Family

Me on the right, my sister C. on your left, and my niece E. in the middle on her 9th birthday.

My friend BF visited me yesterday and we just sat outside for several hours, eating, chatting, gardening, playing with the dog. Very pleasant, although I've been fighting a yucky cough that is tiring me out. Last Monday I saw the shrink, then Tuesdsay I had a PET scan, then Wednesday, I saw the surgeon, then Thursday, I saw the oncologist, and Friday I saw my counselor. Exhausting. The PET scan was very weird, and no one told me what it entailed. Another lesson in ASK IF YOU DON'T KNOW. Nothing is freely given it seems.

Camilla peed right on the bed next to me the other morning. Either she or the other cat had peed in her new bed, and I think she was not happy about that. And you can't wash those things to get the smell out. You have to buy a new bed. But even disregarding her inappropriate peeing, it's time to take her to the vet for a checkup.

I am officially not working for WGSS any more. And R. leaves her position in two weeks. She said, "Instead of Thing One and Thing Two, they'll have Grunt 1 and Grunt 2." It was very funny. That corridor is losing two very dynamic women. Their loss, big time. Poor R. threw out her back and has been in awful pain for days. I think it's getting better though.

Planted some Red Rocket snapdragons where the tulips had been. And two big red canna corms. Lots of my plants are being eaten by some pest. My potted rose looks healthy since I've been using the organic rose spray; perhaps I'll use it on other plants and see what happens.

Tomorrow I go to have a mesh mask made for use in mapping the areas to radiate on my head, and to stabilize my head while the treatments are being performed. The oncologist asked me if I was claustrophobic, and I said yes, so I don't know what THAT means. Oh, man, more surprises.

Wanted badly to go swimming today but just felt so blecchh that I didn't go. It's outdoor pool season now, and there's a couple pool clubs I can join nearby so that's not a problem. A public pool would be nicer, thank you very much, but oh well. I miss being in Naples, FL, where I just plopped myself in the ocean most days. What a complete luxury.

Here's a nice story: we had a communal work party at the community garden last Friday afternoon, called Wine and Weed (weed as in pulling weeds, not the other kind.) Although not many gardeners showed up, I ended up working in the herb plot with TD, an old hippie philosopher like me, and we were chatting and weeding and laughing and venting. The air was cool, the afternoon light was lovely, and there was a light wind blowing. We then moved on to cutting back the lavender and the lemon balm, which both emanated extraordinary scents filling us with intense aromatic pleasure. I'm not sure which of us said it, but out of one of our mouths came the words, "It doesn't get any better than this." And it was true. Thanks, T.