It was a mod woolly day....

It was Winter weather in these parts yesterday - and just on a pure fluke, I uploaded these original 1960s mod wools onto the site. Aren't they fabulous? All I could think of was mod, mod, mod...and those weird 1960s dance-styles that I hope come back one day! They have already started selling - but I have stock of all at the moment - right here.

New lovelies...and the week

My goodness - it's been a week? Where on earth did that week go? Oh yes - how could I forget. In doggie stitches, school holidays, basketball practice, arthritic days, lots of playing at playgrounds with the younger as the older 'doesn't play at playgrounds anymore', driving to nice places to sit and ponder, finishing The Bride Stripped Bare and starting the Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood.

And in-between there has been much fabric preparation - like these two photos, my current favourites - and fabric packaging and fabric posting and lots of email and Facebook chatter with lovely new and old (not figuratively) customers.

Spring has really sprung here - the mornings and evenings are warm and the air smells so sweet. I love this time of year...

Have a great day!

xNess

A great day...apart from the stitches

I have had a great day today - hurrah for great days! That is - it was great except for when Syd the Whippet decided he wanted to chase the magpie in the backyard and whacked into a three prong steel chicken post...running at full tilt. So then there was a vet visit to get his leg stitched up and back home with a Very. Sad. Whippet. Other than that scary glitch the day was fab, our customers are the best and I had fun chatting to peeps on Retro Age's Facebook page...but I am thinking FB is passe now seeing as so many peeps are leaving the FB flock, so I'm definitely slow on the uptake!

Side-by-side feels ever so nice...

When we're free of the business and the kidlets Justin and I are getting away from it all and just sitting side-by-side, taking five. Today it was the local pub for a sneaky beer (sorry, doctors - I didn't think one pint would hurt him?) and that cheered him up to no extent. Two more weeks of no driving, which is irritating him to no end. But today the speech is definitely better and the walking is getting there - there is exhaustion, irritability and general stubborness regarding the virus, but now that he is slowly showing improvement he is becoming more and more positive.

And that leaves me more time to get back to work and put up lots of new arrivals. Are you following us on Facebook, too? As I am putting up photos of the new arrivals daily, at the moment - it's a great way to keep in contact with me during the day and to get in early for sneak previews of fabric!

Back to work for me, now... no rest for wives of men with encephalitis!

Raggedy Ness...almost

This weekend was one of lazing in the sunshine, working on the paving in our courtyard and front of the house, reading books, laughing at funny old BBC comedy shows (is there anything like them today?) and working when I could. Justin is home and recuperating and I am glad to report his speech is improving daily...although his left side is still markedly sore and he still limps hither and thither. Nonetheless, there is improvement...and that is so important, even just a little bit a day.

The business is still rocking and rolling and I have been busy putting up some new arrivals this weekend. This little Miss - yes, it's Raggedy Anne - will be going up this week. I chose the photo as that is how I can imagine myself feeling soon - all bright and chuffed and in love with life. I am almost there - we are laughing, living and loving instead of worrying, crying and foreboding. It's been almost two weeks now since life slapped us in the face. But that slap has taught us so much....

I hope you had a lovely weekend!

xNess

And out peeps the ray of...

Today we found out it is a virus attacking Justin's brain - it causes stroke like symptoms and can cause brain damage, but at least we have a (kind of) diagnosis. In truth, the surgeons don't really know what they are dealing with, but that's what happens with neuroscience...we don't know the brain entirely, yet. The prognosis depends on how Justin's immune system fights the virus - some patients die at the start (!!), other recover 100% and others don't. So time will tell.

It's just a day at a time, peeps - life is literally just a day at a time. But at least a ray of hope has come into our lives...I couldn't help but admire the moon last night, peeping out from the clouds. As when the moon shone in it's glory, it lit out the environment so beautifully...you can't help but be hopeful when you see that beauty...

I am taking tonight off then I'll be back at work tomorrow. Now is the time to get some normality back into our lives...little by little.

xNess

What are you doing? Then do it. Simply do it.

Yes, life is a stretch at the moment....there is no doubt. Justin's diagnosis of a mild stroke will be confirmed this Wednesday, but we are fairly certain that's what it is. Thankfully, it was only mild and he has no permanent brain damage - but that doesn't help when you see him in pain, as his left side is very heavy and painful (he limps) and he stammers through his words. There has been daily improvements, so I am very hopeful he will recover 100% in due course. Every time I look at him I wonder at how this could happen to an otherwise healthy 37 year old. But apparently it does - "for no reason" says the surgeons. And apparently strokes in younger people are becoming more common.

Life must go on for us and I am finding myself just living for the day...for, who am I to say there will be a tomorrow? I find myself just focusing on tasks and enjoying simple things, reminding myself to try and enjoy even menial tasks as this is life and it is there to be enjoyed any which way you can.

The business is ticking over and we are putting time aside each day to allow me in to work.

I'll leave you with a strange conversation I 'had' when I was drifting off to sleep the other night.

A gentle male voice (in my head, but not!) asked me - "What are you doing?". I replied "going to sleep". And then this gentle voice came back and said "Then go to sleep. Simply fall asleep". And then another conversation started, with identical words, when I was thinking of my tasks for the following day. The voice said "what are you doing?". I replied "doing the dishes". And the voice quietly said "Then do the dishes. Simply do the dishes." I  don't know where this came from, but this conversation definitely helped put my thinking back into perspective - to focus on what is in front of me, not what is ahead of me, and to be gracious while doing it and to enjoy the time. That conversations has popped back into my head so many times over the past couple of days and has helped to calm me down when things just get too much.

Onwards and upwards.

xNess

Without warning it struck

I am going to keep this short as I could be here all night telling you about my last three days...but I want to spend tonight with the man I love. Because on Tuesday afternoon he was admitted to our local Emergency Department as a category three (high) as everyone thought he'd had a stroke. After many tests and sleepless nights and long days we were finally told today that he hasn't had a stroke, but something like it that will put him in to speech rehabilitation for several weeks. The brain is a funny thing. The doctors don't really know what caused this, but the cerebellum isn't sending out the correct messages to the lower face/throat - or, if it is, the messages aren't getting through correctly.

On Tuesday I thought he was going to die. When I left hospital at 1.30am he thought it was 1995.
On Wednesday I thought he would never be the same again. Doctors were preparing us for the worst.
Today I have hope that our life will return to normal. He is now home, recuperating.

I can't tell you how quickly it happened. He started the sentence talking fine and ended it without being able to say the word. In a micro-second life changed.

I never want to fear of losing him again. My heart felt like it had stopped.

Live for the day, peeps - don't care for the 'morrow until it arrives.

xNess

Go on! Make a wish!

I took some time out to sit in the sun and have a ponder at what I was accomplishing today. And this little beauty reared up it's gorgeous head and swayed in the breeze in front of me. I should pluck it and make a wish, I instantly thought. Then I thought, no, best to wait for the boys to see it and make their own wishes. But then I wanted to offer the fun of making a wish to everyone, so I took a shot of the said beauty for the blog.

Go on! Make a wish! I'll blow the petals off tomorrow and send your wishes into the universe...

Little tidbits

It's Spring and so many gorgeous birds are about. They wake me up in the morning, break my reveries during the day and then hearing them gather their family to their tree-homes in the early evening is always a delight.
Watching birds flying in a heavy wind can also be entertaining (especially if you're lying on a blanket in the backyard with your two boys). We get lots of exotic birds here - and lots of seagulls and sparrows as well. The beach was a bit blustery today.

Thank goodness for unique fabrics...I love them.

Back together - the end of an era

Today. What a strange, cathartic and awful day rolled into one. It was one of those days that couldn't decide what it wanted to be - drizzly or sunny.



This is the rose that my Nan and Pop are now interred near - they are around 60cm in front of it, but it is their bush.



It is wonderful to see new growth on the bush - it's a timely reminder that life, even in death, keeps going.



And so here they are. Married in 1948 and parted when Pop died in 2004. It wasn't a perfect marriage by a long shot, but they were two lovely people who I adored my whole life.

Unfortunately today was ruined by my Aunt taking away my carnation stems from the bottom of the rose bush, angrily saying they were desecrating my Nan's grave. We are a broken family and have been for many years - but unfortunately my Aunt carried a lot of anger and couldn't contain herself, even on this special day.

Nonetheless, I am so glad they are finally resting together - and, you know what? I got a giggle this afternoon - as they are 'resting' on the 'same side of the bed they slept on'. How apt.

I am glad I will never see my Aunt again. And I am bereft I shall never see my Nan and Pop again. But that is life and I intend to live it as it should be - with family and with love.