Is anybody still out there?

Its been so long since I've dropped by this place, or any place on line - including my inbox. The various aspects of my regular old daily life are similarly neglected.


Before the utter disruption of the work we've been doing on the house was quite finished my 44 year old brother's health began to decline as the cancer he's been fighting for a decade began to get the upper hand on things. My brother lives on his own but thanks to his extended health coverage at work, he was able to receive extra nursing support for the last couple of weeks. There is also a very good system through our provincial health care system for supporting patients in their homes. My tireless sister managed this piece to ensure adequate but not excessive attention to allow my brother to be as independent as he was able to be. Nonetheless, facilitating his care in his home has meant all hands on deck, full out, full time.


In the course of doing my share I've witnessed heartwarming, inspiring and even surprising things as a large and somewhat unlikely group of his family and friends came together for everything from hands on care to keeping his household running to moving furniture as more equipment was needed for his comfort. Just feeding the army of volunteer helpers and myriad visitors has been a full time job! The energy, commitment and genuine care his friends showed him is fitting testament to the quality of my brother's character and the nature of his life among the people he enjoyed the most.


Then yesterday morning, as the sun was rising, he took his last breath. Peaceful, free of pain, and in his own home.


Everyone is of course sad, frankly quite tired and I hope feeling some satisfaction at having done literally everything possible to support him as and when he needed it most.


There is now much to do in the wake of his passing - some quantity of it on my own plate. Because of the Easter weekend, there is a backlog at the funeral home that will mean his service won't be held until the start of next week. Its a long time to wait but also does mean the necessary preparations don't have to be made in a frantic rush. (It also means I can work in a very long overdue hair cut tomorrow!)


Under the circumstances I know the fact this post hasn't a spec of knitting fodder won't be earth shattering for anyone but in case there is anybody out there still visiting this little neglected knit blog, wondering where all the knitting and posting went I wanted to let you know what had been happening and that I will be back to the old routine soon!

In the meantime I do hope all the bloggers and commenters I so enjoy are happy and well and you're all knitting to your heart's content!