TGIF

Oh blessed weekend. I need thee!

Mom is on the mend, slowly, very slowly but she is showing an improvement. She has been transferred back the hospital in Chatham where a convoy of her friends will make the trek into the city to see her. It is comforting for her to have her "contemporaries" near her. They are all retired and available during the day. Carl and I will be up to see her, probably, on Sunday.

She has to build up her strength or the Retirement home won't take her even on a respite basis. She is thinking about making the move for the winter to "try it out" and see what she thinks. This is a major decision and is hers to make. We, her children, don't want the responsibility of making the decision to give up the house. Oh no, She has to decide this one.

If Mother Nature smiles on me I might even get some time in the sun on Saturday to do some knitting. I am working on Michael's Christmas gift. The only other Christmas knitting I am planning is a pair of fancy shmancy mittens for Mom.

Yikes!!

This Juan, the worry doll, there is more to his story that can be found, in a July post, over at My Nom de Plume.
Every morning when I get in the car, I pull down the visor and there is Juan. This morning when I did this I discovered that his head had popped off in the night!!! I scrambled around and found it on the floor. OMG

Now, what does that tell you about my life in the fast lane????

Sherlock Holmes and Gillette Castle

William Gillette (1853-1937) is best known for his portral of Sherlock Holmes on the stage. He intoduced the deer stalker cap and pipe that has become the best recognized icon of this literary character. He designed this castle and had it built to his specifications on the shores of the Connecticut river. It is a Gothic beauty.

You can just make it out behind the trees.

The interior of the conservatory.

Bet this is spooky at night

Everything is stone and mortar. This is the tower.

The ravine.

The Castle and grounds are maintained as a State Park now.

Where has this week gone?

This upping and downing in regards to Mom's health is hard on us all. Yesterday I met Paul at the hospital after some chirpy nurse informed me she would be going home today! I suggested her metal faculties had deserted her brain pan. Sane minds prevailed and she isn't going anywhere yet. BP is still a problem and she isn't doing anything. Last night after work I popped in again with one of her grand sons and she was looking much better. Now, if only that is the same today I will see some light at the end of this tunnel.
I even relaxed enough last night to pick up the needles to finish Carl's black socks!!

I could go another trip to the "Tinkling Teacups" and a look at that pastry tray....Mmmm yummy

Mother was down again last night. Her blood pressure is spiking even on meds it went up to 191 while I was there and she is very weak. They are trying to figure out why her potassium levels are plummeting. All in all not a good report.

I woke up this morning to an email, sent in the night, from my brother that the hospital had called him, long distance, to say she had fallen out of bed. They have my number which is local, Go figure. Turns out she was trying to reach something and wiggled down past the half rails. She didn't want to be a "bother." Paul is going to give her a lecture on that today. He can say things to her David and I only wish we could. I am going to leave work and meet him there. What was she thinking I mean she can't sit up by herself? I hardly slept last night for the worry and now this. They were taking her to Xray. With her osteoporosis she could have broke something again....Have I mentioned that she is stubborn?

Update

Just a quick post: Mom is doing much better. Her condition is not as severe as we were first led to believe, surgery has been cancelled in favour of medications. The last cat scan shows no increase in what they are now calling an aneurysm. She is still very weak and at 84 she is not going to bounce back from this as quickly as she thinks. Many thanks dear readers for your kind words they are much appreciated.

What a weekend!

Tremendous scare this weekend. I am wrung out and I have to get ready for work. My mother was taken by ambulance to emergency near where she lives and then transferred to London. They were going to use the Air Ambulance which she thought would be cool but when there was some mechanical problem she decided she did not want to "end up in some one's bean field." She has a tear in the aorta and at first look at the CT scan the emergency Dr's thought we were in a life or death situation. Hence the transfer to the big city hospital.

Mom was telling everyone she was "Ready to meet her maker" and "Don't mourn me when I'm gone." All phrases that send us into instant panic. She is presently in Critical Care here in London.

Our conversation with the vascular surgeon yesterday has us hopeful. Aortic Dissension is the medical term that she has but the tear is in the first lining ( there are 3) of the aorta. We had visions of the tear all the way through and bleeding into the chest cavity. It will not heal but with her blood pressure better managed she should be alright. There will be another CT Scan today to see what is going on and if the situation has not changed they will take her off the intravenous and give her meds by mouth. If the tear is larger they will have to do surgery and it is dangerous. We do not want to think about that.

Paul has crashed on my living room couch for the past 2 nights. My sister in law drove over 2 hours yesterday to bring him an over night bag. The three of us were at the hospital with Mom for a couple of hours then she had to drive back home before dark. She is an outstanding sister in law. I love her to bits. He has to go home today as soon as we know what is happening.

My other brother, David, is far away as are all the grand children, but one, and it has to be worse for them, waiting to get word, even though we call everyone the minute we know something, at least we are here. Suffice it to say the three of us are not ready to be orphan's. Lucille Ball and John Ritter had the same condition.

Oh, and I went to the Knitter's Fair on Sat. it was terrific; tell you about it later when things settle down around here.

Mystic ...... on more than one level

The lift bridge at Mystic Connecticut. The horn sounds and all the traffic stops, everyone watches the bridge swing up and one lonely little sail boat, flags a flapping, saunters through, bridge goes down and traffic resumes and no one gets cranky at the wait. Lovely town.

Mystic Pizza, and no we didn't have pizza. Carl opted for a lobster instead, who would have guessed? I must watch that movie again.

The Whaler's Inn, who is that standing under that street sign? What is the name of that street?

This is the mystic part I referred to. That is my last name!!!! I popped into a toy shop on the corner and asked how they pronounced that street name. Wonder of wonders they even pronounced it correctly, Cot"trull" not Cut "trel"...it may be picky but there you go. It appears The Cottrells arrived in Mystic in 1666.

It didn't take long to find the Irish influence as well. I love the "drinking consultant" on the sign.

Very funny sign click on it to read.

Middle of the day and we were the only customers except for a "regular" who stopped by for a chat and told us about this.........

Brings a tear to me eye...lol

Cottrell Brewing Company. Go ahead google it. My brother's will be impressed.

Tell Tale signs.......

Post holiday is always a let down. I arose this morning to the strident call of the alarm clock to find that 6 am is now perishing dark.

Yesterday I spotted the last rose of summer

...and the first sign of autumn.

Home again, home again.....

Connecticut is beautiful, the hospitality: superb, the weather: simply perfect and the company: priceless.
Here is a little taste:

The Goodspeed Opera House

.... and me
The Gillette Castle
and the woods
Katherine Hepburn's House on the left.... close up....

I have a mountain of laundry to do and grocery shopping to be attempted today.....sigh

I had such a wonderful time I didn't want it to end.