Why is there NEVER anyone around when you need to babble!??
My husband just called. He said, “I’m going to be late.” I asked why, thinking it was too warm for him to be sitting with heaters to set the mortar on newly laid masonry. He said, “I’ve had an accident, and I need to stick around to talk to the police.”
Getting information out of the man is like pulling teeth!
“HONEY…..ARE YOU ALL RIGHT??!!”
“I’m fine.”
(calming down just a little) “What about the people in the other car?”
“They’re fine.”
“What happened?”
There followed some kind of explanation about the weight of his truck when loaded, and not being able to stop on a dime, and something about somebody zipping through an intersection.
I’m not clear on what happened, but I seriously doubt it is Dear Husband’s fault, and I’m really relieved that he says he’s okay. Of course, he’ll have to prove that when he gets home!
What a day………..
Monthly Archives: January 2007
Elegante Mother
I don’t think I’ve blogged about this. Things have been a little crazy here lately, so I might have. Forgive me if I’ve already shared this with you.
Nine days ago, I was in the kitchen, and Elegante Mother walked up to me and started speaking. I know she wanted to tell me that she had finished using the washer, but what came out of her mouth was a group of completely unrelated syllables.
I was watching her intently, wondering if something happened to my hearing. I thought at first that something was wrong with me, but I realized as I watched her, that she knew she wasn’t saying words, let alone the right words.
Her eyes got big. I suspect that mine got big in return. The entire episode couldn’t have lasted longer than 15 seconds. A second episode of about 6 seconds or so followed. On the advice of my-sister-the-nurse, I gave her the stroke test. I asked her to speak a simple sentence. I asked her to smile. I asked her to raise both arms. For comic relief, I asked her to stick out her tongue. She was fine.
There’s been no more “speaking in tongues,” but we have seen the doctor. He’s fairly sure that EM had an itty bitty stroke in her speech center. To be sure, she will undergo a battery of tests tomorrow at our hospital, to rule out other possibilities.
My mother is ninety. You’d think I would be preparing myself for the time when she won’t be here. I don’t think that’s possible.
My-sister-the-nurse pointed out to me that I’ve been providing EM with assisted living for some time. I actually hadn’t thought much about it. Yes, I help her remember names of people and things, and on bad days, I help with memories that are dear to her. I am her chauffeur, and I am the nag that tells her she needs to eat more. I am the person who takes her shopping, and helps when she needs assistance going up stairs. She is still in charge of her life, but she’s frail, and I can measure the change these days.
I hope, for both of us, that when it’s our time, we go swiftly, in our sleep.
And I hope that time for her is a long way off, yet.
About the bulbs
Bogie responded to my comment about trying to get some bulbs planted last minute. I’ve had this terrible cold for a week or more now, but yesterday it was FIFTY DEGREES here! Normally by now our ground would be frozen hard, and I’d have to save the bulbs by planting them in containers, but I could hear the garden calling to me.
There’s just something about early bulbs blooming in Spring that is so comforting, and I HATE to waste things. Those bulbs had been talking to me for the past two or three months, asking when I was going to make time for them. So, despite my cold, I bundled up, and headed out.
First, I fed the birds. Then, I collected the wheelbarrow, a shovel, my tool bucket and the new trowels the kids gave me for Christmas.
I have a narrow spot, the width of the garden, between two pods of iris that was perfect for these bulbs. I started shoveling the soil into the wheelbarrow. Then I heard this sound. The shovel was hitting something. NO…..it couldn’t be!
A number of years ago, too many exactly for me to remember, I decided I would outwit the chipmunks, and planted tulips in a wire cage. Unfortunately, the tulips were short-lived, but the wire cage was still there, in great shape.
What should have been a twenty minute chore, ended up being more like 75 minutes. I couldn’t dig the cage out, because part of it was sitting under iris that need to be relocated. The iris are more important to me than the bulbs.
So, I decided to cut the top off the cage, plant the new bulbs there for this winter, and then dig everything up next summer after the iris have bloomed. I went inside for the wire cutters and wire by wire clipped open about two thirds of the lid. I’ve promised myself that I will go back and dig the cage out next summer, so that no one will get hurt on the remains of the cage.
I got most of the bulbs planted. I even replanted some crocus that I inadvertently dug up. I think I killed off a tulip or two that was planted just past the end of the wire cage. I’m going to have to pull together Spring pictures into an album, so that I can remember what I’ve planted, where.
One of my favorite signs in Elegante Mother’s collection of garden decorations, is a little medallion that says, “I don’t remember planting that there!”
It was good to get out, despite the fact that it took longer than I had hoped. It was good to get the bulbs in. I still have my cold, but it doesn’t seem to be any worse than it was yesterday, so the exercise and the chance to play in the garden may have helped. YEA!! Now I can stop feeling guilty about the bulbs!
I Hab A Code…
(Cough, cough) (Hack, hack) …in my head and throat.
What’s with the cold season this year?! I caught a cold, possibly from my stepson or my sister, just after Elegante Mother’s open house, early in December. I was laid low for two weeks, when I needed to be shopping, and wrapping gifts, and decorating the house. I finally began to perk up about a week before Christmas, as the cold began to ebb.
I had a couple of days free of coughing, and then the cold came back with a vengeance! I can’t decide if the first cold went into hiding, or if I caught a second cold right after the first.
Saturday, December 30, and New Year’s Eve, I spent some time in the office working on the filing system for 2007. I typed labels for the files, and removed the 2006 files that were ready to be stored. I made labels for the binders for 2007. I packed up the 2005 binders for storage, moved the 2006 binders to the bookcase, and set the new binders up in the hutch next to the computer. I have three banker’s boxes of files to go to storage. This is all a first. I’d never have gotten all this done this early, if I hadn’t been too sick to be up and about. A little typing and filing was the best I could do.
So….the Pollyanna in me would like to point out there’s a bright side to life, but the Scrooge in me is saying (in a MUCH louder voice) “BAH HUMBUG!!”
Stay healthy! Avoid people like me who are coughing and hacking. Teach everyone you know to cough into the crook of their arm, and take your vitamin C on the off chance that it will help you dodge this cold!
Quilting Update
Yesterday, Elegante Mother finished the backing for an over-sized lap quilt that will go to one of her granddaughters. I gave the backing and the top a good pressing, and removed most of the stray threads. We found the batting that was purchased for the quilt, and today, I gave everything to the young woman who does EM’s machine quilting. In less than a week, she’ll have the quilting finished, and we can work on the binding.
I also worked on a few of my own projects yesterday. I have three sides of my granddaughter’s quilt bound. I made the hanging pocket, and have to sew that to the quilt. I have one more block to hand quilt, and a label to make. There’s hope that she will get it before she’s 21.
Speaking of hope….. I started a quilt about six years ago (possibly more) for one of my nieces. She has been waiting patiently for me to finish it. I’ve been working on hand quilting the borders during the last month, and I have to make a label for this quilt, too. My niece is 17 now…..halfway through her seventeenth year, actually. I’d better get a move on, or she WILL be 21 before I get this sent off. Sorry, sweetie…..it doesn’t mean that I don’t love you. It just means that you have an aunt who is supremely disorganized!
It was a joy to get back to playing with fabric. I NEED to do it more. Call it mental health days, or just a hobby, if you must, but make sure it’s on my schedule every week!
Ahem…..I know….you all want pictures. As I finish each quilt, I’ll post a picture.
Odd Weather
We have been having the oddest weather. For the past 21 days we have had weather that has been warmer than the norm. We had a GREEN Christmas! I can’t recall the last time that happened. Tomorrow, it’s supposed to be FIFTY degrees. I meant to plant some bulbs last fall. I have the space in mind, and the flowers should be gorgeous together, but the bulbs are still in the garage. Tomorrow, after exercise, I plan to get those bulbs in the ground!
The weatherman said that we can expect roughly ten more days of these above normal temperatures, based on what they can see to the north and west of us. We usually see two or three days toward the end of January where we have balmy days in the fifties or sixties. I bet we’re below zero for those days! *G*
Dear Husband is not complaining about the weather. As far as he’s concerned, I should stop tempting fate by talking about the weather. Of course, HE works outside. I can’t really blame him for wanting the weather to stay warm.
One last plea…….Dear Lord, would you please not cover us with snow in April, May, and June to make up for this??
Friendship
I’ve mentioned that I’m in an exercise class three days a week. I was the baby of the class until a woman came along who beat my record by a week. We tease back and forth, and she takes good care of Elegante Mother, who also attends the class.
When I opened my e-mail today, this was the greeting she sent:
2007
After serious and cautious consideration…..your contract of friendship has been renewed for the New Year 2007 !
It was a very hard decision to make. So try not to screw it up!!! LOL
My Wish for You in 2007
May peace break into your house and may thieves come to steal your debts. May the pockets of your jeans become a magnet for $100 bills. May love stick to your face like Vaseline and may laughter assault your lips! May your clothes smell of success like smoking tires and may happiness slap you across the face and may your tears be that of joy. May the problems you had forget your home address! In simple words …………
May 2007 be the best year of your life!!!
Could you ask for better wishes than that??? *G*
Thanks, Pat-of-the-Back-Row!