Surgery & calm ~ma for you and B'boy, bonny.

All kinds of ~ma to you and Bartleby today, bonny.

I only woke up ONCE in the middle of the night coughing! And I took some more codeine, watched an episode of Fresh Prince, and fell back asleep! I don't know whether it's the prednisone or the codeine or both to thank for this, but either way, drugs are good.

Or just the magic of Will Smith.

Much ~ma to bonny and Bartleby.

Vortex, my father always said that linings are the most difficult thing to do and also replace. He hated them, but would never consider a garment complete unless it was fully lined. I wish he would have taught me how to sew. His suits were a thing of beauty, and the clothes he made for my mother are gorgeous.

I'm lucky if I can replace a button.

It's so sad when skills aren't taught from generation to generation. My mother was a decent seamstress (she doesn't sew anymore) and still is an amazing cook, but she never thought about teaching either of us what she knew, so none of that got passed on. Sadface.

Vortex, my father always said that linings are the most difficult thing to do and also replace. He hated them, but would never consider a garment complete unless it was fully lined.

If it had been a more expensive coat, it would have been worth it, but since I can buy a new coat for $70 more, it just seems silly.

Oh yeah, me too. My grandmother was an excellent seamstress, made her living that way after my grandfather died. And she would have been willing to teach me, but I stupidly didn't prioritize it then. Also, I would have been okay if not for all the pins involved in the pinning portions.

All the women in my mom's family sew, including my sister. In fact, my mom's youngest sister went to design school in Chicago in the late '60s. I've never learned out to use a pattern and have to be reminded how to use my mom's sewing machine, but I can handstitch, so I can fix a hem or sew curtains.

My mother was a decent seamstress (she doesn't sew anymore) and still is an amazing cook, but she never thought about teaching either of us what she knew, so none of that got passed on. Sadface.

We both got the cooking, just not the sewing. He got out of the garment industry and shut down the tailor shop when I was in first grade. From that point on, our lives revolved around the restaurant.

He was called on to dust off his emergency repair skills at a wedding two weeks ago. The bustle for the train fell apart, and my father was in a corner of the lobby with the bride redoing the bustle. He always carries his thimble with him; it's his talisman. The bride had the foresight to have a complete sewing kit, just in case.

Pop tarts:

It's really kind of funny.... He started at the age of 6 as an apprentice to a tailor in Italy. He'd go before and after school to the tailor shop to learn his trade. When he did his military service, he was ostensibly in the Italian secret service (more like OSS or CIA, than U.S. Secret Service), but in actuality he was the personal tailor to a number of high ranking officers. He worked in Rome, Milan, and Turin before deciding to emigrate to the states. He was allowed to stay because he had a skill that was in demand, and his permanent residency was conditioned on his skills as a tailor (somewhat like the H-1B visas of today).

Yet I only have vague memories, interspersed with brief intensive flashbacks of specific events of him (and my Uncle Tony) working as tailors in their shop. They both were such snappy dressers. But I can only remember that because of pictures. My vivid memories of my father at work when I was young all involve the pizza shop, and him dressed in jeans and a white v-neck t-shirt, standing in front of the pizza table tossing dough in the air. It seems like two different lives.

Sorry, I'm a bit introspective today.