theschurething

[theschurething]

Christmas 2024

The Schure- Bailey Christmas Letter

[theschurething]

20 years ago

Anniversary of an old memory on the farm in South Africa

Twenty one years ago, I spent Christmas on my citrus farm in South Africa. For the first time I wasn’t working in tech, so I had time to focus on Christmas for my three kids. We asked the farm manager to construct a jungle gym fit for a small municipal park under a tree in the one acre back yard. I sewed a full-blown Belle princess dress for my 4-year-old daughter, waited for the BBQ to start and…

[theschurething]

Thanksgiving without mom

[theschurething]

The end - delayed

Final days with my mom. Read with care.

We’ve been on this journey for a while now, my mom and me. And, spoiler alert, it came to an end one Sunday afternoon. For the last 8 weeks of her life, I tracked what she ate when I saw her in a Google docs file and shared it with my family. What a modern way to let people know that she had ½ cup of pureed food, a fruit cup and chocolate cake! So much of her recent life was us all watching,…

[theschurething]

An Arc

Life is an arc. Here is a small slice of my mom - and the choices facing her - large and small - in one day

Life has an arc: beginning, middle and end – roughly. Tonight, as usual, I visited my mom at dinner. A reminder to readers that she is blind and in dementia care. The euphemism for where she lives is “memory care.” I am not complaining. She receives excellent care from caregivers who are simply not paid enough for the love and attention they pour into their oblivious residents. Right now, she is…

[theschurething]

Holding you

Tough days taking care of my mom with #dementia.

I held you tight today. Not like I normally hold you – but tight – so tight that you couldn’t move your hands or your head. Tight so that the doctor could clean your ears and you would be able to hear again. Over the last few weeks, you’ve lost the rest of your hearing due to earwax. For most people this is bad news. With your sightless eyes and dementia, it leaves you in sensory deprived…

[theschurething]

Christmas 2023

Christmas Letter 2023 from Pamela & Joe

2023 started with Pamela starting work as a Product Coach for the IT department of the Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA). The initial expectation was that she would travel to New York once a quarter. For the first few months it was more like once every 2-4 weeks. She knew the staff in the nearby hotel by name and even figured out her favorite room locations. Even worked out the number of the…

[theschurething]

Cousins

“My cousin is promoting a week where you don’t eat dairy or meat.” Joe’s eyes roll back. Oh yeah. I forgot again. WHICH cousin. My dad was the eldest of 10 children born in the south of the Netherlands. My mom was the third child in a family of 4 with Sicilian roots. Her mother was one of 8 children. Do the math. I have a LOT of cousins. 20 first cousins on the Dutch side and many different types…

[theschurething]

Holiday Greetings

Holiday News from 2022!

We hope you are doing well and are having a nice holiday season.  We are having a quiet end to the season here after a busy year.  Joe is still working for DuPont as the Research & Development Manager for the Hayward, California site where they make cleaning solutions used in the semiconductor manufacturing process.  Pamela’s prior job ended as the consulting company for which she worked finished…

[theschurething]

Stuck in the middle...

Stuck in the middle - even if it's the end of the year - or the beginning of a new year

[theschurething]

Tears?

My bike ride starts with the same admonishment my mom had when I was growing up: “be home before dark!” I have left it late in the day to get started. I let the traffic lights determine if I go right or straight. The light is green, so I go straight – straight into a nearby hill: Communication Hill. At the top there are mysterious metal frames with small dishes and antennae pointed at all corners…

[theschurething]

Italian Bread Recipe for Anna

Italian Bread Recipe for Anna

A few years ago, Joe and I visited Italy and became fascinated with the frequency that we had amazing bread at each and every restaurant we ate at from Costiera Amalfitana to Florence. Since our trip, every restaurant visit is evaluated on the following criteria: “On the basis of bread alone, is the restaurant any good?” And so far, it’s proved to be a reliable scale. If the bread is good, so is…

[theschurething]

Bears - and Home

Bears – and Home

On Saturday morning, I put on knee warmers on under my biking shorts, added a short sleeved biking shirt and a longer warm one on top. Over it all, a bright yellow Forever 21 wind jacket which was a find a few years ago. I count on it to keep the wind at bay and make me visible to cars. So far, it has done the job.

We packed lightly and headed off. Over the next two days, we’d cross virtually…

[theschurething]

Challenges

I can see the sky lighten on the horizon this morning. Dark blue fades light blue then into orange and yellow. I’ve been getting up early a couple of times a week for a while now. I throw on workout clothes that hang on a converted coat rack and drive 2 miles where I join the few souls that are crazy enough to believe that they can warm up fast enough on the spin bikes so that they won’t be…

[theschurething]

Hot food at Thanksgiving

Hot food at Thanksgiving

My mother LOVES Thanksgiving. For her, it’s the perfect holiday – lots of food and family – and no religion. Every year that I have been within visiting radius, I’ve gathered around the table with her and the rest of the family. When my brother and I were in college, the occasional friend showed up because it was too far for them to go home – and according to family tradition, no one should be…

[theschurething]

Knit one, Purl one

Knit one, Purl one

This is a post I wrote 3 years ago. My daughter is now starting her last year in university and I want this post to see the light of day before it’s too late.

Knit one, purl one. Knit one, purl one. Then a purl. Whoops. I forgot. Undo the knit and redo it as a purl. Is this a row where the braid is made? Is it 4 stiches then backwards or 4 stiches brought forward right away? The dark…

[theschurething]

A decade

I’m not sure what my neighbors expected of us when we moved to suburban San Jose about a month ago. They would have been surprised if they were the kind of people who rise before dawn and peek over their neighbor’s fences.

This morning, I crawled out of bed, dressed carefully in a lilac dress I bought almost 10 years ago. I fished out my black cloak that I usually only use at Halloween, grabbed a…