Interesting week:)

Well, what a week it's been - very "organic" if you will - business/professional life intermingling with hobbies and spiritual life. Who knew? It's funny, I've always dreamed of my life becoming this way. I guess it's true: one needs to watch carefully what one wishes for, LOL:).

When last I left you dear 1.5 reader(s), I had been enjoying a lovely dinner with my family and was contemplating running to the office, then to bell prax. Well, bell practice was very disrupted when one of our older members fell in the parking lot. It was a nasty fall. She sustained some awful abrasions to her knee, shoulder and cheekbone and a crack on the eyebrow that all could instantly see would require stitches. The fact that the poor woman has arthritis made it all the more painful to see. I imagine she was in some pretty bad pain the next day. Luckily, Nancy and Ron M had just finished making a pitch to the vestry regarding the St. John's Orchestra. I was upstairs in the gallery with the high school student I had driven to practice and another woman in the bell choir and we were practicing what we could of one piece. We didn't hear a thing where we were and with the bells ringing, of course. If Nancy and Ron had not found this lady on the ground in the parking lot, there's no telling how long she would have lain out there. To make it even more frightening, the lot was dark and it was all too possible that she could have been run over by another bellchoir member who arrived later! We all rushed to get her seated, paper towels and ice were somehow produced and we did our best to wash her wounds without creating more infection. Nancy called her son and daughter, who were there in about 20 minutes - one to take her to the ER and the other to drive her car home. The entire incident made it all too clear that continuing in bells - hell, driving alone at night - was going to be a too-dangerous occupation for this woman. And that is sad - I suppose it's part of the stripping away of life that aging does to you - a time we will (hopefully) all face at some time. But we push it away from our thoughts, too "busy" to worry about that time. Unfortunately, it's coming closer and closer to me, patiently waiting for the day when I leave all I have on this earth.

I'm glad for Barb's time with us. I'm glad for all the older people I see and interact with daily. And every time we lose one of them, I am so sad - for the loss of that person and for the loss of what they represent: a point of view, a way of seeing the world, a certain sense of humor, a phrase that brings back a time and place I thought I'd forgotten.

The world in which I live - the USA of the second millenium - is all about the surface of things. Or so it seems. And we are so poor for that! I have found - in my all-too-brief forays into life, literature, science - that it's that which lies beneath the surface that is so interesting. When I get to know someone, I often forget those surface things. I actually forgot that a dear friend of mine was blind because it had faded into the background of our conversations and the faith (and jokes) that we shared. My husband is what many consider to be a good-looking man, but I can tell you that the two things about him that stole my heart were not physical - his kindness toward his very little (at the time) sister and his hilarious sense of humor. Nancy - one of the best friends I've ever had the pleasure to know - has a well-toned physique (earned by hard work and granted by good genes) and a deliciously wicked smile that lights up the room, but the thing that fascinates me most about her is her uncanny ability to see through those surface things (thank God for that, LOL!) and to assess people by who they really are, not what they appear to be. Again, what she, John or MaryBeth, my friend above, see in me is a mystery, LOL!

I have been wrestling with a decision lately and I want to be sure my intentions are healthy. I have been obese for most of my childhood and virtually all of my adulthood to varying degrees (not counting pregnancies, LOL!). I have dieted on and off most of that time and have been on the same yo-yo treadmill. I may be able (stressing the word may) to qualify for gastric bypass surgery. I have avoided it, because I thought it was a capitulation to what I still consider to be my laziness, my gluttony, etc. etc., the fact that if I were to lose all the weight I need to, I would be one mass of flabby chicken skin hanging down to my knees. But I have been thinking lately that if there is a possibility for me to live a healthier life in the time I have left, I should do it. One of my daughters has done this and although she is unhappy with the residual skin, she is a great deal healthier than she would have been had she not had the surgery - plus she has the energy to do what she needs to do (all other things being equal) that she would not have had without the surgery.

And that's the thing. I want to live a more active life and it is getting difficult to push this heft around. It would be nice to walk around Centennial Lake without every joint in my legs and back screaming in pain. It would be nice to get down on the floor with my grandchildren and play with them. I'd like to get on a bike and MOVE! O2 is good for you, I'm told:)

Anyway, I've decided (if the insurance company will let me) to see about maiming part of my body for the greater good. I may not be able to, but I'm willing to at least look into it. We'll see...

To continue, we had a bit of bell practice after that horrible incident, believe it or not (that Nancy is a slavedriver, LOL), and then went home.

Wednesday was more of the same - visits, a quick trip to the courthouse to file some paperwork, and a meeting that represented the convergence of so many aspects of my life that I have to laugh. LynnZ - as she is known on Ravelry - is a retired professional marketing expert. The St. John's Orchestra needs needs needs so badly to be well marketed. It's the first professional chamber orchestra in Howard county -and Howard County is supposedly the second wealthiest suburb in amerika - who knew? (Not my bank account, LOL!!!) It has evolved from primarily a farming community to the home of Columbia - a pre 1968 housing law experiment in bringing diverse races and cultures together. It deserves to have its own source of elegance and culture! I am so excited to be a part of this stage in our growth. Anyway, Lynn met with Nancy - and Ron Mutchnik, the dedicated and energetic Concertmaster and one of the prime movers behind this project. She had some wonderful ideas and will e-mail us with more. She is willing to work with us and to share her expertise just for the cost of her expenses (well, for now at least). Lynn knows about social networking; she took our Sip 'n Knit from a couple of people to numbers in the hundreds. She knows how to best use the internet to increase sales. After the meeting, we talked knitting. Can life get any better than that?

Yesterday morning I had court, which went (relatively) uneventfully - or probably I'm getting less and less stressed by what happens there. I had a visit yesterday afternoon, then helped Nancy get the Orchestra mailing to the post office, ate with her and her DH Rennie, then home to knit a little bit before choir prax. Choir was a productive practice (in my not-so-professional opinion). Last night, I did a little more knitting and slept a little late this morning, since I have no court today. I do have a visit in a couple of hours, but it's not a particularly busy day today. If the weather holds up, I may do some walking on my own this evening - again, we'll see.

I have added yet another small project to finish by the end of next month - a scarf for the Red Scarf Project . It's a great program sponsored by the Orphan Foundation of America. Kids who are in foster care and then go off to college or an independent living program don't have the support that our kids have. They don't get the "care" packages from home. They have no one to call at night when they're worried about their crazy roommate. They don't have anyone nagging them to eat right and sleep right. This is a way that they can know that their community cares about them. It's a very small thing, but what the heck. I'm sending the word out at work and here. Our local Sip 'N Knit is collecting scarves - and you can go to the website (click the link above) to donate if you don't have the time or ability to knit or crochet a scarf. I decided to use some of the Caron Simply Soft in raspberry that I have left over from the Hepburn sweater I knit for Nancy last year to knit a Reversible Cable Red Scarf designed by Lucia Hicks. Lucia (think: rhymes with fuchsia) really designed a beautiful scarf and I just love the fact that it really is reversible. Judge for yourself:

The top picture is the "odd" side (there really is no right and wrong side) I have stuck the cable needle on that side - a cable needle is only needed every ten rows - another wonderful thing about this pattern.

The next picture is the "even" side. I cannot tell the difference! So cool! Lily Chin is also really good at doing this - as is Janet Szabo; she has some reversible scarf patterns in one of her issues of Twists and Turns.

This weekend will be a time of catching up on paperwork, organizing the office, finishing some knitting project or projects and most importantly: babysitting the grandbabies - the stuff of legend, LOL!

Be safe dear readers, but don't hesitate to take a chance for the right thing!

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