Extreme Knitting Redhead: Sky 34 and a little visitor

Friday, September 23, 2011

Sky 34 and a little visitor

I'm still crocheting the edging on my blanket but not much more to do now.

I'm halfway round the second mesh then it will be another double crochet round in brown, then one or two in pink then a final round in brown with a picot edge.

Then a jolly good blocking to sort out any wavy edges.

When I went to open the curtains in the lounge this morning I noticed something large and black along the bottom of the skirting board.

From a distance I thought it was a spider as it's that time of year when they are particularly active indoors but it looked a bit too long in the body. Closer inspection revealed it was a Devil's Coach-horse. Now what on earth was he doing in our lounge?

Anyway, I got our spider catching equipment, which consists of a large plastic glass (that sounds wrong!) and a piece of cardboard and I put him outside where he gave a threatening display for me.

I remember the first time I saw one I thought it was a scorpion and ran off to get my mum!

It was a beautiful day yesterday and the sunset was glorious too.

Today is the September Equinox, also known as Mabon or Harvest Home heralding the days during which night conquers day.

It will be interesting to see what changes, if any, there are in the colours of the sunsets.

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Mum's Story

In 1997 my mother, then aged 81, had a series of minor strokes. Shortly after that we started to notice behavioural changes notably memory loss and confusion over everyday items. We thought it was just old age finally catching up with her. Then she started wandering and had violent mood swings. Although she already lived with us it became obvious that she couldn't be left alone for long and so I left my job to care for her. The next few years saw a gradual decline into the blackness that is 'vascular dementia'. My normally placid mum became violent and aggressive. She had psychotic incidents where she would see imaginary people (children hiding in her wardrobe, Russians sitting on the stairs, women stealing her clothes) and she would shout at them and sometimes throw things too. She was so convincing that we used to go and check that there wasn't anyone there! When my sister died mum did not know who Judy was or that she was her daughter. There came a point when I suddenly realised she no longer knew that I was her daughter and this was a terrible time for me. In the last 2 years that she lived with us, life for us all became almost unbearable as she needed 24 hour care - she couldn't be left alone at all because she would either wander off or hurt herself, she never slept for more than 30 minutes at a time during the night, she became incontinent and incapable of doing anything for herself. Finally my husband and I realised that we could no longer provide her with the care that she needed and she went to live in a special care home where the team did a splendid job caring for her in the last few months of her life. There she lived a zombified existence unaware of who she was, what she was or where she was. It was heartbreaking. She died in March 2005, the day after her 89th birthday.

Thank you for taking the time to read mum's story and I hope you'll dig deep and sponsor me using the link below to help find a way of beating this destructive disease.