What NOT to do in July

Well, nowwww I've done it....gone and broken my ankle and have to get around on crutches and have a big ugly fat splint on my leg. Bummer! And the doctor says no weight on that leg for 2 months. Whoa! So after a surgery to put in a metal plate and screws, another fall coming home from surgery, and a week of being in shock about "how on earth am I going to do this" I have moved my life and my cats to the upstairs of my house (where the bathroom is). My sons bought a small fridge and put it in the big bedroom, brought up my microwave and coffeemaker, provided me with lunch food and frozen dinner food and fruit and yogurt and just about everything I need. Except mobility.

My dear sister has taken wonderful care of me, my family and friends have come with food, wine and company, Now the cats Julia and Metairie hang out with me and sleep beside me a lot, I know everything there is to know about the current health care reform and debate (plus all the other stupid political happenings). I have read a number of books. I have learned to bathe in a small sink, maneuver a walker and a wheelchair, cook in a bedroom and try not to let boredom overtake me.

Thank goodness I cannot see my garden close up--only from the second story windows--and it looks quite lovely. The daylilies are almost over, the phlox are coming on strong and the summer daisies look good. I imagine the weeds are getting ready to take over and soon all the flowers will need to be dead-headed and trimmed up. I will turn a blind eye when it rears its ugly head.

Now that I'm out of shock and my life has a certain routine, though a very slow one, I am trying to figure out what oh what to do. I have read Five Quarters of an Orange and Howard's End and I'm starting on Deaf Sentence.

Perhaps a post every day. Hmmmm, wonder what new experience I would write about.

And the rains came....

It has been awhile since I have written anything. I recently was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis and that has been a pretty big deal for me. The medication the doctor is giving me seems to be a miracle drug. After a month of taking it I am so much better that it is amazing! I feel like a human being again and life is good.

We are getting rain today and it is wonderful. My garden is parched....even though I water on a regular schedule. Somehow those plants know the difference between rain and a garden hose. The daylilies are in bloom now and they are really beautiful. I had forgotten what pleasure they give until a few years ago when I found one in bloom at the nursery and planted it. I love the more unusual colors and I now have an almost white one with pale yellow throat. This Spring I found two bags of "misc" and planted them, I call them my baglillies. They have had a few blooms and show much promise for good color. Next year will tell the whole story.

There is nothing lovelier than a good rain. This one is slow and soft with "rolling thunder". Several years ago I went to visit the graves of my Mother and Father. This was a full day's trip and the first time I had done so since Mother passed. Afterwards I sat in the little park the they took us to as children and experienced rolling thunder in a way that I had not....before or since. I could almost visualize what thunder looked like as it rolled across the sky. It lasted quite a long time and has stayed with me ever since.

Oooooh, the rolling thunder has just changed to very loud booms! What a treat. I have been reading Edwin Way Teale's Journey through Summer....for about the third time (and the third summer). Teale is an American naturalist who wrote these journeys through each of the seasons. The books were written in the 1950's, a time when I was a child at home with my parents. Though I think what he writes is timeless, it also is close to my heart because as I was growing up I was a close observer of the land. I knew every blade of grass, every rock, every wild flower the bloomed in a part of Ohio that was scarred by strip mining for coal but was beautiful to me. Teale traveled by car with his wife Nellie and drove thousands of miles as they followed the season through many many of the states. It is lovely poetic writing and such a fine thing to read as I live through each season and take a jouney of my own through my garden, the "wetlands" which is close to where I live, and various parks that are close to my home. I would recommend it to anyone who loves the land and nature.

Later......it is still raining and I have been sitting on the porch enjoying it. You can almost see the flowers and plants going slurp slurp.

Later still, much later....it is still raining. Amen.