Three generations of Sollas

Three months ago, I woke up from a month-long chemically induced coma. During the time I was out, my mother came up from Florida twice. I can't imagine being in her shoes... the parent watching their offspring tied to a gurney so as to not pull out all the various tubes and hoses and wires keeping me alive.

My mother spent Christmas afternoon and evening in a panic, waiting for my sister to fly in from England. Only problem was that she was held up in Detroit because of the Holiday Terrorist. Apparently the plane that arrived just before hers made it so that they had to wait on the tarmac for over three hours. Luckily, they eventually released the planes and passengers and Mag made her way to Florida.

As sort of a post-Christmas gift surprise, my mom and sister came up to visit before New Year's. I don't think there has ever been a time when my house has ever held three generations of Solla women. Listening to Aurora cackling like a turkey, totally bowled over laughing, I realized that she, my mother and my sister all have the same laugh. And here it was; all this laughter in my house.

My mother and sister hadn't seen me walk out of the hospital. They hadn't been there when I made any of my "firsts" in PT. More than anything else, they just wanted to see that I was alive, intact and functional. Nevermind that I had already told them this via phone, email and through the blog. They needed to see it.

I am starting to understand now.

Today, I can say with a smile of pride (as though I had something to do with it... not really)...
that all of the horrendous holes that the surgeon drilled into me before Christmas are finally HEALED! I have no more holes in my abdomen!!! Nancy and I celebrated last night by NOT doing a wound change before bedtime. This means so much to me. Most of all, it means I can have my normal routine again. Showering first thing in the morning has always been my way of waking up... since I was a pre-teen. Now I can not only do that, I can manage the post-wound care needs on my own. And best of all... it doesn't hurt.

So what does all of this mean? It means I can begin to work out harder at the gym at PT. It means I can stretch out my walks farther each day. It means that when the winter passes I can start getting out on my bike again. It means I lived.

Playing with light and shadow

Just a short posting tonight. Yesterday was spent relaxing and cleaning. Sounds simple enough, right? My hope was to go out and spend the morning shooting pictures in the amazing winter light. We were able to get a few good shots, but the ground was muddy instead of frozen and that made things more difficult. I also was ill prepared for how cold my fingers could get in just a few moments. In reading other photographer's blogs, they often comment on simple solutions for keeping one's fingers intact in cold weather. Today wasn't even close to fridgid... I think the high was nearly 37 degrees. Suffice to say that your fingers might not freeze to the metal legs of the tripod... but they SURE feel like they will. Ouch!

These few pictures were shot during our holiday festivities at Nancy's parent's home. Shot with ambient light (not much) and a single flash shot through a white umbrella. There is so much I am trying to learn about flash photography, and none of this is coming easy. Fun, sure. Easy, not so much.

Christmas Fun

Maybe this will ensure that her hockey stick always has fresh tape!

Gran looking most intently.

I think it is safe to say, Aurora had a wicked good Christmas!

We celebrated our holidays this year with Nancy's parents in Corning. Somewhere between the most sinful melange of bread pudding and french toast (yes, this was one dish!)... and the turkey that appeared mid-afternoon, we were joined by the Abbey family. This brought the fun level right over the top. What a splendid way to spend Christmas.

Glenn Abbey had a chance to sit a spell and visit.

Erik Abbey looking mighty happy to be home (and not on an airplane) for a bit

Mrs. Abbey joining us for a round of cookies before we started in on the bird.

Dennis (and his camera) made the rounds too!

Family Visiting for the Afternoon

Today around 2pm, we had Nancy's folks show up with her Aunts Roberta and Charmaine and her cousin Judy joining them. Fantastic fun way to spend the afternoon of a gloriously beautiful day.

We didn't get a ton of time to socialize this visit but we did get a brief walk around the garden and a short demonstration in the studio. I hope the next time we do this, we can time it with a nice long meal at Hazelnut.

Boccadori/Burdick family reunion in Archibald PA

I am not sure it is really possible to describe this weekend's family reunion in Archibald PA. I dont think we have had a family gathering like this for at least four years. For this reunion everyone was there! Enjoy the slide show. (if you find any images that you would like high-res jpgs of, please let me know. Always happy to email them!)