Lost times

These last few weeks have been on the lost side.....First I was in hospital for an arteriogram. Results, a whole new way of eating and living. Then, Dad has flu and dehydrates (for the 5th time) and is put in emergency room and stays in hosp. a couple of days. Hospitals are supposed to be places to recover, but it's difficult when you are waked constantly and poked a lot. I do have to say the food there is outstanding! And you are only give a menu that meets what your medical needs are, so you don't realize your choices are limited. Smart, those dieticians.

Anyway, we missed Holy Week, Easter and lots of other days. Now we are home and beginning again. Nancy was a trouper thru this and even missed work to be with us and haul us around. Also Scooter who brought food and meds as well.

It is over. We are picking up the pieces of our lives and weaving ourselves back in with them.

On a good note, an east Texas weaver is demonstrating and selling at the Chicken Farm First Weekend on Saturday next I'm going to see her and hope to use her as a connection point to other weavers here. I spin with a group but don't know any other weavers.

Genetic recognition

This is a funny title for a funny(odd) subject. I come from such a big family and we all mostly look like one another, tho one branch looks like my paternal grandad, that when a new child is born, I can look and say "Yes, I do know you - welcome to the world!"

And I remember a deal friend who was adopted as an infant and only knows that his natural parents are Irish - he and his mom took a trip to Ireland and he fell in love with it. He says it is where everybody looks like him and he finally feels at home.

In reading Smithdsonian(Ithink) the other day, I found a photo of a little boy whom I know. Not know, you see, but kythe know. He is the image of my dad, uncle and aunt's childrens photos, and I suddenly want him terribly. I want to raise him and love him because I KNOW him. This is totally impractical and not possible of course, at 76 for me and 82 for DH. Besides, (and this is a big besides) he is a Shia Moslem living in Afghanistan, or the Bamian sect. They live up where the Taliban blew up the statues of the Buddhas. I was really puzzled by this, till I remembered that the Arabs ruled Portugal for a number of years and much intermariage took place (etc.) My great grandfather is from Portugal so, now I know I am part Arab. Actually we are all part of everyone if you get right down to it. But this was an interesting experience. I have presumptiously named him David and shall pray for David regularly. But I get a large kick out of fantasizing that I really could go and ask David's parents to have him come andlive with me. Imagination is a wonderful thing, even if I sometimes carry it too far.

Family Triumph

What an exciting morning. Our youngest granddaughter,Mallory, (4th grader at Irion Co. Elem) won the local spelling bee for the second year in a row! This morning, DH and I met Nancy and Mally for the area Bee. Last year, Mally hadn't realized it might be prudent to study, but this year all we ever heard was "Give me a word!" Among her opponents was a 13 year old home schooled girl who won next year and was not able to win in Washington.

It was pretty hair raising, but Mally kept her cool and is now the runner up to this same winner! This girl will not compete again as she will be too old, so maybe next year a trip to Washington is in the future for us. Mally remembered to ask for word origin, derivation, for a sentence and for a definition. She spelled primal, existence, enunciate, homuncular, and missed on decedent.

Family triumphs are among the best, aren't they? And aren't we proud of all our grands - all 11 of them!? You bet we are.

Note - I wonder if it will tell the Angelo school board anything to know that of the last 5 contestants standing, only one was in their schools - three were in other county schools and that one is home schooled. It tells me a lot.

We started spelling bees in 1938 when I was in 3rd grade. I loved them and did quite well. Not the same story when we did math, tho.

Dad is watching the Blue Angels (?) do formation flying at the airport, and I am resting. Still do thatbest.

Next thing up!. Sarah's visit on Monday. Yeaaaaa..

hugs,

It's nearly here...

Easter will soon be here. I have just started Lent, it seems. I know I spent a couple of days in hospital but that can't account for the speedup of time. Product of my age, possibly.

We had a stations of the cross procession last Sunday night, which I didn't attend,as I don't walk far, nor do I stand. We have these stations at our church, but most of us didn't know why those particulary pictures were hung in such strange places all over the church. Our new priest is much more in tune with this and we have discussed hanging them all in the parish hall where the infirm can sit and learn and pray, rather than miss this. I don't begin to understand it all, but expect to as we go.

Daughter #2 will be here for that week, but is not interested in participating in these services with us, so she will stay home for them. She is comfortable with this and I accept it. I am scheduled to be LEM for the Sunday service, but will see if I am able and if not DH will fill in for me. I am also scheduled for Easter Sunday, and will surely be able by then.

Thought for the day: Don't judge people by what they read, but by what they reread.

Many blessings to all.

daydreaming

My new Handwoven magazine came and I have been immersed!!! Such color! Such texture! Pattern is much less important to me, tho I do like plain weave and twill. There are two sorts of people who work with yarns: color and texture folks and structure folks. There are actually international guilds of people who weave samples for each other and see how complicated they can make them,. Bleah!. I just want it to feel and look good.

The inside back cover is pushing the new (sorta) Bambu yarn. We've seen silk made from soy and from corn, etc. and they are nice, but Bambu is made from - guess!!! bamboo. Unfortunately for me (or not?) this page has all the colors this Bambu comes in. So I can't buy any because I want them ALL!!!!!Besides, I have yarn, but not bambu.

Bamboo is supposed to be the next threat to the cotton industry in the US (the south especially) because it is a plant which can be brought to maturity in 90 days,(grown in China, of course, isn't everything?), and harvested and spun and shipped to the US less expensively than we can grow and process cotton. Also supposed to wear better and have more sheen. The articles I've read say the cotton farmers should be quaking in their boots. I live with lots of cotton farmers and I haven't seem any quaking going on as yet. Maybe I oughta get a skein or two and just see how it feels,,,Right? good answer.......I'll let you know, in the interest of scientific experiment, of course.

Many praises and thanks

Folks, the heart attack I talked about in the last blog just didn't happen. My doctor is not a native English speaker and to him dead means 'useless', not 'necrotic'. Did have an angiogram and I could have used stents but the cardiologist decided to try it with mew meds and diet

So, I'm better off than I thought. I do have to tell you that after the first tests were made, last week, I had prayer at the altar on Sunday and experienced the numinous of God's healing love so strongly I could hardly stand. I am sure some of this was healed at that time. Meantime, I am being very much a limp biscuit and trying these new meds.

In another thanks column. daughter Nancy is here helping me clean up files and pay bills and get some storage set up for my weaving room. She's also buying groceries and stamps and all that stuff that I can't do right now.

So, plenty of excitement has gone on around here, and I'm ready to go back to being a couch potato. Since I haven't been to the library, I am rereading the "Church of England' series by Susan Howatch. As far as the miles between all the beliefs in the Anglo/Episcopal church then, we now have not changed very much. Apparently all this has been going on for many years. I'm told, since the late 1800's. Someday we will all get our acts together.

It is trying to snow here, but mostly it is making sleet - a really geary day. We are grateful for any wet that falls in any way, but it would be great to have a really good snow. You realize I don't have to go anywhere, so I can say this. Keep plugging away, and you too can retire and read all day. You're gonna love it!.

Bleah!

Well, it seems that my habit of ignoring my aches and pains has caught up with me. About a month ago I had a severe pain in the middle of the night. I really thought I was dying, but No. I woke up the next morning and decided it was gastric. About two weeks later I went by just in case, for a cardiogram. About half a dozen tests later, we now know that it was a heart attack and has done severe damage. I will see a new cardiologist on Thursday and we'll see what he recommends for me and proceed from there.

It's frustrating to have this happen, even though my family tree is full of cardiac events. I had decided I was so old it would pass me by. For anyone's information, I just had severe pain around the entire chest - nothing in my arms, face or anything. If you can imagine it, I thought that what was causing the pain would cut me in half, and at the same time, explode. SO, if you have any weird pains, GO TO THE ER! Right away.

One of the really frustrating by products of this event is that I don't have enough air to just talk and talk. Not easy to adjust to. I am, however and always, in the hands of my God and He is enough for me. I tend to think I have more work to do here, but He will do all the deciding and I am comfortable with Him in charge. Please add me to your prayers. Ilove you all.