Among those Who Love Fishing

Two weekends ago (yeah, I'm a little behind on my posting) Zip and his brother Gary and wife Linda and I went to the opening of a small flyfishing museum that's located in one of the lodges at Allenberry Playhouse in Boiling Springs, PA.

Several world-famous flyfishing streams wander through our valley, making it a destination spot for fishermen.   And it is also the home of many famous guides, instructors and fly tyers.  Donations from the estates of some of these people make up the majority of the collection.

Look, all ye stashers of yarn and wool!  Flyfishermen have stashes, too.  A whole room!

Theirs consist of feathers and fur and silk thread.
This display is of materials and methods used in Colonial America.

When I show pictures of Zip sitting at his desk working, this is what he is producing.
Hundreds of tiny flies that he uses to catch trout.

I was most impressed by this woman who is a landscape and nature photographer.
Her shots of local scenes are just stunning.  I hope to visit her booth at the Carlisle Market sometime soon and do a more in depth post on her work.

Of course we had to visit the Boiling Spring.  All the water that flows in this famous trout stream comes bubbling up out of the ground from under that rock within this stone circle.

The fisherpeople scanning the water for trout.  Left to right, Linda, Gary and Zip.  And yes, they did see a few fish.

And mallard ducks.  These are two males who were trying to get the attention of a female who was hiding in some brush trying to avoid them.

The lovely swan.

Afterward we had dinner at the historic Boiling Springs Tavern. 

I had crab cakes and steamed veggies and a salad.  Delicious and Weight Watchers approved!

On the way back home we went past the farm that raises deer.  Why are those humans staring at me???

Last Monday I went to the Blue and Gray rughooking meeting.   This used to be a large group, but recently attendance has dwindled. 
I didn't take a lot of pictures because I was busy talking, as usual.  But I liked the antique look of this rug so much that I just had to have a picture.

I took a rug that need repair after some little character (Isabell!) pulled it out of the cupboard, threw it on the floor and laid on it.  In the process she managed to unravel it in several places.

Here is another little bundle of mischief, Millie.  She may look teeny-tiny and innocent.  Don't be fooled!  She is up there mangling my wool feather tree that  made in Joanne's class.

 

There is still competition for Mom's chair.  Or maybe it isn't really Mom's chair after all. 
It's all about CATS!

                                                         Isabell, Penny and Reggie
These guys just had their three year birthdays.  And they are still acting like a bunch of wild kittens.

As of this past Monday, the wound vac is OFF!  I still need to go to the hospital several times a week for a dressing change and leg wrap, but at least I don't have to lug that machine around any more.
The healing is almost complete.  Horay!
Who would think that such a stupid accident could cause such a mess?  Somehow I will have to be less clumsy in the future.   How the h--- am I gonna do that???

Light at the End of the Tunnel

My blogging has been less than faithful lately.
Nothing new seems to happen.
Last week was particularly bad, thinking that I'd be dragging this darned wound vac around forever.
And will spring EVER come???  Especially the last two days with snow flurries off and on and temps in the 30's.  Yuck!

The kitties don't seem to mind.
They just go about their lives, playing, eating, and sleeping.  Mostly sleeping.
In my chair....

On Zip's flytying desk....

And sometimes they are even good enough to share...

At the end of February I turned 66.
Instead of going out to eat, Brad and Kami brought the dinner makings to our house and cooked the birthday dinner.

It was a lovely meal of lemon and garlic marinated pork loin, asparagus (my favorite!), pureed cauliflower and a nice fresh salad.

We all enjoyed ourselves, even without birthday cake.
I requested fruit for dessert instead.

And yes, I'm still following my Weight Watchers food plan and have now lost 80 lbs.  Halfway to my goal!  I just wish I could get some exercise, but the doctors says not until the wound vac comes off.

On Monday he declared me ready for the skin graft.
This is what the wound looked like last week.  The funky colored skin is all the new growth.  To begin with the wound was about 1/4 inch deep.  It has now filled in up to the surface of my leg.

My leg looks wrinkled because over top of the dressing and the wound vac connection, they put several layers of gauze and elastic wrapping.

I took this picture yesterday after the graft has been on for three days.
The graft is already growing into the leg tissue.

The doctor will evaluate in two weeks and see if I need another layer of grafting.
I finally feel that the healing is moving along and that there is a light at the end of the tunnel.
These three-times-a-week wound clinic visits cramp my style!
Hopefully by the time the weather is warm, I'll be back to normal.

Then I will be ready to go to the thrift shops to get some new summer clothing.
Road trip, anyone???

 

 

It Gets Worse...

All seemed to be going well.

We had a birthday celebration for Kami at the Fairfield Inn near Gettysburg.  Brad was trying to think of an interesting place that we hadn't visited before.  He chose well!  It's a lovely historic building that had been an inn since colonial times.  During the Civil War it became a hospital for wounded Confederate soldiers.

Recently the people who own the Adams County Winery have purchased it and it is now both a restaurant and bed and breakfast.

Unfortunately halfway through our tour of the building my camera died.  Happily I was able to get pictures of the birthday girl and some of the food.

                                                                    Kami and Brad
I had a yummy salad with mandarin oranges and toasted walnuts (hold the walnuts!)
The crab cakes were delicious with large lumps of pure crab meat and very little filler. 
Since I no longer eat chips or french fries, the waitress was kind enough to include a lovely bowl of melon instead.  She received a generous tip for being so thoughtful.

Zip had fried oysters and the delicious homemade chips.

We both had enough left to take home for lunch the next day.

We loved the funky decorating style that included lovely antiques and quirky mementos.

I think Kami is checking for Civil War ghosts!

I hope to go back later this month for my birthday.

Several days later my leg began to hurt and what had been a hard black lump became a black squishy lump.  I went to the walk-in clinic and they immediately diagnosed infection and put me on antibiotics.  And made an appointment for the wound clinic the next morning.

The doctor opened the skin and took out some of the junk.  Ouchy!  He said that a scab should form over the area. When I went back later in the week a scab had formed but the leg was still red and warm.  So....they decided to remove the big scab.  Another Ouchy!  I was left with a 3-inch round and 1/4 inch deep red crater.  No pictures of that!!!  Way too gross!  And Ouchy!

Then came the packing and the wound vac.  This machine is a vacuum that drains off any excess fluid and keeps a negative pressure on the wound.  This is supposed to allow the wound to heal faster and from the inside out.  Then they applied the uni boot over the whole dressing.

I've been back for three removals and reapplications of the dressing and so far everything looks like it's healing well.  It will still be a long term thing.  Probably several months.

In the meantime I can be up and around for limited amounts of time.  Then I must sit down and elevate my leg to keep the swelling down.  Brad and Kami were kind enough to find me a nice used recliner so I'd be more comfortable.  So the assignment is to take my vitamins, eat lots of protein and take it easy.

Have a healthy breakfast every morning!
Nothing better than eggbeaters and rolls of deli ham filled with cheese.
And very Weight Watchers friendly!

Or an omelet with broccoli and cheese with homemade turkey meatballs.

I have been getting bored with all the sitting around.  I usually have kitties to talk to and pet.  Penny and Izzy rest on the desk next to my chair.

Deiter is usually laying on a pillow on my stomach.  He's my Comfort Cat!
So life is good!

Thank you, everyone, for your kind comments and get well wishes, both on my blog and through emails!  I certainly appreciate your support.

I will leave you with a picture of the latest in medi-chic fashion.

Take care!

It Ain't Pretty....!

But we'll get to that part later....

Along with the frigid weather, we got another three inches of snow yesterday.

The one positive thing I can say is that it makes for beautiful winter scenes.  As long as I can stay inside and be warm, I'm happy.

So far this winter I have not suffered from seasonal depression.  Credit is given to my changed eating habits.  What a great difference it makes to cut out most processed foods, sweets and junk!
I'm still following the Weight Watchers plan and have now lost 60+ pounds.

Since it's gotten cold, I've switched from the lovely green salads

to warm comforting foods.

All my meals are still heavy on the veggies, like this tomato, mushroom and spinach with a small amount of whole wheat pasta. 

It has been a very good winter for me.  I've been getting out and going to Weight Watchers meetings, a few rughooking gatherings, Zip and I have gone to Mechanicsburg to Wegmans and the huge Salvation Army thrift shop (lots of great bargains!) and bought ourselves a Wii.  Zip can spend all day playing the fishing games.  I'm not quite so thrilled with it as he is.  LOL!

In fact, I thought I was going to make it through the cold gray days without a problem,  UNTIL...the not so pretty part!

I fell. 
And made a very bad boo-boo on my leg, my ribs and my forearm.

I was rushing to the kitchen to take a casserole out of the oven.  I have to pass through he room Zip uses as his den with fly tying equipment, TV and guitars.  His desk is across from the woodstove and when he has it open and is sitting there playing the guitar, the passageway is rather narrow.  I was trying to get through and caught my foot on a piece of wood by the stove.  It flipped up and gave me a nasty crack on the leg.  I fell against the stove and ended up sitting in the woodpile.

All I could think of was the commercial on TV 'I've fallen and I can't get up!'  After a few minutes the pain seemed bearable enough that I could pull myself up on the woodbox.  I went into the bathroom and checked the leg and it looked so awful that I decided to go to the ER.  Zip drove me there.  They did x-rays and said nothing was cracked or broken.

Because my leg hurt so bad, I didn't even notice the pain in my ribs and wrist.  Later when I looked, I had bruises all down my left side.  I didn';t think I had burned myself on the stove, but when I looked closely at my arm, I realized that it was indeed burnt.

I won't show you the rib pictures!

Brad and Kami were really upset.  I hadn't called them until I came back home because I didn't want them to come to the hospital.  There were so many sick people in the waiting room who were coughing and sneezing that I was afraid B & K would be infected.

They came to the house the next day and decided to rearrange the room so that it would have a wider path for walking through.  And they did an excellent job!

My chair and the little desk are now across from the woodstove where Zip's flytying desk used to be.

Zip's desk is beside the stove so he can still be warm.  All the wood is back out of the way.

All Zip's books and tying equipment is neat and organized.  We can both see the TV from our favorite chairs.

Thank you, Brad and Kami!!!

I've been doing a lot of sitting around with my leg elevated, recovering with the help of kitties. 

Some knitting has been getting done.  I have to re-do the bottom of Mom's sweater.  I hope to get it finished so she can wear it this spring.
I will admit that I've been seduced into buying more yarn and a book of lovely patterns.  I'll show them in my next post.

Meanwhile, Isabel and I will be right here resting.

I love that calico fur!!!

Thanks for stopping by!

Merry Christmas!

We are having a white Christmas!
It started snowing a few hours ago and already the ground is covered in a blanket of white.

Zip and I and the Kitties wish all of you, dear Blogger friends, the best of everything on Christmas Day and throughout the New Year.
Peace and Happiness from our house to yours!

Day Out with Knitting at Large

What a great day!
Good friends, a great meeting place, lots of food and yarn!  Does it get any better than that???

Zip and I made the two-hour drive down to Brunswick, MD for the monthly Knitting at Large meeting.  Brunswick is a delightful little town along the Potomac River just east of Harpers Ferry.  We met in a historic church turned cafe called Beans in the Belfry.

 Talk about a cool funky place!
There were comfy sofas and chairs for reading and relaxing. 

A Christmas tree and a warm inviting fireplace.

Look at the lovely ceiling.

The sun was shining in through the stained glass windows throwing a golden light over us as we worked.

Brenda modeling her intricately knit shawl.

Nancy knit this heavily cabled child's sweater.  Isn't it amazing?

Julie knit this delightful cardigan in graduated shades of pink.

 

When I go to these meetings I'd rather talk than knit.  There's just too much interesting chatting going on to be able to concentrate.

Then there was the food!
It's all made from scratch, right there in the cafe.  Fresh and delicious, home-made goodness.

I had the cup of  chili with a corn muffin.  Zip had a breakfast croissant with egg, bacon and cheese.

And a lovely cup of latte for dessert!

After lunch we took a short walk down the street to the Two Rivers Yarn Shop.

They were having a spinning class with supported drop spindles.
With the participants in the class plus all of our group, it was very crowded in the small shop.  I was still able to get a few pictures of all the luscious yarn.

Well, ladies, it was an enjoyable day!  Hope to see all of you next month....

Thanks for stopping by.