Binding the Nightingale... and Real Life

I've chosen this brightly colored striped fabric for the binding of the Nightingale quilt.  (You can get the tutorial here.)

I've added the binding to it.

And now I'm hand sewing it down.

So that's the quilty side of things. Two days after Christmas my mom's boyfriend called me (remember she is 91 and he is almost 89) to tell me he was having stomach cramps and his doctor's office told him to go the ER. He wanted me to go over and stay with my Mom, who is a bit unsteady on her feet.

I threw some clothes on, grabbed ingredients so I could make some soup for lunch, and drove right over.

We all know how slow getting through the ER can be, and this was no difference. He was not seen until nine hours later, when it was discovered he had a kink in his colon, and needed a procedure to unkink it. They gave him the procedure and kept him overnight.

I slept in the guest room.

The next morning we discovered he would need surgery to fix it and they wanted to keep him a few days.

My sister came over to replace me, and his daughter came up a day or two later. On Monday the hospital discharged him, but his surgery has been scheduled for next week. The thing is, the surgery is a Very Big Deal and being almost 89, it's an even bigger deal with at least a week's recovery. Which means that during that time my mother's caregiver will need a caregiver and she can't do it.

Which prompted my brothers to ask what would happen to Mom if the awful awful happened to her boyfriend.

So it's been a challenging few days and that's what's been keeping me from blogging.

Happy New Year 2025!