weekending

this weekend has played out quite nicely.  on Friday morning I drove through a bit of freezing rain and slushy snow out to visit my mom in the hospital~  Claire came along this time and so she got to see her great grandparents for a little while, and peek in to say hi to her 'beeba'.  I visited with my mom for a bit and watched happily as she drank nearly the entire quart of homemade bone broth I brought for her.  she seemed stronger.  still tired, still very weak, still needing supplemental oxygen, (still in the critical/intensive care unit), but stronger all the same.

we took our time getting going on Saturday morning.  it had been a long week, we are taking a brief break from ballet, and it was so nice to not have to get up and go.  after a bit we headed to a birthday party for one of Claire's buddies, at the NC Arboretum.  afterwards, it was downtown to meet up with another little friend for some treats at the double decker coffee bus.  a place I've of course seen for years, but never actually patronized.  silly me.  I had my first iced (decaf) coffee of the year.

walking back to the car, we stopped to 'ride the pig' and walk around the park a bit.  it was a beautiful, beautiful day.  made even more so by the information that my mom was moved into a 'step-down' room on the critical care floor.

(this purple dress-up dress has been working nonstop for the last week or so, off only briefly to be washed and dried after yesterday's tromping through the woods/smoothie drinking/yogurt eating adventures. it is starting to literally fall apart she wears it so much. goes well with her bonnet, don't you think?)

home again.  delicious bowls of quinoa + beans + veggies + salsa + yogurt + a fried egg on top for dinner.  my favorite kind of food, truly.  I snuggled under my new quilt (thanks, Cory! it is perfect.) and worked on finishing Claire's scarf.  she may get to use it for a day or two this year, we'll see.  I got Claire down to sleep and had grand plans of watching a couple episodes of Call the Midwife, or something.  instead, as I've been doing a lot lately, I fell asleep with her.

the onion/leek/shallot count is up in the low eighties now.  so about half of the seeds have sprouted.  we are keeping a little chart, counting them morning and night.  I'm thinking a lot about getting some seeds in the ground, but haven't done so yet.  soon.

pancakes, Florida strawberries and smoothies for breakfast this morning and then another first for the year~ laundry on the line.  the shadows always remind me of prayer flags.  the rest of the day has been a mixed bag of cleaning the chicken coop, sitting in the sunshine with my neighbor while we watched our kids play, tying up a few blogger swap loose ends (still waiting for the final half dozen or so packages to be received), reading through the manual for my sewing machine (baby steps), and learning that my mom is now officially off of the critical/intensive care floor and in a regular room.

thank goodness for that.

*weekending with amanda