Thursday, August 22, 2013

Happy Returns

Thank you for your charming notes and good wishes on the perseverance that has kept me blogging for a decade! That's
ancient history in internet years. I do appreciate that you stop in from time to time to see what's up around these parts.

As you know I was on vacation up in Maine. We went and visited my grandmothers in New Hampshire--lunch with one and dinner with Maggie--and it was a bit of a depressing proposition. It's one thing to know they are aging and quite another to see it in person. In fact, I haven't been writing about my trip because of this in fact. It's just too difficult to think about how to make a jaunty little travelogue with this weighing it (me) down. At any rate, I visited and I should do it more often.

The dude and I went kayaking in the marsh very early one morning, and I would show you the fabulous pictures, but we didn't bring our picture taking devices because we didn't want to get them wet. The good news is after 12 years of marriage, we are pretty good at tandem rowing. We also dragged my mother on the Marginal Way, a paved public shoreline footpath between Perkins Cove and Ogunquit Beach. It's a beautiful pathway, but this is the only photo I have of it. (So go ahead and follow the link to see many more.) And we spent two whole days on the beach. We had such beautiful weather this time! It was remarkable. On the whole, a very relaxing trip. Marred only by the fact that on the ride home, we were listening to a book on tape and I was stitching (so completely engrossed) and we missed an exit. It took us a whole hour out of our way. I was more philosophical about this than the dude, but I hadn't been driving for seven hours either.

As you can see above, the threads I needed to finish the Blackbird ornament that was supposed to be my April contribution finally came in! At long last.




10 comments:

Needle Nicely said...

Aging is a necessary evil, as we all discover. Just try to remember the good times and to visit in person when you can, depressing though it might be--your presence is a priceless gift.

Coral said...

In all honesty it is such a blessing to still have the Grannies. Think of the positives. Xxx

Annemarie said...

It is incredibly difficult to be with someone you love so much and to know that some day, in the not too distant future, they will not be there anymore. But they're still around now, and that's what matters.

As for your vacation, it sounds heavenly to me - apart from the little detour, obviously. Poor Dude.

Chris said...

So glad that you had a good visit but the realization that loved ones are getting older is hard.
It sounds like you had some lovely outdoor times too.
Great finish.

Margaret said...

It's hard to watch our loved ones grow old, isn't it? Sorry this made your trip sad, but I'm glad you visited and had a good time overall. Ack on missing the exit -- bummer. Glad you could finally finish the BBD ornie too.

Melody said...

It's good that you went to see your Grandmothers. And no, it isn't easy to watch loved ones get older. Just remember to be glad you had them in your life so long..as I am without grandparents for so long, and without parents for 25 years now. But then I was the baby of the family born to aging parents.

Linda said...

Congrats on the cute finish Nikki. Remember the happy times.

Linda

Jennifer said...

It was hard for us to see Jeff's grandmothers aging and declining, but we made it a point to visit them whenever we could, especially once we had Nick. It was a 2 hour drive for us, much shorter than the trek to Maine and NH, but it's well worth it whenever you can get up there. Something I wish we had done more of? Writing down or even recording as many of their stories as we could.

Jo who can't think of a clever nickname said...

Jennifer is right, you must record as much of Maggie as you can! My uncle passed away recently and there is so much his children don't know about his life before them because he didn't write it down or talk about it much.

Unknown said...

I love the colors in this one.