daffodils, Barrie with yarn, Elsie & Cookie a duex

Another 22 degree day when we got up on Sunday (1/26), brr_r_r_r!  We had a leisurely breakfast, after which I headed to my studio to work on a few things while Michael cleaned up the kitchen.  He took a picture of what we think are daffodils coming up outside:

They’re gonna get CREAMED by this weather.  Michael took Cookie for a short walk and left at 1 PM for golfing here at SCCL with Phil, while I continued to work on a knitting project.  I got cleaned up and changed in the late afternoon and Ann Mary picked me up at 5 and we headed to the Terrace Café in Ballentyne.  There were 8 ladies there, toasting Sandra McCalister who is returning to Texas.  She has been a GREAT addition here at SCCL and we are very sorry to see her go.  She was in "ARSENIC & OLD LACE" with Michael, so he had someone to carpool with during the long drive into Charlotte for rehearsals.  I was home by 8 and relaxed and read for the rest of the night.

I got cookie dough done early Monday morning (1/27) in preparation for Barrie to come and show me how to work with royal icing, but I got a call from Sally at 9 AM letting me know that Jimmy had died in the wee morning hours.  Although Michael and I are both tremendously sad that Jimmy is gone, we are glad that he didn’t suffer a lot at the end and that his family was with him.  I headed downstairs to send out the notice:

It is with both sadness and joy that I write to you to let you know that Jimmy Aurigemma died early this morning, surrounded by his family and loved ones. Sadness of course because we will never see his smiling face again...talk to him about Panthers football...watch him enjoy a meal...or whack a long drive from the black tees. Joy because he struggled a bit at the end and now he is at peace with God.

No one could have put up a better fight than Jimmy did against his horrible diagnosis and he retained his humor and good nature and fight until the end.

Plans are still tentative at this point....the family is hoping to have services on Friday...I will send out details as I get them. Please continue to pray for the family and for everyone who knew Jimmy...the holes in our hearts due to his passing will not soon be gone.

Somehow Barrie & I didn’t really feel like doing cookies at that point, so we sat and knit and talked about yarn.  She said she wanted to be in my will for part of my yarn stash J…and that gave me an idea.  I have had red, fingering weight alpaca for about 30 years…..I think about it a lot because it is a beautiful yarn, but I am not sure I’ll ever knit it, being that I live in South Carolina and I am always hot!  So….down to the yarn stash we went…and Barrie went home with 25 skeins of yarn!!! 

alpaca on your left and red/black cotton on your right

The purge has begun and I feel good about it….I had 10 skeins of the alpaca (her favorite) and found 15 skeins of a cotton that she could make up in a sweater for herself….I think she was thrilled and so was I.  She is a FABULOUS knitter and I can't wait to see what she comes up with.

I worked in the studio in the afternoon and had company (still trying to keep warm):

 

 

We had soup for dinner and watched TV in the evening.