A very exhausting week.

It's been a very exhausting week.

Early last week, Karyn's grandfather was in hospital, having chemo for a recurrence of brain cancer. Karyn's parents were driving from NY state to OH in order to be with him and his wife, and to help out when he came out of hospital. While they were still an hour out of OH, Karyn's uncle called them to say that her grandmother had fallen, hit her head, and was in a coma and not expected to last very long. The next day, Thursday, they took her off life support, but vital signs didn't look good. She passed away in the early hours of Friday morning.

Saturday, Karyn and I drove up to just outside of Akron, OH. Sunday was the visitation, and Monday was the funeral. Both days were pretty hard. But it was good to see family again, some Karyn hadn't seen in a very long time, and that I'd not met before.

Tuesday, and we leave to drive home. About 100 miles east of Indianapolis, still in Ohio, we are involved in a 5 car pile up. A large truck that I was about to pass decided to pull into our lane, I braked to avoid it, and we're hit from behind, and additional cars join in. We're the front car and not liable, and the car isn't damaged so badly that we can't get home, but we make arrangements to stop with friends in Indianapolis for the night to give us some breathing room.

We're now home, and the car is in the shop, and we're doing OK, though transportation is going to be problematic for us :(

Obama's elf!

Scary Knitting

Home!

I'm home. Tired. More later.

I know, I know

I've not posted nearly enough while I've been away, but I've been tired.

Tomorrow is the flight home, bags are packed, and the fun will be tomorrow getting to Heathrow...

Bedford, England

Our time near Bedford has been great - we spent new year here, along with 3 family birthdays. My nephew and niece are all grown up (15 and 14 respectively - they were 11 and 10 when we last saw them), and my mum and dad are doing pretty well.

I've also managed to see Simon and Vicki (who I was at university with) and their two sons, eating at a Mongolian Barbecue (which Simon pointed out is neither Mongolian, nor barbecue). We also had a game day where Jess (another friend who went to the same university), and her fiance Dave came and played boardgames with us.

I've also played at least one game each day of 2009 so far (excepting today, but I still have 4 hours to rectify that).

And I've managed to complete a sock, knit its mate, and start on a new pair.

It's sad that we are leaving for London tomorrow, but I hope it won't be quite so long before we see folks again.

In London, we have two gaming events planned, so the 2009 consecutive days gaming should continue. I even hope to get one on the plane on the way back, just to keep it going :) We'll also be seeing some old friends I've not seen in a while - some of them for 8 years or more.

I also hope to see some nice London yarn stores. Any recommendations?

Seeing family

My sister picked us up from the airport, and we had a good chat on the drive home through traffic (ahh... the M25... the world's largest car park). Hugs from Mum and Dad when we got home and lots more chatting. A bit later in the evening, my niece, Alice, came over to see us. Wow, has she grown. She was 9, nearly 10 when we saw her last, and now she's just turned 14. She's no longer a girl but a young woman.

All in all, it's good to be here, and relaxing, and having few obligations. Just what a holiday should be. I'm even doing very little thinking about work!