Fiber and Pulp

Flowers

It has been eight days since I posted last. Time flows over me like a river. Sigh.

Today the sun is shining and the cherry trees are in bloom - and the forsythia is yellow.

I know this because Skip and I went out this afternoon and drove a few minutes west to Clarksville to look at cars. There is an auto park near the firehouse in Clarksville where there are at least two dealers who sell all-electric vehicles - Chevrolet (the Bolt) and Nissan (the Leaf).

Our PT Cruiser is getting on in age (it's a 2003 model and has 196,000+ miles on its odometer:) and we would like to replace it with an electric car. Not a hybrid (though that has better gas mileage and lower carbon footprint than internal combustion engines) ... but a truly electric vehicle. Right now, there are about six or seven good alternatives on the marketplace. So, while we still are not 'under the gun' with necessity, we are shopping around - compiling information and test driving cars, checking out dealerships, etc.

For the past forty years, we've bought Chrysler vehicles and have managed to get decent gas mileage ... but, those times are gone. Chrysler seems to be focusing on the so-called 'luxury' car market - big guzzling SUV's, etc. That means we haved limited experience with alternatives and have to get educated. :)

We managed to test drive a Bolt (Chevrolet's new all-electric version of the Volt which is a hybrid). Skip drove and I rode in the back seat (to check out how comfortable or not the ride is there:) - seemed pretty nice to us. There was no Leaf model on the Nissan dealer's lot to test drive (there is high demand for that model as it works really well) - we have to go back in a week or so when they get new cars delivered. The sales people in both places were helpful and not heavy handed sales demons which I consider important. :) My response to hard sell tactics is almost always to turn my back and walk out (when I don't lose my temper entirely:).

We'll be doing more of this shopping and testing for the next six months or so (fingers crossed) until we decide what and where to buy a new car. Let's hope the Cruiser holds up until we can choose. :)

I've been doing a variety of sewing-related things in the past week but don't have much photo documentation for most of them. Last Saturday I took an all day class (organized by my guild Faithful Circle Quilters) with Erin Underwood. We spent the day sewing (and some students finished!) to make a tuffet.

I decided to make mine using jeans-weight denim for durability (and because I know it will become the favorite nesting spot for my cat:). I went thrift store shopping on Thursday afternoon last week to buy used jeans (I don't wear jeans any more and my husband and son never have, so no old jeans here at home:). It was actually the first time I'd been inside the big Goodwill shop near my home - I've donated lotsa stuff to them, but never gone inside. :) I chose five pairs of lady's sized jeans - one dark indigo, one pale blue, one gray, one red and blue plaid on a gray background and one dark blue pinwale corduroy - and got the lot for a total of $28. I thought it was a good bargain. :)

I spent a couple of hours on Friday afternoon deconstructing the jeans and cutting them up into 3" wide strips. When I got done I had a very nice pile of fabrics to work with. I took a photo and shared it on Instagram but I can't find it now to post here. Sigh. :)

So, I decided not to drag my sewing machine along to the class on Saturday - mostly because I'm still recovering from the surgery and trying not to stress my body too much and my Bernina is heavy. Partly, I will admit, from laziness - didn't really want to break down and pack up my sewing area. Sigh. Because I just cut pieces and took lots of photo notes during the day, I spent a lot of time just observing and chatting with other students. 

As usual with classes, there were a lot of really creative choices for materials brought to the class. One student was using hand dyed velvets, another one the remnants from a Trip Around the World quilt she made; one was fussy cutting a beautiful floral stripe print, another was using batiks. I think one of the most fun things about any class (whether I'm a student or the teacher) is seeing the materials chosen. :)

Sunday I spent the afternoon sewing my first set of pairs of strips but set them aside in their project box to work on something else on Monday. Monday afternoon was the first meeting of the new session of Wool Club at Springwater Designs. At the end of the last session, many of us decided to work on a common project during this session. We chose a pattern by Sue Spargo (click the club link to see a photo) that features a tree in leaf. The photo shown on the Springwater site shows the front of the pattern (presumably Sue Spargo's version). Here is the background our leader, Carrie, made:

She made up some basic kits for this and I bought one, but then substituted some pieces of my own. Here the bits are, as I laid them out to be sure I liked the colors:

As you can see, mine will be a bit, um, brighter. :) Here is how the thing looked when I got the background pieced:

I had some mishaps working on this - cut a hole in my fabric while trying to trim off a thread ... missewed a seam and did not discover it until after the whole thing was done ... turned one piece of the outer border upside down to what I had planned. Sigh. The whole thing got finished, though. :) I tend to believe that patterns are only suggestions, anyway, and prefer that the things I make 'show the hand of the maker,' namely me (warts and all). :)

Since I took that photo, I have appliqued on the roots and bole/branches of the tree. I can't wait to start on the leaves. I am thinking seriously of doing a 'seasons' spread of colors ... we'll see. :)

I have been trying to think about and complete some things that need to be done before I leave on my spring trek westward next week ... but haven't made much progress. I am having trouble breaking out of my lazy ways around the house and being actually productive, to say the least. I am spending a lot of time reading books, sitting around with my feet up and reading blogs. Shrug.

Tomorrow my friends Barbara, Patty and I are going to Lancaster, PA to visit the AQS Quilt show for the day. I have reserved an electric scooter to get around for the day (fingers crossed that works out - don't have enough 'walk' in me to do the entire place on foot, not yet). I am pretty eager to see what's new in quilting. :) Not as eager to get up at 7:30 a.m. (Lancaster is about a two hour drive north of us) to leave at 8:30, but for quilts I'll do it. LOL!

:) Linda

Sunshine

Since my knitting is 'down' for the moment, I have been doing embroidery for my tv-watching busy-work. I have a piece I started working on a couple of years ago - I appliqued a mosaic block with wool scraps of many colors onto a good quality dark purple cotton flannel fabric (think 'short nap velveteen'). Each of these wool scraps is getting embroidery on it in a fairly free form way. It's my carry-along work basket and I am enjoying playing with color and stitches with it. The photo above shows the most recent scrap I've embellished while watching episodes of MI-5 on Hulu. :)

Yesterday I had an email conversation with my 'primary care' physician (Dr. Wm. Saway) about my fall and my balance in general. After some discussion, we've decided to keep watch and see if I have any more episodes, then follow up with exams and tests. I have noticed over the past three years that my balance is getting more tottery (that's why I'm still using the walking cane, even though my knees are both fine now). I'm hoping that this is just an allergy-related problem ... but we'll see. :)

My husband had a series of errands he needed me to do yesterday so I did quite a bit of driving around town - to the post office, the bank, to take our tax papers to our accountant, etc. I also managed to pick up a prescription refill and eat lunch out. :) By evening, I was tired ... but I promised my friend Barbara that I would bring her birthday gift to give her at our Monday night guild meeting (Faithful Circle Quilters meets twice weekly, on Monday evening and Thursday morning). So, I wrapped up the goodies and went out to the church where we gather. I always enjoy going to guild - there are old and new friends to chat with, show and tell quilts to enjoy, and often give aways to pick over. :)

Barbara's birthday is in early February but, due to circumstances beyond my control (as they say in the broadcast media), I missed that deadline this year. :) Let me share what I got her with you. :)

First, I made her a pretty (hmm, well, I think it turned out pretty):

This squishie (softie:) is about ten inches tall or so. Made from a free pattern by We Folk Art (if you click the link to go look, you'll notice that my color scheme was quite different from theirs:). I had lots of fun making this baby - intended to be a doorstop by their designation, though I think of it as a large pincushion or maybe just a softie. :) The wools I used came from a package I bought at Springwater Designs (they have a small but pretty selection of wools and threads). I stuffed it with a whole package of poly-beads (very small plastic pellets originally created to fill dolls), which took forever to find at my local Brand X big box fabric store. Sigh. Barbara did actually realize it was meant to be a doorstop (surprised me! without the pattern site's naming of it, I'd never have imagined that use for it. All my Grandma's door stops were assorted artillery shells.:).

The other item I gave her I ordered from Etsy. Bought one for myself, too. 

This is a Dohickey, a very pretty handmade binding spool. I had fun choosing the colors and hair decoration. :) Here's the one I bought for myself; maybe you can get a scale from the computer keys each of them is laying on?:

See the big slot through the spool? This baby is intended to hold quilt biding that you make for your project until time to bind the quilt ... and to be pretty on your shelf, of course. :) I wanted to share the link with you but for the life of me I cannot find it right now ... or on Google. (Scratching head in puzzlement)

So, yesterday was a success from several standpoints ... though the weather was cold, brisk and gray. :P Today the sun came out and it warmed up - felt really like spring. :)

I decided to go to The Queen's Ink to the Journal Junkies meeting for this month. The last time I was in the shop (for card making day), Patti told me about this group and invited me to come. I'm so glad I did! There were three other artists there today, once of whom I've known for years and another of whom is an acquaintance. Gayle Sternheim was there - who used to work full time for the National Quilting Association when it was headquartered in Ellicott City and whom I've known for many years. We were both surprised to see each other as neither of us knew the other was 'into' paper arts. :) Also there was Diane (with her beautiful English accent) and Kim (who knows oodles and oodles about art materials). So much fun!

I bought myself a new journal and some Dylusions paints and three stencils and some Uniball pens and some Stabilo pens and went to town. Had no particular goal other than to socialize and push color around on the page  (and my work looks like it:).

 

Take my word for it, I had a wonderful time. :) Such a pleasure to spend time with other people who love the same things as you do!

I stayed from about 11 a.m. until 3 p.m. and talk ranged from books we are reading to what languages are Indo-European to various mixed media artists and their classes to particular brands of colored pencils to .... Fun, fun! :)

When I got home, I brought in the mail (we have clustter mailboxes that are a bit away from the house; we only check for mail two or maybe three times a week). Was the best mail day for me in ages and ages. Now I have a big pile of goodies to play with and read! Here's what came:

An assortment of Bake Shop 'low volume' prints I ordered from Gotham Quilts (and they came really quickly);

Lori Kennedy's new book on free motion quilting - I read her blog regularly and admire her style;

While I was in hospital having surgery, I missed the bus trip to go round for the eastern shore shop hop; the trip organizer sent me a bag of goodies in compensation - can't wait to dig through it!

Landauer Publishing had a special bundle sale for the three Circle of Nine books and I decided to buy them; this is a quilt style I've been interested in learning recently. The oldest of these three books is a downloadable pdf; here is the third:

I like the ideas in these three books and I look forward to making a couple of quilts with the arrangment. :)

The real prize and the true excitement came from this:

There is an online magazine out of England called Bustle and Sew that I've been subscribing to for ages (I _think_ I might have all the issues). Recently the editor decided to have a giveaway for one of the pieces she made for the most recent (Easter) issue and I won!! I'm so pleased with this piece - it's mounted on canvas stretchers and will go up on the wall in my to-be-completed sewing studio (if I don't give it to my daughter:). 

If you like applique, embroidery, stuffed animals and 'vintage' flavored artwork, you'll love this magazine. I guess it says something that I've been getting it so long - do love it. :)

So, I have lots of goodies to read, pet and enjoy today .... on top of lovely sunshine and a great day out. Contentment reigns for a change. Grin. Think I'll stay home tomorrow and play with my pretties.

:) Linda

 

 

Quiet

This was an odd week in many ways. As you can see above, my beautiful daffodils - which I wait for with pleasant anticipation all winter - were smashed by the icy snow we got Monday and Tuesday this week. We are far enough south that the snow turned to icy rain and made everything nasty. There is still snow carpeting the grass in my back yard where the house's shadow falls even now - and it has melted away almost everywhere else. Sigh. Such a pretty sneak peek of spring we got before the winter had her last word.

I stayed inside for the days of nasty - not because I can't drive on the snow/ice ... but because there was no good reason to do so. Thankfully! I managed to do some embroidery and some sewing (which I will share after I gift the results to my friend). Also some knitting.

I think I mentioned that I bought a shawl design, Aranami - unusual for me to buy a pattern as there are many good ones available online for free. I've been knitting swatches for this shawl, trying to figure out the directions. I'm not an expert knitter but I do think I _should_ be able to figure this thing out. The fact that I can't puzzles me - I am planning to go seek professional help at Cloverhill Yarn Shop. 

The structure of each 'shell' shape seems obvious and the directions are easy to follow, but I am failing when it comes to making one shell join another - I cannot seem to orient the things to match the diagrams in the pattern. Sigh. Here are some of my scale attempts:

Here is one completed shell in rusty brown with another one joined beside (in deep blue). I thought I was following the directions but the results don't match the diagram. Hmmm.

Can you see the smaller red-brown 'shell' on top of the original one? This is my second attempt with the called-for size of knitting needle. I don't like how dense and undrape-y the result is ... and chose to go back to a much larger needle (similar to what I used to make my Wingspan shawl with the same brand of yarn).

So, that project is on hold for me to go seek assistance. :)

I did go out on Friday afternoon to the local Giant grocery store. Now, you have to understand, in our household, my husband and son do the grocery shopping. Skip took it up when I bought the store and had very little time or attention to devote to chores. I guess he enjoys doing it because he still has not delegated the task back to me, even though I'm home during the day now. :) Also, he prefers to shop at the BJs Warehouse store rather than Giant. I like Giant better because the selection is wider and I don't have to buy in such great quantities. :)

Anyway, I went to Giant, motivated by the need for a good drain cleaner (tending to the plumbing minor woes falls under my purview, apparently:). I have not shopped there for more than a year and the place has been extensively remodeled since I shopped there last, too. So, it was a slow deliberate trip - me riding in a motorized cart as the hard floors tire me out before I can finish my chore if I walk. I am quite happy with all the goodies I found to buy (and did, miraculously, remember the drain cleaner:).

Bringing the stuff home and putting it all away was helped by my son (good muscles, efficient packing). I had an odd dizzy spell as I was driving around, but I did not think much of it - spring allergies are starting up, despite the cold snap, and I often have balance issues when my nasal messiness flares. :)

Yesterday, Saturday, I decided to tackle the plugged drain in our shower and set that up to work. As I was getting ready to finish the chore, I was standing in the doorway (of the bathroom attached to our master suite) and suddenly fell over backwards. Quite a startle to me - I didn't feel dizzy at all, just lost my balance and fell backwards. Luckily there was an armchair behind me which I ended up sitting in and then rolling onto the floor. I didn't realize I was falling until I found myself on hands and knees looking at the carpet.  No bruises or hurts - other than my poor sore knees which don't like to be knelt on, even now. 

I think I will call my doctor on Monday morning and go see him about this balance issue. Strange and odd, even for me. I am not, not, NOT ready to be an unsturdy little old lady. At 64, I still think of myself as vigorous and middle-aged. Probably self-delusional. Sigh.

Today I am enjoying a pretty (cold) sunshine through my windows and trying to settle on something productive to do with my hands. Have been restless all day so far.

:) Linda

Cold Spring

What have I been doing? Mostly laying low (lying low? I'm pretty vague on the correct usage there) .... eating gently (keep getting nauseous after I eat) ... sleeping quite a bit .... in short, trying to heal. I spent my day on Friday very quietly - reading and trying to sew a bit. I had signed up to take a class at Bead Soup on making wrap bracelets - but I bowed out as I was just not up to snuff. Sigh.

I decided that I'm ready to use all the bits I have sewn up so far for En Provence to make charity quilts. I got out my first set of parts (shown above) and found that I have enough purple Peaky-and-Spike units to make 21 blocks as laid out. That should be enough for one or two child-sized quilts for the East Baltimore Head Start reading program. I thought I'd be able to start piecing but I ran out of steam after I had counted all this out. Not much stamina, yet.

One weekend a month I have All Quilting All The Time with Jinny Beyer Club on Saturday and Modern Quilt Guild meeting on Sunday. I was all set to do that this weekend ... but, after being so tired on Friday, I bowed out of going to JB Club on Saturday, too. More sighes. I do so look forward to spending the day with my friend Barbara ... but just wasn't eager to take my sickly stomach and my tired body out this month.

Partly this was because today (Sunday) is the monthly meeting of the Baltimore Modern Quilt Guild and I really, really wanted to go. I haven't been to my guild, for one reason and another, for a year or maybe more. I miss seeing everyone in that group! They have energy and enthusiasm and fun. :) Also I am in a round robin that I need to swap out every month - Quilt In A Box. OH, I almost forgot - on Friday, I did manage to find the energy to make a second 12" block for the box I had this past month. I foundation pieced a five pointed star block to add to the open book block I had already made. Guess that's why I ran out of 'go' for piecing early, eh? :)

Guild meeting today featured a traveling teacher (they had an all day workshop yesterday) - Sarah Bond from Philadelphia. Honestly, I had not heard of her previously (not having been paying much attention to anything other than my health for at least six weeks) - she is pretty well known as she is a teacher at QuiltCon ... and this is one woman I feel quite a kindred spirit toward! Love her sense of color, her interest in family history, her honesty - and her wonderful quilts. I hear she is a good teacher, too, but don't know about that personally (my loss!:). I took some photos to share with you (and my future self) - she was here to teach New York Beauty approaches.

She also does circular geese in many variations.

This is not stripe printed fabric - it is strip pieced solids.

Another strip pieced solids creation - love the color combos!

A pieced arc variant of NYB.

Again, pieced arcs - Pickle Dish?

Sarah's homage to her ancestress quilt makers who produced at least two wonderful large Lone Star quilts.

More NYB variants (these with a Virginia Findley Wolfe fabric collection).

Yet more NYB wonder.

Another NYB design.

If you have a chance to take a class with Sarah or have her in to your guild, jump on it! Her color sense and design skills blew me away. :)

The guild meeting was at the Arbutus Public Library today which is just south of the section of Catonsville where my shop used to be. I took advantage of being in that area to visit Cloverhill Yarn Shop - love the place and the ladies who run it. I got there kind of early so neither of the owners was in the shop, yet, just a nice clerk. I had a mission while I was there, though.

I bought a pattern for a new shawl called Aranami off Ravelry recently that I wanted to buy yarn to make. The design is created in modular shell-shaped sections which appealed to me and seemed like a new skill possiblity for my knitting education. :) I did manage to buy some yarn for it ... more of that luscious Turkish yarn I have used before (in a new colorway):

Don't know if you can see this very well - the variegations include rich deep blue, red and chesnut brown. There are little sparkly mylar twists of blue and purple throughout, too. I've made 1 and a half 'shells' so far and the pattern seems pretty easy to learn. I discovered the British show MI-5 on Hulu and have been watching that while I knit. :)

My stomach has been quiet today (gentle meals) so I'm hopeful that the internal systems are recovering. I'll give it a few more days and if I don't have a recurrence of the nausea, I'll call things happy. If I do, I think I will go back to see my G.P. for advice. Sigh.

:) Linda

 

Quietly

Monday I had two doctor's appointments, both related to my surgery. I saw my primary care physician (insurance-speak for my family doctor) and spent some time with him reviewing what had happened since he saw me last (three weeks before, telling me I had a nasty rotovirus) ... and about how I found the hospital stay and experience. I have known him for a number of years (15?) and quite like and respect him. :)

The second date was with my surgeon. He was fun - he did the inspection of my four incisions (laprascopic surgery makes lots of little cuts in you instead of one big one:) and took out the single stitch in the largest one. He fussed at me gently for how much work he had to do to get all his equipment into my torso (which gave me a big chuckle - there is lots of me:). I don't have to go back to see him unless something goes wrong with the scars - so far they are healing quite well.

Monday evening is the regular weekly meeting of the evening branch of my 'traditional' quilt guild (Faithful Circle Quilters) but, by the time I had gone in and out to see two doctors, I was bushed and so stayed home. Sigh. I really wanted to go - am suffering from social deprivation - but know better than to push myself too hard.

Tuesday I went out to do something I've enjoyed before and missed while I was away in Ohio. I went down to Queen's Ink in Savage Mill to their card making day. I've known Patti Euler who owns the shop since she opened it sixteen (!) years ago ... and I like the place quite a lot. :) Once a month she has a drop-in 'class' for card making - there are usually six stations with kits to make each card that include all materials and tools. Cost is $2 for each card you make and I love  it - all the necessary bits are there for you, just come in and enjoy playing with color and ink. :) I made all six on Tuesday, taking my time and moving at my own pace. The one at the top of this post was my favorite design - I do like watercolors. :)

I only took photos of two others:

These three were my favorites of the lot although the other three were cute, too. :) It was a real pleasure to be able to make something useful and pretty without a lot of brain work needed. :)

I spent most of Wednesday in my pajamas. I am still recovering and the efforts I put into going out on Monday and Tuesday left me pretty tired. I had chronic fatique for years in my early 40's - have lost most of my skills for self-monitoring. Sigh. I am not very good at putting up with physical limitations - have to remind myself to slow down until I am completely healed. :)

Today, Thursday, is the scheduled meeting time for the day time section of my 'traditional' guild and I really wanted to go  - enough so that I dragged myself out of bed at 9 a.m. (two hours earlier than usual:) to get there by 10. There were lots of people at the meeting and I really, really enjoyed seeing them all. It so cheers me up to be with happy, friendly quilters! There was a lot of inspiring show and tell, too. Bliss!

My friends Barbara and Patty and I went to lunch at La Madelaine after the meeting; I had the salad sampler with a Cranberry, Pecan Wild Greens mix, French onion soup and strawberries Romanov. Yum! So nice to sit and chat with my buddies over good food. :)

I have to make some phone calls for my brother Jeff to talk to his doctor. I've tried to call her and left messages twice so I will just have to keep trying. Sigh. Also, I signed up to take a short class at the local bead shop tomorrow afternoon which I am looking forward to. Soooo happy it is spring!

:) Linda

Peaceful Sunday

Sunday afternoon was the regularly scheduled monthly meeting of the Sew&Tell group. I decided to go (since my friend Barbara always drives). Even though I am recovering from surgery, I am well - I just have no stamina. I figured I could sit with friends more happily than sitting at home. :)

I haven't seen any of my friends for four weeks ... and it has been even longer since I managed to go to S&T. It was so nice to go and enjoy the company of like-minded people. :) I didn't take any photos of what I took along to work on so I thought I'd share some of other people's projects. :)

I took my new acrylic templates for Jen Kingwell's Glitter patchwork pattern and cut out my first block. Didn't even have the energy to sew it up (by hand) but that was ok. The point of the day was people, after all. :)

The I Spy quilt above was made by Amy S. She is an energizer bunny person and had a number of goodies to show us - she has a co-worker and another friend who either just had are about to have babies. 

The three quilts above are all by Amy as well - more baby goodness.

This one is by Genie C. - I love the colors!

Genie is working on a year-long Jacobean applique adventure - these are her first three blocks. :)

By the end of the day yesterday I was tired but very happy that I went to see my friends!

Today I have been to two doctor's appointments - one with my g.p. to report on my surgery and one to the surgeon to get my stitches removed. He was funny - he chided me in fun, gently, for making him work so hard. I guess even though I am, ahem, wide in the body, he found it difficult to maneuver inside my torso with his hands and the camera to do the laprascopic surgery. Grin.

I am going to rest for the rest of today. Have worn out my 'go' for the day. Tomorrow is another day!

:) Linda

 

Sunshine and Kitties

Right there (plus chocolate:) are my three prescriptions for a good day - sunshine, kitties, chocolate. Can't get very much better than that. :)

Today I woke up just before my alarm went off at 10:30 a.m. There was sunshine coming in my window which always puts an upward tilt on my day. :) I got a phone call from my niece Stephie even before I got out of bed ... and a FaceTime call from my daughter a little later (while I was reading email but before breakfast). Happy, happy. :)

I actually got to talk to Eva a lot longer than usual ... made me happy. I adore my child, her husband and my grandson. Special people. :)

I did manage to do the two things I had on my mental agenda today - pick up the trash in my bedroom and take a shower. So, great day all around. As I was reading the rest of my email (after breakfast), the topping happiness came in the afternoon's mail pile - my pre-ordered half yard collection of Tula Pink's new Tabby Road fabric! Here's a better pic for you:

I _very_ rarely buy entire collections of fabrics ... for one thing, I like making my own fabric combos. This one, though ... this one got me. :) Ordered the whole shebang ages ago (December? January?) and kinda forgot about it. What a nice gift from the past self. :)

This stuff makes my heart leap up the same way as a good bundle of Kaffe Fassett style  prints does - happy, happy colors, fun prints. Have no idea what I will make with it but can't wait to think of something. :)

Otherwise, the day has been peaceful. Ate meals (gently), read a book (Dick Francis), watched a movie (Criminal) ... really, really good day.

:) Linda

Be Forewarned!

Cling to this image of a flowering plum tree - its importance will become apparent as I type. :)

Where have I been this week? For those of you who do not care for visceral detail of the health-related variety, you might want to scan or even skip this post (sadly). I have been in hospital.

I think I might have mentioned how much trouble I had been having with my stomach pains and nausea over the past two weeks -- well, the two weeks previous to my last post which is now a week behind in time, too. Last Saturday afternoon, I had so much pain and was throwing up so much, I decided to throw in the towel. I called my doctor's office (of course, it was after hours so I got their answering service) ... after two calls and an hour of abject misery wating, they called back and told me to go to the E.R.

A very long, very unpleasant story cut a bit short ... I came back this evening around 5:30 p.m., minus one gall bladder. :P What the heck is a gall bladder you ask? (warning: here comes the possibly icky)

I wish they had not made this image with green as the color choice ... but it is apt. I have no idea whether the real organ is green or not (grin), but the feeling generated by a mis-functioning one is worse than any unpleasant sea sickness tales you ever heard (or suffered), added to a pretty good dash of sharp, unremitting pain. :P

Took them the rest of Saturday and all day Sunday to do tests and ultrasounds and specialized scans and to decide that I was indeed having a gall bladder attack. Early Monday morning (sicker and sicker as I was - though, by that time, medicated which did help) I was in the operating room. Four incisions, laprascopic surgery, and Bob's Your Uncle (as the saying goes though I have NO idea what the heck the literal meaning really is:).

I have no idea how long all this took. One observation I did manage to retain is that when I am this sick (dangerously so), my sense of time changes. There is no past (except in a very distant cerebral way), no future - only the Endless Now. I generally have a pretty good grip on the passage of time in a daily sense (time of day, number of hours doing something, etc.) - but that all goes away when I'm really ill. I think very young children might be the same (or maybe their Past and Future is not yet developed). 

I continued to be sick on Tuesday, Wednesday (nauseus, in pain) and I was starting to worry that the gall bladder might not be the only cause of my illness. I guess the doctors were, too, because they decided to change the antibiotics they were giving me (routine post-surgical pallative care). Turns out I am allergic to one of them. Whew! by this morning, I was feeling 100% better!

So, on the whole, February went by in a blur between being sick and sicker. :P On the 'up' side, when I walked out the front door of the hospital to come home this afternoon, there was a flowering plum tree in full glory in the parking lot. While I ailed, the world here in eastern Maryland has gone from late winter to early spring! :) The daffodils in my front yard were blooming when we pulled in. I am taking this as a positive omen.

:) Linda