Oooof

Let's catch up on what's been happening around here.

Two weeks ago we traveled back east so that I could visit with my sister, Kit could swim in her pool, and Ethan and Oliver could go look at some colleges. 

 Oooooof, things really didn't go as planned. Sorry for the gore. 

On our first day there, Kit fell on some rocks and completely split open his knee. He was unbelievably stoic and brave about the whole thing. This cut was very deep and in the worst place possible, as the knee had to be immobilized to prevent it from reopening -never mind that now the pool was off limits.

The other thing is that keeping Kit from taking off his brace and digging at the cut has required 24 hour surveillance. For real. One of us has been watching and sleeping with Kit for 2 weeks now and counting. Thank goodness I had my sister to help me and that she's watched countless hours of Grey's A so as to know how to redress a wound. :/ And, of course, because no one is perfect, he's managed to get to his cut and reopen it more than once. We are hoping that by the end of this week he will be completely healed and things can get back to normal around here. 

Aside from that major bummer, we still enjoyed our trip. To fill the day, we twice rode the train and back a couple towns over. The sweet conductor let Kit wear his hat.

We took some nice walks down my sister's dirt road.

We got a surprise visit from some naughty cows that escaped from their farm. 

We had some nice and dramatic weather. 

After four days of healing, we devised a triple barrier waterproofing system for Kit's knee so that he could finally go in the pool, which is his absolute favorite pastime.

We grilled out and ate great food and I got to see and bond with my family.

I did a bit of junking with Ethan.

Ethan and I snuck away one afternoon to photograph this incredible local building. It had been newly fenced off but we walked around its entire perimeter and miraculously neither got ticks or poison ivy.

I have long been fascinated by abandoned or former institutional buildings. When I was a more reckless youngster, I admit that I trespassed to many a property on more than one occasion.

This guy inherited the same gene.

In case you're wondering, this beauty is Halcyon Hall, which was built in 1893 as a hotel but became a boarding school (Bennett School for girls) in the early 20th century and later expanded into a women's college. It closed in 1978.

So now I'm back in SF but all projects are at a standstill until this wound heals. I've got a few things I'm contemplating: I want to buy a new vintage sewing machine and sew some larger coil bowls, and I've got a bunch of painting projects lined up -both boys rooms need paint, as does the trim on the back deck. I'd also like to wallpaper the sewing room....