Susan, my dear friend and tailor lady, left last night for Wisconsin because summers here are hard on small business and she couldn’t make it. She is returning to her home town with her two teens, and already has her former associate in the tailoring business leaning on her to take work as soon as she gets there. They have rented, she told me, a nice house in the boonies – and she will be working out of her house that is large enough to accommodate living and working. Her daughter just discovered ballet. I hope she finds a school she can commute to.

They will have to buy major winter clothing. They came here 5 years ago and the kids now 15-16 or 17, have outgrown whatever they had before. I hope she can afford it by the time the snows come.

Before she left, Susan gave me her boutique style, ornately carved cosmetic stool that I had admired. I gave her a wool poncho, hand crafted that has stunning, deeply dyed orange, pink, and fuschia sections. I have never worn it – life in New York never seemed to favor this style. They can wear it on chilly evenings watching TV. And she refused payment for the last alteration she did for me.

I was feeling pretty weepy yesterday contemplating walks without a good friend to go to. We will stay in touch and I hope she can come down on a vacation and stay with us.

Ed and I were with her at the shop while the movers loaded the last of her equipment. She came home with us in her car, stuffed with things and the kids, and the dog, Sally, who I will miss so very much. She took a shower at our place, then dressed and off they went, leaving around 5. We wanted them to spend the night to save on a night’s motel bill, but she said she was prepared to spend the money.

And parenthetically and not to worry, but I learned at Moffit on Monday that a corrected diagnosis of my tissue sample means that an earlier than usual checkup is necessary and if there is anything to worry about I will need more radiation. The doctor gave me the full picture so I would be informed but also felt I could afford to skip 5 weeks of radiation now because it was unlikely there was any real problem. Still, this puts my “home free” feeling into a gray area. I have appointments in August, and again in October (moved up from December) for a bilateral mammogram.

xx, Teal