Pear Cocoa-Nibs?

 The last Bonne Maman advent calendar offering is not the most appetizing-sounding.

However, look what arrived in the post just in time:

Apricot Orange Blossom

 

Beginning to look a lot like Xmas...

Definitely parky!

Today's flavor, "Mirabelle Plum-Linden Blossom"!?

Shortest day

Last day at the hospital?

Last night was much better sleep-wise, and we woke up to this:

They've found some kind of sedative that works like a charm on Frederick, so that definitely helps.  Jami came in to relieve me so I could go home and shower and breakfast.  Here's what the lobby looks like - here's hoping we won't actually be here for Xmas:

Frederick definitely feeling more chipper:

And here's the Bonne Maman advent spread of the day:

Hoping we can get Frederick home before the day is out, although, as Jami put it, nobody's said the word "discharge" yet (which has both pros and cons if you think about it).

UPDATE: discharged!  Phew!

Triple Taste Test

 Well, last night in the hospital wasn't much fun.  Frederick was very restless and kept picking at his electrodes, which set off a beeping usually just as I was drifting off.  Eventually they gave him something to sleep.  I reckon I probably slept midnight-2 and 5-7.  I'm (unofficially) allowed to use the other bed in the room but it's not properly made up so I used my coat as a blanket, and it's right next to a window, and it's pretty brutally cold at the moment.  Anyway, Jami took the day shift but it looks like he'll be in one more night (tonight).  They did another EEG because the epilepsy doctor who did one a couple of weeks ago seemingly refuses to fax them the results.  They're also experimenting with other anti-seizure drugs, so he's been in kind of a fog.  What a trouper.

Anyway, I came home for the day and got to catch up on Advent Calendar doors 17-19.

(With Marmite for balance.)

Verdict: Cherry-Honey - too sweet.  Caramel-Coffee - much too sweet.  Strawberry-Wild Strawberry - just right.

Catching up on a flying visit home

What with finals and Frederick still in the hospital, here's two Bonne Mamans at once (Sylvester helped - first blue-lid).  I slept at home but got up at 6 to drop stuff off at the hospital, go give a final, go back to the hospital and then the flying visit home happened after that as I got various snacks and contact lens stuff.  Frederick has been moved to a super-nice room, and although Jami didn't know it, she could've slept in the extra bed because they said they've "blocked us off" unless there's a real emergency.  I'll be doing that tonight (Frederick permitting - he does keep pulling off his little electrodes and making his machines beep plaintively.)  I must say, everyone is super nice - much nicer than when Jami was nearly dying from appendicitis.  I joined Jami at about 11 this morning and we've both been here grading (and in Jami's case, watching her Wayne State students take exams online) all afternoon.  We're waiting for various experts to review various tests but it looks like Frederick is definitely not going to be discharged today.  Jami gets to go home and sleep in her own bed tonight.

A trip to the hospital

Well, after getting our hopes up about Frederick's new anti-seizure pills because he hadn't had a seizure in nearly 2 months, we fell back to earth with a thump today because he had three seizures, one of them in the hospital where we'd had the paramedics take him after the first two.  They've done a CT scan and bloodwork, neither of which show anything wrong, so he's a medical mystery.  He's staying in over night and Jami's staying with him. We'll certainly have things to say to the Epilepsy doctor at our follow-up appointment on Monday...

Apparently Four Berries is different from Four Fruit

Seems a bit of a cheat to me - you KNOW some of those fruit are berries

Pierce Park is INFESTED with deer.  Given that it's surrounded by roads (one a freeway), how did they get there in the first place?

Weirdest ingredients yet

Warmed up enough for a walk

Mango-Raspberry-Lime behind door 14.

A classic

Four fruits?  But that's available everywhere!  (It was 9 degrees F when I took this picture this morning.  I bet it literally froze in Thomas's old cloud room last night.)

It's a damn good thing we got the gas fireplace installed when we did...

Apricot-Peach

 BITTERLY cold today (teens Fahrenheit).  These guys were making a racket on my office window ledge.

Going to be below 10 degrees tonight, supposedly.  Brrr.

Pineapple-Yuzu

WTF is yuzu!?

In other news, we drove 45 minutes for Frederick to have an EEG (given by a very chatty Polish woman) and then 45 minutes back.  He was very good.

Indian Springs Metropark

We're still in the "unseasonably warm" window between two cold snaps.

Farewell woodburning stove!

A sad day, as having it installed about 20 years ago was one of the best things we did to make the house a home, and I have many happy memories of warming myself in front of it (it got us through the power-cut-during-a-freeze of 2013, when many people had to check into hotels because their heating was out), but the business of getting and stacking wood every winter was always a pain, and last year my usual wood guy upped the price by 50%, and finally I heard reports about how they're actually much more harmful to one's health than had been thought, so...  Anyway, we now have a new gas stove, although they still have to install the frame, because they had the wrong size, and we still haven't worked out the remote (unfortunately you can't get one without a remote).

Raspberry-Rose

Reminds me of a great Kinks' song. Thankfully you can't taste the rose - always a mistake when people use on The Great British Bake-Off. 

Rhubarb-Spice

This has the best sounds bad/tastes good ratio yet.  Definitely a good one.

It was a misty morning today, because it's been unseasonably warm after being unseasonably cold.  Last day of in-person teaching for the semester!

Lemon-Elderflower

It's...fine.  Not a very strong flavor.

And here are a couple of other pictures I took today.