A Whirlwind Week (& Windows)

 I dropped off the face of the internet this week as it all unfolded into a vortex of activity: Monday, a window installation and friend visiting; Tuesday, a trip to UNC with my husband for his oncology appointment; Wednesday, another window installation, another friend visiting, and (my favorite) teatime with my friend Kate!; Thursday, all-day-back-to-back at the dentist, piano lesson, and ballet studio; and Friday, an unexpected day trip to a small town south of here, where my sister was having an urgent diagnostic test. 

Whew. Deep breath!

But it has all been good. The windows are in and I'm so pleased with them both.  Mr. Polly's visit went great, and for the first time in nearly 4 years, he gets moved to every six months for appointments (instead of every 2, then 3, then 4).  And I cannot even begin to describe the exhalation of learning that my sister's issue is not cancer, but a perfectly benign situation.  I spent an hour at the hospital doing some anxiety knitting, asking God to please, please allow her to be ok. Such a relief to get the results *that day!* 

Our bathroom renovation is coming right along!  The room is small and felt very dark (especially with the sage green walls of yesteryear): 

The window is lovely!  It is adding so much brightness to this little space. And you can't tell it here, but the view is of the backside of the farm, up a long green hill of several pastures, to the ridge with the trees on top.  In other words: beautiful. 

I'll show Finn's bedroom window swap later. I think that's an even bigger change!

I am working on a hat for my dad. It's the exact same yarn and pattern I used for Mr. Polly's hat, which he took to Finland and then accidentally left in a "taksi." Oh well! 

This was the first time I knitted something with ribbing (note I'm wearing a ribbed sweater, too--so cozy), and I have to say that I LOVE it.  It provides an interesting pattern and texture, but it's easy to stay on track because mistakes show up immediately.  So you can be a distracted person who enjoys a bit of mindless knitting, but still create something that looks more unique than, say, stockinette stitch. 

As a result of all this activity, I realized today that I was tired.  Really, really tired!  I took Annie and Finn to their all-day rehearsals, stopped by the thrift store for a couple of new sweaters (one is Boden!), and came home to lunch and a pleasant, rainy-day nap.  Now I'm feeling so much better....

Ready for a new week and the whirlwinds it brings. :) 

An Afternoon of Flora

 Last week in Charleston we had a beautiful afternoon full of flora: just the way I like my spring afternoons!  Dad suggested we drive to Mount Pleasant to go to Boone Hall Plantation.  I realized it may be the only plantation house in the entire Lowcountry that I've never visited.  

It was fun!  The property boasts a live oak that is allegedly 600 years old.  Imagine that!  The house is quite new, by our standards--built in the 1930s, it isn't even a centarian.  We all enjoyed the tractor tour of the farmland! But my favorite part was, unsurprisingly, the formal gardens. 

Serpentine walls inspired by Thomas Jefferson's design work in Virginia. 

Textures (may I please just take a nap in that fennel?).  

Massive, gorgeous kale!

Perfect mounds of lobularia. 

Roses, my newest minor obsession.  I wasn't able to get any ordered this year (something to do with running back and forth to Charleston all the time).  Maybe next year. 

This rose had a gorgeous spicy-sweet scent.  She's a lovely climber.  I need trellises!

My Dad walked like a trouper all over the house, gardens, and part of the grounds, but eventually settled down onto a bench to rest, and I decided to call it Time To Go. The chemo has made him a little more tired than usual, although he never complains about it.  Did I mention that my previous post about the PET scan was wrong?  The one where I said his liver tumors are behaving themselves? WRONG.  

Actually, there's no cancer in his liver at all right now.  

The original tumor in his lung, which was 4cm in January, has shrunk to about 1/4 of that size.  

Spring is so very beautiful this year. 

The Last of the Charleston Fabric and Patterns

 I went through what appears to be the very last of the fabric and patterns that were my grandmother's. I've got over 100 of her vintage patterns at my house, and have given away even more.  Carried everything down from the steaming hot attic on Wednesday afternoon, and went through it all on the living room floor with Annie while Finn did his final Spanish 2 class by Facetime in the front bedroom.

Many fabrics were sent away, because I knew I'd never use them.  Annie kept a bunch for making doll dresses.  And I kept some--most of it newer fabrics that my stepmom had actually purchased a dozen years ago, but not used.  

Interestingly, I had been pondering whether to go to a fabric store or thrift store down here for some white cotton fabric to use for lining dresses and making pinafores for Annie.  Ask and you shall receive!  I have now come into many yards of exactly what I need, thanks to the attic! This is great because I am continuing my commitment to sewing through the stash and carefully managing money.

And even better, I'd looked online last week for a princess-seamed dress (they tend to look better on me, with my scoliosis: horizontal lines are not my friends).  But I found one in the attic! The top pattern is the one I will use; the bottom one is too small for me, but I kept it to use for Annie one day, if she wants it.  Most of the patterns were sent away--a huge box!--but we did keep about a dozen or so for ourselves. And lots of zippers!

And little bits of memory lane: two fabrics I recognized immediately.  They both made me laugh with the memories of them.

My grandmother made a blouse and skirt in this fabric for my mom, in the late 80s! The top was white with grey dots and the skirt was grey with white dots.  

And, also in the late 80s, she made a jumper/romper for me with poufy pants and black buttons up the front, out of this corduroy fabric.  Can't you picture it?  I was awkward, wore a back brace, and had crooked teeth.  

Thank you, Grandma Polly!

Easter Hydrangeas

 My stepmom returned from the store this morning with two pink hydrangeas, which she plopped into the ancient lichen-and-moss-encrusted concrete urns outside, in order to give the entrance a more gracious and welcoming feel.  They're so cheerful! 

We had such a nice Easter Eve: a short walk with my husband this morning, some casual and unhurried food prep for tomorrow, a gentle rain that lulled my jet-lagged husband to sleep this afternoon, and a quiet, late-night talk with Finn about matters of faith. 

The clothes are ironed, the Easter baskets are assembled, and the pie is done.  Now it's time for my favorite holiday!

Scenes from the Sky

 Don't you love those little pictures that you can take out of airplane windows? Just a snippet or a sliver of the real world below. 

On leaving Amsterdam.  I did this 16 years ago, and I remember so many windmills and canals, and then, off the coast, enormous ships. But my husband only captured the windmills and some water.....

Here is sunrise over the Netherlands. 

On arriving in Helsinki: snow and conifers. 

Flying into Amsterdam in the mid-afternoon. So much water! I love how the water is like a road, and runs parallel....

And best of all, on this very good Good Friday, my husband is coming home!  From snowy northern Europe to the warm and beautiful southern United States: I pick him up at the airport in North Charleston today!

A Life to Live

 Yesterday my Dad pulled out one of his (several) guitars, the most special and interesting one of all--the one he made himself!

We stood admiring it for a few minutes.  I love the black and white with the gold "trim."  

We learned on Tuesday that the maker of this guitar had a great report from his brain MRI and PET scans last week.  He's yet to meet with his oncologist directly, but in short: there are no metastases to the brain (hallelujah! the chemo doesn't pass the blood-brain barrier, and this type of cancer loves to invade the brain), and his PET scan shows no spread to bones, soft tissue, other organs. The original tumor has shrunk somewhat and the liver tumors are behaving themselves.  After four cycles of chemo (they originally tentatively planned six), he's responded beautifully.  He'll pause chemo for now, and stay on immunotherapy, and then get checked regularly.  If and when chemo needs to re-start, it will. 

He's so glad, because he's ready to travel.  The man has things to do, plans to make, people to see! He's got guitars to repair, yardwork to accomplish, church services to attend!  He's got a life to live. 

Thank you, Lord, for the lives we have to live. 

Easter Skirts

 I've had this pale blue linen for years (I mean, years). My original plan was probably a wrap dress for summer.  But that plan never was executed, and I'm glad, because this year I decided to make it into Easter skirts for Annie and me. 

My skirt is an old favorite pattern with 6 gores: Simplicity 5914.  I have made this pattern so many times! But I realized I hadn't sewn anything for myself since I lost weight a few years ago. I had to figure out my new size and cut that out--a daunting prospect as I didn't want to cut something too large, nor too small...and I didn't have the time or desire to make a muslin sample of any sort. But I hit it just right!

The linen was a little on the sheer side, so I lined my skirt with the remainder of a white cotton sheet I'd gotten from somewhere and used for something. It hangs so nicely now! And is not, in any way, see-through.  (My mom used to wear slips. I don't even own a slip.  Maybe I should?)

For Annie's skirt I couldn't resist the urge to go rogue and just make up a pattern. So that's what I did. I wanted pleats, but pleats that "faced" each other in the front and back.  I was reminded that making up your own design is always more work than just using a pattern, but it turned out so cute! When I was going through my fabric stash last week I found a creamy polyester that served absolutely no purpose and that I inherited from my grandmother, and I realized that I probably had just enough to use as a lining for Annie's skirt.  So hers is fully-lined, too. 

We are going to wear our skirts with white cardigans and neutral shoes (pumps for me, sandals for her). Annie has asked if we can please wear our matching pearl headbands. I felt that was taking it too far, but she's 11 years old and longs for us to "match."  How can I refuse her?  

Finally, I packed her baptism necklace: a sweet little cross on the same chain as a heart, engraved with her initials and her baptism date.  She gets to wear it on special occasions!

I think we are ready for Easter now.