Friend Carol (we met in 1973 while at MSU in Lansing, Michigan) sent an email to her friends, none of whom is known to me. She asked her acquaintances to mail Julie a card on her birthday to cheer her. After all, our daily visits while she lives in the nearby nursing home can only occupy her for a few hours during the day. And Carol knew that, so she sent out a mailing asking for people to send Julie a birthday card, her first one as a widow.
The response was gratifyingly sweet with over a dozen birthday wishes being mailed out to Julie. Cards came from Kentucky, North Carolina, Texas, Indiana, Louisiana and Colorado. Julie is a Big Kid when it comes to birthdays and loves the fal-de-rah of a celebration. Gene is making her some Mexican food and purchasing a cheese cake, at her request, for her most-of-the-day visit at our house. A special van will bring her in her chair for the party.
Thank you, all of you, for the cards.
"When in Scotland," free pattern, took less than two weeks to knit up. Finished size after blocking: 80" x 33"
The wool, again, thank you John, was hand spun from fleeces of sheep that grazed in Australia. The dyeing was from both natural flowers and acid dyes.
Friend Natalie is knitting her shawl from the natural, undyed colors of the sheep from fleeces John spun:
And this is Dottie's slipper, one she is making. Again, from John's spun wool:
Julie:
Yesterday was a stressful day as it was an outing with Julie. Gene and I wheeled her across the street from Mesa Manor and around the hospice campus to the accessible restaurant operated by HopeWest, Spoons Bistro & Bakery, where most proceeds go back to hospice. Julie seemed to enjoy getting out, eating under an umbrella, and touring the grounds. It was a pretty day, very hot and sunny, so the climate added to the milieu of the many flowers in bloom. But I failed to take a camera.
After getting Julie back to the nursing home and settled, I arrived home physically and emotionally exhausted. Julie's social skills and perceptions are not that of the average; crying on both our parts is generally par. The husband, as usual, was stalwart. He suggested I read a book on dealing with adolescent autistic people, of which neither category of "adolescent" nor "autistic" exactly fits into her persona. But there are certain similarities in both aspects of the terms as to how she deals with life. I will give it a go and do more reading. Maybe I can better learn how to deal with her when she is around other people in social settings. My expectations are apparently too great. Or maybe just unrealistic.
