Grey Skies and Garden Greens

Hello everyone,

I hope you are all enjoying your weekend wherever you may be in the world. In my part of the world it has been raining heavily all week. I was looking forward to having rain because it has been so hot and humid for me this summer.


Unfortunately I was not counting on the arthritic pain that came along with the rains. I've been moving more slowly this week as a result and not feeling up to much of anything.  After 5 days of rain, I am feeling better today.

As you can see from the photos, we've had thick gray skies with a sliver of blue (lower photo) but so far it hasn't rained today.

I was disappointed in my garden this year. Nothing really grew as it should. Some things matured too quickly and died.  Like the corn I like to plant most years so the squirrels can have some food. The sweet peas which I planted for the bloosoms also died rather quickly.

Even container plants which have always done well for me, like pansies and geraniums, died rather quickly even though I did dead head and water them.  I thought the pansies had died altogether.  But just the other day they started blooming again so I hope they will last for a little while yet.

I can't really complain too loudly about the lack of gardening success for I don't really tend to my garden too much except to water it almost daily and deadhead the container plants.

Everything looks a bit wild, lol!

Just when I thought none of the vegetables would grow I see the kale is looking healthy and the brussels sprouts are suddenly doing better too. Even the tomatoes are finally showing signs of growth.  Perhaps all is not lost just yet. I will be glad to use anything that grows. Sadly the sunflowers I planted for the birds didn't grow very big and are almost dead now after the heavy rains this week.

Almost ready to use. I've seen smaller leaves on bunches in food stores.

The strata council where I live will soon be uprooting all the gardens to test for membrane damage.  Hopefully next year I can plant and tend my garden without worrying what will happen to it. Perhaps next year things will grow better.

I've never grown these before but they look almost ready to harvest too. I've got a few bunches of them.

I have kept very busy trying to get healthy and lower my blood glucose levels (with some success),  looking after my mother's many needs and hosting some visitors a few times.  I haven't had a whole lot of time for much else, including the garden.

Thank you to all those who commented on my last post about trying to help me find pajamas and warm socks for my mother. I had been looking on line and not finding what I needed in the right sizes.

Last night I finally made it to several brick and mortar stores to see whether the selection was any better than what I've been seeing on line.  I was able to find what I needed:  4 sweatshirts with long sleeves and 3 coordinating sleepwear pants.

These are the tops (and one cami on top). Two of the long sleeved sweatshirts have a bit of glitter. 

 
It took some doing to find the right sizing and colours to coordinate tops and bottoms. But I'm happy with what I found for now. She wants to start wearing pajamas throughout the day so she can keep warm so I've bought things that don't scream "pajamas".

I will still be looking for thicker sleepwear.  If I cannot find them I will try and make some as the fleece and flannel selections will soon be in stock in the fabric stores. I will also wait to see how mom fares wearing what I've just purchased.  I labelled all the clothing today and hemmed one of the bottoms. I put together mom's favourite snack foods since she often says she cannot eat the food served to her at the residence.  On those occasions she needs something else on hand.  My brother will be taking everything up when he goes to visit mom on Sunday.  When I see her on her birthday later in the month I will assess how the clothing has worked out and take some measurements for the socks she still needs to ward off the chills.

Last, but not least, I just want to mention that there is still time to help Elvis in Kenya (if you wish, you can read more about him at the side bar on the right of my blog).  Elvis will take his last class at university in a week or so. He will then need some help with graduation costs and some small funds to help him while he looks for work. If anyone can assist, please let me know.  I know Elvis and his mom who raises 3 other school age children will thank you so much!

Linking with Our World Tuesday

A Health Update

Hello friends and fellow bloggers,

I hope you are all enjoying life wherever you are.  In my part of the world it is summer and this summer has been very hot. Believe it or not the summer has passed by so quickly for me and I have yet to do any summer activities such as picnicking, going to the beach for the day, strolling parks or having barbeques. I did manage to have a few short term summer visitors though it seems so long ago now. I also managed to have a few people for dinner in the patio garden area while my flowers were still in bloom.

My garden was in on time early this year but I haven't really had a chance to enjoy it after the first month or so. It has been so hot here and I am afraid I do not do well in the heat. I am not sure why too but the vegetables seemed to mature early and start dying off. Just this past week the flowers in containers and some of my vegetables seem to have revived though so perhaps there is still some hope for late harvest.



I've been very busy this past few months with health issues; my own and various family and loved ones.  I've also been busy with a number of needs that my mom has and trying to get her positioned for the coming colder months.  She has been having a lot of challenges trying to keep warm enough and staff in care homes do not like attending to residents throughout the night to make sure they are not too cold or not too hot. Once they have you in bed, that is pretty well it and mom is not in any way able to help herself. So I've been trying to find pajamas for her that will need to be adapted.

So far I've had no success in finding large enough pajamas or even pajamas made of flannel. I may have to take a trip across the border to Washington State to see what I can find. I also need to try and find thermal socks that won't cut off her circulation. It seems that socks are made so narrow these days.

Early summer photo.

One of the alternatives I've been exploring is knees bands that are made of far infrared material. Supposedly this material helps people who suffer from arthritic pain. It sounds to good to be true but I've read a lot of testimonials saying how much various garments have helped different users.

Ideally I would get some longjohns for mom but they would have to be custom made since they are not in her size off the rack.  Buying a garment made of this material is an investment which I'm hesitant to make.  The garments cannot be washed in the very hot water that care homes use so I might order the clothing for nothing.

I think I had better try the flannel or fleece options first but locating a seamstress who makes adaptive clothing where my mom lives is not that easy. The one person I did speak with said it would cost too much to make something from scratch.  She also recommended I purchase men's sweatpants (available locally) which she could then adapt. I will look into all these options and try and find the most effective thing to do.

Beyond that I am constantly looking for food snacks that mom can have without refrigeration. Her shared room doesn't have space for her mini-fridge. She shouldn't need all this extra food but she absolutely can't seem to eat much of what they provide her. I don't know how the other residents manage because truthfully I've tasted some of the food. Though it looks and smells fine it is usually too salty, too sweet or too mushy.

Last but not least I've been looking for mobile services such as hair care and masseuses that can help to make her feel well groomed and pretty or relieve some of her constant pains from arthritis. It all keeps me very busy. At the end of the month my brother and I will make a trip to go and see her and celebrate her birthday. I am hoping this will boost her spirits a bit as she hasn't been well with infections and chronic pain this past little while. If you are prayer warrior, please say some prayers for her.

Many of you will know that I have also been spending a lot of time on my own health and trying to get my blood sugar down. I went to the doctor today and was so thrilled to hear that I have dropped a full point in my blood glucose readings. This means I'm very close to normal! I am very excited and happy about that. All my other tests were normal too with the exception of the liver which the doctor wasn't too concerned about just yet for reasons I can't quite regurgitate. So I guess we will keep an eye on that and see where things are at later. As for weight loss, that is still elusive. I did manage to lose a few of the pounds that I had recently gained but it took months of effort. At least it is a loss and not a gain. I'll take it!!

So basically all of this to say I'm pleased with my personal progress and hope that I can keep up the effort and the good progress. I can tell you that it is taking most of my time so I'm blogging less these days.  Since it is summer and most people are somewhat busy, this is probably okay.

I am still pursuing my secret thing that I hinted at a few weeks ago. I need to give it more time to see if it is really going to help me and then I will make a special post about it because it deserves a post of it's own.

I hope you are all doing well and I look forward to reading your posts soon.