lack of distractions

Sometimes it seems like life just takes over and there's no time for the fun stuff. I mean, on a normal day (meaning most days before June) I had things to fill in the gaps, things that I did to entertain myself and take the edge off the problems in my life. Like knit. Or spin. Or go to see a play. But since we got back from Italy it's been all about unfun things, like going to the eye doctor again. Or getting a second opinion. Or moving all of our furniture so the contractors can work on our windows. It's so full of this stuff that I don't even miss knitting. That's how bad it is.

Our windows. I have mentioned on various occasions that they leak. Well, the leaks were supposedly fixed on more than one occasion over the past 6 months. June has been rainy and it seemed to have been fixed, so we gave the go ahead for our building to bring someone in to replace the rotten sills in our living room and bedroom.Christopher and I moved the furniture away from the problem windows, so it wouldn't get dust and grime on it. Most of the side tables and laundry baskets, the TV, our mattress all were moved into other rooms.

We were told it would take 2 days to rip out and replace the window frames.Thursday was a rainy day, and soon after the first frame had been torn off, water started pouring in from above. The contractor finished his destruction, cleaned up and left. There is no point in him putting new sills on until the leak is located. That was almost a week ago.Today, at last, the management company informed us that they finally got a hold of the people who had originally "fixed" the leak. Hopefully they'll come soon to "fix" the current leaks. I have little faith, since they have been here numerous times and still haven't fixed anything.

And in the meantime, since we are dealing with 3 windows that are oozing dust and mildew, we are living out of boxes and sleeping on our mattress on our floor. So depressing. I'm going away tomorrow, and then Christopher will be left to deal with this situation. I hope he doesn't have to suffer too much longer.

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In eye news, I got a second opinion. The general consensus is that I should wait and observe it for about a month, and then possibly have surgery. I can't get a straight answer from the doctor's office about what the surgery entails, and I am hoping that they decide it's not necessary. But I won't know that until I get back in mid-July.

In more positive news, I am heading to Maine for two weeks for a quilting workshop. I'm super psyched to get away, though I feel bad about leaving Christopher with the mess of our apartment.

enough moping

I think it's important to remember that we had a good time in Italy, before we realized that we would have to leave early.

Proof:This is my friend Carlotta. I met her back when she was a senior in high school, and I was a college student studying in Florence. I lived with Carlotta's aunt and uncle (her zii- I love how in Italian you can just group aunts and uncles together into one word.) She and I took 19th century ballroom dancing classes together back then, which was really fun.

As you can see, Carlotta is pregnant. Her baby boy is due sometime in June. The exact date seems to be debated, at least by her. I think officially it's due around the middle of June, but Carlotta is sure that she will go into labor when the moon is full. I asked her to explain this logic but just could not grasp the moon-due date theory.

A month or two before we went to Italy, I consulted Carlotta about what she would like for her baby, if I were to knit something, and she said she'd like a little cotton cardigan for the summer, something the baby could wear every day. She gave me a lot of color choices: caffé macchiato, sage or sky blue. Or of course she also liked red and orange. It was a little hard for me to narrow it down until I found a big ball of orange cotton in my stash, and felt like it would work perfectly.Of course I didn't have enough orange for the whole sweater, so I had to buy a contrasting color for the cuffs, buttonband and collar. I really stressed over what would match, and only found a paler orange when I went to Stitch Therapy.
I think it works well, in any case. And Carlotta was estatic when I gave it to her. I should have gotten a photo of her holding it over her belly, which she did more than once. It's so nice to make something for someone who really appreciates and treasures it. I can't wait to see a photo of the baby in his new sweater, or his golf. (yes, that's really what they call cardigans in Italy.) I guess in this case it's a golfino, since it's a little cardigan. (What a great language!)Pattern: Offset Wraplan by Sara Morris (Ravelry link)
Yarn: Classic Elite Yarns Provence and Berroco Pure Pima
Needles: #6 US
Buttons: from a great button store I found with my mom in Philadelphia

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I should give an eye update, since many of you wrote such kind notes. The long and the short of it is that the doctor wants to wait and see. There is some sort of bleeding in the back of my eye, almost like a bruise, and it can clear itself up apparently, though it might take a few months. Of course, it may also get worse. It's all about watching it.

Working on the computer is problematic, as is reading, though I am going to try going back to work tomorrow. I just need a sense of normalcy and routine. The doctor thought that my brain will probably adjust to having this smudge on my vision and compensate for it somehow. We shall see.

an early return

As you might have gathered, I speak a little Italian. It's become rusty over the past 13 years, so being in Italy meant stumbling around a bit, trying to find the right words and verb tenses. I managed to add a few things to my vocabulary, however:

pronto soccorso: emergency room
oculista: ophthalmologist
gocce: eye drops
dilatare: to dilate
miopia: near sightedness
distacco post vitreo: vitreous detatchment
degenerazione maculare senile: age-related macular degeneration

Nothing is ever simple for the Brown-Walls, and within a few days of arriving in Italy, we found ourselves rushing to the ocular emergency room in Florence, accompanied by an Italian friend, Moreno.
The main issue was, and still is, that I have a spot of distorted vision near the center of my left eye. It is stuck there, making it difficult for me to read and do anything that requires me to focus close up, such as reading. Writing and proofreading this blog post is rather frustrating. (Interestingly, knitting seems to be no problem.)

The doctor there, a very matter of fact woman working in a dark and sparse room reminiscent of a third world country, made me throw away my contact lens (which was in fact disposable, but was supposed to last me another month), dilated my eyes and told me that I had a vitreous detachment. Which I know that I have. I'm used to little things floating around in my vision. This spot seemed different, but since she told me that it was no big deal (even though I was now wandering around with just one contact lens) we continued with our vacation.

Luckily, I brought my glassses. On Sunday, we went to the Accademia, where the David is housed. My doubts about the original diagnosis, along with the fact that looking at the David required a lot of effort, made me think that we should get another opinion. Sunday night we went to our friends' beach house on the Tuscan coast, and on Monday morning Carlotta's husband Francesco took me to their local emergency room.

This time the doctor asked me more questions, and had me look at a graph. After dilating my eye and examining it, he told me that I had macular degeneration and that I needed more tests and probable immediate surgery. He advised that we cut our trip short and deal with this back in New York.

Which is what we've done. It's highly unusual for someone my age to develop macular degeneration, though I do seem to have the symptoms. I'll see a specialist in a few hours, and hopefully have some better (and more positive) answers.

We are so sad to have missed the last leg of our trip, which would have included several days in Venice and short trips to small towns in northern Italy to see architecture and art. I can only hope that we can return sometime soon, to pick up where we left off...

Escape

View of Florence, originally uploaded by GOC53.

So... we got off a plane this morning, and found ourselves here.

Not that it's a surprise. We've been planning this trip since March.

So far it's been a whirlwind of connecting flights, stuffing ourselves with delicious food and dining with old friends. I spent my college junior year here (13 years ago, Madonna!) living with a Florentine family, who we're staying with.

Sort of. It's complicated. Basically my host family's duplex was in a building with 5 other apartments, all of which were occupied by extended family. This week we're sleeping in one of these apartments, which is vacant, allowing us the freedom to come and go but also will let us visit with everyone. (I am good friends with my host family's niece Carlotta, and by extension her parents and sisters and, well, you see how it goes. This is Italy, after all.)

It's good to be back, and I was planning to blog about our trip. Unfortunately, I forgot to bring my camera card reader, or a cable, so I can't download any pictures yet. We'll see. I'm not sure it's worth writing about this or than if there's no visual... (for now I am borrowing from Flickr.)

hand me downs

When we were in Philadelphia for Mother's Day, my mother pulled out a bag for me to go through. More clothes from her recently deceased friend (this is the third group of clothes I've been offered from her). For the most part this is a fun discovery, especially as this friend had great style, traveled a lot, never threw anything away, and wore the same size as me in the 1970s and early 80s.

Check out this vintage Marimekko dress.My mom has already cut and started to hem it to knee length; I have to finish the rest of it myself. I can't believe how well it fits me, and I just have to find the right occasion to wear it. An art opening would be appropriate, don't you think? Not that I go to many of those... or it would be perfect if I were to give some sort of presentation. (If only most of my work didn't involve me working alone in my studio or in a dark theater where no one sees me!)

Here is the other dress.Yes, you might notice that it resembles (er...perhaps it is) a traditional Bavarian outfit, though it's missing the apron piece. It also fits me well, and minus the blouse (which in true costume fashion only goes to my midriff and would be good for nothing besides this dress) the bodice of the dress is too loose to wear sleeveless. My mom and I considered altering it so it's more fitted, but it's got a ton of lining and shaping that makes it difficult. Which is too bad. It will have to be a fall or winter dress, paired with a sweater underneath or something.

What I love about hand-me-downs, and as the youngest grandchild on both sides of my family, I've been getting them forever, is that you never know what you are going to get. It's like Christmas, without the stress of having to like or keep something. And in this case, it's a challenge for me to wear something different. Which is a good thing, I think.

mitts for mom

A few months ago, when my mom was visiting, she put on the Fetching Mitts that I'd made her for Christmas back in 2007. They were ragged, pilly, stretched out. She didn't seem to care - she mostly wears them while she's painting in her studio - but I was embarrassed by how they'd worn. Honestly I thought that Mission Falls 1824 was better than that. It should have held up better in nearly two years of wear. Seriously.

So when I was deciding what to make mom for Mother's Day, a new set of mitts were the obvious choice. I have sworn to use stash yarn this year (unless absolutely necessary), and was happy to find two skeins of Elsbeth Lavold Classic AL in my collection. It was perfect for the Rib-and-Cable Mitts (Ravelry Link) pattern from Interweave Knits from Spring 2006. I used some left over Brown Sheep Handpaint Originals from my stash for the borders, and when that ran out I subbed in some brick-colored Donegal tweed, also left over from an old project. (amazingly the colors blend together well, and you can't really tell unless you look closely).Mom seemed really surprised and pleased by the mitts. I really hope they wear better than the Fetchings did. Hopefully the Classic AL is a better yarn...

Notes! I made the hand about an inch longer than specified, since I like to keep my knuckles warm. Hopefully mom does too!

running (for a cure)

I think I mentioned a few months back that I'd started running. It all began in mid-February, when 3 people asked in one week if I was a runner, and then my friend Joanna (who was then visiting from Seattle) asked me if I wanted to run with her before I went to work. She and I ran for about a mile in the park, and it was completely glorious to be outside for an extended period in the winter. Joanna also talked about her recent conversion to running, and I was struck with the inspiration to start training on my own.

I think I should mention that I've tried running before, but without success. In middle school we had to run a timed mile every year, and it was something I dreaded for months ahead of time. In high school I actually quit playing lacrosse because I hated running so much, and in college I used to jog with a friend of mine, but we never went more than a mile. Even more recently I have run sporadically in the park, but again never went farther than about a mile.

This time, I downloaded some Couch-to-5k podcasts. The program involves running 3 times a week over the course of 9 weeks, and eases you into running in a very manageable way. About half way through my program, I realized that I'd reach the goal (5k) around the time my cousins run their annual Race for the Cure 5k in Philadelphia, which is held yearly on Mother's Day. They invited me to join them, and my runs began to take on a purpose.

Needless to say, last week was week 9 of my training and the race was on Sunday morning. Last Monday I ran my first 3 miles at the gym (the rain kept me indoors) and on Thursday afternoon I ran what I thought was about 3 miles in the park. And on Sunday morning, after a nervous night's sleep, I found myself here:

That's me waving to my cousins across the crowd.

My cousins are Real Runners, meaning that they do things like train for marathons, and one of them has a treadmill in her garage. In the period leading up to the race, they kept telling me that I'd find the race to be a piece of cake, that it was only 5 kilometers. Well, they were right. The worst part was probably the first third of the race, when I couldn't stop coughing (I think I had a bug in my throat or something) and then I got a stitch in my right side. My cousin's husband (also a marathon runner, who was running with us) advised me to reach my right hand over my shoulder and to lean back a little. The stitch went away almost immediately, and the rest was downhill (well, not literally, but it felt much easier). We finished the race in about 32 minutes.

Christopher, who didn't sleep the night before due to my nervous tossing and turning, dragged himself down and took some photos of me at the finish line. He's a good sport.I shouldn't forget to mention the fact that we were running in order to raise money for Breast Cancer. I raised $140 from donations. There were roughly 35,000 people participating in the run/walk, and I found being in that crowd rather sobering. Many people (including my cousins and I) were running in memory of a loved one, and some had signs celebrating their mom or sister or whatnot. Perhaps I was feeling overwhelmed by the race and early hour anyway, but while Christopher and I were wandering around trying to find my cousins I must have cried 3 or 4 times reading people's signs. Once I found my cousins, they advised me to stop reading people's signs, since they were so upsetting. Good idea.Anyway, I did it! and it wasn't such a big deal. Strangely, now that I've reached my goal, I don't feel like running anymore. I know that this is a mistake, that I should keep going, even if it's just to maintain my distance, but it's hard to get out there and run!