Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Hello! My Name is...

Wow! I didn't realize quite how long I'd been away from blogging. The last couple months have been eventful...pretty stunning actually when you think of how much has changed for bad and for good, but I'm still here.

Friends

My friend, Debra, lost her fight with cancer last month. It's actually sometimes harder now because I have over a month of stuff that I want to tell her about. :-) But, I was able to see her a couple days before she died, and that meant a lot. Her funeral was nice, and I've had one analogy that has been in my head now ever since. Someone said, "to me, I'm always surprised that people get upset about the death of their physical bodies. I think of it like losing baby teeth. Nobody cries about losing baby teeth. Instead people congratulate you and say, Wow! You're growing up. Good for you! Now you'll get your permanent teeth! I think of dying the same way. You lose your temporary self but you gain your permanent self!"
Anyway, I like the way she put it.

I still miss Debra, though.

Family


My brother-in-law just went through a scary medical thing. The fabulous thing is that he's doing much much better now. Thank God! Get well this minute, Greg! Love You!!!!


Knitting


Oh, boy, do I have some pretty yarns right now! And actual projects. I forgot to post some finish photos of Leda.
I'm also working on the Moroccan Days/Arabian Nights stole. I'm having so much fun with it, but I don't have photos quite yet. Soon, though!



Gardening


I have lots of real live fruits and vegetables in the garden now. Blackberries are going nuts and are ready now. I'll take more photos of the plums, peaches, apples, pomegranate, etc. And now I've got squash, peas, tomatoes galore, arugula, and lots of flowers. We also had this cool bee swarm that showed up for 48 hours and then disappeared as if they had never been here before...






















5 comments:

Knitting Linguist said...

I'm so sorry to hear about your loss. It sounds like it's been a rough month, one way and another. The gardening looks great, and the knitting (and that is one cool picture of a bee swarm!). I can't wait to see the arabian stole...

Acorn to Oak said...

It's great to see you're back and that you're doing fine. I've been wondering if you were ok since you've been gone so long from your blog.

That's a great pic of Debra. It's so weird that she's gone. I miss her. That's a great analogy about the baby teeth and permanent teeth though.

It's weird to think that I may not see many of you ladies again. The knit evenings and mornings were great!

Leda is beautiful! I bet it's so fun to wear it after all the time you put into it too. I love that color of blue.

Your garden sounds yummy! It's weird how the bees do that. There was a huge bunch of them just like that in our neighbor's tree one day and the next day it was completely gone.

Take care! Happy knitting! :-)

Megan said...

I love that picture of her!!! Those bees were freaky, especially since we couldn't hear them. I'm glad you posted pictures of Leda she is pretty cool.
=)hugs

Unknown said...

I haven't had a chance to tell you how sorry I am about Debra, what a beautiful soul. I know I haven't had a chance to meet your friends, but in reading your blog and talking to you...they seem so wonderful. To all your friends...we are all so fortunate to have my sister. I can't put into words how beautiful she is. She set aside her own pain to help get me through an evening and time where I just wanted to curl up in a ball. At 3am...all I wanted was to be little kids again, when I cried she would play with my hair until I fell asleep. We may be miles away, but her voice gave me that comfort. Just about 3 weeks ago, my husband was suddenly stuck with viral herpes encephalitis (an aggressive infection of the brain). He wasn't expected to live. We now call him the 1% guy...that was his chance of survival. He has been quite the fighter. He's responding to the anti-virals and with prayers, patience and therapy, we expect a full recovery. I love you Bets! Give Dave hugs and kisses from all of us.

Love,
Karen, Greg, James, Samuel

hopalong682003 said...

Thanks, Kayce. I was thrilled that you called me. Well, thrilled is the wrong word. I hated that you guys had to go through this, but I was happy that I was able to help, and I'm very thankful that you called me.

You know, you're right about my wonderful friends. I didn't want to get into too many details of Greg's illness because I wanted to respect privacy, etc, but I also wanted to make sure that the happy vibes were getting out to him. I truly believe that means a lot. :-) Love You All!!!!