I have just spent an agonizing two days. It all started on Thursday morning as I was getting dressed and I was about to do the last part of my "toilette," which was putting on my rings for the day. I take my rings off at night because my fingers swell so much in the New Jersey humidity that they get uncomfortable. I usually put them on a tray beside my sink in the bathroom. Excpet that on Thursday morning, they were not there. Huh. Not too worried because sometimes I sleepily take them off after reading in bed and put them on my nightside table.

Nope, not there either. Double huh.

Bathrobe pocket? Nope.

And the list of places I searched high and low just went on and on. 

Missing where three rings: my diamond princess-cut solitaire, my ruby and diamond wedding band (which we bought at Tiffany's for our 30-year-marriage vow renewal), and my grandmother's diamond. No costume jewelry here.

I racked my brain trying to come up with something, anything, that would jog my memory as to when I had last seen them. I was pretty sure they must be in the house somewhere, but I had gone to the grocery and the library the day before. Still, I had a vague recollection of having taken the off and putting them somewhere "safe." Apparently it was too safe because not even I could find them.

I spent hours looking in drawers, my knitting, on shelves, under the bed: you name the place and I probably looked there. Bella was wondering what the heck I was doing and the poor thing followed me around room by room as I opened, closed, rifled and banged around.

I was feeling pretty sick by Thursday night.

On Friday, I checked at the ShopRite at the Lost and Found. She pulled out a tray of crappy bits and pieces of jewelry that people had lost along the way. No diamonds there. Not even diamonds-in-the-rough. I had similar luck at the library. Sorry, they said. Sorry indeed.

I came home and donned a pair of garden gloves, slit open a new, big trash bag on the garage floor and dumped two days' worth of garbage from the kitchen and laundry room out on the bag. I went through the trash piece by piece. No rings. Just a bunch of garbage. I also emptied the vacuum bag and went through that. No rings, just a bunch of dirt and dog hair and two kitty toys.

I even went so far as to inspect all the dog poop in the yard from the past two days, thinking that maybe they had eaten them. I took paper towels outside with me and squished every turd I could find. The only thing I found was the fact that my dogs both have great, solid stools.

I was at my wit's end. Although by now I was convinced that my wits were truly addled if I could not remember where I put them. Was it the whiskey nightcap from that night?

Rick also joined in the search from the moment they went missing. He tried to calm me by telling me that after all, they were just rings. Yes, just rings, but pretty expensive ones and also meaningful.

By last night I had pretty much given up. I had to -- I was driving myself (and Rick) crazy. I figured they would turn up when they were good and ready. Several things I knew for sure: they were not eaten by a dog; they were not in the trash; they were not lost since they could not have fallen off my swollen fingers. So, they had to be here somewhere. Ah, that was the question: WHERE?

I was headed to bed last night when I looked down at the rug beside my bed, and lo and behold there was my grandmother's ring! I yelled to Rick that I had found a ring. He said he had taken Bella's dog bed, turned it upside down and shook it out but didn't hear anything hit the floor. We lifted the rug and there were both of the other rings! HURRAH! I started crying and bouncing around, all the while kissing my rings. Happy dance! They must have been knocked off my nightstand by a dog's tail since Bella's bed is right on my side of the bed. From this day forward I will putting them in a ring box when I take them off.

What was once lost was found. 

Sometimes when I lay in bed at night and don’t drop right off to sleep, words dance around in my head with no place to go. I’ve had some great ideas for blog posts completely formed in my mind—word for word, sentence by sentence—but when I wake in the morning all those thoughts and words have gone, blown out of my window by the same fan cooling my body. The fan lifts the words and disperses them into the night air, never to all be collected in the same place again.

The following post is a result of my finally getting out of bed to get a pad of paper to write what was going through my mind one night last week.

Our lives are like a woven tapestry. The individual threads and fibers that make it up are our immediate family, relatives, and friends. A tapestry of relationships; all different.

Over time some of the threads fray and break. Whether they just don’t withstand the test of time or it’s just normal wear and tear, some just do not hold up like others do. Some hold true and strong no matter what life throws at us.

Some come unravelled, sadly leaving big gaping holes that never fill back in. Some of those threads that have become unravelled can be picked up again and woven back in, never quite reaching the perfection of the first initial weaving, but still part of the tapestry once again.

Some simply come undone and just hang there and dangle, bereft and alone, with no one caring enough to repair the rift.

Others deteriorate over time, leaving small moth-eaten holes where once a relationship was. Some are too small to even notice.

Many things lead to the ebb and flow of these relationships. We may move away, have different life experiences, or just grow further apart naturally. Let’s face it, life is constantly changing. Relationships and friendships take work and both parties have to participate. It’s a game of give and take. Sometimes you have to give more than you take and hopefully someone on the other end will give you more back when you need it most. Sometimes it’s give, give, give and you get nothing in return. In those cases you have to take a long hard look at the relationship. Do you really want to invest in something that gives you nothing, or at best, minimal results back?

Today I’d like you to think about your friendships and relationships with others and what kind of person the people in your tapestry think you are. Are you a giver? Mostly a taker? Or do you like to think of yourself as an equally balanced participant?

And, if you are reading this you are also part of my tapestry in some way.

Thanks for sitting through my sleep-starved thoughts.

All photos taken at the New Jersey Botanical Gardens before Hurricane Irene.

It's really beginning to look like we'll be here through the winter. Sigh. I wish it were different, but it just ain't so. We just had our fourth showing on the house this morning but I don't hold out much hope for anything to come of it. We have some stiff (and cheaper) competition out there right now in our area. Our thought is to take it off the market in mid-September and to relist it next February. Our move has to coincide with weather at the cabin, and if we leave it too late we are compromising our first winter there by arriving too late in the year.

Sometimes I feel like I'm on a carousel. Each day I go around trying to grab the brass ring, but every day I miss. Around and around. Day after day. That elusive brass ring, always just out of reach.

There are upsides to staying here until spring. Rick will be able to draw from his 401K at that point instead of relying on savings for those few months, and he'll have more stock options and another bonus. And, hopefully the house will sell early on and we can move in the spring, taking the whole summer to ready the cabin (and us) for winter. It feels like a long way off, I have to say. What is it that they say — all good things come to those who wait?

In the meantime they are in no hurry to have Rick leave at work, which is a good thing. We have a lovely home and there are certainly a lot worse places to be living than where we are. We really do like it here, but it's time to move on to the next chapter.

So far in our lives we've experienced different chapters. First was the "European Ex-Pat Chapter," then the "Dog Show Chapter" and now the "New Jersey Chapter." I should write more about those early chapters some day.

We are anxiously awaiting the "Cabin Chapter."

I know you all on Facebook have already seen the turkey photos, but this post is for my sister who is not on Facebook. I promised her I would put them on the blog. So here they are: the Baker's Dozen hanging out by the pool. I am thankful I didn't have the pool open on this day or they might have just taken a dip it was that hot!

Silly turks! I could not believe my eyes when I saw them all lined up on the railing. 

And while we're here, why not land on the cabana?

They hardly ever come in to the back yard. I like it when they do because they eat all the bugs.

I'm sorry I'm not here more often. I guess my motivation for the blog has diminished. It started to celebrate our new life in New Jersey and all the adventures, flora and fauna that were new and different to us. Now it's just everyday ho-hum. Add to that the fact that we can't wait to move back to Colorado and start the next chapter of our lives together and well, it's hard to keep the blog going. I think you know where I am coming from. But, until the house sells (and it seems we are not having much luck with that) we are trying to enjoy the rest of our time here. We're taking advantage of the pool and swimming lengths most mornings.

I haven't given up the blog, just scaling back a bit.

At this point, the entire 3-day-holiday weekend is stretching before us in a wonderful, as yet to be unfurled red-white & blue ribbon. What will the weekend bring?

Well, some grilling for sure: baby back ribs and a new macaroni salad recipe. Lamb chops and grilled artichokes. Brats. (No, not the kid kind, the sausage kind.)

Bringing our T@B up and prepping her for our camping trip this upcoming week. (Yeah!)

A trip to the Farmer's Market in Warwick on Sunday.

Swimming.

Relaxing.

Planning.

Hoping.