Friday, April 2, 2021

Interesting trips around the sun

This past week included my birthday, and was celebrated by phone calls from relatives and children and friends. Ann and I began putting together duplicate coincidences. It is my birthday. It is Easter. It is cold and snowing. A duplicate of the day of my mother's funeral.

Ann and I chuckled and pieced together the events of that day, twenty four years ago. The scramble to find warm clothing and boots for those unprepared, like my cousin in from Texas, and Ann, and my brother and his wife, in from southern Ohio, and the children, and my niece, and on and on and on. We looked like rag-a-muffins, and that surely amused mom, who specifically forbad the notice we put in the paper.

Such a send off. A beautiful eulogy from Mom's beloved pastor, the floating, dancing fingers of the woman who signed for my deaf niece. Mom left a life time of friends. So many came to her interment that two escort cars were required to direct traffic. And we delayed her burial to the day of my birthday to not interfere with Easter weekend.

What goes around comes around, as they say, and my daughter's fiftieth birthday included her Uncle Walt's funeral. Interesting markers. Mom was 79 when she died in 1997. My father was 70, twice my age that year he died. My brother Mel's life was so confused, I pegged his death as the thirty third of August. My sister says the coroner gave him a date.

I hope you're still with me. It really did snow yesterday, a lot more than that. Or the day before. I don't remember which day it was.

I literally have been out of the house once in the last two weeks, and that was to sweep the snow from the deck and put the trash in the cans. I should go stand on the deck and deep breathe a lot some time today. The sun is blinding. Maybe when Cathy comes with the mail this afternoon.

My accomplishments this week include finishing the current length of towels, and knitting the current sock as far as turning the heel.


Kiwi. I love this color. It's in the dryer as I type, and will be towels before the weekend is over.


I love knitting socks. They are simply a set of math rules. For a long time after the head injury I believed I never would reconstruct the meaning of the math. But when I found the half finished second sock in the knitting bag, next to the finished first sock, I found I could do it, and so I did. So, I'm half way to trying the new toe.

There is not one thing new in my little house, except the Gerbera daisy I was gifted for my birthday. It was sampled by Mr. Cat overnight, the night before last. It made him act extremely unwell yesterday morning, which I did not find the cause of until he deposited some green leaves and orange flower petals on the floor. Later he added his entire breakfast! He has lived with a Gerbera in the past, with no incidents.

The amaryllis simply continues to nourish itself via leaves. The leaves are beginning to droop, and I don't want to cut them off yet, until I can make a good, close cut to the bulb. That seems to be the way it was groomed for at least the last ten years, if I'm counting correctly.


44 comments:

  1. Happy Birthday late! The snow needs to go away; it's spring now. :) Kiwi is a beautiful color. Losing parents is hard, even when they're old like my dad. (92 1/2)

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  2. Happy Birthday! No matter what #, birthdays are good.

    I recall a big blizzard in Iowa in April 1973. Every place was shut down for nearly 3 days. It just a few days later, snow had melted, daffodils were blooming.

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  3. Oh, how I wish I could bake you a cake, you precious woman! Or whatever you wanted. Your brain is proof of persistence and plasticity. You never cease to inspire me.

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  4. A very happy belated birthday to you.
    So many plants are poisonous to cats - which doesn't deter them at all. One of my brothers had to make an emergency visit to the vet after their cat munched heartily on an orchid. The cat survived. The orchid didn't.
    I am echoing Ms. Moon too.

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  5. A belated Happy Birthday!

    It is sunny but below freezing here today.

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  6. Happy Birthday to you! Hope the year holds good health and happy adventures for you!

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  7. Happy belated birthday, Joanne, and enjoy a wonderful Easter weekend! Hopefully one without any more cat barf.

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  8. And a belated Happy Birthday from me too. They come round quick these days don’t they, no sooner have you seen one off than another is coming your way :)

    And here in Victoria Summer has decided to return....well more like put in an appearance after the poor show we had this year. Beautiful warm sunny days!

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  9. Shoot! Based on a comment you left on my blog a while back I knew your big day way this week, but I missed it. I love the color both of the towels and socks. Very cheery.

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  10. I second everyone's opinion of the Kiwi color. Love it ... sending you a belated Happy Birthday greeting and cyber-perfect birthday cake! Tomorrow is our youngest son's birthday and mine will follow in 18 days. You are sincerely someone to emulate...perseverance and pleasant attitude is the rule for you.

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  11. We always remember losing our parents, just as our parents remembered their loss. I remember the stories. It must be some kind of right of passage? The snow and cold must go. It's April and Easter and your B-day! Warmer weather would be greatly appreciated.

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  12. happy Birthday! I should have baked a cake! I will light a candle, make a wish for you and blow it out. You know that you are thought of every day, Especially when I do the dishes or catch drips from a freshly watered plant. You are a gift!!

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  13. Happy birthday! A bit late, but I think it still works.

    I love the continuing coverage of the amaryllis, too.

    And you use bamboo dps for your sock knitting, a person after my own heart.

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  14. Hari OM
    Birthdays are great for reminiscence and remembrance and you have more cause for that many... Deary me, Toby - maybe Gerbera needs to be with Pig before you go getting even more amorous with her!!! YAM xx

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  15. Happy birthday, dear Joanne. I hope as the vaccination continues, you will be able to socialize when you want and return to life pre Covid.

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  16. Happy Birthday a couple of days late! I hope you've enjoyed every minute of it. I love the Kiwi, such a happy color. Enjoy your Easter weekend!

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  17. Nothing new in the house?
    I would love to send you a present---we have EVERYTHING at the thrift store (eventually, anyway).
    Is there anything you would like in particular?
    Or need?

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    1. P.S. Really: I get store credit that I never use up, so it wouldn't cost me anything but postage to choose out something for you.
      Any books you're wanting?
      Scissors, to cut the amaryllis, when the time comes?
      (You don't want any red-haired dolls, do you?)

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  18. Belated birthday wishes, Joanne. I hope you treated yourself to something extra-special to mark the occasion. I agree with all the rest who consider you an inspiration. Your persistence and can-do attitude keep you full of vitality. What a great example for all those in your life. I'm glad to have gotten to know you.

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  19. Happy birthday. We always seem to remember deaths on their anniversary.

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  20. You just keep on keeping on, don't you...an example to us all.

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  21. Happy Birthday, Dear Joanne. This cold weather is a bummer, but it is going to get better this weekend so go outside and feel the warm sun on your face. We desperately need that Vitamin D.

    That green towel is lovely and a little lighter than the green towels that you so kindly gifted me. Which color is your biggest seller?

    My mom has been gone for 20 years ago and I remember her funeral like it was yesterday. She was a very good, kind woman, not perfect, and always tried her best.

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  22. Keep up the great photos of the rescued amaryllis. I have one too and follow your lead as to what to do with it and when. Thank you.

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  23. Cara and I drovw to Ohio for your mother's funeral. I had never seen signing and remember it well. We put Dick's ashes into Lake Erie on that day and the next day couldn't find our driveway in New York.. A blizzard on returning to NY.Lenore and Dick were in charge that weekend.

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  24. The Amaryllis just keeps on giving :)
    I'm sorry to hear Toby suffered, perhaps he has learned his lesson though.
    I have been to very few funerals, only two, neither of my parents had one, their bodies went from hospital to crematorium where I visited to identify them, then again to collect the ashes. The worst funeral was for my sister-in-law, her husband and young son who all died in the one car wreck, survived only by the youngest, a daughter. almost the entire town turned out and I cried so much.

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  25. Happy Birthday, I forgot to add that in there.

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  26. Kiwi is such a pretty color. I hope you get some warm spring air up there soon!

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  27. Belated birthday wishes, Joanne.

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  28. I love that sock - such lovely colours. I have an amaryllis in just the same state as yours. I intend to try and keep it this year - have never tried before - I have always bought new bulbs.

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  29. I cannot believe you are still getting snow. At my mother's funeral, there was a lack of space in the cortege so I sat next to the driver of the hearse, dressed all in black with a black tie. When I got out and walked up to my aunt, she mistook me for an intrusive undertaker and refused to speak to me.

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  30. Two weeks confined in the house does not seem especially pleasant. I am sure the breath of fresh air on the deck was very welcome.

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  31. We've missed two snowfalls this week. They were predicted, but we were at the edge of the zone in these cases and missed the snow. Or at least the snow missed us, but we didn't mind the missing and didn't miss it in a certain sense. It has been darn cold though and very windy, so it has kept us indoors too.

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  32. Happy belated birthday. I'm sorry your cat gave you an inappropriate birthday present instead of the usual mouse.

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  33. yes, happy birthday. I meant to email. I mean to do a lot of things and then the moment passes and I totally forget. I do like that kiwi color too. and I love the sock. and of course you reconstructed the math. I'm sitting here trying to to determine if I'm going to spend nearly 6 hours in the car today to spend about two hours with a bunch of Marc's relative I really have no desire to see.

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  34. That amaryllis is amazing. It just keeps on growing.

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  35. It sounds cold. It is a bit cooler here than the norm I think too but not snowing. After a few days sunshine it is overcast today. I too am remembering my late mom who passed almost 4 years ago on Good Friday (April 14th). Easter is earlier this year. It seems the holidays always sneak up on me even though all I have to do is prepare dinner. Stay safe and have a blessed rest of your Easter weekend.

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  36. Happy Birthday. It won't be long before we are missing the colder weather. I don't really miss snow but 50 degrees is a welcome memory when it's 50 degrees higher.

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  37. Te deseo un feliz cumpleaños y felices pascuas. Te mando un beso
    Enamorada de las letras

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  38. Happy belated birthday! My amaryllis did not grow this year. I'm torn between pitching it or supposing that everything is entitled to an 'off' time, and trying again next year. It appears to have stopped snowing here, and for that, I give thanks!

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  39. Happy belated birthday. I used to have a cat who loved chewing on plants. He would always leave us a present. :)

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  40. Happy Belated Birthday, Joanne! I'm glad you're letting your amaryllis soak up energy to bloom again. You are so talented with weaving and knitting. I'm sorry both your parents died too young. I count anything before 90 too young.

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  41. My good wishes for your birthday are no less fervent because they're late. The colors of the sock are beautiful.

    Love,
    Janie

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  42. Belated birthday greetings Joanne and many more. Interesting how you tied in significant events all together. It would help to remember things clearly.

    XO
    WWW

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  43. I love the way you supplied warm clothing and boots for the unprepared, so you all looked like ragamuffins! I can imagine the scene.

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