Mattress Topper

My husband was complaining that he was waking with his nose stopped up and hot.  Both of us were waking with stiff joints.
I bought a mattress protector in case dust mites were the cause of the blocked nose.  I bought a mattress topper for the stiff joints with a gel layer that is supposed to disperse the heat.  I thought these two things would solve the problems a lot cheaper than the new mattress I would like to have. 
I put the mattress topper under the mattress protector because one of the reviews said it likes to slip off the bed.  The topper wasn't squishy the way I thought it would be.  Today I moved it on top of the protector but under the fitted sheet.  It didn't try to roll us back out of bed. Maybe it was a good deal after all.

Home Early

I went to volunteer today.  I did all my little chores and was sitting in the gift shop wondering if anyone would come in.  Some days people wander in and talk...workers, visitors who have been ousted from the patient's rooms or the patients have gone to physical therapy or for tests.  But yesterday and today the other volunteers didn't come so I was alone.
Then the power went off and I was sitting in the gift shop alone in the dark.  The nurses' stations were lighted and I'm sure important machines were on the emergency generator, but the patients' rooms were dark and so was the gift shop.
I decided to go home.  One of the nurses asked if I was sure I wanted to leave in the pouring rain and I assured her I wouldn't melt.  Then she asked what if lightning struck me.  I told her I wouldn't have to wonder if I have enough money to cover this long life.
On the way home I drove though a couple of places that had water across the road, but it wasn't awful.
We got two inches of rain today.  The power wasn't out at home.

First 10,000 steps since June 28

Today is the first day I've gotten 10,000 steps on my fitbit since I had the knee surgery.  That knee feels better than the other one.  I wonder if the other one will feel better soon or if it is unhappy from the extra work the surgery caused.

Larry Made a Pie

Larry has made cobblers before but this was his first pie.  He decided he would use Splenda instead of sugar.  He put less than it called for and also added lemon juice.  It didn't call for it, but he thought it would be good.  One might think adding more Splenda when adding lemon juice would be a good idea.  But although it was tart, neither of us left any.  He used blueberries from our bushes.

In 1984...Not the Book

Today we were repairing the bed.  When he got it apart, I found the sales ticket attached and looked at the date.  We bought this bed in December of 1984.  We were in Germany and I asked a couple of friends from school if they would go with me because they spoke better German than I did and had a better idea how to shop in German stores.

I asked them to ask the salesman how much weight the bed would hold.  He looked at all three of us and said it would hold all of us.  

Well, my husband didn't weigh as much as the other two together, so I figured it was safe to buy it.

I don't know if that was worse than the time another couple of teachers went with me to buy China from a place near the eastern border.  We left after school on Friday and drove until we about there. We started looking for a place to stay.  We found a pension with a vacancy, but they didn't want the two guys to room together.  They wanted me to room with one of them.  We finally ended up arranged as we wished, but I really couldn't see why the manager should have any say-so in our sleeping arrangements.

Spider Web with Butterfly

I spend time trying to get rid of spiderwebs without smearing the paint on the walls.  But this spider web has a butterfly perfectly presented for my camera.

Red, White, Silver Plants

 The first time I became aware of allysum, I was walking on a sidewalk in a residential area in Germany.  I suddenly smelled a wonderful honey fragrance.  I stopped and looked over the little fence to see mounds of the snowy flowers. I bought a couple of seed packets and sprinkled them on the cobblestones of our patio.  I thought they would be delightful growing among the bricks and would smell fantastic.  Our energetic cleaning lady brought a power sprayer to wash the little flowers away.  She didn't realize they were flowers.

Since we've moved to Tennessee, I've tried growing them in the flower beds but couldn't get them to live.  I think they wanted more water.  This year I decided that putting them in my flower boxes would make it easy to give them enough water, plus the fragrance would be right where I sit when I'm on that porch...which is a lot of the time since my husband complains when I walk on the front porch as it scares the hummingbirds.

The dichondra trailing from the basket I first noticed at Bellingrath Gardens.  It took a while to find it as I had seen it but didn't know what it was.  I usually have a little notebook I carry around with me, but there was no marker on the basket.

The angelwing begonias I got from Mama.  She had a wonderful plant and generously allowed me to take cuttings.

My Knee

It has been almost a month since my knee surgery.  I've had several days with no pain and that includes today after walking down to my tire garden and working in one of my flower beds for a while yesterday. 

Today's Nothing

 Today I vacuumed spiders off the porch and washed coffee I'd decorated with earlier in the week.  While I was at it, I washed specks of something off one porch wall.

 I admired the crepe myrtle that has started to bloom beside the mimosa.

I measured the height of the mattress topper I have spread out to absorb air.  It has a gel layer that is supposed to disperse heat and a layer of memory foam that I hope will allow our joints to feel better.  A lovely new mattress with all the fancy stuff would be great, but more expensive than I'm willing to spring for right now.

Dessert Combination

I made low-carb cheesecake cupcakes and liked them.  After refrigerating them, the texture became more dense, or packy.  I also made a fruit glaze to put on puff pastry.  It was really good, but the puff pastry didn't store well.  So today I put the fruit glaze over a cheesecake cupcake...it was good enough to do again, on purpose.

I used the fruit I'd picked, blueberries, strawberries, and blackberries.  I put a low-carb thickener in a little water and stirred in some sugar-free strawberry preserves and Splenda. When it started to thicken, I added the fruit.  It wasn't thick enough for pie filling, but it was nice over puff pastry, ice cream, and now cheesecake.

Black-eyed Susan Vine

Last year I had yellow black-eyed Susan vines.  A friend gave them to me.  They did all right, but I didn't like the red of the angel-wing begonias with the bright yellow of the vines.  I liked it that they trailed down, but the colors weren't wonderful.

This year I ordered white and pink or red ones (don't remember which).  This is the first bloom.  I hope they seed as readily as the yellow ones.

Scuppernongs

This is one of the scuppernongs that Larry rooted a couple of years ago.  They are already producing fruit.  I've been looking at wine-making kits.

Food Today

I added strawberries to my oatmeal this morning.  I don't eat oatmeal very often because it isn't exactly low-carb, but I'm just so convinced it is healthy that when I'm not trying to lose weight (that would be low-carb, maintenance stage), I have it sometimes.  The strawberries I picked from my tire garden were wonderful.
Then I made a slaw from a cabbage and bell pepper that Larry picked from the garden.  We also have squash that he grew and turnip greens from the freezer that he grew and we put up.  I like it that we grow some of what we eat.
I made a chicken salad that was soupier than I thought it should be but it was very tasty.  I finally decided that it was because I had so many bell peppers that the liquid had come from the peppers.  If I had gotten too much mayonnaise in it, the extra liquid would have been cloudier. 

Consideration

Consideration is sometimes easy to overlook because it isn't always something that is.  Sometimes it is something that isn't.  For example, last night my husband was on the porch in the dark.  He said he heard a loud speaker system coming up the road.  It became silent when it was at the rise of the hill to the south.  It stayed silent until it got to our neighbor's house north of us and then boomed back on.  So whoever it was didn't want to disturb us with the noise.  Maybe he thought our neighbor was too deaf to be bothered.  But if my husband hadn't been on the porch, the absence of the strong bass booming wouldn't have been noticed.

Lunch at the Hospital

Sometimes the hospital doesn't have anything on my low-carb diet except salad and I'm not a huge fan. Sometimes the meat is all right and there is one vegetable that is green and not fried.  Today they had hamburger steak with gravy and mushrooms...but they were separate so I didn't have to get the gravy but could ask for the hamburger and mushrooms.  The steamed cabbage was good and on my diet.  But the other lovely thing was a baked sweet potato.  They didn't make some kind of sugar-laden casserole.  They put a tub of brown sugar so people could add it, but I could have the sweet potato without it if I could manage to keep walking past it and not help myself!  I did.  The sweet potato was small so I had a really nice lunch without getting off my diet.  I'm aware that a sweet potato isn't low-carb, but it is also one of the healthy carb things so I just enjoyed it.

Flittering, Fluttering

The mimosa tree is beautiful right now.  It was beautiful last week, too, but starting yesterday evening it was covered with dozens of swallowtail butterflies, the plain medium-sized yellow butterflies, and hummingbirds.  I wish I had some way of getting a picture that includes the movement of the butterflies.

Music to my Ears

I volunteered this morning and got lots of compliments on my new dress.  I wore it because my steri-strips came off of my little stitches and I didn't want to take the chance on jeans scraping off the scabs.
Then I came home and took a nap.  When I woke up, I heard the lawn mower running.  Yea!  The weeds are awful because the mower needed to be repaired.
Now it is:)

Low-Carb Nut Bread

This nut bread is made with almond flour and has chipped up almonds in it.  It tastes as good as it looks:)

Visiting Friend

 I'm very excited to have a friend visiting me.  We worked, played, exercised, shopped, and sometimes cooked together in Germany.

 Since she was here, I wanted her to share her knowledge of puff pastry with me because I hadn't used it before. She was willing to brainstorm how to make a dessert with it.  I wanted to use the fruit from our yard to make a filling.  The two white things that look like marshmallows are two figs peeled.  I made a thin glaze using a low-carb sweetener, some water, and Splenda.

We put the fruit in the little pastry shells and enjoyed them.

Stupid Energy Idea

Well, my brilliant idea about turning on the water in the shower to get wet, turning it off to soap up, and then turning it back on to rinse thereby saving water and gas to heat so much water wasn't so brilliant.  I tried it momentarily and nearly turned into a Popsicle. 
I won't be able to tell about saving money on air conditioning by adding fans until the electric bill comes.
Our power bill isn't very high except in the summer when we run the air conditioner.  I like how the power company sends the bill with last month's usage and this month last year.  It still varies since sometimes the months are warmer or cooler than the previous year's.

Two Energy Ideas

I was washing my hair this morning and remember camping on Santibel years ago.  They were short of fresh water so we had to put coins in for water for showers.  There were five of us so it required a good little pile of coins.  I put a coin in to get wet and then didn't put another coin in until I was ready to rinse.  Having the shower running while I washed wasn't necessary.
So I decided this morning that I will try that during my shower and hair-washing times now. 

My second idea is an extension of one we've been using.  We put a fan in the bedroom in addition to the air conditioning.  But I think we could probably set the thermostat higher if we used a fan in the living room and kitchen.  I also think it would be helpful because Larry wants to be cooler than I like, so he could aim the fan at himself and maybe I wouldn't have to wrap up in a blanket.

My Summer Hair

My hairdresser and a waitress where we eat asked if I'd put something on my hair to lighten it.  Well, my hairdresser should know as she would have put it on.  I suggested that I'm getting grayer but neither of them thought it was that.  I guess it's exposure to the summer sun.  I seriously try to avoid that because of the melanoma I had several years ago as well as the brown spots on my hands, arms, and legs.

How Do You Know?

I neighbor's kid (early 20's) came over and said he'd noticed we have apple trees.  He said they have apple trees, too, but don't have a clue when to pick them.  I said to notice when they look good to him, pull one, eat it.  If he likes them like that, pull more.  Different apple trees have apples that ripen at different times so it is hard to tell somebody else when their trees will have ripe apples.

Audible Experience

I accidentally bought an abridged audio version of a book that I like. I didn't notice that I'd done it until after I'd listened to it and tried to figure out why the funny parts weren't there.  I didn't want that version but didn't want to rebuy it.
So I went to audible chat and asked if I could exchange it even though it wasn't the last one I'd gotten.  The person gave me back that credit and I was able to download the unabridged version.  Yea, Audible!

Not a Great Day

When I'm volunteering at the hospital, I usually have my blood pressure taken at the home health screening.  My blood pressure is usually fine.  Today it was awful...both numbers.  She had me sit for five minutes and then did it again.  It was better, but still high on both numbers.  So she sent me back on the floor and said to get one of the nurses to do a manual blood pressure reading with a cuff.  It was still high, almost as high as it had been on the first reading.
When I got home, Larry said I was still reacting to the surgery and can't do what I want to so frustration made it high.  I don't know if that is reasonable or not.
The nurse's explanation of I'm getting older made good sense, but I didn't much care for it.  I think I've been eating pretty consistently bad since my surgery.  Maybe that did it.

Wonderful Almonds

I've never cared much for almonds, but I read that they are good for bringing down cholesterol so I have been trying to eat them. 
I found salted almonds under the Wonderful brand at Sam's Club...in three pound bags.  So when I went to buy more, it took forever to find them.  When I got them home, I had not bought the right brand and they were raw, unsalted and pretty tasteless.
So I used my roasted pecan recipe and toasted them in the oven, buttered and salted them and they are edible.  Unfortunately, I bought six pounds of them so they should last me a while.

Bowl of Fruit

I made a bowl of mixed fruit containing blueberries, blackberries, and strawberries...all from our yard:)  Next year hopefully we'll get more strawberries and blackberries from our plants.  The blueberry bushes are several years old and make a lot.  The strawberries and blackberries are first year, so we aren't getting much, but the plants look healthy.

July 2013 Color in Tennessee

 This is bee balm with a butterfly.  When I went to the nursery, I asked for perennial plants that bees and butterflies would like.

This mimosa tree looks hazy, but it's because it was raining when Larry took the picture.  Mimosa trees grow wild, but Larry found this one in our woods and transplanted it.  It is bracketed on each side with crepe myrtles.  The color is a little darker pink than the mimosa.

We also have blooming at this time roses, day lilies, clematis, and the monkey grass is beginning to bloom.  The lavender plants are blooming, too.

At Dressbarn

I really don't like to shop, but after deciding that I would wear my long brown jersey dress for my knee surgery because I wouldn't have to bend my knee to put it on to leave, and again to the dermatologist because it would be easy to get into and out of my first day off crutches, I wore it.  I had neglected to notice that it was a fat outfit and kept trying to fall off one shoulder or the other.
As soon as I felt well enough to shop with a friend, we went to Dressbarn.  Here is what I love about Dressbarn.  I can walk in and tell the person who asks if I need help exactly what I want.  This time I said I want a stretchy dress, slip on, long.  Privately, I also wanted one with a collar if possible.  I also said, "It doesn't have to be cute."  I just wanted something convenient to wear to the doctor.
She asked my size and I said either 12 or 14.  She started showing me dresses that fit my requirements.  I picked two, tried them both on, and was finished in about 15 minutes.  And they look absolutely spectacular.  Well, maybe not.

Pear Tree Problem

We planted a Comice pear tree and a Bartlet so we would have cross pollination. It is their third year and we were happy to see blooms and tiny pears.  But then we started noticing some of the leaves turning black.
I looked up "fire blight" and found the best way to control it is to prune the branches off that show it.  Well, our lovely, well shaped pear trees look really sad now.  I'm not sure we'll be able to get any pears off of them...ever.

Not Cereal for Breakfast

I like cereal with blueberries for breakfast...especially when we have fresh blueberries.  So this morning I thought a couple of sausage patties and a measured amount of cereal and blueberries would be good.  Well, it would have been.
But I am out of cereal.  So I had two sausage patties and a bowl of blueberries with Splenda and cream.  It was very nice even without the cereal:)

Interference - Conclusion

My desktop works fine as long as I don't use my laptop nearby.  Just turning the laptop off doesn't help.  Turning the internet off on the laptop didn't help, either.
If I unplug the aircard and take it to my art building, and use my laptop there, and just leave the laptop there, it doesn't interfere with my desktop.
My Kindle doesn't interfere, although my desktop tells me there's a conflict.  I just close the box and everything seems to be fine.  I tried to convince the program that it isn't a conflict since I want both to operate.  It seems to think I don't have the authority to make that decision, but it still works.

You Can't Tell Us Anything

When I was at the doctor's office Monday, a man sitting beside me said they wanted him to have a knee replacement but he didn't want one.  He said his knee doesn't hold him up all the time but just gives out and he falls.  Then he can't get back up.  He lives alone. The last time it happened he waited for the mail man to come.  He was a large man so the mailman called the paramedics who came and got him up.
I asked if he could get up with a cane or a walker.  He said he has a wooden one.  I said I thought a walker might provide more support.  I asked if he has a cell phone.  He said he should get one.  He said, "I'm 68.  You can't tell us anything."
I said, "I'm 66 and I hate to fall and I'm pretty sure I wouldn't want to wait for somebody to happen by to get me up! 911 is pretty easy to dial."
I'll bet he was happy he decided to strike up that conversation.  I was just fine without listening to him, but totally unable to listen without then telling him possible solutions to his problems.

Tomato Cuttings

Larry handed me some tomato cuttings to root.  I searched tomato propagation to make sure I was doing everything right, even though I'm pretty sure they root easily.
One of the interesting things I read is that willow cuttings release a natural rooting hormone so I hobbled out and snipped a couple of willow cuttings and added them to my tomato cuttings.

Volunteered Today

Today is the first day back to volunteering since my knee surgery.  The doctor said I can drive so I drove to the hospital to volunteer.  I'd only missed last week.  I saw a man struggling along with a walker and a bandaged knee.  He struggled just as badly with the walker as I had with the crutches.  I think his surgery was more serious than mine because he was in the hospital and I was outpatient.  But it felt lovely to see him struggle as I had and know I had come so far. 
The wall slides on the exercise sheet the doctor gave me is miserable.  It is for the quadriceps and makes both knees hurt. 

Cardinal as Spotter

I knew that tomato plant had a hornworm but I couldn't find it yesterday.  This morning I saw a cardinal precariously perched on a tomato plant pecking at something that was swinging away and back.  It tried several times and then flew off.  I was curious because I hadn't seen a cardinal on a tomato plant before so I walked closer.  It had been pecking at a hornworm! Good job, cardinal!

An Echo in the Bone by Diana Gabaldon - a Comment

I think I know why it is taking Diana Gabaldon so long to publish the next book after An Echo in the Bone. She got her characters in such an awful mess that even she can't figure out how to extricate them!

Interference Follow-Up

I turned off my laptop's internet last night in hopes that I could access the internet on my desktop more quickly.  It did not appear to help.  It is possible that the air card still homes in on the modem on the laptop with it turned off.  I don't know.  I just know it didn't help.

First Post-Op Doctor's Visit

Well, the stitches were removed today and some of my restrictions...like driving:)
I don't have to go back for a month. He was pleased with my range of motion and did not recommend rehab. He gave me a sheet with some exercises.  I complained about how difficult it is to get off the floor with a messed up knee and he said I can do them from a chair.  I'm happy about that.
He said not to stand on uneven surfaces which I forgot as soon as I decided a hornworm was gnawing leaves off of a tomato.  My knee reminded me so I didn't do it long.
He showed me pictures and said the MRI had shown a tear of the medial meniscus. When the surgery was underway, a tear on the lateral meniscus was also shown so he also fixed it.

Interference

I wonder if the modem in my laptop is interfering with reception of my desktop computer.  Tonight I will turn off the internet on my laptop when I go inside.  I bought a new desktop computer because I wanted more storage space and more usb ports.  I don't think getting a new laptop would fix it and I don't think my desktop computer is out of date.
So that is my plan.  I hope it works.  I'm seriously tired of waiting twenty minutes to pull up my fitbit site.

Niccolo Rising

I first read a book by Dorothy Dunnett in the Citronelle, Alabama, library.  It was the third of the Lymond Chronicles.  It was rich in devious plot twists, descriptions, historic settings, and wonderfully complex characters.
After reading the third one, I started on the series in order. I wanted to buy the series but couldn't find it.  It was before computers in homes or internet.
I eventually found the series in hardback going through a reprint at Harrod's in London.  I bought the ones they'd had so far and put the future editions on my credit card to be delivered as they appeared in reprint.
Then a new series started...Niccolo Rising was the first.  I was almost afraid to read it in case the author had used all of her brilliance on the characters of the first series and the next would be a disappointment.
I don't like the second series quite as well, but it is still wonderful.  In addition to all that, the setting is in Bruges, a jewel of a small city that I especially like. Some people can spend hours in art museums.  I love wandering the streets, reveling in the old architecture.  So when I read (or reread) the book, I also revisit the town in memory.
These books are not for the faint of heart who think history is tidy and noble.  It is rather more Machiavellian...interesting to read about but better viewed from a distance.
BUT! Niccolo Rising has appeared in audio.  I was delighted. It is the only one, so far.  I think collecting books used to be more difficult.  Now I have the hardbacked books (acquired in England), ebooks, and have started on the audio books as they become available:)

Baked Beans Adaptation

Well, it looked like baked beans so my next question was how would it taste?

I used all the regular ingredients (bacon, onions, hot peppers, Worcestershire sauce). The ingredients I changed were beans (pinto beans), ketchup (tomato paste), brown sugar (diet root beer concentrate).  The next thing I had to be aware of was portion size.  I decided that 1/4 cup is correct for portion size.  My blood sugar was 111 this morning so I think it is all right.

For taste, I thought it was good but waited with trepidation for Larry's evaluation.  He said it was good.  But.  Sometimes he says it is good and I have to watch to see if he ever eats more.  He doesn't want to discourage me from cooking:)

Rural Retirement

 The clusters of apples are beautiful to me but we thinned them today so hopefully we'll get larger ones. I am not a farmer of any sort so growing fruit seems magic to me.

 Larry sprayed the peaches this year so we may actually get some.

This is where I dropped the daylilies into an erosion wash. With absolutely no care, even to the extent of planting them...only dropping them into the wash, they not only live, but thrive.

Idea for Baked Beans

I wish I liked salad, but it isn't one of the things I automatically put on a holiday menu.  I've been told that baked beans aren't fancy enough for company.  It is possible that it wasn't fancy enough for that company.  But my idea of cooking for company includes the knowledge that we will have to eat the leftovers.
But I really want baked beans every time we grill.  So today I decided that since beans aren't low-carb, but are high fiber, I should try for a reasonable adaptation.
So today I started soaking pinto beans.  Pinto beans aren't the lowest carb dried bean, but I like to have a large number on hand in case of emergency.
I plan to sweeten the baked beans with the diet root beer flavoring that I use with my soda stream.  I will also use ketchup, Worcestershire sauce, bacon, onions, and hot green pepper I put in the freezer last fall.
I guess I like to play with my food.

Both Knees

I had surgery on the right knee, but putting all the strain on the left knee isn't doing it any favors. I think I'll avoid stairs today.

Ice Cream

 Homemade ice cream from Atkins, phase II and up.  The ice trays are an attempt to solve the problem of how hard it freezes.  It is difficult to gouge it out of a container after it has been in the freezer.  I've tried using the pampered chef containers and ice shaver, but it is likely to just stay in the freezer because I don't want to eat a whole container at once.  The ice trays should allow me to get a couple of chunks and Larry to get how many he wants...easily.

I also froze the remainder of the homemade barbecue sauce in ice trays.  I have at least a half dozen extra ice trays on hand.  Once the cubes are frozen, I empty them into freezer bags.

Happy Fourth!

When we were first faced with our home containing no children, my impulse was to ignore holidays.  I guess I would have continued to do that, but Larry started mentioning holidays and what he wanted to eat. This attitude of  'why bother, it's just us' led me next to the idea that when we married it was just us, and we observed holidays.
Life feels better with holidays. So, this fourth we have our menu pretty well figured out...good thing, today's the fourth.
Larry will grill ribs and brats for himself.  I want chicken thighs with homemade barbecue sauce.  I have a gorgeous fruit salad made (sweetened with splenda, blueberries from our bushes. everything else from the store). We made potato salad.  I'm going to make an Atkins recipe of homemade vanilla ice cream.  I think I'll cook green beans we canned last year.
We've only done fireworks once since the kids flew the nest.  This year neither of us mentioned fireworks.

Fruit Salad for the Fourth

I used Splenda in this fruit salad.  It is for tomorrow but there is plenty for taste-testing:)

The blueberries are from our garden.

Better and Better - Day 5 Post Op

I tried to explain to a friend that it was according to schedule that I had left off the crutches the third day...it was, after all, minor surgery.  She said that minor surgery is what happens to someone else:)
Yesterday I got 6,000 steps in on my fitbit and today I chopped tall weeds beside the road with a hoe.  Standing on uneven ground didn't hurt my knee today.
Yesterday my knee was a little tender as we picked blueberries in a light drizzle.  I decided it was because the ground was a little uneven.

Moth Panic

Last night I got into bed, at the last minute remembering not to plant my day 5 post op knee into the mattress  to literally "crawl" into bed.
I carefully settled myself into a comfortable position only to feel a small movement on my calf.  I halfheartedly swiped at it trying to decide if wildlife had settled in with me.
That was a firm Yes!  I hastily flipped over, flung the bedclothes back, and turned on the bedside light...only noticing then that I was on my knees!  I flipped back and saw a small gray moth fluttering madly.  I brushed it out of bed, turned the light back off and tried to decide if I had hurt my knee.  I hadn't.  Better and better.

My Knee on Tuesday - Day 4

I don't really know what is all right to do so that my knee heals well. The piece of paper said not to do heavy lifting, etc.  The attendant at the clinic said not to just sit with it propped up.  So I'm trying to move some. But it aches somewhat and has some swelling.  I have it up at the moment with ice on it.  Ice makes it feel better.

Cottage Garden

 My idea of a cottage gardens involves a miscellaneous mix of tall flowering shrubs, bulbs, and perennials.  I'm hoping for that look on the strip along the road.

 The impatiens aren't perennials but they readily seed for the next year.

Bee balm, daisies, lavender, perennial purple salvia,and silver something blooming comprise this part.  The little garden angel was a gift from a child several years ago.

Mimosa from the Woods

Larry dug this mimosa from the woods.  They grow wild in the south.

Sore All Over

Crutches are great exercise, if I can judge accurately based on how sore all my muscles are.

No Germs on those Hands!

Today was my first day off crutches.  We went to Memphis to see the dermatologist.  I made it fine.  The report was good and now I'm back on a once a year schedule.  After the melanoma I was on a three-month schedule.  Then six months, and finally I'm back to once a year.
The dermatologist's hands were really cold.  She apologized but liked it when I told her there was no way those hands could have germs on them. 
We ate at Cracker Barrel for breakfast and Casey Jones Restaurant on the way back for lunch.
We went in at Casey Jones, ate the buffet, and asked for the ticket.  The waitress said we should have paid on the way in.  So I went and got in line and explained we'd done it backwards but wanted to pay.  She said they'd only been doing it that way for about three months and they still get confused sometimes.
We were both really tired when we got home and crawled into bed for naps.