Fiber Festival of New England

I'm on the ferry, heading up to the Eastern States Exposition for the Fiber Festival of New England.  This is the last away show of the year for me, and I have to say, it will be a relief to stay put in Greenport for awhile. Barb and I will once again be in booth 457 East, with lots of delicious wool for rug hooking and appliqué, as well as miniature needle punch supplies and finished goods.  So come and see us!

This year has been remarkable for me on the rug hooking side: my work was featured in my friend Tracy Jamar's wonderful book Coils, Folds, Twists and Turns: Contemporary Techniques in Fiber (I have a few copies to sell this weekend), and I was invited to teach and vend at Sauder Village Rug Week -- an honor and a delight, to be sure.  My work will also be included in a show at the V.S.O.P. Gallery in Greenport -- more on that to follow.

On the personal side, dealing with Pete's T-PLL (a rare and very aggressive type of Leukemia) has been life-changing, to say the least.  We live with many restrictions, but Pete has sailed through the process of chemo and the stem cell transplant with relative ease -- until a few weeks ago.  The disease has reared its horribly ugly head again, and his white blood cell count is climbing.  He received a boost of donor stem cells that had been frozen back in April on Friday.  Wednesday he began a round of a chemo drug to boost the efficacy of the donor cells.  At the end of a long day at the clinic, he was diagnosed with a blood clot in his left leg and had to be taught to inject himself with a blood thinner.  Thursday morning he faced debilitating nausea.  That's under control now, or I wouldn't have left him for the weekend (some special neighbors are keeping a watchful eye on him for me).  

The coming year will see us continuing the battle for Pete's health, as well as planning our daughter's wedding to be held on the shores of Peconic Bay next September.  It's so good to have something joyous to plan and participate in, in between trips to the clinic. We look forward to having Clara, Josh and their golden retriever puppy, Bernadette, with us at home often in the coming months while we plan and execute the wedding of their dreams.

I started writing this because of all the sickly people on the ferry this morning.  So many people are coughing and sneezing and spreading germs and really should be at home.  I have managed -- with lots of prolonged hand-washing and gallons of Purell and lots of Clorox wipes - to stay healthy for the past year so that Pete can stay healthy, too.  A cold is no longer just a cold to me, now that I know what a catastrophe it can be to a person with a compromised immune system.  All you sickies should be home in bed until you are no longer contagious! Someone's life may depend on it!  I'm going to be royally ticked off if I get sick from a ferry ride . . .