Winter of my Discontent

2/24/14


I know  in this time of my life  it is not unexpected to   lose a parent.   No one is really prepared for all that comes  with  the end of  a life.     I found myself  arguing with the hospice people to give Mom an IV.  "She needs  fluid"   I demand.    I get a blank look in return.   " I can accept  that she will die from cancer but it is ridiculous for her to die from  thirst  with a kitchen faucet   15 feet from her".       I still wasn't ready to let her go.    so we gave drops of water from straws and eyedroppers..  She wasn't going to die from neglect.   Dammit.     Finally  it occurs to me that  if her  body can't take in the fluid   we simply can't keep her alive.   I do arrive at the destination but it took me a long, long time  to figure it all out.  
 I blame the movies  On the big screen .Death  is always accompanied by a gentle  stringed instrument composition.   Whereas the soundtrack of  her life was less  elegant. It was  the frantic  reading of the Fantastic  Mr. Fox   by  my  24 year old niece  who thought  Mom shouldn't be listening to  TV in her last hours.   We all come to terms with death our own way.  I argue about it and my niece  dramatizes it.   My brother  calmly sits and waits for it to arrive.   Oddly enough  it was like   a  waiting room   in a train station and we didn't know  the time table for her  departure.




It's a month later.  The Memorial service is over.  The bills are rolling in and most are paid.   clothing and personal  items have  been distributed to loved ones


Quietly, slowly  and with painstaking care,   we close the chapter   on a life well lived  and much beloved.


Emily  Dickenson's  poem " A Bustle in the house"  has been   running through my head all month.


The bustle in a house
The morning after death
Is solemnest of industries
Enacted upon earth,--

The sweeping up the heart,
And putting love away
We shall not want to use again
Until eternity.       
  

January 10, 2012

December flew by  in is usual  sonic speed.   Baking, shopping and wrapping happened as it usually does.   Glenn flew home for  holiday leave from his ship  and picked up  the flu  on the way  but it really didn't appear until  Dec 23.     It spread like wildfire through the family.   Everyone  save  Kris and  our niece Gina   got ill.  

The big news for our Christmas was  a wonderful  Christmas surprise.   A trip to England for Kris and I  from our boys.      We are pouring through   guides and websites ordering catalogues  and brochures from  tour companies.

I'm been  lying low with this flu  for the last two weeks.    I've been knitting  to pass the time.

I'd love to share photos of my work  but   I'm unable to  put them up  due to new technological changes  on blogger.   

December 8, 2012

While Kris is  hunting  in Iowa,  I'm baking, knitting and wrapping  christmas surprises.

The sonic hats have been started.   two down and four to go.   

Last weekend  was the  cookie bake at Rachel's

this is what I brought to the  exchange:

this is what i brought home  most of it has been  sent to Ryan

Oscar has discovered the little window sills  in the kitchen.  He loves to watch the birdies outside.  sometimes  he meows at them.

November 7, 2012

Glenn came home for his leave.   He arrived fit as a fiddle  but  after a week at home he got ill  Bronchitis.   Poor Guy  he  was feeling really lousy for about  ten days .  we managed to get out for  a couple of movies   Argo  and the guys went to see Looper.  

we spent  the Saturday before he left  at the Minnesota Zoo.

Then he had to get going  east to report to his ship in Norfolk Va.  I rode with  him as far as  Chicago.  We stayed overnight with  my parents and he  headed to  Columbus, ohio and then to stayed in Greensboro  NC  to wait out  the Hurricane.    I stayed with my parents for a week.  Glenn reported in  on Oct 31.   He has an apartment and is rooming with another nuke. 

I finished a hat for our nephew   Trenton  adn another  Everdeen beanie  in madeline tosh dk.

October 12, 2012

Another  bright and sunny fall day for Glenn to enjoy on his leave.   Our sailor is home for  three weeks and enjoying  the crisp October weather.

It's nice to have our nest fill up   even if it is for a short time.

It's I love Yarn Day!

I've finished bear #3  for the Gilligan's Island Bears for the Motherbear project.

I'm trying out a new yarn  Unforgettable by  Red heart  Boutique  using the  Everdeen beanie  pattern

I'm back

Monday,  September 24, 2012

Back in the blogiverse.    Life got  busy   we traveled to  Washington DC,   and Chicago  went to  high school graduations for a niece and a nephew.  visited  Chicago for 4th of July. 

I knit  8 bears, 5 monsters, 7 pairs of mittens  10  hats all for charity.  won a couple of blue ribbons at the county fair.   and we got a new cat  I've named Oscar Wilde. 

I've read  lots of books  just finished  All Roads  lead to Austen.   it was a fun read  I recommend it for all fans of Miss Austen's works.  

I've been knitting ruffle scarves

my latest charity project is   from a patern in  Mason-Dixon knitting.  It's a traveling blanket.   one person knits the first round and passes on to another knitter.    pretty fun way to  make a baby blanket

 I got obsessed with making can cozies from dishcloth yarn this summer.   I love playing with  dishcloth cotton  and made a ton of these

last week  I finished a hat and a sweater for a friend's one year old   his parents are  serious Washington Redskins  fans

Huddle hat

summer's over and fall is here. In my refrigerator,  watermelon and sweet corn have made way  for apples and squash

Update

March 27,2012

It's been a while since  I've posted to my blog.   We've had a busy couple of months.   We have bought new bedroom furniture. from IKea  and it's fantastic.   I've been knitting bears for motherbear project inspired from Downton Abbey.

New Year New Car

January has been a very strange month.   It began with a MVA  for Kris and I.  No one was hurt  but our poor 1992  dodge caravan  was totalled by the insurance company.  after spending this month car shopping  we have a new car   A 2012  Kia Soul

Kris and I are thrilled with our new  spicy red car.    Car shopping is so different now.    

Wednesdays

Wednesdays tend to be my day to caught up on things.  household chores,  odd bits of knitting  and  the always full laundry cupboard

finished off a pair of mitts for our nephew Tanner.   this is the last of the knits for our neices and nephews.


my tree is up and I put on the new ornaments for 2011

The navy and army hats are christmas gifts from Tom and Rose.   the bear was made  by a fellow Motherbear (Marcie Titus)   it is a crocheted miniture version of the bears we sent to children  in Africa who have  HIV

Happy Halloween

Sunday, October 30    11p.m.

We are ready for Halloween.   Candy is  bought .  A huge bag of candy because we get lots of trick or treaters   every year.  

Tonight Kris and I carved pumpkins

Notice he has a power tool for this task. 

This is  his pumpkin;

This is my pumpkin:

Happy Halloween!!

Casting on and binding off

projects are cycling off and on my size 5 and size 7   40 inch circulars.

finished Lauren's mukluks.   working on socks for the guys and mitts for me  and cast on   an orange hat for Kris.  I'm using the WWII watch cap pattern.   

Saw Sherlock Holmes at the community Theater yesterday.   it was fun.

news last week:  Glenn will stay in Charleston for another three months  but the good news is he will be able to come home for Christmas.  

On the nightstand:  the mistress of the Vatican  and   South of Broad by Conroy.   I really enjoy his prose.
Some recently finished projects

                                                                    Trenton's mitts

                                                mukluks for the women's shelter

                                                               mukluks for  Lauren

Tried two new recipes this  month   shirl's apple cake  which is really good .  the dough is so hard that Kris has to stir in the apples and walnuts.   He doesn't mind this.     I also tried a Turkey and  Quinoa  meatloaf that  was great.   

See you all in the funny  papers.

Sunny Day and Mondays

October 3, 2011

The Joy:  Beautiful warm sunny day.   the leaves on the trees are colors only God can make.
The  Challenge:   a nasty cold.

news this past week:

Glenn is nearly set to  head to  New York.   He can hardly wait. 

Ryan  is back from yakima, WA and is training his soldiers. 

Kris and I spent Saturday at the Mpls farmer's market.

I finished a few projects this past week.  and I can only show one of them. Kris' mukluks are done.  the rest are birthday and/or Christmas gifts.  I may not be able to show many of my FOs for a while  most of my projects on the needles are gifts.

Looking forward to   the Motherbear tea on Friday.  

saturday night's all right with me

September 24, 2011

A beautiful fall day  high of 60 degrees and sunny with  a  bright blue sky.   the leaves are are  shaking off the  summer green  and slipping on the vibrant shades of yellow and red

On Thursday,  Kris came home with a  huge bag filled with goodies from General Mills products from the United Way Fund Drive. he also stopped at the farmer's market and picked up  potatoes, squash and flowers 

As  some you know  Ryan will be going to Afghanistan.   A friend  from the Ravelry's Mothers of Soldiers group  posted this photo  last week.   I thought I would share it with you.

tonight my  honey took me to see Contagion.   We enjoyed the story  and  the acting was fantastic.   Glenn strongly recommended the film.  He enjoyed that Minneapolis  was one of the featured cities in the movie.   Matt Damon and  Gwyneth Paltrow's characters  reside  in our metro area.  

Mitts dropping from my needles

September 16, 2011

Another  Friday  night   bringing us closer to winter  so   I'm happily working on fall fingerless mitts and slippers for my family.

I made four pairs so far this month  two for Pine Ridge , one for our nephew and one for Kris..

finished the first  mukluk  for kris

Alas it looks like  Ronald McDonald's foot.   

 It's   Friday night,  Kris is working out and I'm hanging around watching Pride and Prejudice while knitting Christmas gifts.

I was thinking  this week  how much has changed in the last 10 yrs.   Ten yrs ago   we had  a teen ager and near teenager in the house and a dog and a cat.  Two boys playing football and hockey.  We consumed 8  gallons of milk every week. drove 22,000 miles  a year, milk was more expensive   per  gallon than gas.  Now it's just the two of us  we use up 1 gallon of milk a week  drive 10,000 miles a year  and Gasoline is more Expensive than Milk..  Strange how things change.  Life  is calmer and quieter and I haven't seen the inside of hockey rink in   7 years  or sat in the  high school football stand in 6 years.   

Take me out to the Ball Game

August  26, 2011

Kris worked very hard on a work project this week.   TPTB  decided to reward him with two tickets to the Twins Game.   Very  good seats  with passes for the champions club.   Awesome food,  great service,
a wonderful time was had by all.    Twins lost.  

I started a new project.  Fall is coming and we must put vegetable hats on the babies.

other events this week   include a short visit to the Mercy"Spa"   I've removed the work hospital from my vocabulary and am  replacing it with the word Spa.    Doesn't it sound so much better to say spa  than hospital.   Yeah ,  I think so too.  

Glenn's home

Glenn got home  and we've been bumming around with him.   He's been reading and sleeping in late.
My Mom and Dad came to visit  on Tuesday afternoon.   Supper at Outback during a major rainstorm.
Wednesday we went to the Mn History Center  and for a stroll along  Minnehaha Falls

Mom  and Dad

Glenn

Kris and I at the Falls
We took the scenic tour home    then   home for  homemade Chicken Enchiladas.  

Thursday  Mom , Dad, Glenn and I went shopping.  The guys went off to Borders to snag a deal at Border's. Mom and I found cute sweaters for Fall at Christopher& Banks  and  CJ Banks.
Lunch at Dickie's.    Then   Kris, Glenn and Dad went to the Twins game.   Mom and I went to dinner and to see the Help. 

Mom and Dad headed home on Friday.    Glenn leaves tomorrow.   We will miss him  so much.

Finishing up projects

it's been a week of finishing up projects.

the lace shawl is done

the muklukks for  the women's shelter are done.

my odd ball short socks are done:

I did have to frog two projects this week  my smoke scarf and a bleck and white scarf  which is tricky to knit. 

Lace

Saturday  July 30, 2011

Knitting is a joy for me,  I've done pretty well learning new things   however lace has present more of a challeng than I expected.    I'm working on  an "easy" rated shawl  pattern  I downloaded from Ravelry. 
I'm really glad I used really good workhorse  yarn for  this project because  I think I've knit and ripped back  and reknit almost every row.   This is how far I have gotten

I found a new yarn for scarves.   Garter  stitch pattern very simple knitting.   Soothing after the rigors of lace knitting.   I think it knits up rather pretty

Kris and I went to see Cowboys and Aliens.   Alien ships,  cowboys,  James Bond and Indiana Jones.   What more can one ask from a summer movie?   Pure Fun!

TGIF

Friday July,29, 2011

The heatwave continues.  I've been hanging at home working on knitting projects.

the blaze scarf is done.    and so are the Pine Ridge Reservation  dishcloths

I'm working on a lace shawlette.    I'm through the first 17  rows .  There has been  frogging.
I keep wondering why I felt the need  to knit this project in dark yarn.   I'm hoping   it'll get better as I work on it.    

Requiem for a Kitty

Sunday   July 17

Our cat Milo  passed away in the night.   He was 18.  He joined our  family in 1993  Glenn  was 7 and Ryan was 4.   I was still in my twenties.  He was witness to our boys growing up and all the changes in our lives over the last 18 years.  

Goodbye dear ham stealer, tail catcher, mouser.   We will miss our morning face  pats and goodnight  snuggles.     Rest  in peace dear friend.