Looking back, moving forward

One of my last finished craft projects - a hat designed by Hunter Hammersen

 My old blog, No Sampler left behind hasn't been updated in 6 years.  Looking back on those old posts I can see that I really enjoyed writing about the minutia of my days, but sometimes the pressure I put on myself to craft so that I had something to write about was too great and weeks, often months or years would pass before I felt I had something to report about.

These last couple of years particularly have been difficult times (well, yes everyone had tough pandemic I guess), last year we had 3 family deaths in within about a week of each other and it was all a bit too much.  I'll just take a moment to remember my mother in law, Miriam, my uncle Bryan and my Dad's Partner, Karen. They are all still in our thoughts. Miriam's was the most difficult death for me, as she lived in a town 4 hours drive away and my husband ended up being her primary care giver during the last 6 months of her life as cancer took her.  I won't lie, it was hard to say goodbye to him each time he took off to take care of her (my work was not as flexible as his and we lived apart for much of last year).

Vale Felix - sadly missed.

During our time apart I painted our bedroom, arranged new furniture for that space, tried not to mope too much (much moping ensued, regardless), became a master at shaking the cocktail tins and played with my new little cat, Chino.  Some of you might remember Felix, my previous cat.  He passed away in August 2020 after a long happy life with us (he was 20).  During the last years of his life he developed a thyroid condition, diabetes and a kidney condition but he was pretty stoic (and was a beloved pet).  Then in December 2020 we attended an adoption event and Chino entered our lives.  Chino is a fun little bundle of energy who is a lovely friend to Tripitaka our other cat.

Chino Bean, just turned two!

This year, Western Australia opened it's borders again and My Dad has visited twice from Adelaide and is planning another trip soon at the end of November.

I'm turning 50 in two years and am starting to plan to go overseas, perhaps to France with friends and my sister in law.  It's time to get excited about the future again.