What a week

It started with a birthday party for the 5 yr old paleontologist. Not surprising, most of his gifts were dinosaur related, as was his cake, both of them. His day stared with a playground party with his friends. DD said it was the easiest party ever. Note that the cake is made of cupcakes, so easy to serve. DD#1 was there, having ridden her motorcycle in from Jacksonville, Florida. She's staying with them for the week.

My gift to him was a Stegosaurus hat, similar to one I had made for his brother at the same age.

Sunday night my nephew from Hawaii arrived in Ohio. Luckily for me, he was staying with my sister. His plane actually arrived at 1:00 AM Monday morning. The 5 hour time difference was in his favor. My sister and her DH went straight to bed. We had dinner with them Monday night. It made for a long day for me, since it's a 2 hour drive each way. I left work at 12:00 and had a nice afternoon with them. My bookworm granddaughter went down with me. She'll be a high school senior this next year, so it wasn't like herding cats, which I'm out of practice at. Nephew C is at the center. He hasn't been to Ohio for 25 years, since my mother died.

The photo was taken on Tuesday. My sister gave me a trunk load of plants for my yard on Monday. She noticed that my yard was sparsely planted and she had lots fo things that needed thinning. I spent Tuesday in the yard, in the heat, mowing, edging, weeding and planting. I also had bought more solar powered lights, which are now installed. Note to self - get a picture when they are lit. I also bought some dragonflies for the front yard. Half of them aren't dragonflies, but still pretty. It took me four days to notice the difference. They change color; red, blue, green. I am so tempted to buy some more, but I'm resisting so far!

Wednesday, I ate left overs from Tuesday. DD#5 flew into Ohio, but had a business meeting at Kent. She booked a hotel room and invited me to join her. The hotel room gave her peace and quiet to make notes and digest the meeting. She was treated to dinner, so I came down after work. We hung around for the evening , swimming in the pool, sitting in the hot tub, etc. I was knitting a sock for her DH who has a birthday in early August. The hotel is in Cuyahoga Falls, right on the falls. I had to get home quickly in the morning to let the dog out. DD had rented a car, so she came shortly after. She stayed with me Thursday night.

Thursday we were back at my sister's house for a baby shower. Her youngest daughter is due in September and it was a good time for another family gathering. It's a large family with all my kids and their families. At least one advantage of not being able to get everyone at one. Dear Nephew got to meet them gradually. Monday's dinner included DD#4 and her 3 kids. the kids stayed home Thursday. Those attending were Me, my son and his daughter (same as Monday's gathering), DD#1, DD#4, and DD#5. The shower was held in the garage, due to a 70% chance of rain. Of course, in thei drought stricken area, it didn't rain until we were driving home. Yes, I missed getting a picture of the mom-to-be.

Friday we gathered at DSon's house, just my family, so out of town daughters had a chance to spent time with siblings.

Saturday was a high school graduation party at DSon's. Sister came with nephew and her older daughter B. B had just arrived from New Yiork city. More getting to know each other better. She's becoming a teacher, and spent much time talkingtalking education theory with DD#5, a social psychology professor at Florida State. Phone numbers and e-mails were updated as well ad snail mail addresses. This is the year of more communication. One of the benefits of having my DH die. We realized that we needed to connect more with each other.

Bad and good

Well, I finished the chartreuse socks. A large portion was knit while sitting in the hospital with DH.
He went into the hospital on September 21 with pneumonia and a broken wrist suffered a few days before. We thought that the wrist was only sprained. He got out Sept. 30 and came home wiith oxygen tank in tow. That was Friday. He was slowly getting better.

On Monday, I got a call at work, that his breathing was worse and to come home immediately to watch the dog. He'd called 911. TheEMTs arrived shortly after I got home and did not get attacked by the dog defending her master.

Back at the hospital, he ended up on a breathing machine. That helped take the stress off his heart.

He was sedated, so he was not in pain and was asleep all the time. By Friday, they reduced the sedation and he began to wake up. He's now awake and frustrated that he can't talk due to the tubes down his throat. They're trying to wean him from the machine, but it's a slow process.

Luckily, our son works at a different hospital complex in the heart department, so is a little more knowledgeable about heart/lung issues. Also, his MIL died of heart problems a year or so ago. He sometimes asks better questions and he is the one to track down doctors to get answers.

Back to knitting
The green socks are a mystery pattern for SKA last month, called Watercress. The yarn is Dream in Color Smooshy in Spring Tickle color. This pattern had to be knit in chartreuse to count for prizes this month.


I'm on to the October challenge. I'm doing beads and texture other than knit purl rib. The pattern is called Rolling Thunder by Sivia Harding, published in Knitty.com. The beads don't show well in this photo, they're light blue clear. The cuff has rows of thunderbirds and the rest of the sock is a garter rib. Yarn is Crystal Palace Panda Soyin Positive Purple color.

I'm still working on the feed only one person problem. Two of my daughters are alone much of the time, so I've asked them for advice. Today we have one solution to the problem of how to make one slice of french toast. DD is coming to paint bedrooms today. (One might actually be finished) She wants to eat french toast for lunch. I use raisin bread and top it with cinnamon. She lives alone and hasn't had french toast in a long time. I'll make 3-4 slices.

Last night when I got home, I made hamburger helper. The meat had been defrosted when DH was home, so needed to be used. I'll get 4 more meals from that, so won't have to think about cooking for a while. I don't mind leftovers and often freeze portions of large recipes, but most of that is winter food, and the weather is not winter like here right now. By the time I get it worked out, DH will be home.