My "Gee, I'm Terrific" Awards

When our youngest was a preschooler, we used to read a story book about Jason Everett Bear, a little guy whose mother constantly told him that he was terrific. He used to award himself five stars when he thought he was especially terrific, which was pretty much all the time! Needless to say, he had trouble making friends because his boasting was unbearable (!) and Jason had to learn how to dial his self praise back quite a bit.

Well, I feel that I have exhibited what, for me, has been an enormous amount of patience during my plaster cast and post cast period. I have been doing my hand and wrist exercises faithfully, three times a day, and attending physiotherapy on a regular basis.

So when we took a day trip to Mahone Bay today, I rewarded myself with two balls of sock yarn and a new necklace. Yes, I know - that was the basis on which I purchased a sunhat and a new summer purse not that long ago but, listen, I am in a lot of pain doing those exercises and this wrist isn't the prettiest thing to ever hang at the end of an arm. In fact, it is a downright ugly and, like Jason, I feel I deserve rewards on an ongoing basis.

These balls of Royal Color Austermann sock yarn in colorway 0108 were a great find. The gals at Have A Yarn in Mahone Bay always do up swatches so you can see how the yarn knits up and I fell in love as soon as Karen pointed the swatch out to me.

And, yes, Hallelujah, I am knitting again! I call this photo The New Knitting because I don't allow myself any knitting time until I have completed a set of hand and wrist exercises (including the use of one and two pound weights). I can only manage about five rounds on a sock at a time. The fingers go numb and the hand aches. But it is a start and I never imagined I would be so grateful to be able to do so little!

It was too hot to take Nora with us today and leave her in the car while we had lunch so, being a One Year Old now, she stayed at home all by herself . Today was the longest we have ever left her and she coped beautifully. Such a good girl!

And here's the necklace. I found it in a little shop selling hand made jewelry on the main street. They had to shorten it by about 2.5 inches as most necklaces are too long for my rather short body.

Beautiful Nora's Birthday

Nora is one year old today and what a year it has been! Training courses and dock diving, beach walks, Christmas with Luke, and woodland treks.

Happy Birthday,  Nora Theodora!

Cast Off!

 

Now,  how I wish "cast off" referred to a knitting project. Alas, it is an indication that the first phase of fracture recovery is over and the second - equally difficult phase - has begun. The wrist and hand are terribly swollen. There is very little range of movement in the wrist, hand, or individual fingers. All the joints feel as though they are cemented together!

 

It is going to take a lot of physiotherapy and a tremendous amount of work on my part to regain mobility. However, being able to knit and garden and travel again are great incentives. Pain is going to continue to be a constant companion but there will surely come a day when I can ditch it for good!

 

 

In the meantime, a lovely skein of yarn - ordered BFT (before the fall!) - arrived in the mail from The Plucky Knitter. I never tire of the work horse sock yarns like Opal, Regia, etc for knitting sturdy, dependable, highly washable socks. But every once in a while, it is interesting to try a something new from an independent dyer.

 

This is Plucky Feet - a generous 425 yards of a merino/nylon blend. The colour is Morticia.

 

I am going to moan and groan and retch and perspire through the hand and wrist exercises, knowing that one day, I will finally be able to hold a knitting needle in my left hand and cast on for a pair of socks.

 

 

I treated myself to a new summer purse this weekend. I figure something pretty over my right shoulder will detract from the not so good looking left arm! I found this at the Lady Luck Boutique in the Hydrostone district of Halifax. I always have - well - good luck in finding earrings, purses, etc. there.

 

(Photo Courtesy of Wonderful Brittany Ernst)

 

Beautiful Nora, now eleven months, is doing well in her dock diving class. In a couple of weeks, her brother, Martin, is going to be diving as well so it will be fun to see the siblings together in the water.

And this week, around the garden:

 

 

Goat's Beard

 

 

The Window Boxes

 

 

Clematis Niobe coming into bloom

 

 

 

And the roses are showing off.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Nora Goes To The Cottage And Proves To Be A Champion Dock Diver

 

Woobie, Gracie, Emery, and Nora

 

Nora And Her Bestest Friends

 

Wet And Happy

(All photos courtesy of the brilliant Brittany Ernst)

 

Happy Day At The Cottage

 

Bombs Away!

 

 Off We Go

 

Contemplation

 

Then Action

 

Are You Guys Sure The Frisbee Landed Here?

 

 

Water Girl

Water Breezes 

Hey, I Can Sew Buttons With One Hand!

 

Well, at least I can sew large buttons with one hand - albeit in a slow and painstaking manner.

 

This cotton sweater is perfect for the summer. It has 3/4 sleeves that slide easily over my cast. The only downside to the cardigan - big pink plastic buttons that did nothing to enhance the garment. Yesterday, we were in Mahone Bay and I stopped in at Have A Yarn. I will not be able to knit for a long time but I felt that a few minutes in that lovely shop would have a restorative effect on my spirits. I was right. And I found these lovely ceramic buttons. They make all the difference in the world to the look of the sweater.

 

And we picked up a new garden bench. Even a few years ago, I would not have entertained the thought of garden furniture made with resins and other synthetic materials. However, years of scraping, sanding, and reapplying paint to wood in a humid, rainy Maritime climate have changed my mind. This bench is very attractive and, ironically, it is more comfortable than the wooden ones! As the wooden Adirondack chairs crumble, they will be replaced with chairs from this line as well.

 

I like growing fresh herbs on the deck in the summer. It is easy to step out the door and take some clippings for supper and the aroma of the herbs wafts by in the summer breeze.

I always add a flowering plant to the herb pot. This calibrachoa provides colour to the pot of sage and Mojito Mint.

 

 

 

Father's Day Cake

 

New York Cheesecake

Made by the Marvelous Movita Beaucoup

A Forced Knitting Hiatus and Community Supported Agriculture

 

This is my hand, though I can barely recognize it as mine, as there is still so much swelling a week and a half after taking a very hard tumble. I had my feet (foolishly) on the coil of a long lead - the end of which was attached to beautiful, 57 pound, ten month old Nora. Nora heard a car coming up the drive and bolted happily toward it. My feet were swept from under me and I fell sideways with an equal amount of force in the opposite direction. The result is a rather complicated fracture with the tip of the radius fractured, the wrist bones compacted, and a small triangular shaped piece of the radius gone. This second cast extends to my elbow and the final course of treatment has not yet been settled upon.

Every knitter who reads this blog will understand how frustrating and sad it has been to have to set all my lovely yarn and works in progress aside for weeks on end. I am sure that every passionate knitter out there dreads the thought of a hand injury. But when it occurs, most of us will focus on what has to be done to enhance the road to recovery and, for the sake of those around us, keep the moaning and lamenting to a minimum!

 

Everyone has been sterling - from friends and family to the orthopaedic team at the QE11. Movita has given up so much of her personal time, just as her own gruelling school and work year has wound down, to either drive me around or chop vegetables at the kitchen counter! I manage surprisingly well but there are a number of things that require two hands!

 

 

On a far more positive note, today, Movita delivered our first Ironwood Farm food box of the season! This is a program of community assisted agriculture and our adult children paid the season fee as a Christmas gift for us and it is so much appreciated. Every week during the growing season, we receive a box of fresh produce from the farm. The box may be quite full, or not quite as full, depending on the weather and the other variables that our farmers have to work around to produce good quality organic food.

 

Visit Heather and Rupert's blog and look at their beautiful farm.

 

 

Such a gorgeous collection of vegetables inside The Box - including leaf lettuce and chard

 

 

Spring onions and white radishes

 

 

Mint

 

 

Beet Greens

 

And around our garden this week: 

 

 

 

The Chinese Tree Peony is in bloom

 

 

 

And the Percy Wiseman Rhododendron

 

 

The Little Princess Spirea

 

 

And the Jane Law Rhodo