Hanging in there!

Elbow-wise, things are slowly improving! I have doc appts. tomorrow and Wed. I'll know more after that about what lies ahead. Meanwhile I am doing things. Last night Ellen and I went to the Northern Roots Fest., a concert of traditional music. Great fun.

                              Finale of concert

Back home

We are home again. I have an appointment with an orthopedist next Wed. (Earliest I could get) and with my primary physician Mon. the 30th. So we'll be here at least 10 days. Then we'll see. 

Trip to the ER

Well, my elbow wasn't behaving the way I thought it should - weeping a lot of fluid for over two days, soaking through a lot of gauze bandages, so when we went to Sarah and Harry's this morning for breakfast, Harry looked at it and suggested I have an M.D. take a look at it (he himself is a DDS), and he suggested the Delaware County Memorial Hospital ER, where he had had a good experience when he badly cut his hand a while back, so off we went at about 11 am.  It ended up that we were there until 3pm.

                     ER waiting room at DCMH

They did a lot. The looked at the wound, determined that the fluid was coming from the bursa, which was ruptured.  They gave me a tetanus shot and  put me on antibiotic.  They X-rayed the elbow, saw something ambiguous and X-rayed the other elbow to make a comparison and detected a possible slight fracture in the left elbow and urged a follow-up appointment back home with an orthopedist, ASAP;  re-wrapped the elbow and sent me off with a CD of the X-rays to take home. They were all very nice and I was glad I went. Harry was very sweet, helped me in and out of shirts and jackets, brought me lunch in the ER, basically took care of me. Thank you Harry! 

Ellen and Sarah met Wallace for lunch, and this evening Ellen met her goddaughter, Ruth, for supper. Both meals at the Swarthmore Inn.  Ellen had a good time. I stayed home alone at Wallace's this evening, glad to just be quiet.

But now our trip out West  may have to be postponed. I'll call Dr. McLarney tomorrow and see if I can get an appt (she is hard to see on short notice). Postponing the trip will be a disappointment - not the scenario we would have chosen. But these things happen.

A hard fall is going to reign

Today is a day of preparation for a 3-week trip to Wyoming. I am moving slower than usual because last evening after our Brahms concert, I sat on a chair that was on the top riser,  and it was closer to the back edge than I realized and the chair, with me on it, tipped backward and crashed to the floor about 4 feet below. Amazingly, I didn't break anything, but I got a gash in my left elbow that I didn't even realize was there 'till I got home and discovered it. That is sore - and a hard spot to heal because it is constantly flexing. I ache in some other spots too. This is the third time I've fallen in two weeks, which is disturbing. Each has an "explanation," but still.....I wonder what's going on. Each was a fairly hard fall - I guess at my age, every fall is a hard fall - and in each case, I got bruised but nothing broken. Lucky!

So, I'll be dealing with the effects of these falls for a while - mainly just moving slowly because of aches and pains, and also being extra careful not to fall again. At least I can't fall while sitting in the car! I'll probably be taking Vitamin-I for a while  (Ibuprofan). 

The fall was the unfortunate end to a very good concert. We had a virtually sold- out house, and we sang well. The audience expressed a lot of appreciation, collectively and individually. Yesterday was actually quite a day. We went to church, then I sang two solos at a 1pm funeral service for an old-time Guilford resident who is related to half the people in town (the church was packed); then we went to the concert. On my feet for a lot of time, climaxing in a 70 minute non-stop performance - the Brahms Requiem is demanding in that way. There are no breaks for the chorus while  soloists sing - they sing with the chorus. That's why I sat on that chair! I was tired. Should have checked the position of the legs first!

Today has been a day of organizing, packing, preparing the house to be unoccupied. We turned in the "hold mail" request. Outstanding bills are paid. Zac has been notified. Etc. 

Getting ready for Brahms

Last night, we rehearsed for the Brahms Requiem for the first time with orchestra in our concert venue, the Latchis Theater. Our concerts are this weekend. Here we are gathering on the risers:

       On the risers for Brahms

The orchestra is arriving:

       Almost ready to rehearse!

Gingerbread houses

Sunday, Jan 8th, Mimi and Tamar came to the house in the afternoon to make gingerbread houses. We picked them up in Greenfield after church. Ellen had shopped for candy on Sat. and stayed up late making gingerbread. So all was in readiness. The girls had a lovely time. Both were quite creative in making and decorating the houses. Here are some scenes:

     Tamar making walls and roofs

               Tamar's walls

            Mimi applying icing

      A birds' eye view from the balcony

      Mimi's walls, with window boxes

Here are the completed houses:

         Tamar's, from the front ....

          ..... the side ......

      ..... and the back.

       The artist and her house!

          Mimi's from the front.

      The artist and her house! 

We had a little supper after all that work, took the girls back to Greenfield where we met Julie, then came home and cleaned up!! 

Three kings day

We came down to Katie and Savanna's for Epiphany, or what is called Three Kings Day in some cultures. Savanna had made a three kings cake with a bean buried in it - the one who gets the piece with the bean gets to wear the crown that comes with the cake. I didn't remember to take a picture of the cake but here is what it looks like:

      Three Kings cake

                       At table 

Ellen knitted Katie a wool vest for Christmas and Katie modeled it so I could get pictures:

     The beautiful vest 

               Back view 

Craft Day

We came to Katie and Savanna's to do crafts today. We made origami stars:

Window stars:

and origami boxes to decorate a string of lights:

Ellen is an origami fan par excellence:

We've had fun! And now pizza: 

The New Year!

New Year's Eve we went to our favorite concert of the year! The Peter and Mary Alice Amidon, Keith and Becky Tracy, their son Aiden, and Emmy Miller and Jessie Milnes. Lots of great fiddle playing, and four-part harmonies. It is an annual affair in the Baptist Church. A real Brattleboro family party. 

 Aiden, Becky Tracy and Keith Murphy. Keith is playing a harmonium. 

Becky, Emmy, Mary Alice, Peter, Jesse, Keith and Aiden. 

It was a great concert. And when we came out into the frosty night we were met with this lovely sight of Centre Church:

Afterward we went to a little New Year's Eve party at the home of Dan and Laura Hoskins. I used to sing with Laura in the Dummerston Church Quartet. We haven't seen them for ages. The other guests were not folks we knew. One of them had brought the latest game rage: Cards Against Humanity. It is a game in which you take turns drawing a card that asks a question and each person holds a hand of ten cards from which they select an answer. The one asking the question decides the "best" answer. The catch is that the cards are outrageously naughty and politically incorrect. So it was hilarious if you put aside all modesty. I'll spare you examples.

We stayed through the midnight hour, came home and went to bed. New Years Day was church and Dummerston Choir; John and Cynthia were there but C was feeling a bit under the weather. Our friend Calvin came home with us for lunch. Late in the day I took a poinsettia to Margery Evans, a 99- year old in Guilford. I hadn't seen Margery for years - we had a nice visit. The rest of the day was sitting by the fire listening to music.

Happy New Year to all!