Where have I been?

I haven't dropped off the face of the planet, but once again life gets in the way of all we pursue.

In the spring I was diagnosed with Arthritis in my spine, I have under going physical therapy and am under the care of a neurosurgeon. I have meds to take and unless the pain becomes intolerable I am putting of surgery.


Bill and I purchased a motor home in the spring, second hand, we now own a Winnebago Adventurer. We have only been away for a weekend so far, but in September are spending six days at the Elora Gorge, to be near my parents and in October we head out west to see James in Colorado, Deb in Idaho (and finally meet Jada and her new little brother or sister). On the way home we are stopping at Yellowstone and Mount Rushmore. All the dogs are going with us, as you can see Islay enjoyed her first weekend camping.


My parents came down for their usual two weeks in July (and ended up staying three), my father came feeling under the weather and after being with us for two days finally agreed to go the the Emergency Room. He had a collapsed lung and ended up in the hospital for five days. He had wonderful care, and my mother, even though she was overwhelmed, couldn't have been more pleased. When he was realeased he was put on oxygen, so for two weeks we had tubing and a large oxygen machine in the house.

We did managed to get out and about though, we went to the Pittsburgh Zoo for an afternoon and saw the new six day old elephant calf. We managed an overnight at Gettysburg, in a wonderful bed and breakfast, and a tour of the battlefield the following day with a battlefield guide. The trips gave my parents confidence that you can go out and about while attached to oxygen.


We arranged for everything to be in place when they went home, and Bill stayed until they were confident enough to let him go.

Dad is doing very well, he is getting out with is walker or wheelchair, driving and changing oxygen tanks on the fly. They have seen their doctor twice and she is very happy with his progress.

Just as my summer was starting to slow down, and I could look forward to the end of August and Bill's retirement, Banff (lab/bloodhoud) our 11 year tore his ACL. He had surgery last Tuesday, came home on Wednesday and has been doing wonderfully, until Sunday when he decided to lick out his stitches and I had to buy an Elizabethian collar for him to wear. However, since he is not allowed to go up and down stairs, I have been sleeping on the couch in the family room to keep him company - it's not done wonders for my back.


I have been knitting over the summer - The February Ladies Sweater, which is a free download on Ravelry. Chic Knits Eylete Cardigan, baby knits, socks, and my Rowan exchange gift, and I jus. I also knitted this cute Rowan denim jacket, I had the denim in stash, hece the two colour combination. I modified a top down raglan and a stitch pattern from Rowan Babies to create this cutie. I used silver buttons from stash, every one is different. This really turned out better than I expected, it will be one I knit again.

I want to thank Arianwen for the push I needed to update the blog.