Catch up post

It seems like so long since I wrote in this blog and that so much has happened that catching up is impossible, but I see that my last post was Nov 3 and this is only the 28th, so it hasn't even been a month. Wow.

At the end of October we went curling at the local skating rink. We had a lot of fun. Not something to do on ar regular basis I'm afraid, my knee hasn't been the same since.

Squinting at the skip

We also have been doing a ton of fieldwork, went to to three different Frances performances in Sacramento, and had a computer fail. And the chain on my bike fail.
Slowly putting things back in order now.

Gulf Fritillary and Warm Weather

I was enchanted to see this Gulf Fritillary on my zinnias when I got back from Wisconsin!  I'd never seen one before, but I recognized it right away as being in Common Butterflies of California by Bob Stewart.  I think one of my neighbors has a passion flower vine.  We had a nice week of warm (80F) weather for the week after we got back.  It was just like summer!

Oct trip to Wisconsin

Arch 0, Ambulence 1

We arrived Wednesday in time for dinner, since Mom and Dad ordered Chinese in Minoqua and we picked it up on our way through. Early Thursday we were awakened by Dad on the phone to 911. Mother couldn't catch her breath. Mom was hospitalized until Sunday afternoon, when she was finally able to bust out. Needless to say I spent a lot of time at the hospital, including Saturday night in a nice comfy hospital bed they brought in for me.

Plenty of seasonal chores

Ted did most of the raking by himself the first day while I was at the hospital, but I was able to contribute on a couple of the other days. Eric arrived Saturday evening, stopping off at the hospital on his way through while I was there. Ted brought me dinner and he and I ate with Grandma.

Liz and Grand-dad enjoy the view

The lake was beautiful as always, and I really enjoyed getting up each morning and seeing what it was up to. 

The tamaracks and poplars were at peak color.

Ted and I got a couple of walks in on the local nature trails even with all the hospital time.

Eric finds the walleyes.

And I am happy to say that Eric got in some fishing too.  Unfortunately Grand-dad had a return of the amiodarone lung poisoning while Grandma was hospitalized, finally going to the emergency room at 3.30 in the morning on Wednesday (the day we left).  Ted and I stopped in at the hospital on our way back to Minneapolis. Grand-dad was released Thursday or Friday.
The parents, with Eric's help, moved back to P.E. on Oct 30.  Eric will stay till Nov 4, and Sue and Al plan to come for the weekend.