Hi, Jennie -- The nearest Len's Mill Store is in Waterloo, about 50 km from Stratford. I have seen a lot of Mennonite quilts by now, but nothing like "Threads of Africa". But that's not the sort of thing I'd put on a bed, where the cats could (and would!) get at it.

It's cool enough today that my fingertips are numb. That was fast.

I'm not losing weight consistently enough to please me, so I have decided to go back to keeping a food diary. I do this on line, using an app called MyNetDiary that calculates the caloric heft and nutritional value of your entries. I used it to lose more than 50 pounds between New Year's Day 2013 and summer 2014, and the software has considerably improved since then. My primary reason for getting serious is my right foot, which is so consistently sore that I obviously have to start doing something different. More drugs is an option, but not the one likeliest to do me good in the long run. Taking off the 25 to 30 pounds that I regained since 2014 -- that's the first thing to do, since it doesn't cost me anything and it will also help all the other joints from the hips on down.

The tracking task also ensures that I eat the right things. I have become terribly lazy about meal-planning and cooking since Edmund died, and MyNetDiary informs me in very blunt terms when I'm not keeping up with protein-carb balance or calcium intake. It also nags me to eat more green veg and drink more water.

But why can't I do all that without an electronic nagger and a borderline-obsessive diary habit? I dunno, but I don't, so whether I can or not is moot.

Maybe I should stop beating myself up about it and just do what works. Ya think?