..and now, some down time
in journal
only four days left in 2006! wow. i remember last year being very glad to say goodbye to 2005, and though 2006 was a tough year, ohhh, i’m not ready to let it go. i miss my life .. life here in maryland is still unsettled and the holiday hoopla makes it feel like i’m still just visiting and not really really here. a very happy visitor but not a happy resident, that just feels absurd. maryland! maryland. woah.
so. christmas eve and day were a particularly unsettled and sad as well. my little nephew, five-week-old gavin, was taken to the hospital the morning of christmas eve because he wasn’t breathing well. my sister stayed in the hospital with him until yesterday afternoon when he was discharged and i babysat the three girls two of the three days so that their father could go see his wife and little baby at the hospital. poor gavin! he had rpv, which as i understand it, is basically a head cold for us, but for newborns is a lot more serious, as well as a slight case of jaundice. they’re home now, and celebrating christmas today with all four kids, but that was a tough and stressful event for all of us, especially my sister. the girls missed their mom so much, and kiyra the eldest at 2, kept turning to me and rocking her arms, saying “baaabyyy”. 
she knew something was definitely up. when my sister came in the door, my brother-in-law and i had just finished giving the three girls a bath, so she had three squirmy naked babies all smiling enormous toothy smiles at her. so sweet to witness.
today and tomorrow are chill out days, before we head on over to asheville for some new years fun. chill out = going to the library, filling the bird feeders, cooking dinner tonight for my parents, cleaning some more boxes out of the garage, and so on. i like that list a lot.
~ for christmas, all of my nieces and nephews, except for gavin, got outings with me to special events hosted either at the nearby library, a county nature center, or glen echo park, a national park that used to be an amusement park and still has a carousel, puppet theaters, and so on. i’m really looking forward to the one-on-one time i’ll have with each kid and it was so great to see how all these places have programs catered to toddlers.
~ gavin on the other hand, got a year-long subscription to greendimes, which will plant a tree, in his name, each month in a needed place. as well, his parents can give their address and greendimes will regularly make sure that they’re off the major direct mail lists for junk mail. [this idea via worsted witch]
~ deaf video, a little intro into how the deaf are using youtube to communicate.
~ new school knitting: the influence of elizabeth zimmerman and schoolhouse press; see here too.
~ blog carnivals are a great idea. here’s my favorite one right now: festival of the trees
~ researching the plant-a-tree gift, i found all kinds of interesting links,
also, james brown! too young to die, but never to be forgotten.
happy wednesday to you all ~ ~ …and for now, two pics: some knitting gifts i got this year, more on those later. i was a good girl this year. 
and oh yes, the adventures of a cat door. such excitement in my room!
