Varieties

I kept walking.

Block

I took a walk around the block. Architecture all around.

Pop

And the rain came down. So the poppy popped.





Measured 0.24 in. at the airport overnight, with more falling now and the rest of the day. Happy garden.

Weed

Ego igitur hortus viriditas.

Unturned

He enjoys the garden, but he also gets lost and anxious, so I scritch him on his back just above his tail, and he finds his courage again. A class from a nearby school walked by, and he accepted their admiration as is his due. A little while after, he couldn't orient, and circled and circled. I picked him up, complaining, and put him in on the sofa. He's there now. This is typical.



These irises are going nuts. Many more to come.



The Turkish Veronica continues it's slow spread.



The Golden Celebration rose covered in buds.



The old pink rose, once sickly, bound up in deadwood and the Hedge, now tall and strong, and soon to bloom.



Now, what does this remind me of?



Another week, and it will look like something else to make us giggle.



Sat in the back, to gaze on the fennel and chives, raspberry. Joined by Mr. Cat Kenny, the TNR cat of last fall, who is sleek and strong, evidently well fed, with places to shelter. Sorry, no photo of him.





California poppies starting.



Can't turn compost. It will wait.

Breaking

Dylan's photo of my iris.



The garden and the cat in the garden.


Went uptimes(uptimes, autocorrect?) up to work for a learning assignment, found out I couldn't do it while on FMLA anyway. Ran into my hand surgeon, he thinks I can return to work next Tuesday. This worries me, honestly, even with a splint on. We shall see. Drama has happened at work since my breakage.

Ulnar

The ups and downs of this knitting project get to me at times. The ulnar styloid process soft tissue is swollen and sore, not the broken side, but of course the shock wave enough to break a bone traveled through the whole of my arm, the ulnar side of the wrist was also dislocated. Wrenching the elbow, shoulder, back. Dealing with the rest of the injury now. Doing my therapy, but not the usual extra.

I am working on it.

Got a copy of Illustrated The Last Hero, T. Pratchett, at an estate sale on Saturday. Driving through the steepness and stop sign ridden avenues was perhaps somewhat... optimistic.

Finished reading Lane Moore's How To Be Alone, and it's searing. Different flavor, but so many resonances for me. Unsafe families, neglect and abuse of children, PTSD. Screwing up relationships. Finding a way through, and the luck of strangers that guide us forward. Everyone has troubles, and we do love to help each other.

Warm sun, a good sandwich place, and a garden starting to bloom and nearly bursting out, a quiet neighborhood and a basking cat. A lovely vacation Sunday. Two more days off together.

Made adjustments to the splint, because I do know what I'm doing, and going up to hand therapy to get it done seemed excessive. Straightforward trim so it would tighten properly, steamed the thermoplastic to smooth the edges. The incision is also healing quite well, although it pulls.

It doesn't feel like four weeks, and it feels like much longer at the same time.

Fairies

No fairies, but a Painted Lady butterfly, seen many of them, first successful photo, apparently getting so many from the superbloom in California.

Got three kinds of peppers at the plant sale this morning, and the thornless blackberries. The Serviceberry is on order, another two to three weeks. Sweet pepper down among the legumes, lentil and beans.






Waiting for the irises, they are oh, so, close.



But the alliums!

Star

Kiss here.

He does enjoy sitting in the oat grass.





A batch of California poppies and Larkspur, Star of Bethlehem. Beats baked clay and spiky weeds. Volunteers near the compost. That isn't getting turned.




Strength and coordination improving. Rubbed my hand with tiger balm yesterday, which felt wonderful, and today I have more movement. Ten days until the next x-ray, evaluation and instructions. I feel like I'm right on target.

Involved

Catnip may have been involved.

Newish

Got a new camera, lost my earrings after one day, the laundry washing machine door is squealing loudly, my fist grip is impressive.


Dylan is on vacation, we went to the asian grill/sushi bar for lunch. Highest quality food, nourishing, excellent tea, and entirely reasonable price. Not to mention Pho.

So much spasm last evening, nerves coming back online I guess, took drugs and slept. Went walking this morning, the grass in the park very wet followed by my shoes and socks.

Iris bud.



Veronica.



Grasses.

Knitting

Our vacation, which is to say Dylan's since my time off is actually FMLA, started just after 1300. I walked to the library, and we headed off to lunch. It was raining. Quite a lot. We were insufficiently prepared. Street drainage here is wholly inadequate to any kind of downpour, making crossing streets a hazardous proposition, little flash floods at every corner. Dylan helped me across, with minimal foot submersion. Lunch was lovely. We caught a bus home because we were wet and getting cold.



At least my work was already planning on my being gone this week.

Derecho is noticeably more coordinated, and stronger. Knitting well.

Clumps

The garden is already lovely, with just the mustard in bright, luminous yellow. Bearded irises, flags in regional parlance, still to bloom. Mint transplanted to crowd out foxtail grass thriving, if not yet spreading. One clump of Lambs Ears also transplanted, the original areas looking downright lush.

I drove on Friday, brief trip, but proof of concept. I could manage it alone in an emergency, but prefer to have Dylan there to turn the key and help me buckle up. No wrist twisting yet. Avoided the steep streets, since a fast, forceful shift would be unwise. We did a yard sale trip on Saturday, got a few useful things, and called it good. Going back to work in a couple of week, with surgeon approval, feels possible. I honestly don't know if I'll be fully cleared at that point, but if not I'll be having to get WCF and FMLA approval for another week(?) It's all a mystery at the moment. I also expect to continue wearing a brace for work, which feels safer.

The mood of last week has lifted, sleeping better is, I suspect, the distinguishing factor. Derecho Hand feels stronger and more coordinated this morning.

Plateau

Healing in a plateau, no obvious changes as the bone knits. Strange pulls and tingles and swellings, as the soft tissue injuries assert their complaints. Itches and moods, twinges and bothers. Felt very sorry for myself the last few days, knowing how unreasonable that is. There is no prize for being the Most Injured! Finally got a good full night of sleep with only melatonin, the first since the break. Woke feeling better, wanting to be capable and self reliant and useful again.

Next week the Community Garden's big plant sale, and I have Plans. Berries. Struggling with only having one hand, and it's a left. Connecting hoses is not going well.

Moby needs more help, but still enjoys basking in the grass in the sun.

Mayday

“April is the cruelest month, breeding
lilacs out of the dead land, mixing
memory and desire, stirring
dull roots with spring rain.”


― T.S. Eliot, The Waste Land


Happy May Day, comrades.

Local housekeepers made short work of my poor neglected floors. The place smells better, feels lighter, my own sense of falling further and further behind eased. As I get stronger, I can get more of the delayed cleaning done, keep up with it again. I'm embarrassed with how much dirt was in the corners and edges, how bad I'd let it get. I'd planned... yeah, well plans. They even vacuumed the sofa. I'm so grateful.

I gave them tea, took a bit to hunt down the honey, they made theirs white with cream. I drink mine black mostly, so I just don't think about sugar, barely remembered about cream.

Spending a bit of effort on nutrition, vitamins and minerals, protein and fresh greenery. Not been feeling like eating much. We went to lunch for a good meal today, Chili Tepin very tasty.

Rained a lot yesterday, the garden soaked, the sun bright, deceptively - it's not warm. I go out, pull a few weedy grasses, get cold, lurk inside.