Dad — Page 11

Christmas Eve

December 24, 2015 at 8:57 am by Claudia

12-24 roseville

Meet the newest member of the Hill-Sparks Roseville family.

This beautiful 8″ vase in the Magnolia pattern was one of my better scores – since there was a chip on the edge of the base, which frankly showed more on the underside than on the outside, no one was bidding on it and I got it for $13.50! Just a few short years ago, that would have been an impossibility. Prices were way too high, even on pieces with a chip or two.

Don just spent about five minutes extolling the beauty of the Roseville; he is particularly taken by the earthier tones, which he said are the closest I will let him get to anything ‘Southwest’ in decor. He’s right. As this vase is on the coffee table in front of his chair, he’s a happy camper.

12-24 roseville 2

It was meant to be. See how it’s lit, as if by the heavens?

I’m hanging in there. The ankle is aching a bit today but it’s awfully damp around here with all the rain, so I expect that’s the reason.

And I will be singing along to Christmas Carols while driving when “I’ll be Home for Christmas” will come on and I’ll lose it. My dad always told me about his memories of that song playing as he shipped overseas during WWII. And that it was playing when he came back home.

I can’t hear it without dissolving in tears.

The poignant part of Christmas – the loss of my father so recently – is just under the surface throughout the day. We’ll light a candle for him tomorrow and it will burn all day long.

Last Christmas was the first without my mom. This Christmas is the first without my dad.

And we’ll be thinking of my dear blogging friend Linda, who lost her brother yesterday. Her Christmas will also be bittersweet.

12-24 coffeetable2

I’ll be back tomorrow with Christmas wishes, but if I don’t catch you then, Merry Christmas to you and yours. I hope your holiday is filled with peace and joy and quiet moments of reflection.

Happy Thursday.

ClaudiaSignature140X93

Condo Update: Finding a Home for the Furniture and the Cats

December 18, 2015 at 9:55 am by Claudia

Gray. Rainy. Lights on all day long. Impossible to get a good photo.

Since I have two more pieces from my smallish Roseville collection to share with you, I’ve had to resort to pulling older photos from the bowels of this blog. Bear with me.

Corners-bedroom 6

You’ve seen the cornucopia on the left. But I also have the green dish in Apple Blossom. Both of these pieces live on my dresser, which, I might add, is a heck of lot more cluttered than this older photo would indicate.

(I just deleted the other photo because the code was acting strangely. I’ll take a photo of it another day.)

We’re all caught up!

Today, all of the furniture is being removed from my parents’ condo. Meredith found an organization that works with the homeless that is willing to take everything, so we feel very good about that. Meredith has had to spend some time there in the past few days doing some clean-up and I know that has been hard on her. Too many memories.

Once everything is removed, she’s going to meet with a realtor later in the day to see just what we need to do, if anything, before we put it on the market.

Our biggest worry was what to do with the cats. Luke is gentle and lovely, so we knew we would have no problem finding him a home. But Lydia can be mean, is very territorial and protective of everything in the condo. We promised my dad we would try to keep them together, but for a while there, it seemed like that wasn’t going to happen. Stacy, my dad’s caregiver, volunteered to take them, but she already has 3 cats and a couple of dogs and four children and she was about to move to a different apartment and I was worried that these 2 cats who had only lived in a quiet condo with my parents would not be able to cope with other animals.

Meredith has a friend who has a true gift and can communicate with animals. She has also been involved with cat rescue in the past, so she really knows cats. We asked her to talk to Lydia and tell her that Dad was gone and he wouldn’t be coming back and that we wanted to find a happy home for her but her aggressive behavior was going to keep anyone from adopting her. Once that conversation happened, Lydia started to change. Stacy, who was helping pack up the condo, spent time with her while she was there and assured us that Lydia would be okay. It was clear that Stacy, who had promised my dad she would adopt the cats, wanted to make good on her promise.

Fast forward to a couple of weeks ago when Stacy picked up both cats and took them home with her. And then to a week later, when she sent me pictures of her daughter petting Lydia. She even sent me a video of Lydia clearly loving all the attention. She was a cat transformed. It’s an ongoing process, I know, but the change is evident.

I sat there and cried. Thank heavens for Stacy. My dad is somewhere smiling, I know it.

Happy Friday.

ClaudiaSignature140X93

Where I Am

November 30, 2015 at 8:42 am by Claudia

11-30 mccoyandbooks

I’m calling this “McCoy and Books.”

I’m pretty sure those two categories are at the top of my I Love list.

I’ve been crocheting for hours at a time – too many hours at a time. Yesterday, late in the afternoon, I realized that it was the 29th. Exactly one month since my father died. How is that possible? Late last night, as we were getting ready to go to sleep, I told Don that I realized that having my mom and dad still alive here on Earth made me feel safe. And now that they’re gone I didn’t feel safe anymore. Of course, I immediately qualified that statement by saying it was entirely different thing than the ‘safe’ I feel with Don. But I didn’t really need to say that, because he understood. The protection and safety I took for granted all these years has disappeared with the death of my dad.

Dear friends, I try to balance the content of my posts. One sad post must be counterbalanced by several happy, chatty posts. As a rule, this isn’t at all hard for me to do. I’m usually pretty cheery. But it is hard at the moment. I’ve lost both of my parents in the past eighteen months. We have a lot of worries that are ongoing. Scout gets frailer by the minute and I worry about her constantly. The realization that we will lose her at some point is staring me in the face.

I relive those last hours with Dad. I remember something I want to tell him and then realize that I can’t pick up the phone and call him. He sometimes drove me crazy, calling several times a day about some little thing he needed to tell me. Now, I’d give anything to pick up the phone and hear his voice. Isn’t that always the way? Yesterday, I had the thought that I needed to tell Dad that I’m working in Hartford in January. And then I remembered.

It’s good for me to write this and I can only ask your indulgence as I sometimes share my feelings. I’m crying as I type this and that’s good. I need to cry.

Right now, I feel lost and sad. Christmas holds very little appeal, though we’ll celebrate the season in a modified way that feels right for us.

That’s where I am, my friends. Thank you for being there.

I do have another scarf in the Etsy shop – the Obsession Scarf in Wildberries.

il_570xN.401302491_hwyf

This is a photo of an earlier version of the scarf. Each one I make is individual because the placement of the colors within the skein changes. But the colors used remain the same. This will probably be the last one I will make in this colorway, so if you’re at all interested, I’d suggest you jump on it. Here’s the link.

Update: Sold! If you have a request, let me know.

Happy Monday.

ClaudiaSignature140X93

Christmas Eve

Condo Update: Finding a Home for the Furniture and the Cats

Where I Am

Lambs Like to Party

A Note

Archives