Columbus OH

New Year's greetings to you all!

But as you can see from the heading for this post, we still are stuck in Columbus. No visiting this winter -- and we miss you all terribly -- especially the grandchildren. (OK. We also will miss the warm weather, the sunny skies, and the irresponsibility of the Gulf coast.)

The countdown continues, with Bobbi scheduled to go under the knife next Tuesday -- then invalidism for a prolonged but indefinate period. We will forced to some rather extreme adaptions: Bobbi will require a hospital bed for some time, and because of the narrow doorways and right angle turns, the only practical place to put it will be in the living room. Not that this is unprecedented -- we did the same thing 14 years ago when she fractured her ankle.

She also will be on total bed rest for a while, then in a removable turtle-shell body cast for a while, then no weight bearing for some more time, then slow rehab to increase weight bearing. The surgeon said to figure on 6 mo off from work -- what do poor or even middle-class people do?

Paul has arranged his affairs so he can act as nurse for Bobbi, just as he did for her mother. This will be a tremendous help because Lew is limited to lifting no more than 15# -- Paul can go up to 50#! And both have to sleep sometime.

Without grandma, holidays were quite different this year. The three children did Thanksgiving their own way. Bobbi and Lew took carryout to our priest-friend who was in a nursing home recuperating from his foot surgery. But the siblings did try to get together for an "old-fashioned" Christmas at Rhonda's house. They did plan a menu like grandma always used (actually great-grandma Georgia May's), but deviated here and there -- primarily in having less of everything. And there was no gift-opening. Everyone's house already was crammed to the rafters with the contents of grandma's house and her two cousins'. So the sibs agreed to give the money to charities in each other's names, and share the names of the recipients at the dinner. It worked out well enough, but there still was a pall over the festivities. New Year's was even less notable -- we pretty much avoided exposing ourselves to the streets because everyone stayed home, slept in, and did nothing.

Throughout the holidays we did sit around writing and addressing Christmas cards, in no particular order -- and we still are not finished. So please don't be offended if you are one of the later recipients; after all, in past years we have been sending out Christmas cards in April and May. We're not snubbing anyone, we're just disorganized. Maybe Bobbi will be able to catch up during her convalescence.

Stay tuned.