The Sixth Decade

The sixth decade of life seems to be all about medical procedures for both my husband and myself.  Last week, it was his turn.  I had to take him to an outpatient surgical clinic to have a growth removed from his lower right eyelid.

My husband is used to being the driver and not the navigator on our excursions but obviously I was the driver this time.  The drive to the clinic was like something from a Marx Brothers film, marked by many a missed turn because Bill hasn't the knack of telling me when to turn until we have passed the appropriate point.  But eventually we got there. 

It was a very upscale surgical clinic: the people were solicitous and communicative, the surgeon and anesthesiologist were skilled and the place itself was quite lovely, complete with crown moldings , sculptures and comfortable furniture in the reception area.  But from the point of view of the person waiting, the best part was the courtyard on the ground floor..  It was open to the air, surrounded on all four sides by the building, paved with Belgian blocks, appointed with tables and chairs of heavy steel mesh and adorned by plantings in squares scattered throughout the area and along the borders of the space.  The gardens were not showy or glamorous, though quite attractive in a simple and elegant fashion.  Every plant were clearly selected for fragrance: with even the slightest breeze, one was treated to wonderful scents.  I am not quite sure what sort of a comment it makes on the quality, or range, of my life when I start writing reviews of surgical clinics and their waiting areas.  Anyway, it was a fine place to spend the two hours waiting for my husband's procedure to be completed.

I spent the waiting time stitching on Workbasket's Quaker Squirrel.  In the very peaceful atmosphere of the courtyard, I got quite a bit done.  The chart called for Belle Soie's Cinnamon Stick for which I substituted GAST Cinnamon and, just for a bit of contrast, GAST Sarsaparilla, for the acorn.  I'll post photos tomorrow when I catch up with all the stitching I have done since I last posted in May.

Later this week, he'll be having another surgery, removing a large growth [the size of an orange] from below his arm.  This one will be done at the out-patient clinic of the local hospital which has nowhere near as congenial a waiting space for relatives.  The doctors are 90% sure this is a benign growth but, of course, we'll be breathing a sigh of relief only after the biopsy makes that a certainty.

In August, it will be my turn.  I will finally have the cataracts removed.  I had wanted to get it done in  July but August was the earliest my doctor could schedule the procedures.  Still, I am looking forward to much better vision in the near future.

Workbasket Quaker Charts Giveaway

I thought it was about time to pass these charts on.  Anyone wishing to see my version of these patterns has only to scroll down a few posts to the Gallery Post earlier this week.  You may request more than one chart.  Indeed, I had originally thought of offering to give the whole collection to just one winner but I doubt anyone would want all of them.  I do have a few more Workbasket Quaker Animals in my stash, still to be stitched, so there will be another Quaker giveaway in a few more months.  But for now, these are the charts on offer:

Quaker Sampler

Quaker Cat and Mouse

Quaker Cow and Sheep

Quaker Pig and Rooster 

Quaker Rabbit and Turtle

Quaker Frog, Swan and House

All I ask is that the winners pass these charts forward once they have stitched them.  Obviously this is an unenforceable request, relying on the honor among stitchers.  My purpose is to spread the joy of stitching in this rather difficult economy and I hope the winners will share my goal.

I will draw winners on March 10.

Monday Musings

With President's Day giving me an extra day of leisure this week, I have had some more stitching and reading time.

I finished up J.D. Robb's Obsession in Death.  I have read the In Death series from the very beginning.  This last entry was not the best in the series but it did have some amusing vignettes.  My favorite being the brief scene in which the none too maternal heroine, Dallas, ends up holding a bauble coveting toddler, Bella, who stakes a claim to Dallas' diamond pendant.  I also began Monica Ferris' Darned If You Do.  The Ferris book is  much lighter fare than the Robb book but both rely on the appeal of an ensemble of characters.  Sci-fi, fantasy and mystery novels tend to be my escapist reading.  All of this light reading has been needed to compensate for the serious research I have been doing for the Family Catechesis program on the Via Dolorosa, the Stations of the Cross and it's origin in pilgrimage.

The temperatures have continued to hover in the single digits or low teens with wind chill factors making it feel anywhere from 6 to 20 below 0.  I have been hermitting all weekend, amusing myself with stitching, reading and a Babylon 5 DVD marathon with occasional excursions into housekeeping.  I will be glad when Spring finally makes its appearance.  I find I feel the cold more intensely as I grow older.  Suddenly, long underwear doesn't seem a ludicrous vestige of a long ago past prior to central heating.  It seems a quite practical solution to problems here and now!

On the stitching front, I have made considerable progress on Workbasket's Quaker Owl.  You can clearly see the difference in the dye lots of GAST Maple Syrup used for the Quaker motifs that make up the chest and for the more solid stitching that makes up the head, wings and claws.  I had hoped to have enough of the lighter toned dye lot for the eyes as well but I will have to go with a third dye lot from my stash.  I'd forgotten just how much fiber these Workbasket animals eat up.  In future I shall have to make sure I have at least two skeins, possibly three, on hand before I start a piece from the series.  I guess fiber purchases will play a big part in the 2015 budget.

WIPs

Life hasn't left much room for stitching this week as we enter into the final countdown for Christmas ... cleaning and shopping have supplanted my usual leisure hour activities ... and work seems to be taking up more than its fair share of the day: a nine hour workday on Monday and an eleven hour workday on Tuesday and another eleven hour workday today ... even though today was punctuated with the mandatory Christmas parties, regional and parish, it's still work so far as I am concerned since I am hostess of the parish party with all the set-up and clean-up that entails ... and though this afternoon's event was a luncheon party, glad-handing colleagues-in-ministry, it kept me from all the things I needed to do at home and at the parish office. Call me Scrooge, but I really wish I could get off the merry-go-round of professionally mandated Christmas celebrations and just celebrate in my heart and in my home. I guess as I get older I find myself in need of more simplicity ... less stuff, less fuss, less running to and fro, and, dare I say it, fewer people. My natural inclination to be something of a hermit is intensifying at an alarming rate. But comparative solitude shall just have to wait till the retirement years and then, with all the natural contrariness of human nature, I shall probably long for company.

But I did squeeze in a bit of stitching, if only for the sake of my sanity. Here's my current progress on one of my ornaments for the Bride's Tree SAL: Workbasket's Quaker Santa.