We’re right in the middle of five days at sea. Yesterday made the seasickness and rough seas seem worth it. It was warm and calm. The sunset was spectacular. Sitting with my knitting, facing the ocean, nothing but sea and sky. Nothing. No birds, no other ships, no land and then suddenly, flying fish. So cool.
And again, if you are looking for my pattern, leave a comment and I will e-mail it to you after the 14th.
…falls everywhere. It´s not dampening our spirits, though. I have no pictures as I´ve been using a satellite connection and it is slow and expensive.
For five days we´ve consistently sailed in 100kph winds making the ship feel more like a train in movement. Thank God for Gravol (Dramamine).
Tissues out for this one. In the someone always has it worse department – BIL Greg met a woman on the trip who had reserved it with her daughter two years ago. Her daughter died of cancer in the meantime and she is now on the trip alone, strewing her daughter´s ashes along the way. Makes my travelling solo seem insignificant.
Chuck update – he is glad to be at home as his recovery is moving slowly. A crease in his retina is causing double vision which will eventually go away. He has 30% of his vision back, but has an 80% chance of his other retina detaching. Learn the symptoms and get help quickly – an increase in eye floaties, flashing lights and a blackness taking over your vision from the outside in.
Thanks, everyone for your good wishes, I´ll try to write more when I get to another reliable internet connection.
PS visited two yarn shops so far 🙂
If you are seeking my pattern, please leave a comment and I´ll send it to you when I get home in two weeks. Thank you!
An emotional roller coaster ride has come to an end. As of tomorrow I'm off to Rome without Chuck, who is still laid up recovering from his detached retina surgery. It was a difficult decision because honestly, and it takes a fair dose of honesty to remain happily married, I know if the trip had been as planned, and the tables were turned, there is no way I would be encouraging him to continue without me.
My reasoning?
What was originally five couples has turned into three couples and three women. Our good friend's partner had to cancel due to a death in the family and she will be accompanied by a work friend.
C is fine to be left alone. In fact he'll be retuning to work in another ten days. He realizes that even if he could go, it wouldn't be enjoyable as his impaired vision makes him feel quite motion sick.The kick in the butt is that he'll be covering for a coworker who will be on the trip. Poor guy.
What have I learned?
I managed to whip this up this weekend. A baby gift for my physical therapist:
My three week trip knitting is planned – a couple of baby hats, a scarf and the beginning of a gift for a regular reader. Blogless Marsha and my knitting SIL are coming along. Who knows, maybe we can arrange an onboard Ravelry group. I hope to have enough internet access to post now and then.
Arrivederci!
From this:
To this, in one week flat:
A Round Ripple Afghan with an added picot edge:
It seems I missed the call of a lifetime today. Arriving home after work I checked out the call display: Out of area (no number listed), Scotiabank (my friend, Lynn), N Shore Comm Res (that was me, calling from work – North Shore Community Resources,checking up on Mr. Sideways), and Responsive Mark. Hmmm, don't recognize that one. Let's let the imagination run wild.
Who could he be, this Mr. Responsive Mark? Calgon's replacement, waiting in my bathtub, wanting to take me away? A knight in shining armor, whisking me away on his steed, relieving the stresses of my week – the suffering husband who cannot exert himself enough to blow his nose or lift five pounds for fear of detaching the newly repaired retina. The decision to cancel or not, my half of the longed for trip – five nights in romantic Rome and 16 nights at sea with eight close friends. The work week from hell – the Annual General Meeting plus three HUGE grant related deadlines and two newspaper articles due.
I know I know, there is no such thing as Responsive Mark. It was really Responsive Marketing, calling to ask my opinion about canned chicken soup.
Now I bet you're wondering about the Whiny Butt. Besides me, that is, whining about my woes. This is my third haul of winnings in a recent blog contest. It came from Quiddity's Jane's annual sock knitting contest. I won by default, being the only entrant in the non sock knitting category. Her prize featured Numma Numma Toasty Treat yarn in the colourway "Whiny Butt." Here is Jane's priceless explanation of how it achieved that moniker:
"The woman who dyes Numma Numma lives across the street from me. She has three
girls – 7, 5, and 3. She dyed some yarn and named it "No Wikey Green Beans,"
after something her 3-year old said. The kid walked around the house, gloating
about mom naming yarn for her, and the 7-year old couldn't stand it. She kept
begging mom to name some for her. Dad said, "too bad we can't name it Whiny
Butt." But it appears they can. LOL"
Thank you Jane!
Thank you for all the well wishes. The patient is impatient but mostly compliant. What a combination of decisions and feelings this past week, fear, disappointment, guilt. Fortunately there is very little physical pain.The recovery has started. We can even muster up some black humour. In the hospital I was asking about his condition and the nurse said "Oh yes, he's the one who came in with the eye." "Hopefully he's going home with it," said I. We laughed together.
Mr.Sideways is going crazy, no vision in that eye yet, except for the ability to distinguish light from dark. Blogless Marsha, Dave and Riley dog have come up for Canadian Thanksgiving weekend to keep him from total boredom. Turkey's in the oven, knitting is happening and the wine is poured.
I saw that on a bumper sticker today. File this under "Life's not necessarily fair." It's not that I'm a total heathen who can't put this into some sort of perspective, but give me permission to emote. Please?
All I can do is put this in point form:
Screw the points here's the Reader's Digest version. Chuck had been diagnosed with a detached retina (there were some unnecessary complications socialized medical system wise) requiring emergency surgery and the inability to travel for many weeks. We'll know more tomorrow. Lots of scenarios circulating – how about two weeks of lying on one's side 23 hours a day?
And the three year old fridge died.
And we had an encounter with another bear in the yard today in broad daylight. Do these animals never sleep?
We've had lots of meaningful conversation and made some important decisions with the knowledge that decisions are never final.
I predict lots of knitting/crocheting ahead. It's growing fast and furiously:
I'm a knitter and this is a knitting blog. I remember when I first started following others in blogland, being turned off by those who displayed too much of the single hook stuff. So, self identified regulars and lurkers, I've been afraid to show too much of the alternative yarn art, for fear of losing you. This closet crocheter has two WIP's on the hook. That's the start of a Round Ripple Afghan, on the left, made with the yarn from the basket below. Fear not, there are still six (!) on the needles.
There, I've said it in public. Do you hate me? Are we still on speaking terms or have I lost you forever?
Not a long post because I have a headache. This kind that starts in the neck and crawls up the side of my skull and grows into throbbing-through-the-eyeball migraines used to be quite common for me. I've posted about my failed treatment attempt, but I finally found one that works.
Botox, same as the cosmetic concoction, injected into the neck, temples and forehead and thankfully covered by insurance. Pretty painful at the time, but resulting in a 75% reduction in headaches. Until tonight. It's supposed to last about three months and October 9th is the date of my next round.
Update: Didn't get to posting that last night, but woke up feeling fine, despite the 3:30a.m. entertainment in our yard. Gracee was barking tiny little cautious barks. Looked out the window to see a hairy object moving erratically. Had to rule out the 18 year old, hairy as he is, with a history of occasional unruly behaviour. Looking more closely I saw that it was a black bear mom and cub playing – romping around the grass, batting at each other on their hind legs. I tried to get a picture, but no luck.
So, today's picture is stash enhancement. Keeping true to my oath to buy only sale yarn for a specific purpose, this is Heirloom Whisper, bought on clearance and stored in a newly acquired garage sale basket.
