Irish Eyes

Things continue to plod along here and I continue to feel sorry for myself. I managed to quit smoking for a week and then had a melt down and started again. Gov. Patterson has insured that I will quit with the new tax passed yesterday.

We have jumped through several more hoops on the path to getting Mom accepted into PACE. Sis has had to do most of it. I did the funeral preplanning and ordered the headstone. Both were much harder than I thought they'd be, through the whole process I felt like I have been wishing Mom dead which is certainly not the case.

The school year is winding down. Twig had his moving up ceremony at preschool last week and Sprout had her preschool graduation later the same day. The other four are now on half days. The boys will finish on Wednesday and the girls on Friday. We had just Alex yesterday and took him out to lunch. It was nice having one to one time with him. Today we have the girls and they are a bit anxious about riding the bus out here. In the past they always just rode with me and I brought home with me after work. Unless something comes up we'll take them out to lunch today. It was sad for me to pick up all of my things from my bus yesterday.

It's been 10 weeks since my surgery now. The friend that lent me the wheelchair needed it back. I had an appointment with the doctor this Friday but they called and canceled it. With babysitting and other commitments it looks like I'll be going on July 6th. That will be twelve weeks and I have to believe that I'll have grown bone by then! I'm not going to bet everything on that though, so I'll be borrowing another chair from the VFW. Depending on how things go at the doctor and with Mom we hope to get down and see the new place in Florida next month even if I'm still on crutches.

I am getting out into the yard more and even puttering in the garden a little. I still can't manage the stairs on the crutches and have given up and go in and out on my butt instead. Embarrassing, but with the fear of falling gone I do feel like it gives me a little more freedom.

A Pretty Good Day

Twig had his adenoids out yesterday and is doing fine. We enjoyed having Sprout here for a night but she is quite happy to be back home.

My eight week appointment was this morning and it didn't go well but I didn't expect it to. The xray is still not showing new bone growth, maybe in another couple of weeks. I have tried to quit smoking and I'll continue to try. One bit of good news was that I can start walking with the crutches. I can still only put weight on the heel and not my full weight but this may allow me to get to sections of the garden that I haven't been able to.

We stopped down to Mom's after my appointment and her ramp is almost done. I was quite happy to try it out because I'm still having trouble with steps. She had someone else coming from the program we're hoping to get her into. It has been a long drawn out process but hopefully by the end of the month she'll be in and all set.

Some of the things we've had to do have been tough and it's good that my sister and I are splitting the chores and have each other to lean on. The ramp is done, she met with a lawyer and I've taken care of preplanning Mom's final arrangements. That was harder than I thought it would be and hard to talk to her about. There are still several things that need to be done before the end of the month but we are checking them off, the toughest one's are done and the end is in sight.

On the way home I got John to stop at a big box store and push me around. I have new respect for people that are always in wheel chairs. We'd get to the end of an aisle and have to turn around and go back because the way was blocked, there were aisles I couldn't get down at all because there were hoses all over. John was able to maneuver me over to a markdown rack where I picked up a new daylily. I picked up a couple of other things too. They were a great price - because they were unmarked so it will be interesting to see what they are next year!

Because I am still struggling with stairs I don't go outside as much as I should so when we got home today I stayed out for awhile. John picked up some vegetable plants and put them in yesterday and while I was looking them over one of the little snakes that are about came by.

Everything is so early this year! John has a bumper crop of strawberries and my flowers are all 2 to 4 weeks early. The lupine are about done but the penstemons and jupiters beard are pretty. This section of the garden was full of butterflies and dragonflies but they all seemed to be camera shy.

These delphiniums are right outside my bedroom window and a favorite of the hummingbirds. The delphiniums on this side are 5-6' tall but the ones on the other side of the walk are less than 2' and I have no idea why! The one that looks bright blue is actually a rich purple.

This gas plant really got big this year and I love the dainty flowers.

Most of my blanket flower is yellow with some red so I was pleased with this one. The ox-eyed daisies are just about done already! In another week or so they'll be replaced by shastas. I hope they last until the red beebalm gets going.

Right now I'm planning to get outside in the morning and get some weeds pulled and my new plants in the ground!

Update and Flowers

I haven't been posting because things have not been going well. Mom spent last weekend in the hospital but she's home now and doing ok. I'm still on crutches with no end in sight. I need to grow new bone at the fusion site and so far that is just not happening. The doctor claims it is because I smoke and I'm sure that is a contributing factor but I think that being so sick a week after the surgery and all of the stress I've had have set me back as well. I am trying to quit, obviously not successfully yet. Adding to my stress - my youngest grandchild has been having hearing problems and will be having his adenoids out this week. Not a big deal but I'll be relieved when it is over.

I'm still not great at going up and down the steps but I'm forcing myself to do it more often. I went out and took some pictures in the garden yesterday and even pulled some weeds and if was wonderful to get my hands in the dirt. I really thought I'd be able to work out there by now. I did a good job weeding and cleaning it up before surgery but the weeds are starting to creep in and there are many volunteers that need to be given away or moved. I'll keep working a little at a time on what I can reach from the edge and the rest will just have to wait.