Christmas Past

Inviting Bud and Mary for Christmas turned out to be a stroke of genius. We had an excellent week-end. We ate to much over and over, went to church a couple of times, watched basketball and some football, opened presents, played dominos and chatted. A great good time.Grandma was very excited about her presents. She had most of them all tidied up before I could get a photo, but I risked irritating her and spread a few of them out. I got lots of wonderful goodies too, including my requested bevy of Toad Houses."And Barbara replaced the casserole from Linda Campbell that I had to throw away because it had a chipped finish. Isn't this a lovely blue item!I did a close-up of the Toad Houses so that you could appreciate the variety. They are cute, pretty, elegant, classy and absolutely outrageous!Toby was a bit nervous about one of the Toad Houses. It seemed like it might just eat him up!But then he decided that if he just ignored it, maybe it would go away.And now on to the New Year!!

Santa & Such....

Santa has come to our house, and we're all very excited. Toby looked and looked to find a present with his name on it.But finally, he grew discouraged.And eventually just gave up in dispair.The little boys' quilts are finished. But certainly with NO thanks to those of you who saw this photo posted and failed to point out the backward 'e' to me.I finally realized the error, took out the block from the middle of the finished quilt top, remade the 'e' and sewed it back in ---- UPSIDE DOWN!!! So, I took it out once again and put it in once more. Here they are.Now, the joke will be when I find out that the baby has been born, and they have spelled the name 'Jaspar.'

She's O.K. Now - Photos & Story

Home from the Emergency Room with a pressure bandage in place:The wound:Shampooing out the blood at the beauty shop:Getting the 'do':After:THE STORY: On Wednesday afternoon, Grandma got into a fight with her car trunk. She still doesn't know what happened, but from the depth of the wound, it would appear that she was coming up out of the trunk with her groceries as the lid was coming down on her. She knew she'd been hit, but didn't know she was bleeding until she saw the big splats of blood on the sidewalk.
She tried to get the bleeding stopped for about an hour before she finally decided to call me. By the time I got there, she had a blood-soaked bath towel around her head, numerous other blood-soaked garments and towels strewn around the bathroom and, in general, blood ALL over the bathroom. It looked like a slasher movie had just wrapped.
I started to take her to the hospital but decided to call the EMT's first. I wasn't sure how much blood she had lost. I didn't want to take a chance on her passing out on the way. So, they came, got the bleeding stopped, for the most part, helped her into the car, and we went to my favorite E.R. Of course, all this time she was saying "I'm all right. No, it doesn't hurt particularly."
At the E.R. they cleaned out a very large and deep - to the bone - wound. They couldn't use staples because the edges were so damaged. So, numerous stitches later, I brought her home with a pressure bandage around her head.
After cleaning the bathroom, I got her some dinner, and left with a large load of laundry. Barb, the hair dresser, agreed to come in early this morning to get her hair washed out, trimmed and 'done.'
I dropped her off at the Senior Center so she wouldn't miss her card playing and lunch. She still says it doesn't really hurt at all.
I, on the other hand, am exhausted and think I may have to take to my bed for a while to recover from HER wound!

Their New Home

The closing on Grandma's house won't happen until sometime in early December. But I was concerned about the status of Julie's pregnancy and what all they would need to do before the end of December. So I told them last week to begin doing whatever they wanted to do to get the house ready. Last night it was dark when I came home from shopping. When I drove by, every room was lit up and I could see at least three people working. It made me smile. Maybe from the life and energy emanating from the house. Maybe in anticipation of my no longer having responsibility for the upkeep on it.

Great Week -- Crappy Ending

It was a really great week. With a very light schedule, I had 4 1/2 days to just be at home. My kind of heaven! I got the handy guy over to put up my too-cool lamp.I like it lots, but I'm still trying out bulbs to find one that works but is not too un-funky. The vintage one that came with it and is in the photo, puts out almost no light. So now I have a modern but clear bulb. It looks O.K., but there is a good deal of glare. Not sure what to try next.
And there was so much time that I read a book by my favorite author and finished a puzzle.I spent lots of time in Quilt World and finished the top of this one that I started at a workshop in August. This one was to learn curves and paper piecing. LOTS of curves! Now it is time to get it off to the quilter.And then I got a wire-haired notion to make quilts for the boys who will live in Grandma's house. Decided to try piecing letters to make their names and then do something around them, making it up as I go. This is how far I to on Saturday afternoon when I quit to finish cooking and go get Grandma for dinner.

And while we were eating the first call came in saying that Les Anderson had just been taken to the hospital with a heart attack. 20 minutes later a 2nd call reported that he had died.His death leaves a huge hole in the world for countless numbers of people, me included. I'm not liking this stage of life when my peers can die and it is not altogether out of the norm. I remember when Grandma's friend, Marge, died. But of course she would, she was old. She was 60!! Perspectives certainly change.

News from Valley Center

An e-mail from T yesterday reminded me that I've been a bit "incommunicado" since the October visits. So, to catch up:
Julie and Jason came over to sign the sale contract on the house. I took it back to Tom Harris a week ago today. My understanding is that I don't have to do anything else until they tell me to show up at closing. I did a little more garden clean-up over there and that's probably all I'll do unless something drastic needs attention.
The boys from Johnson's came to plant my new tree. It is a Japanese Lilac Tree which is a variety that was in full bloom ALL over the place when I was at T's house last June. There are almost none of them around here. We'll see if it can survive our heat and strong winds. But since they planted it, Johnson's will replace it if it dies.Things have calmed down nicely over the past couple of weeks. No huge crises and fewer details of life to tend to. I've even gotten some quilting done.
One day I went up to visit Barbara. She replaced the flooring all over her main floor. Lovely tile in the entry and kitchen and wood laminate everywhere else. It looks great. She's off to Spain and Portugal tomorrow. MUCH more civilized than the places she usually treks off to!Grandma has made great progress at Sunflower Gardens. Twice she has talked to "the lady" all by herself to get attention to the stove. Twice the repairman came and each time it was not fixed. So, they finally gave her a new stove. Since it is full sized, they had to tear out the small cabinet that was beside the fridge. When I called Grandma on Saturday morning, she proudly announced that she had done a load of laundry all by herself. One more hurdle crossed.

We made it through daylight saving time's change. It suits me fine because I have less trouble getting myself out of bed in the morning when it's light. Carmen was unimpressed, however. By 4:15 yesterday she was starving and dancing around on her tippy toes demanding her dinner. I tried to explain the clocks back thing, but Carmen was sure I was just screwing with her.
I've been getting in some gardening time, clearing out a bit of stuff each week. I don't want to have the mess next spring that I had to contend with this past year. I even had to rake leaves! It's the first time I had enough leaves from my baby trees to matter.
Kyle is coming today to hang my weird light over the dining room table. That is, if I don't have to go in for jury duty. I have to call after 11:00 a.m. to see if I'm excused or have to turn up this afternoon.
And that gets us to today..............

More in October

The week has limped on. The rest of my carpet was installed on Monday. Glad that process is complete. My TV in the livingroom had cable issues for some 24 hours on Tuesday/Wednesday, but that finally passed -- after clocking hours on the phone with Cox. My garage door opener died, but revived with a new battery. My car also died, and it too revived after a new battery. My friend, Linda Campbell went back into the hospital last night. According to her brother, she will die there in the next few days. Unfortunately, there is not a new battery to take care of her. I am sad.

On Thursday I took Mom and Nelda to Botannica. A new Children's Garden opened last spring, and I had not seen it yet.The weather was beautiful and just a tinge hot. We all enjoyed the outing.I got some gardening in this week. I planted a couple of shrubs and had a Crimson Red Maple planted by the nursery guys. The dahlias and zinnias cooperated for a nice centerpiece.Grandma had two traumas this week. One involved learning to use the washers in her building. Thank goodness Nelda was there to help her through that. The second occured when she tried to bake an angel food cake for today's dessert. Seems that her oven is malfunctioning and only the broiler comes on. Apparently the cake was burned to a blackened charcoal, and the pan was ruined. Grandma, was UN-done! You know how her ego is tied up in her angel food cake mastery. Soooooo......I decided that I would bake one to take it's place. I've got to tell you, it was no big deal. Came out looking pretty good, and tasted O.K. too.Bud and Mary came over for dinner today. I did a pot roast with mashed potatoes and gravy at my house.After stopping by the old house to see how the sale was being laid out, we went on to Grandma's for dessert.Her new place works just fine for entertaining a small group of folks.

October Events

Nelda arrived on Friday, and on Saturday we made the annual trek to Fredonia for homecoming. Lindy and her husband, Steve, were there also. The weather was great for the outing.The extate sale people have been hard at work during the last week getting things organized for the sale. They have not yet begun pricing, but I guess that will happen this week.If you spot anything in these photos that you want salvaged, let me know.The last of the family momentos have been transferred to my house now, at least I think it's the last. This stuff came out of the old trunk in the garage. It includes Grandpa's teddy bear, my teddy bear, Grandma's doll, a detergent bottle doll that has Kellie's name on it, baby books from Judy and me, assorted baby booties from several generations, and a box with Judy's braids and locks of my hair. I find this last just a bit freaky, actually.

Grandma's New Home

She's in!!! The move is complete with the exception of a couple of things that have to be repaired before they can go up on the walls. This is the entry. You'll recognize the antique half-poker table.This is the living area with Grandma sitting in her new chair. Notice the lovely new curtains and drapes that match the furniture so nicely.And on the opposite side we have the TV and Grandad's rocker.Here she is in the little kitchen with her new and just too cute table and chairs.She chose to sleep in the smaller of the two bedrooms because it is closer to the bathroom. But even so, there is plenty of room for the bed she was born in.As well as both dressers, a chair to sit on when she puts her socks on, and all her jewelry hoo-haw.This is the guest room. I've loaned her a quilt to use until after Nelda leaves. Then she's going to use the crocheted one that Grandma Byerly made. It's too much trouble to take off and put on each day when the bed is in daily use.And finally, this is just an "establishing shot" to give you the layout. It is taken from the living room windows. The entry door is to the left, and Grandma's bedroom is right across from it, with the bathroom to it's immediate right. The shelf unit to the left of the kitchen is new and has answered the problem of where to put her zillion photos. there is a door to the right of the kitchen that goes into the guest bedroom. All in all, it's very cute and certainly roomy enough. I'll be looking for something just like it when and if I'm 80.