Did you hear that HUGE noise??.......

It was the sound of the big rock....being pushed away from the front of the cave.  Yes, I'm coming out of my cave....finally!

As I write this, I realize it's been almost a month since my last post.  A new record I think.  Well, some things have been happening..... Lets see.  We had a visit from our son and we met Ellen, the love of his life!  (Nothing makes a mom happier than seeing her kids happy and content.  He seems very much so.....much to my delight!)  We took a nice long, relaxing road trip, and then I had a little "event" with my eye.  I only write about it now, as had I written sooner, it would have been an invitation to the Pity Party.

So...lets start with the vacation:

We took a somewhat meandering trip through South Dakota, hitting all the normal tourist stops.  Mt. Rushmore, of course was on the list, looking much the same as last time we visited, although the visitor's center was much different.

It allowed me to play with my new camera's zoom setting.  These two photos taken from the same spot.

The Badlands were just as awesome as ever!

 The wildlife was abundant.....MUCH to my husband's delight!

 

 

We eventually made our way to Custer State Park, where we had a cabin reserved for us at Blue Belle Lodge.

Sofee got to go with us, and after a few days, her allergies were much improved.  She is back on meds now, but managed to get some relief while we were in S. Dakota.  Her eyes are still much better.  Hopefully Iowa will get a hard freeze soon!

 

We had stayed at Blue Belle Lodge when our kids were very small, and the cabins were not nearly as nice as this!  We had a peaceful, relaxing time.  Hope to return some day.....sooner rather than later, actually. 

 

 And of course, the Buffalo.....amazing!   That is one thing that my kids still remember - the buffalo outside of our cabin, all those many years ago.  oh - and jumping on the bed too. 

 We had never seen Devil's Tower, and it was quite impressive. 

 See those climbers!  Nuts!  Actually, one of the gals in my TNKG climbed it this spring.  They actually had to come down in the dark, as they lost daylight.  I can't even imagine!

Coming home through Minnesota, we accidentally ran into a huge Rendezvous... quite fun! 

Anyway...I think you'll get the idea.  We had a nice little get-away.  We love road trips on the fall, and needless to say, Sofee LOVES going with us.

I did a tad bit of shopping,

picking up these "Castle Fibers" batts.  I have never spun from batts, and looking forward to giving these a try.

 I also picked up the three 50grms skeins of sock yarn (on the right) for BG socks.  They came from a very nice shop called "Athena Fibers", but I'm not sure of the town. (Souix Falls, thanks Robin) The one on the left came from Knitpicks, of course, and the OnLine came from my LYS, Charity's.  I've been on the hunt for 50gr balls of yarn, as his socks take such small amount of yardage.

So, that brings us up to date on the travels and the shopping.  Now the eye.  On Saturday, the 9th, early in the morning, I saw bright flashes of light out of the corner of my right eye.  The strangest thing ever!  It was dark, and actually I thought someone was taking flash photography for a minute.  Totally scared me, as I was home alone at the time.  Shortly thereafter, my vision in my right eye diminished considerably.  A trip to the Urgent Care, where the totally stumped physician consulted with an ophthalmologist who agreed to see me on Monday.  So, I went home with some "things to look out for", and little else.

Monday came, and DH took me to the Opthalmologist.  He was happy to tell me that I did not have a detached retina, or not even a torn retina.  Apparently, the eye consists of a gel like substance (Vitreous fluid) that is enclosed in a kind of sack.  My sack had torn loose from the back of my eye and the entire thing was shifting forward.  The vitrious fluid was now more condensed, and "angry", and was causing me to see dark blurry shadows that were constantly moving within my eye.  I could focus occasionally, but for the most part I have been seeing "murky muck" out of my right eye for the past 10 days.  This doctor was so happy that I had nothing that needed surgery, but when I expressed concern about my compromised vision, he said eventually gravity "should" take care of it, and everything "should" settle down, and then murmered something about "getting used to it".  While I also did not relish the idea of any type of eye surgery, I have been very concerned, as I have seen no improvement in my vision.....until this morning!!!!  So, I am shouting from the rooftops!!!  I think it's getting better!  While the problem is still very much present, I have had a few moments today where my  vision seemed normal, as long as I didn't blink or move my eye at all.  That is a MAJOR improvement.  So....the Pity Party has been canceled.  I'm grateful that it's not any worse, and that we were home when it happened.  Oh.....he also said the same thing is happening to my left eye - but apparently it's a slower process with that one.  So, things are looking better.......

And what you really need to work on, when you have only one good eye is this:

I started hearing the Chrismtmas march while we were on vacation and decided that I needed to get on this as soon as I got home!  Little did I know it would be such a difficult project.

Not to mention the detail!  I am trying to get this advent calendar done in October.  This one will go home with BG.  I have another one I want to make to have at my house for him.  Hopefully I can get that one done during the month of November.  (Hopefully!)

And while I have not touched my spinning wheel in weeks, I am working on a pair of socks.  They will be a Christmas gift.  The pattern is a freebie from Ravelry, "Paraphernalia" is the name.  Cascade Heritage in a charcoal grey is the yarn.  I have the 2nd sock mid-leg, so it's coming along ok.

So, I'm glad to be out of the cave.  Hopefully in another week or so, my eye will be back to normal.  At least things are looking up as of this morning!

BG is doing fine with his preschool.  He is becoming quite the chatter box, putting quite a few words together into sentences these days.  It's amazing how quickly all that happens, once the door opens!  He's so much fun.  We will have him 24/7 for a week or so in November, as his parents are going to Hawaii for a little R&R.  I'm looking forward to it, although I'll be sooooooooo exhausted by the time they get home!  Sometimes being a grandma is a lot of work, but oh so much fun!

Take care all - nice to chat with you.  Sorry it's so long.