And It Was Good

Hello, and to those of you in the U.S., I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving Day, however you may have had to adjust your plans.  And for everyone else, I hope you had a lovely day.  

Our Thanksgiving was just wonderful.  We had pumpkin pie for breakfast, which was really yummy.  I love having desserts for breakfast.  I'm sure I wouldn't find it as fun if it was all the time, but I love it when it happens.  Our day was relaxing, and our dinner turned out really well.  Our new water heater was called into active duty, and did a wonderful job.  We watched some shows we had lined up, did some reading, drank some wine, and I even ended the day with a HO (half-finished object - completed before the wine drinking started):

Slothmas Sock #1 even has the ends woven in!

It was a cozy, lovely day, which is what I love best about Thanksgiving.  It's a holiday to just be, and to relax, and enjoy what is.  And of course this year it was bittersweet in so many ways.  I hope the day landed gently for those who needed it.

Today we will be taking Hamlet to the vet if we can get an appt.  I have no idea what happened, but on his walk Wednesday afternoon, he started limping big-time.  We checked and can't see anything in his paw/leg and he doesn't seem to be in searing pain, but he is limping and is definitely uncomfortable.  Poor bug, he is such a good boy, and of course we don't want him to be hurt.  We are hoping it might be just a sprain, but will have to find out what is going on so that hopefully he can get back to his usual self soon.

I was dismayed to read Alison's comment that Black Friday has infiltrated New Zealand.  Ugh.  Why does it seem so often that only the unpleasant things from America become global?  Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against Black Friday per se - I have often gone out shopping the day after Thanksgiving to shop and had fun.  But I'm a pretty low-key shopper, and for instance, could never be bothered to line up all night for "a deal."  And it annoys me that some of the worst things Americans do are what most of the world sees and is exposed to.  But people annoy me in general, so nothing new there, right?  

No shopping today, though.  I did go out for a few specific things on Wednesday afternoon, and was successful.  Since most of our gifts are knitted and ready to go, we are spending very little this year.  (Well, you can't really spend what you don't have, but you know what I mean.)  I figured I would try to get packages together so we can mail things early if at all possible.  

Other than getting some things wrapped and ready, my plans are to read, knit, and decide what combination of leftovers to have for dinner.  I'm hoping we can get a vet appt for Hamlet early in the day, but we'll adapt the day however necessary.  One nice thing about not having guests or traveling on a holiday long weekend is that the time belongs to no one but you.  That always works for me!

Labor Day 2019

Labor Day finds no laboring at our house.

For those who are laboring, bless you for working on a day a lot of us have a holiday.

Whatever you are doing - relaxing, picnicking, spending the day with family, anything at all - I hope you enjoy it!

Meditations on the Last Monday in April

I just returned from a dr appt to have my wrist x-rayed for the eleventy-thousandth time, and I got a good report, but of course was instructed to keep working on my exercises.  Occupational therapy is finished, but the rest of it will be up to me.  I have a lot of determination to get back to as close as 100% as possible by the time I go back in November.  The dr said there is a good chance that I may never be 100% in all aspects of movement in my right hand and wrist, but I'm gonna try to do the best that I can.

Anyway, the weekend has moved on, and April is getting ready to exit.  Our weekend was quiet, which was fine, since last weekend was so busy.  Yesterday, I returned to my Scrappy Sunday - using Sundays to work on scrappy projects, in my case, finishing another row on my Cozy Memories blanket.

I added the final three blocks on the left to the top row.  I've really enjoyed Scrappy Sundays, even though this is only the second one for me.  But I like picking up this project every week and remembering everything included in it.

So there I was, happily knitting away on the blocks, and then I heard the news about the shooting at a synagogue in California.  And I thought about how I was sitting with my project, thinking about projects and people associated with the various blocks.  A few of the blocks are from mini skeins and leftovers given to me by friends.

And whenever I am knitting, I remember how the watermelon block on the bottom left is from a pair of socks I knit a few years back.  I was working on them while we were in West Virginia for Memorial Day, and my niece Annie was so incredibly fascinated.  She kept saying, "But ... how does the yarn do that, how did they know to make it that way?"  The first block of the blanket, on the bottom left, is from Dee, who gave it to me when we went to see her and Steve at Christmastime the first year they moved back to Pennsylvania.  She handed it to me and said, "This is to get you started."  In the second row, the blue square that is the second one on the left, is made with a colorway called Unity, a sock yarn dyed in 2008 by my friend Carol, who sent the proceeds from it to the Obama Presidential campaign.

This was my meditation from yesterday.  I was in my own house, and feeling safe, because hopefully everyone does feel safe in their own house.  And I realized that the California synagogue (and months ago, the one in Pittsburgh) were houses of God, where those gathered felt confident and safe, and were thinking of loved ones near and far, those who were gone in body but not in spirit.  They were meditating on the meaning of Passover this year, and celebrating the end of the holiday.

That is, until a 19-year-old nursing student (a *nursing* student - a caring profession if there ever was one!) decided that it was up to him to get rid of them.  And of course he had a gun to do it.  Because the only thing these days more available than thoughts and prayers are guns.

His actions didn't just kill a person, or injure others.  It took away their sense of safety in what should be one of the most universally safe places - a house of worship.

But his actions also served to make all of us wonder how safe we are once again.  We think if we're home, we're safe.  We think if we are at school, or church, or a work meeting that nothing terrible will happen to us.  When it turns out that we just aren't really safe anywhere.

Maybe we never have been.  Maybe finally something will be done about guns in our culture.  Maybe someday we will have a leader and an administration that does not provide us with Exhibits A-Z in the story and action of hate and vindictiveness.  Maybe.  I don't know.

I just know that we need to live our lives and help others when/if we are able to do so.  We need to vote and be active in our neighborhoods and communities.  We need to share our opinions and feelings with each other without it turning into a free-for-all.

Yesterday, I took Hamlet for a walk, and we stopped to visit with a neighbor on our street.  She asked me if he ever growled at the cats, or at dogs who lunged at him or growled at him on a walk.  I told her that he never does.  And that it seems if the cats are bothering him too muh, he just gets up and walks away.  She said, "If only people did that."

Thinking about it, I had to wonder: people say animals are "just animals," or "dumb animals."  But what if humans are the dumb ones?

Here's to a better week ahead.

Back to the Unfortunate Reality of My Reality

Ugh.  Today is back to work.  I have come to the conclusion that I don't mind working as much as I mind my crap job.  And my incredibly rude - and often just plain mean - co-workers.  It's bad enough on any given day, but after four days off, it's just insulting, you know??  :-)

Oh well, such is life.  Since I can't afford to retire, and I have no other prospects, it's time to suck it up and enjoy the other parts of my life as much as I can.  That's what I did for four wonderful days.

Last Thursday was my birthday, and in keeping with my personal tradition, since I had accrued some vacation, I took Thursday and Friday off.  I will admit that I am always surprised these days when I consciously think about how old I am.  This was my 63rd birthday, and of course that always comes after your 62nd birthday, right?  I guess part of it is that I have outlived my father by ten years at this point, and if I am lucky enough to live for a few more years, I will outlive my mother as well.   That just seems weird, but then again, I'm glad to still be here!

The Tim baked me a birthday cake, which looked really yummy.  He placed it on a table where I warned him that it could either a) be knocked onto the floor by the kitties, and/or b) be reachable and therefore eatable by Hamlet.  He responded in a way that made me sound like a crazy person, so I left the issue alone.  You can see where this is going, right?  Thursday afternoon at one point, I came into the living room and thought, hm, what's different?  Well, the cake was on the floor, and half-eaten by a very pleased doggie!  When The Tim got hom from work, he said, "Gee, I guess I should have put it someplace else."  YA THINK????  Anyway, we had birthday candles to blow out in some Rita's Water Ice, and another cake was baked the next day which was placed out of reach, and best of all, no sick dog!

Friday, I had an occupational therapy appt in the morning and then headed to the dentist to get my teeth cleaned.  Then Hamlet and I went for a long walk, since it was a lovely day.  Thursday was also perfect weather-wise, and I took a long walk with him in the morning, and then a really wonderful long walk myself in the afternoon.  I couldn't believe that it was so nice for two days in a row when I was actually home from work!  Usually the days I'm home are the ones with terrible weather. 

Saturday was also nice, but really really windy!  I walked over to Loop to get some double-pointed needles in the early afternoon.  Friday evening I had started to try and pick up stitches and start knitting the sleeves on my Neverender sweater.  After a few rounds, I frogged what I had knit and just decided that the needles I was using were making me miserable.  They were a really old pair that I'd had for years, from when I started knitting and there was not a lot of choice in different types of needles.  They had some kind of covering that almost felt like rubber, and it was making it truly difficult to move the stitches around.  Fortunately, Loop had a good variety, and I came home with a set of Knitter's Pride wood needles, which so far are working really well.

Yesterday was of course, St. Patrick's Day, so I went to church first thing (growing up we *always* went to church on St. Patrick's Day, and then if it was a school day, my parents would let us stay home).  Then I did a small amount (emphasis on "small amount") of cleaning, and then baked some Irish Soda Bread, which turned out really well.  For dinner we had a vegetarian shepherd's pie and some Guinness.  The only thing I didn't get to do yesterday was any knitting, but I still had a really enjoyable day with Hamlet and the kitties.

It felt good to do my own thing without being sick or having other problems for a change.  It would have been nice if The Tim could have taken a day off as well, but we had a good Saturday together, and enjoyed our evenings.  (For all I know, he might have been relieved to not have a day off with me, since he had quite a few over the last months, LOL.)

So, though I am not necessarily thrilled that it's Monday and that I have to be back at work, I'm glad to still be here for my 63rd year, to see what might happen going forward.  Here's hoping that it will be more enjoyable than the latter part of the year before!

Hope your week is off to a good start.

You *Can* Go Home Again ...

... if your name is Hamlet!

A week ago today, we had made plans to take Hamlet back to visit the family that he spent most of his life living and working with (the past 7 years or so).  It was the first visit since we adopted him in July, and both persons in the couple had been matched with new Seeing Eye Dogs since.

First, the cast of characters:

Hamlet - you know him!
Karma - a black Lab mix, and Hamlet's guide dog partner and companion before he was with us
Jeff - Hamlet's former owner, now matched up with:
Mike - a Golden Retriever/Lab mix
Sharon - Karma's former owner, now matched up with:
Oakley - a black Lab
Karen - Karma's new owner

We had a lovely day for our visit, so we got Hamlet into the car and headed over the bridge to New Jersey.  When we turned onto the street leading to the house where he used to live, Hamlet got really excited.  When we pulled up in front of the house, he started wagging his tail and whimpering. 

He could not wait to get out of the car, and ran right up to the front door.  Jeff opened the door, and Hamlet dashed inside.  Once inside, Jeff was really excited to see him, but the first thing Hamlet did was run around and gather all of the toys!  Then he realized Jeff was also there, and immediately sat on his lap.

Sharon was upstairs, as they were keeping Mike and Oakley up in their room, so they could introduce them slowly.  First, Mike and Hamlet got to meet.

That, of course was very exciting.  Before Sharon and Oakley came downstairs, Karen arrived with Karma, who could NOT wait to see Hamlet again!  (She had already met the other doggos.) 

Finally, Sharon and Oakley joined the group, and hilarity ensued!

Hamlet was also very happy to see Sharon, and had to go and shake hands with her.

There was a lot of running, chasing, playing, and "fighting," and a couple of times Hamlet disappeared upstairs!  (Jeff said he was probably checking to make sure everything was where he had left it, lol.)

Mike and Oakley "attacking" Karma

After a bit, things settled down, with all of the dogs getting quieter, and eventually all of them lined up and nearly asleep!  

Hamlet and Oakley

Hamlet made sure that he got lots of cuddle time with Jeff, supervised of course by Mike.

It was all really fun and really wonderful.  It was fun to see Sharon and Jeff, and meet Karen, who we had never met before.  We loved seeing Karma again, as she is just one of the sweetest pups, and a fan in particular of The Tim.  And getting to meet Oakley and Mike was such fun as well, as they are still somewhat puppy-ish (they are each about 2 years old), and busy as only young dogs can be.  We caught up with everyone's news and stories of their Christmas celebrations, and it was just enjoyable to know that all of the dogs had not just had a good time, but worn each other out!  We were all amused that Jeff's dog is named Mike, and decided he sounded like he was from South Philly, and that he "knows a guy" ... :-)

When it came time to leave, we were wondering what Hamlet would do.  In July, when we went to bring him home, he hid behind Jeff and whimpered, which was heartbreaking.  But when everyone was getting ready, Hamlet walked over to The Tim when he got out his leash, and seemed ready to leave, get back in the car, and come home.  Jeff said that means he has completely bonded with us, which of course is the ideal result.  Hamlet was pretty zonked on the ride home, and let me tell you, the excitement and fun of the whole day wore him out for a few days!

The cats found it interesting as well, since Hamlet returned home with many new and intriguing scents on him - they probably were wondering just where we'd taken him!

We made tentative plans for another get together in the spring, this time hopefully outside.  We told Hamlet he'd better start storing some energy now ...