Last Friday in VT

I wrote another post, then reread it and decided it was not for public consumption. I'll try again!

Rainy Friday today, our last in VT. We leave next week. We've just puttered today; I did some work for my online writing class while Taciturn researched bonds online. We celebrate the new fridge that was delivered to our vacation digs yesterday. We no longer have to use an ice chest to keep items cool.

As exciting as it was to visit with my mother by phone for the first time in a month, to hear her so weak was disturbing. But she has been through a lot this past month, so she is entitled to weakness. At least she can speak.

We've enjoyed our time in the Green Mountain State, despite all of the craziness with Mom. Vermont offers so much to do and see. The genuine friendliness of its people is a lovely thing. We'll miss it after we leave.

It'll be good to get back into our own house with our own things and back to our routine, though.

The Beat Goes On

Only three full days have passed since we hit the Green Mountain State. We love our digs. Never mind the intermittent Internet, the warm refrigerator, and the elderly gas stove that requires each burner to be lit just before use; the views are spectacular and the bird songs are just the thing to get a person up and going in the morning.

But, Mom's infection is not going away. She was going to be moved out of ICU but her surgeon decided against it. Tomorrow she will go into surgery again to undergo either a surgical debridement of her worse off leg or the amputation of the remainder of that leg. Something might happen somewhere in between, of course. I talked to my brother at lunchtime on the cell phone and that is what he told me. He continues to think it is awful I'm not there with him. Of course, if I wasn't in VT I'd be at my house in the Black Hills. I would not be in MO at this point in her surgical recovery.

Her condition does give us a sense of urgency to see as much as we can as quickly as we can, just in case we don't have as much time as we had planned to see what we want to see. We are up and "at 'em" just a bit later than the sun and go until we drop. Tomorrow we head to the state capitol after we take an early am hike. And sometime tomorrow, if the intermittent Internet permits, I need to work on my creative writing class. Besides writing, we are learning to give and receive criticism. I've read my online classmates' stuff, and need to contribute my thoughts in a coherent and useful way.

And as I work and play, I will keep Mom in my prayers.