Swine Flu, Halloween, and Charlie

Pete and I have been down and out with swine flu (H1N1) all week. Luckily, we didn't have any of the intestinal symptoms. It was all in our heads. Haha. It hit me hard a week ago Friday, then Pete's symptoms started on Sunday. He coughs a lot on a good day, so we didn't realize he was sick until he got a fever. Unfortunately for me, I ended up with an ear infection, and after 4 days of antibiotic, I still feel like I'm under water. And I hate being under water.

Julia hopes to stay healthy long enough to get her vaccination in school on Monday. Bill has been working long hours, which is keeping him away from our germs. Pete and I are on the mend, and I plan to get out of the house today for some sunshine and vitamin D.

To recap the past week, Halloween is huge in our neighborhood. 100 houses, close together, means kids from all over town come here to trick-or-treat. I buy enough candy for 400 kids. We think there were fewer than that this year, maybe 200-300. Julia's friend Genevieve came over to help Julia and Josh pass out candy, and she was shocked by the swarms of trick-or-treaters.


You can see our pumpkins on the porch. Not our best effort. Julia planned to carve Cinderella's coach, and Pete used the Woodstock logo to celebrate the 40th anniversary. We've never done any scraping, and we didn't have the right tools, but they made a good effort. Josh gutted my pumpkin for me (thank you!), but I didn't have the energy for my usual elaborate carving. So I asked Bill for the electric drill and the biggest drill bits we own. Using power tools on a pumpkin is a blast! The flesh was flying!


This was my view of the world from the couch late Thursday afternoon. The light was eerily beautiful, which was hard to capture with our point and shoot camera.


Pete went out on the porch to take this one. I like the way the flag looks translucent. As he came back in he took a deep breath of fresh air. After being cooped up, it's the little things that matter most.


Today is the day my mother will have to bid farewell to her beloved Charlie. Her apartment will seem so empty without him. She has been so funny with this bunny. She brought him to her exercise class at the senior center last week to sell raffle tickets, and just happened to run into a couple of reporters from the small local newspaper. She said, "Have you met Charlie?" Here they are, ON THE FRONT PAGE!


Take a deep breath of fresh air today!

End of Summer Weekend

Summer is unofficially over. So sad.
We tried to squeeze in some fun to enjoy the long Labor Day weekend.

Bill and I worked on a Craig family block for the Union College 215th Anniversary quilt. The maker hopes to bring together family histories to demonstrate the diversity of the College. Union itself is a huge part of Bill's family history, so the Nott Memorial is pictured in the background of the block. (I used bubble jet set to prepare the fabric and printed directly on it) His father was in the class of 1945, and returned after graduate school to teach there for 35 years. Bill and 2 of his siblings are also alumni. In 1979-80, Ed was a visiting professor at the University of Liberia. Bill attended 8th grade at the American school in Monrovia, where his best friend was the US ambassador's son. Bill and his mother fled the country after the first coup in 1980. Ed remained to finish the term. The Liberian people have held a special place in their hearts, so the quilt block is bordered with African fabrics. Bill and I are happy with the final product and happy that it is done and will be on its way to Schenectady today.

Meet Charlie, my mother's rabbit.
Let me explain. My mother lives in a low-income apartment building for senior citizens. There aren't many "extras," so the Tenant's Association, of which she is the President, tries to raise funds to provide services and entertainment. They have a craft club that meets weekly to make items for their annual bazaar.
One of the ladies received this magazine, probably in February, and encouraged my mother to crochet the bunny on the cover to be raffled at their bazaar. She accepted the challenge, assembled some yarn and started hooking. We knew we were in for trouble when we saw the size of one leg. She persisted, and a bunny started to take shape. Oh My! We can't stop singing the Veggie Tales Bunny Song.

She propped him up in my father's chair and named him Charlie. Wow. We're going to work on his facial features and getting his head sewn on right. (She wouldn't listen to me when I repeatedly told her how, instead she let her friends lead her astray. Kids- I mean Parents- just won't listen!)

We took one last trip to the beach.

I love the late afternoon light.

It seems like lobsters were everywhere this week. We realized Julia and Pete have never had one, so we took advantage of one of the many local restaurants lobster specials. Pete just had fun playing with his. Neither kid particularly liked the taste. The price was right for such an experiment. Now they know.

This was the view from our table.

And the sun went down on another summer.