Indulge

I ate fried clams for brunch this morning.

They were calling me from the refrigerator and I thought, heck, I am in vacation mode and I can eat what I want.

We took Dad to Newick's Lobster House last night. The portions are huge and I brought home nearly half of my fried clams. He ordered baked scallops and ate them all! I was so happy to see him and his new nursing home digs. It's a great facility, super clean, nice decor, and excellent staff. Dad has adjusted well, and has gained over 10 pounds since he moved there. I like that I can now envision him in his environment when we talk on the phone. For the past 8 months all I could picture in my mind was the rehab facility he was in when he broke his hip. This place is much nicer and it should be, it costs a fortune to be there.

Today we are off to the farmers market to hopefully buy some fresh haddock for dinner. We have to keep up this "eating seafood everyday" challenge... let me tell you, it isn't hard.

Home again...

I have arrived back in North Carolina, from my New Hampshire trip. It feels great to be back home and to sleep in my own bed. I had a great time, the highlight being our family party for Dad's 90th.

Arianna was very excited about her Great Pepere's birthday.

There was a point where we thought the cake might melt if he didn't blow out those candles quickly.

Arianna gave her Pepere a great big hug for blowing out all his candles in one breath. Not bad for 90.

All but two of my nieces, along with their significant others, came for the celebration. One niece was a day overdue to deliver a new baby, the other lives in Philadelphia and couldn't get away from work. We "older folks" enjoyed seeing the cousins catch up with each other. Most don't see each other on a regular basis. When the weekend was over, Dad and I headed back to his apartment in Dover to spend a few quiet days together. 

Amazing!

My Dad is back at home after breaking a hip, followed by hip replacement surgery, and then a stroke. He has spent the last two and half months in the hospital and two different rehab facilities. He is an 88 year old fighter! Danielle has dubbed him "Sporty Pepere" because of his new wardrobe of track pants. My sister Anita will spend the weekend with him to help him settle back into his apartment. Visiting nurses will come for the next few weeks and time will tell if he can go it alone.

Thank you readers and friends who have sent good wishes, healing energy, and prayers for us!

Cousins in Clay

 Jeff and I took a much needed break on Sunday and went over to Bulldog Pottery's "Cousins in Clay". This is an annual event that they host at the end of May. Along with Samantha and Bruce Henneke's stunning work, there are guest potters from various parts of the country. A special treat this year was Henry Crissman's mobile anagama kiln. Many potters from the Seagrove area had a few pots in the kiln. Each of us donated one pot to help raise money for the Dwight Holland Scholarship Fund. The scholarship gives assistance for ceramic students to be able to attend the North Carolina Pottery Conference.

 The firing is quite short. I think it was about 8 hours and reached cone 11.

The day was gorgeous and sunny, which also meant it was really hard to take photos with a phone. I was sort of shooting blindly! I was happy with all three of my pots, but this is the only one I got a photo of.
Tomorrow I should have some house makeover pics. Things are coming along nicely. I also have good news about my Dad! He was moved to the intensive rehab facility and is doing much better. His brain is pretty much cleared up... no more hallucinations. This place is keeping him busy. Therapy three times a day and they take him to the dining room to eat meals. He can now stand with a walker to move from the bed to a wheelchair. I hope that he will regain his mobility eventually.
That's it for now, check back tomorrow for more house blogging. Happy Monday!

Luminaries

I have been thinking about making luminaries for quite some time. About two years ago I made a small one, but didn't do a good job sanding the edges of the cut outs. They were much to sharp so it got the hammer. How about that crawly shino on the left? Rather scary! We aren't sure why, but we had a few pots in this firing with the creepy crawly shino.

 The luminaries are about 6" tall. 

There is a little cutout in the back of the jug to insert the tea light.

Dad update: He is still in the hospital. They aren't sure when they will move him to the rehab center. The day before yesterday he began hallucinating and has been delirious ever since. The vascular doctor ordered an ultrasound to see if his carotid artery was blocked. All they could see was a little calcium, which he doesn't think would cause this. So we are all still waiting. 

Dad

Dad is still in the hospital. The doctors would like to move him to Northeast Rehabilitation Hospital in Portsmouth, NH but he has been having small strokes everyday. Until he is stable for 24 hours he isn't going anywhere. Yesterday he was doing much better. My brother Paul sent a photo of Dad eating dinner. He was even feeding himself for the first time since the big stroke last Friday. Then an hour later he sent a text that he had another small stroke. When the strokes happen, he doesn't know his name, or where he is. His speech becomes "word salad", a term that the nursing staff uses. The little strokes aren't showing up on a CAT scan. His hip replacement is too new to do an MRI, which would give the doctors a lot more information.

It's hard for me to believe that this photo of Dad, taken five years ago when Jeff and I were moving to North Carolina, is the same man in the photo that my brother texted me last night. I bet those pants would fall off of him now! Five years ago he was still mowing that green grass and trimming bushes and hedges. My Mom's been gone a year now. Dad has been a trooper. He has managed living alone much better then any of us kids ever imagined. I am not sure he will be going back home.

Food for thought

Every so often I revert back to childhood and buy a box of glow in the dark orange, mac & cheese. Might I add that it tastes even better in a wood fired bowl! Jeff thinks it's disgusting, which is fine with me. I won't have to share.

While waiting for the macaroni to boil, my thoughts drifted to last spring when I was cooking for my Dad after my mother died. He is a picky eater (he doesn't think so) therefore making meals was a challenge. I knew he liked mac & cheese so I decided to make the real deal with lots of good cheese in  a creamy sauce, baked in the oven with a panko topping. I asked him what vegetable he would like with his mac & cheese and his reply was, "Your mother and I always had hard boiled eggs with it".

Huh, what? Hard boiled eggs?? I told him that hard boiled eggs weren't a vegetable! He didn't care, that's what he wanted. He had his eggs and I had a salad.

Since my mother's passing, my sister takes Dad grocery shopping and cooks him dinner once a week. She usually makes something that he can heat up another night. He finds cooking a real chore. At first we were appalled at what he chose to eat... lots of hot dogs and beans, keilbasa, SPAM, and frozen dinners. We have finally accepted that at least he is eating. He is going to be 88 years old in another week and he may as well eat what he wants. Aside from being lonely and eating lots of processed meats, he is in pretty good health and is doing ok on his own. He takes care of his own apartment and walks to the library and church when the weather is good. I wish I lived closer so I could visit more often and give my sister a break. Hopefully I can get there in the spring.

I think I haven't posted a photo of piggy bank in at least a week... so here is your serving of pork for the day...

Happy Sunday!