Extraordinarily tough year

Been a long time, hasn't it! Though not for you, I hope. I haven't read any blogs for a year. It's my next undertaking. 

I celebrated every holiday, and my birthday, and family birthdays and events from a hospital room or a rehab facility. Now I'm home, and intend this to be my last time returning. No more falls, no more broken bones, no more surgeries.

Nothing is woven in all this time. Once Shelly was here and volunteered to weave a bit on the towel warp languishing on the loom. She's an excellent weaver and I agreed. 

I watched her for a minute, then sat on the other side of the loom and watched. After a bit I realized one harness was not rising. One treadle had detached from its corresponding lamms. Inches needed unweaving. Dale lowered himself to the floor, scooted under the loom and made the repair. A two hundred pound hero.

Shelly, and later Beth, tried to convince me to simply carry on and cut out the bad section in finishing. I cannot bring myself to do that. Bad enough I'll have two or three knots in the thread because of all the yards coming out. I'm not done yet; a few more inches to go.

On the family front, the last of the grands are graduating. France from his Colorado college a year ago. I watched him graduate on streaming YouTube. He is the business manager for a small start up company he joined while still in high school. It manufactures gluten and dairy free ice cream. This weekend he's moving to Boston to be with his girlfriend.

Caroline graduated a week ago from Macalester College in Saint Paul, Minnesota. She graduated Phi Beta Kappa, and will remain there to continue her work with autistic children. Another streaming graduation.

Laura must finish two summer classes at Akron U and will join the December graduating class. Her major is geology and she has a rock collection to match my dads'. She hopes to join the atmosphere group at Davey Tree.

And finally, on my homefront, "we" are working in the garden. I'm doing almost nothing except carrying plants on my lap out to the gardens (I have an electric chair!). Here's a selection:

Here's the flowering dogwood:

And finally, the diplandia, the closest I could come to a mandevilla three years ago. We need to add a lot of fertalizer. Maddy has over wintered it the last two years, lugged it water, trimmed it. I tell her it really is a Maddy-villa. 

OK, that's it. Thanks for waiting and watching. I'm off to unweave some more and hope it will not be so long for the future. 

One thing I did try to mention earlier and kept deleting every sentence: every time I came back from rehab I was greeted with a new list of departees. I've come to grips with the realization that really is our last job to do, here. In blogville, I know about Sue. She did it her way, and we all love her for it. As I read through the list of bloggers I admire, I hope to encounter no more. Namaste.