11:50 am
It is almost noon, and the first load of laundry of the season is out to dry on the line across the back porch. In the winter the laundry is dried on racks in the front bedroom, which has multiple benefits; it saves hydro and humidifies the air during the heating season.
It has been a busy weekend and week so far. On Sunday last Terra and Lares brought Sunny and Sky for a little visit, since they were in town on errands and in the area. Terra had been keeping the babies close to home, for the most part, with few visitors, because their lungs are still catching up after having been born prematurely. She feels more comfortable now taking them out and about, as the season for some of the more dangerous conditions is over for the winter. The babies are still a wee bit small for their age, ten months old today. They are rosy and healthy and progressing as one would expect. Both babies sit up, and crawl. Sunny will actually pull herself up on chairs and grandma’s knee, and loves to walk around with the helping hands of loving adults. While they were here Lares prepared their lunch, and fed Sunny, while Terra fed Sky. Lares has been ill with some kind of flu or food poisoning for the last little while, he was looking rather worn, so off they went home.
After Terra and her family left, we packed some muffins and grapes, loaded some mildewed scrap wood from the garage into tank, dressed in our finest ratty old work clothes, donned our rubber boots, and headed for the Rideau Camp. Our first visit of the season. I will be one year ago this weekend that we took possession of the Camp property. We arrived to sunshine and blue skies. We collected fallen branches from around the camp, and soon a camp fire was burning merrily in the fire pit. Nothing had changed, except for a few fallen branches, since we left for home last November. It was warm enough that by the end of the afternoon we were both in shirtsleeves, and quite comfortable. The new crocheted hat, to keep the hair out of my eyes while working at the camp, lived up to expectation.
So many things were forgotten on the first trip out to the camp. Most felt was the absence of the camera. Most appreciated was the fact that there was tiolet paper from last season still sitting in tank.
Monday and Tuesday were pretty much consumed by travelling to the city to have a 24 hour blood pressure monitor attached on Monday, and handed back on Tuesday. The highlight of my spring came when the doctor reviewing the results with me said, “why are you here?” Apparently my blood pressure averages 126/80 now, couldn’t be better! So I will continue on the low dosage of medication, the low sodium, low sugar diet, daily apple cider vinegar, and daily activity, as it all seems to be working in my best interest. The good results are not a result of significant weight loss, or increasing medication.
There are more doctors appointments next week. One with the cardiologist to review the moderate issues with my heart valves. One for an ultrasound and bone density test. And one to have a mole removed and biopsied. At some point another appointment will be needed to discuss the results of the ultrasound and bone density test, the pap smear, and the mole biopsy. Then, with any luck, I will be tuned up and ready for the summer. Fingers crossed that there are no surprises.
Today I am working on my book. All the images have been collected, and now they need to be added to the book, and captioned. The software in use is not good at doing this job, so a different software package is used for the image layouts, the results are saved as PDF files, which will in turn be imported one by one into the book. This is going to take some time!
The crocheting continues to be fun. The washcloth made with the half double crochet stitch is complete, and I can see a few mistakes I made, as well as a somewhat uneven width due to differences in the tension as I went along. I’ve decided to save it as is and move on to the next stitch, the double crochet stitch. I tried it yesterday and had to frog (tear apart) the whole effort, today is another day and I’ll give it a another go.
Worldly Distractions
Weather
8°C
Date: 12:00 PM EDT Wednesday 5 April 2017
Condition: Mostly Cloudy
Pressure: 101.5 kPa
Tendency: Rising
Temperature: 7.5°C
Dew point: 2.4°C
Humidity: 70%
Wind: NNE 9 km/h
Visibility: 24 km
Quote
“Ninety-eight percent of the adults in this country are decent, hard-working, honest Americans. It’s the other lousy two percent that get all the publicity. But then–we elected them.”
Lily Tomlin
1939 –
[This was originally meant to be humourous, in a sardonic way. Now it isn’t funny.]
Sunny and Sky must be reaching a most fascinating age. It’s quite amazing how fast they grow and change. You seem to be staying busy in a joyous way. Such good news about your blood pressure!
Diane, Sunny and Sky are a lot of fun to be around! What fascinates me most is how very different they are, both charming.
I am surprised by how busy I am at this point in my life! Retirement suits me, I love to wander around in my projects, while taking breaks to putter around the house. I will be glad when the book nears completion though, it has been a long haul on that particular project!
I am delighted that my blood pressure has responded to all the changes made in diet, which is the main factor in getting my blood pressure under control. I am cetainly one of the lucky ones, and I feel grateful for it.
Sounds like a wonderful weekend! So glad to hear Sunny and Sky are doing well.
Can’t wait to hear what kind of changes you’ll make at the camp. Enjoy!
You’re onto double crochet and have done half-double? Fabulous. These are the 2 most-used stitches, I believe. Half-double is my very favorite stitch. Yesterday I made another small basket/bag to hold my in-progress works… here it is:
https://flic.kr/p/T2mfLj
and
https://flic.kr/p/TBmyDz
I did the bottom in one strand of the hombre gray/cream/beige yarn and then put another strand of plain gray for up the sides for bulk… then cut out the gray strand for the very top border area where I did plain single-crochet using “back loop” so it gives the ridged effect. I crocheted the 10-stitch-wide handle right into the top edge and attached it onto the opposite side. I could have a hundred of these little bags/baskets sitting around, each having its own personality!
Your medical progress is to be applauded! I try to take the apple cider vinegar each day but occasionally I forget.
Today (in about 15 mins.) Belle is going for her annual check-up for heartworm test, etc… so Paul brushed her all up so she’d be a pretty fluffy girl! She was not amused!
Thanks Teri!
This year our plans our modest, as most of the infrastructure at the camp is in place. We will be clearing and burning more piles of bulldozed trees that were left along the driveway, and spreading the stone we had delivered late last season, those things should keep us very busy.
Bex, I love your baskets! I take it you are designing these baskets as you go along, amazing! So practical and yet so beautiful.
Wishing Belle a good visit. LOL, Belle was not amused, but I bet she looked fantastic.
Yes, Belle did look fantastic as she went off to her doctor’s appointment… shame I didn’t snap a photo!
Yes, I make the baskets just from memory and designing as I go along. I like this last one as it’s smaller than the rest and I can move it around easier.
The basket is lovely Bex! I so enjoy your ability with your hands, and the things you create! What a lovely gift you have.
It has always been a challenge for me, hand work, so I chose to go with my strength, my intellect and follow an academic career. Now that I am officially retired, I am exploring handiwork. I will probably never be good at it, and I don’t have any trouble accepting that, nor do I feel any shame or embarrassment about it. I am good at other things. But I want to spend time with my hands, explore what they can do and accomplish; to give myself the gift of not having to excell at everything I enjoy doing!
I remember as a young child wanting to be a ballerina. I could never have done it, with my arm, but the longing was there. Instead I put my energy into excelling at high jump (a gravity thing), and being a cheerleading captain. It wasn’t the same as being a ballerina, the exquisite control over one’s limbs, the intense relationship with gravity, all married to music, were not in the cards.
Now I want to crochet! And so I shall.