Saturday, September 13, 2008


It's been a while since my last post and I apologize for that,
but the past two weeks have been hectic with family matters
that required me to focus my time and attentions elsewhere.
I decided to take a bit of time today to update my blog and
let everyone know that I'm still around, even if I haven't
been able to comment on your blogs much.

Two weeks ago on Thursday my Mom was taken to hospital,
and she's still there at this time. At first they thought she might
be suffering from pneumonia. When she was
admitted to hospital she was put in a room by herself,
effectively in quarantine. Eventually it was decided that
she did not have pneumonia, but rather had suffered a
severe reaction to some medication that she'd been
prescribed to help her with water retention in her legs and
feet. She became severely dehydrated.

She's been having ups and downs since then in her
recovery, although I suppose none of it has been terribly
drastic. Thankfully. She's not too happy with the hospital
food (not surprisingly) but she's got to eat and build up
her strength before she can go home. She has been on
her feet, sitting in a chair, and walking to the door of her
room and back, which is good. She's fretting because she
hasn't been able to put on her makeup, which is also a
good sign. And she would probably do just about anything
for an hour with a hairdresser.

We're hoping that she'll be able to return to the retirement
residence within a few weeks, assuming that she's able to
get back on her feet and safely mobile. But we'll just have
to wait and see how things go.

So I've been spending evenings and weekend afternoons
at the hospital with her. Fortunately the Georgetown
hospital is just a five minute drive from where we live,
and I can walk home from there in under half an hour if
I have to. Thank goodness it's still summer here so it's
not a problem if I do have to walk. I've also been spending
a great deal of time on the phone when I'm home keeping
friends and family up to date on things.


I've been stitching on my lunch breaks at work as usual, and
I've been taking my stitching in to work on while visiting Mom.
So I've finished off Violet, and the title square in my Cottage
Garden piece, and made a small start on the final square, which
is Bluebell. I changed the thread colour that was supposed to
be used for the wording of Cottage Garden. It was suppose to
be a pale mauve, the same as was used to stitch the tiny flowers
at the bottom of the square. But I didn't think that the colour
showed up well enough on this material to do that, so I chose
to use the yellow instead.

Now I'd like to start a new main project, but I have to take
some time (!!!) to sort through my stash and see what jumps
out at me. I feel like starting something from Waxing Moon
Designs but then again I may just latch onto something else
when all is said and done.


I've been able to finish the second and third books in the
Magic trilogy by Maria Snyder, and they were every bit as
enjoyable as the first book was.


I loved that I had the three books to pick up, one right
after the other, instead of having to wait a year or more
for the next book to come out. But at the same time I
find that I then get so engrossed in the world, and the
events and so attached to the characters, that it's hard
to move on to something else afterwards. I am reading
a biography now, as a drastic change to snap me out of
the "magic" mind set.

****************************************************

Barbara, my DH is 6 feet 5 inches tall. Our friend Sue
is just about 5 feet tall, give or take an inch. Thus you
have the height difference that you see in the picture of
the two of them together. Sue is a minister, so when
she's preaching on Sundays she has to stand on
something so that she can be seen behind the lectern
I'm around 5 feet 6 inches by the way.

******************************************************

We're in the throes of election fever (??) here as the
sitting Prime Minister has called an election for October
14th in hopes of trading in his minority government for
a majority. Here we go again!!

What with the American election, which receives as much
attention as our own election does in the media and
around the water cooler, and all the hoopla and sniping
between the candidates here, we're pretty much inundated
with political news and views at the moment. It's
fascinating stuff, except when it's annoying and frustrating.

And in the end, we're most likely going to have another
minority government with the same leader (conservative)
as we have now.

*****************************************************

I would like to take a moment to thank Kathy A. and
Dani and Beatrice and Lynn and Sandra for your kind
thoughts and comments regarding my Mom. And Kathy
and Dani especially for being so gracious and understanding
when at the last minute I had to cancel a long anticipated
visit to Kathy's home for a stitchers gathering because of
my Mom's illness. It looks as though you had a wonderful
weekend ladies. I was so looking forward to meeting all
of you in person at last, but alas, it wasn't meant to be.
Someday....

I will be visiting blogs as time allows, and I hope to
make the occasional comments when my brain is
functioning enough to allow for reasonably
intelligent posts. In the meanwhile I send my
best wishes, and deepest appreciation to all of you
who comment and who blog. Visiting you helps me
to relax, smile and keep my spirits up.

Take care everyone.....

15 comments:

Pumpkin said...

Judy, I received your email and I'm so sorry I have not responded yet. I was very sad to hear about your mother but it sounds like she is bouncing back if she is complaining about the food and her lack of make up ;o) That is good news!

PLEASE do not worry about commenting, reading or meeting with people at this time. Family does come first and your mother must enjoy the fact that you are able to get in and visit her. It's pretty lonely and boring in a hospital bed :o(

Glad to see some stitching progress ;o) I wish you would take a picture of the whole project though! LOL!

mainely stitching said...

Oh boy, I'm so sorry your mom has been ill and I'm so glad to hear that she's gaining. Can you bring food to her? I know when I was in the hospital with Arden, I thought I'd perish from the horrible (!!) food. I can't eat dairy and don't eat meat and every single meal involved one or the other, even after I filled out a bunch of forms that should've ensured otherwise. Anyway, please give your mom a hug from me. She looks like a terrific lady - and surely she must be, to have you for a daughter. :D

Your husband is TALL! My boyfriend in high school was that tall. I have to say, I really liked it - so I move to the country with the tallest people and wind up marrying someone "short" by their standards. LOL!

Love your color change. The yellow looks great.

Take care!!!

staci said...

So sorry that your mom's been ill and is still hospitalized. Sending hugs and prayers that she'll continue to recover well and be released soon.

Unknown said...

Hi Judy, thank you so much for visiting my Blog and for the lovely comments~I've just looked through your Blog, and talk about Inspiration~you certainly take the cake on that. Your taste, and your work is Awesome. It seems that you and I have alot of the same taste in designs.

Your kitties are BEAUTIFUL! I love how they snuggle together, rather than running and hiding from one another. LOL Our two kitty girls get along so very well too. Our Bailey doggy however is not always real keen on them~especially when they get too close to his treats. LOL

I'm so sorry to hear about your mother and the reaction she's had to the medication she was taking. I will be keeping her in my thoughts and hoping for a nice recovery. And hoping that they've found another medication that will help her rather than dehydrate her. Goodness!!!

Have a most wonderful day, and much happy stitching to you too.

Andrea said...

Judy, I hope your mother improves with each new day and is able to get released soon. I see hospital food is the same the whole world over!

Great stitching progress.

Take care.

stitcherw said...

I'm so sorry to hear about your mom, how scary to have to deal with all that, no wonder you've not had time to post and such. Hopefully she continues to do well and is out of hospital and home soon. Don't worry about getting to our blogs, we'll still be there when you have time again later.

Your two squares in the cottage garden series look lovely. From the picture it does look as though changing the coloring for the wording worked much better, easier to see. How exciting too on starting the last one, you'll have this finished soon. I haven't read the magic series, but my DD has read the first two and also really enjoyed them.
Sue

Rowyn said...

I hope your Mum makes a full and speedy recovery.

Love your Cottage Garden piece.

Beatrice said...

Hi Judy.
I'm so pleased to hear that your Mom is on the way to recovery.
It sounds like its been a tough go.
Give her a hug for me...Moms are so special!
When you talk about the hairdresser and make up I agree shes on the mend.
Take care of yourself.
We missed you on the long weekend but we will find a way to do it again.
The stitching looks great by the way!!!
Hugs Beatrice.

Sonda said...

That must be your mom in the picture with the cat...she is a very lovely lady!! Sorry to hear she's had a rough go of it. Hopefully she recovers soon and is able to get back to her normal routine (and her hairdresser, LOL!) Hope you are finding a little time for yourself. If you get too run down, it will be hard to help your mom much.

I may have to check out those 3 books. They look interesting.

Thanks for your comments on my blog...they are always a pleasure to read.

samplerlover said...

Hi Judy, sorry I couldn't get back to you yesterday. DH was home and was on the computer all day.
I am so glad that your Mum is starting to feel a lot better. If she is talking about makeup and hairdressers that is really a good sign.
She sounds a bit like my Mum. All the time the Doctors would give her medicine to treat something or other, but what ever they gave her would cause so many problems in other areas. It got to the stage where she had this book with all medicine in it and what would react to this or that. She got so fed up that before she had the prescription made up she would look up her book and then inform the Doctor if she couldn't take it.
Sounds like hospital food all over the world is the same. Terrible.
Your stitching is looking lovely. I am interested in seeing how you finish it.
Yes my Lois is truly beautiful. I have finished the saying (over 1 on 40 yuk LOL) and have nearly done 3 flowers. I think if my Mum was still with us that she would have loved to have it in her bedroom. She had 4 pieces of my work plus these 2 beautiful prints of Edwardian ladies that belonged to my Dad's Mum.
Those books that you have just finished do you think they would be suitable for a 13 yo. I am always looking out for good books for my youngest son to read. He has just finished the Stephanie Meyer books and read all 4 in under 3 weeks. Cost poor Mum a fortune though. But isn't always the way. After you have bought something and read it you always find it somewhere else a lot cheaper LOL.
Anyway I'm glad Mum is feeling a bit better and I hope that you are also able to look after yourself. I know how stressful this can be. - Sandra.

Coni said...

Get well soon, Mum! And if you want to put on your lipstick, then you go right ahead. Cheers from Indiana and the Spinster Stitcher!

Lucy said...

Hi Judy...found your blog on Stitching Bloggers link...it's really nice...love the pics of your back yard...so inviting even in the rain! I'll definately be back here.

Shannon said...

Judy, I'm sorry to hear your Mom's been ill. She looks like such a beautiful lady, who obviously enjoys life. It has to be difficult for her to feel so poorly. And hard for you to stand by unable to do much to help. Hopefully they're taking good care of her there, and she'll be back up and around soon. Wanting to see a hairdresser and caring about makeup, etc. is definitely a good sign !

I'll be keeping you both in my thoughts. Don't forget to take care of yourself too.

Your stitching is absolutely gorgeous, as always :D And your taste in books is impeccable. I think Chapters should pay you a commission LOL

Dani - tkdchick said...

I hope your Mom will be out of hospital soon!

Jane said...

So sorry to hear about your Mom! That is very scary but what a comfort it must be for her to have your visits.
I have been very busy myself that I have lost touch with alot of people. But life crowds in, doesn't it and we have to do what is set before us.
Your books look very interesting. I think I'll jump on Amazon to put them on my wishlist!
Have a wonderful weekend and you take care, dear.