazon or B&N, buy from the BookBabyBookshop, because 50% of the price goes to St. Jude. Other booksellers pay much less. 

Note: This blog post was produced on the iPad and the MacBook, using the iPhone for some photos and some photo processing. No other computer was used in any stage of composition or posting, and no Windows were opened, waited for, cleaned or broken. No animals or dolls were harmed during the production of this blog post.

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