Back in 2001, I was very busy. Right up until 9/11. After 9/11, every contract I had was cancelled. I'd been busy enough that we had money saved up, and suddenly, I had spare time.

It was the first time in my life that I had spare money and spare time together. Very strange.

When NorthWest offered good deals to anyone who would fly overseas, I thought about repressive dictatorships and decided there was a lot to say for visiting one.

So I went upstairs and asked Carol what she thought about spending a few weeks touring China.

She replied, "Who are you and what have you done with my husband?" Brief Pause. "And can I keep you, instead?"

A Chinese speaking friend was working in Qing Dao, so we asked her to help us set up tours of the Great Wall, Forbidden City, Shanghai, Terra Cotta soldiers, and quite a bit more, ending up in Qing Dao for a week to visit with her and her husband.

Qing Dao in December is just a little bit more on the chilly side than my outer-wear was rated for. Unsurprisingly, there are stores selling winter-wear there.

Carol and her friend talked me into a nice brushed-silk jacket for a whopping eight bucks.

This week, the zipper started to come loose.

A little study convinced me that this would be a quick and easy repair job with the sewing machine.

Which it almost was.

Cat Rule Number One is that anything smaller than a cat is a cat toy.

A sewing machine is larger than a cat, so I thought I was safe to sew the inch or so of loose zipper.

The part of the sewing machine that goes up and down is smaller than a cat.

See Rule One.

Mark is faster at grabbing the moving needle than I am at stopping the machine, but luckily, he never managed to get his paw under the needle.

He did interrupt my sewing while my heart stopped racing.

I had a couple cash-register receipts on the table, so I wadded one into a ball and tossed it to distract him.

Like a good cricketer, he batted the ball back to me. We played this game a few times, until he managed to swat the ball into the outfield.

At this point Miles, the fielder, took the ball out of play.

Luckily I had another receipt, so the game went on.

Eventually, it was time for an Inning Break, and I managed to finish sewing up the zipper.

But really, should it take 1/2 hour to sew 1 inch?

I guess I'm lucky he didn't want to play a full three hour game.