A day of rest, phew

Wednesday was another doctor, another bone density injection, another blood test, this time because of possible parathyroid issues.  Not urgent, I hear. Better not be I don't have the bandwidth right now.

Home to rest, and Handsome Son visited. I made a batch of okay not great sugar cookies in his honor. Not quite up to it, but HS had no trouble with them.

He certainly acted handsome -- took my car through State inspection, checked and fixed the tire pressures, recalibrated to stop the tire alert showing. Then he attached the walker tray, newly arrived, agreed to various future tasks around my recovery, and generally made me proud. What a guy. Really stepping up.

Happy day everyone, I feel lucky today.

Ted sez

In the gallery

 This morning I got a call from the surgeon's assistant organizing what sounded like a blitz of testing, before and after the surgery.  I'm still assimilating it all and she'll send me print and email confirmation about it all.

The cleaners are here today and I was glad to get to the library and decompress, with the latest mystery, the first in a series, with an old lady crossword puzzle creator starting out in murder detection. It seems to be a TV series too

And there's a new exhibit, oil on canvas, in the gallery 

She takes photographs of moments then later paints them. She definitely has a very accurate eye for gesture and nuance. 

Home to a clean house, good. The cleaning team definitely keeps me in this house. I do very little between their visits other than launder their mops and cloths and refill their spray bottles. Especially now that my moving is getting harder and slower, they're a blessing. 

Happy day everyone. I hope you have the help you need, too.

Medical appointment, cosmos still

Wednesday held a sleepless night because of anxiety about Handsome Son doing prep for a colonoscopy, his first. The prep schedule involved taking the rx liquid in two sessions, one at 6pm, the other at, this is not a typo, 3am. He called the medical center to check if this was correct. Yes.  He managed fine but his mother was a wreck! 

It really doesn't matter how old your kid is, he's your kid! Then I had high anxiety about being over there early enough to drive him to the surgical center, and about finding it, and about having a passenger for the first time in 20, that is also not a typo, years. 

He managed fine, I needed to come home and sleep, which I did. He was wobbly, so first I walked him up the stairs to his condo,  and wanted to make him a cup of tea and a snack. He ended up doing it because he insisted I wouldn't be able to find anything and I wouldn't do it right..his home, his stuff!

Then he was looking much better, normal color, talking fine, so I eventually made it home after what turned out, after all my drama, to be a perfectly successful enterprise, some minor issues found, all very manageable. 

Bowl of chicken soup, and I fell asleep for an hour, woke to find he'd texted to check on me! Then a pot of tea out on the deck, beautiful warm day, no mosquitoes after a couple of light frosts. I fell asleep again while officially reading more Barchester. 

My view

 Cosmos laughs at frost. 

Online meeting with friends this evening, and that's Wednesday. So glad it's done. I can handle a lot for myself, but when it's Handsome Son, who's perfectly fit and capable, well, that's different.

And one bright spot: Wednesday's supper was bangin'.  Baby bella mushrooms, firm tofu seasoned with red chili oil and that umami spice mix I made, blurt of soy sauce, in an omelette. 

Cheered me right up, just five star. Having the seasonings ready made, learned from Yeung Man Cooking, is the difference between long cooking when you're hungry and fast great food.  No pictures because it wasn't pretty, just delicious.

My street is full of houses decorated with lights for Diwali, and frantic police reminders that the state is tinder dry, so fireworks are not a good idea.  In fact this year they're banned, because we're at high risk for fire, very unusual around here 

Here's the speckly shirt in action 

Happy day everyone! Try not to get as worked up as I, if possible. Eat well.   Enjoy Diwali, don't burn the place down.

 

Patience and waiting

Before I plunge in, I did get the radiology results yesterday after a protracted afternoon of calls because the radiology people wanted to do more testing than the rx specified, and eventually got an agreement, then mammos then another wait for ultrasound, then another wait for radiologist to study same. No waiting for results, though -- they tell you immediately what they're seeing.   

The rad doc saw something probably not a problem, one more scan in six months. No need to do anything else. Good enough. Breathing now. And thanking all the blogistas who waited along with me. This called for patience! 

I'm waiting along with someone else now, for a test, helping with the breathing. She has a few more days.  So hard to wait. It does help when friends are keeping you in mind.

And the dryer is to be delivered Saturday. Handsome Son, on being informed of both pieces of news, texted "good news on both fronts".  Which cracked me up, one being my personal front!

Meanwhile back on the windowsill.

A row of pears is a favorite art subject of mine. I've done drawings and monotypes of this kind of scene. Here I'm content with a photo showing the pears, with shadows,  ripening on the sill, looking out at the pansies and, left, a struggling little pink azalea bush fighting the pachysandra.

And I was thinking about baking pasties, then: why not a pie lid using the last of the dough? And the large bag of spinach which steamed down to a little bowlful, handful of steamed carrots, diced yellow potatoes, mushrooms sauteed in butter, onions, crumbled feta cheese.

And here's a thin crust with little fancy leaves from the scraps left over. Egg wash.

20 minutes at 400°, then edges covered with foil, 15 more minutes at 350°. You can see the lid is so thin it's transparent! 

Smells very good. This will make a couple of meals, with a salad. Wondering what to call it. Yorkshire Greek Vegetarian Shepherd's Pie. If the shepherd's a vegetarian, that is. 

Back in the studio, I added six squares to the jacket so it wouldn't be skimpy. Two of them were woven originally for pockets on the vest I spun/knitted/wove, but I changed my mind. And they're the same size as the Mitered Squares, so it was meant to be!

Couple more seams, couldn't settle to stitch long yesterday, and we're done. Since we have plenty more cool days forecast, I'll get to wear it right away.

I'm already thinking about those linen squares M gave me, and how they might work with the silk sample squares.

Always new things to try.