Buckwheat Festival For Me!

 I go to the Buckwheat Festival every year, we eat the pancakes, look a the arts and crafts, peek at the animals and eat crap. It's a quiet life, but it's mine. I haven't been to Preston County in a long time- the leaves are just starting to turn and it's so beautiful, we really did enjoy the ride. We've never done the festival on Sunday - it was OK. We got to the pancake breakfast at the firehouse right before everyone started showing up. They're well prepared though - most of the local high school kids are cleaning the tables, running for coffee, etc and I don't think we've ever not been able to find a spot. It's all a bit pricey but supports the fire station and David eats all the sausage he can - there is an advantage to eating with the vegetarian. After we looked at the Arts and Crafts - I didn't have time to enter anything but will make it next year. I bought a t-shirt, couldn't buy the ramp wine though because of the blue laws and I was not waiting til after one. I was glad we'd brought some cash with us, a lot of these vendors don't take debit cards which in this day and age, does make you look twice. The barns weren't open so there was no sheep-peeping for me so off we went - next year we will go on Saturday like we usually do. On the way back we stopped at an interesting graveyard with a fountain that I took pictures of, then I had David drive around to where I saw some statues for picture taking. I thought it looked a little odd - they were detailed,lovely religious - plastic junk!! I couldn't believe it! I had David stop at the one by the mausoleum which I went tappy on it's head - plastic! There was a big one behind the building which I took a picture of and then patted it - how strange it felt. I gave it a few good  raps on the head and it  made a funny bonking noise -  however before I did that it would have been a good idea to turn and around to make sure there wasn't an entire family standing behind the glass wall in the mausoleum watching me whack away at the angel....... good thing my wheel man had the engine running! We must  have  laughed halfway through Preston county about that one. I stopped at the farm stand on route 7, when I was a visit nurse I was a frequent shopper there. It not only has fresh vegetables and fruit, but also a large selection of grains, spices, dried fruit, etc... and all reasonably priced. I got vital wheat gluten, flax meal, whole wheat flour, turmeric, sea salt, etc... I then noticed a sign that they didn't take debit cards - only checks or cash - so I had to run outside and borrow a five from the wheel man which left us with about $1.73 to come home with. I unloaded the car while David prepared the house for Reuben's release from the kennel box. It does not matter if he's in there 5 minutes or 5 hours, when he sees me he stops and pees. So - we prop the back door open, open the kennel and then run helter skelter  out the back door yelling  Come On Reuben!! Anything to save the carpet!

Well, That Was Interesting.

I took 3 days off from work to regroup - I planned on just doing not much at all. I sent David to see Ray for a couple of days - since I was off it works out well with the dogs and not having to worry about them. Thursday and Friday were fine - I was just out and about, doing this and that. I cooked on Thursday - I'm getting really good at making seiten and make it once every couple of weeks. It's much better then store bought and much cheaper. Anyhoo - I woke up this morning about 3:15 in the most severe pain I've ever been in. I laid there quietly, thinking it would pass - but it just got worse. I managed to get to the bathroom and just started vomiting, 10 15 times - I lost count. It was just horrible, I couldn't straighten up, moving led to more vomiting which increased my pain. The dogs administered First Aid by waiting for their breakfast - they are not very good at these things but once they peed and ate, they were fine. I was not. I called David in NJ- then I called an ambulance since I wasn't sure I'd be able to drive. I've never been in ambulance - the crew was nice but the ride was not that great, every bump sent me over the edge. At the ER I answered and signed - then got some diludid through an IV - at that point I would have given anything to make the pain go away - even my yarn stash. Well, maybe not all of it. A lot of it. They did a battery of tests - and nothing. They could not find the cause. I have gallstones but no evidence of a problem, my appendix is fine, labs were fine. By this time either what was going on had passed or the medication was working well, so it was time to go home. I had called our neighbors Jim and Robin earlier and they  are the neighbors we should all have - Jim went over and ran the dogs, Robin sent a coat and shoes for me to come home in and Jim picked me up and drove me home. David got back around noon, I felt bad because he wasn't supposed to come home til tomorrow but I'm glad he's here. And I' m hoping THAT will not happen again.

No Fair.

 For some reason the other day I started thinking about a party one of the kids had gone to when they were little. I can't remember what kind of party - school, birthday, who knows. But the image that stuck with me was  when the grab bags were handed out at the end - and all the party goers surrounded the person with the basket of goodies with one hand open stuck straight in the air, waiting for their gift to be laid on their palm. I guess it made an impression because I kept thinking how much it looked like small, bobbing starfish, all those hands. The hands closed as the gifts were distributed and the child left the circle - party over. It made me wonder when in life the rules change. When someone lets you in on the secret that life is not fair, distribution is not even. Sometimes things happen that you don't deserve and there is no retribution, no replacement, no even playing field. And when did I stop trying to make things fair for everyone? When I was cupcake mom I got a head count - and then would make enough extra the staff loved me. I was so afraid one kid would be left out and I would be responsible for ruining that little life, envisioning how my child would feel if it was one cupcake short, sitting at a cupcake-less desk while everyone had one. So I made tons extra, enough for the teacher, the aide, anyone passing in the hall got a cupcake. And my kids got as good as I gave - never shorted, everything fair and even. But at some point in our life, we get hit with an unfair situation and that's it for that  - that we need to suck it up and be mature about it, take it like a man. That there's nothing we can about it, that's the way it is. On and on. But when does that happen? And why does it happen? What happened to the hall monitor for crying out loud? I guess it doesn't matter or change anything really - it's annoying and upsetting until the next unfair thing happens. I want my cupcake rules back.

West Virginia Fiber Festival.

 We went to the West Virginia Fiber Festival on Sunday - Saturday it rained like no body's business so there was a delay. It was held in Reedsville WV which is about 40 miles from where all the popular people live, but it was a beautiful day and perfect for a drive through rural WV. It was a very very teeny sort of fair and the yarn was all very handmade. Not that  it's a bad thing but the sock yarn I was thinking of buying was a bit  scratchy feeling and if it's a bit scratchy when it's in my hand - it's going to be very uncomfortable once your feet get a little warm and sweaty. So no. A lot of it was just too thick and bumpy - my sweater making skills are marginal at best and that yarn was just screaming Quasimodo for any future recipient. The only yarn I did see was a beautiful rich scarlet alpaca - $23 a skein and barely enough for one sock. I understand it was a blue ribbon winner but no one's going to care what I have going on under my boots. So I bought a key chain and a tee-shirt, if you can't buy yarn you can buy something that states you were near yarn. It's like standing next to Madonna - it's not as good as BEING Madonna but it will do. So we headed back home so I could return to Lording Over The Watermelons, did I tell you I counted thirty six? All mine. Most are very tiny, actually so far I have produced one edible and two with the potential to be eaten. The deer completely finished vandalizing the corn stalks and someone else ate what little wax beans I was able to produce. The sunflowers are going to seed - I grab a handful when I'm outside and parading around my rows. In other news I am finally done with the 5th repeat of chart #1 - I thought that would never happen. Now I am on to chart #2 and I'm a little nervous about it - what if I screw up chart #2? What if I never get to see chart #3? What if I repeated chart #1 FOR NOTHING? Well, quite frankly I just might drop dead. I might. I could. Could too. Shut up. So tonight I am doing the last purl row and will start chart #2.  Cross your fingers.

No Bullet Was Dodged This Week.

 Well, that was a bit of a surprise. Since I've been the Medical Near Miss for years I went into my repeat appointment at the eye doctor's expecting the usual that I don't have it. Surprise! I do indeed at the grand age of 51 have glaucoma. Both eyes. Yay me. Not so bad though - because it was caught so early there is absolutely no damage to either eye.  It's actually so much a non-issue at this point they're not even going to start treatments. I just have to go see Dr. Fenghali every 3 months for now and then less then that depending on how it goes. A friend of mine told me she was diagnosed almost 25 years ago and she still has no treatments. So - it's a good argument against buying cheater eyeglasses at the drugstore, isn't it? In other news I think the zucchini has slowed down - the neighbor took ONE and that was only after I bellowed over the property line GOOD NEIGHBORS EAT ZUCCHINI. The watermelon patch will be the next produce explosion - i live in fear and will leave it at that. I did get one good sized one so far and it went to the neighbor that is always giving me truckloads just to prove I  Can Too. I also sent over the stripy thing I grew but I don't know what it is. My neighbor Jim asked how I tell when the watermelons are ripe - I told him I give them to the neighbors and let them deal with it. He laughed and then refused anymore produce. The sunflowers are another issue entirely - they're huge hulking things and have approached nightmarish proportions. I have no idea what I'm supposed to do with them. At all. Any advice would be appreciated. This gardening is an awful dicey endeavor, isn't it? I put a picture up of Vincent - he gained back most of the weight and is back to stalking around the yard and mixing it up with the cats next door. The spider  was over the door and I was growing it to epic proportions but David smacked it with a shovel and said cut it out. He feels it would just end up badly on my end eventually - and the skunk was back too. You would think I would stay in more, wouldn't you?