We had a good week in the Portland area. Monday's medical appointment went well. The doctor is going to consult with other specialists in the field before making a recommendation on whether the procedure he does will help with Charlie's tremors or not. Meanwhile, we got in some great family time and a little knitting.
The second sock is at the heel. They should be ready to wear soon. As you can see, they are not identical. Sometimes, when I'm using a self-striping yarn, I pull out the yarn for the second sock until I get to the exact place in the patterning where I started the first sock, so the stripes will match. This time I decided to just start the second sock at the point where I had cut the yarn loose from the first sock. They go together, but are not the same. Sometimes that's fun.
In spite of the rain, we walked the dogs each day, but on Thanksgiving Day Peter, Charlie and I took the three dogs to one of the off-leash areas nearby. The big grassy off-leash area was closed for the winter, because it gets muddy, but this smaller one was available. It's carpeted with astroturf, so the dogs don't get muddy. It was good to let them run for a bit, because we would be leaving them for several hours while we went to have dinner at Peter's in-laws' home.
There was a lot of food, of course. Everyone brought something. We contributed to the salad with stuff we brought from home. We also brought a homemade peach pie, which I had ordered during Trinity's fundraiser for Condega, Nicaragua, which was held in September. The lady who volunteered to make the pies even dropped it off at our house the day before we left to go to Portland. It was delicious. (The desserts are not in this photo, and neither is the turkey.)
They had set up tables in the living room in front of the fire and in the kitchen eating area. We had a great time, and it was great to see members of Alexa's family. We only see them every few years.
I took copies of my new book to the grandkids and their cousins. I had signed each one. Elsie brought me her copy and asked me to write her name in it, because she said her name was in the other books I had given her, so I did.
Soren finished eating and lay down on the couch to fall asleep. His mother reminded him there was still dessert, so he perked up. He stayed awake until he had eaten some pumpkin pie (his favorite) and then plopped down again.
The kitties had to be shut up in the master bedroom while we were there, because our dogs aren't used to cats. I know they were glad to be let out again after we left.
It was a busy week for Peter's family, and we are grateful that they allowed us to come. There were parent-teacher conferences, appointments with speech therapy and dentist and wrestling after we had come home.
My cold has reached the final stage where there's nothing left but the cough. I didn't know whether I was still contageous or not, so I wore a mask all week when we were in the house except when I was in the bedroom. I had trouble sleeping because of the cough. I tried several types of cough medicine. Nothing helped as much as I hoped.
We had good weather for the trip home. There was no snow at the pass.
When I let the dogs out on Sunday morning, I discovered that we had had our first snow of the season.
Our basil plants held up very well during our trip to Wisconsin, so before we left to go to Portland, I just watered them thoroughly, let them drain in the sink and then replaced them on the windowsill. I didn't bother with putting the pots into plastic bags this time. They were fine.
Sunday I pulled a container of Mexican Stew out of the freezer to thaw for supper. Then I made a cute little loaf of bread to have with it.
I cut open an avocado, removed the pit and filled the pit cavity with salad dressing for a quick, easy salad. We need to buy groceries today.
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What's in The Doll's Storybook: This week we look back on Pippa's arrival, beginning with the announcement that a new doll would be arriving. Here's Big News.
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