Don't these flowers, a gift from Mark & Marie & Rachael look beautiful against my kitchen counter? What a treat!



Ah, today was sweet! I almost felt 100% normal or rather whatever normal is for me! I had energy and my brain felt well, normal! Maybe I am coming back,conquering the fear and beginning the process of not remembering or thinking about " it ". The first medical bills arrived today and as expected, they were applied to my deductible. Now, to try not to feel anxiety over Tuesday's appointment.

Late summer reminds me of the hot romances I had when I was young and still in high school and college. How you would meet someone, share the summer and end it by the time school started in the fall. What better to go with a summer fling than a cool car? I saw this car on the way to Portland in the parking lot of the Denny's in Chehalis. The colors were so bright that they leapt from the surface of the car even on this misty day. I could ride in that car, baby!



Already it is Monday and August is half over. I think this is my least favorite month. No holidays, the weather is often hot and dry, dry, dry and town is taken over by visitors. I usually look for all the familiar signs that summer is ending and what the winter will bring. I make these great and often memorable predictions.A prediction that is still formulating in my head for winter 09.

I worked in my shop tonight after it was closed. Phil went with me as I am still hesitant to drive or be alone for too long. I worked for nearly two and a half hours and it felt great! My shop is my favorite place to be, a friend that is my constant if needy companion. I put new things out, made lists of what needs to be done, cleaned, tidied and just played. I have certainly missed being there! I am maybe more tired than usual and my leg aches but I am so glad I had the chance to be there!

I wanted to open this blog with something quiet and thoughtful. Something from my observations of daily life. Then I remembered this picture I took last Wednesday morning of the swallows gathering in the mist for their annual migration south for the winter. Such a pretty voice they made! It is a few weeks early Greg said. They have been gathering over the years on the power lines outside his barn and now they are fat, fluffed and ready for their long journey back.



Lita has come and gone and for the first time since my TIA ( what a sweet name for a stroke ); I am alone. I am not afraid anymore of walking although I am a bit unsteady and wobbly. I am rapidly getting tired of being at home, of feeling fragile of questioning every ache and pain and twinge that I have. I am appreciative I am still me. I do not want to change although I will be more careful in my diet and take the pills that the neurologist says I must. I think that I am fine and then I read in today's local paper of a woman just 45 who has died of a stroke! Oh my gosh! I feel lucky! To be here, to be loved by family and friends, to feel so blessed in doing what I love, to trust the people who work with and for me .... may I never forget this wonderful feeling!

A special treat are these glass " needlepoint " buttons from the Czech Republic. Very pretty and nicely detailed. Really you should visit Phil and friends at the PT bead show this weekend. The teeney but treasured bead market! Poor man has to run it without me!


Just because I do not feel quite like my usual self; does not mean that I could not go shopping for button for my yarn shop. The button man came to my house to present all his treasures and I managed to go over my budget but get great pieces! I am really in love with the giant african abalone shell buttons which Phil has at the PT bead show today. There are glass, vintage, wood, rhinestone, akoya and clam shell buttons! Yummy!

My little porch frog resting on top of my front door. That door can get hot, very hot in the sun so I was worried that he would turn into cooked frog legs. I picked him up and put him back in the ivy by the door. Silly, adventurous frog!



Today I have 2 concrete goals: one, to remove all adhesive tape residue. I told them I was allergic but ....
and two, to actually call the neurologist and make the appointment for a CT scan, MRI and a follow up. I don't know which bothers me the most, knowing or not knowing. Poor Phil, now doing all my work and his plus household stuff. Jacob said though as long as I was sitting around; I could mend some of his clothes starting with his favorite sweatshirt. That boy is always thinking and planning around things and events.

A Fine Kettle of Stinking Fish!

I can't think of anything more gross than rotting, stinking fish so that is the image I am applying to the posting on my blog today. All was well at Sock Summit, a long uneventful journey home and an evening of unpacking the suitcase and catching up on things when BLAM! at 11:30 I had a stroke! A mini stroke and now life at least for now is altered. I won't post a lot today because I do not know a lot. I spent Sunday night in the PT ER and then at 2 am was transferred to Swedish Hospital in Seattle in the longest, most miserable ride of my life. The Jefferson County Fire Department guys were great but ambulances ride like they are on ball bearings on potholed roads. I came home last night after a zillion tests, and I am still not diagnosed or cured and more tests loom on the horizon. Now, I have a neurologist that I need to see in 10 days or less plus another CT scan and another MRI. All this and one crappy insurance policy leaves me a bit stressed out. No one said to avoid stress at least. I am trying to view all of this as adventure and opportunity but it is trying. I will keep you posted on my blog, the pretty, the not so pretty, the triumphs and the tribulations of my journey. Right now, I would be happy to walk without assistance again!

Sock Summit Portland! Here I am! I have decided that sock knitters are pretty cool people and I have met some very interesting yarn dyers here. I am buying TONS of yarn for my Diva yarn shop and I think everyone from the staff to the customers will be surprised and pleased! So far, what I like best about Portland is that the days have been overcast and cool and I can sleep with the air conditioner on to minus Alaska in the winter! Brrr, baby, I like it cold! I will post more pictures when I get home. I will be back next month for the Bead Fest held here in the same location and I will be staying in the same hotel. Hmmmm, sounds like deja vu!