Horse Do-do!

Just when I thought I had everything under control and would accomplish a lot during the week, I had a disaster. This is about all I've gotten done this past week.

I had the book on the shelf. It's Patricia Cornwell's Body Farm in German. I read it years ago, but pulled it off the shelf to read because things happened, and I will explain. I had the quilt inner borders ready to sew on. I planned to make bread and do some knitting. I would need to go to the fabric store to get backing for Johan's quilt. The best laid plans….

We decided on Tuesday to take the pups to Alpenglow, because there was a short break in the rain expected. (Short = about two hours.) we let them play in the play yard for a while, then we left there and were ready to set out on the off-leash part of the trail. While we were standing there, watching the dogs play and talking to some other people, a big dog ran into me and knocked me down backwards. I hit my head on the asphalt. Blood came out of one ear and my nose. Before I knew it (and I never lost consciousness) the ambulance was there. The owner of the dog that knocked me over had called them. They helped me get my jacket off, put some stickers on my chest and abdomen and did a quick exam. You know the kind: What day is it, where are we, how many fingers am I holding up, do you remember what happened, shining the light in your eyes, having you follow their finger, etc. I was expecting them to ask me to start reciting the Presidents in order. (I wasn’t sure I could do that.) They were prepared for me to barf as soon as I moved and had a bag handy. They put me on the gurney they had brought, and I was carted away to the hospital in a real ambulance. Charlie took the dogs home, put Sandy in his crate and drove to the hospital. The lady who owned the dog also came to the hospital and waited several hours to see how I was. It wasn’t her fault. The dog wasn’t misbehaving, just playing. Amazingly, I thought to turn off the Walk for a Dog app while they were strapping me in to the gurney.

I can't believe I had the wherewithal to do it, but during the quick ride to the hospital, I told them I had medical information on my phone. I opened up my phone and showed them. I never thought I would need to have this on my phone, but thought why not. It has a rundown of health conditions, my medication, allergies, blood type, height and weight and emergency contact people.

At St. Charles Medical Center, they had the information when I arrived. Technology is great when it works.

They had me in the emergency room for several hours. I had two CAT scans (no cats were harmed) while in emergency. I think the second one was because they hadn’t figured out how come I had lost my hearing. Bottom line: skull fracture with bleeding in the brain. On top of that, some bones in my ears were broken. (I don’t know which ones—they didn’t tell me, or if they did, I didn’t hear—but I suspect the little hair-like ones that are so delicate.) Also a crack in the TMJ. I was admitted as a patient and taken to a room (#8223, which I remember because they asked me so many times). I had a heckuva shiner, not because I hit my eye, but because the impact had sent blood to that area of my head. All in all, I’ve had better days. Here's what my shiner looks like now. (I should have gotten a photo when it first appeared.)

Later that night, they took me for another CAT scan. Peter and Alexa called on FaceTime, but I didn’t hear the phone. One of the nurses was in the room and told me it was ringing. We had a nice chat, but it was my first look at my shiner. It was a shock! Almost everyone who came to care for me shone a light in my eyes, asked me to follow their finger with my eyes and put me through a list of questions similar to the questions the paramedics asked. They also wanted to find out if I had a walker at home, a grab bar in the shower, stairs, if I did my own cooking and finances, and if I had someone to look after me. About the walker, I said I don’t have a walker, I’m a hiker! About the grab bar…without it, where would I put my washcloth? Stairs everywhere, yes, yes and yes. I thought they didn’t believe that I only take one prescription regularly. I must have looked ancient!

Wednesday I had another CAT scan. It showed no change in the bleeding, so they started testing me to see if I was well enough to go home. I had been to the bathroom several times with the walker, because they insisted. After about the third time, I noticed they folded it up and put it in the corner. I only needed it for balance in the beginning, and someone's arm would have been easier. My balance was completely back to normal by Wednesday. They tested my ability to take a long walk holding the IV stand. By "long walk," I mean once around the nurses' station. While doing that, I had to count backwards from 20 to one. I passed. I think that was the physical therapist. Then the occupational therapist came to accompany me to a room with some special equipment. There was a flight of stairs. I had to go up and down the stairs several times. Next the cognitive therapist came. I had a more extensive set of problems than the one I get from my doctor every year. One new one was to name as many animals as I could in 60 seconds. She told me I got 150% on that one. I didn’t make any mistakes on anything, so at least so far, my brain seems to be functioning.

While I was in the hospital, I received this lovely arrangement of little plants with an artificial but realistic-looking dragonfly hidden inside from Peter and Alexa.

The dogs came with Charlie to pick me up. Their greeting was incredible, and they were very attentive for the first couple of days. They are still sticking close to me. Peter made the long trip down from Beaverton to stay for a few days to help. It's great he can work from home or wherever he has internet. Karen's family called on Friday via FaceTime. Although my hearing is severely impacted, if I'm wearing a hearing aid in my left ear (the one that didn't bleed) and have the volume of the phone turned up, I can make out what people are saying. I grabbed this screen shot as a memento.

I'm supposed to have only soft food or food cut up into tiny bites for now, because I shouldn't open my mouth too wide. I went nearly two days hardly eating anything because of lack of appetite and occasional nausea, so I've lost a couple of pounds. That will come back.

I had already finished a new story last week and finished taking the photos on Tuesday morning. It came out on Friday. In A November Story, Emil has a letter from Holly in response to his report of viewing the solar eclipse. 

I had planned to go to the Red Door Marketplace at the church on Saturday, to sell my books to benefit the church, but that's out now. I can still donate the books, and they can sell them along with all the other things they have to offer, mostly handmade items, baked goods and gently used hand-me-downs. I'll sign plenty of copies, and someone will pick them up on Friday. I plan to spread it out over the next three days.

We decided the shelf installation in the Rpod will have to wait until Spring, under the circumstances. Charlie removed the battery for the winter, and Peter helped him put a tarp over the pod until spring.

I'm going to skip the usual "What's on my..." section this week. For a tip, though, I can recommend the protein shake Orgain. Charlie picked it up at Costco. One shake has 20g protein, and there's no sugar. (It's sweetened with stevia.) I would have preferred soy protein to the pea, but the list of superfoods contained is amazing. The taste is pretty good, although I must confess my sense of smell is greatly diminished. I have to stick to soft food and tiny bites for 4-6 weeks.

I have a lot of difficulty responding to comments to my blog posts because of technical issues beyond my control (my lack of understanding of how things work). Message me on Facebook, Ravelry or Spoutible if you need information.

If you have a few minutes and are willing, please go to Amazon and B&N and search for "Our Favorite Verses: Poems from The Doll's Storybook by Peggy Stuart". Every click on the page for the book makes it more likely they will keep a good supply in their warehouse and stores. If you are outside the US, you may have a separate website for these retailers. If you have a copy of any of our books, including Emil, Mariah or Classic Tales Retold, please leave an honest review on the websites, especially if you bought from them.

The stories in each book first appeared in the blog and they are reproduced with a few changes. 

Our Favorite Verses: Poems from The Doll's Storybook is available from the BookBabyBookshop and other booksellers worldwide. Poems included are Valentine's Day, Keeping Pets, Back to School, Victor the Vulture, The Week Before Christmas, Insomnia and Veronika's Vocabulary Verses.

The stories in Classic Tales Retold: Stories from The Doll's Storybook are Little Green Greatcoat, The Boy Doll Who Cried Wolf and Lost in the Woods.

Emil: Stories from The Doll's Storybook and Mariah: Stories from The Doll's Storybook are also still available from booksellers. The link for Book Baby is here. The three stories in Emil are Best Buds, Getting What You Want, and The Boys Cook Dinner.

The three stories in Mariah are Being Little, Besties, and Distraction.

If you don't get free shipping from Amazon or B&N, buy from the BookBabyBookshop, because 50% of the price goes to St. Jude. Other booksellers pay much less. 

Note: This blog post was produced on the iPad and the MacBook, using the iPhone for some photos and some photo processing. No other computer was used in any stage of composition or posting, and no Windows were opened, waited for, cleaned or broken. No animals or dolls were harmed during the production of this blog post.

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Workshop!

The work table is full! 

Full of masks in various stages of construction, from washed, uncut fabric in the foreground, to cut-out pieces matched with the best thread from my collection, to pieces with the folds and folded-tape ties pressed and ready to be sewn, to finished masks. The count for the hospital is at 58 and growing. The tutorial for the pattern I'm using is here.

I gave our mail carrier one of these, along with a homemade filter and the metal nose piece from my BIL. I plan to give one to the young woman who brings my groceries out to the car.

Here are the masks that went into the bag ready to be picked up by a family friend who is a surgeon at the hospital.

My back was bothering me, mostly from standing at the ironing board ironing the folded-tape ties, so I called The Quilt Basket (formerly BJ's Quilt Basket), my local quilt shop, on Tuesday to see if they had one of these bias tape makers. They are open for business, but you can't go inside. I ordered over the phone, then drove over there and called them from the parking lot. I left my door open and stood back. Someone came out, tossed it into the car, waved, and I was on my way home. I bought a yard of fabric, too, just to support the shop, which I'm sure is having difficulty right now. They ship free for orders over $80. They have kits for the masks I'm making for $10, which will make 10 masks, so that's only $1 each mask. They also have free kits donated by people who don't sew or have enough money to share. (I didn't need a kit.)

The bias tape maker I bought is designed for fusible bias tape, but it works fine, and they knew exactly which size I needed. It has really saved my back!

When I'm too tired to stay on my feet anymore, I can knit. I finished the "Bend in the Road" hat (Roadside Beanie by Oliver Henry and Sandra Manson). I blocked it on a Tupperware head lettuce bowl. (Those black things are supposed to be fishing boats.)

I think it's a pretty design.

Here it is, all blocked and ready to wear, just in time for summer.

Then I started the "Charlie's Kep" (Katie's Kep by Wilma Malcolmson, which is free right now). It comes in these colorways. Charlie picked the last one in this photo, but it's Colorway #2 in the pattern.

Here are the actual colors in the kit from For Yarn's Sake in Beaverton (online store open). They will ship to anywhere in Oregon for free. I assume they will ship elsewhere, too, but with appropriate shipping costs.

The ribbing is done. On to the pattern!

In other news, I started another batch of kimchi and our first batch of sprouts in many years. 

My sprouting jar is a one-quart canning jar fitted with a screen in the lid. I bought these seeds from iHerb.

Here's a look at the seeds as they start to sprout.

At harvest, the two tablespoons of seeds yield a quart of fresh sprouts for salads or
sandwiches.

Sunday's church service was still celebrating Easter.

(Photos seem to be disappearing from my regular blog posts and the posts in The Doll's Storybook. I'm not sure why this is happening. They are not linked to another site, but loaded directly into the blog.)

What's on my needles: Charlie's Kep (Katie's Kep), 

What's on my sewing machine: More masks.

What's in my hoop: Still the Whole Cloth Quilt. Another week with no progress.

What's in The Doll's Storybook: Unmasked! A Retelling of an Old Story. A very real fairy tale.

What's on my iPad/iPhone: Finished Spring Magic by D. E. Stevenson, then listened to A Curious Beginning by Deanna Raybourn, a new author for me, introduced through an Audible Daily Deal. Now listening to Rachel Abbott's Right Behind You.

What's in my wine glass: Martha Clara Vineyards' 2014 Malbec "Oregon Road" from The North Fork of Long Island. Excellent.

What's my tip of the week: If you have a mask that has a pocket for a filter, you can use a coffee filter, according to this article in The New York Times. Other things can be used as a filter, but some are dangerous to breathe through unless you have a layer of fabric between your nose and the filter. Coffee filters are safe, just fold them to fit

Note: This blog post was produced on the iPad and the MacBook, using the iPhone for some photos and some photo processing. No other computer was used in any stage of composition or posting, and no Windows were opened, waited for, cleaned or broken. No animals or dolls were harmed during the production of this blog post.

Who Was That Masked Man?

I've been busy making masks this week. I started out with this style.

Then someone said "no elastic," so I switched to this one.

Than our local hospital came up with a pattern they wanted, so I switched again. This one has a place for a filter, and if you look closely, you can see a place for a wire to fit around the top of the nose.

Here's a look at the slot for the wire. The pencil shows where I backstitched and skipped to leave an opening for them to put in the wire.

The hospital will be providing their own wire and filter for each mask.

I wondered what I was going to do with all those masks I slaved over, and someone in my church asked for masks of any type for the Central Oregon Veterans' Outreach. She picked up a dozen for them from my front deck yesterday.

DH has finished putting the hardware on the kitchen cabinets. Here are a few shots of the FO.

Rocky likes to photobomb.

Another view.

The buffet. Now he will have to do the bathrooms. It's so much easier to open drawers and doors now!

We happened to buy this cart a few weeks ago. It's coming in handy as a "dirty" surface when we bring groceries in. We pull the cart out a few inches, put the bags there first, as we take out and sanitize each item, which goes to a clean countertop to await being put away. Then we sanitize the surface of the cart when we're done. It's clean right now, but the bags sitting on it now are the masks I finished that will be mailed to family members when DH goes to the PO this week.

Since I finished my cardigan, I had to start a new project. This is the Roadside Beanie from a kit I bought during the Rose City Yarn Crawl at For Yarn's Sake in Beaverton. (That was literally the last time I was out of my neighborhood!)

I ordered a kit for another hat from the same place. That one will be for DH.

I have been getting Daphne's doll ready to send off. I think she has enough clothes. Because I'm making masks, I raided the doll closet, but she also brought some things with her. I'll take photos before I send her off.

Church services are virtual. They send out a link to the bulletin, and rather than print it, I pull it up on my iPad.

Our weekly Zoom session with the family included my BIL, who is back in town after his trip to Arizona.

We still walk when we can. Mostly these are the only neighbors we see:

I feel sorry for people who are already going stir-crazy. I'm happy to stay at home, where it's safe, and do my things. 

What's on my needles: The Bend in the Road Beanie. I'm using this pattern. It's Colorway #3.

What's on my sewing machine: Masks!

What's in my hoop: Still the Whole Cloth Quilt. Another week with no progress.

What's in The Doll's Storybook: Playing at a Distance. Jolena misses her friend, who has moved away, and Billy shows her how she can still play with her friend at a distance.

What's on my iPad/iPhone: I finished The Vine Witch by Luanne G. Smith. Then listened to Certain Woman of an Age by Margaret Trudeau, which was hilarious but also made me cry. Now I'm listing to Devoted, Dean Koontz's latest novel. I'm almost done with it.

What's in my wine glass: Terra d'Oro Zinfandel 2016. One of our new favorites.

What's my tip of the week: There are a lot of fun things for kids, now free because they are stuck at home. Audible has some free stories in four languages (at least) that are available for free. Harry Potter fans will be interested in the new Wizarding World Website (WWW).

Note: This blog post was produced on the iPad and the MacBook, using the iPhone for some photos and some photo processing. No other computer was used in any stage of composition or posting, and no Windows were opened, waited for, cleaned or broken. No animals or dolls were harmed during the production of this blog post.

Exhausted!

Four of the grands and their parents came for Christmas. This is what they found in the living room.

We had a little speaker hidden up there with the dolls, playing Christmas music with children's voices. I asked the kids to see if they could find the singers. They followed the sound and found them. It was fun. We took the two older kids to the family Christmas Eve service, which was held in the church hall. 

Daphne enjoyed it. Zachary was cranky, although he controlled himself. The children who wanted to take part each took a figure up to the front to put it in the creche, while the story was explained to them.

My family left me there after the service, because I was singing at the two later services in the original church, which is beautiful but less practical for children.

The Trinity choir has choir robes and process. We didn't do that at St. Luke's. I'm still trying to get the hang of it. I walked into the communion rail on the way down the aisle after the later service and ended up with a big bruise on my leg. I'll get it eventually.

The kids had put out cookies and milk for Santa. This is what we found in the morning. I don't know how Santa has time to eat cookies and drink milk at each house on Christmas Eve.

The kids get up early every morning, and Christmas Day was no exception.

The two younger boys are early risers anyway, and the older two came from Wisconsin to spend Christmas with us, so jet lag was getting them up early, too. DDIL had the early shift on Christmas Day, so she kept the kiddos entertained with games until everyone got up.

The stockings were in the room with the family room, with the fireplace, of course. A big hit from the stockings was whoopee cushions. 

The tree was in the living room.

Johan's wolf costume was a big hit.

Daphne was excited with the ski outfit for her doll Bella.

All three of the ladies received a skein of yarn and the pattern for the Nurmilintu shawl. We're doing it as a KAL.

Later, the kids helped me set up a photo shoot on the front porch, because it snowed overnight. The resulting photo was in Friday's story.

Later DBIL came over for dinner. He brought a friend, who made potato latkes for us as an appetizer.

The next day we went to the Original Pancake House for breakfast to celebrate my birthday.

We went to the playground on Thursday.

Soren, the younger six-year-old, needs a talking device to communicate. His cousin was fascinated with it. The children are pretty matter-of-fact about their cousin's disability.

DBIL ended up needing emergency surgery. He had a twisted colon. We will have to help him after he comes home. It's good we live so close. It was lucky it happened when it did, because he was planning to leave for a trip with his trailer.

Johan cracked his head open when he fell backwards off the bench in the dinning room, so we made another trip to the hospital. He wanted stitches, because he has a friend at school who had stitches, but Johan got three staples instead. He was a trooper. He decided staples were cooler than stitches. We could tell it hurt, but he didn't cry.

We have decided that the hospital should name a wing after the Stuart family.

On Friday, the plumber came and installed our dishwasher. It runs well now. We had the hot water turned off in the kitchen all week and had to haul hot water from the powder room to wash dishes. Everyone helped. 

Dusty was sad after everyone left on Saturday. He had a good time with the kids.

Later that day, I came down with the flu.

Happy New Year, everyone.

What's on my needles: I put down the Kisu Takki Cardigan for Jolena, and am working on the Numilintu shawl.

What's on my Sparrow 15: The quilt sleeves for hanging quilts are done, so now on to costumes for my characters.

What's in my hoop: Still the Spring Flowers quilt, no progress again this week.

What's in The Doll's Storybook: Having Fun with Toys.This week's story was about the dolls' favorite presents. 

What's on my iPad/iPhone: Still The Ladies of Ivy Cottage by Julie Klassen.

What's in my wine glass: My wine glass is empty. I haven't felt much like having wine since I got sick.

What's my tip of the week: Alpaca dryer balls are tennis balls covered with alpaca and felted are great in the dryer instead of using dryer sheets. They can be used over and over.

Note: This blog post was produced on the iPad and the MacBook, using the iPhone for some photos and some photo processing. No other computer was used in any stage of composition or posting, and no Windows were opened, waited for, cleaned or broken. No animals or dolls were harmed during the production of this blog post.