I ordered a lot of plants during the pandemic and the only one that’s survived is an oak leaf hydrangea. It’s been growing a little every year, putting out new leaves, getting a little bigger, but this year…
…it’s exploded and I have a flower! It was a little touchy earlier because of aphids, but I seem to have taken care of them.
It’s really pretty! Hand for scale.
I have an outing with Ginny & Malina tomorrow, and Ann is indeed heading up here on Sunday, so it will be another busy weekend. Hope you have a good one!
I had a doctor appointment a couple of weeks ago and she ordered a few things, so Friday I went in for labs, a mammogram, and my first Dexascan. Labs were better than expected — triglycerides are a little high, but the prescription is still “diet & exercise.” The Dexascan measures bone density and there was absolutely nothing to see there… bones are good! They called me back on the mammo for a closer look at one area, which I did on Monday, and they want me back again to do what I think of as a “needle biopsy.” I’m not sure when that will be yet, and I’m not particularly worried as I’ve had this same calcification cluster in the same spot for years and even had this procedure done once before, but I’ll get it done — things change.
My doc also gave me an ortho referral, as my hip has been bugging me more & more. I was envisioning myself going down (going up isn’t much of an issue) several flights of stairs in a giant stadium in Amsterdam populated by people more spry than I — not to mention walking/cycling around Amsterdam for a few days — and that would not be pretty. The recent x-rays, compared to the one I had three years ago, showed that there’s no space/cushion anymore & more than a couple of bone spurs. He said that I’m looking at a hip replacement in the future… but we’re not there yet! Instead, I had a cortisone injection yesterday and so far, so good. It can take a few days, even a week or so, to really take effect, so I’m not doing a jig just yet. It felt so good to just normally walk down a flight of stairs yesterday, though!
I also finally had a dentist appointment on Monday after a couple of cancellations, and that went better than expected, so yippee! Not so great is my “new” dental insurance… gonna have to run some numbers but it might be worth getting back on the plan at work, if I can.
And I had the kids for a few hours on both Friday & Saturday when Ali picked up a couple of shifts. We made muffins, took some walks & did a lot of bike riding (between rain drops… OMG, it.is.so.wet), certain kids played Minecraft, others watched a movie. Davy crawled up on my bed and said, “Lay down with me Nona,” then covered me up with a blanket and we took about a 3-second nap! haha.
SO BUSY!!!
There hasn’t been a lot going on in the Swiftie Bracelet Factory, but I did take an hour or so to trim the knots on all of them & secure each with a dot of glue. They look much nicer! I think Annie will be up this weekend — we leave for Amsterdam a week from today!! — and I know she wants to make a few herself. I’m sure I’ll make a few more, too. I’ve been wearing my MARJORIE bracelet… my mom died 10 years ago on Sunday. So hard to believe.
I’ve been picking up Maddy’s panel for the Family Temperature Blanket a little more — progress is slow but sure. I think I’m in February now, so only March & 25 days of April to go after that. She’ll be here in less than three weeks!! We had a nice chat the other day, too.
Other than that, y’know, laundry, dishes, starting to think about packing… the travel reminders are arriving. Oh, I returned the convertible yesterday (sob!) and I’m going to miss it. Who knew I’d love that so much?
I drove straight from work over to Two Rivers (or Trivers, if you’re local) yesterday to attend the mini-workshop at Hamilton Wood Type & Printing Museum that I recently wrote about (scroll past the bracelets).
Before we got inky, though, we learned the Turkish map fold technique and made a book!
The cover & insert were premade for us so we could learn by doing & actually make something! And we each brought home an extra cover to use with our own prints, if so desired.
As a mini-workshop, it was only a few hours long, so we did’t get full access to the typecases, but had a pretty good selection of sizes & styles to choose from.
It was a full workshop, though, so by the time I settled on my layout, there wasn’t an “I” or “E” in the large type (nor could I spell BUY THE in the same style as LIFE IS SHORT). I think it worked out though.
I only pulled five prints… I could have used a few hours to refine this whole thing (kerning!) & play a lot more with color, but I’m pretty happy.
We read an article about Kameron Saunders, one of the dancers on the Eras Tour — and the only one who has a speaking part. At the end of “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together,” he says LIKE EVER.
On the international leg of the tour, he’s changed it up and it’s so fun — native languages, sayings, colloquialisms. The article has a tracker listing them all so far with links to a quick video of each of his moments (the crowd reaction is fun).
Google Translate tells me that LIKE EVER translates to ZOALS OOIT in Dutch. We’ll see if that’s what actually happens — she has three shows in Amsterdam and it looks like he’s been finding his groove & doing something a little different at each show.
Meanwhile…
…we’re having fun! Well, I’m having most of it right now. Ann’s packing her bags, though, and they’ll be departing Peru tomorrrow! I won’t see her probably until next weekend, but we have plans to make some bracelets together before we leave for Amsterdam.
I had the kids all weekend — from Friday evening until noon yesterday! All four!!
Friday evening was perfect for being outside — bubbles, water guns, the hose all came into play! I didn’t take many other photos because… BUSY!! I’m glad that I rediscovered Portrait mode, though. I love that last photo of Malina & Junah watching the rain from the back porch on Sunday morning. Junah is still at his very sweetest when he wakes up in the morning. Malina is very quiet.
It was nonstop — K’nex, coloring & drawing, hide & seek, watching movies, popcorn, ice cream, the playground, and I finally got an older computer set up for the kids and figured out how Junah & Ginny could play Minecraft together. And other stuff… nonstop!
After they left, I took :05 to do my favorite NYTimes Games and then, as you might imagine, I took a nap!
