Holding down the fort

DH's grandmother Yuki sadly passed away, so he flew back for the weekend to be with the family and attend the funeral service. Since he has to be back for work on Monday, and the flight takes half a day, he doesn't have much time there at all. He says the time there only slightly exceeds the time he will be spending on the plane, in fact. But it is important.

Meanwhile I am holding down the fort here with the kitties (poor Eisa struggling) and hoping everything and everyone will be okay.

Not so skinny

Eisa has re-gained 5 1/2 ounces since last weekend! Now some of this is surely just rehydration, but it feels promising. It will be interesting to see where she is a week from now.

New class

I have a modest collection of glass Josh Simpson planets, so I thought it would be fun to get a better sense of exactly what it is like to create glass spheres. (This will give me a greater appreciation for what a real, skilled artist can do.) So, I will be taking a class at Diablo Glass School:

The glass paperweight is the first step for anyone interested in working with hot glass. This introductory class guides the first time glass artist through the most crucial skills. First you will gather glass from the furnace, learn to shape and control, and how to apply color to the glass. In a fun and informative manner our instructors will introduce you to tools, safety and basic glass theory. Every student will leave with a gorgeous paperweight and a strong foundation for future exploration.

How neat does that sound?

Eisa update

Our little Eisa was diagnosed with chronic kidney disease last spring. She had been doing pretty well, but recently seemed to lose some of her interest in food. I weighed her and found that she had dropped yet more weight (1.75 lbs in a year, which is a lot when you were 6.25 lbs to begin with).

We took her in to the vet and came away with a hydrated pussy cat and some appetite stimulant. She seemed a little perkier, and that was encouraging.

The vet called back just now with the blood test results. We learned that Eisa's kidney levels have disintegrated quite a bit. Her phosphorus level, in particular, is really high. She's also quite anemic (side effect from the kidney disease).

We'll be adding three additional medicines - one to address the high phosphorus, one to help her red blood cells, and some fluids we can administer to keep her hydrated at home.

We know we are just treating the symptoms - you don't recover from kidney failure. But if she can be comfortable and happy and content, for whatever amount of time she has (I didn't ask about where we are on the timeline) then that is all we can ask.

Cupcakes

Minis cooling down before being frosted


Tips assembled


Icing demo


Raw materials


Coconut cupcakes with coconut cream cheese frosting


Sour cream citrus poundcakelets with lemon glaze


Queen Mother's cake (flourless chocolate cupcakes with chocolate ganache)


Spiced carrot cupcakes with cream cheese icing


White wine cupcakes with white chocolate buttercream


The prettiest daisy!