Thanks to the Squirrels...

Thanks to the squirrels (I'm guessing) we're now enjoying these tulips in our living room instead of out in the front yard.. As I was looking around the garden the other day, I found all 14 of these flowers snapped off at this length. Fortunately I found them in time, brought them in, and they survived beautifully. See the partial robin's egg shell in the bottom left?  I thought I found one last week, but it turned out to be a piece of chewing gum.  This time I found a real one.

What's happening around here...
- the first two little tomatilla seedlings emerged  today!
- the mesclun (salad mix) seedlings are coming up in the garden.
- today I brought the parsley, basil, green pepper and tomato plants outside to start hardening them off.
- I also cleaned up all the impatient plants and cuttings and brought them into the "intensive care unit" in the living room bay window so I can keep a closer eye on them until they're ready to go outside. These poor plants are looking kind of sad because they've been rather neglected this winter. Maybe some extra TLC will revive them.
- we have a jigsaw puzzle going on the dining room table
- we dropped by Mark & Rosemary's last night to see their new patio
- our postponed family Easter dinner has been moved to Mother's Day
- Gerard is attending a fundraising dinner with most of our small group tonight, but I decided not to go preferring the quiet at home (everyone's out tonight). Wow!  There really must be something wrong with me!  It's not often I turn down a social opportunity.

Since my blood levels changed so much more than our oncologist had expected between my March and April monthly appointments, we requested to have my blood checked in between monthly appointments so there won't be any big surprises (especially bad ones) at the monthly visits. So today we went for blood tests and all my blood levels were good!

The Wellspring Cancer Support Centre lets each member to have up to 3 therapeutic touch and/or reiki treatments to allow all those who are interested a chance to benefit from these services. After three sessions you can put your name on a waiting list (which I did) so that if there are any cancellations or open time slots they call down the list to fill the appointment. Well, today I got a call and have my fourth therapeutic touch appointment on Monday. Some day I hope to experience reiki as well, since that would be a new experience for me.

Yesterday one of my six brothers dropped by. We had some good laughs recalling a bunch of funny Rick Mercer shows we'd all seen. He asked how I was doing, and I said fine, but getting impatient at being limited by my low energy level and also the (mild) pain in my neck (which I usually call headaches). He reminded me to try to set a realistic level of expectations of myself. (this is awkward wording, but I can't remember exactly what he said). Oh well, basically he meant - remember that your body has just been bombarded by chemo and so it's to be expected that you don't have your normal level of energy and can't do what you normally do. It's great that you're not feeling nauseous and miserable, and that you're able to putter around with your plants and in the garden, and do little odds and ends around the house. So allow yourself to rest and recover and don't beat yourself up (I'm pretty good at that) for not being able to do what you would normally be able to do. Thanks, brother, for helping me keep things in perspective. 

Referring back to yesterday's post - I think most of the time I'm waiting for "the storm to pass". Gerard commented the other day, "You sound pretty upbeat in your blog most of the time, but that's because when you're not feeling so happy you don't write." Which is true. I'm having a harder time "dancing in the rain" lately, although I did just enjoy walking in the rain!

The squirrels didn't get these!