What I've Been Up To

Well, in part making jewelry to sell alongside the vintage costume jewelry. If you're curious to see more, go here and check out what's offered.

Also, being in jewelry-making mode and having a pearl necklace that needed restringing, and hankering for an Art Deco 2-stranded bracelet I saw with platinum and diamond fittings that is priced beyond what most people make in a week, I made this:
No platinum or diamonds, but the clasp really is Art Deco, a vintage one from the 1930's ($12 plus shipping), and the spacers were made with vintage molds so they look right ($4 for a set of 4). I love the clasp so much:

What else? I'm 3/4 done with the baby blanket. Baby came early Thursday and it's a girl, named for my mother. It's traditional among Eastern European Jews to name a baby for the deceased (I am named for both of my grandmothers, who were murdered in the Holocaust). Doesn't make it easier to call the baby by my mother's name: I remember my own mother telling me years and years ago how hard it was for her to name me for her mother (my middle name). I'll finish up the blanket and send it along with the girlie bibs I made (after taking its portrait, of course).
One more bib I finished weeks ago but was too lazy to shoot:

I know it's on its side; it's little fish swimming around. A fitting theme for our lives these days, I think.
We got water back late Friday afternoon. Yesterday DH and I took a drive to see the scenes of some of the disasters near us: DD's hospital (which has fish swimming in the basement), the little falls at Little Falls, and so forth. En route from DD's hospital, we were stopped by none other than El Jefe, the Commander-in-Chief, POTUS, you know, that guy who lives at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave in Washington DC. Yep, the prez and our governor were touring the same scenes we toured. I have to say that seeing the rapids along the river were quite impressive. The falls roared like Niagara, and though we stood well above the falls, we could feel the mist. Sad to see were the neighborhoods along the river, where people were cleaning out, not just basements (lines of washers and dryers in the street waiting to be hauled away) but first floors too (sofas and dining room sets sitting out in piles of debris). The Red Cross was there, handing out gallons of water, as were the utilities. This was in the borough of Little Falls, and it was a heart-breaking sight. I feel so grateful we were spared much damage. But now 2 more hurricanes may bring us 4 days of rain in the coming week. Hope not, but I may have to build a boat to be safe.
What else? I finished the book chapter on lung cancer; now comes the editing. I'm immersed in my project on kidney cancer treatment, and hoping I get to write 2 more chapter on cancer. Tomorrow DH and I will attend a job fair for out-of-work scientists. Should be an interesting experience.
Enjoy your barbecues, trips to the beach, or anything else fun you have planned for today.