A Different December -

Les Mois - Décembre

Eugène Samuel Grasset

1845-1917

Cold nights and mornings now.  

The Winter Solstice is today and it will be Christmas in

 a few days.  Where has the time gone?

This year has been impacted by Bob's ongoing health issues

 and he's not out of the woods yet.

Northern Mockingbird

Very little holiday decorating done this year due to time constraints.

Trying to get some baking started now. It will be a rather quiet time

 at Christmas.

Bob returns for another chemo infusion on Boxing Day - Dec. 26 

(usually my favorite day of the year!). As I said, it's definitely a very

 different Christmas this time around.

Sending best wishes to you and your families - have a joyful holiday.

I plan to come back here more frequently once Bob's treatment is 

completed. I've really missed everyone's news.

Happy Christmas to all.

Mary

November is flying by -

. . . . . . . .leaves are falling, nights are cooler, mornings often misty, 

and some  people are already putting up Christmas decorations.  

Not here though!

I really wasn't planning to write a post today so this may be brief. I was up early due to the downstairs smoke detector beeping - no fire thankfully but a dead battery. Why does this always happen at night - well early morning in this case? I was still snuggled in my recent change to cozy flannel sheets! As we didn't have an early appointment I thought I could have a little extra sleep/rest. Plans changed. We didn't have a replacement battery - dozens of other sizes but not the required one - so Bob left early for the nearby Target to pick up a pack of 9V.  We decided to also replace the battery in the upstairs detector as it would probably wake us up soon - you know, 'Murphy's Law' and all that!

I've treated myself to several new books recently. They all revolve around food and eating, holiday cooking, and international dishes. I love everything written by British food writer-author, Nigel Slater. I have other books by him and have been meaning to purchase 'Christmas Chronicles' for several years. Whilst pre-ordering his new book 'A Thousand Feasts' I added the other one and they showed up together - that was a wonderful day . . . . . . . now I just need time to read them, preferably curled up by the fire.

This book above was just published and is already a New York Times Best Seller! I had pre-ordered Betül's first ever book because I follow her truly amazing cooking videos on Instagram. Love her recipes and her story of growing up in Turkey. There are some great baking recipes.........and I need more time to try my hand at them. Everything she prepares is beautiful, and the way in which she cooks with older traditional utensils and cookware, wearing clothes from another era in her homeland, is something I've become addicted to and find extremely relaxing.

My Thanksgiving cactus is opening pink blooms and there are many. I've really been giving a lot of TLC to this plant all year. Carried it out to the front porch on warm, sunny days, shielded it from raging hot summer afternoons. Fed and watered, and then brought it in at night. These past 5-6 weeks I put it to bed it in the dark all night. The buds soon appeared at the tip of every leaf. Now they're rewarding me with lovely dangly flowers which hopefully will last a while.

The Cancer Center where Bob is receiving his chemotherapy is quite new. It's a very well designed building and the different waiting areas are laid out to make those of us who wait......and then wait some more, feel comfortable and cared for - just as they do for the patients. I recall our two rushed visits to the ER earlier this year. Just finding seat to wait those long waits until a hospital room was available was not easy. Having art to look at and enjoy wasn't part of the scene. . . . . . . . . watching people was often sad and upsetting. Life is all about health. Good health is the most important thing.

The wing where chemo infusions are given has a really pleasant waiting area with comfortable seating and some awesome art. Paintings are colorful and interesting, North Carolina makers and artisans have donated - or people have purchased their work and then donated it to the Cancer Center - really fun pieces.

I make sure Bob is comfortable in his space with his nurse, then move out to the waiting area so he can relax or take a nap! I actually think know he just chats about our travels all the time to the medical staff! Thankfully they seem to enjoy his company and stories. Their first question to me is always. . . . ."is it true you've been to Antarctica?"  

I take my knitting with me, sometimes a book and read a while. I admit I look at my phone too but my eyes often roam to this favorite item, a figurative clay piece by Lisa Joerling. I love it with the bird perched on her head so I aways sit where I can view it. Small, quiet, lovely things are important to get you through the difficult days.

Thanks for stopping by. I guess this wasn't brief after all!  I hope to be back here soon - I still need to do a least a little Christmas decorating to share in the coming weeks.

Halloween Already!

Yes, it's me at long last..........here for a brief post after far too long. 

Bob is post surgery and now receiving chemotherapy, two weeks on one week off, through early next year. Living without a kidney, going back into the hospital yet again - following the surgery hospitalization - due to an infection, and then so many doctor and hospital visits have definitely taken a toll on us.........but we are managing and doing quite well at present.

It's Autumn and we're almost into November. Daylight Savings Time ends this weekend, the clocks go back and the dark evenings arrive earlier.  Another year is quickly coming to an end. Where did it go? How could it pass so quickly? How come I haven't been anywhere new and exciting? Our lives, this year, have revolved around all those health and medical issues. We haven't traveled anywhere!

Today is Halloween. It's almost hot here - 79F will be the high in another hour. We've had no rain for so long that our lawn areas, back and front, are more like scenes from the days of the 'dust bowl' years on the Great Plains in the 1930's. When rain does come we pray it won't be like the storms of Hurricane Helene and Milton when we were almost washed away.

Today our lawn service is reseeding - hopefully we'll see green again come next Spring. Our tree removal people have done a great job this past week pruning, taking down one small tree, and then removing a gigantic 125 foot tall, 200 year old oak threatening to fall on the house due to a rotting base! Sad to see it go but necesssary..........our next door neighbors are happy too.

The kiddies won't require bundling up this evening as they go trick or treating. Hoping they all have fun and stay safe. My decorating for the season has been minimal this time around. Here you get the idea, my plans were bigger, the end result lesser, but I think OK.

In between all the upheaval I recently had a birthday. I really try to stay young in thought and action but have to admit I've struggled somewhat recently. My favorite times have been small, quiet moments where I managed to sit alone away from noise and commotion. These come to mind. . . . . . . . the koi pond in the peaceful hospital garden; knitting in waiting rooms - especially the ones in the Cancer Center that have no television sets; the front porch late afternoon with a cup of tea or a glass of rosé; the gazebo in the back garden, writing little thank you notes to all the dear people who have sent Bob cards and get well greetings, and me gorgeous birthday cards.

Enjoy your Autumn days. Stay well and be happy. 

Too hot to bake.....and more about Bob!

I have mixed feelings about coming here so infrequently.  Guilt?  Definitely!

I'm having feelings that blogging is just too much like hard work compared to Instagram. Speed and ease of posting a photo or photos, typing just about anywhere when you have a phone and a few spare minutes. One and done kind of communication. My IG account is Private so I don't have to deal with strangers and the unknown. That said, I feel sad not spending more time here on the blog but, in all honesty, I just haven't had that time this first half of the year for many, and varied, reasons.

Just as the late Queen Elizabeth stated in 1992 regarding her 'annus horribilis' year - I think 2024 is turning out to be mine.

 

Truthfully, it really is too hot to bake this summer. Independence Day holiday in Raleigh brought the highest temperature ever recorded here, 117F. Nobody in their right mind would turn the oven on in that heat. Thankfully there are bakeries - this beautiful loaf was baked at our favorite in downtown, Boulted Bread. Their pastries are also great, the plain croissant being top of my list, one of the best ever. We're now a little cooler and having long awaited rain. I am back baking and roasting, and we are enjoying frequent al fresco dining in the screened gazebo most evenings.

A couple of posts back in May I shared Bob's emergency hospitalization. During that upsetting time, following so many tests and scans, two tumors were visible on an MRI. Going forward with a visit to a urologist after leaving hospital, an exploratory surgical procedure was ordered and Bob went under general anesthesia in hospital. Sadly the diagnosis is cancer. Last week, while awaiting major surgery, he was given one dose of chemo and has managed well, no pain, no side effects. The blood infection, in case you're wondering, had nothing to do with the cancer, however helped in discovering it in time to prevent spread hopefully!

Bob's surgery will be a robotic-assisted Nephroureterectomy which includes losing a kidney (but thankfully he has a healthy looking one remaining). Other bits will also be taken but hopefully he will not require chemo/radiation afterward if there is no metastases. Fingers are tightly crossed, prayers are being said by family and wonderful friends - many thanks to you all.

I'm sad and sorry that I haven't been able to visit/comment on blogs for far too long. I will return here soon, probably once we get the surgery date. As the cancer is a rare and aggressive type we expect to get the go ahead as soon as he can be worked into the surgeon/hospital schedules. 

Please keep Bob in your thoughts - some of you have met him and know what a great man he is, the rest of you please take my word for it.............he is very special, has beaten cancer before, and is sure he can do it again.

Growing up in Devon -

 

This beautiful scene depicts part of my English childhood. Created in pastels after a visit to my home town, a dear friend now long gone, gave this to me so I would always remember where I came from and what I loved about the countryside where I spent so much time.  The tall oak tree in the center of the fields was one I often climbed in with my best friend. She and I would balance astride a sturdy lower branch, talk about our dreams and the future. These fields were where my mother and I would gather mushrooms early mornings . . . . . . before the dairy cows came out and trampled them. 

Much changed over the years before I decided to come to America. We grew up and my best friend became a hair stylist. I went to college and trained to be a secretary, remember them? We had boyfriends and danced in clubs. My mother worked several jobs and we gave up tramping through the damp fields, preferring to sleep a little later before going to work. My dad worked hard too, and my brother became a great tennis player whilst still in school, trained and played mixed doubles with Sue Barker as his partner - Brits reading this know who she is of course!

Growing up in another country, across a wide expanse of water, means your children and grandchildren may not spend a lot of time in your homeland. We took our children to England several times when they were young. Travel was much easier in so many ways. . . . . .or perhaps it seemed that way because we were younger, healthier, and the world was a much different place! They spent time with their grandparents and other family members. They met my school friends, neighbors and their families. We enjoyed English summer days at the beach, some sandy others pebbly, Devon has a selection of both. Outdoor afternoon tea, watching brilliant colored peacocks strut through the orchard gardens was fun. Viewing wild ponies run across the golden gorse smothered ancient landscape of Dartmoor was exciting to city children. 

One of my own favorite childhood memories is of summer Sunday afternoon picnics on the banks of the River Dart. The surrounding moor was always a special place. . . . . .and the weather was usually pleasant and cool compared to here in the US southeast. Writing this today in much too hot, close to 100 degrees, and in a severe drought, I have a deep yearning to be back home across the pond.

For me, there really is no place like home. Mine is still across the ocean despite having lived here many more years than there.  Off to grab a cold drink and then pull a salad together - too hot to cook, too hot for anything much. Hope your summer days are pleasant.  

Devon thatched cottages in Shiphay village where I grew up.

Time Will Tell --------

If you don't follow me on Instagram, and are wondering where I've been hiding as I've been missing from here, forgive me!

I have several reasons for not writing or sharing photos and life over the past month. One is being totally worn out at the end of the day after of weeks of home projects. How people live in their homes when doing complete restorations is unimaginable to me. Just getting through the days without going insane when all seems to be falling apart around me is taking its toll. Why do I still post on Instagram you may ask. Because it's quick and I can collapse in a chair or my bed and write a few words along with a few photos, usually something snapped that day and from the garden mostly as I haven't gone far lately. Let's be honest, sitting at the computer and composing a neat and tidy, well-written (hopefully) blog post, usually with photos, takes more of an effort and a lot more time. . . . . . . and having strangers working, coming and going, and just being there in your house or garden, disrupts everyday normal living.

That said, when I did get out more recently, the week before this one, it was mostly back and forth to the hospital.  My lovely Bob took a middle of the night ambulance ride when he became very ill. Because of his pain, and a temperature of 105 degrees, the EMS had him down the steps on that gurney in no time and he was gone in the flashing of lights but thankfully no sirens. I won't go into details other than to say a blood infection can be a scary, dangerous thing. . . . . . he had so many tests, scopes, scans and such, and 6 days of IV's and antibiotics. Great care from the doctors, nurses, technicians, and all the workers who help make a hospital run, such as the housekeeping lady from Peru taking care of his linens, to the be-bopping musician with the 'dreads' pushing his bed along the hallways to the MRI's and CT scans etc. So many great people that it's impossible to thank everyone. Our hospital is in the top 20 list of hospitals across the USA. We feel blessed.

Bob is home and still on antibiotics for a few more days. He's feeling better but requires a follow up exploratory procedure very soon. The surgeon was very pleasant when we met this week, explained everything in detail, and said this will all be done ASAP.  In all honesty we are both tired and praying things will go well. So many of you know Bob personally which is why I'm sharing this here. I feel bad that I haven't been leaving comments on your blogs and hope to catch up soon.

Now our new back deck is being built. The guys are two brothers and they are doing perfect work. Reliable, timely, polite, pleasant, and truly interested in pleasing us and doing what we want. . . . . . . . . . .and they call their mom in Honduras every morning!!!  I'll share photos of the deck soon.

The garden has again offered respite lately. I'm behind with a lot of things - such as sewing seeds. This spring seems to be so lush all around when one steps outside. The jasmine vines are massive and perfume the air, especially in the evenings when we've made use of the gazebo prior to the deck work. Pink and purple roses, peonies and clematis are lovely, and now the blue hydrangeas are opening.  But for me it's also the greens, so many shades painted on the shrubs and trees, fresh and clean prior to the oppresive heat and humidity of summer when all will sizzle and call out for water.

A few garden scenes and flowers captured recently - enjoy!

......and a special surprise the day I brought Bob home from the hospital,

Mrs. Cardinal had built a nest in the candolier on the front porch!

This is a first - usually we have finches in the hanging Boston ferns but

they've stayed away this spring.

This weekend I plan to get a ladder and look in the nest - I know she

must have eggs as she stays constantly, only leaving for a minute or

 two when we go out the front door.

Happy weekend. . . . . . a wet one forecast here but I hope to catch

 up with gardening, need to plant seeds and do some serious weeding.

We English grew up gardening in the rain so it will be like the 

good old days!

 

Earth Day 2024 ~

 

I've never had luck growing beautiful hellebores in my garden, or delphiniums, lupins, euphorbia, Japanese anemones . . . . .  and many more plants I recall were easy peasy to grow in my childhood home in Devon, England. My mother, among so many other creative jobs and hobbies, also had a green thumb and worked wonders in our small gardens in front and back of the bunglalow. People passing by on foot, which most did back in those days before everyone sailed by on wheels, stopped and admired our front garden. Around the small lawn were beds of mixed shrubs, some evergreen others flowering, including fuchsia, always a favorite. A fragrant lilac was tucked in a corner, pyracantha espaliered up a wall below a bedroom window. Perennials such as peonies and dahilas were so abundant they would take your breathe away. A boxwood hedge, trimmed to around four feet surrounded everything. Our soil was rich, our rain came often, and we never needed a garden hose for watering. 

I don't recall people celebrating "Earth Day" as being a named day back then. Every day was a day when we acknowledged our beautiful planet. Continents, countries, oceans, mountains, deserts, landscapes. . . . . . . . everything, everywhere, it was earth and we were grateful for everything it provided. Having seen a lot of this planet during visits to all seven continents, I have wonderful memories of special places. . . . . and hopefully will see even more!

Okavango Delta - Botswana 2010

Maasai Mara - Kenya 2016

Chilean Fjords - 2018

Enjoy the day celebrating our planet EARTH - let us all do our best to save it and keep it beautiful.

Complicated - but there's always the garden!

Since my last post life has been complicated. 

I want my days to be like my bits and bobs around the house, neat, clean, organized, tidy and in top working order. Instead, these days, and past several weeks, I've been inundated with home projects, some planned, others nasty surprises, ranging from emergencies, to 'fix its' that are not actually broken but "let's do it now and be safe rather than sorry later".

I'm not going into the sordid details, just know nothing lasts forever in a home be it plumbing, electrics, roofs, outdoor structures, or even perfect gardens. Things age, wear out, break, disintegrate, fall off, blow away . . . . . . and even grow too big to manage, like 100 ft oak trees and 10 ft azalea shrubs. Who knew that taking down a tree that size might some day cost $5,000! Our biggest tree still stands and we say a little prayer when the wind picks up, wondering why the builder didn't clear the land before sitting our little house on it forty years ago. The azaleas we embrace and love their huge size with thousands of blooms right now.

As homeowners we sometimes turn a blind eye to maintenance issues, especially those of us who know very little about building and the length of time products last before dripping, cracking, corroding etc.  At times like this I wonder why I didn't decide to spend my life married to a plumber/electrician/sheetrock/painter/handyman. Even better a general contractor who could help out with everything in the home requiring attention and, with a snap of his fingers, have a reliable service person there with the right tools, a working pickup truck (that doesn't drip oil on the driveway!), who uses tarps and drop cloths and eventually fixes everything perfectly . . . . . . . and doesn't talk down to me or make me cry!

Are you getting the picture here?  

Yes, it's my garden and I love it. I sometimes complain wishing we could move to a new place with no repairs, less maintenance, no garden to weed, on one level with no stairs, no lawn to mow, no large trees to fall on us when the winds pick up . . . . . . . . . . .  and then I recall the months stretching into years of the pandemic and how having a garden perhaps saved my life.  All those days spent in the garden, on the front porch, back deck, away from the mosquitoes in the screened gazebo, were days I remember with love. The garden was my safe haven while the world was in turmoil.

Gardens here are at their peak of loveliness right now - the southeast brings a springtime where everything blooms profusely. It was my reason for moving here all those years ago when Bob's company flew me down to Raleigh in April 1977 for a weekend to look around - he was already working here - to see if I liked it and would want to make my home here.  I fell in love and had no doubts about living here . . . . . . . knowing immediately I would so enjoy having a real garden like I had in England as a child.