Happenings....

I have been going to do a post for the past couple of days....I had this to show you:

I do not know the name of this day lily....it is the third color I have blooming and I haven't even taken time to photograph the others.  I took this probably 3 or 4 days ago.

I for sure planned to do a post last night...but it didn't happen, with good reason.

We were sitting here, and Roger got up and headed out of the room, and started coughing.  His chronic cough.  He got on past my chair and just as he got to the kitchen I cannot explain what I heard.  But a big crash, and no more coughing...just total silence...I cannot even begin to convey how silent the house felt.  I tried to jump up, but could not get this recliner closed...I know it was only seconds, but when your heart is in your throat, time does stand still.

I got in there and he was laying face down in the floor, his arms down by his side.  I got down and put my hand on him, I suppose to see if I felt movement, but I really don't know,  but I said, 'Roger!  Roger!'  And he came to himself and said 'I'm okay! I'm okay....I just got too lightheaded.'  And he got up and continued on to the bathroom.  I could see no sign of a bruise, no knot on his forehead or any place else...nothing...and still cannot today.   I wanted to take him to the Emergency Room, but he insisted he was okay.  He stayed up two or three hours more, and went to bed.  I stayed up for a long time listening for him to be up.

I followed him to bed around 2:00 am and he was sleeping fine...

Today could have been such a different day....I am so thankful things are as they should be in this, though I am stressed in other ways.  I will save them for another post.

Life...

This photo is from 2011....just such a pretty, unique plant.    I am not sure what it is, but thought some of you might enjoy seeing it.

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I took Roger to a psychiatrist in Carmel, Indiana yesterday...that is approximately 100 miles away.  To no avail...he did not think he could help him break this coughing.  There are certain things that will always trigger his coughing.  So it made me think it was maybe behavorial.  But then some of the time, I can not spot a trigger...he just starts coughing.  This dr. talked to him/us for a couple hours and said he did not think he could help him.

But he does want him to try a couple new meds...one an inhaler with steroids to try using for the cough itself.  And a new med that is supposed to give new energy, and allow him to concentrate.  He said there is nothing in it to ease pain, but that he always has people saying that it helped their pain.  He wants to hear back from us on how it works.  And to go back to our ENT if it helps...because it is much easier to go to the ENT, plus insurance covers the ENT.

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I have spent the afternoon trying to get the yard mowed....it is almost done.  And I broke down all those boxes this morn and they are out for the garbage man to pick up tomorrow.  I also went and picked up Lorelei...she is going to spend a night or two here.

I have not had time AND energy to touch anything that needs done inside...maybe I will get to that in the morn.  Tomorrow is allergy shots for Roger.

I hope that you all have a good day tomorrow...

Edited to add:
Ruth has identified this flower as Larkspur...thank you so much Ruth! 

Not much happening...

I have taken a break from de-cluttering...how many ways can you express that?  I call it freeing myself of items, Or letting go or sending them to find a new home.  What term do you use?

But how crazy is this:  I found these old 'catalogs' and was happy as a clam.  Though how do people know clams are happy, anyway?   I thought I had thrown them all away a while back when I ran across them but either I stuck them back or else these are more I had saved.  On the back was this:

What a rush of memories this elicited...bringing back some of the best memories of my entire life.  I lived at what was my favorite spot on earth when we had this address.  I had to shed a tear or two.  Sort of wishing I could go back to that time, but not if I had to go through all the rest of what has happened since then.

When we lived in Tennessee for a year and a half, I got started getting these...they are maybe 6 or 8 pages long.  It is a book catalog....all I did was choose the books I wanted, mail in my choices, and they were mailed to me free of charge.  I think I could keep them as long as I wanted if I remember correctly, and then stick them back in the bag and send them back.  Free of charge.  Oh, I am sure our taxes paid for them...but we didn't have to go to the post office and pay to mail them back.

Each book only had a line or so describing what it was about.  Only a few had pictures showing the book cover and it was a very small photo.    So when the books came, it was sort of like getting a Christmas present.  I could not wait to open the bag.  (They were mailed in a zippered cloth bag.   Through these books is how I found one of my all time favorite books, Tisha, by Anne Purdy as told to Robert Specht.
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I am hoping to return to the chore of getting rid of things before the week is over, but it won't happen tomorrow as we have an appt in Carmel, Indiana, which is basically Indianapolis....just on the north side.  I shaved Roger's head, and tried to trim his beard today.  I am not good at it.  I don't know what happened but part of his beard just wants to grow so wild.  It did not used to do that. He cannot do that trimming, but he can shave, so am relieved he can do that. 

Anyway, another day will be the yard, and another day Roger has to go get allergy shot, but that doesn't take long.  Hoping that is all that we end up having to do.

I hope you have a good week and that you find time to do the things you want to do.

The fun continues.....

I spent the biggest part of yesterday afternoon and this afternoon in the basement....again....  I even mananged to find a few more empty boxes yesterday.  This will lead to a fun day of breaking down boxes in the future, but the time is not yet.

I also was working on some shelves down there.  I found this cigar box...

and a  bigger box that were full of old family photos from Roger's family...from his dad's side.  There are photos of his great-grandmother in both photos above.  She broke her finger, I don't know which one, but she was going to cut it off and Roger's mom put a stop to it and took her to the dr...she was going to cut it off because she didn't want it to heal and be stiff and crooked.

In the first photo, where she is wearing a long coat, that is a parrot on her arm.   Don't you know she had to really be a character..she lived in Montana at some point in her life...   Roger remembers her...she used to babysit him....and he remembers loving her so much.  And he said it about killed his dad when she died. 

Here she is again...Roger does not remember who the man is.  That girl on the left is his grandmother, and that is his Great Uncle Jack standing between his grandmother and the man.  I did know him...he was a little bitty guy and was a jockey when he was a young.    He did not talk about it....but had told Roger's dad that this or that jockey would come in and might find a roll of money in their locker with a note telling them to 'throw the race.'  He refused to do it, and he was beaten up pretty bad.  He quit and never raced again.  He lived in fear for his life for a long, long time...not even sure he ever got completely over it.

I thought this was Roger's dad, but Roger says it is his dad's brother.  And I guess I can see it...but was so hoping it was his dad cause his dad was a Quarter Horse jockey in the Terre Haute area.

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I have no idea who this is, and neither does Roger.  I just had to show it because of how he is dressed....and holding all those birds.  Do you reckon he was dressed like that when hunting, or did he dress up for the photo?
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I would be ashamed to tell you how much stuff I carried up out of the basement.  Some Roger took to the garbage cans for me, and other went to the garage to be donated.  A LOT of today's donation was books.  Some yesterday was books, but not near like today.  I even donated a few books that had been favorites of mine.  I figured the way they were packed away that I would never go to the trouble of hunting them out to read.   Still, I held on to more than I should have.  I wish I knew someone personal that would want them.

And guess what else I found?  An 'under the bed' storage thing FULL of VCR tapes of The Simply Quilts show that I used to tape when I worked.  I thought I had gotten rid of them, but I found out I had not.  Now they are gone!

I also have a stack of books started that were once Rachel's that she wants me to keep for her....and a couple cookbooks that she wants.  So, a bit is being done, but sure not fast enough for me.  I am just thankful I can work on it again. 

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I am reading this...The Tall Woman by Wilma Dykeman....it and The Far Family  got together...they happen to be two of my favorite books.

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We just had a downpour of rain, but it seems to have passed on.  It thundered just a little bit...and moved on.

Blooms and other stuff....

I would hate to have to count the blooms on this bunch of Asiatic lilies...they are the gift that keeps on giving.  And isn't that bunch of violets just simply gorgeous?  I can never pull them up...I would not mind having a whole bed of them.

Looking down on the from the top...you can also see shamrock to the side...I can pull those up, but I don't mind them growing either.  So I usually let them go a while.

Just a couple close-ups...

That is all from this lily, though I think I still have another color to bloom.  And if I can see my neighbor out, I am going to her house...she has some of the pretties, darkest Asiatic lilies I have ever seen.

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I have not been accomplishing very much.  I worked on a couple cabinet drawers yesterday at one point, plus some shelves, and threw away quite a few things.  Things I am not proud of having.  I had probably 3 dozen little packets of Taco Bell sauce...our Taco Bell has been closed for over a year.  Why did I still have them?  Just one item in a bunch odds and ends.

Also yesterday, I was thinking about mowing the yard.  Not only does mowing the yard wear me out, but also having to worry about Roger.  He won't let me just go and mow...I can mow and take a break and mow some more.  It is actually good for me.  But he thinks he has to help, and I cannot relax when he is mowing.  Afraid of him falling, afraid of him having another stroke.  He had mowed the day he has his brain bleed so for him to get out mowing always strikes a note of fear for me.

Well, l had decided to wait till Thursday to mow, and who should appear later but Sarah and Lorelei, and Sarah mowed for me.  I hate for her to come after her day at work....she generally puts in long days,  and will put in almost a full day on a lot of Saturdays.  Still, I was so thankful.

Today has been a couple loads of laundry...it rained so they dried in the dryer.  My washer and dryer are in the basement.  (You cannot believe how thankful I am to be able to go up and down the stairs on my feet.)  (I am not sure I will ever take being able to walk for granted again.)

Anyway, Roger has always saved his hunting magazines and gun magazines, plus some fishing magazines.  I have not been able to bring myself to throw them away till today.  He did not have a huge stack, because before his stroke, he had actually started trying to just keep those that had articles he might want to read again/or that showed how to do something.  Still there were more than I liked to carry up the steps...but I got them up and out on the porch and used a wheel barrow to take them to the garbage can...

And can we say 'Boxes!)  I told Roger I should open up a box store.  Literally sell boxes.  Used boxes.  I tend to always save shoe boxes or small boxes just in case I need to mail something.   Today I carried most of the ones I had saved up and out...for when I next break down boxes.  Which should happen in the not too distant future.

To finish up my day I sewed a few more 4-patches.

That is what is happening in my corner of the world...how is it in yours?

Nothing much new here...

The above was taken last week, or the week before.  With my phone.  I need to experiment with some scenic shots with it.  I know it does not do good at stopping motion.  If something is moving just the tiniest bit, it results in a blurry photo. But then again, maybe it is operator error.

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I have not had a very productive week.  The yard was mowed again, and I did most of it cause Roger was otherwise occupied.  He and our neighbor were trying to get the rider to going.  It had set all last year without even being started.  It needed a new battery, so they got that done and it will run, but now the deck is sitting crooked.  Will take another day to work on that. 

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I spent a big part of Friday trying to get some forms filled out on line...with a doctor for Roger.  I could get on and fill out things, but could not connect it to the place we are going.  And they need it before we go.  I called when I first started...say maybe 9:30.  They were busy and I had to leave patient name and date of birth along with phone number.  I waited and waited and waited some more.  Finally on up in the afternoon, I decided to call again, and pressed a different extension number.

I told the girl what I needed and she started to try to connect me to the right department, but saw that they were real busy.  Something about my voice, probably the desperation in it, must have got to her.  She had pity on me and asked how far I had got.  She said, well let me try to help you.  She gave me a code number...it didn't work.  I don't remember the exact terminology but she knew something didn't match.  She thought maybe I had typed in the date of birth wrong, but I could see that I hadn't.  So she looked on her end, and it had been entered wrong there.  I bet I could have waited the rest of the day and would not have got a phone call because they had the wrong  date of birth.

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It has rained all day long...maybe a few minutes here and there it stopped.  But never for very long.  I don't think the creeks are ever going to go down enough to take Lorelei to Mansfield to wade.  Every time she is here, or coming, she wants to know if we can go.    I hate disappointing her.

Not much going on.  I hope all is well in your world.

Something Roger shared

First a photo from the antique/junk shop over in Arthur, Illinois...a cookie jar.  I did have a pig cookie jar that belonged to Roger's grandmother.  I sent it home with Sarah....wanted it to be passed on.

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We were on our way to Sarah's....she was fixing chicken kabobs and invited us to have some with them.  Plus we were picking up Lorelei for a couple nights.

We had not even got out of town till Roger told me when he was young, he wanted a gold tooth and a tattoo.  I asked how old he was, thinking he would say 6 or 7....he said, oh in his teens.  I found that hard to believe but  I about died laughing...was laughing to hard I was crying and almost had to pull off the road.

I wish I had a recording of what he said and how he said it.  He said he thought he would be cool...yeah, baby!  How would you have liked that.

I really don't know if he was in his teens when he wanted them....I just find it so hard to believe.  But thought it would be something fun for you to read!

How about a bit of music...

A few posts ago, I posted two or three songs, and got into a discussion with a blogfriend...she did not like any of the songs.  And said we probably didn't like many of the same singers/bands.  So curious me..I emailed to see who she liked...she responded and it turns out we like a lot of the same.  But she also threw in a couple names I was not familiar with.  Lewis Capaldi was one.



And the above is the first song of his I tried and I just totally loved it.  I will always be thankful to Carol for naming him.  Some of my favorite songs in life have come from friends naming people I have never heard of before.

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I have several different day lilies...none of mine get tall like I hear/see others doing.  But they have lots of blooms.  I am content with that.

I have just the one bunch of yellow Asiatic lilies, but have two different bunchs of the orange...at least right now.  Not sure what is going to bloom next.  I can't remember what the others are.

BTW, photos are taken by my phone...

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We are sitting here listening to/watching Dierks Bentley....I record a lot of music because Roger enjoys it so much.  We both loved the song below...



It has Chris Thile from Nickel Creek playing the mandolin. 

Hope your week ahead is a good one...

This and that again

A little cuddling is needed every night...by Bubbie.  At some point or other he comes and gets up by me, on my lap if I don't have my computer.  As you can see, he more than fills my lap.

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Remember we went to Arthur, Illinois a week or two ago.  Well, I bought some fabric...not because I loved it but because it was on sale...and I have plans for it.  If I can ever get around to settling down to a good sewing session.

This first one I got thinking I might use it as a quilt backing for some of my wild crumb quilts....I do like it.  Just not love it.

This one and the one below,

I am not sure about.  I may make pjs out of one of them.  I love just plain old cotton pjs.

The bottom one is thin, and I thought about trying a pattern for a top on it.  Still not sure.

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Remember the video in my last post...the part about having hearing problems.  We had our moment here tonight.

Lorelei is here....Roger had come in with licorice.  I wanted a piece...licorice is something I  want in small doses.  So all I wanted was one piece, and Roger was trying to give me a second one.  I don't know which of us ask Lorelei if she wanted a piece, and she said she had never had it.  He said, 'You've never had licorice.' and she said no, and he said, " I can't believe you've never had licorice!'  and she was saying no, she never had.  And he said something else...teasing her.

And she said papaw, 'Papaw, quit being so Loud!' and he said what?  She said it again, 'Papaw, quit being so loud.'  Now she wasn't being hateful...she was teasing.  I said, 'Papaw isn't being loud.'

She came and bent over and looked at me and said , 'wowed, Mama, W-O-W-E-D!'  So all the time I thought she was saying 'loud' she was saying 'wowed.'

Would you believe...

I am not asking would you believe I sewed some today....

I only made 6 of these today....the squares were already cut and paired.  What I was going to ask is would you believe it took me over an hour to sew them?

I set down to sew, and realized the machine was not making stitches....I thought I had ran out of bobbin thread.  Looked and no, it had thread.   The thread on top had been broken.  We won't say how.

So, since I had taken the bobbin out I thought I would take time to clean the lint out that was gathered down there.  I took the throat plate off and got the little brush that came with the machine.  I have another that I bought but it was over with a different machine, so rather than walk 3 or 4 steps, I chose to work with what I had.

The little brush that comes with the machine is maybe 4 inches long...that is handle AND bristles...so not very long.  I always reach way back under the bobbin race and any place I can to get the lint.  Today, I dropped the brush while reaching back under.  The tip was sticking out but I could not hold on to it and managed to send it beyond my reach.  I used a pair of curved, long tweezers and managed to hold on to it long enough to pull it out.

So, go to put my throat plate on and managed to lose a screw to that...I was panicking...but gave a second look at back where I had lain it out of the way and there it was.  All this is why it took me so long to sew those few 4-patches.

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With that I will leave you with Ken Davis...I hope you enjoy. 



He is one of my favorites.  If you don't watch any of it, start at about the 4 minute part and watch the rest of it.  It is hilarious.   

At last

Saturday night...

I have been looking for a swing for the past two or three years.  I could not find one to suit me.  the one I had was the cheapest of swings...I had given $69 for it at Walmart but it just fit me.  I had it for at least 12-14 years.  But the seat and back were made of some kind of outdoor cloth. It had finally wore out to the point of it had to go.

Before Roger's stroke I had been going to have him make either a wooden seat and back, or else go get metal and make the seat and back with it.  I just do not like fabric for outdoor furniture.  I have my reasons which I am not inclined to share at the moment.  Anyway, that was just one of many plans that the stroke put an end to.

I found this one on Amazon, but it is from Walmart...it is inexpensive but the reviews were fairly good..   It has a nice smooth swing.  Hopefully I will get to try it out some in the next few days.  I always love to sit in the swing and read.

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My Asiatic Lilies have started blooming...this being the first color.   So have them to look forward to.

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I have been to McDonald's with Roger this morn...can we say late morn?  I am home and trying to make up my mind to take the day and relax and do fun stuff.  Since my accident, doing just normal jobs takes more out of me and I am slow going.  Now my knee on my other legis messed up...I think something happened to it when I fell...I have been very careful with it ever since.  If I put even the slightest weight on that foot and twist I feel it.  Not sure what brought it on, but has been being very painful ever since we mowed the yard last Thursday.  I am wondering will I be able to mow again.

Sandra was talking about why she blogs and ask the rest of us what are our reasons.  My reasons are varied.  I started this blog to try to encourage myself to take more photos and to share. And to share my love of quilting and sewing.  I also started it as a sort of daily record of my life.  But I have never found the courage or stupidity, depending on which viewpoint you take, to share the nitty, gritty of life.  I sometimes think of starting a separate blog for that.

I do share some of the ups and downs, but not the minor frustrations that make me grit my teeth.  Or make me cry with frustrations.  For instance a while back I needed the hacksaw for something.  I thought Roger had one in the basement and one in the garage.  I went downstairs and no, not there.  I went to the garage and could not spot one for love nor money.  I was so very, very frustrated....and glanced down, and there it was hanging at the end of his big work table.  I did not share that....and these words do not my feelings justice.

I really wish I could get back to writing the day to day boring stuff...

That is it for now...think I am going to take my book and go to the swing and read....I am reading The Mother:  A Novel by Pearl S. Buck...