I'd like to translate the gorgeous pattern on this apple to cloth. Seriously, click on the image to enlarge it. It's fabulous!

If I ate the apple - one a day to keep the doctor away - maybe then I would not have awakened in the early hours a few days ago, wondering what hideous new pain was besetting my body. I am greatly indebted to the awesome volunteers of the West Redding Volunteer Fire Department. Not only did they quickly arrive at my house and carry me away to the hospital, they also managed to convince me I really did want to put on pants first. In my defense, I was a bit delirious, partly from having put up with the pain for an hour or so and mostly from having found some narcotics leftover from a dental procedure. In the ambulance, Celia kept me calm and and Joe (I think his name was Joe, but Doug says it was John) gave me morphine. And once I had enough morphine in me, they both politely listened while I attempted to tell a somewhat off color joke I had seen on Facebook. Here's the joke:

Maybe part of the reason I find this to be funny is because my "old man" is finally going to retire, after a mere 44 years with IBM. I am so happy that he is going to be free to pursue what interests him. We have been nudging him toward retirement for quite a while now. I began to believe he might just never make the leap. It will be interesting to see what he does since he has many talents.

For a happy and delicious wrap up, let me share what I did as a result of visiting Gwen Buchanan's glorious blog, Desideratum.