Thanksgiving Week - Abandoned

I know; what an awful title. But this is about an awful thing. Yesterday my brother came home from work and said that there was a stray cat in the yard. I looked out, but I didn't see it. Later he came back and said that it had been abandoned by the railroad tracks by someone. The left it's carrier and toys but abandoned it out to starve and freeze.

When my sister came home, she said that she'd seen it on the roof of one of our sheds, but it ran off when she tried to get it to follow her into the house. We have come to the conclusion that this tiny house by the railroad tracks is a catchall of last resorts for those who have been abandoned. Indeed, Max and Shadow are here because the former tenants left them here when they moved on. Pippi was thrown in a dumpster when she was a kitten and brought here by Nora. And even Cheese, though this isn't his first home, came to be part of the menagerie because he'd been left in a parking lot and jumped into Nora's arms as she came out of work. He was so sick and flea infested that there was no questioned that he'd been cast aside.

If we manage to lure the poor thing inside, we will name it Elsa if its a girl or Frost if it's a boy, because it was left to freeze alone. My heart tells me that the universe is giving us one more to love because Cheese is soon to leave.

Nap time at the cat house

Snow Before Thanksgiving

Snoqualmie Pass

My father used to say that snow before Thanksgiving was a harbinger of a good new year to come. Living in the South, that almost never happened. It has been snowing in the passes for weeks here, but I am told that it is rare below 400 feet. Last night was one of those rare occasions. It had been predicted, and it came and went just as we were told it would. Around 2:30 the cats all moved into my bed. And instead of vying for position in front of the window, they were all trying to move under the covers. My throat was dry so I decided to make myself a cup of Sleepy Time tea. From the kitchen I could see flurries falling around the street light outside our fence. I watched it for a half hour or more before it stopped. After finishing my tea I had to fight my way back into my bed. The sleepy cats had claimed most of the real estate and weren't all to happy about having the warm covers around them disturbed. Cheese cried because of it, but was placated when he was allowed one of my pillows all to himself. I awoke this morning to find the cats and the snow gone as if it had all been a dream.

Thanksgiving Week - Monday

Goodness, I want to post, but my life is peaceful now and there is almost nothing to write about on a day to day basis. My big and exciting event today is that I will wash a weeks worth of clothing. A very fascinating topic indeed. Tomorrow I will clean some of the crevices and corners of the house that usually go undisturbed. Wednesday I will clean the rest and start to prep the meal. Then Thursday is the big day. Karen and I will spend the morning cooking. Really, what the house looks like isn't such a big deal since the only people who will be here are the same people who know what our house looks like anyway. But you know, we are GRITS and we must keep up appearances. Karen says that it will make everyone more comfortable regardless of the fact that they are very comfortable anyway.

Last year I wrote THIS  post explaining why I preferred to spend the holiday alone. I found it last night and it made me very sad. I was fine spending the day by myself, but the people coming over on Thursday give me a new perspective. I didn't want to celebrate the meal with others because the presumption was that everyone had to eat some of everything that is served. And my dietary restrictions made me feel like that was an overwhelming task. I still  have diabetes, hemochromatosis and gastroparesis. But if I pick and choose what I want to eat with this group it's fine. Almost everyone else will be too. So if my gut is acting up and I eat nothing but mashed potatoes and a parker roll no one will object. If my blood sugar is high and I eat nothing but a sliver of turkey and a few bites of cauliflower, that's fine too. If I'm feeling bold and eat until I'm sick, then shame on me, but no one will judge me. Everyone else will be choosing what in the meal appeals to them. It's just my job to make sure there is something there that everyone can enjoy.

In knitting news, I have been quite busy. I was into cabling for a week or two, and knitted a couple of headbands. But now I'm back to my recent fascination with color work. I am attempting my first true Fair Isle hat. I'm attempting to follow a graph instead of written instructions. And though the pattern is fairly simple, it has been a learning curve for me. I have to keep my amateurish attempt in perspective. The whole years that I was working, I dreamed of having the time to sit and learn to be truly good at what I do. Now I have to accept that my first attempts at techniques I haven't really tried before aren't going to be smooth and seamless. I will just have to be thankful that I finally have time to sit and learn the new things.

Happy Monday.

Thanksgiving Week

It is officially the week of Thanksgiving, which means for us, the beginning of the holidays. When I was a child there was a sort of unwritten taboo against starting the holidays even a minute before the dishes were cleaned and put a way from the Thanksgiving feast. That taboo has been effectively ignored by any and all for decades now. Stores start decorating for it even before summer has passed. But for me, the week of Thanksgiving is good enough.

My sister and I went to a store here called Haggens (I believe) that is really just a high end Safeway to purchase our feast. This was her idea, not mine. There is nothing about spending extra on groceries that makes me feel even the least bit festive. Fine shopping has always made her feel special. So I let her purchase all but a few of the groceries. I am making the cranberry relish and the parker rolls as well as a baked cauliflower for this meal, so I bought those. Still, the $0.69 a pound Jenny-O frozen turkey at Walmart is fine with me. I don't need a premium "fresh", as in never been frozen bird. I will hardly eat enough of it to make it worth the price. She says that she makes up for it by buying the tree from a place where she gets a great price. I guess I can see her point. We aren't going to eat the tree after all. However, she likes to decorate the tree with chocolate ornaments, and they are expensive. She found a few at Target that aren't really pretty. I went online and what I found was woeful. So this too, I will leave to her. I bought matching stockings for the three of us instead.

The three kittens have gone to the eastern side of the state to visit with their father for the holiday. They won't be joining us. In a way, it is a blessing. We will have my niece, her best friend and her best friends partner and my sister's ex joining us for the meal. Seven adults will be plenty to fill this small house with cheer. Writing these words, I come to the realization of just how indulgent my sisters feast is for her, she likes the cooking of it more than eating it. My sister, her daughter the best friend and the partner are all vegetarians. None of them will be eating the fresh, never frozen bird. And I can assure you that my brother, my ex-brother-in-law and I simply will not care one bit. AND...it is a 23 pound turkey, and I prefer ham to turkey. The bird is more for her pleasure of cooking it than it has anything to do with any of  us eating it. I will keep my feelings about it here on this blog and let her enjoy it. I will enjoy hijacking the television to watch the parade. I'm pretty sure my brother and ex-BIL will want to watch the Falcons football game. I may hijack my sister's TV and have Christmas movies playing on it.

Cheese is still with us. I think he's hanging out hoping to snag some of that Turkey.

Migraine Day

I made this picture some years ago to try to describe my migraine pattern. It was back in the day when I was still getting 2 or 3 of them a year. I know that isn't much. Some people have them almost everyday. Over the years, they have become less and less frequent. I don't think I've had one since last year, it may have been longer. It's hard to remember right now. My brain is sick.

It started very early this morning. I was still asleep when the aura started. In my dream, I thought I was looking through a stained glass window. Only it had flashing neon lights around it. By the time I realized that I was starting to have a migraine and needed to wake up the pain had already begun. I was too late to start medication and caffeine to thwart off the pain. I have been fighting it all day. I have some Indica with a high CBD content. That is to say that I have some marijuana, if you aren't familiar with the terms. It is actually remarkable in the amount of relief that it give me. My brain is still sick and I will be off for a few days, but I am able to deal with light and sound. My nausea isn't overwhelming me. I can cope with it. Then there is the other part that is difficult to describe to people. It's the feeling or rawness and brittleness, but that doesn't really describe it well. I am still feeling it quite a lot, but it doesn't have me curled up in bed trying to hold on.

I'm sorry, my brain is sick today. On a brighter note, this is what I have been working on. I've been able to do a bit on it today, but almost all of it was done yesterday. I've made socks before, but I am not proficient by any means. I'm going to have to get instructions on how to make the gusset and turn the heel. But I doubt that I could follow them today.

I hope your day is going well. I'll be back soon and maybe not under the influence of the "evil weed", who knew that it could work so well on migraines? Well, apparently William Osler did.  He said, "Cannabis Indica is probably the most satisfactory remedy." when talking about migraines in "The Principles and Practice of Medicine" published in 1892. The father of modern medicine recommended pot for migraines in 1892 and I have suffered through them my whole life. Remarkable, totally and utterly despicably deplorable to be made to suffer because of nonsensical laws.

I'm sorry, my brain is sick today. I will be better in a few days.

Chilly Day

The weather continues to be chilly, but not really cold. The other thing that it's not is typically rainy. There have been some remarkably rainy days, but not every day as I had been led to believe. So far, I am not suffering from sun deprivation. But then, I spent the past 20 years indoors in a cubical without access to a window. Sun deprivation for me, I think is quite a different story than sun deprivation for someone who has spent the same amount of time out of doors to begin with.

I went to the knitting group yesterday and had quite a good time. It is just good to be around people. And the two women who had so annoyed me on my first visit have not returned. Maybe they found me just as annoying. The knitting skills for most of the women who are there seems to be far above my own. They all seem to be working on intricate lace and color work objects that require them to work from charts. But when I talk with them, they seem to lack knowledge of some basic skills too. It confirms my conviction that knitting is mostly a splinter skill practice. One principle is not necessarily based upon the last.

I was working on a cabled hat. I'd knit most of it beforehand and ripped it out. The original pattern called for worsted yarn knitted on size 4 needles. It was a very tight knit and not really what I wanted or needed. I re-knit it starting with a size 7 needle for the brim and then changed to a size 9 for the body. But while I was talking at Sit and Knit I made a mistake in the cabling and didn't notice it until much too late to correct it. I decided that I'd had quite enough to the hat and just finished it off. All and all I don't think that it looks too bad. But I'm going to try it again with a different yarn.

Now I am working on a Christmas stocking for myself since mine is packed away in my storage shed in Georgia. I will be using scrap yarn from Millie's sweater and from the hat above. I have another whole skein of both if I need them, but I'm hoping that I won't.

Memories Calendar

Do you have those days that you just can't forget?  I do. I can tell you in agonizing detail what happened on the morning of April 12, 2004. I can describe the events of the week following with remarkable recall. I have many days like that. Days that the events that happened permanently marked itself on the calendar of my mind. But now I have so many of them that sometimes I will recognize the day and not be able to tell you without much thought what happened.  Today was one of those days. I woke up and at some point it struck me that it was November 3. I knew that something happened on this day. Something that I should remember. There was someone that I should reach out too. But the reason didn't really come first to mind.

I started going about my day and at some point I picked up my phone to check for messages. There was one from my best friend. "Stephanie has a kidney. We are on our way to the hospital. They will be operating within the hour." Wow. Just wow! Talk about a day well prayed for. My friend's daughter became ill with a virus four years ago and lost her kidneys to it. She has been enduring daily dialysis since then. Now she has a new start. While we tamper our enthusiasm due to the fact that someone lost a loved one, we are forever grateful for their generosity in that loss. Her life will become more normal again. This is a great day. One that should be remembered. I'm sure that Stephanie and De will remember it always.

But there was something that I was supposed to remember. I felt the overwhelming tug that I was neglecting something. But I went on about my day. Not much happened. I kept a watch on my phone and on Facebook for updates from De. The operation went well. The kidney worked immediately. Everything is looking good. Stephanie made it through recovery and was taken back to her room by dinner time.

Then as I was watching Facebook a small note from another friend caught my eye. And the memory came crashing back. It was November 3, 2007. We were at Mil-Ball, the holiday dance for the high school ROTC class my daughter was in. I was there and busy making sure that the tables were kept in good supply of pizza and hot wings. One of the kids who had graduated the spring before dropped by to say hello to his friends. He didn't stay long, just enough to see everyone and say goodbye. Before he left he came to the refreshment table where I was at and gave me a hug. Then said he had things to take care of and "I'll see you on the other side". I didn't think anything of it. It was how he always said goodbye. He went home where he was alone and took his own life. His grandmother found him when she was coming home from work. His brother was still at the dance. That is what I was supposed to remember. I finally did reach out to my friend to let her know that I still care. I wish I'd remembered early enough to reach out before she reminded me. I don't want her to think that I didn't care.

Debra donated Kenneth's organs. I suppose there was a family who got the call that De and Stephanie got this morning. Someone whose life has been enhanced by Kenneth's death. I'd like to think so.

I had my phone in my hand and was about to give Debra a call when my phone started ringing. It was Mollie, and she was crying. At first I was confused. She and I have shared a tear or two over the years on this day. But not the way she was crying. Her news today is happy and not sad. Her tears were those of joy and not sorrow.  Chris had proposed and Mollie had accepted. They are getting married. I am so very happy. There isn't much more to tell right now. It had just happened when they called me. I want to get on the phone and on Facebook and all over social media and celebrate the hell out of this. But I do not know who has been told, so I have to wait a few days. My girl, my precious daughter  is getting married to a very nice man, whom I like very much.

Oh my gosh. I need to go on a diet so I will look good in her pictures....

Today is a day when memorable things have happened. This year the memories are of joy.

The End of Saving Daylight

Daylight Savings Time has ended in the US. I am one of many people who are glad to see it end. I don't generally like the time changes. It seems a bother to disrupt a whole nation on an unproven theory there is an advantageous energy consumption benefit. In a society that is far from it's dawn to dusk workday routine, it becomes a matter of when you turn the lights on. You can turn them on in the morning before you go to work, or you can turn them on in the evening. It doesn't seem to make that much of a difference.

Even though I'm not a fan of the time swap scheme, I was looking forward to this one. Since I have moved here five months ago, I have been unable to regulate my inner clock to wake at a decent hour. After spending decades waking in the pre-dawn hours to drive an hour to work, my inner clock now seems to want to stay up all night and wake in the afternoon. This morning, by whatever magic that occurs to change the clocks, I was up at 7:00 am. I can't even begin to explain it. I only hope that it holds.

I have learned that time change began in the US in 1966. I didn't know that. I was 9 years old and I must really have not been paying attention. I certainly don't remember not having the changes. Thirty states have voted to leave the system. Washington is one of them. But I understand that to make it applicable, congress has to okay it. They are a bit busy right now running the clown show out of town. The thought that this may be the last time I have to worry about changing the clocks unnaturally is intriguing. Still, I  never really thought that I'd be able to walk into a retail establishment and buy pot either. Things change. Sometimes for better.

Happy Halloween Week

Sorry to get back to you all so late again. Cheese is still puttering along with us, though we see him getting weaker almost by the day. He remains a strong willed little thing. He has taken to staying in my sisters room most of the time now. Every now and then he will get up and go into the kitchen for food and water, and he still goes outside to take care of business, but beyond that he isn't really doing much.

The three little kittens came over this weekend to go to the community Trunk-or-Treat with us. They were more than a bit wild this weekend, being all hyped up on celebrations, parties and sugar. Still they were respectful of Cheese.  We had discussed what to tell them about him before they came over. Ken really didn't want us to say anything to them. Soon it became like the elephant in the room and we gently explained that Cheese had lived a long and comfortable life, but his days are becoming few now. The middle child asked if he was going to pass over the rainbow bridge. I'm not sure how that euphemism came into being, and I'm very reticent about the theology involved in it. However, it seemed like a kind and gentle way to get the message across. So we all agreed that is how we are explaining it. They were a bit distressed by all this.  We pointed out that we still have Cheese with us and should be happy for the time he has left with us. Their distress lasted long enough to make their way to the celebrations at the park. They spent the night with us and Cheese did manage to make it to the couches they were sleeping on and curl up with the youngest child.

While we were out my son sent a picture of Jack in his costume. My daughter-in-law has outdone herself this year. She is very good with costumes. At first I thought that he was dressing up as Jack and the Beanstalk. When he Face timed with me later, I learned that he's actually Spout from the Green Giant advertisements. When I asked him why he'd chosen that costume, he told me he was helping make dinner when his mother asked him and it was the first thing he saw. I thought to myself that it was a very good thing he wasn't helping load toilet paper into the pantry when the subject came up. This is typical of how this child's mind works. He's very much in the moment and doesn't spend a lot of time thinking on the things he doesn't have.  Once I asked him what he wanted for Christmas. He thought for a minute and said he wanted a Christmas tree. His mind wasn't on getting a present, though he does like them. He was just in the moment of celebrating the holiday and wanted to put his tree up.

The weather is turning colder and Karen and I  decided that we needed to upgrade our shoes before the bad weather came. We went to the outlets in Northbend. She had been speaking about making a trip there as if it were a fabulous place. In reality, it is just your usual outlet mall. I am a bit jaded by having had one so close when I lived in Georgia.  I was lucky to find two pairs  of shoes that I really liked at a 75% off sale. Karen also found the shoes she needed, and they are very similar to the ones that I chose. I am astounded at how similar our tastes are. I never noticed it when we were growing up. It's funny, but we will be getting dressed in our own bed rooms and come out both dressed in the same color flannel shirts. Our rain coats are similar, our shoes are similar, even the cut of our jeans are the same.  At first one of us would go change, now we don't bother. If we were the same size we could borrow each others clothes like we used to and be perfectly happy with it.

Unfortunately, we aren't the only one's that are noticing the change in the weather. We had the kittens paint some pumpkins, and put them out on the porch. When I was going out to check on some things this evening the smallest pumpkin was half eaten in the yard. I suppose one or more of the squirrels must have gotten it. I have never seen a squirrel come on the porch before. Mostly they are afraid of the cats. Karen believes it is a sign that the winter will be a hard one. I have to say that I agree.  It makes me glad that I upgraded my shoes. I wore the ones I had for a couple of years and they are worse for it. The new ones will definitely keep my feet dryer and warmer.

Ken spent the weekend getting the yard ready for colder weather. Our Strawberries are covered and the potted plants have been brought into the mud room. He pruned some of the bushes and trees. Karen and I will spend next weekend giving the house a good cleaning and shampooing the carpets. It will make it nicer for our holiday meal guests and hopefully keep us from getting sick while everything is closed up for winter.

This post is all over the place. But I did want to get something out before more needs to be added. Hope you are having some spooky fun this week.

P.S. This post has been heavily edited. After re-reading it I realized that I should have read it before I posted. My apologies to those who were nice enough to read my rambling before I came to my senses.

A Sweater For Cheese

Our oldest cat is coming to the end of his days. He spends most of them curled up sleeping. It isn't all that alarming as that is exactly what the other cats do. But he is beginning to have trouble using his hind legs. We know that he probably won't be with us for Christmas. I will be surprised to see him still here at Thanksgiving. We are hoping that he will die peacefully here at home. He hates to be picked up and carried. Taking him into a vet will be traumatic for him. In Woodstock, I know a vet that will come out to your home to provide that sort of care. I'm told there is no one here that will do it. Such a shame.

The weather has turned cooler with the rain that we have been having. Cheese shivers with the cold. When we see him uncovered, we cover him up. But it makes it harder for him to get up when he needs. He is a proud kitty. He still does his business outside and wants no help. He also does not want food and water brought to him. He prefers to have it in the spot where it always has been. I finished my sisters mitts yesterday and started on a sweater for cheese. Hopefully he will agree to wear it. Karen told me that he had a pumpkin costume when he was young that he cried when it was taken off of him. I decided that his comfort sweater should be a pumpkin sweater. I didn't do much besides work on it all day. I should think that another day and it will be done. But there is part of me that fears that if I finish it, he will die. It's an irrational thought, I know. But my mind has taken hold of it and it's seed is planted there. I'll finish the sweater anyway. I hate to see the poor fellow shivering.

I didn't do more than work on the sweater yesterday. I don't have much else to say. I fear that I have become a old cat woman, complete with a silver braid running down my back. I'll have to work on not letting this become a hoarder house.