Me, Myself and Memories

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  Noreen 5:39 am on June 17, 2015 Permalink  

  It is about time for slowing up a bit for the day. For some reason, I was awake at 5:30 this morning. Well, I know the reason; I slept through the night and a bathroom visit was needed. I shocked Dennis when I toddled out to the porch with coffee in hand. It’s not uncommon for Dennis to be up early for the exact same reason that I was up, but after a bit the recliner gets a visit and he may nap for several hours.

  I stayed out in the porch and drained several more cups of coffee. I decided I would go into the sewing room and clock in. The intent is to use up a bag of scraps that have been accumulating for several decades. This certain bag of scraps are all about 1.5″ to 2″ in width and various lengths. I don’t have the heart to throw away leftovers from the refrigerator or scraps of fabric. Most likely it comes from times when either one was in short supply.

  The end result will be many, many 9″ blocks with multiple strips of fabric sewed side by side to make up the block. It is a pattern called “String Quilt.” There is no rhyme or reason to the choice of colors that will lay next to each other. There had to be many other quilters that could not bear to throw scraps away in order for there to be multiple images of “String Quilt” when I Googled it.

  During the day, I wandered from the sewing room to the dining room every hour or so. With taking many breaks during the day, I was amazed how much I did accomplish both in the sewing room and also at the dining room table where I am working on hemming a quilt. Did the amount of progress make a believer out of me to get up at 5:30 again tomorrow morning? I wouldn’t bet on it.

   
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  Noreen 6:38 am on June 16, 2015 Permalink  

  A very uneventful Monday. A brief shower of rain decided the day would be spent on some housework-type events. Dust bunnies have to be brought short every once in awhile.

   
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  Noreen 6:16 am on June 15, 2015 Permalink  

  P.S. on June 14th Post 

  

  Many more blooms.

   
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  Noreen 6:07 am on June 15, 2015 Permalink  

  My thoughts in regard to the post of yesterday stemmed from limits that are hard to accept within my being. The old adage “The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak” has come home to roast.

  Last year and years before, I would mow our 50′ x 260′ lot with my push lawnmower. Grant it, buildings and gardens aside, it was still a doable workout. This year, I am doing the front yard and the grass that is beside the house. I bow to Dennis and his riding lawnmower for the lawn in the backyard to be taken care of. He has always done the far portion of the acre and this year he just takes extended swats.

  The gardens have been tended and just in time as the biting bugs have found us. I am back at my niche in the sewing room. I can no longer sit at the sewing machine for hours on end. Now, I have to remind myself to get up every hour and go to a different venue. My back is thankful for those “timeouts.” I have learned to avoid days of pain when I couldn’t do anything. An hour here and an hour there can still show progress in a project. Our dining room is designated for hand sewing. I have known for years that standing or working on concrete floors for extended periods can have an adverse effect on my legs and back. Knowing it and adhering to it is new for me this year. Yup, I can still learn a few new tricks when it benefits my physical comfort.

  By listening to what my body tells me, I still experience everything I always have in the past, just being a bit wiser going about it.

   
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  Noreen 5:28 am on June 14, 2015 Permalink  

  Fleeting Thoughts: 

  Accepting rather than expecting is harder than first thought.

   
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  Noreen 3:52 am on June 13, 2015 Permalink  

  The Flower Show Begins 

  

  2015 looks to be the best year yet for the wonderful yellow blooms on the Prickly Pear Cactuses. Many more buds to come, but unfortunately the staying power of each bloom is short. As I had posted at an earlier date, this beats barbwire as a protector under windows.

   
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  Noreen 3:35 am on June 12, 2015 Permalink  

  Ideas Abound 

  

  Today was the first in over five months that I visited my sewing room. I had been on a sewing role when the Shingles hit. Once that had run its course, the yard work was calling. I pulled out so many projects and ideas that it did become a bit overwhelming. I did sew the binding onto the Overall Sam quilt. Now comes many painstaking stitches to hem it. The pile of scraps is being kicked around with a pattern for a scrappy quilt top. I do have a goal of putting the scraps to a better end than being trapped in a brown paper bag.

   
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  Noreen 6:12 am on June 11, 2015 Permalink
  Tags: Butter Ball ( 7 ), Calvin ( 4 ), Snuggles ( 7 )   

  From A.M. to P.M. 

  There must have been something extra in our coffee this morning.  Dennis was on the rider lawnmower by 9:30 heading to the far portion of the acre.  The threat of the two days of rain that is in the forecast may have spurred him on a bit, and with no dew on the grass it was a perfect fit. I checked my list of what today held for me. I needed to run some errands and pick up several grocery items.

  When I got home, I was using the same threat of rain to get the last of the largest gardens free of extra green stuff.  The dirt was turned black and the Preen was put down.  Now let the rains come.

  

  Using neighbor Jan’s shed as a backdrop, Calvin’s
  creative ironworks can be enjoyed from our patio. I have often
  thought of painting a scene on the back of her shed.
  As I said . . . a thought.

  We have organized some of our garden art a bit differently this year.  My brother, Calvin, had a creative knack with wrought iron-looking steel and his welder.  In times past I had his garden art items placed in multiple places.  This was the year to use them as a very unique type of fence.  Dennis and I had not counted on very dense Maple tree roots to keep us from the ultimate setting, but we are very content with our efforts.

  

  Snuggles finds the most interesting places to
  disappear to. I would imagine the mesh of the lawnmower
  bag makes a good hammock.

  During the day of me working in the garden, Snuggles and Butter Ball kept taking turns keeping me company.  If I thought they had given up on me, all I needed to do was look for either a yellow tail or a white tail peeking out from under a perennial.  It is amazing that two four-legged critters can be used as enough company to keep me going to the very end.  All tools got tucked away and now the waiting game begins to see when the rain starts and how much we end up getting.  As I headed to the house from the backyard, Butter Ball was already choosing which of the rocking chairs he was going to grab a nap in.  Snuggles had disappeared and I backtracked to seek and search until I found him.

  The close of another successful day on Stauffer Avenue and I think I can speak for Dennis as well as myself . . . putting our feet up this evening is going to feel really good.

   
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  Noreen 4:55 am on June 10, 2015 Permalink  

  94 degrees with a bit of humidity sure can pack a wallop. Dennis and I did feel the humidity more than usual as we had visited the Super 8 pool for a good workout and then spent some time in the hot tub. After several days of gardening, soaking some tender joints and muscles of the ole body felt good. It is a good thing that heat and humidity has the ability to keep me out of dirt; I might get caught up and then have to twiddle my thumbs. No Way! For some reason, this season has not as yet had any need for me to be in the sewing room. I do have a book that I have started, but by the time I was on page three, I was falling asleep. For now, I am meant to be in the great outdoors.

   
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  Noreen 6:18 am on June 9, 2015 Permalink
  Tags: Cambridge Health Care Facility, Knee   

  What a Run 

  The morning hours beckoned me to the far east garden.  There were plants there that had not been tended to since they made their appearance in May.  It is very hard to take a hoe in hand for the early weeds as you never quite remember where that certain perennial’s location was last fall right before the freezing temperatures.

  I had read my Facebook messages yesterday and I knew that my lifelong friend Sharon was now in the Cambridge Health Care Facility for rehab on a brand new knee.  Sharon was in the forefront of my thoughts as I pecked away one square foot of dirt at a time.  Whether tending the acre that Dennis and I have, or a window box, I doubt that I would be in any shape for either if I had not had my knees replaced 11 years ago, just about this time in June.

  Just as for Sharon, it was not an easy decision for me to make for a surgical procedure that would take me right down to the core of my being.  Bone on bone for both knees made the decision to have both knees done at the same time not a difficult one.  Why go through the time off work, the pain, and the rehab twice.  Just as in giving birth to my children, the pain of the knee replacements is not remembered.

  What I do remember is how much I wanted to wake without discomfort, how much I wanted to spend more time with six-month-old Megan before I cried out “Uncle.”  Standing and walking until I reached my goal was only a dream.  My spirits could very easily take a spiral.  Now it is such a blessing to enjoy my coffee in the porch with the morning song birds serenading me.  I don’t have to wonder if I can physically stay on my feet to garden until I don’t want to.  I know I can. These last 11 years have given me a great run of physically mobility.  Let’s hear it for Titanium!

  That far east garden did get done – one square foot at a time.  With black dirt around the plants being the desired end result, I spread Preen down for continued weed control.  The most difficult task was pulling enough garden hose the 260 foot length to water down the Preen.  If not watered down, it is all for nothing.

  Supper needed to be thought about as I tucked all the tools away.  I had all afternoon to think about what to fix, but who can think about cooking when the outdoors offers much more fun.

  I hope that Sharon will find the same success in sporting a new knee as I have, and yes, Gail, your mom will forgive you for putting her in a nursing home-type facility.  Sharon will work hard to make sure it is for a short stay only.