spring feverishness

image found on facebook

We’re home from Southern California, where we enjoyed a break from the snow! And just like it says in all the brochures, San Diego was sunny and warm… for the first day anyway. Perhaps you saw the palm tree photo posted on my Knitting With Heart facebook page? Those sunshiny pixels were captured upon our checking-in at the Hotel Hilton San Diego/Del Mar. That’s the spot, right next to the hotel’s courtyard fire pit, where we spent the afternoon and ate dinner! It was sure nice to relax like that, especially since we’d left our house at 4:00 AM 🙂

Then it rained the next day.

The airport taxi driver was the first to mention rain in the forecast. Apparently, it had not rained much for about a year, So of course we were (tried to be) happy for their sake. And sure enough, the rain came… and kept coming until after we left 😦 Oh well, ‘guess we’ll need to sharpen our “happy dance” steps so as not to summon the rain clouds during future celebratory capers 😉

Seriously though, we were just happy to be there. We were attending the Soft Bones educational meeting for hypophosphatasia (HPP) on “Rare Disease Day” (February 28th) in San Diego. My husband has this ultra-rare, debilitating and possibly fatal metabolic bone disease for which there is no cure. This trip was an opportunity for us to connect with others who have HPP and/or researchers working to find a cure for HPP. Indeed, it was exciting to meet with others who have been living with the same disease-related difficulties that we’ve been burdened with. More exciting, was to hear news that research has advanced far enough to make a real difference in the lives of children who are born with HPP. Our continuing hope and prayer is that the unprecedented advances in research will accelerate until an adult-appropriate cure is discovered! Thanks for hoping and praying with us!

Image by Sue Krug, used with permission.

En route home, at the San Diego airport, we stopped in at the duty-free shop and met a lovely Chanel cosmetics rep named Belen. We had rushed to the airport that morning, and I had not given much effort to how I looked… So of course, that’s when you meet up with someone who will analyze your make-up … lol … But she was very sweet. And so there we were, standing in the store while she applied my make-up. I mentioned how I’d like to include her in this blog post about our trip and got her business card. Well, do you know what? Belen is Belen Sanchez of Biblia Fashion… one very talented fashion designer and professional make-up artist, that’s all! Wow… I love that!

Then it was time for us to fly back home. My aircraft craft of choice for this trip was to finger-knit a few balls of newspaper yarn, which I’d spun beforehand. Have you tried finger knitting? It makes a great carry-on project! Intriguing for some onlookers too. The retired university professor seated next to me called it “ingenious”  🙂

Finally, after a 7 hour (SEVEN hour) stopover in Calgary (Calgary is approximately 3 hours by car or half an hour in the air from home) we arrived to our door at 1:00 AM. The rather nippy night air welcomed us at -31°C feels like -43°C (-24°F feels like -46°F). Those temperatures, by the way, didn’t budge much until just a few days ago… brrrrrrrrr!!! But NOW… our entire forecast is positively above normal and feels like spring!!! 🙂

It also feels like that nasty influenza, which took me by storm 3 days prior to flying south is finally nearly done for good. It had all but vanished throughout our San Diego stay (and seemed like the fastest recovery in history!). But then wouldn’t you know it… the closer we got to home? the sicker I got! So for the past week, I’ve been dragging myself around, breaking a sweat trying to do the tiniest tasks and basically living in the daze of influenza. But those days are now (hopefully) over! I rarely if ever get sick, but do believe that the tub of honey with cinnamon home remedy I was medicating with really helped me spring forward and get back to good health 🙂

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Wishing you happy spring fever! ❤ Jackie