In Memorium

My Daddy passed away yesterday...my Mama is not expected to last more than another day. Theirs was a long and happy marriage - they married in 1952.  Unfortunately, COVID paid a visit to their house and they could not fight it off. 

Sis came down with symptoms first, got a COVID rapid response test and it lit up almost immediately. Sis was Mama and Daddy's primary caretaker. When COVID hit, she restricted the number of folks coming in to the house, but unfortunately, something got thru her gauntlet and infected first her, then my parents. Since both parents were on hospice care, there were a bunch of medical folks that came to assess and help with their care. They also had a caretaker come in for a few hours so if Sis had to do something out of the house, she scheduled it during that time. Sis did not actually go anywhere around any people since March when the first quarantine hit - mostly she drove her car for a few miles to keep the battery charged. What was the source of infection? We will probably never know. Not one of the medical staff seemed ill nor was reported to be later out with COVID.

Sis was still trying to care for my parents with a serious case of COVID - she had a bad headache, fever, body aches and stabbing sensations...and almost passed out every time she had to get up to care for either of them. The final straw was when the caretaker got COVID, leaving Sis to mange by herself. Her daughter came to help and we hope she does not come down with COVID. I would have tried to help out but I have back issues that would not let me shift either parent, I am immunocompromised and in the age range where bad COVID stuff is harder to fight off.

Their passing is not unexpected - they were over 90 and in poor enough health to be on hospice. It's just sad that this virus did them in. 

I owe a lot to my parents, not just for giving me life and a happy childhood, but for many other things, tangible and intangible. They gave me the best sister.

My Daddy made me many tools for my sewing room. Mama gave me the love of sewing and designing. They always encouraged my sewing endeavors and were genuinely impressed by my quilts.

Me as a baby with Mama and Daddy

I will miss them. A lot. My heart is broken at this point.

New Year's Sewing (and Cooking!)

Starting to work on my New Year's goals!

One of my goals is to learn ruler work. So, off to the Amazon Shopping Mall to see what they offer...lo and behold, I found the Westalee folks DID create a version of the ruler foot for the Singer Slants!!! Oh my gosh...I ordered that so quick - cashed in a few gift cards and its on its way - should be here in a couple of weeks - I think it might have to come all the way from Australia! Now I should be able to use Jenny Lind to learn ruler work. Comes with the arc template and Stable Tape (I think that goes on the ruler to keep it from sliding- but I will know better once the package arrives.) Yippety Skippety!!!

So to keep busy until that arrives (waiting with bated breath!), I am working on the secret project for Retreat. 

Since I can't show that...I will show my Hoppin' John that I made for lunch!

It was delicious!

My variation has black eye peas, wild rice, diced tomatoes, a carrot, some celery, a can of mushrooms & chopped shallot cooked in chicken stock...seasoned with curry powder, garlic, parsley and rosemary...topped with fresh green onion...

Happy New Year - 2021!!

 

Happy New Year - 2021

The wedding was lovely, the bride was beautiful, my DS looked happy. It was a bit odd being a Zoom wedding...we watched on my phone but probably should have brought the computer in.

I made a cake for us to eat after a late lunch, in their honor - since you can't get cake thru Zoom!

Recipe:

2 tbs almond meal

2 tbs coconut flour

2 tbs Monkfruit sweetener

1 tsp Baking Powder

5 packets True Orange powder

2 eggs

1/2 c fresh or frozen cranberries, washed

cream cheese for frosting

mix all the dry ingredients in a Corning Ware French White ramekin (or use other small microwave safe bowl)

add eggs and mix to make batter

add cranberries and mix

microwave for 4 minutes

let cool for 10 minutes, turn out onto plate and frost with cream cheese if desired. The cake is pretty fragile so, I opted to just do the top.

Let us hope this is not the way the new year goes:

A few years ago, I posted about how my DH, G reacted to having Black Eye Peas for lunch on New Years day...(2012 Black Eye Peas)

I am making a combination of black eye peas and wild rice for lunch this year. Will be a kind of Hoppin' John, which I understand is field peas and white rice...but since black eye peas are related to field peas and, though wild rice is not actually 'rice', its a long grain, it is close enough and I bet that it will taste yummo.