Mother's Day Redux

(Ceramic Tile Trivet circa grade II - No. 1 Son)

Annual feature of the Mother's Day Dinner Table!

I was well and properly feted yesterday - Darling Daughter made me a very sweet card, did some photo printing and framing for me and served dinner at which my mother was a featured guest.

My Beloved did more than his usual doting. In fact he actually treated the whole weekend as one big long 48 hour mother's day.

Number One Son lived the adage of making lemonade from lemons when the wooden ring he was carving for me broke in half so he punted and turned the woodwork into a pair of earrings!

His version of the "rubber" ends he's seen on straight from the store earrings are drops of hot glue. Did you already guess what he used to make the "wires"?...

Things were a bit tense as I tried to get the thicker-than-ideal wires through my ears, as it was as the "chef" for the evening was trying to get a complete and hot meal to the table but both my "babies" made a full success of their efforts, prompting spontaneous applause over dessert and coffee.

For my mother I did her the favour of basting her crocheted jacket together (the one I was blocking in this post) and had it ready when she arrived for a pre-dinner fitting. I had all the pieces on hand because last week I blocked the sleeves for her. 

I will assemble it for her now that we know the fit is perfect.  Once back in her hands she will crochet a stabilizing stitch around the bottom edge and pick up to make the collar.  I wasn't sure she'd be comfortable with the idea of me working on it - she is an extreme perfectionist with her crafts but she was thrilled at the prospect of a sooner than anticipated finish line.

Sadness did intrude into the evening though when my sister called during dinner to let us know her father-in-law had passed away yesterday afternoon. He was 89, had a fabulous life and without any actual disease, his body just wore out.  He fought to be released from hospital last week in the hopes of dying at home so the news was somewhat bitter sweet.  This means another funeral home event and another funeral a scant two weeks since our last one! This week I also have to tackle my portion of the thank you notes for all the kindesses we received following my brother's recent passing.

Fortunately, the spectacular weather we've been having - not too hot and with sufficient rain to be good for the gardens, lawn and my late planting schedule (The garlic is already up!)

...is helping to keep my mood generally bright. But there is an unmistakable "cloud" of death and mourning that nonetheless seems to just hang in the air. It feels like that morning fog you drive through in the country. Sometimes obscuring, sometimes briefly obliterating, the lovely liveliness of spring. From past experience,I know this is to be expected. I know too that by acknowledging rather than trying to ignore it, it will pass.

Acknowledging it does take energy though. Lots of it. Sadness is draining. I can barely keep my eyes open after 9:30 and I can sleep right through my typical early morning rising time - very unusual - very telling.  I'm trying to respect the natural necessity of this process but since my knitting time is in the evening, all this sleepiness is having a very detrimental effect on my productivity. Plus the little waking time I've had to dedicate to Tangled Yoke has shown me that its time to rip it back to the point where the cabling starts.  Something is not working and I've spent enough time trying to sort it out, I now know it'll be faster to start over.  That section is only a dozen and a half rows - if I do it all at once, error free work should follow.

Interestingly I'm not feeling compelled to start something mindless in its stead - my two recent FO's - scarf and slippers seem to have satisfied me in that regard so I'm sticking with TY. Hopefully I'll have the necessary time awake tonight to do the deed of ripping right after dinner.

I hope, whether you celebrated Mother's Day as a Mother or someone with one or both or just as a Sunday in spring, yesterday was a good one for you and that you were knitting rather than ripping!

Thanks for dropping by!