The ups and the downs

Right after I posted last time, I had an article come out online--for a Vancouver publication:
Generations struggle together
I also had a series of experiences which, all told, have left me sort of exhausted. On Friday morning, early, I was out walking my dogs and I fell on the ice.  There was no one on the entire block and it hurt like crazy.  I am very lucky, I was able to get up again and get home.  I have really severe bruising on my right shin and knee...

And of course my muscles are sore from the move, but the dogs stood by patiently and waited while I gasped on the ice and got up.  They were so good.

However, I had a big day planned so I put some ice on my bruises (oh, the irony). I drove downtown to do a three hour spinning/fibre arts demo for the Manitoba Crafts Museum’s “Made in the Middle” curated craft show at the Manitoba Hydro building.  Keeping moving ended up being a good thing and it was lucky I was wearing dark wool tights.  (It looks like a changing purple, navy, red and pink silk screen,  it is gross.)  This, by the way, was definitely the very best part of the day!

I get myself home and have a coffee and pull myself together... as my kids are just about to get off the school bus and come home.  So one twin, who had been acting weird, tells me he had felt bad all day and nobody let him call home.  And then, he walks into our front hall and starts vomiting like crazy.  So, you know, I am cleaning up vomit and trying to calm the other kid down (He starts screaming over the whole thing, it was a scene) and oh, my goodness. Poor kids.  Throw-up everywhere.

And then I threw up my hands, let both kids eat the banana and other snack I had out for them, and we watch the prerecorded Macy’s parade while I try to pull things together again.   Shabbat dinner for four was oatmeal. And some challah and grape juice.

 Then I was already in my pjs, ready for bed, when the vomiting started again, all over the bed, at 9:30.  He got better, but obviously we were not able to go to services on Saturday, either.

We had dog training Sunday AM and managed it, but even the dog was not doing too well at regular stuff and got into a tussle with another dog at the end of the class.  (All my fault, I let go of her leash while putting on my coat.) 

When we got back, my stomach decided to rebel ...so that was most of the day today!  (stress? Something I ate?  Some version of the virus? Who knows.) And the other twin started having stomach pain and gas tonight so who knows what that may mean...maybe round two of the stomach bug.

It has been a crazy weekend.  Lots of sitting around interspersed by crazy health issues.  And my leg looks horrendous.  Thank goodness I can move around normally though...

I did get out to support our local yarn store and may have purchased some stuff.  Cause, sometimes you need to find something distracting and positive... (now, what to make for dinner for a household with this many sensitive tummies....)  Here are two hole-less buttons from Purl and Hank, some locally made toffee for people who wanted to eat it, and...some yarn.  Cause who doesn't need some purple/cranberry alpaca and wool? 

Oh well

I had a lot of plans in mind for January. Somehow, the month has escaped.  Here is a photo of some handspun that I dyed while I was sick.  I shouldn't have been doing it, but I've had several days when I felt sort of better and wanted to feel a sense of accomplishment.  This was some grayish/oatmeal Border Leicester/Romney wool, blended with a small amount of mohair.  I spun enough for a kid's sweater.  I started spinning this in July, when Wolseley Wool, my local yarn store, hosted a few spinning nights.  (It gave me a great excuse to leave home and spin.)

Naturally colored wool makes a great palette for dyeing because the colors come out with depth--textured and rich in the end.  This quick snapshot doesn't show the depth of color, it was cloudy, but I dyed the yarns to order for my kid, blue and green, and left it out in the dining room for all of us to admire and enjoy a shot of color.

Both my twins were home with me for a week due to illness--today is their first day back at school, I hope they make it through the day.  (More on that another time, when I am more energetic.)

A couple of details in the meanwhile.  I left home to teaching my spinning class, which was well-attended and went very smoothly, considering all the illness and antibiotics at home. There are 11 new spindle spinners in the world!  Hurray!  (I hope they keep up the good work!)

Whenever I am really sick, I enjoy a good wallow in bed with a book when it is possible.  Since I had two little kids home with me, that wasn't always an option, but I did discover something. Rosamunde Pilcher's books are now available as ebooks, and you can download them from Amazon or check them out from the library.  I have been a fan of her books since I was a teenager.  Everything is sort of ok at the beginning of every book, but in the middle, there are hot baths, cups of tea, bracing whiskies, dogs, cats, warm farmhouse kitchens, and eventually, at the end, it is always "happy ever after."  There is something to be said for this kind of reading while sick.  I own some of these books, and I prefer real books to ebooks...but these were written long ago and some are out of print.  Here are a couple links through Amazon to the ones I have read (again) so far.  I'm now in the midst of Voices in Summer.

If you're not sick and up for an exciting spy series, I've been really enjoying Susan Elia MacNeal's Maggie Hope mystery series, but only when I wasn't sick and thinking straight!