This impressive St. Patrick character spend Saturday roaming the main street of Wickford (RI) entertaining the people enjoying a warmish, dry day in a beautiful colonial town on the water.
Isn’t he gorgeous?
And I was out and about, too, enjoying an afternoon with my friend Ruth. She had been waiting patiently all winter for my strength and energy to return so we could check out a small fabric store and have lunch.
This was the first time in four months that I had driven myself to lunch and shopping. The last time had begun with a CT scan and I would find out later that day that my cancer had returned.
Ruth and I had a very good time! I bought a spool of thread, having resisted all Fabric Temptation.
So to all you Irishmen and women reading this, I wish you a Happy St. Patrick’s Day. May you enjoy corned beef and cabbage, soda bread and green beer. It’s a happening!
While I’m 28% Irish (thank you, DNA test), I’ll just be hanging out here at home with Banjo Man. The rain keeps pouring down and the coffee tastes great.
These are flower-head pins. They are flat, long and sharp. I use them a lot while piecing or pinning blocks onto the design wall.
These are glass-head sewing pins. Unlike plastic heads, they don’t melt if you accidentally iron over them.
And here are the all important curved quilting pins, of which I never have enough. They are for basting quilts and I use A LOT of them.
For example:
I ran out of pins about ten days ago and had to stop basting one quilt in order to machine quilt an older project that was folded up in my closet so I could have those pins back. Then I ordered more on Amazon so I would never run out again.
And then a few days later I found a container of brand new basting pins (150 of them!) that I had bought last fall.
Sigh.
But now I never will run out of pins. Ever.
I’ve been working on projects that require a lot of energy now that I have much of mine back. New treatments won’t start for another ten days, so I have time to baste quilts, sew binding strips, iron and cut lots of fabric into squares, etc. for future quilts that can be worked on while I am low on energy and sitting down. I have two huge hand-stitching projects for couch time and hope to have three by the end of this month.
It is so good to feel better.
Banjo Man is still doing all the cooking as he continues to be inspired by the random You Tube videos that pop up on his phone. Friday he made a “chunky monkey” frozen dessert that was really good. Tonight he is doing something with cauliflower “steaks” and pesto. I haven’t cooked in months, so I am grateful that he has taken over the kitchen.
It has been quite a while since I have blogged here. More about that later…
We have been trapped by mud in one spot in our gravel driveway. The ground is thawing and lots and lots of mud has appeared, especially in a place near a large boulder that couldn’t be removed when we had the driveway redone a couple of years ago.
Our neighbor came over Saturday and worked on the problem. He brought gravel. On Sunday he brought more gravel. Tomorrow? More gravel. We are grateful.
My friend Harley Chick got stuck in the mud Wednesday while bringing me home from a lovely visit with “Aunt Pat” in Massachusetts. We talked and laughed and ate lunch and fixed an I-pad and commiserated over weather and winter.
Fortunately Harley Chick was able to put her car in reverse, gun it, and get out.
We can actually get out now, as long as we step on the gas. There is an amazing amount of gravel to get through, but it’s not mud!
I’m happy to stay in the house.
As to why I’ve been silent, it’s because I’ve been absolutely exhausted. I’m not sure “exhausted” is a strong enough word to describe how I felt during weeks of cancer-blocking treatments that started in early January. November and December scans (three of them, plus a biopsy) showed that my breast cancer from 2019 had spread to lymph nodes in my chest.
Banjo Man and I were devastated but hopeful that powerful new medications could halt/shrink/contain the cancer.
Unfortunately those medications–pills and shots–made me very, very sick. I was to stay on this cancer-blocking treatment plan for at least two years, then move to something else. Was this how I wanted to live my life? No. What was the point?
I am now taking a break from everything (doctor’s orders) and getting my strength and energy back. It’s a long process to feel better, but it’s happening. Later this month we will start up treatments again, only this time we’ll take it slowly to see how much I can tolerate. January’s “let’s hit it hard with everything we’ve got” plan was just too much. I could barely get out of bed and I could eat very little.
Banjo Man saved the day with fruit popsicles. We are now addicted.
There is another PET scan scheduled for March 14th. A meeting to discuss if radiation is an option. Perhaps a second opinion in Boston. A return to treatments. March is going to be busy.
In the meantime we’re enjoying our evenings streaming tv shows and movies. We splurged on a new walk-in shower and we love it. Last night we actually went out to dinner! We’re looking forward to returning to the lake in May, stopping in Texas on the way. The Funny Grandson has a band concert and we want to be there.
I am sewing again, as of this week. A very brown quilt is on the design wall. Not my favorite creation, but it’s intended for the lake house and I designed it to be masculine.
Will I finish it before we leave in May? I have no idea, but I will try!
Today the sun is shining. It’s a cold day, but Banjo Man and I are about to bundle up and go look at the gravel. I hope to do a lap or two around the driveway and then hustle back inside to add borders to the quilt and make a backing for it.
What could be better on a sunny winter Saturday than a trip to Home Depot?
Okay, lots of things. I get it. But in my little world of battling medical side effects, having the energy–however limited–to walk through Home Depot is a BIG DEAL.
Daughter Nancy took me to shop for a new toilet seat. Hey, my bathroom needs a facelift! What could be easier than installing a shiny new seat?
There was a huge wall of toilet seats, but we found one we thought would fit. I admit I haven’t installed it yet.
Check this out:
Impressive, though seven billiard balls sounds excessive. And frightening.
On the way to the plumbing aisle I saw my future new fridge:
A girl can dream.
I also resisted buying a new mop. Thank God I came to my senses and kept walking.
In order to cover up my ugly old 35-year old vinyl floor, I bought a rug from Wayfair. Check out all of the colors:
I bought two coral bath towels to go with it. Lots of color is needed right now, as you can see from the view from my office window:
Our new snowplow driver couldn’t plow us out after Sunday morning’s storm because his plow broke. Alas, we are dealing with 5″ of snow, but the Highlander doesn’t have any trouble making its way through and tamping it down. More snow, rain and cold temps are ahead of us this weekend, but we have no plans except to talk about Spring and watch Season 2 of DARK WINDS.
Winter = evenings on the couch. I would like to say we are reading thick, educational nonfiction tomes, learning how to speak Italian, washing the mini blinds and dusting bookshelves, but…we’re not.
Instead we are glued to all sorts of wonderful new shows.
Meet DCI Ellis. You can watch this new show on Acorn.
How about a new season of “Death in Paradise”, on Britbox? We have a new police inspector, played by one of my favorite British actors, Don Gilet.
It’s a light, comedic mystery show in its 14th season, using the “fish out of water” premise for police inspectors assigned to an island in the Bahamas.
I just discovered “Dagliesh” when Season 3 dropped earlier this month. It’s fabulous and what great characters! Dagliesh is a police detective and a poet in the 1970’s who is grieving the loss of his child and wife. Also on Acorn.
[I’ve tried nine times and cannot insert an image of Dagliesh here]
And then another favorite, PROTECTION on Britbox.
From Imdb: Follows a witness protection officer who finds herself at the center of a breach; compromised by an extramarital romance with a coworker; but resolute in her resolve to fight back and unearth the real cause of corruption within her unit.
We’re in the middle of season 1 of DARK WINDS on Amazon.
From Wikipedia: Dark Winds is an American psychological thriller television series created by Graham Roland. Based on the Leaphorn & Chee novel series by Tony Hillerman, it stars Zahn McClarnon and Kiowa Gordon as the aforementioned two characters, leading a mostly Native American cast.
You will remember Zahn McClarnon from “Longmire”. He’s such a great actor and this series has us completely sucked in. What’s going to happen next? No clue!
I’m talking about January. Christmas was a month ago. A month.
What have we been doing during these cold winter weeks? Well, Banjo Man has been holed up in his office, working intensely to analyze the world’s economy and predict the future.
It sounds exhausting.
I, on the other hand, am accomplishing very little. I have cleaned out no shelves or plastic containers, have made no trips to donate unwanted possessions or clothes, have cut no fabric for future quilt projects. I am not cooking or baking or playing scales on my violin.
It feels like I’m on vacation, but I’m actually dealing with a range of side effects from my new cancer-blocking medications. And while I have ultimate respect and love for the scientists who invent new ways to defeat this disease, and I am eternally grateful for the three little pills I take every day, I am having a very hard time adjusting to the slower pace of life that comes with the new treatments.
I stare at fabric a lot while I’m sitting in my office chair and drinking coffee. Yesterday I even selected fabrics for two future quilts (the blue fabrics you see didn’t make the cut because I decided not to make that quilt). This morning I will take another look at those ideas to see if I still like them.
Progress? I like to think so.
So what are you doing–or not doing–during these cold winter days?
When we were in New Orleans we took a cooking class at the New Orleans School of Cooking. We watched gumbo being assembled while a pot of red beans simmered on a nearby stove burner. Banjo Man loves red beans and has tried many times to make them successfully.
There have been ups and downs.
Last week I took the recipe from the class and attempted to make something that would impress my husband (who was coughing and deaf). I even ordered the Camelia-brand red kidney beans from Amazon.
How did it go? Well, they looked good bubbling beautifully in the pot. But when I tasted them they were way too salty. WAY too salty. Where had I gone wrong?
I used “Tony Chachere’s Original Creole Seasoning” instead of “Joe’s Stuff Seasoning”. Not a good decision.
So…what to do…
I added more water, more chicken broth.
I splashed in lime juice, then lemon juice.
Then I tried adding slurries of corn starch and water.
Tablespoons of sugar.
More water.
After all this, my beans were barely semi-edible and served over white rice they were okay. Sort of.
The next day I put them back on the stove with slices of raw potato and more liquid. That helped and we ate red beans and rice for two more days.
I will share the recipe once I’ve figured out the proper seasoning. More research is required and maybe another Amazon order, this time of “Joe’s Stuff”.
Yesterday my grandnephew was born! Such exciting news for our family, as he is my brother and sister-in-law’s very first grandchild.
And the first one is so very, very special. A whole new world opens up and the love pours in.
Congratulations to everyone. We can’t wait to meet him.
We have no snow, which is just the way we like our winters. Those dry roads make it easy for us to get to our gazillion medical appointments and for Banjo Man–who has recovered from his nasty virus–to go to the grocery store.
He happily ventured out for the first time in weeks last Saturday and didn’t return for four hours. Granted, he went to the dump first, but he went to four stores afterward. The man knows how to use “digital coupons” and proudly pulls out his phone at the cash register to access the sale prices.
It’s unimaginable, but I have seen the proof stuffed into brown grocery bags. Am I impressed? Absolutely. He still can’t operate the tv remote and now he can buy groceries?
Go figure.
And what was I doing while he was cruising the aisles of the grocery store? Working on this.
Yes, this is a strange quilt top, but I was inspired by a similar one in my new quilt design book by Kaffe Fassett. I was determined to use the 20+ year old striped fabrics I had stored in my closet and this was the result. There is one more border to sew. I will do that later today.
I am not sure how to quilt it. It’s going to take some time to figure that out.
In the meantime I will work on something else. And search Pinterest for a chicken stew recipe. I have a craving, but not a lot of energy for cooking. That happens in January!
Winter is here, according to the Weather Channel. I hope you are all safe and warm and dry.
I don’t know about you, but I feel as if we’ve just had five Saturdays in a row. The week that wouldn’t end.
While in Texas we watched two movies. Banjo Man didn’t feel well enough to go out, so we cozied up in the condo after Christmas, ate cookies and watched tv.
We loved this movie. We had to pay for it, something I find annoying because I subscribe to so many channels, but it was worth it. Inspired by a true story in 2014, Pierce Brosnan plays a 93-year old WW2 veteran determined to go to the D-Day anniversary despite being confined to a nursing home. We all enjoyed it. One thing: the movie ends, “The End” is on the screen, it goes black and then? The story–the epilogue–continues and it is a great ending. If you watch it, don’t turn it off until it’s really over.
“The Man Who Invented Christmas” was so much fun. I don’t know much about Charles Dickens’ life–except to have walked by his house in London years ago–so his history with his father and his childhood were news to me.
The story of how he wrote “The Christmas Carol” was fascinating, with all sorts of characters in the mix.
Let me know if you’ve seen these movies and what you thought. And stay warm!
I thought this was worth a giggle or two. If I had any 2025 thoughts, they might be to cook less and quilt more. Hire someone to clean. Eat more avocadoes. Get rid of more “stuff”. Buy pretty clothes.
We are home, as of Sunday night. Banjo Man is ever so slowly recovering from the “coughing crud” he had for most of our time in Texas. The day before we left I was hit by one of the ever-present and infamous Texas allergies that tortures its residents year round.
The flights home were plagued with severe ear pain and tears. Yes, I cried. A lot. Like one of those poor infants who scream during takeoff and landing. Daughter Nancy picked us up at the airport and drove her weary parents home. I suspect we were pathetic. And maybe a little…elderly.
I went to bed Sunday night and didn’t get up again until this morning. I feel sooooo much better, though Banjo Man does not. He explained he is suffering from plugged “airplane ears” and is going to try all the remedies he just read on Google.
I hope one of them works so he will smile again.
I want to wish you a very happy, peaceful and healthy New Year. May we all find joy in every day.
is there any more pie? 