Another Change and Lunch Is Cooking

Severe acid reflux on and off for a number of weeks
but Friday and Saturday was really bad and felt sick.
Thought it might be the abundance of fresh cherries I had been consuming
and it probably was some of the problem.
This one has a healthy diet and trying to elimnate anything that is not good for me.
Fosamax, I take when I do not forget once a week, first thing in the morning,
empty stomach and do not lay down for 30 minutes.  Helpful for bones...

Early this morning as I was taking out of box
I looked at the paper that came with it.
Noticed it has a warning about causing severe indigestion,
then Googled it and saw so many comments that many could not take it.
So I am no longer going to take this medication
and will continue with consuming all the calcium rich products I can.
Also the best doctor in the world called last night (something rarely done lately- like in the past with my doctors who have retired)
suggested Pepsid, first thing in the morning before meal and in the evening
before going to bed.   Did this and problem still has not gone away, is better and a better night.
Hopefully I have found a solution to help at severe times of acid indigestion.

Mother, grandparents, Aunts - no broken bones -  has not happened to this one either
and hopefully I just have arthur and old bones..

Spotted last night, this year an abundance of them, other years have hardly seen them
and when Callie gets a view
a little life is ended :(

On the stove at the moment - Cooking cabbage (I like it, healthy and good for your stomach), carrots and potatoes,
may cook some crispy bacon to put on top and tomorrow with leftovers
will cook several pieces of chicken..

Changing, Market and Images Not Staged

At dawn outside with blower
all the rain making leaves fall, other things from the trees
and need to tidy walks.
Hummingbird feeders filled
some weeds pulled.
Inside on the mat for 20 minutes
phone rings
son from Thailand, was not going to answer phone and glad I did.
Lately turn phone off when doing yoga...
Neighbor arrives with her fresh eggs and I give her Sundays New York Time.
I have some yogurt, fruit, 2 cups of green tea, last of zucchini bread and a handful of supplements with several
glasses of water.
Time to change again as I get ready to go to market.
My Cosmos about 6 inches high
and I spot this beauty for $5

Will place this beauty among my beginners.
Change my clothes again
off with town clothes and back in garden clothes.
Time for my late meal
lettuce from my pots and have the thought it looks like something is eating it
and  spot a big fat toad in the pot...
Simple lunch of Naan bread warmed in olive oil, tuna salad with hard boiled egg
all on my lettuce and basil, some tomato, green pepper, sliced radishes and corn chips on the side.

Little flying insects flying everywhere and take everything back inside to table,
notice in this image a small black speck - guess one of the insects :)

Cherries in abundance at the market so reasonable $2.99 a pound and every week buy a pound.  They are so tasty, continually eating a handful,
know they are good for inflammation - maybe they will help this one.

Everything I prepare in the kitchen lately leaves such a mess and do not remember this years
ago when preparing for a family - maybe I forgot.

Question:    Do others change their clothes this many times a day - maybe it is the season,
                   always put a better grade of clothes when going to town and then put back on
                   home clothes when I return.

My day is coming to a close...

Arrived

"What Comes Next and How to Like It  -- A memoir by Abigail Thomas

Arrived yesterday in the mail
and I read some last night.

Author in her middle 70's, married several times, children by several and best friend
and companion at this time of life has a serious illness.

Read about this best seller
in the New York Times
and ordered
thought I might learn something :)

Read a little and will continue later.
Love her honesty and wish it had been written years ago
it would have made me have a different outlook on some in my life
and I think I would have reacted differently sooner then I did over the years.
Friendship, betrayal, aging, dogs are some of the topics.
How to accept, appreciate and enjoy as the journey goes onward.
Some issues she discusses and could handle
I could not.
When it comes to my children
I am fierce and protective of them
always have been and it continues.

This one trusted many that I should not have and was difficult for me to accept them as they really are.
Always thought some would change if I had positive thoughts about them
but if you do not recognise this yourself it does not happen

I now realize so few in my lifetime that I could trust completely.

Hopefully wiser at this time
and better late then never :)

Peace is the most valuable gift I have been given
at this time of life..

Morning

Callie, sitting and watching

Enjoyed my Beth
so much on Sunday.
Her favorite meal is a roast with vegetables, plus the last of green beans in freezer was added.
At the moment all has been cut up, an addition of frozen corn and tomatoes and making vegetable
soup.   Can enjoy today and freeze in cartons for a busy day.
A roast and vegetables provides many meals.

Zucchini bread baked with the last of it in the freezer
and the first baking done in weeks.

Rain continues on and off for the rest of the week
have thoughts
after this
will it be hot and dry?

Purple Hollyhock, from seeds sent to me years ago by my Laurie who now lives in Tampa.
One huge plant, 6 feet tall and covered with buds.

Soon
lunch
and day ends as this one has been up and busy since 4:30 this morning.
Morning is wonderful
such a joy
watching day break...

Quick Stop

Busy day almost over
and have to share
my youngest grandgirl (stealing these words from WWW)
So many awards came her way on the last day of school.

and her older sister
soon a birthday

then--- and now is going by too fast


Two quotes I notice in one of my notebooks....

Chinese Proverb    "Tension is how you think you should be
                                 Relaxation is who you are"

and remember
"Do not take yourself too seriously"

Memories For Her and You Never Know

I smile as I look at my youngest daughter's
working space in her home.
Her childhood desk that sat on the loft of the old farm house.
A picture of her parents on their wedding day.
I commented I liked the sunflower picture and where did she get it ?
She wrote back and said it was a picture done by my youngest granddaughter :)

 

I recognize the lamp on the desk, a flower pot that was mine

and always smile at images of the piano that Amelia now plays.

Remember well when I sold the old farm house and started drastically

downscaling, saying it was hers.   Comment she made  "I never liked playing the

piano and do not want it."  But her mom held onto it wanting it to

go into her home and maybe one of the girls would play.

Piano lessons was the one thing I could give her in our country home after my divorce.

She went to the local country school, where her older siblings had the pleasure of

attending one of the finest private school in the big city.

The country school beginning

it never held her back in any way....

Oh yes, my youngest granddaughter now plays the piano, guitar I bought her

and a keyboard she received last Christmas....

 

So many good memories that make me smile.... 

 

Now I need to get off the computer and stop looking at old pictures.

Daylight is here

and my day begins....

Finally

Yes, finally
maybe back to my normal busyness.

Nonstop over a number of days.
So busy seems I hardly had time to eat
but continued with a smoothie in the morning and it is loaded with veggies, fruit, protein
and healthy quick meal.

Shut car door on my index finger,
so sore but thankful did not break or cut it off.
Lost my cell phone, have looked everywhere
inside and out.  Still had my minutes unused
so apparently outside somewhere in the grass or weeds.

My car soon 15 years old and some small things need constantly attending too.
Started looking online with those I have worked with in the past.
Told them what I would spend and everyone so nice with vehicles brought to me.
Finally local dealer with great trade in and incentives now going on
I made a decision.
Thought of a different kind of vehicle but decided on another similar to what I have
but a 2015.  Last car I will purchase.

Do not think I could handle well
breaking down on the road.

So pleased with this car, much I will never use and do not know how to use but will be reliable
for me the rest of my years.   It is so pretty and almost afraid to drive it.
Another plus is it will be here when my son visits for him to use.

Early morning trip to Lowe's, mulch on sale for 5 bags for $10, bought 10 bags and this will
probably be all I need.

Rain on and off for a week and everything in my garden is beautiful even the weeds.

Thank you so much
to all who inquired about  me.
Many times I have the thought of not continuing to write
thinking who in the world wants to hear about the last years
this one has left on the planet. I am well aware that all who comment
on what I share are much younger then me - their comments please me,
and family far and near know what I am doing....

I am doing well at the moment
nothing new has surfaced and some bothering me with severe pain in the past seems better.
Crossing my fingers it does not return, probably will and just giving me a break.

I continue trying to stop doing so much and just be....

Morning after...

Early morning smoothie
fresh spinach, yogurt, flax seeds, banana, blueberries, sunflower seeds, Manuka honey
blended with

Ginger is good for inflammation, drink the tea, pills and a bag of sliced ginger Amazon

Such a large bag arrived and shared with my chef granddaughter who spent a night and day
with me.   Enjoyed her so much, a trip to local nursery in the country for herbs she was looking
for and I now know Bay Leaf is good to add to cornmeal and flour to keep bugs away.
Also did not know it was also called the Christmas Plant.
Enjoyed listening to Sarah share about her learning to butcher pigs, cows, fish and lambs.
Difficult to imagine my granddaughter doing this but another plus as she continues to learn
on the journey she is now on.
I could never eat Lamb as I always visualized the little ones in pictures throughout the bible.
Also could never eat dove and they are everywhere in my surroundings and have such a beautiful
appearance with feather's that look like velvet.

Learned a lot through this visit and next time she will bring what she uses to sharpen her special knives, grandma's are really dull and can never seem to get them sharp as I want.
A chef from China is visiting her restaurant and she took him shopping for special ingredients
to prepare some meals.    This pleases me so much her interest in food, cooking and plants.

Blooming on the desk in my bedroom.  This orchid bought last year marked down and looked like
it would not make it - is beautiful and did not know the color.

Enough shared
need to water garden, so dry and calling for rain everyday but has not arrived.

I Liked This

I was able to sit still and relax
The music was beautiful.
Simple story
makes you smile
but was sad at the end
as each went their own way.

Another Time and Another Place

Continuing to go through old pictures
and sending to my children.

 

First one, family trip to the island I miss so much.

Second image - this one in a city garden 10 years ago

and

Three of my older grandchildren at the old farm house.

One now a chef in Nashville, Tennessee

Another one continuing his career in Washington, DC

and one a school teacher in New York.

Time flying by

but in many ways when I go through these

old pictures

it seems like yesterday...

 

 

Magnificent

I smile
and I cry
such a magnificent
bouquet of flowers
from my son.
My heart smiles
and says thank you....

It has purple and orange roses in the arrangement

This May Day

Since early morning
Fans are whirling
Blinds shut
Wood bee's buzzing
Mosquito's have arrived
Sneezing a lot
New bloom

Early morning
sprayed some weeks
hoed a little
Do not feel like doing anything
Simple lunch
Sit on screen porch
viewing the garden and woods

Recently someone
spotted 2 owls
and the really big woodpecker
here by my woods
Wish it had been me with camera in hand..

Mother's Day cards
arriving
I have so many blessings

A simple day
that feels like July
and I will not have lunch on the sunny deck in this 98 degree temperature

Welcome May and City Garden

Eugene Grasset
May photo...

 

I always dreamed of
an English garden
filled with Larkspur, Foxgloves, Poppies
and all of many different plants were massive in size.
If this was a reality
I would also need a gardener.

I never remember my mother or grandmother's without a garden
and always a bloom in small vase sitting on their table.

The closest I came to my dream garden was a small
yard in the local city.  Wonderful dirt as this lot had been part of larger
lot that at one time had a garden on it.      I built this home 10 years ago.
My daughter Beth took this photo
and looking at it
I remember the wonderful size of all of the plants.   A portion of some of these plants
are in my garden at this time by the woods.

As an experiment put this home on the market and it sold in 3 weeks.
I took this to mean I was to move to Nashville and live near my children, did not take long
to realize I did not like the big city and the constant hum of vehicles.
My son moved to Thailand
and I put this home on the market, recession time and took months to sell.
 I immediately set out to build
a small home on country property which I had kept
after selling my much loved old farm house.

10 years old and the thought arises often
how long can I continue to do what I am doing.
I answer the thought with
"as long as I can."

Blooming at this time

Red Peony....

18 Year Memory

My youngest
now 18 year anniversary.
Remember so well...

Remember the harp playing
as she walked down the stone steps
her dress blowing in the slight breeze.

Took my mother who was living at that time
in a wheel chair and she watched
the wedding from a window.

Sunny May, Spinach Soup, Good DVD amd a Memory

Beautiful sunny May day
An at home day
Made cream of Spinach soup for the first time
tried to duplicate what I tasted at restaurant 2 weeks ago
pretty good - topped with Gruyere cheese.

First DVD
in a while I could watch with interest this afternoon.
At first sad and I thought I will have to turn off
but soon was exciting....

"Philomena" with Judy Dench - 2013

Journalist helping mother look for her now grown
son who was given up for adoption as as a toddler at
Catholic home.
In the end
seems like Catholic home lied to her as she was
searching - about records
of this young unwed mother
and did not tell her that her son had been there
trying to locate her - his mother.    Later his body returned
to be buried in the cemetery at this Catholic home
where he was born to a young unwed mother.

Made me wonder about a lot
but will not share....

Also almost felt guilty
just sitting still for a while.

Image taken
2 years ago
on this very day...