Settling down from all of the hubbub, Bub.

For crying out loud, it is the 19th of November and my head is spinning from that fact. I finally got a cute photo of the Schnickle and his cute as a button Mama for you to see. We had so much fun on Halloween, being part of the tradition that is old school for Placerville but new to us. It was more than big fun to march around downtown with Pepe le Schnickle in his Skunkjuice (long story...there seem to be a lot of suicidal skunks up in these part) costume that was ever ever so cute and adored by the wearer. Here they are before heading out!

The merchants on Main Street must have the best time sitting out in front of their stores, greeting all of the little children in costume. It is so much fun and another reason that I love living here.

We headed out to Baltimore on election day and thankfully had a plane with the screens on the seat backs. What a luxury to have the privilege of seeing CNN without having to listen, as I was knitting happily away on my Foxglove scarf. I could just watch the crawl and not have to hear what the talking heads were saying as the precints were surrounded by exit polltakers. We found the Inner Harbor to be a quiet place on election night and were thrilled to get into the Cheesecake Factory (what a MENU!) with no waiting...unheard of in that location. When back in our hotel room, we were pretty much glued to CNN for the election tally, hoping for the best and steeling ourselves for disappointment. It was a magical night for this non partisan voter. We watched as our home state and the others out west closed the polls and Mr Obama was declared the winner. I sat there in my rented bed with tears running down my cheeks as the man of the hour spoke to the huge crowd in front of him and the even more enormous crowd at homes all over the country. It was electrifying to this woman who grew up in Oakland, California and heard the news in Baltimore, Maryland...another American city with a largely African American population. It was like being Home but on the other side of the country.

The next morning, we got all teary eyed again, as we talked to the servers in the hotel restaurant. They were delivering the morning's USA today and talking about how they would frame the front page and put it on the wall next to their photo of Martin Luther King. I feel so privileged to have been a part of that day in that place.

This scarf kept me company through the journeys and through the show hours at Stitches East. It is all about one skein of Baby Alpaca Sport plus miles and miles of knitting.

Things have been a little rough since we got home. A dear friend has begun a journey that will begin with scans and doctors and end with a new outlook for life. I send healing thoughts every day. At the same time I have had to go through another hospitlization of my mother. We stopped in to see her at the Nursing Center on Wednesday, after winning Tuesday's Jet-lag fight. She was sleeping and with all of the construction (!) in the halls, I decided to just let her be and ask after her well-being at the nurses station. Fine and dandy, says her nurse...feisty as ever. Ok, says I. I felt the urge to go down on Saturday, knowing that mom might not get the message that we visited. On Saturday she was wearing her breathing apparatus and was kind of dingy, but then who can be sociable with a snout full of mist. We kissed her goodbye and headed home.
  Sunday afternoon I got a call from her nurse, telling me that Mom was Not Good and that her lungs were crackly. Would I OK a visit to the ER. Are you kidding me? Of course! My mind was whirling and my imagination got running at full tilt while I waited the appropriate amount of time for her to be taken in by ambulance (the hospital is on the hill right above the care center) and hooked up to machines. I was told that she had a UTI and when I saw her, she looked terrible. I come to find out that she was looking spiffy, in comparison to how she arrived. The nurse was lifting her eyebrows at me when I came in. The doctor sent for me while mom was having an x-ray of her chest and told me that mom had come in looking like something that the cat dragged in. Suffice it to say, there were some issues with her care that caused the doctor to ask the nurse to write up an Adult Protective Service ding on the Care Center. I was MORTIFIED. Five hours after being brought in to Marshall, she was finally transported to Kaiser down in Sacramento, tucked up for the night. We went home and I fretted like crazy.

The next day I headed down to Kaiser to check in on her, finding her looking a lot better, thanks to the antibiotics, and left her to the care of the staff. We thought that we would find another place for her, in the light of what the doctor said and had a conversation with a placement team. I left for Placerville, to gather up her things and pull her from the roster but after having a long and deep conversation with the VERY remorseful director, I left thinking that I might give them another chance. She assured me that she was lifting every rug and shaking out whatever had gone wrong with mom's care and that she was getting to the bottom of what was wrong, never shifting the blame from her ultimate responsibility. The next day, I decided to give them another chance, knowing that they would be all over my mother's care and the old woman will probably be carried around on a fricking satin pillow from now on. I am her advocate and was a wreck.

Two people to worry about...one who could care less and the other throwing my worry off like a smelly blanket. Ah, so be it. This too shall pass. I am not worrying about them any more. So there. :o)

Holly will be adding a bunch of things to the website, including a LOT of handspun yarn. Brenda Patipa has been at it again and I took some really cute things with me to Stitches. She came up with the adorable new vestie kind of a thing that she calls Being Jane. She made it with Big Wool! When she described it, I was skeptical but what an adorable garment and so soft. I am sold.

Then she came up with a beautiful new cozy shawl with a skein of Baby Alpaca Silk called the Harvest Shawl. Gawjus in Aww-tum. What's not to love with a shawl like this AND a view of Tahoe?

There are a couple of other pieces that will be up as well...wonderful scarf patterns!

So, I think that I have caught you up on things. Thanksgiving is just around the corner and our son & daughter-in-law will be winging west on Friday for a nice long visit. I wish that they lived closer but their life is in Connecticut. We will be in their neck of the woods next October and this is where you came in, when I was telling you how the next Stitches East will be in Hartford. Full circle.

Comments

[AlisonH]

Thank goodness for a cute grandson to make you laugh while the rest plays out. And Brenda, beautiful work as always.

Someone was hawking a pristine copy of The Washington Post's front page for $400/copy, the day after the election; the Post found out and ran a few bajillion more copies to sell as souvenirs. My hubby bagged me one in the airport, coming into Baltimore. That paper in my lap with that headline made me many an instant friend in that airport. Good times.

[Jasmin]

That Brenda! What a talented vixen. :)

[Cookie]

Lovely scarf and adorable vest.

I hope your mother is doing better. The Kaiser folks will take good care of her. They are very good at looking after the older folks and making sure that they are getting the care they need.

[LisaK]

Love the skunk!! The new stuff is exciting too.

Hugs!!! White light to you and your mom and friend.