A fine eulogy

One of the couples we attended church with for the last 10 years had a loss. The wife of 58 years died from Alzheimers. Her husband took care of her at their home. She went fast in the last two weeks and on Christmas day she died. She was well taken care of and never had to go into a nursing home. He had friends and nurses and eventually hospice. But in the end it was just him with her and close friends. It is something we have dealt with a lot this past year. While so many live to a ripe old age, around us many are dying of Alzheimers and cancer. And I always listen to what might be a common reason/causality/evidence for this. Her mother had Alzheimers but none of her 4 sisters have been afflicted. But her adult sons came to the church to give a great eulogy about their mother. How kind she was, meticulous, feisty and how family was most important to her. She was very Catholic and remained so until her death. Her huge family of sons, cousins, grandchildren all came to show how much they loved Rose. It was nice to visit with them and hear their stories about the woman we only knew in her decline. 

What I took away from this was enjoy what you want from your life. Do what makes you happy. While I do not have any family except for my husbands to share with. I do have a handful of friends. And one day I might not be able to do what I enjoy. So seize your life and make it yours. And hopefully we will meet again on the other side in Paradise.

Gearing up

I have been listening to several piano genre and weeding out my favorites to play. I have always loved the ragtime and even the new styles like "Variations on Solace"by Dick Hyman. And my go to bed song Claire de Lune classic. I have piled up crafting over my piano and it is time to get her cleared off. I chose not to push playing this holiday. I took time off to bake and be with other people. I'd much rather starve and play music than socialize. But it was fun to hear others play.

I am moving our saddles and horse tack out of my studio as we do not ride them anymore. A friend wants to have a foal from our fox trotter mare Maple this year. So we will be shipping her off our farm for a while.
With the horse tack moved out I can put my instruments in my studio instead of the guest room. I will be able to get to my music and computer at the same time. I have been thinking about moving things around for a while now. Hard to have a studio and tack room at the same time. With winter on I do not have to deal with gardening yet.
Our guest room has seen a lot of use lately. So I will be clearing that room again instead of just for spring storage. Which I need to do as we have a guest this week. I still have a ton of holiday things to put away. My holiday baking ended up with balls and breads only. So I have a lot of unused flours and spices to store.
We are hoping to spend time out on the rivers again. We did none of that last summer and I missed it.
So with the new year there are plans in place and space to make for others. I will be turning 50 this year and plan to have fun!

Out with 18 and in with 19

Woke up with a pumpkin head full of sinus. Fed the farm and went back to bed as it rained outside. Husband got me up for lunch and a nap. Then we watched some movies and 

back to farm chores and sewing.

I got a memory bear finished for a friend who's wife died on Christmas. He has family coming in and we are the away team for church preparations. Everyone is traveling or out of town. Our tiny Ozarks church is shrinking with each passing year.  

But it was a good last day of the year. Taking it easy, lots of napping and creating as the sun set on the cold rainy day. Tomorrow will be very cold and no more rain. Hopefully my sinus will abate and I can have a clear head again.