Just when you think you’re up for a bit of down time, life happens


me and DavidWow, it has been an action packed 3 weeks since I last checked in. I had two teaching trips and then made an unplanned trip to San Diego right after I got back from Denver, because my step dad David collapsed and hit his head at the Del Mar race track on his way to collect on my moms winning ticket.

For the last 15+ years my parents have gone to La Jolla to enjoy beach time, fine dining and placing 2 dollar bets on the horses. Long story short, after fainting a second time in the parking lot of the hospital, shortly after being released with no sign of concussion, Davids heart clocked in at 30 beats per minute and they promptly hooked him up to a temporary pace maker. I don’t even want to think about all the other possible scenarios that could have happened if he had passed out after leaving the grounds of the hospital.

Since my mom broke her hip in January, she now uses a cane to deal with a limp, she also has not driven in the last 2 years, so I knew I needed to get down there asap to help, despite my mom trying to convince me she was handling everything just fine.

knittingLuckily Scripps happens to be the closest hospital to the race track and is tops in cardiology. On Tuesday in less than an hour, they installed a pace maker in David’s chest. Then we spent the next 6 hours sitting in recovery, waiting for a room to become available for him to be transferred to.

All that waiting gave me a good chunk of time to devote to the knitting I brought along. It turned out to be the perfect activity for the hospital. Portable and easy to work on while chatting, yet enough complexity to keep things interesting. I’ve been knitting this sweater on and off for the last 2 years (more off than on actually), and am thrilled that I now have the front and back finished and have a good start on one sleeve. If I’m lucky, maybe I’ll finish itmum and Dave before spring!

If you’re on Ravelry this is the sweater, although I think I’m going to make mine a crew neck instead of a turtle neck.

David was released from Scripps 24 hours later, with a clean bill of health (no heart disease) despite the timing issue. So that night we went out for a celebratory dinner at a lovely little Italian restaurant down the road from the hotel and then flew back to Sacramento Thursday afternoon, feeling incredibly grateful.

 

 

Now I can back up and tell you about my lovely trip to Morro Bay

Morro Bay is a 5 hour drive south west from Sacramento on the central coast of California just south of Big Sur. After driving across hours of golden brown parched country side, I drove down through a canyon south of Paso Robles and was suddenly greeted by this gorgeous vista just northeast of Morro Bay.

old creek canyon

This is such a beautiful part of California.

los ososMy wonderful hosts on this leg of the trip, Gay and Jack, live in the nearby town of Los Osos, which reminds me so much of Bodega Bay where I lived in high school, except the sun comes out here far more often. This was the view from the cafe where we had breakfast each morning. Pretty amazing, right?kayaks
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that big pyramid shaped point in the distance of the photo below is the spectacular, giant rock that sits off Morro Bay.
morro rock.

The Tea & Ephemera workshop!
moro grange

The class was held at the Moro grange, which fittingly had a big quilt block on the side.
tea1tea8

tea3
tea5tea7

tea2
tea6We had such a good time, what a fun group!

Stay tuned for my next post on 10+ Techniques with Acrylic Inks in San Luis Obispo at SLO Creative Studios…

Keep creating, Judy

ABOUT JUDY
IMG_5538Judy is an artist, explorer, image wrangler, knowledge seeker, instructor, speaker, creative alchemist, and purveyor of inspiration, helping others channel creativity on a daily basis.


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