Poxification #3

Katherine’s all about eye candy over on The Last Visible Dog
ecturshi - the view of KC's butt in the minds eye.

Did I say Road Trip

I could just as easily have said

Bike Trip

Besides our luggage we were carrying 2 of Hair Two’s 3 bikes – road & mountain.  We left the trick bike at home.

 

On our second day in Calgary the plan for the day included biking. We set off to a nearby jump park after breakfast. 

It had rained during the night but Hair Two was determined.  The clay mud stuck to every part of the bike.  He spent more time pulling wads of muck off the bike than jumping. 

Back at the house he hosed it down.  When he was finished cleaning it he found that the rear wheel was wobbly. 

It was a sad and sorry moment. 

Tuesday we headed out to Canada Olympic Park where Hair Two

 

 

 

	Jumped
Rode Flat Logs
	Rode Bumpy Logs
Flew Off Logs
	And Jumped Some More

We had to rent him a bike because it turned out he had broken the axle on his in all that mud. 

He rode the skills park at the bottom for about an hour and then used his lift ticket to get up to the big trails/jumps. 

Thankfully mommies can’t see that bit.

After we repaired him………

        he crash landed the last jump of the day ……..

                        the road rash looks worse than it actually is .……………

 

He lived to ride the bike that Jack built Uncle Paul repaired another day.

Calgary: Yet Another Road Trip

The skinny verbose version.

My Big Sis went on a much needed respite retreat so I went to Calgary to visit The Grands whilst she was away.  Hair Two came with me…. fer company and fer to lift and carry.

 

We arrived on a Sunday and went directly to M&D’s for a visit. They were surprised and pleased to see us.  Mom couldn’t connect our labels at all but she knew us.  Hair Two received the first of many requests to cut his hair.  All of which he received with grace.

Mom wasn’t alone in her desire for him to have a more manly hair style.  Albertans, it seems…… from waiters to gas jockeys………..took him to be a girl. 

 

I can’t see it myself but whenever he spoke the (new) low tones of his voice raised eyebrows………….and erased all doubt!

 

For our first three days we stayed with the Anonymous’s Anonymousi Anonymouses of Sparx. A state in which they wish to remain so no photos.  Well just the one.

Hair Two fell in love with Sandy and she with him. Wedding Announcements To Follow

 

To the astonishment of Hair Two Sir Anonymous is possessed of a Wii. He can’t get over the idea of a grandfather who not only owns a gaming console but actually plays with it! He waxed said anonymous at baseball but got his comeuppance later in bowling.  Or maybe it was the other way around.  No matter…. they had fun.

(B&H -- thanks again for the great stay!!! Also to T&B for the next two days and Uncle Paul for the last night!)

On Wednesday I finally met Dad’s doc.  He said Dad seems to be settling better these last few weeks exhibiting less anxiety about Mom’s ‘brain cancer’.  He got out the chart to show me that Dad has been gaining weight slowly but steadily for months now.  Which the doc takes as a very good sign. 

I didn’t meet Mom’s doc but I did meet the head nurse, Natty who said she hasn’t had to see Mom for skin problems in weeks, another good sign.  Mom’s pressure leggings were on everyday we were there and she is taking her meds now quite willingly.

Dad complained a lot that he’s “gone stone deaf”.  They had syringed his ears on Monday already and Natty did it again on Wednesday.  There was some improvement but he does indeed seem quite hard of hearing.

Mind you Hair Two thinks some of the hearing loss is selective.  He noticed that Dad had a harder time hearing me if I was saying something he didn’t want to hear – like “no we’re not going out today” whereas “do you want chocolate?” was heard every time!

 Thursday we arrived to find Dad asleep… but dressed to go out.  We left him to nap and went to get Mom.

As I legged off down the hallway to get her I walked right past her………… and she called out; “Helen?”  It was the first and only time she used my name.  I felt like a million bucks!

We took her downstairs to sit in the sun in the courtyard.  We sat in the sun for almost an hour until I began to worry she’d get a sunburn.  When Dad awoke we took him out to mall for a haircut.  We got him home just in time for dinner so we left the two of them to talk about their day.

On Friday we took them both down to the courtyard.  We enjoyed the sun, the squirrels and the birds for almost 2 hours in the shade provided by the gazebo.  After which we took them upstairs for supper.  We left them to it and went to get some sweet treats.  Hair Two chose two sorts of cake and we returned with those.  They loved the special cakes.  We finally left around 7:30.  On the way out we met another friend on his way in……..with a challah to share with M&D for Shabbos.

On Saturday we kept the visit short because we were leaving, spending most of it with Mom.  Dad wasn’t up yet and didn’t want to know.  He hates goodbyes.

Me too.

Positively Dizzifying

Hair One graduated from Class 8 at our Waldorf School on Friday last.

His final class trip hurrah with the class was a sailing trip aboard

The Adventuress

One of the opportunities offered to the kids was the chance to do this:

 

Character building stuff that!

NOT!

It's not broken!

Wooohooo.

The second xray showed no signs of healing....which means it wasn't broken.
The hindsight diagnosis is that it was a severe sprain.  The treatment for a such a sprain is 10 days in a splint!

Hair Two would never have left it in a splint for 10 whole days if it were not for the 'it might be broken' card I got to play every time he begged to take it off.

So all is Shakespearean here................

Are We Having Fun Yet?

Not so much..…

My dad who lives in an old age home is throwing wobblies. He thinks my sister & I have been withholding information about our mother having ‘brain cancer’.

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She has dementia. 

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So does he. 

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I haven’t managed a conversation with my mom since Mother’s day – when she didn’t know who I was.

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My sister has been too ill herself to visit them, making it all worse

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Still fundraising like mad for Hair One’s class trip, yearbook, grad etc etc not to mention helping with the planning and doing of those events.

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Just taken over the treasurer position for Hair Two’s class.  More fundraising & planning.

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Planning for Hair One’s 15th b’day tomorrow and our first teen party on Saturday (yikes!)

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Still unemployed but who has time to work!

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and then there’s Hair Two’s broken wrist.

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Or maybe not. X-ray’s were inconclusive. The bones don’t show a break but the growth plate is suspiciously sensitive. Apparently fractures to the growth plate sometimes do not show at first. So it’s splinted for the next 10 days and the next x-ray will tell us. So the doctor says.

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His fingers are lovely (very) pale lavender – though that could be less about bruising than how still he is holding them.

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And yes just in case you are counting - because Lord knows I am -- this would be my fourth trip to the ER in just over a year and the second time for the same wrist!

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If you have ‘happy families’ story to tell I could sure use one right now!  Leave me a comment.

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Blessing & Good Cheer

Helen + ilana = Hi

Who is trying to ignore the slightly sore sensation in her nose and throat because……….meh!

Weekly Poxification 2

Left at The Minx’s door:
ranea  - the collective name for all the female aliens loved by James T.

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Sparx’ing more memories

moist - which is what my eyes were as memories of long nights spent bathing my boys in oatmeal and long days spent getting the resulting porridge out of the tub passed through my thoughts!

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Mom de Plume is talkin’ kid talk
tzationf - on the green line of the MTA

If it's 11 this must be Kansas........NOT