I Keep Forgetting To Blog

I mean to. It really helps me cope with life. I will say the road to hell is paved with good intentions.... so maybe I am on the way to hell in a handbasket.

But anyway, there is a lot going on in my life right now but I am not ready to talk about it yet. I will, when I am ready. Its not my story to tell either. I will eventually get to it.

My biggest distraction in life right now is that it is gardening season. My abilities to garden are very limited but its one of the things that I really enjoy. I can't did things up, move anything heavy or even garden for very long.

This year, my husband built me a massive raised bed garden with a five foot fence to keep out the predators - deer, fox, bobcats, skunks, etc. The cats are better at small predators than large ones. Last year, he also built me a huge flower garden.

I really enjoy gardening, but I said that already. I have been having fun with my vegetable garden and my flower garden. I have lots of little baby vegetable plants so far. I failed at starting vegetables from seeds. I mean I did start them, managed to kill half of them, forgot to label some and I can't tell sunflowers from cucumbers and zucchini to date.

This is my favorite time of year and I am very happy to be distracted by gardening. I would much rather stress about gardening than my health or any medical issue.

In the meantime, I will try to remember to blog.... but I am heading for the garden in a few minutes.... because its another day.

Forming the New Plan (Part 3)

So, my new plan is forming. I have done some thinking and some research. I also talked to my therapist and she gave me a few ideas. My biggest weakness is that I cannot over-schedule, over-commit, or over-stress myself. I need to pace myself.

I have found some events to attend - a gardening as therapy event at the library and the next monthly Garden Club meeting. Of course they are only two days apart. I hope to get my husband to go to the first one with me as it is on a Sunday. He might.

Going forward I hope to join the garden club, but their year runs September - June. They only have two more meetings this spring. I am also going to keep my eyes out for more events at the library.

So if I find an event or two there each month, add the garden club meetings, that will get me out of the house more. I should actually learn some things there too.

That's my first step. I also plan to reach out to the Senior Center to see if I can do something there. My therapist suggested starting a knitting/needlework group there. They already have a knitting group that meets at the exact same time as my other knitting group at the cancer support center.

However, I am not sure I want to commit myself to another weekly obligation. Well, its not that I don't want to commit, its that I am not sure I am physically able to commit to one. (See that's the problem....)

Starting in April, gardening season will begin and I can fill my time outside. No I can't plant anything until mid-May but I can plan and prepare. I have already started my snapdragons inside.

Then I have a friend coming to visit in May. I will go to the beach to visit another friend in June for a few days. More travel over the summer.

This is a start. The plan will continue to come together.

This is me getting my mental state together again and forming a new plan.

I Was Only Trying To Be Normal

Yesterday I made a big mistake: I tried to be a normal person. A nice spring Saturday is the perfect day to contemplate the garden and take care of other things around the house. We started by cleaning out the garage of gardening items and moving them under the porch. I pointed, my husband picked things up and put them down. He then set up the hammock stand so I had to try it out for a bit. (Very comfortable. I will make good use of it this summer.)

I then went into the garden and cleaned out some invasive weeds (I swear the previous owners considered dandelions to be good plants). Then I pruned away at the dead branches on the bushes and the ones which were broken in the heavy snow this winter. So far so good. I probably spent an hour in the garden.

Later I set up my loom and warped it (put the longer strands of yarn on it) so I could begin weaving. I was about to start weaving when I realized that my back hurt a lot and was starting to spasm. At that point, I decided I was done for the day and my husband cooked dinner while I lay in bed.

I thought I was okay with a pain pill and went to bed. I did not sleep well (second night in a row) and my back is still pretty sore. I am waiting for my next pain pill to kick in.

But I was only trying to be normal and do normal things. And today is not going to be a good day. Too bad I have plans for lunch out and then a museum. I will start with lunch and see how well I actually do. I probably will have to nix the museum as I am not sure how I will do standing so much. Grrrr....

I just wanted to have a normal day. Is that too much to ask?

Ambitious

This morning I am feeling ambitious. I have no idea where this came from. But now I am ready to go to the gym. Then the grocery store. Then home to do some gardening. Its supposed to be bear 70 today - which is very rare around here at this time of year.

I also have a goal. Our new house has all sorts of brambles growing near the house. Brambles (or picker bushes or briers or whatever you may call) them are not welcome in our garden. I got one out of the ground yesterday. I have my sights on a few more for today. I figure if I get to a few of them at a time I won't over do things (not me!), I can get on rid of a lot of them. One thing at a time is how it works for me.

Maybe I am just feeling positive for a while. That would be a good thing. Its not that I never feel positive but I am ambitious today. My husband commented that he is used to me being tired, sleepy and grumpy. That tells me I do need to change my ways.

But now before I lose my ambitious, I will go to the gym.

Spring has sprung

In the land of eternal winter, also know as metropolitan Boston where we got at least 9 feet of snow in six weeks, it looks like spring has finally sprung. I spent the weekend wearing shorts, t-shirt and sandals. I didn't get a sun burn but it was nice to be outside enjoying the sunshine. But winter is not completely gone, we still have  snow drifts. Yes they are getting smaller and fewer but they are still found wherever large piles of snow were dumped in a shady area.

Today is opening day at Fenway Park and the Boston Marathon is a week away. Snow drifts have never been an issue at either event, until this year. The snow is gone from Fenway but I am not so sure about the length of the marathon route.

This was our house March 26, 2015.

You can see we still had glaciers. The last glacier in the backyard finally melted last week. But there are now signs below of spring. Crocus and miniature hyacinths.

 And a single little iris hiding behind the lavender.

Then yesterday I got some pansies to add for some more color but have to wait a bit to plant them.

What I have been doing with my time

With a little help from Mother Nature.

Lilacs

Triple Peonies - scented as well

Rhododendron

 Azalea

 Dogwood

Iris

Two types of peonies and roses - all scented.

Never interfere with (someone else's) motivation (which might benefit you)

I have a problem (well maybe more than one but that's another story) in that I like to garden but because of my lymphedema and back, I can't really garden. I mean I can do little things but not the extensive gardening I used to do. Carrying around planters and bags of compost, sifting dirt for pots, and digging holes, etc. are things I cant do. My husband is learning how much work gardening is. He helped earlier this week and I told him I needed more help again this weekend which I knew he would get to at some point.

Yesterday morning at 7 am I was in bed, barely awake, and I heard him out in the backyard getting started. I threw on some clothes and ran outside to keep him motivated by getting my plants in and my dahlias out to be put in the garden and more. He was motivated and I wanted to keep him moving. Two hours later, we were both exhausted and stopped for breakfast, all my plants were in - vegetables, spring bulbs, window boxes, hanging plants, front planters, the lawn was mowed and fertilized.

Gardening goes much faster when there are two of us but I still wish I could play in the dirt more. I do need to get some marigolds to plant in front of my tomatoes but then I am done. No maybe I have some more seeds to put in or did I finish those? I can't remember.

Anyway, my husband woke up motivated yesterday and worked hard and now I am happy. But I today I have to do some weeding.