Recuperating

Since the last missive I had emergency bowel surgery, everything went well and now I am home. I have nothing but great praise for my colleagues at the Dartmouth General, they are the best from ER/OR/PAR/ and the Surgery floor in this whole province.

Now I recuperate, along with Home Care visits from VON .


DH held down the fort and G&G had a few days wondering where I was, they are hanging pretty tight to me since I arrived home.

I am thinking this may be the time to start handquilting the Autumn Leaves wall-hanging that has been basted for 2 years and completed for 3 and started in 1997. What do you think?
I can't sit to machine quilting for any great length of time.

The Big Kid arrives home on the Redeye Friday morning, I'm anxious to see him.

It's July?

How did that happen? I was sure I just blogged recently.
Seriously though life was busy and Pastiche was along way down on the list.


 I did go to Toronto for ten wonderful days of R&R visiting the newlyweds. I love TO, especially exploring the King St. E neighbourhood, and the multitude of restaurants. We sampled lots of different cuisines, Thai, Japanese, Italian, Chinese. I explored the fabric shops along Queen St. W, didn't buy a thing but looked at lots.

 Arrived home to family crisis with my parents so the paper work has been started for long-term care placement for Mom. Dad has finally realized that he is unable to keep up the pace. It will be better for both of them and Mom will get much more outside stimulation and fresh faces to see daily. Now we sit and wait, the process usually takes 3 - 6 months.

Claire was four years old and she had a tea party for some of her friends, we enjoyed pizza and cake in the evening with the family.

Anna had a good time swinging away! She is growing like a weed, and a very contented baby.

Char and Faeyque were home for 10 days and just headed back to TO, and the heat last weekend. Luckily they missed the G8, G20 mess and chaos. We had a lovely visit and F saw more of NS. They also went to PEI  and of course the pilgrimage to Pictou County.

The sewing room is tidied and not in use, in preparation for more visitors this weekend and in August. I have some handwork to keep me occupied though.

It is really quite hot here this week so  I am enjoying cool drinks, popsicles and the fan.

I almost forgot to mention George and Gracie, they are sweet little dogs, I didn't think they were going to bark but George let out a few one day when a strange thing was on the bed. It was my  bright yellow purse. He was adamant that he would not go into the room until he had my attention and he knew what was lurking. They are plunked down in front of the fan now, catching a few zzzzz's.

The Recovering room

Those two puppies are hilarious, they certainly had discussions among themselves about the cones, and they didn't like me calling them "coneheads."

George is almost back to his normal self, and occasionally licking the spots, but Gracie is another matter. She is playing the role of the invalid to the hilt. The abdominal binder is causing her much grief and she won't walk with it on, even to her food dish.

 She is just lazing around, just waiting for someone to pass her a treat or brush her face or rub her belly. Or, even to give her a toy.
She thinks this is a spa.


Its a dog's life.

Lots of mistakes

Wowee I definitely shouldn't have been close to the rotary cutter yesterday. I didn't cut myself but my measuring was a way off TWICE. Instead of 2 1/2 x 4 1/2 inch rectangles I cut them 4 1/4. I recut and did the same thing again.... grrr. Luckily this is for a very small table topper, only 8 flying geese.

I am glad I took a hiatus from the DWR. The melons and rings are all done and I just have to sew the final two rows. Pat myself on the back here.

Then when it was all sewn together I did one upside down.
I went to bed! I'll fix it this morning.

Gracie and George are recovering, they had their life-altering spaying and neutering on Thursday. George is nearly back to normal but poor Gracie is still perplexed and cannot believe she had this happened to her.
So far she has lost two of her three sutures so I have had to put a surgical transparent dressing on it, so I can see the incision but she can't gnaw it. The cone and tea-tree oil are also being used to keep her away but.... somehow.

Anna visited her great - grandparents yesterday,her first road trip.They approved of her.

Anna Catherine

Anna Catherine arrived on early Friday morning, April 30. She weighed in at 8 pounds and is a healthy baby girl. A lovely head of auburn hair and, so far, blue eyes.

 Claire is very excited and is enjoying being the Big Sister.

We were all fooled, thinking that this baby was going to be a boy but.... so now I'll start a girly quilt for her.

End of April

It is hard to believe that April is nearly over. Today we are  having the showers and intermittent sunny spots that bring May flowers and greener grass.

We are still on baby watch, the newest addition shows no haste in arriving in the big world. Perhaps it wants to be a May baby, that would be nice since we have lots of Aprils and only Papa is May.

I have nearly finished piecing the third row of arcs of the DWR. It is looking good, the sewing room isn't though. Gracie has obviously been finding little pieces of thread since some passed through this morning. I will have to be vigilant with her and her brother, they will eat anything, except the kibble from the vet.

DH and I went to an open rehearsal with Symphony NS this morning to hear the Dvorak Cello Concerto. The cellist was Matt Haimovitz and he and the orchestra are performing this evening. SNS is having a Dvorak Festival. The performance this Sunday evening is From The New World and Giora Schmidt, is the featured violinist. The New World Symphony is one of my favourites. It should be wonderful.

Falling behind...

Again, boy, am I an intermittent blogger.
 It isn't as if I have nothing to tell, I do, but I get carried away doing something else and whammo the day is gone and so is the blog opportunity.
So.

I took G&G for a long walk this morning, they sniffed everything possible and ate nearly all the dead and dried up earthworms on the sidewalk. They sure find them tasty, and all that great protein. 

I am making great progress on the DWR, one whole row pieced and the second is nearly completed. At this rate it should be completed by the end of the summer. I have even been keeping track of the hours spent working on it. I have to lay it out on the floor to make sure I am putting the contrasting four -patches in a random , but controlled, order.

We are on baby watch here, the new babe is due on Saturday. Claire is anxious to be the "big sister."