Wednesday, Mom's going home

     Mom is going home today and I will miss her. We have had so much fun.  Yesterday we made 33 pints of huckelberry jam.  She has all her things packed up, we are just waiting on laundry.  She is sick this morning, but she is often sick to her stomach.  I just worry about her traveling while she is not feeling good. Every time I am with her I think this is not good she really needs to live with somebody.   I find her biggest problem is that she can't see.  It is scary how much she covers up.  But working with her and seeing her once impeccable work is proof that she is going blind. 

     She cannot see directions to read them.  She really should not be sewing anymore.  I think she does much more by touch than she realizes. Much of the ironing she did will have to be touched up, but some of it was great.  Again she works by touch and feel, but with a hot iron? Yikes. Making jam was a eye opener.  I had to watch her like a hawk as her attention span is poor.  I caught her not following directions and pots boiling over, not cleaning jars so they would seal.  She loves to do these kind of things but with her vision it is just too dangerous. If she wants to continue to have these hobbies she will have to move here.  I am really anxious about her driving.  She only drives during the day, but even that is a danger as far as I am concerned.

     I made a delicious shrimp pasta with a salad last night.  I found the shrimp in the freezer obviously left over as the bag was half empty.  The house keeper is upstairs and I need to get work done in the shop today.  I have not been very productive this week.  I have plenty to do.  Need to start carrying mom's stuff down stairs and pull the sheets off her bed.  It will be a lonely room now until she is back.

     I sat and figured out how much it would cost you if you had to buy all the ingredients for homemade huckleberry jam and it came out to $3.00 a jar.  Know wonder they charge the outrageous prices they do for it.  I try to recycle my jars, and people do return them.  I also wait until the end of the season and buy new on markdown.  Seals can be purchased for under a $1.  I stock up.  Our blueberries should produce enough next year and that will also be a savings. In the mean time the choice is to use a tank of gas or buy the berries.  With mom it was buy the berries.  Can't you see me out in the high mountains with this deaf, blind woman with a cane stumbling through the brush?  Yes, yes, some of you can:)

Have a great and productive day!

Kim