Joining Yarn

I have always struggled with trying to join yarn strands invisibly...

Recently I came across several methods on Pinterest - so I saved them to my knitting tips board.

Now that I'm working on a sweater for myself, I've had occasion to try one... .

Here is the illustration of what to do.

I've tried it twice so far in this knitting project. The join seems firm - and so far, hard to detect. Hope it doesn't unravel over time!

Afghan to Finish? Or Is It Done As Is?!

Last winter, I was intrigued by this basket weave crochet stitch. I had never seen it before.

Practicing it, I made a section of what I thought could become an afghan, abandoning the project when spring came along. Recently I came across it again as I was sorting through my yarn - looking for unfinished projects to work on.

I looked at it, evaluating it. It's a pretty dense stitch, and felt heavy. My family prefer lighter afghans...

But perhaps it could still be useful as a small blanket to cover someone's knees in a wheelchair.

A perfect solution! I'll donate it to the nursing home!

My reward? I won't need to feel bad about not making it any larger!

Last Sunday

A week ago today, my 97-year-old mother died. It came as a surprise to us all - she was so strong to the end. There had been a few signs: When I visited her on Tuesday, all she wanted was to lie down. That was uncharacteristic of her, but then - it's flu season. People sometimes get sick. Was she coming down with something? Or was this a new stage of life - lying down more?

She fooled us all, the staff at the nursing home told me later. One day she'd be a little weak - and the next day she'd rebound to her old self. On Friday she even attended exercise class...!

On Saturday evening, when I went to see her, her face was flushed and she had a low grade fever. They had fed her her supper in bed. I don't remember that ever happening before. The plan was to have some lab tests done and see if she had an infection.

I got a phone call at 5:30 the next morning. She had just been taken to the hospital by ambulance with low blood pressure, a swollen abdomen and a racing heartbeat. Terry and I headed over.

By the time we arrived, she'd had a CAT scan and bloodwork. Results showed that there was a blockage in her colon which had become infected. Other organs were being affected. To counter this, they were administering a strong dose of antibiotics intervenesly.

Over the course of the day, we kept our eyes on the monitors above her bed and saw that her blood pressure (which was very low when we arrived) rose to normal, then to above normal. Then it dropped again. Her heart rate continued to increase. It's as if she's running a marathon, one doctor told us. How long can she keep that up?

Further lab tests were run. At four o'clock, the doctor in charge of the medical team called me out of the room to tell me that my mother was not responding to treatment. Her most recent bloodwork indicated that, in the 10 hours she had received antibiotics, her condition had deteriorated. She then recommended that we disconnect all monitors and intervenes medication and focus on making her comfortable. I agreed: I didn't want her to suffer. Four hours later, my mother died.

Looking back on last Sunday, I am very thankful for so many things!

Thankful that it was Sunday, so my son who works Mondays to Fridays was able to be at the hospital with us, as was my cousin Rhonda, who has no classes on the weekend. My mother was surrounded by family all day. Thankful that she was coherent enough to briefly talk to my brother and his two sons in Dallas by phone.

Thankful that she received such excellent care from amazing, compassionate staff - both in the nursing home and in the hospital. Thankful also that a close friend who is an ER nurse in this hospital was working that day and dropped in to check on us from time to time. Thankful that my mother was not sick for long.

Thankful that my mother had such a full life for 97 years - good health, work that she loved, travel, good friends and strong family ties. Thankful that she continued to be active, even when she could no longer walk or see. Thankful that she took life as it came and tried to make the best of it.

I can only hope to do the same...

Take Your Child To Work

"Take Your Child to Work Day" was always a disappointment to our children, as none of them wanted to have a day off school only to attend another school, the one where I taught!  I have vivid memories of my youngest son's disappointment at having to sit at the back of my classroom and listen to his mother teach. After one period of that, I gave him some money so he could go to the cafeteria to spend the next period there! Terry, a social worker, could never take any of the kids to his work, as it would be a breach of confidentiality if they ever saw anyone they knew.

My granddaughter has already visited her father's workplace twice - once as a newborn, to meet co-workers who had heard about her...

And a second time, because a baby was needed to lie on the floor of the men's bathroom to illustrate the dilemma fathers face trying to change a baby's diaper in a bathroom not equipped with a diaper changing station.

It's a problem increasing numbers of fathers face...

(In contrast, I remember my father proudly saying that he had never changed a diaper!)

How times have changed!

New Knitting Project

I'm finding it hard to tear myself away from a new knitting project...

... a green sweater with short sleeves.

(As usual, I hope that, in the end, it will fit!)

War of 1812 Battle Site: Crysler's Farm

A lovely scenic site on our trip to the Long Sault Parkway was the nearby historic hill commemorating a battle in the War of 1812 - the Battle of Crysler's Farm.

We climbed the hill overlooking the St. Lawrence River - a natural military defense of the time.

There is a tall monument commemorating the battle between Canada, then a British Colony and the USA...

... and, 150 years later, the peacetime building of the St. Lawrence Seaway (seen in this photo), a joint Canada-US venture.








 

Old canons remain on site.

The leaves were particularly beautiful on this old battleground.

A lovely place to visit, especially at this time of the year!

Visiting the Long Sault Parkway in Fall

Neither Terry nor I are originally from Ontario, so there are a lot of places in this province that we have yet to visit.

One day a few weeks ago we headed southeast about an hour by car to visit the Long Sault Provincial Park on the Long Sault Parkway.

The park is a series of 11 islands, originally hilltops that avoided being inundated with water when the St. Lawrence River was flooded to create the St. Lawrence Seaway.

This lovely area is a popular vacation spot in summer, just as it had been before the "lost villages" were covered with water.

There weren't a lot of people around on the day we visited. We saw a few kayaks in the water.

A few visitors - like us - were out walking, enjoying the beautiful fall weather.









 

But the beaches were empty and campsites were closed. In some places, we noticed a lot of geese - perhaps because the park is also a bird sanctuary.

The changing color of the leaves made it especially beautiful.

It was sad, too, to think of the "lost villages" that were flooded to create the seaway.












Some houses, like the one owned by my neighbor Mary's parents, were re-located to higher ground.







 

 For them, it must have been a great sadness, to look at the water and know that your home town is there, under the water.