I know a young boy who swallowed a tack.

Yesterday we had to drive drive drive to deal with stuff for my wife’s mom and pick up her ashes. There was a gathering of the female descendants of my mother-in-law. It was difficult for my wife. They asked her to pray but her mother committed suicide. That means there are only two possible prayers that an Orthodox Christian can offer. And each can be offensive to non-Orthodox. But she prayed one of them. And all went well. The ashes are in a little wooden box on a shelf about 2 meters from me. Heavier than I expected.

So, since nothing got done yesterday, today is chore day. After morning prayers Athanasia went to the store to buy stuff to make into a birthday present for my mom. And the boys and I picked raspberries. When Athanasia got back she joined us and we picked enough berries for a cobbler.

When the berries were picked we realized that we didn’t have all the necessary ingredients. So, back to the store for my wife. I sorted laundry, fed the boys second breakfast, and was starting in on the dishes when Anselm came running into the kitchen drooling from the mouth, grabbing his throat, and eyes bulging. He had swallowed a thumb tack.

Paramedics came and immobilized his head and neck, and transported him by ambulance to the ER where they could not find the tack in his throat. The M.D. wasn’t willing to go exploring down his throat without radiographs so we had to wait for an X-Ray camera to become available. While we were waiting he puked up a stomach full of raspberries and one thumbtack.
All of this happened before noon.

Basil is asleep. Anslem and Athanasia are finger painting. I’m taking break from chores to write this blog entry. My Mom’s birthday party is tonight.