Back in March I decided to knit a sweater using yarn I had bought almost 15 years ago when I lived in Murietta, California. The yarn was to be for a sweater that was in the Interweave Knits magazine which didn't get knit until I moved here and I bought other yarn for it so this yarn was stuck in my stash.

This sweater is knit cuff to cuff in one massive piece and then stitches are picked up for the collar and bottom band. I had to read the pattern several times and I actually re-wrote it for 2 reasons. First the pattern does not give instructions on knitting the second half of the body; it just implies that what you knit for the first half is worked in reverse and since I had a different yarn with a different gauge, I was going to need more exact information. The second issue is that the big collar - the turtle neck, is not actually attached to the sweater and the instructions don't say that; it just tells you to cast on stitches and knit in the round for a specific length. I had to look at the pictures of other knitter's projects to figure this out. 

I mostly worked on the sweater on Thursdays, down at the yarn store where we have a knit club get together from 2 pm to 4 pm. I usually show up early after having completed the errands I need to do in town.

Two weeks ago I finished the second sleeve and then spent that weekend knitting the collar which I mead longer than the pattern called for and in lieu of the separate turtle neck. Next up was sewing the sleeve and side seams and adding the bottom band which I decided I would do over Thanksgiving week as I had no plans to go or see anyone [I had been recording all the Star War Saga movies, no series, to watch during this time]. 

On Friday I had finished the bottom band and on Saturday I wove in all the ends from the color changes.  

I can now wear it cause the weather has gotten cool if not cold!

Thirty-Six years ago we eloped having only met each other two month earlier.
It was the Wednesday before Thanksgiving.
​
In September of 1987 I was invited to a bicycle ride get together by my friend Gylver; he lived in Laguna Hills, California and I was living in Temecula, California.  Other friends of "ours" from Santa Barbara would be there as well as some other friends that Gylver knew.  

The plan was to ride down the coast for a while, stop and have lunch then ride back and afterwards have a dinner of home made chili.   

Not as many people showed up as expected but one was a good looking man named Erich Kern.  

We spent most of the ride talking to each other; and we talked all through dinner. Before I went home Erich asked for my phone number.   To be honest I don't remember much of the ride except for talking to Erich.

Several nights later Erich called to talk and ask me on a date; we ended up talking on the phone for six hours!
Yes, we took bathroom breaks.

Erich suggested we move in together in, in October but having just started grad school I said no; I needed time and space to do my course work. 

At the end of October he proposed.  I said yes cause when you know, you KNOW.

After much thought and reflection about what my sister went through with our parents when she got married I knew I did not want a formal wedding and so Erich I decided to elope over Thanksgiving weekend as I also had a small break in my course work. 

We found a Rabbi to marry us and we made reservations in Santa Barbara at a B&B for the weekend. We would take our bicycles and spend the weekend doing some rides and on Thanksgiving day I would work on a paper I had due the next week. 

Gylver was the Best Man and my friend Kathleen was the Best Woman; we met at the Synagogue and were married and then went out for a nice dinner and afterwards Erich and I drove up the coast. 

The rest, you could say is history.  

This picture was taken many years later in the 2000's.

Temps have cooled and tours and maintenance work has resumed at the gorge.
Two weeks ago I signed up for a small 3 hour tour and had a good time but the lack of walking for almost 3 months was apparent as my legs were wobbly when I was done and I ended up taking a nap when I got home.

This past Wednesday I was docent for a special 5 hour "Off the Beaten Path" tour. A petroleum company located in Dallas that paid for a custom tour as part of their "let's use up our budget road-trip"; they were going to various location around the state to look at the geological structures that have an impact and influence on their work of mapping, modeling, and drilling. There were engineers, geologists, modelers, and surveyors and the tour was led by two of our guides who are retired from the petrochemical industry and could point out and discuss faults, fractures, fossils, geology/limestone formations and water flows that would be of interest to them. 

We started at the top of the spillway to explain the flooding, and how the gorge was formed in just a few days. Then we walked to the far side of the spill way to look at the first exposure of the Hidden Valley Fault. We stayed on the far side to look at a 3 meter vertical shift of the fault as the tour group measured and counted fractures and lengths. This side of the gorge has no formal trails so we roughed it over very uneven terrain - up and down over rocks to see scrapings from the fault shifting and the fractures and tilting of the limestone. We stopped at the various pools and waterfalls and saw fossils in the limestone as well as calcite crystals and "flow stone" where the calcite as dissolved and flows down before recrystallizing on the limestone similar to how stalagmites and stalactites form.

Yes, I was very tired at the end but I learned quite a bit and met some really interesting people along the way which made it worth it.  After I got home it was shower, eat and nap time of course!!

Things are getting better - WHEW

I have just started the 3 and final dosages of the Prednisone - 1 10mg pill per day for the next 10 days. I have had most of the side effects (sleep issues, weigh gain and raging hungriness, agitation, high blood pressure, pounding in the ears and more. Thankfully they are going away.

When this started, I had just begun, again, on a "Get Healthy" regimen. I had contacted the Nutrition and Fitness coach who helped me get ready for my Big Walk in Scotland to start a plan again. I put new batteries in the Blood Pressure cuff, which uses Bluetooth to store the data in an app, so I could get off that medication that started the medical ugliness and I also bought a new scale that also records stats for BMI also via Bluetooth to an app.  I also cleared my Fit Bit and BP History which went back over 10 years - I was going to start new and clean. Additionally I created a new account with my food tracking app.  Then of course I had to hit the breaks hard on all of these plans until we got this thing under control.

​In some ways, now I really have no choice. To be honest I am 30 to 40 pounds over weight and my BMI is just over 30. My BP puts me somewhere between Hypertension Level 1 and 2; it is NOT a pretty place to be.  

About 10 years ago when I worked for the Navy in San Diego I started seriously walking and eating better.  At one point I was walking 4 miles around the harbor, my weight was down 15 pounds and my BP was in the Normal range. Then we moved and I slid backwards, then Erich died and I slid even more and so that is where I am today. 

This week, I am not official on the plan because of the Prednisone but I am doing what I call practicing. I will go for some walks, maybe 2; I will go to the gym for a weight work, once; I will track what I eat to get back into that habit and to make better food choices but I won't try to hit any macros levels.   But come October 2nd when I finish up the pills I will begin. 

Stay tuned, this could be an eye opening and wild ride

Back Story:
In April, I contacted friends who are mineral dealers about selling the majority of our mineral collection. It wasn't about the money despite that happening; it was about getting the specimens to good homes because the members of my family who would have to deal with it when I was gone really wouldn't know who to talk to or what it's real value was. You hear horror stories of grand/parents/sibling collections just being tossed in the garbage!

At that time we made arrangements for them to be here in Texas after the Northeast Summer shows were over, in August as they would then be heading back to California and would detour south. 

As the time grew closer I started looking at what I wanted to keep and set some of them aside. These were minerals we had bought on special trips or occasions or had collected ourselves during the various road trips we took around the west. Erich loved certain minerals and we had many multiples of them - garnets, fluorite, stilbite and more so I figured I would only keep one or two of each of those as well. 

Mid-August rolled around and I cleared my schedule for the weekend they would be here. I gathered boxes, bubble wrap, original labels, receipts, tape, pen and paper so we could get to work.  They arrived late Friday afternoon so we just sat and caught up with our lives and during this time John started to look at and in the cabinets. His evaluation was it was a very good collection; he could see that we had over time we acquired better quality specimens and we had some that were excellent but that overall we had a wide range that would appeal to all collectors. This was very good news and so at this point we decided to go into New Braunfels and have an early dinner and get them back to the the cabin they were staying in so they could rest and get a good night's sleep after driving for 3 days and being on the road for over 2 months. After dinner I told them where to go for a good inexpensive breakfast and to just call me before they were to arrive Saturday morning.

John and Cathy arrived around 10 am and we got to work. Because they had their truck full of show stuff they had said that they could NOT take all of what they were interested in purchasing but would be able to take some as the Denver show was at the start of September and they wanted some specimens for that to start. John would select a mineral, look at the label on the bottom, I would look for the original paperwork, Cathy would document the mineral and then we discussed how much John would offer and even possibly sell it for and then Cathy would record the price and we wrap it up and mark it.  We stopped for the day around 5pm and went to dinner and planned on repeating the days events on Sunday.

One mineral that John was VERY interested in was a Rhodochrosite rhombohedron that's gem quality - he did not take it (yet) he took pictures and measurements and sent it to a friend who could give him a more accurate valuation.

Sunday I woke up around my usual time due to the Boots alarm clock at 7-ish. John and Cathy arrived again around 10 am. We selected a few more minerals and John made arrangements to meet another dealer, in San Antonio in the late afternoon. I suggested that due to a late start to getting on the road home, they stop in Fort Stockton which is a 4-5 hour drive then on Monday get to Tucson which is a 12 hour drive and then Tuesday they could get back to So. Cal in 7 hours (which they did). Eventually we taped up the boxes, loaded the truck and I was handed a check.  

Now for the rest of the story:
John called me the following week and said that the Rhodochrosite was worth A LOT!! and he wanted to sell it as a commission (80/20) at the Denver show and so could I box it, insure it, and get it mailed to him. I jokingly said that maybe I should hand deliver it to which he said SURE! and to bring some more minerals if I wanted.  Which I said I would and few days after I had second thoughts because of all that I would have to do - stop the mail, get hotels, put Boots in the kennel, and more. Then a few days later I changed my mind again and went for it. Going to the Denver show was on our list of things to do this year because the pandemic canceled those plans.  In 2 days I had my plans made and started selecting more minerals.

The plan was to leave on Tuesday and stop in Amarillo and then arrive in Denver Wednesday afternoon. Setup was on Thursday and I would help and make labels for what I brought. The show would open on Friday and I would assist in the booth but NOT make any actual sales. In the afternoon I wandered the rooms for the location were we were. Saturday I helped open and close  and in between went to the other locations to peruse the wares.  Sunday morning I helped open and at noon, I headed home again via Amarillo.

There is no major Interstate to get from San Antonio to Denver so it was some Interstate and State highways most of which were 2 lane with passing sections or 2 lane passing sections. There were State highways marked as 75 mph then 55, 45, 35 and suddenly you are in a very small town of 2 - 6 - 12 blocks with maybe a single gas station and a fast food restaurant and many boarded up store fronts.  Northwest Texas is FLAT with lots of wind farms, cotton farms, sorghum farms, corn farms and lines of power poles that go on for ever.  After Amarillo I did a quick pass through Oklahoma and into Colorado which added cattle, donkeys, goats, and corn to the mix.  On my way home I did take the I-25 and cut through New Mexico before getting back to Texas and the State Highways.

I HATE being sick, let alone just ill.

​Around August 27, I noticed by ankles getting itchy; I put on some cream thinking my skin was dry and moved on. Over the next few days the itchy-ness grew and when I looked I had a bad rash and it was slowly spreading up my legs! I put pen marks on my skin to see how it grew over time.

I thought about what might be causing it and what was "new" and that lead me to think that it might be an allergy reaction since I had recently added raw sunflower seeds to my diet; I don't normally eat them. I contacted an allergist and in a few days I had an appointment and in the mean time I was dosing myself with an oral anti-histamine but the ITCHING was horrible.  The doctor was quite intrigued, we drew blood for a test but he was uncertain what exactly was causing it and IF it was an allergic reaction at all. The doctor shared my pictures and history with a Skin/Vascular (Dermatologist) expert and a follow up appointment was made with him for 2 days later.

Well, it was pretty bad by then and he was quite surprised. After a lot of questions and answers, 2 punch biopsies were taken, a course of Prednisone (a very strong steroid) was prescribed and a follow up appointment was made for a week later.  The Prednisone worked - kinda; after a few days at a higher dose which did knock back the rash on my lower legs I was to then go to a lower dose to taper off of it and that was when I got more of the rash elsewhere on my body - abdomen, arms, neck, and chest. It wasn't as bad but the itching was horrible.  I should have called the doctor but I was in Denver for the Gem & Mineral show (which will be another post) and I just tried to ignore it all plus my legs were clearing up. 

After I returned from Denver and went to the follow up appointment I finally got a diagnosis. It WAS an allergic reaction but to one of my medications - the ACE (heart) Inhibitor I have been on for 10+ years.  This reaction is not common but not unknown and I guess I should feel lucky as some people go into anaphylaxis shock.  Because I was still taking the medication and the dose of Prednisone was lower, the rash reaction made a slight comeback while I was in my trip. The plan of attack was to stop the heart medication immediately and go on a higher dose and longer taper off of the Prednisone; this would allow for the heart medication to flush out of my system which could take a month, and allow the Prednisone to do it's thing.  Another follow up appointment was made for a few days later.  

The latest follow up appointment went well. The rash had cleared, most of the itching has stopped and I am finally on the mend.  I have almost 2 more weeks of the Prednisone to go and after that I get to follow up with my PCP to get them up to speed on what happened.  I am NOT going to replace the medication with a new one; I am planning on managing my heart with diet and exercise which really is the best in the long run. 

​WARNING - The pictures are rather intense; look if you dare

Nope, that the motto for the Olympics.
What I am thinking of is:
   "We can rebuild him. We have the technology. We can make him better than he was. Better, stronger, faster."

​The other night I came across the Six Million Dollar Man series on Peacock. I saw it when it first aired but did YOU know that this is one of the shows that influenced by career path???
Go, go on! Go get a cuppa and sit back and enjoy the story!

Let's start with my father. A self-made engineer who said I could be anything I wanted and gently pushed me into STEM because I could tell him how to take apart, put together, improve and fix things​ since I was a wee lass.

Then Star Trek came along (1966-1969). Most women in STEM might say it was Nyota Uhura who showed them that not only a woman in space was possible but they can be very smart too. But for me it was Montgomery "Scotty" Scott. I could see myself as an engineer who could fix anything and I really really wanted to go to space.

Fast forward to the early 1970's I am in high school and I am now pondering what I want to do with my life - should I become an engineer, nurse or doctor; teach science or home economics; become a chef, or..?? I could not decide.

In 1973, I was starting to look at engineering schools and ABC aired a made for TV movie "The Six Million Dollar Man" and I realized it was possible to combine engineering and medicine.  My parents were so confused when I said I wanted to do THAT! 

I went to my guidance counselor Mr. Clarke, who was fantastic in his position, and asked him what sort of engineering program would I study to make medical stuff - prosthetics, equipment, and tools for medicine and he said he would look into it. Sometime later we had a meeting and he said that ANY field of engineers except possibly Aeronautics or Marine, could go to work for a company that researched and made items for the medical industry BUT there was a new field called Biomedical Engineering which was focused on just that - teaching medical science and engineering specifically for the research and development of medical equipment. He handed me a brochure from the Society of Biomedical Engineers and I was ecstatic.   

Mr. Clarke then did more research and passed along a list of schools where I could get an engineering degree but only ONE, at that time, had an accredited undergraduate program specifically for Biomedical Engineering and that was Case Institute to Technology, later to be the Case School of Engineering at Case Western Reserve University. 

Eventually my father and I did tours and took interviews at the schools I was applying to: Case and as fallback schools Carnegie-Mellon, Northeastern, Boston College, Wooster Polytech and a SUNY just in case. I wanted to apply to Rensselaer Poly Tech or Rochester Institute of Technology but they did not accept women at that time.
I was accepted at Case and Carnegie-Mellon but there I would be in a general Engineering program and then use electives to take other medical science courses.

So Case it was and that is where I graduated from. My undergraduate thesis was on the Impedance layers for Ultrasonic Transducers. From there I went to work on Ultrasonic Medical Scanners, Silicone Medical devices, Intravenous Pumps and IV bags, Angioplasty devices, Intercranial Pressure Monitors and Transducers and then I moved into Engineering consulting.

And that ,dear friends is how I became a Biomedical Engineer.

First the HEAT.
Yes it's been a record year for temps over 100 and add to that the high humidity and you have horrible weather.
When we lived in California we could have temps upward of 110 but with the low humidity it was hot but tolerable; not so here. Now, we have not hit 110+ but we have had a stretch of 104 - 106.  I mostly stay inside and keep the lights off until around 8 pm; I do the laundry, run the dishwasher, or some cooking all by 10 am. This helps keep the house cooler and having the A/C set to 76 I would like to think that I am helping NOT max out our electrical grid.

I have finished cleaning the quilt fabric closet as well as the family room which has my sewing corner. During that I found 3 quilt tops I finished 4-5 years ago but never layered and sewed to make quilts PLUS there are the unfinished quilt blocks for Kira's "Wedding Quilt". 

With the heat I am holding off cleaning the sun room (off the family room) and my metal studio both of which are NOT air conditioned and are despite having windows open to allow a breeze.  I will tackle them in September when it cools off, if it does by then.

I decided to finish a quilt from one of the quilt tops I have that is scrap fabric from other quilts and sewing projects. It's for a chair thus it is only the width of it but it is long so it drapes over the back and down the front; this quilt was to started to replace the prior chair quilt that literally wore out after being used for almost 15 years!

Last Friday I removed the paper (from the piecing), ironed the top, pieced the batting to give me the length, and found a large piece of fabric (in the quilt fabric closet) so it's one whole piece for the back. I then laid it all out on the floor and pin basted the layers together. Saturday I started sewing by doing the straight line horizontal quilting, Sunday I did the vertical quilting and yesterday, Monday, I bound it. I HATE binding a quilt and since I have not bound a quilt in over 10 years this was a bit of struggle but it's done. The quilt is has now been wash and shall be placed on the chair I now use for watching TV (it was Erich's chair). 

Next up, finishing Kira's quilt.

I am feeling rather normal these days and so I am going to try to resume a normal life and not mope around the house and do only what's necessary. 

Last week I vacuumed the carpets which I admit hasn't been done in 6+ months. I also vacuumed and washed the main floor tiles.  The next big task on the list is (was) to clean/organize the walk in closet in the bedroom. I am leaving that for next year as I have maxed out the amount of donation dollars I can claim on my taxes. I am moving on to the Family room now which has bookshelves, my knitting and sewing stuff but I am not going to spend 2-3 solid days on it. Over the next week I am going to only do about an hour and then relax and work on my knitting.

To also return to normal, I am going to speak to the nutritionist I worked with in 2021/2022 to get into shape before I did my walk in Scotland.  Let's just say all the gains I made have rolled back and then some. We are talking next week and I will attempt to get some early morning walking in despite the massive heat wave and drought we are having at the moment. This will also help me when I am at the gorge as I am quite tired after a work session and can't keep up with the guys.

I am also going to do a very short term web project for a friend and get paid!

To close, here's a photo of Cowboy Boots

It's now been six months and life slowly creeps forward. 
I still miss Erich, tremendously. I want to find him reading in the living room; bringing me a cuppa coffee when I am working on the computer; asking me to go with him grocery shopping; watching our favorite shows together and discussing them. 

But, no, he's not here.  So...

• I continue to clean, organize, purge and make various repairs around the house. I am almost done with the rooms that are lived in then I will tackle the loom room, my studio, and the sun porch which is a mess of spider webs, leaves and misc. dirt that has blown in when I keep the outside door open.
• Cowboy Boots is now MY best buddy - sleeping with me at night, waking me at sunrise to feed her, snuggling on my lap while "we" watch TV. 
• I continue to slowly reading the letters Erich sent to his mom while he was in the Navy - it is a way to learn about him when he as younger that somehow he didn't share or I didn't ask about. I find things that have influenced and shaped him into the man I married.
• I continue volunteer at the Canyon Lake Gorge 1 day a week and I expect to keep this on my schedule for quite a while as it get's me out of the house and I am making new friends.
• I go to a gathering of fellow knitters 1 or 2 days a week, one is here in Canyon Lake and the other is down in New Braufels and again, I am getting out of the house and interacting with other people and make new friends.
• I go to lunch, dinner, concerts or other events with Gylver & Joan. I have known them for over 40 years and who moved here, also from California, are very supportive and always up for something. 
• And I am again working on my software project which I can do to avoid everything else.

So I kinda have a routine and a normal life but there are so many things I am still not doing (again/yes) but are planning. I see a road trip or two in my future; finishing a weaving project that has been on the loom since before the pandemic; finishing the Great Wedding Quilt for my niece; making metal stuff; hiking some Texas trails....