Seven Crows a Journey

Sarah Palin

2008-09-14T15:09:00.002-04:00

Lately there's been an overwhelming amount of talk about Sarah Palin and I wanted to pass on some of the resources I have used to follow what's going on.

From Feministing:
Note to mainstream media: Sarah Palin is NOT a feminist

Women are not going to vote for Palin just becasue of her gender

"Come, come, my conservative friend, wipe the dew off your spectacles, and see that the world is moving."
—Elizabeth Cady Stanton

and did you know there was a rally in Anchorage against Sarah Palin that was bigger than her "Welcome Home, Sarah" rally? ‘Alaska Women Reject Palin’ Rally

Good for Girls

2008-03-08T21:56:00.004-05:00

From the Closet Environmentalist I learned of Good for Girls a group that "was started to help young women gain access to better menstrual products. Our goal is to help these girls live their lives and go to school without fear that what they are using during their period will fail."

Something that we in the U.S. don't think about (with all our "products") that a woman's period can traditionally mean that she cannot get out and about during menstruation. This looks like a great way to make a small donation and make a big differcnce in a young woman's life. Check out both the Closet Environmentalist and the Good for Girls site for ideas on how you can help.

He made me a mix tape!

2008-02-14T14:38:00.004-05:00

For those of use who are easily amused:

Barack Obama is Your New Bicycle!

Balloooooons!

2008-02-12T18:07:00.000-05:00

I can't remember when or how I first found Balloon Hat. But it was a few years ago and I still follow them mostly through their semi-weekly emails. Balloon Hat started when Addi Somekh and Charlie Eckert began traveling to different places in the world to make balloon hats for people. The way balloon hats transcend cultural differences is the thing that caught me.

One of my favorite parts of their site is the What is Laughing? gallery. And my favorite story there is from a Navajo woman in Shiprock, NM.

"In the Navajo tradition we have what we call Chi Dlo Dil, or a Laughing Party, for a newborn. The Laughing Party is the first laugh you hear from a child. It's usually around six weeks.

It's the baby's first expression to the world, saying 'I'm ready to interact.'

Before that, the baby is still in the soft world and you aren't supposed to put anything hard and fixed on the body, or they may take on those qualities. But after the laughing party, you can give the baby jewelry or bracelets or other decorations.

At the party everybody sits around the baby and has a big meal and plays with the baby. The person who makes the baby laugh first plays an important role in the child's life."

Nancy Evans, Shiprock, NM (Navajo Nation)

Besides the website they now have a youtube series called Addi's Inflatable Minute: "Explorations into the beauty of all things Inflatable, and sometimes even Twistable." You can find out more about Addi at his New Balloon Art site.

Joining their Photo of the Week mailing list mean that you also learn about other cool balloon related items like this guy named Tom who takes pictures of abandoned balloons and posts them in a Picasa Album Balloons 2006. His picture of a string of blue balloons caught on a lamppost is my favorite

Tell Bill O'Reilly where the bridge is

2008-02-08T16:06:00.000-05:00

Seems that Bill O'Reilly thought John Edwards was making up the fact that homeless people were living under a bridge in New Orleans. He claimed that if only Edwards would tell him where that bridge was he would go right down and help.

Well someone has kindly created a blog, TellMeWhereTheBridgeIs to direct him to that bridge.

Take a peek and then let Bill know about it at oreilly@foxnews.com.

Harold Makepeace

2008-02-04T21:15:00.000-05:00

For some reason I get a lot of people googling for Harold Makepeace. If you are looking for the man who owned the Spiral Shop in Marlboro Vt. I point you to this small article on iBrattleboro about Harold losing his shop due to illness. He is in a veteran's Home in Bennington Vt now. I cannot imagine how sorry he was to lose his lovely home. If you would like to write or visit Harold please email the author of that article.

God-man and Human-man Team Up!

2008-02-04T20:56:00.000-05:00

Worst Super hero partner ever? You decide.

Most of the time it doesn't work out (for some strange reason).

Amd once you are into Salon - go here:
http://www.salon.com/comics/boll/2008/01/31/boll/index.html

Brattleboro May Vote to Arrest Bush and Cheney

2008-02-03T13:20:00.000-05:00

Get the Water Board

Danziger's latest cartoon in Vermont. Had to scan it since I can't find it online. From the Rutland Herald 2008-02-03

Letting my nerdiness show

2008-02-03T10:04:00.000-05:00

but look at this!

The Turtle Moves!

Announcing the First North American Discworld Convention

It going to be in Tempe Arizone in September 2009. PLenty of time to plan to go. I am very excited and do so hope that Terry will be there.

Debunked

2008-01-31T22:23:00.000-05:00

I hate psychics, with John Edwards topping the list mostly I suppose because of his renown. The fact that he is making tons of money off the pain and longing of people just irks the hell out of me. I was reminded of him recently when a friend mentioned going to see him in an upcoming performance in Connecticut.

So I started looking for websites that debunk this kind of thing and found this cool series from Penn and Teller. Don’t know how I missed these shows when they were on. But YouTube to the rescue. I especially like Part 3 where they into how cold reading is done.

Part One:

Part Two:

Part Three:

Bush's Last Year

2008-01-20T14:35:00.000-05:00

As other have noted we only have one. more. year. of that person in the White House.

May if fly by quickly and may he not screw things up any worse than he has already.

But don't count on it.

Procrastinator's Guide to A Science Fair Project

2008-01-20T12:45:00.000-05:00

Sometimes it pays off.

Cool

2008-01-14T19:25:00.000-05:00

Ooh - Look cool bento boxes!

Exactly

2007-12-21T20:34:00.000-05:00

"what do you have to do with Jesus?"

Template all screwed up

2007-07-19T17:09:00.000-04:00

Well I thought that moving to the new blogger would be so easy - but everything is screwed up now. Even when I take all my sidebar info out and re-enter it using the "Add and Arrange Page Elements" forms nothing ends up where it should, Very annoying and the main reason I haven't bothered finishing the story of the trip to Denmark - but I will soon - I think :)

So - where have I been

2007-06-26T16:09:00.000-04:00

Well most lately in Denmark! Took the old lady there as she has been talking about it for a long time and I have been thinking about it since last year. So when we went to see her gerontologist, Dr Juergen Bludau at Brigham and Women's ( who I highly recommend) and she talked about wanting to go but waiting to feel stronger he said "what are you waiting for." Then when she was in getting blood drawn he passed me in the hallway and said "Really! What are you waiting for?" and he was right so the plan was put in motion. Called my sister to discuss - she needed to wait until her baby goats were grown enough to be sold - so we determined that mid-June would be best.

Got air tickets (IcelandAir) and travel insurance thought Triple A. I used Rick Steves site for train passes - you get a discount on his travel items when you purchase passes so I also got a couple of small suitcases and carry-ons from him as well as roll-up plastic bags for packing. I found though that the largest one of these was TOO large. I would only end up using it if I was traveling in winter with a large coat or sweaters I think.

Looked on-line for booking rooms - the two hotels we had used when the old lady and I traveled to Denmark before were listed as full in all online booking sites for the days we wanted! Little bit of panic there - but I decided to email them directly as I also wanted to make sure we were on a lower floor and had the right kind of beds - 2 singles for sister and mother. Turns out that was the best thing to do - rooms were indeed available and I got exactly what I needed.

In the meantime I was researching how to travel with someone who couldn't walk very much. Tried to locate somewhere to rent a wheelchair once we got to Denmark - I did not have any luck. So even though I had heard of problems with bringing a wheelchair with you - mostly baggage handling problems, I went ahead and looked into buying one. Found one online and found a good price on EBay - Medline Freedom 14.8 lbs Transport Chair Wheelchair from Bethman Sales. I would definately recommend both the chair as a sturdy and compact model. I bought the bag to carry it in as well and it came through the flight there, many miles of pushing over cobblestones and other interesting terrain and the flight back in good condition. And now we own a chair that we can take more places and make the Old Lady more comfortable. For about $155 plus shipping for both items I don't think we could have made a better purchase.

So with that all arranged we were left with just one big problem - Ken's passport! I shall tell you about that in the next installment.

I was hoping we wouldn't reach this point...

2006-12-31T15:52:00.000-05:00

but we're here and it's still 2006. I am worried about the new year - I hope that things will get better but don't have any cofidence that it will happen.

3000 soldiers dead

I am still here

2006-12-07T13:14:00.000-05:00

No, I haven't disappeared totally. I have been playing around over on Vox.
Come on over and see My New Vox Crow Blog

One less bastard to deal with...

2006-12-04T10:35:00.000-05:00

Bolton's out, thank goodness.

WASHINGTON - Unable to win Senate confirmation, U.N. Ambassador John Bolton will step down when his temporary appointment expires within weeks, the White House said Monday.

Bolton's nomination has languished in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee for more than a year, blocked by Democrats and several Republicans. Sen. Lincoln Chafee (news, bio, voting record), a moderate Republican who lost in the midterm elections Nov. 7 that swept Democrats to power in both houses of Congress, was adamantly opposed to Bolton.

Critics have questioned Bolton's brusque style and whether he could be an effective public servant who could help bring reform to the U.N.

President Bush, in a statement, said he was "deeply disappointed that a handful of United States senators prevented Ambassador Bolton from receiving the up or down vote he deserved in the Senate."

Wha.

So you want to vote Republican

2006-10-26T11:24:00.000-04:00

Well- Here are a few good reasons why you should:

Two or Three Reasons to Vote GOP on November 7

Elections coming up, folks

2006-10-24T18:14:00.000-04:00

Here are some interesting articles about some of the races

--AZ-Sen: Jon Kyl

--AZ-01: Rick Renzi

--AZ-05: J.D. Hayworth

--CA-04: John Doolittle

--CA-11: Richard Pombo

--CA-50: Brian Bilbray

--CO-04: Marilyn Musgrave

--CO-05: Doug Lamborn

--CO-07: Rick O'Donnell

--CT-04: Christopher Shays

--FL-13: Vernon Buchanan

--FL-16: Joe Negron

--FL-22: Clay Shaw

--ID-01: Bill Sali

--IL-06: Peter Roskam

--IL-10: Mark Kirk

--IL-14: Dennis Hastert

--IN-02: Chris Chocola

--IN-08: John Hostettler

--IA-01: Mike Whalen

--KS-02: Jim Ryun

--KY-03: Anne Northup

--KY-04: Geoff Davis

--MD-Sen: Michael Steele

--MN-01: Gil Gutknecht

--MN-06: Michele Bachmann

--MO-Sen: Jim Talent

--MT-Sen: Conrad Burns

--NV-03: Jon Porter

--NH-02: Charlie Bass

--NJ-07: Mike Ferguson

--NM-01: Heather Wilson

--NY-03: Peter King

--NY-20: John Sweeney

--NY-26: Tom Reynolds

--NY-29: Randy Kuhl

--NC-08: Robin Hayes

--NC-11: Charles Taylor

--OH-01: Steve Chabot

--OH-02: Jean Schmidt

--OH-15: Deborah Pryce

--OH-18: Joy Padgett

--PA-04: Melissa Hart

--PA-07: Curt Weldon

--PA-08: Mike Fitzpatrick

--PA-10: Don Sherwood

--RI-Sen: Lincoln Chafee

--TN-Sen: Bob Corker

--VA-Sen: George Allen

--VA-10: Frank Wolf

--WA-Sen: Mike McGavick

--WA-08: Dave Reichert

Old and grey and full of sleep

2006-10-06T20:01:00.000-04:00

So very tired
Originally uploaded by Storm.
But Saturday she stopped eating - and all she was doing since then is sleep. She didn't seem to have any acute pain - but something was not right. So we have decided to put her to sleep last evening It was a hard decision but I think my responsibility was to make sure she is not suffering and although she wasn't in terrible pain you could tell something was wrong.

I am happy that she got to have a little of a normal autumn - her favorite time of year. Even though she wasn't an "outdoor dog" and preferred the comfort of the indoors - she did love the fall and she had a few pretty good walks through the fields. Even got a little silly now and then and tried to hucklebutt even though her old legs really couldn't take it any more.

The house was very quiet this morning - no one to talk to while I made my breakfast and no one to make breakfast for. The old lady will be very lonely during the day without her companion.

2.5 Years

2006-08-18T13:32:00.000-04:00

Ken Mosaic
Originally uploaded by Storm.
On Monday Ken and I will have been going out for 2.5 years and so in honor of the 2.5 anniversary I thought I would pick out 10 things I love about Ken for the occasion.

10) Ken is almost always happy - he so rarely has a "bad day".
9) When I first started going out with him I thought he was very cool - and I still do.
8) He gets me to do things I never would have done on my own - like ride a roller coaster or go to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
7) He is in touch with his feminine side - it makes him a wonderful and true companion - not just a lover but also a real friend.
6) He can laugh at himself but has a good sense of self-worth.
5) He gets along with my mother - One of the things that made me love him was that he came over and played Crazy Eights with me and the old lady. You are NOT going to find a man like that every day.
4) He reads a lot!
3) He enjoys my bitchiness and helps me through my bad days.
2) Enthusiasm! He makes everything better - a movie, a dinner out, a walk, being lazy, exercising - anything is better with Ken there. Remember Ac'cent the flavor enhancer? That's Ken - he makes everything more flavorful.
1) He sees many things about me as I see myself and that is so unbelievably rare - that each time he says something that shows me that he really does understand how I think and feel - I am astonished.

On top of it all he is also unbelievably cute - How can you resist him? I said when we first started going out it was like finding a rare jewel that had been thrown out by someone who did not value it. I will never make that mistake.

Randoms

2006-08-11T13:27:00.000-04:00

Have you seen this crazy flower at the Brooklyn Botanical Garden? They even have a Corpse Flower webcam . This is one of those thing like whale sharks and the cave of Lascaux that make me just love this world. People wake up - how can you NOT want to protect and save this world with things like that in it?

Went to see Talladega Nights last night with the old lady. Sorry - I thought it was distinctly un-funny. Not because of the subject matter surprisingly - but because I feel like they missed the mark with almost every joke. There was potential there and they blew it. I think they didn't go far enough to the satirical side and so some of the lines came out too straight. Too bad as the old lady really want to laugh I think. We did see a preview for Night at the Museum with Ben Stiller that looks awesome.

There are a bunch of things bothering me lately about the world but I am going to refrain from mentioning them here and now.

So instead I am planning to go to the Brattleboro Farmer's Market - one of my all time favorite places that I have not been to yet this summer. They have all kinds of good food - a woman from Mali makes this really good chicken and rice and serves it with a wicked hot sauce! Or maybe some nice Thai noodles. who knows!

Oh and Ken reminded me that this weekend is the Springfield Moonlight Madness so we will probably be stopping over there to look around this evening.

Crazy Hot

2006-08-03T06:25:00.000-04:00

It's 80 degrees.
It's 6 a.m.
in Vermont.

I don't think I have ever woken up to this kind of heat here.

There are no air conditioners to be found. I know two friends who were out looking yesterday and nothing.

I am worried how my chickens will make it through they hate the heat.

The house has not cooled down at all at night. Thank heavens I have air-conditioning in the living room for the old lady.

An Inconvenient Truth

2006-07-30T18:11:00.000-04:00

See it.

Kari's first jump

2006-07-13T14:35:00.000-04:00

Kari's first jump
Originally uploaded by Boered.

whoo hoo! Get your butt in the air!

My namesake

2006-07-13T14:30:00.000-04:00

Kari
Originally uploaded by Boered.

Finally I have a baby named after me! Took a while and much nagging but here she is. Little Kari

One Step Forward, Two Steps Back

2006-07-08T10:32:00.000-04:00

The old lady, who had been dong so much better lately - even getting out and gardening - fell down our front steps yesterday morning. Backwards. Onto her walking stick. Damnation.

Well it could have been worse - she did crack a vertebrae in her lower back probably right where she hit the walking stick. But she didn't break a hip, or shatter the vertebrae so badly she needs an operation.

However - this means a couple of months of pain. A couple of months of me doing more. And a couple of months of not going anywhere.

Oh well. Ken was out of vacation anyway. I will use my remaining days taking the old lady top the doctor and maybe just working around the house - which I admit is a big giagantic mess.

Crap though, you know? So rather than getting my hair cut this weekend and going down to Tangle wood to see the BSO - we're sitting home. I am going to clean and work in the garden. Oh and drink margaritas in the evening. What the hell!

Friday Chicken Blogging

2006-06-30T18:58:00.000-04:00

Just because I was getting tired of the cat blogging.

Yippee

2006-06-14T13:12:00.000-04:00

My Boye Needlemaster knitting needle set arrived! Got it on eBay for a total (including shipping) of $30. Took me about 20 auctions to get it that low but I fianlly made it. I probably could have gotten it a bit cheaper if I wanted to keep trying - but I want to start my cabled ruana soon and I really needed this set. Think about it $30 for all those needled sizes/lengths when I could have spent over $10 just for one circular needle. Well worth it!

Am also waiting for a delivery of the best shoes I have ever seen - but I will wait and talk about them for when they arrive so I can model them.

Catch up

2006-06-11T17:19:00.000-04:00

OK let's see... rain rain rain, more rain, warm rain, a downpour, sprinkles, some rain and a wee glinpse of sun. Then rain and rain and wind and rain and more wind and now clouds and wind and a threat of rain. That's about it.

Tulip is getting very old - just calculated th other day and it is as iff she were over a hundred. So the fact that her back legs are going shouldn't be a surprise. She spends most of the day sleeping but then at hight she wanders around and bumps into things. Crazy old girl. Won't eat much of anything anymore either.

I figured out a cable pattern for the ruana I am going to knit - I am basically making this up on my own - just taking the measurements from Big Girl Knits. Going to use Knit Picks Wool of the Andes in Winter Night. It is brighter than I orginally thought about the ruana but after swatching that and the Ink color of Elann's Highland Wool I decided that the cables would benefit from a lighter color. And hey - the price doesn't hurt. Anyway hoping to get started this week - if the old lady will give me a break from digging and planting!

Life moves along

2006-05-11T18:43:00.000-04:00

I know - I haven't been around lately. I think there have been so MANY things I want to blog about that I felt overwhelmed to even start.

So I am checking in with the world with some non-important things. I bought the "Big Girl Knits" by Jillian Moreno and Amy Singer, based on comments about its first section telling you how to change a pattern to match your own shape. It is a great book and I suggest for almost every shape. I also fell in love with the BluebelleRuana - I had never really know about ruanas and I like them so much more than a poncho.

So I decided that I would make this - but then there was the price of the suggested yarn - too pricy for me! And then I began to sketch out the pattern as there is no diagram for this pattern and i realized there was no way I would get through all that i-cord. Just not gonna happen. So I decided I would take the idea of ruana and design my own using cable patterns from the Viking Knits book from Elsebeth Lavold.

I have ordered two skeins of yarn from Knitpicks and two from Elann so I can swatch with 4 different colors and two types of yran to see what I like best. I may or may not ever finish this project but I am excited about it. It will be fun to see what I can design myself and since the ruana is basically a big rectangle with a slit in the middle I will end with little sewing.

Things we take for granted

2006-04-24T15:34:00.000-04:00

What if you didn't have money for tampons or pads? I never thought about this but often women living in shelters don't. Seventh Generation one of my favorite companies) is helping to supply homeless women with menstrual supplies.

All you have to do it make a virtual donation by going to their web page and following directions. It won't cost you anything and only takes a few seconds.

They also have an interesting request up for people interested in spending the month of August traveling the West (Colorado, Washington, California and Oregon) "talking to women (and men) about menstruation, hand-delivering product donations to area shelters, and spreading the good word about the importance of natural feminine care while blogging, photo-snapping, along the way. "

To sign up go to the Applicate page and enter your info to receive contest details. If I wasn't all grown up and tied to a job etc I would be tempted!

Coop Cleaning Day

2006-04-15T09:59:00.000-04:00

So I need to clean the chicken coop. Over the winter the chickens managed to pull apart 2 entire bales of hay. Which means I have a matted smelly poopy dusty job ahead of me. I hate the bi-yearly cleaning anyway - but the hay is going to make it that much worse. yuck.

Also it is 62 degrees already and muggy. Maybe it's too hot to clean the coop? What do you think?

all right, all right, I'm going.....

Spring's HERE!!!

2006-04-14T09:38:00.000-04:00

I walked to work this morning and it was wonderful out. I love the morning even though I am not a morning person, actually probably because I am not a morning person.

And even though we are having a rather dry Spring I give you one of my favorite poets.

in Just-
spring when the world is mud-
luscious the little
lame balloonman

whistles far and wee

and eddieandbill come
running from marbles and
piracies and it's
spring

when the world is puddle-wonderful

the queer
old balloonman whistles
far and wee
and bettyandisbel come dancing

from hop-scotch and jump-rope and

it's
spring
and
the

goat-footed

balloonMan whistles
far
and
wee

-- e. e. cummings

Great Quote

2006-04-13T11:51:00.000-04:00

Thanks to Jeanne at Body and Soul

"War is a coward's escape from the problems of peace." -- William Sloane Coffin

I Hate The Damned Time Change

2006-04-05T07:29:00.000-04:00

Just thought you would like to know.

Excitement -Part 2

2006-04-04T15:27:00.000-04:00

So we managed to get some sleep for a few hours Sunday morning. It didn't help that it was change of daylight savings time to boot. Late morning we arranged to take Ken's mother into the hospital to visit his father and see what was going on. While I was outside moving my car etc the neighbors came over to see how everything was and so Ken and I got into conversation with them. In the meanwhile his mother was getting ready and finally came out saying she was ready to go. Ken said - but wait! I need some of my stuff from inside at which point his mother realized she had left her pocketbook inside and we were locked out.

OK - in retrospect it makes for an amusing tale - but not at the time. I trotted around the house behind Ken as he paced rapidly from door to window to door looking for a way in. It was determined that one of the windows in reach was open and Ken began to step on the outside water spigot. I mentioned sweetly that he was perhaps a little too heavy to stand on that. Luckily there were some large shrubs right there - nice old rhododendrons that could support me. So up I went and into the house. I have a nice line of bruises across my right leg as that took most of my weight as I balanced on the window sill. It's been a long time since I entered a house that way. Made me nostalgic for the good old days when my mother would forget and lock the back door. Of course I didn't have a crazy dog trying to bite me as I contorted myself to get a foot on the floor. Poor old Tippy was always more intent on biting people than on recognizing those he shouldn't bite.

After that adventure we headed into the hospital where we found that Ken's father had heart problems which is probably what made him pass out and fall down the stairs. He has been having heart pains for a year and didn't tell anyone! Luckily the cardiologist came in while we were there and we got the whole scoop. - Probably athrosclerosis; might need angioplasty or might need a heart bypass.

Well we found out last night that it is a bypass and so Ken has headed back down to MA as the operation is tomorrow. He plans to stay through tomorrow then come back here and head back to MA over the weekend so as to portion out his remaining days off for the year.

Oh these old people!

Excitement

2006-04-03T17:17:00.000-04:00

I managed to send a few pictures to the blog (below) from my phone Saturday night. For some reason after NOT being able to make it work - it now finally posts them - but posts them in duplicate. Most that I sent posted double but one posted triple. Don't know what is up with that .

Saturday Ken got back home about 1:30 and went to rest for a while as we didn't need to head back down to MA until about 5. I took a nap too - which managed to make me all groggy, but once we hit the road my head began to clear. We made such good time that we ended up in Worcester just after 7 and had time to waste. So we got me a sandwich at D'Angelos and walked down Highland Street.

Got to Vincent's about 8 pm and that was still a bit early. So I started with a margarita and admired the decor. Lots of cool pictures - many old panoramic photos of Worcester. There are also lots of stuffed animals - some of which I had trouble identifying.

About 7 :15 or so George and Ernie arrived with Scott and Maro following shortly after. Maro and I had a good time talking - she loves Lush too. And she says that Scott likes it too - and will willingly go into the store with her!

The show was great - Ken was nervous but everything went really well. George had brought his family and I was amused for a while by his brother's girl friend - she was a pisser. Told me quite a few times that she was Portuguese - well yeah - I had kind of picked that up right away! She was amusing and I was sorry that they left early.

The time flew by and I was surprised when 1 a.m. rolled around. The guys packed up and we were off.

Unfortunately when we got back to Ken's house his mother had left a note that his father had fallen down the cellar stairs earlier in the evening and was in the hospital. That ended the night on a somber note. To be continued.

Image001.jpeg

2006-04-01T23:16:00.001-05:00

Image001.jpeg
Originally uploaded by Storm.

Image003.jpeg

2006-04-01T22:20:00.001-05:00

Image003.jpeg
Originally uploaded by Storm.

Image000.jpeg

2006-04-01T21:24:00.001-05:00

Image000.jpeg
Originally uploaded by Storm.

Can't think of a title...

2006-04-01T08:29:00.000-05:00

Anyway. I am up. It has not started raining yet although it look semi-cloudy out. It does say we're going to have thunderstorms today. Looks like that is more likely here than in Wocester.

Watched Howl's Moving Castle last night. An odd movie. I don't know if something gets lost in translation or if Miyazaki is so into the visuals that he doesn't care if the plot seems to make any sense or not. Anyway - like all his movies it is beautiful. It really should be seen on the big screen.

And look what was on Make Magazine blog this morning! A link to a free download of a paper craft Howls Castle. Took me a bit to figure out what I was downloading from the Japanese site. And how knows if I will ever put it together but I have it if I want to.

Also I looked on PaperbackSwap.com and ordered one of Diana Wynne Jones's books. Not "Howl's Moving Castle" as they didn't have that - but "A Sudden Wild Magic". If I like it then maybe I will look for Howl's too.

So it's 8:30 and I have now been up too long to go back to sleep. I think I will get myself out for a walk this morning. My heels hurt - but I will do some good stretching.

Pretty good Friday

2006-03-31T19:29:00.000-05:00

Possible new glasses
Originally uploaded by Storm.

There is nothing in the world like a sunny day! It makes me feel so good. And today it got up over 70 degrees! Crazy huh?

Anyway I took the old lady to an ENT appointment at 2:30 and did not have to go back to work. SO afterwards we stopped at the optometrist to drop off her glasses to have a new prescription put in and I tried on some glasses there. These are the ones I think I would like. I made an appointment to have my eyes checked - I know I need a new prescription. And they will probably try and talk me into bifocals. But I don't want bifocals - perhaps it is pure vanity, but I think I will put up wearing reading glasses separately for a while.

Tomorrow Ken should be back from MA to pick me up in the early afternoon and then we will head back down in time for him to set up for his show tomorrow night.

OH! I almost forgot - I EXERCISED tonight. Yes it's true I went out for a three mile walk. I don't think my heels can stand running anymore, but I did some speed walking. I feel pretty good and just may go out tomorrow morning. See what a little sunlight does for you?

Exercising!
Originally uploaded by Storm.

Time Flies

2006-03-30T18:29:00.000-05:00

Where has the week gone? And yes I know it's Thursday but I keep feeling like it's Friday. A combination of the nice weather (finally) and the fact that Ken is off to MA this evening.

We've had a couple of weeks of ups and downs and ups. I end with up because I think we are on an up swing. After getting the old lady totally off Topamax - and sometime I will come back to this and document the craziness of that drug - we also got appointments back down in Boston. So April 7th we are back to Brigham and Women's to see - a cardiologist, a dermatologist and a Behavioral Neurologist. It's gonna be a full day let me tell you! Also started her with a new new primary care doctor up here at Grace Cottage. I am a little disappointed that he hasn't answered her call about her swollen feet/ankles though. AND I got her down to Bratt to see a ophtamologist. SO you can see why sometimes I simply freak out about the sheer amount of time I am spending away from work and taking her to doctors. OH and I didn't mention that she also had a CT scan the week before last at Dartmouth (half a day off) and I have to take her to an ENT tomorrow and leave work early again?

Anyhow as I mentioned last Friday Ken and his son and I went to see V for Vendetta. We had dinner out first at the Eagle Tavern in Newport NH. That was fun - B and I got to make fun of Ken together. B also got to make fun of me and I got to be all sarcastic - which I think he likes. Between that and the movie things went really really well. I do like the kid. He has a good sense of humor, he is dry and sarcastic, and yes kind of geeky. But underneath you can see that he is really a good kid and thinks a lot about what is going on. I think it was the most relaxed with him that I have been. And the most relaxed he has been around me.

Unfortunatly some other stuff happened that weekend so it wasn't a total sucess. But I think we are all coming out of that funk.

Ken and Cold Duck are performing at Vincent’s on Suffolk Street in Worcester this Saturday night. He's got a mention in Charlene Arsenault's column in the Worcester Magazine. (Thanks Charlene!) He has already headed down to MA so he can get a little practice in before the gig. He is coming back to get me Saturday morning ( as his car is in the shop and he's got mine). I wish I could have gone down tonight with him. But between the old lady and work it wasn't possible.

The one thing that sucks (and this is really bothering me) is that the weather this week has been GREAT but guess what? That's right - rain again on SAaturday. What the hell is going on? Last Saturday I was so happy to wake up and see the sun that I went right out early and raked the front garden, but as I went alog it got cloudier and cloudier and colder and colder. From Saturday noon on it was awful That flat cold depressing sky. I don't want another weekend like that.

What else has been going on? Oh I know - I have been trying to get my taxes together and done. I use Turbo Tax which I love, but the old lady doesn't trust me to do hers. Like H and R Block is going to be better. Hey - I have seen what they do now - exactly what I do with Turbo Tax. I am going to work on her to let me do them. Why pay H&R $200 when I can do just as good a job? Anyway that brings me to my shocking discovery of the day....

I stopped at the bank to get papers out of the safty deposit box so that I can at least pull all the old lady's tax papers together. While looking through them to find everything I needed I found Tulip's papers. Now all these years for some reason it stuck in my head that she was born in April, but guess what - her birthday is March 16th! The poor old thing is already 14 years old! And we didn't have a party. I feel awful. So here's to you Mrs. Schnoodleheimer - Happy Birthday.

Sleepy Tulip
Originally uploaded by Storm.

Schnoodle
Originally uploaded by Storm.

V!

2006-03-25T00:58:00.000-05:00

Just saw V for Vendetta. Loved it. A lot.

Also had a lovely time with Ken and his son. Really a nice night.

But go see the movie.

At Loose Ends

2006-03-22T20:31:00.000-05:00

I am both stressed and bored. - AS Ken said that's a dangerous combination. Unfortunately there are no bars around here any more and I am too lazy to go anywhere. Ken’s out at a friends. The old lady is sleeping. So it's just me.

So I am reading and commenting on other people's blogs. And looking at Flickr pictures. It is interesting to see pictures others have taken of the same things you have. I love Flickr!

I could blog about what's been going on lately - but I am too lazy. Suffice it to say that things have been up and way way down.

But I am working on it. Ken's a big help - more than a big help - he is the best thing ever happen to me. Sappy perhaps, but true. I think that there are certain people who just fit together well at certain times. 10 Years ago I don't think we would have fit so well. But now we complement each other perfectly.

Anti-Consumer

2006-03-15T22:04:00.000-05:00

OK - I admit I am a bit of an anti-Consumer police person. NO! do not buy at Wal-mart! And you all know the Gap is evil too, right?

But here's some interesting facts - Urban Outfitter, Anthropologie and Free People are owned by the same company. And their president Richard Hayne is a big supporter of... wait for it... Sen Rick Santorum (ruff ruff).

And how about Chipotle, which seems so wholesome and good? Owned by McDonalds!

As the Common Dreams article says

"Rather than avoid every company on a list put out by a boycotting campaign, consumers should decide for themselves what their values are and which companies they do and do not wish to support. The trouble is, it's harder than it should be to find and keep track of the information it takes to make these decisions -- which is why consumers, even those who strive to shop ethically, find it so difficult to do so."

We can only do our best to decide which evil is the least evil. And perhaps join the Church of Stop Shopping and follow the Reverend Billy. Or at least use our influence on these companies to try their bext to be socially responsible,

Remember just because it's cheap or chic doesn't mean that it isn't hurting someone.

Here I am

2006-03-11T16:28:00.000-05:00

I am in the Inn - Isaac Harding House on Harvard St in Cambridge. It is very quaint. They have internet access obviously - but it's a mac which always throws me - makes me feel like the non- computer professional public.

Anyway Ken's practicing in Hudson. I am going to wander around and then eventaully meet up with him at TOAD as about 9 p.m. I was wrong about then they are playing - it will be more like 10 pm than 8 - but hey what do I know!

Tangled Weekend SOlution

2006-03-11T08:36:00.000-05:00

Tangled Necklace Solution
Originally uploaded by Storm.

Getting ready to go away for the weekend last night I thought of this marvelous was to keep an unruly necklace tamed.

I was very proud of myself and so I post it here to help you, my loyal and numerous readers.

And if you happen to be in Porter Square, Cambridge this evening stop into TOAD
That's my boyfriend playing in the opening band, like 8 to 10 p.m. I think. He's the cute one. Buy me a drink if you like! I won't say no.

Spring up people!

2006-03-10T15:45:00.000-05:00

The old lady just sent me this:

-----Original Message-----

From: The Old Lady
Sent: Friday, March 10, 2006 3:36 PM
To: Her best
Daughter
Subject: RED WINGS

I just awoke from a long nap to
discover a perfectly enormous flock of
red wings in both the front and back
yards - I'd bet 100 altogether and
I have the impression they just arrived
together from the south- isnt
that neat? I dont recall ever seeing a huge
flock of redwings like this
before- just a few at a tiime other years.

Spring is here! and I am going to Boston for the weekend.! wheee!

South Dakota Taliban

2006-03-09T17:06:00.000-05:00

Via Bitch|Lab:

Sexist Asshat, Senator William M. Napoli.

Let's get 'em.

Town Meeting 2006

2006-03-07T19:50:00.000-05:00

Town Meeting 2006
Originally uploaded by Storm.

I thought I was going to write a big post about town meeting, but I am not in a big writing mood. So I will start typing and see what happens.

Last night was town meeting, "the practice of direct democracy". At town meeting we get to discuss and vote on the amount of the school budget, the amount of the town budget, approve town expenditures and vote on other articles that are brought before the town.

Most towns hold their meeting on the first Tuesday in March and then have their Australian Ballot (what the rest of the country considers democracy) the following day as we do here in Chester.

Town Meeting is a chance for the people of the town to come together and speak about the issues at hand. They can ask for clarification of issues and try to convince others to vote in a certain way.

I love town meeting. The first one I went to was three hours of fun. Really - you can not imagine the thrill of it. We are talking and voting for the way our town is run. We get to hear arguments for and against the issues. Even though most articles up for the vote have to do with finance there is something unbelievably exciting - unbelieveably American - about being able to say AYE! or NO! to an article.

I love it. Ken went with me this year and was of the opinion (obviously shared by others) that the volume that you say AYE or NO at makes a difference. We also sat in the front row so that increased our affect on the vote ;)

This year we had the argument-rousing ARTICLE 18 "To see if the Town of Chester will vote to approtiate the sum of Ten Thousand Dollars ($10,000) to be used to properly display and preserve our Town's Historic Treasures, artifacts such as 18th Century Letters and Documents, large amounts of Clothing and 1000's of Postcards" which took us quite some discussion (including an amendment to reduce the amount to $3000) but did eventually pass after a "Division of the House". Oh by what I think about 20 votes.

Then after much talk about all the other articles asking for money - we got to ARTICLE 25: "Shall our State Legislators support legislation that will protect young girls by requiring clinics to notify at least one parent prior to providing a surgical or chemical abortion to their minor daughter, with special provisions to protect girls in abusive situations. (By Petition).

Article 25, anticipated , dreaded. And so it came up to vote. Ken said afterwards that he felt me tense up as Bill Dakin, the town moderator, read it. And then.... and then... before a motion was even made a man stood up, jumped the gun, and said he was making a motion to table the article. "Table the article"? I had never known you could do that. What a stroke of genius. His name was Steve something. I was so flabbergasted I couldn't even follow.

Bill Dakin reminded us that FIRST the article must be moved and seconded - which it was and then BOOM! Somehow because of the surprise factor the motion to table it was moved and seconded before any of the supporters could argue for it. They tried but they had to speak not to the ARTICLE itself but the motion that it should be tabled because it was not an appropriate subject for Town Meeting. And BOOM we voted and BOOM due to the "loudness factor" we had to Divide the House. And the motion to table passed something like 78 to 52. And this was at 9:45 p.m. after 2 hours and 45 minutes of other wrangling.

Truely it was a thing of beauty. We never needed to argue for or against the article itself. They were headed off at the pass. The wind was taken from their sails. Really a stroke of genius.

And we were home by 10 p.m. HA!

Oh and I forgot - all the people who stood up in favor of bringing the Article to a vote (and I think by extension all in favor of the Article itself) were old men. Does that creep you out just a little bit? That some 60 or 70 or 80 year old man is thinking a lot about under-age girls getting pregnant? It creeps me out.

Heroes pass: Octavia Butler

2006-02-27T07:44:00.000-05:00

Octavia Butler has died at the age of 58 of an accident.

Suddenly it seems that all the heroes are going and who will take their place?

What I liked best about Ms Butler was her ability to make you empathize with an alien being; whther it was a person of another sex , another race or from another planet. When I reflect on it, that quality is what draws me to women science fiction writers in general.

As I looked at her list of books I find that I haven't read as many as I thought I had. How did I miss reading "Kindred"? I think part of the problem was that a lot of her books were put out in the more expensive Trade Paper versions. I am stopping at the library tonight to see what they may have that I don't own.

The Vermont Hat

2006-02-13T18:44:00.000-05:00

Ok not the best picture - but you get the idea. Also the shape of Vermont got a little screwy becasue of the decreases at the top of the hat. But I am on a tight schedule and the hat needs to go out to Iraq tomorrow. It is very warm and the wool is very soft - I really love it. I think the hat will fit very well under a helmet. I used the same yarn I used for the skull hats I made at Christmas. Knitusa by Lane Borgosesia, a superwash bulky wool.

Overall I am pleased - although next hat I will not carry the pattern so far up.

Kiri is done! and the hat!

2006-02-12T21:28:00.000-05:00

Yea! I am going to wait to post a picture until after I block it. Was going to get right to that but decided that I have nowhere near enough pins and maybe I should get some blocking wires. Also I think I am going to either have to use my bed to block it or push two of the twin beds together – It is big. I did not complete the last 2 rows of the edging because I go nervous about having enough yearn to bind off and I was not going to spend another $9 just to bind off. I think I made the right choice – I may have just made it by completing the last 2 rows but probably not and then I would have been really ticked off.

Now I think I will take a break and have an ice cram soda and then maybe work on the VT hat I should complete for my friend’s son with the VT National Guard in Iraq. By the time I get it done summer will be back in the desert and he won’t be able to wear it.

9:25 pm have finished the hat for my friend's son. Will post a picture when it is done blocking. The shape of VT came out a little screwy because of the decreases at the top. I should have either made it smaller -shorter or compensated for the decreases. Well - it is a very soft wool and the hate is comfortable - so that is the main point.

The Blizzard of Aught-Six

2006-02-12T08:49:00.000-05:00

Sounds old-timey, doesn't it?

We're getting a little snow here so far- looks like it started around 6 or 6:30 this morning and we have a bit over an inch at 8:30. It is a very fine snow and falling steadily.

According to the news - they have heavy snow and freezing fog down in the Worcester area- I don't expect to see Ken until tomorrow. And I bet my friends S and B who went to Connecticut for the weekend will be there till at least Monday too.

There is also a chance of thunder snows in the lower NE areas. And the weather service says " AT THIS TIME...A WIDESPREAD SWATH OF 8 TO 14 INCHES APPEARS
LIKELY WITH EMBEDDED HIGHER AMOUNTS WHERE THUNDER ENHANCES SNOWFALL RATES." Hmm - why does thunder enhance snowfall rates? I shall have to look that one up.

Plans for the day #1 not kill the old lady. I don't know if it is the Topamax or what but she is so fixated on things lately and talks about them incessantly. She's worried about the yellow-bellied sap sucker that was in our area last summer. Has convinced herself that he has died in the hurricane down south. Is all crazy about some old books of my father's. First wanted me to go find them and has now over night come to the conclusion that we never had those books - that her failing memory is playing tricks on her. I am taking this as a reverse psychology move on me to make me go find the damned books to prove her wrong. HA! Not going to work, Old lady! I am not poking through that freezing attic. Those are just 2 of her latest obsessions. There are more - but I won't bore you with them. Most involve having me do something - like search for those damned books. ** and I haven't even recorded the hysteria ( yes I don't think hysteria is too strong a word) of Friday night when she couldn't get hold of me on my cell phone for 25 minutes - during which time I was driving home from Springfield.

#2 Try and finish that Kiri Shawl.

#3 Now that I unraveled that old dress I had - I also have a 3/4 finished sweater to unravel. It was from a Perry Ellis design from Vogue Knitting - oh probably 12 years ago. I LOVED that sweater - but heaven knows what I did with the pattern and now that I am not so skinny as I used to be I can see that it will be too short, especially in the front if you know what I mean. So no matter what, I will have to frog it. Perhaps if I find the pattern and it looks up to date enough I might try it again. I was telling someone a while ago about these almost finished projects that wouldn't fit me and whoever it was said - well why you don’t finish them as is and give them away. GIVE THEM AWAY!?! No one would ever understand the effort put into them and there are a few hundred dollars worth of yarn in there and hundreds of dollars worth of labor. I may make little presents for people - but I'm not giving away something big like that. That's right - I am selfish!

#4 Through all of the above - watch the Olympics.

Saturday's almost gone

2006-02-11T18:08:00.000-05:00

Well I was supposed to go the Worcester with Ken today. But since the weather is supposed to be so bad down there and because the old lady is totally having melt-downs about me being away I decided to stay home. So Ken is down having fun at the Lucky Dog AM 70's Show tonight and here I am with the old lady. I am definately going with him when he and his trio play in Cambridge in March though. I am hoping that I can find some one to stay with her then. Going to start asking around now to make sure I am covered. Maybe I can find someone through the visiting nurse association.

I decided that there was no way I could join the Knitting Olympics as I KNOW I will not finish something by the closing ceremonies. Howver I am trying to do knitting-type things. Besides working on the Kiri Shawl (almost done - just about ready to start the edging), I also took care of the below - frogged an almost-done DRESS from years ago and am working on getting it ready to be made into something I will actually wear. Here's the yarn dripping over the kitchen sink. It's Coco from Reynolds - 50% wool , 50% rayon, 136 yards and I have (I think) 10 skeins. More than enough for a couple of tops. I might try to start Picovoli with it.

sky

2006-02-08T11:09:00.000-05:00

Take Sky and Ask Yourself Why

Funny enough (or not) I didn't mean to post this picture here - but oh well - Here's the sky this morning thru my phone's eye. At least there is blue sky and I don't have a headache - After more than a week of headaches - let me tell you THAT is a big BIG thing. I am also a little headache shy - if you can call it that. I keep stopping what I am doing to "check" my head - do I feel soemthing? Is it coming back? OK OK - I'll stop.

Irony isn't a big enough word

2006-02-01T19:24:00.000-05:00

So that asshole says we're addicted to oil? WE are addicted to oil? My god that's like your pusher telling you you're addicted. No - it's like the fucking Pablo Escobar telling you you're an addict.

I don't have words to express my outrage. I cannot believe that not one person stood up and walked out at that point. Come ON, don't any of you son-of-bitches have any balls? DOn't any of you have any integrity?

whew.

And worst of all - he has worked the old lady up to a frenzy.

*** update 02-02-06 ***

It's OK - thank heavens - He was just lying. Man, I feel so much better now. And rather foolish - I guess everyone sitting there listening to the SOTU knew he was lying when he said it and so that's why they weren't bothered by it. Silly me.

Wendy Wasserstein

2006-01-30T19:57:00.000-05:00

Urg - I have a bad headache but had to note that Wendy Wasserstein has died.

When I went to Mt Holyoke she was such a -hmm ,what? a 'looming' name and presence. Everyone spoke of her. And after college as time went on - every time I saw her in an interview - or read something of hers - I realized more and more that she was just the kind of woman I could have been friends with.

I feel bad that she has left her little girl - but she will be a child who is loved. It is too bad that she won't get to be friends with her mother as she grew.

The San Diego Union Tribune has a nice obit.

Getting there - Kiri Shawl

2006-01-25T21:20:00.000-05:00

I am making much better progress now for some reason. It took me an entire week to get through the first skein and I managed to do 39 motif repeats. I started the second skein on Sunday and am already at the end with a total of 90 motif repeats. The yardage is obviously greater on the second. I think also that turning at the end of a row takes more time than you think. Or perhaps I tend to take breaks in between and so took more breaks on the shorter rows.

Anyway this is already about 60 inches wide and 28 inches deep. I went to the trouble to buy a fourth skein and now I don't think I will need it. Perhaps I will use it for a hat. I didn't make any progress tonight as it took a while to place all the stitches on waste yarn and then once measured to put them back on the needles. I am very pleased with how it looks.

"Their finest hour”

2006-01-25T18:12:00.000-05:00

Go Librarians, go!

Newton officials are calling their refusal to allow FBI agents access to library computers without a warrant during a terrorist threat last week “their finest hour.”

Law enforcement officials say it’s a “nightmare.”

From the Boston Herald we hear of librarians hold off the FBI for several hours until they came back with a warrent for seizure of a computer they thought had been used to email a terrorist threat to Brandeis University.

Librarians are some of the staunchest defenders of our freedoms and I am proud of the Newton Massachusetts library for standing their ground. Don't ever let them get away without following the law because your freedom is only as secure as the freedoms of the least among us.

Falling into the trap of self doubt

2006-01-25T16:00:00.000-05:00

I think that Peter Daou has hit the nail on the head with THE TRIANGLE: Matthews, Moore, Murtha, and the Media.

Even the Dems have swallowed the story of Bush's strength and their own weakness hook line and sinker. This has infuriated me to no end - and why I supported Howard Dean so strongly. He was the only one to stand up and say what needed to be said and yet so few other Dems followed out of fear of seeming out of the mainstream. So although the grass roots were with him we lacked needed the connection to both the party and the media. Think of how much he did though - went from Governor of Vermont ( "Vermont? is that part of Virginia?" ~ our customer service people have actually had that question posed by a caller) to being a serious contender for the Democratic Presidential nominee.

It is maddening and yet we have to keep trying - Howard is is in there with them now. He is building his base and someday, people, the truth will get out there. In the meantime Democrats - in your fear of seeming wishy-washy you are exactly that!

Kiri Shawl

2006-01-23T21:13:00.000-05:00

KiriShawl3

Well - I am wickedly grumpy. Had a bad dream last night and woke up and then, of course, could NOT get back to sleep. After that everything pissed me off during the day. I hate that feeling and yet I could not shake it. I got better for a while but then this evening I got all cranky again. Yes I am a crabalocker fishwife. Want to make something of it?

One a good note I am making prgress on the Kiri Shawl. I really like this pattern. Although I read comments from a bunch of people that they found it boring - it certainly isn't anymore boring than a sweater - or even a pair of socks. I think lace may be my thing. No color changes is good for me. I find that tedious.

I still love this yarn although I can tell with its hand-dyed factor the skeins vary a great deal. I don't think I would want to use it in a sweater where those variations would be more obvious.

I am well into the second ball of yarn and have calculated I should be able finish an 11th repeat of the pattern with enough yarn left for finishing. I am just starting the 8th repeat here. Once I finish this second ball I am going to put the stiches on some waste yarn to get an idea of how big it is.

Blog for Choice Day

2006-01-22T18:46:00.000-05:00

Empties

2006-01-21T17:20:00.000-05:00

Empties

Last night we had the first night-out in a long time. Ken needed to get a present for his son's birthday and I needed to do some food shopping. So we hit K-mart, BLockbuster, Hannaford's, the "Store That Shall Not Be Named", Taco Bell and then...

We went to the Hullabaloo Martini Bar (located in the Hullabaloo Coffee Co) in Claremont. Very cool little place - they had a couple of groups playing. One folksie duo joining a younger guy playing more modern stuff along with a bongo player. Drinks were reasonable. We stayed till they were all done playing - about 11 pm.

It was good to get out and try a new place. They have Jazz almost every Saturday night and I look forward to seeing that some time.

Bills Bills Bills

2006-01-19T22:29:00.000-05:00

Bills1

Know what I did for 3 hours tonight? Yup! Paid bills, organized bills, tried to make heads or tails of medicare/private insurance and long-term insurance. Asked the old lady a couple of questions about a couple of things and she got all worked up.

I am coming to realize that Topamax is part of the problem. In a way I am not sorry that she has flat out refused to up her dosage.

Anyway - after all this effort I have her check book balanced and I think I have every bill paid. Of course I haven't even looked at my own. But I will try and do that tomorrow. Which is Friday, thank heavens.

EEG Waiting room

2006-01-17T17:14:00.000-05:00

Waiting room.jpeg

Waiting in the waiting room again.

What I thought was going to be a quick one hour appointment - getting me back to work by say 11:00 a.m. the latest - turned into one of those marathon appointments again. First of all we were late getting going because I decided to be nice to the old lady and let her sleep till 6:30. As usual I was sorry almost immediately as she took her time , having her juice, and her oatmeal and her morning pills. AND she cranked about it the entire time!

So I drove like a maniac up to Dartmouth and made it just 10 minutes late. Then of course they didn't call us in for 20 minutes which allowed her to crank at me some more - "See we could have taken our time. They don't care how long you have to wait." etc. etc.

The doctor is very good though and besides the exam he wanted to get her an EEG. Which he set up but it wasn't until 10 am. And it takes and hour. And after that he talked to us again. And then sent us for some blood work. And the old lady got hungry.

so... we ended up leaving there at a little before noon and I made it in to work FINALLY by 1 p.m. Where I was greeted with a huge number of emergency requests for data and what-not.

Crabby morning

2006-01-17T07:30:00.000-05:00

We are up early to head to the Neurologist at Dartmouth. Someone is very cranky. It isn't me, or Ken, or Tulip. So you can guess who it must be. I have heard about the hour, the fact that I made an appointment for this hour, the dog ( who pooped in the house over night) the weather, her health, the hour, the state of the world, the dog, the weather, the way she looks, her hair, the stupidity of 8:30 appointments, etc. I can hardly wait for the ride! SHould be a barrel of fun.

Lurky Lurky

2006-01-15T18:10:00.000-05:00

Hey - It is National De-Lurking Week! (from Paper Napkin via Fuzzy Noodle Knits)

So people, make comments! Say hello on the blogs you read. Be bold!

Oh and this will be a floater for a while - just to see what comments I fish out.

New England Weather

2006-01-15T12:32:00.000-05:00

Snow2

What a difference a day makes! Yesterday it was 50 degrees and pouring rain. Today it is 10 degrees (and falling), with wind chills of who knows what! Everyone is a bit cranky about it. I woke up in the middle of the night to the sound of the sump pump alternating with the snow plows going by.

My Personal Day

2006-01-15T10:36:00.000-05:00

Yesterday I took myself off by myself on a "Kari Day". Ken had his son and a friend over; the weather was crappy - raining cats and dogs so the old lady didn't want to take a ride. A while ago I saw an ad on TV for Hodgepodge Handicrafts in Newport, NH. Although I got the impression that the store was just a small corner in a furniture store - they did mention they have Noro yarns so I wanted to check them out.

I wasn't expecting much - but took off up Route 91 in the fog. It did rain hard enough that I thought perhaps I should turn around at one point. And then the rivers in NH are up near flood stage again. But on I went.

I tracked the store down on a side road in Newport that looked mostly residential. The building itself looks like an old slightly dilapidated country store. I walked in the front door and saw the entry room was filled with locally spun and dyed yarns. And lots of it. Perfect stuff for felting and lots of undyed amounts too if you are into dying.

Hodgepodge Handicrafts

I pocked around there a bit still not knowing what was in store. (Get it "in store"?) When I entered the main part of the store I was immediately overwhelmed by color - Noro, Cherry Tree Hill, Elsebeth Lavold, Dale, you name it.

I spent a good hour and a half. I have to admit I don’t like Noro Yarns as much as I thought I would from hearing the hoopla about it. The colors are nice – but the yarn itself didn’t call to me.

Noro Yarns

I ended up buying some Elizabeth Austen Andes wool from Chile. It is a nice hand dyed yarn in color #05 “olive/Dijon” (or “Forest Moss” depending upon where you look) that actually reminded me of VT. It is a worsted weight and lovely and very very soft. I am going to make the Kiri Shawl by Polly Outhwaite for the old lady. I already cast on last night and have gotten 20 or so rows into it. I realize now I should have gotten more that 3 skeins, but I can go back next weekend and get some more.

So if anyone is in the Newport area – I highly recommend Hodgepodge Handicrafts on Belknap Avenue. It’s worth the trip.

A change in the air

2006-01-13T18:10:00.000-05:00

As I drove home yesterday I felt there was something different, some nimbus surrounding the evening. I was almost home when it struck me - there was still a light in the sky - it was 5:30 and it was not pitch black. Oh hallelujah, the songs and parties and general joyous noise-making have worked! We have driven the dark away and beckoned the sun back to the northlands. Couple that with the strange strange "January thaw" we are having and it feels like spring.

But don't get too happy because there is also the feeling creeping in from the back that this is not right - that we will pay somehow. Will we be hit with crippling cold? Will the maple trees suffer for this warmth? Who knows?

Took the old lady down to Boston on Wednesday - after a long wait and a semi-nuclear meltdown the neurosurgeon arrived and told us he wanted to wait another month and take another CT scan before deciding whether to do an operation or not. This perked the old lady up immensely, although it took her a while to bounce back. She dwells on things so much and always tries to imagine the worst possible outcome so she is "prepared" but all this really does is freak her out.

We have a follow-up with the neurologist who prescribed the Topamax against seizures/migraines next Tuesday. As the Neuro Nurse asked me Wednesday – “Do you still have a job?” Well yes I do – but I keep waiting to see if there will be repercussions for having to be out about once a week for all this stuff. I don’t think so – but I do feel guilty and somewhat nervous about it.

I took some pictures with my new cell phone on the way down and back, which actually helped me get through the day as I kept looking for interesting pictures that would chronicle my day. Here's my favorite, the Blanchard's "bottled" liquors store in Allston:

Blanchard's "bottled" liquors

Catch Up Entry

2006-01-09T20:58:00.000-05:00

Although I posted a New Years' entry I never finished the Christmas post – AND I have whole lotta stuff in between to chronicle. This is going to be a short and sweet entry to bring everything up to date.

Christmas day was lovely – Ken and the old lady and I had a great morning. We lollygagged around and opened our presents slowly. We just enjoyed the day and each others company. In the afternoon I start prep for dinner. I made a stuffed pork loin to do on the grill. At 5 pm I was just finishing the vegetables when the old lady complained of her hand feeling tingly. Then about 5 minutes later she was speaking in a very slurred manner. Of course first thing I thought was TIA or stroke. She did NOT want to go to the hospital. SO I let us all eat and she improved over a 5 or 10 minute time. After eating though (and it was NOT a holiday dinner at that point – simply a way to make sure we all had something to eat) I insisted on going to the Emergency room.

Honestly I cannot now remember how long we were there – but of course it was hours. I was exhausted when we got home.

We followed up with her local doctor on the 27th I think it was. The old lady admitted that she had felt tingling in the outside two fingers on her right hand at other times prior to the incident on Christmas day. She got a new blood pressure med as her pressure was up, AND the doctor did say she thought it would be unusual that a TIA would manifest itself in just two fingers.

Fast forward to New Year – New Years Eve Ken and I went with Sandy and Bob to see King Kong. That was an intense film. If you are going to see it I suggest closing your eyes as soon as the bug part starts and keeping them closed. YUCK! I of course cried at the end – ‘cause that’s what I do. Afterwards we stopped back at Sandy and Bob’s house, had some snacks and champagne, saw in the New Year and were home about 1:30 I think it was. New Years Day I had planned on nothing but relaxing. It was not to be.

We slept late and then Ken went off to take care of some things. I decided to make a dinner in the crock pot using a recipe from the new cook book my sister got me for Christmas. I was just cutting up the chicken when the old lady called me. Yup you guessed it – another TIA type incident. This time much worse- she could barely talk and the numbness/tingling had gone up her arm. We called the ambulance as she was afraid to have me drive her. I must say our local volunteer EMTs and fire department are wonderful. It was like calling out the brigades. They took her in – I straightened up a bit in the house, made sure that Ken would come back and look after Tulip and off to emergency I went. After many hours they decided to keep her. Also put her on a stronger blood thinner.

She was there until Tuesday the 3rd. Came home – had a good afternoon and a good Wednesday. Thursday she called me at work feeling awful. And I called the neuro nurses in Boston – they said go to emergency at Dartmouth. We did. Were there for 7 hours. Saw Neurosurgeons, neurologists and who knows who else. They ended up deciding that she was not having TIAs rather it could be migraines starting up or seizures resulting from the fluid on the outside of her brain. They said stop the new blood thinner – which in retrospect I realize was probably the thing giving her the really bad headaches as those only started after she was in Springfield Hospital and started on the blood thinner.

They started her on Topamax – a seizure/headache med. We have a follow-up with a neurologist next week. And this Wednesday we still need to go down to Boston to the Neurosurgeons to see what to do about the fluid around the brain. Plus she has an appointment tomorrow with the local doctor that I am insisting that she keep because maybe she can get off the new blood pressure med as it 1) makes her unbelievably sleepy so that she is doing almost nothing BUT sleeping and 2) it gives her dry mouth and with her teeth I worry about that dryness. Oh and there is a slight chance that they will keep her in Boston to do the drain of fluid right away – although I am not betting on it.

What else has been going on? Well I decided with her emergencies that I should finally break down and get a cell phone. That was a comedy of errors. Went with Ken to get us both phone (an upgrade for him and a new one for me) on Jan 2nd. Well it was a holiday so the cell company was not open so they could not activate our phones. The next day I was just going to run up and get them but decided to call first – phones were still not on – the store could not get through to the company. The NEXT day I called and they managed to turn them on – I ran up after work to get them. I noticed they were charging me $69 per phone and I said – you told me they were $49 per phone. Oh says the lackadaisical kid – that’s with the rebate. So I say –Are you going to give me the rebate form? So he looks around and around and around. Finally he finds them and off I go. Get home and decide for once in my life to be proactive and start to fill the forms out. Guess what?!? The model we got isn’t on the form. MUST CONTROL FIST OF DEATH!

On top of that – I go out and feed the chickens on Thursday night and there’s a chicken missing. It is Pinkie (so named for the color ring on her leg) She is the one that I personally operated on twice for impacted crop. She is gone – disappeared – not a trace. I could not figure it out. There is no way an animal could have gotten her out of there without a sign of blood or feathers or something. So I was guessing that when I fed them Wednesday night she popped out the door behind me – I didn’t notice and then since she was out of the coop and just loose in the barn that something got her that way.

Skip ahead – Saturday it was a nice bright sunny day so I decided to let the chickens out a bit. And since it was so bright I decided to really check the coop carefully in case Pinkie’s body was slumped in a corner somewhere and I hadn’t noticed it. I don’t know what made me look behind the hay bales I use to line the outer wall of the coop to help against the cold, and there she is! Stuck between the bales and the outer wall. Little dummy. I pulled her out and gave her talking to and she was so thirsty poor thing. In a way I am surprised she made it at least two whole days without water and right up against the cold wall.

Anyway that brings us up to Saturday morning. Maureen came to visit this past weekend. But I shall leave talk of that to another time.

Oh and so much for a short and sweet entry huh?!

The last day of the year

2005-12-31T15:14:00.000-05:00

So what's the last day good for besides a party? Well - I have been organizing myself and the old lady. It is a good day to tell everyone you love them. SO hello world - I love you** even if you drive me crazy and sometimes make me very very angry!

Today is also a good day to look at your finances and decide who needs a bit of help before the end of the year. The old lady and i just did that. She made donations to the Iroquis Indian Museum , Farm Aid and the Vermont Land Trust. I made donations to Mercy Corps, Habitat for Humanity, Planned Parenthood of New England and Girls, Inc.

So hey - if you are sitting around wondering what to do this afternoon - check out your favorite charities online and give them a little something. No amount is too small. Rememebr you can use it on your income tax too if you get it in today.

And best of all you are helping someone and there are so many who had bad years - they really need it.

**this even includes my poopy sister.

Christmas Wrap Up (Part One)

2005-12-27T15:12:00.000-05:00

I thought I would have had this all posted along with "twenty seven eight-by-ten color glossy photographs with circles
and arrows and a paragraph on the back of each one explaining what each one was," on Christmas evening after we had all settled down from our dinner and were feeling fat and sassy ( well fat anyway). But it was not to be as you shall find out.

Friday - December 23rd, 2005

I spent the morning shopping and it was a MAD house - with the rumors of a nor'easter coming it was all I could do to get myself out of Shaw's before being run down by insane shoppers. I told some lady who rammed my cart to "calm down, lady" but she was in such a frenzy that she wouldn't even look at me! Insanity.

The afternoon was spent starting to decorate the tree and cleaning and organizing for our friends Frank and Karen and their son Frank ( aka Spanky) to come over. I managed to get everything done just in the nick of time! I don't know how I do that but I do. We had a "meal" of chips and dips and cheese and summer sausage and shrimps cocktail and Karen brought scallops in bacon . I made Poinsettias ( from TGI Friday's recipe). They were yummy! And as usual as soon as the guests arrived I was fine and calm although a mere half hour before hand they wouldn't have recognized me for the sparks flying out of the ends of my hair and the way my eyes were rolling around in my head.

A lovely evening was had by all I think.

Saturday - December 24th, 2005 Christmas Eve

Heavens - what did we do in the morning? no idea. **edit** We did do something in the morning as my sister so nicely reminds me - we went to the feed store Christmas party. Every year on Christmas Eve (as long as it isn't a Sunday) they have mountains of meatballs both Swedish and Italian, and Chili. They also had punch and coffee. In the old days (not really that long ago) they also had a hard punch for the adults, but those days are gone unfortunately. Ken and I walked up and the place was packed. All the old farmers come out of the hills for this. It is very festive and good-neighbory. I was going to take some pictures but then thought it would weird them out a bit too much.

In the afternoon I finished decorating the tree oh! and wrapping presents. Ken was off doing his own thing and getting ready for his kids to come over that night. I of course did not get everything wrapped before I headed over here for dinner and in retrospect I am thinking what the hell did I do ALL DAY LONG? Oh well - I finally made it to his place around 6:30 and we were expecting his kids at 7. They were a bit late - but not too much and it gave me time to run back home to give the old lady some chicken parmesan. Once Ben and Whitney arrived we watched a little Frosty the Snowman and Whitney amused us with stories of wrapping presents with Ben. It is nice to see a sister and brother get along so well. The we dug right into eating. As usual the chef had prepared an excellent feast and we were all a bit starved because of the hour. Ben and I amused Whitney with out mock antagonism.

Then it was present time. I think the kids were both excited and pleased with everything they got. I was happy that Ben really seemed to like the hat I knit him. I am still a bit shy ( is that what I mean?) or perhaps tentative is a better word, with him and Whitney. I want them to like me and at the same time I don't want them to feel like they have to wear anything I knit them just because. But I really feel in this case he liked it. Plus he never has to tell anyone that I made it for him - I don't know how it is today - but I know I really started to hate wearing homemade stuff when I hit high school, but that is probably because the stuff was made to save money.

So it was really a nice evening and après gifts and a bit more banter off they went into the night to see their friends.

After they left Ken and I took a Christmas light walking tour of Chester. I took pictures of every building I deemed light-worthy (and even some I didn't). It was so quiet and lovely. We laughed and talked. I took a picture of the two of us in the gazebo on the green - with a little smooching just to make my sister gag a bit. His friend/band-mate Mike stopped and chatted for a minute as we walked through the green. I took a picture of a cat looking out the third floor of the house with the leather shop in it which prompted the guy who lives up there to peer suspiciously out the window. That ruined my ability to try and take another better picture of the cat. And it also made us move along a bit more quickly as the guy looked like he wanted to ask us what we were doing. We ended up at the Jiffy mart for coffee- those poor people were still working. Then we walked leisurely back to Ken's house and then packed up and moved to my house for the night.

As I still had stuff to wrap - I got that done - piled everything under the tree and collapsed exhausted into bed to await Santa.

What the Hell is that Stuff?

2005-12-22T19:59:00.000-05:00

When I first started this blog I conceived of it as a Knit Blog with a little of my life etc thrown in. Well as you can tell it is mostly my life and subjects that get me all riled up with a little teensy weensy bit of knitting thrown in. Mostly because I never seem to finish anything I knit.

So here you go. These are pulse warmers I started and basically finished long long ago. They are made of some unknown acrylic that I had left over from a monster of a lace throw I made when my friend Maureen had her first child lo these 16 years ago. It was a monster because my gauge was way off - but I just went on ahead and it turned out HUGE and in retrospect nothing that you would put an infant near as her little fingers would get all wound up in the laciness of the thing and she would probably lose some digits from tourniquet action before you could get her out of it.

ANYWAY, I had this stuff left over and used I think a pattern from Interweave Knits. The things were really finished and all I needed to do is a 3 needle bind off on the second one. Which I did the other night and then decided they were too plain to give as a gift. So I got out some purple mohair that I had once knit half a sweater from (and which there is no use finishing now as I am not quite the same size as I used to be) and made some felted flowers. And then I put some lovely beads in the middle of them and sewed them to safety pins – just in case my friend thought they were to froofy. She could always use them as pins. In the end she was very impressed with them (probably mostly that I had actually finished them). They were gifted on Wednesday and loved even if the flowers were still damp.

Mattel and American Girl cuts support of Girl's Inc.

2005-12-22T17:01:00.000-05:00

OK - I think it is time for everyone who thinks that a group with a mission "to help girls develop their self-esteem and self-reliance" is a group worthy of support to let Mattel and American Girl.

Girls Inc. formerly Girls Clubs of America has been working for 141 years to support and encourage girls.

Just because Girls Inc. also thinks girls should learn about birth control, and because they support a girl's right to control her own body AND (I think we are hitting on something here) because they think "Girls have the right to be themselves and to resist gender stereotypes" (yes, people I think they are talking about ... shhh ... lesbians) well the "conservative consumer base" has gotten their knickers in a twist. And somehow they have convinced Mattel and American Girl to drop their support of Girls Inc. according to this ABC report, Dolls Draw Conservatives' Ire. (Thanks to Norwegianity for the tip)

What's next Mattel? How about an American Girl that grows up to have 8 children and die in childbirth? How about an American Girl who is taught that her main role in life is to be a good wife and is married to a 60 year old when she is 15? How about an American Girl who keeps her mouth shut and "honors" her husband and is killed by him in a fit of jealousy after years of being beaten? There're some real American girl role models for you!

This really bites my ass - can no one stand up to these people? And why is their boycott so much more scary than say the boycott the supporters of Girls Inc. put on?

Well people let's tell them how we feel.
Here's a handy form at American Girl to tell them how you feel: http://www.americangirl.com/emailus/index.html

Here's some nice contact info for Mattel. I think they might like to get a call from you - or maybe a letter? Or dare I say - both?
Mattel, Inc.
333 Continental Boulevard
El Segundo, CA 90245-5012
310-252-2000 tel
310- 252-2180 fax

+++++++++
Update 7:16 p.m.
Here's something else I found while searching about this (I won't link as it is a bigoted site):

"Under pressure from parents, the "I can" bands were pulled from their main sales channel, the 1,700-store Bath & Body Works chain."

Maybe Bath and Body Works need a call - here's their web feedback form.

Five....O'clock.... in the MORNING

2005-12-22T05:11:00.000-05:00

I know - some of you people are up at this time everyday, but not me. We're up and getting ready to go down to Boston again. The old lady slept like 2 hours she said - so she will be a wonder to travel with. She doesn't EVER sleep in the car - instead she gets cranky and talks and talks even though she is exhausted.

We are going for a followuip to last week's emergency appointment. We are hoping that the adjustment they made then has gotten rid of the fluid building up around her brain. She is definately better - but if the fluid isn't gone from the outside we may be lookng at another operation. I certainly hope not!

I have to jump in the shower and then we're on our way - so perhaps I will post more once I am down there.

Solstice rising

2005-12-21T12:42:00.000-05:00

A Clip of the sun rising over Chester Depot, VT

Here Comes the Sun! 7:32 AM December 21, 2005 Solstice

2005-12-21T12:07:00.000-05:00

First Touch of sun on the hill 7:23 AM December 21, 2005 Solstice

2005-12-21T12:06:00.000-05:00

Dawn 7:18 AM Decmber 21, 2005 Solstice

2005-12-21T12:04:00.000-05:00

Welcome Sun!

2005-12-21T07:50:00.000-05:00

The Solstice dawned bright and clear and beautiful in my little town. I will put some pictures up once my camera warms up. It is cooold out there. Just a little below zero. I went out at 7:18 to get a picture of the exact time of our dawn and then waited and waited and waited for the sun to actually rise over the hills. It felt like a good half hour but was more like 13 minutes. My poor face was freezing and people were looking at me askance as they drove by. I could hear them thinking "What in HELL is she doing?"

A Plethora of Celebrations!

2005-12-20T14:32:00.000-05:00

Although tomorrow at 1:35 p.m. EST is the actual Winter Solstice we have reached our shortest day of the year here in Chester today. The day is 8 Hours and 58 minutes long and won't start getting longer until December 27th. So you can see why the ancients got worried at this time of year - sometimes it takes some sacrifices to get the sun to come back again. That is why I love Hogfather by Terry Pratchett. It takes an author with his insight and humor to point out how the merry holiday things we love have their origins in the deep dark cold of the ancient world.

So pull yourselves together people - you need to get some rituals in place to make sure that the sun will head back our way and not halt in its current position. Check out Candlegrove for ideas and for the history of the Solstice celebration as well as Yule and Saturnalia. This web site has not only a really great layout - but it is chock full of interesting facts and tons of links to more information.

So Happy Solstice. Good Yule. Have a revelous Saturnalia. Make sure to wish the god Mithras "Happy Birthday" on the 25th. And above all wake up on December 32nd and shout "Happy Hogswatch Day"!

Made it home alive

2005-12-15T21:43:00.000-05:00

Looong ride - mostly because it take an hour to get from Brigham and Women's to just past Alewife T. It's a good thing I don't live in Boston any more - I don't think I could stand it. We had no bad weather on the way home so that was nice.

I'll tell you, going over the border from MA to NH is one kind of relief but it is nothing compared to driving north from Walpole and seeing the Counecticut on your left with the moonlight streaming down on Vermont and knowing that in just a few minutes you'll be over the river and truly homeward bound.

They adjusted the old lady's shunt and we need to go back next Thursday at 10 a.m.! yikes. That's for the CT scan and then we will page the doctor when we're done - so who knows if it will be a fast or slow day. I am thinking slow.

The problem was that her shunt was still pulling too much fluid out of her venticles - which made room around her brain for fluid to pool and then begin to give pressure from the outside. So now they put the pressure way up so that it will press her brain back out toward the skull and force that fluid out. Hopefully. If that doesn't work I believe we are looking at some kind of additional surgery. Hopefully not.

While we were waiting this afternoon there was a man in the waiting room sitting alone. then his wife came out from her appointment crying - she has to have another surgery . She was probably late 50s and she came out and sat on his lap like a little girl. Poor thing - because you never know in there what people are there for - could be a tumor, could be NPH, who knows.

Oh well - we talked on the way home and the old lady is actually in pretty good spirits - I think that going and doing something has helped. AND the nuero nurse said not to worry about exercising or anything like that - so now she has permission to be a slug!

And now I have finished my beer and am gogin to go put my PJs on and wait for Ken. What a good guy! I wasn't even going to ask him to come over because I feel like the poor man doesn't get to spend enough time at his own place - but he just came right out and said he was coming over. So nice and sweet!

Patience

2005-12-15T15:02:00.000-05:00

If there is one thing I have learned with the whole doctor-hospital thing, it is patience. I gave us plenty of time to get down here to B&W. We were slightly late to the CT scan as the traffic in town is crazy - what's going on here? - and then they didn't take the old lady in for the scan for over an hour and a half.

We are done now and just waiting for the results to come up to the Neuro nurse to read. It is nice that they have internet access here in the waiting room - gives ME something to do. On the down side they have really sucky magazines - so the old lady is bored. I did run and get her a couple of pieces of pizza as she was starving! Actually, starving is good as her appetite has been bad the past few weeks.

Nicely this is not a "clinic" day so we aren't overloaded with other people here in the waiting room. Sometimes it's insane in here - seems like everyone likes to bring more than one family member along. I guess brain stuff is scarier to people than other problems.

Well - going to check my email now and then amuse the old lady. She is being very very good today considering that she doesn't feel so hot.

+++++++
4:10 pm update - Nuero nurse just came out and yes indeed the old lady's pressure is up - in fact there's fluid around her brain. Oh goody. So she has to adjust the shunt but is waiting for the nuerosurgeon to tell her how much. So see! I should have listened to my sister days ago about calling for another appointment! But seriously it is hard to tell when you should insist and when to let it ride. Oh well - we are here now and I only hope we get done and on our way before the snow/sleet starts.

Turtle weather

2005-12-15T07:41:00.000-05:00

It is the second day of "turtle weather" whic my fellow Prius owner will understand, but for the rest of you it means that it is COOOOOOOLD outside. Negative 10 or less.

Anyway we are up and (kind of) at 'em and getting ready to run down to Boston. The old lady is going to have a CT scan and hopefully have the shunt reprogrammed and then she will get BETTER. all the goddesses and gods willing.

Yesterday was a crappy crappy day - but we made it through. Hopoefully today will be a better one. We should be home before the bad weather starts and maybe even have time to stop maybe in Keene so I can run into a store and get some stocking stuffer type stuff. If not then maybe this weekend.

Caretaker blues

2005-12-13T19:07:00.000-05:00

Most of the time I am up beat and can roll with the punches – but sometimes events conspire to drag me down.,

I was exceptionally upbeat this morning and trotted happily into work, where unfortunately some people were grumpy and bound and determined to pass that grumpiness along. Well, mission accomplished.

However I did manage to bounce myself back in the afternoon a bit and felt pretty good coming home. But then I get home and just the reality of how far my mother has failed slapped me in the face. I am going to call the neurosurgeon’s office again tomorrow. But the reality is that I need to take over almost everything she has been doing. The bills she pays are in a mess. Her medical stuff is a mystery to me and I am really going to have to dive into it. Who knows if she has been paying balances we should have challenged – if they have double billed us for things or not. Who knows?

And the reality is that she is never going to be that much better. I had hoped that we could do a trip this spring maybe to Denmark. But that is going to take work – she needs to build up strength – she needs to get more limber. But with me at work she does nothing but watch TV. Sunday morning I yelled and yelled and managed to get her up and dressed and doing something. I set her up to write her Christmas cards, but then she needed to eat and then eat a little more and take her pills and literally that took and hour and a half. After which she told me that she had to lie down she was so tired. But I didn’t let her – I made her do her exercises in front of me – because I don’t think she does them even when she says she does. And then I made her do her breathing exercise with the incentive spirometer. And that was a joke – she doesn’t even move the marker at all.

I have talked to her and said that she has to TRY and try hard. Not just going through the paces without really making an effort. And she just looks at me kind of blankly. This is not the old lady I know.

All her blood tests etc. have come back negative. There doesn’t look like there is any reason (other than perhaps the pressure in her head) that she should be this way. She is a few days into the anti-depressant and I know it takes a while to kick in – but man I wish it would make a difference.

It is depressing and a daunting task to have to take care of her and know that it will be an uphill battle where I have less and less time to do anything but what is necessary. I mean I feel like I am just spending all my time picking up after her and checking that she has what she needs and then having to yell at her to get her to do anything. I just went in and turned off the TV and took the remote away and told her that she HAD to do those breathing exercises and then I stayed and made sure she did it – so there you are – 20 minutes gone just on that. Oh lord. It makes me want to cry and I still need to try and organize all these bills and medical statements in the file folder I bought this weekend.

Christmas (Holiday) Party

2005-12-12T19:50:00.000-05:00

I took my camera up to our company Christmas party this afternoon and you know what? I didn't take any pictures. I decided there were too many poopy faces and why would I want to remember that?

Anyway - I had a good time - and I won one of the $50 raffle prizes - so see my optimism payed off. And then I stayed so long I got some free drinks. Well - you can't beat that with a stick can you? Which reminds me that I have been wanting to buy the book "The Luck Factor" by Dr Richard Weisman since I heard Scott Simon interview him on NPR.

I wish it was Friday though, instead of Monday. Ah well.

My New Red Sled

2005-12-11T08:42:00.000-05:00

Today’s Random Thoughts and Actions

2005-12-10T18:28:00.000-05:00

First thought this morning – it is lovely to wake up next to a large warm man creature and realize that it is Saturday. Unfortunately said creature had to get up and work for a couple of hours – so that kinda spoiled it. However he came back after work and raked the roof for me and that is almost as good as snuggling.

I really love the Christmas season – I always feel that there may indeed be some magical wonderful joy-to-the-world type occurrence – what that will be I don’t know – but I feel the possibility at this time more than any other. And so I agree with Digby (thanks to Norwegianity for the heads up) that these “War on Christmas” idiots are taking the joy out of everything. First the idiots made me feel like I couldn’t love my country any more – because “our” country was really “their” country and if I had anything to say about it I was unpatriotic and now they are trying to make me feel like this is not my holiday if I show tolerance for others. Bottom line for me is let’s all be kind to one another. If you can’t be mindful of other’s feelings then you are no follower of Christ – and I don’t say Christian because these people have taken that word and made it as distasteful to me as the word “patriotic”. Next year, seriously, I am celebrating Hogswatch and be damned to bigots.

That said – I did manage to get the HOLIDAY lights up (I personally like to think of them as a reminder to the sun to come on back our way - see my favorite site Candle Grove for more information on the history and traditions of the season). Got the Tree and a couple of wreathes up at the Stone Village Farmers Market – Anna who runs the place is a very sweet woman and always asks about the old lady. Today she sent a little gift along for her. Then needed to get some extension cords at the hardware store – also got a red plastic sled – so Ken and I can go whizzing down a couple of hills!

Things I learned today:
1) Lindt now makes a Lindor Truffle that I have been wishing and wishing for. I never liked white chocolate until I had their white chocolate truffles – but I always though that they would be even better with a chocolate shell and the white chocolate crème filling. Well – guess what – they have them! Looks as if they are special for Christmas as the bag is all wintery. But that made my day.

2) I never noticed, but Lonny at Lisai’s told me that there are two different
Georges Duboeuf Beaujolais Nouveau wines. Those marked Beaujolais-Villages Nouveau are made with grapes from a specific approved area – while those marked Beaujolais Nouveau are from anywhere within the region. So you can suppose that the “Villages” wine will be better that the other. I am in the midst of trying to determine that. Hick!

Last item for the day – it is very difficult to be the care taker of an old person. It is worse than a child – because one could assume that the child will gradually take on more and more responsibility over time – while the old person is taking on less and less. I feel like I can never catch up on the house. I have this old woman going around and messing things up while I am away so every time I come home I need to spend most of my time cleaning up. Every once in a while I have a silent SNIT as I did today. I yell in my mind and start to freak out – because how can I get this house decorated if I always am putting away dishes and wiping spills and washing clothes and waiting on the old person and just generally scooping water out of this sinking ship I call home.!?!?!

And now you will forgive me as I have made a nice dent in the Beaujolais –Villages and need to go clean up the kitchen from the old lady’s dinner.

Oh and can I ask - why why why! does this dog need to keep clickity clickity clicking around the house? LIE DOWN TULIP!!! PLEASE! Before I go insane.

TODAY'S RANDOM PICTURE:

Green Mountain Railway Engines with my neighbor, Mr. Wyman snow blowing in front. This is the view up my road. The trains come through a number of times a day and the engineers stop to get lunch at the local store.

First snow

2005-12-09T17:05:00.000-05:00

We had our first real snow over night and most of today. About 10 inches or so here in Chester. There have been some light snows- but I don't consider them real until we get something that we have to shovel and we start wondering where the hell Chuck the snow plow guy is - and is he going to take care of us this year?

This is quite late for a first snow - the past few years we got a pretty good snow in October - and definitely some in November.

I have shoveled the walk and the drive nearest the kitchen door - of course now Chuck is on the way over! I think I hear him across the street right now. I have not raked the roof yet. It is a dilemma - I KNOW I need to do it - but I hate doing it and then I try and estimate if the snow that is there will melt over the next few days so if I did rake the roof it would have been a wasted effort. However if I guess wrong then I end up with a potentially murderous mass of packed snow and ice over the porch - And let me tell you - you do NOT want that falling on you.

Yup that is Chuck out there. Chuck is of the more-the-better school of plowers. He tends to plow the whole front door yard – I suppose there is sense in it as you are making room for the next snow and the next and the next and the next, but when you watch all you can think is What is he DOing?

Well – time to get the dinner going – Having a rotisserie chicken – mashed potatoes and POP OVERS! Almost feels like a holiday with the weather and all.

Vermont Democrat News

2005-12-08T20:53:00.000-05:00

It's a scoop folks ... I was at the Chester Democrats "House Warming" party this evening. Kathy Pellett our local rep came up with the idea to hold a party and to have people donate towards helping people in our area who can't afford their heating bills - thus the "House Warming".

It looked like there was a good turn out - I counted at least 35 people. And as things were winding down Matt Dunne came in. Matt is our local state senator for Windsor County and a very very nice person. You can tell that he is sincere in helping people and he always seems to remember everyone's name.

Well, Matt told us that he will be announcing his run for Lieutenant Governor in a couple of weeks. There is not a better person for the job. I think the best thing we can do now is make sure that our local representatives are doing the best for us they can - and then work outwards from there. Matt as Lieutenant Governor will be a great addition.

The Dark Side

2005-12-07T15:00:00.000-05:00

Anyone else see the similarities here?

Off to the Lucky Dog

2005-12-03T09:00:00.000-05:00

Ken and I are off to Worcester MA today. We'll have to be back tomorrow by noon as his band "Little Rock" is playing at a benefit over in NH. So this is going to be a quick trip. The sock hop tonight will be fun and I shall be posting pictures!

Lucky Dog Sock Hop

2005-12-01T07:09:00.000-05:00

With any luck this is where I'll be Saturday night. The sock hop is a blast and if you're in Worcester you should stop by.

Click the picture for a link.

New wool

2005-11-28T18:10:00.000-05:00

Lookie what I got!

The turquoise and red is a mohair-wool-nylon blend to make a scarf to go with my Pendleton jacket so that Ken's daughter will no longer laugh at me for wearing this scarf with it. The mohair actually matches very well - better than it looks between the two photos.

The other is a nice hand painted 100% merino for socks. Yes I am crazy but it was the annual Putney Craft Tour and I could not resists. The yarns are from Oak Grove Studio and are quite lovely. She had a ton of yarn - but was off to New Mexico for the winter - so it was buy now - or next year.