Knitting Cybrarian

Back in KC

Many heartfelt thanks to all of you who left comments or private e-mails expressing condolences.  My family and I really and truly appreciate your thoughts. 

I flew back late Tuesday (Mom's birthday) and though I planned to go into work yesterday, I was just exhausted.  I got up early, considered how productive or not I would be, and that was the deciding factor.  I e-mailed the appropriate folks, begging off coming in and went back to bed.  I got up around 1:30PM.

But I'll be back at work today.  So much to be done, but it'll get done.  A bit at a time.

Going back to Virginia

I'm flying back to Virginia early tomorrow and returning late Tuesday.

My Aunt Julie died yesterday morning.  Mom was holding her hand and singing to her as her breathing slowed.  She left us peacefully.

Happy Thanksgiving!

It's 6pm, and the house is quiet.  Joel and I had planned a quiet day.  I got up early, started the bread machine on the dough cycle, started the coffee, and worked on getting awake.  Days when I play at church (like the 9am Thanksgiving Service), I need to get up early, and let my brain, hands, and arms get fully awake. 

I warmed up on the piano, and practiced through the prelude and postlude.  While I usually play Bach, Brahms, Copland or Debussy (diverse selection!), this time I chose two items (On the Blue Ridge and Going Home) from Joseph Martin's Songs of the Journey.

While the attendance is usually small at the Thanksgiving service, the same folks attend year after year.  We have a tradition that the sermon is replaced with attendees expressing their own Thanksgivings, and some were particularly wonderful this year.

I came home from church, and Joel had been busy.  He made a yummy pumpkin pie,  sweet potato casserole and the cranberry salad I love so much.  I saw my bread dough had not risen, and started a new batch.  The old batch I stuck in the fridge -- and maybe it'll rise overnight.   I took a nap, got up and worked on the rolls.

We had our Thanskgiving meal mid afternoon -- I had ham and Joel had tuna.  We ate just enough and we'll enjoy the leftovers.  Joel took the papers to the local school for recycling, and when he came back from his walk I had the gas fire lit, and decaf coffee ready.  We enjoyed the fire, the coffee, and the pumpkin pie.  Portia enjoyed her tuna by the fire as well.

It's been a quiet and restful day.  I'm thankful for family and dear friends.  I'm thankful for eyes that can see, ears that can hear, the ability to smell, speak, sing, for hands and fingers that can play piano and knit.  I'm thankful for Joel and his wonderful love and care of me.  I'm thankful for Portia who shows us love in ways only a cat can.  I'm thankful for my mom and her tender love and care of her dying sister.  I'm thankful that I have a good job.  I'm thankful that I can afford to go grocery shopping and buy pretty much anything we want and definitely what we need.  I am so very blessed by God, and I pray each day that I can be a blessing to someone else too.

I'm thankful for you, dear reader, and I hope this has been a good Thanksgiving for you too.

Aunt Julie's hands

aunt julie's hands 003
Originally uploaded by lauragayle

I took a series of photos while I was in Va. The photos were of my cousin Karen holding her mother (my Aunt Julie)'s hands. Here's my favorite shot from that series.

It would be funny if

it weren't so sad.

I'm in Virginia with family for 10 days.  My mom is the 24/7 caregiver for her sister, who has Alzheimer's.  My aunt is in hospice care, so mom does get some help -- a certified nursing assistant comes in three times a week, a nurse comes in once a week, a chaplain comes by every so often, and hospice volunteers come once a week for a few hours so mom can get out and run errands.  My cousins come by at least once a week so mom can run errands too.

My aunt is in end-stage Alzheimer's.  She's totally dependent on someone else for everything.  There's a lot of lifting and turning involved, and so it helps mom for me to come home and help -- and give her breaks so she can get out and run errands without calling in someone else to stay with my aunt.  I do a lot of little things -- my mom HATES to do dishes, so I do them.  Fix the coffee.  Fix the iced tea.  Bring her refills on coffee and iced tea.  Nothing big, but I'm just here, present, and help in the little ways I see.

I think my mom should be nominated for sainthood.  Everything is done with love and with tender care.

I talked with my hubster last night and found out his mom is mad at me.  I've not gone with him to visit his parents the past few years because my work demands are usually crazy when goes to visit (usually in March) and quite frankly because those visits are so stressful.  And while I have generous vacation leave at work, I've had to use a fair bit of it in recent years to come back to Va. for funerals and other family commitments.

So my MIL is angry because I've come home to visit my family several times this year but I've not gone to visit her.  When the hubster told me this, I started laughing.  "You have got to be kidding!"   He said that no, he wasn't.  And that he thinks she just has to have something to complain about.

Yes, I've gone to several events that were important to my in-laws this year.  I don't mind -- I enjoy seeing my nieces and nephew and my husband's family.  And I've saved up vacation -- watching it very closely this year so I could save up enough days to come to Va. and help mom out.  However, I didn't think I needed to keep a tally!

So, she can be mad.  If the number of visits from me is the worst thing she has to worry about in her life, she's very blessed!  In the meantime, I'll be in Va. until the weekend.  Doing the little things to make life easier for my mom and my aunt.

Vanilla spice

I'm sitting in the Charlotte airport and thanks to the joys of free Wi-Fi, am checking e-mail, blogs, and even posting to my own blog.  Whoo hoo.

Except.  I stopped by the Body Shop and was dismayed they no longer carry their Vanilla products.  It's now Vanilla Spice (the unseen Spice Girl, I wonder??) and I tried the lotion.  And now I have this shimmery sparklies all over my hand.  And now all over my laptop keyboard.  Uck. 

And my cell phone.  Ugh.

And my wallet...

a little delay

My early flight out has been cancelled due to aircraft maintenance.  I'm on the phone, Orbitz is transferring me to Northwest Airlines.  Let's hope they can get me on the next flight to Detroit. 

Okay.  Am now taking USAir.  It'll all be fine.

Knitting plans

I'm going to Virginia for a week and a half to be with mom and help out at home.  This means I have lots of prime knitting time ahead and I have to plan it carefully.  So far, I've planned to take the following projects:

• a toddler sweater -- the front is mostly finished, but the rest is not.
• a sweater for Joel -- an Alice Starmore pattern from Aran Knitting.  And no, I really don't think I'll finish it while I'm away.  But I can dream.
• Assorted sock yarns and patterns.  I've discovered Cat Bordhi's book New Pathways for Sock Knitters.  I'll never think about sock knitting the same way.  If you're interested in construction variations, you HAVE to check out this book.
• Lots of double pointed needles to get correct gauge for socks!
• Appropriate needles for the sweater projects.

Progress reports to come!

Tulip baby sweater completed

  Tulip baby sweater completed 
  Originally uploaded by lauragayle

Here's the sweater for baby Adina.  I hope she and her parents love it!

Knitting, life

I've stalled on the Tulip Baby Sweater project.  Why?  I've been busy and I think I have enjoyed this project so much that I don't want to let go.  Silly, 'cause it's for my niece and she won't stay little forever!  I've got about 3/4 of one small sleeve and the neck to go.  That's it.  And if I have enough yarn, I'll knit a matching hat or booties.

The past two weeks have just kicked my butt.  Lots of things going on at work, lots of meetings that require me to play adult dress up, including hose.  I was much relieved last week to find out that I am not the only woman who experiences the crotch slide -- when the pantyhose decides to move southward.  I found out that even slim, petite women have this happen.  And here I thought it was because I'm tall and plush.  My favorite moment (NOT) was when I was walking to my car across the parking lot and I could feel EVERYTHING sliding south.  Yup.  EVERYTHING. Thankfully my dress was quite long, but still.  I could feel a cool breeze and I prayed that my duster was covering the pantyhose elastic line.  I got to my car, hiked up as much as I could inside the car and drove to my next meeting.  My first stop there was the ladies room for obvious reasons.

Speaking of meetings and being harried, I'm ashamed to admit that I found myself doing something that irritates me when others do it.  I was namedropping.  Grrrr.  It hit me not too long afterwards.  Stupid.  I'm usually pretty confident, and I think it was frustration with an overall situation that brought that out in me, not that particular moment and situation.  There was no reason at all for me to do that, though.  I hope my colleagues will forgive me this lapse.  And I'll do better.  Promise.

Today's another crazy day and tomorrow I work at the Studio from 11-3:30pm or so.  Sunday should be fairly quiet.  Whoo hoo!