All Things Fairy

When we left school for three weeks that second week of February, I didn't think much about what might happen in summer, thought this would all be over.  Oh my.  Then when summer came, I still was completely unsure about how to handle Playdate.  What I did know was that mentally, spending every summer day with nothing to look forward to and seeing no one was just not going to work for my mental health.  I also know my gramerlings are not going to slow down growing up and I didn't want to take one more thing from them.   So, praying and hoping, we started, having the little people stay outside, not that it bothers them, and making sure no one was sharing drinks and lots of dial soap by the water hose.  The hardest of course, no hugging or sitting on laps. Of course, no one would come if displaying any symptoms or having been out of town recently.  Those that came's number one place to hang out is the library and it is still closed to foot traffic, so none of us get around much.

And today was the Fairy Ball.

It was a very big fun time.  A friend is interested in what we do, so this post is is very picture heavy. If you click on a picture it will make them bigger.


Aunt Tish and I started on Sunday with molding rose mints and white chocolate bugs.

 These clear rocks were glittered up and made into rings.  Wearing the rings, opened up all the possibilities of the day.

 Sparkly rocks are just fun.

 Look at what a great group of terrific listeners as instructions were given for making glow in the dark  tiny jars, some made into necklaces, fairy alarms, and fairy houses.

 Aunt Tish is sporting a beautiful fresh from her garden flower crown.

The funniest activity of all was making Scary WooHoo's.  A WooHoo is a critter that irritates fairies.  Like Scare Crows, these sticks are to plant in the woods to scare away the WooHoo's and keep our fairy folk happy. 

I knew Gwen could use the clay and supplies in a fascinating way.  She did not disappoint.

 I don't think we have to worry about any WooHoos in these parts.

 And we have lots of alarms to notify us of fairy visits.

Always, a story, a sweet summertime and root children story by the lead fairies.

Lots of adorable fairy houses. 

And all the handsome and beautiful fairies  for the requisite  Gramerly group picture.

Well, Ol' Henry has no interest in Fairy Balls, but he's become quite a tree herder and I had some saplings on the hill he was interested in.  I told him to move them closer to me so I could take care of them and he could move them when he was ready.  Then he helped herd the boys in the creek.

 After all the fairy projects a snack and a story, they were off for the last creek date.
When they returned, the snack had worn off and the fancy fairy food was  ready.



There were lots of oohs and aww.  It was quite a spread.

Caprese in the shape of mushrooms .

 Benedictine sandwiches and hot buttery ham and provolone.

 Mints, berry fruit chews and toffee bars.

 Molded chocolates and cheese mushrooms.

 Raspberry and marshmallow mushrooms.  Lady Bug cheese and birdseed salad.

 Twigs (pretzels) nuts, Salted Pecan Caramel dip with bear and bee hive crackers.

 Cutest small plates.

Hedgehogs, bears, marshmallows. 

 The table items were the work of many hands and it was not only beautiful, but delicious.
The humidity wasn't unbearable  today and I'm thankful we got to have another summer of Playdates.  Now it will take me a week to get all this put away, while getting my room ready for what?  Who knows.

In Uncle Jimi news, he is in his second week of rehab.  This situation of keeping the ammonia out of his system will be quite a burden to bear.  I pray he can get himself and his meds on a good schedule and have some good days.  We all contributed to making him a Playdate tie dye shirt and bandana. I think that will make him happy and I also saved him a few fun treats.  He's always appreciated detail as much as me.

Life in the Time of Corona

Remembering and reflecting on this day and this week.
Listening to my favorite remembering song where David is concerned.
(see what you lost when you left this world).
Struggling with all that is happening in my world, our world.  Wondering, now that the virus is again on the rise if we'll be returning to school on schedule.  Wondering how you know what is the right thing.  I know how I feel, being separated from so many things that anchored me on one hand and gave me a lot of joy on the other.  I'm planner and not much planning to do.  The plans I did have, having lots of outside dining hasn't really worked out in this oppressive, non-ending 90 degree weather.
Praying for discernment.
The little ones go on with their joy in life and when I can, I just try and follow that joy.

It was Science Playdate and we sweated and experimented.  I keep trying each new kind of Gak and into this we put tiny styrofoam balls. Rae and I both have a fondness for this stuff, so you can see her making hers behind Buttercup.

 Hmmm, not sure what he thinks about this.

 Next was lava lamps, so cool when the color from the bottom comes bubbling up.   The first time it happened in Mr. Smiley's bottle he squealed and then his laughter seemed to bubble up and down with the colored water.  Those reactions are the reason I do this.

During the winter, my kiddos and their kiddos like a fried turkey now and again, but what to do with all that oil?  This was a great use for it.

I

I hadn't done this experiment before, putting drops of paint into a plate of glue to make a suncatcher.  This was supposed to be an example of slow diffusion, as opposed to the fast diffusion that happens in water.  It did diffuse more as it has dried, but is sure taking its sweet time in this humidity. 

 Oh, the love of something that explodes.  Baking soda bombs.

I had sort of hoped that I might have experienced all the painful, crazy summers, you know like that had been checked off of some list somewhere.  

The summer of losing Glenda and the clearing out of Mom's house.

The summer of losing David.

The summer of not knowing if Handy Man's surgery would be a success, the surgery, still coming home on a life vest.

But I guess not. This summer will join ranks with those.  People you love and people you don't doing strange, unexpected things. All the anger, all the unknowing, all the sorrow, all the fear.

Lord help and thank you for each joy!

An Update for the Man with Nine Lives

Well, Uncle Jimi is showing some improvement.
 I have a tendency to want to lay down all the details, because once you are part of medical crisis, where hours become days and days weeks and now weeks months, it is hard to keep it all straight.
At the same time,  I fight to protect the dignity of a very private person, who's dignity has been stripped six ways from Sunday through this  situation.
Also, I would like to think that it might help educate someone to be armed with more information than I have been, should you ever have to walk such a road.
I too, want to keep the people who really want to know and understand up to date. Thank you to those that do.  I have long since found that folks fall off one at time as illnesses drag on to the point of someone you thought was a friend, not so much as feigning interest in what is happening in my world.  I know, it isn't fun, or pretty, or entertaining, or anything but sad.
For those that are still walking along side, I don't want them to be in the dark.
So, what I did not need told to me, the doctor remarked this morning, "At the end of day, what we're dealing with is two failed organs."  Yes sir, I know, but if it is a day or a week or a month or year, I will fight for some joy in those days for him.
So this isn't a post of Gramerly fairy magic and cuteness, just saying.
Five weeks ago he had a procedure that stopped the bleeding. The name is TIPS, but in a nutshell, it lets the blood go on through the liver instead of backing up into the stomach. The awful bleeding out stopped almost immediately and they sent him home with a new med and said he'd be good as gold.
So hurrah, right?  Wrong.  The liver no longer filters ammonia, which will go straight to your brain and make you "a little confused."  Whoever coined that phrase has clearly never had a high ammonia level.  Okay, no problem, take the Laculose (aka-laxative) and go to the bathroom all the time.  Oh, what about the four hours you are in a chair having dialysis?  Nothing mentioned about that.
When Jimi came home after the first six week stint, he was faithful to do everything asked and was in fact, mowing the lawn and managing well when the bleeding started again and one hospitalization after another, the last one being ten days.  During this time they did no physical therapy, didn't get him up and moving and I was not allowed to be there at all.  As an aside, that was probably the happiest days in the lives of people who don't have deal with me when care is inadequate.

Since the TIPS procedure, he has gone straight down hill.
Each time I picked him up from dialysis he was diminished.  On Tuesday I got a call that dialysis couldn't be completed because he was too "squirrely" I knew we were going down a bad road when they had to help him to the car, then home where he fell in the bathroom.
I was to pick him up to Wednesday for his regular doc appt. In the best of times my goal will always be to keep someone at home if you can, but during this pandemic, even more.  I had hoped I could get him to the doc and get a better plan worked out.
He was in bed and  only able to say, "Yea, " to me. Couldn't respond physically to any request, practically catatonic.  I had to call an ambulance.
They would not let me go back with him, even though he couldn't say or do anything.  Then it was four hours before I even found out what was going on.
 Ammonia should be 16 to  60, his was 150 along with  a chaser of a raging UTI.
Finally they get him in his room. He could not even scratch his own nose.  Pitiful.  So I stay for several hours and something appears to be working because he is responding more and more to me. I tell them it has been 24 hours since he's had anything to eat or drink, can I give him water or ice chips.  They tell me no, he has to have a swallow evaluation.  How many times have I been through this.  The kitchen people walk in immediately after this to get his meal. I told them to bring me oatmeal and an Italian ice, which I fed him, and he swallowed fine.  I pleaded with the aide and nurse to please offer him ice chips through the night.
I was there before they ( night shift team) left the next morning, as soon as they would let me in with coffee and more oatmeal and was devastated to learn that he wouldn't respond to anyone or accept a drink.  What?
The doc ordered an ng tube to get the Laculose in and something else to get it back out.  I asked if the doc was still on the floor and he was and came back in.  I asked could I try and he said, "Help yourself."  Jimi was totally responsive to me, ate the food, drank the coffee and took all of his meds and was answering in complete sentences, got up with help with from me and went to the bathroom and walked back out.
So, deep breath, okay, we're moving the right direction.  He gets dialysis and so I can imagine that Friday is going to be a much better day for him.
Wrong. I walk in Friday morning and he doesn't know who I am.  What in the world? After assuring me that the Lactulose would do the trick, ammonia was up.
Well, I guess they gave a confused man an antibiotic that causes confusion.  Two steps forward, three back.
The hospital is understaffed, one LPN to six patients and I believe the aide said she had eleven patients.  So, he again can't make a coherent sentence, scratch his on nose, ask for or hold a drink cup or press the nurse button while Lactulose is literally being poured down his throat and doing its job. I needed to be at school for an in-service, so Tish and Jake and Jordan played tag and he was pitiful all day.
By yesterday morning, he was again very responsive to me, still unable to feed himself, but start to get the hang of getting himself a drink.
The miscommunication never fails to floor me.  I very kindly expressed to his general doc today that the  GI docs were remiss in working with Jimi and the dialysis team to educate all the players.  Dialysis folks told Jimi to severely limit all fluids, and never told him different after the TIPS.  Do you know what Laculose does?  Pulls water from the body to the intestines.  He needed more, not less fluids, lots more.  So dehydration, ammonia, UTI, antibiotic and he is sent back to square one.
As you might guess, as the confusion clears, the reality of not being able to get out of bed when you are being pumped full of Laculose becomes a very real and awful problem.  So me back to begging the nursing staff to get him up on a schedule to give him the chance to do what needs to be done.  If you haven't seen him in long while, he is just about half the size he was. Skin and bones which makes what is happening very challenging for his skin.
And all this doesn't do the awfulness of this situation justice.
So, the goal, get everyone on board and get Jacob and I some more help.  Get the UTI gone, the ammonia down and move him to rehab.  My son-in-law has kindly offered to get on board to help with getting the medications in a timely manner and a schedule that offers the best help for Jimi getting what he needs.
I told Jimi that I so get wanting to be independent, but his meds are a slippery slope and when everything is working correctly together he is more than capable of managing himself, but when the ammonia starts its incline, his ability to manage starts to decline, which is what landed us in this awful place.
So that's the  essence of this hospital stay.
I really am not sure what to pray for anymore. Just mercy.

Update- Jimi was finally able to drink enough to get the laculose going to return to clearer thinking. They have moved him to rehab where he can only have one visitor a day.  I finally understand how everything fell apart for him.  Just another familiar case of one doc not bothering to talk to another when things conflict. Hopefully we can keep this from happening again.

Warm and Wooly

So after last week's washing, we carded our wool today and learned a bit about wool felting. This warm, humid weather isn't the best time for wool I guess, but they all seemed to enjoy it.
While some were hearing a story, others were working with the wool they carded.

 We had felted bunnies, penguins, bumble bees and even a flag.

Bugg's lilly bloomed this week.  I planted a bed of these as she and I enjoyed all things garden and flowers for a time and that is her actual name. Looks like she'll miss the blooming this year. 

 I have no idea where this seed pod came from but I love this picture.

 So happy to see this phlox about to bust out.  I don't have good luck with them.  This a return one, so that is lovely.

 I usually buy bushes on clearance, but this beauty caught my eye and I grabbed her up. She does not disappoint. Makes me happy every time I see her.

Numerous times I have tried and failed to grow any kind of poppy.  When I visited Tasha Tudor's garden I saw exactly one poppy seed pod. I asked if I could have it and they were happy to let me.  

From that two little starts came forth and then finally, it bloomed. 

Color me excited as I could be. 

If you heard a squeal coming from this direction, it was probably me.  I think it looks quite Seussical.  

She turned her face to sun as the morning went on, then straight up.  I hope she will self seed. 

Uncle Jimi is really having a kind of awful time of it.  I feel so brokenhearted for him.  That procedure that saved his life, hasn't given him much of a life.  He is struggling.  I would appreciate prayers for healing for him and wisdom for us to know how to best get him on a right road.