Sorry for the absence

And just like that, I haven't posted in three weeks.

My grandmother passed away on the 11th. It came as quite a shock. She would have turned 95 last week, but we all thought she would get to 100 without breaking a sweat. She was in the hospital for a couple of days, then was moved into the hospice unit for a few hours before she died. I went up to NJ that day (I'd been trying to get there before it happened; my dad called with the news when I was about 30 minutes from the hospital), and stayed for most of the week to help my parents out. Grandmom's funeral was on St Patrick's Day. A number of friends of the family came to the viewing, some of whom I hadn't seen in 10 or 20 years. I also got to meet a few relatives for the first time... second or third cousins? Anyway, after the funeral, we somehow crammed about 13 people into my parents' living room, and had sandwiches and beer and sat around talking.

I have one of her paintings in my apartment now. And by "hers", I mean she painted it -- guess where my artsy-craftsy genes came from! I see her painting every time I go to the kitchen, and it makes me smile. Lots of wonderful memories. :)

I'll try to post a knitting update soon. There has been visible progress made since my last post!