"While I was away......."

If you are a regular reader of this blog, you may wonder why there haven't been any posts on it for the past few weeks. I have been in Michigan staying with my sister while she recuperated from eye surgery. Everything happened very quickly....her not being able to see out of one eye, the emergency room making an appointment to get into an eye specialist, and he in turn, making an appointment for her to another specialist in South Bend, IN, followed by a physical and the final surgery. She had a torn retina which had to be repaired. She had called to ask if I could come to stay and take care of things for a few days. (her horse, new puppy, be there for Dad, and if anything happened that needed attention for Mom who is in a nursing home) I said yes, of course, and drove to MI the day following Memorial Day (Tuesday). Both of us figured that she would have some sort of laser surgery and be back to normal in a few days. How wrong we were! The surgery was the following Friday and her recovery meant being "face down" for 2 weeks....literally! She had to rent special equipment for this type of recovery, had it shipped immediately, and it arrived the morning of her surgery so that we were all set up for when she got back home. The surgery (done as outpatient) was done on June 1st, and we thought that she would be up and around 2 weeks later (June 15). Unfortunately, at her last visit to the Dr., he added a few more days of "face down", followed by 3 days of 12 hour "face down". So......my leave taking wasn't to be until yesterday, Thursday, June 21. My sister, Sandy, was surprisingly calm throughout the entire time. She was patient and amazingly nice to me. :) Since she lives next door to my parents, it was easy to go back and forth from her house to theirs, taking her puppy with me to play with Copper (who wasn't always that keen on being mauled by a little puppy, but was patient with it), who stayed with Dad the entire time.

So.....now to the "While I was away" part. :)

Charlie, our neighbor, also has some surgery done in early June. Not being able to sit easily, she persuaded her husband to carry over and place on our deck, a small couch. She was not about to miss any gathering, and so it stayed for awhile, since the weather cooperated and stayed clear. Her mother came to visit while Charlie recovered, who also is a knitter, but unfortunately, I was in MI. I would have loved to taken her to the yarn shop where I get my weaving supplies. Who knows, perhaps she would have gone home with a new hobby, like spinning or weaving? :)
Don stays very busy while I have my extended stays in MI. Last year, while my Dad was in the hospital and physical rehab for a month (my staying with Mom before she was in the nursing home), he scanned many old photographs of my family, from a number of boxes I had brought from my parents house specifically for him to do at some point. It seems that point arrived while I was gone. The same thing happened this time during my absence, too. After visiting in May, I had brought back boxes of "slides" that I had found in my parents basement. A real treasure to be sure! LOL As you can see in the following photos, I was quite thin in my younger years. I was 19 at the time these were taken. Each spring in southwestern Michigan, the annual "Blossom Festival" is held for a week, ending in the "Grand Floral Parade". It truly is a huge event and has been an annual event for many, many years. My mother is 85 and has been to every parade (except 1 a few years back, when she was sick), going to show that it has been around a long time. :) My sister was in the high school band, so marched in it a number of years. My time to be in it came because I happened to be dating the girl who'd won Miss St. Joseph that year. :) Those of you who have known me only in my adult years, who'd have thought I cleaned up so nicely, eh? :) The following photo was taken in my parents backyard.
and this one was taken in downtown St. Joseph, MI. It was a fun time. :)