Another Hectic Day in the Kingdom of Shere

A busy week! And it's not over yet.

Spent a lot of time away from the PC yesterday and earlier today. Why? Beause my spotting brush (the fine pointed windsor/newton series #7) that I used to remove dust spots on photos with..disappeared. I think it was around 1:30 yesterday when I had a client drop by...I was spotting in my art room, put the brush down beside my palette of dyes and went up to the front. Dad wasn't in the studio--I was alone. The client stayed around for about 15 mins and left. I went back to my artist table and the brush was gone. This has happened before. In fact, when I used to retouch photos the old fashioned way, it happened almost daily.

I didn't finish my dust-spotting. Instead I moved over to my hand-tinting section and finished the prints I had to enhance. This morning I came in, hoping to see the brush where it should be...it wasn't. I checked everywhere. Then it occurred to me that I didn't check the spraying room... and there it was... lying by a can of laquer. How got there? I don't know. I didn't go into that room yesterday. If my dad was a practical joker type of guy, I would blame him..but he's not... he doesn't have the imagination and too, if he did something like that it would interfer with my work and lord knows, he loves $$$ too much to do that.

So I'll chalk that one up to the other ghostly things that has happened in the 11 yrs we've been in this old building.

Had to leave early yesterday. Mom and Lisa took the nephews to the fair, so that meant I had to pick up my brother John from work. I was ok with that...after being frustrated with the disappearing brush, I was ready to jet. Picked up John and he said he would treat me to dinner. Belly dance didn't start until 6:45 (actually its suppose to start at 6:30 but the instructor runs late), so I had time. We ate at a mom and pop restaurant that has a great grilled chicken casear salad. That's what I had. John had a steak.

We got home at 6 and I parked under the shelter at the barn, because Mom was spending the night. I always let her park under the carport. As I've said before, my brother has Cerebral Palsy and gets around on crutches. He can't bend his legs much and they are very thin. We have a silly game, I pretend to race him. Doing silly stuff like the 'time warp' Mork style or running backwards, in other words being silly... I did it for a moment and realized it was starting to sprinkle rain, so I ran inside...

I turned all the lights on, checked the answering machine and went to the kitchen window to see how close John was, so I could open the door for him. I was shocked...he was sprawled face down on the concrete floor of the carport. I ran out. His crutch tip had caught on a tuff of grass and sent him off balance. His elbows were scraped badly. I looked around for something sturdy for him to pull up on. There wasn't much, so I ran inside and brought back a dinette chair. He tried to use it but couldn't get his legs up under him. It was terrible. He tried and tried, exhausting himself. I know how a mother bird feels when a baby bird falls out of the nest and she's powerless to lift it back up.

There were no neighbors around to help. I suggested calling 911, but he vetoed me. I can't blame him, the last time our neighbor across the street's alarm system when off, 5 deputies, 3 fire trucks and 50 off duty volunteer firemen showed up. Since John couldn't get up, he decided to roll acros the concrete floor to the little platform I had made to replace the narrow step. Instead of a step, the platform is easier for John to step up on and get into the house. He rolled and I helped him crawl into the house by holding up his feet, so they wouldn't get caught on stuff. But calling it crawling is an understatement... actually he was dragging his legs behind him as he used his arms and elbows to move forward.

When he got inside, he laid there on the kitchen floor for a few minutes. I stood close by, quiet, trying to remain calm so that he wouldn't get distressed. He had no strength. He couldn't get up. Somehow he found energy to start down the hall to his room. He said his elbows and knees were in agony. About that time, Mom drove up. She had William with her. He came in first and showed me his fair stuff and started telling me about his fair trip. He saw John in the hallway and said, "Why is Uncle John on the fllor?"

I didn't answer him, I ran out and got Mom. Told her what happened and we ran back inside. There was William, on the floor beside John trying to explain how to crawl properly. I got William out fo the way, so Mom could talk to John about his injuries and to figure out a way to get him up. But William wouldn't stay out of the way, he said, "We've got to help Uncle John."

By this time, John had made it to the bedroom, but he had couldn't get up. About 40 mins had lapsed since his accident, so shock was setting in. I instructed William to stand in the doorway and tell us what to do (I did this too keep him out of the way--he demonstrated how John should do the "Peter Panda" dance like Vin Disel does in the Pacifier Movie--funny but at that time it wasn't. Will's thought it would work because there's a part where he lies on his back and then jumps up. He thought if John did that he could jump up). I grabbed John under one arm, Mom grabbed him under the other and we lifted until he could get his feet under him. When he did we helped him lie down and tended to his wounds.

This incident opened my eyes...I need to be better prepared for a house-hold accident, involving John. And get on his ass about exercising and making his arms stronger, losing some weight too... it takes time, and commitment to get in shape. I'm in the best shape I've been in years. But I'm not strong enough to lift a 200 lb man.

Anyway, John's sore today but he didn't sprain or break anything.