I'm sitting here picturing the tongue being cut out of a cow or steer's mouth and then the tonsils being removed.No I didn't know that Suzy. When I was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in March,I did a lot of reading and tried to pull together the bits of info that everyone seemed to agree on,from Sloan Kettering to the more holistic end of the spectrum. One thing stood out..either cut back on beef or eliminate it. Haven't had any for 7 months.

My roses are going strong too and they are always the last of my flowers to stop blooming. There are so many varieties out there that get no diseases and just bloom their little heads off from spring to November. They have such a reputation for being fussy but there are scads of them tougher than any other perennial I've grown. Well..except yukky yucca.

DH will be watching all the college football games today,non stop so I need to escape somehow..not sure how yet.

Delivering packages, I love checking out everyone's front door styles, colors, landscape choices, garden "accents" etc. I decided to work with same driver as last year. Originally, I wasn't going to because the area has loooooong driveways, but my clothes aren't fitting me and I decided I could stand to run up and down some 300' driveways. : (
Last year, I don't remember flowers still being in bloom, just rotten pumpkins frozen solid to people's porches and lots of ice and snow to be wary of. BIG difference. I hope it stays mild, it is invigorating. Just have to make sure I get enough rest.

Had a mammogram last week and got a letter of good status. Not sure if I believe it. My now deceased former neighbor/friend's daughter told me her mom's cancer went undetected for six years and when she saw the mammograms, it was fairly obvious when all six were compared. sad.

Not working my vacation this time around. Worked as a driver helper 3 days this week and my whole body hurts. Hope to recover so I can make it through December.

DS's IEP was this week and all the teacher's had good things to say. I think they have lowered their expectations too much though and I (with DS's agreement) requested he do the regular spelling/vocabulary work along with his small group work. He was doing harder words in second grade. ?

Still hanging on to my 1 pot of grape tomatoes. I am getting a couple of them each day. It takes longer for them to get red, but the plant is still producing new ones. The salvias are better than ever and the 1000 Bells and white Geraniums look anything but like November, we should have had several days of frost during the last 4 weeks.
I am ready for a couple of month hibernation.

It is comforting to have a modest Thanksgiving celebration. Ours always was a small family, now that son Steve lives in Idaho, and Linda, although not too far away, has her own traditions, it's only Joann and I and Ron. We still fix a turkey, because we make such good use of the left-overs, but keep the sides to just dressing, mashed sweet potatoes mixed with yogurt (the original recipe called for buttermilk, yogurt is very good, though) spices: cinnamon, Grand Mas, ginger, there will be a vegetable: pea-pods and mushrooms and a salad: julienne beets with blue cheese and toasted walnuts and balsamic vinegar and some ice-cream for desert, which we rarely eat the same day. We split expenses and left-overs, All dogs are called "pre-wash" and do a very good job.
Not enough rain yet to make the creek run, I think that there is so much more development in the back-hills that more water is captured at it's source to create ponds and water-storage cisterns, we don't get near the run-off we used to get.
Crab season appears to be drab this year, but I think that the fishermen always complain ahead of the season, so we shall see. This year they are not haggling over the compensation, the say that the catch is small, because of size restrictions.
I am thankful for my good health, for having enough means to get by, that my children all are successful in their own way and satisfied with their choices. What more is there?

Wonder when the powers that be are going to fix the forum. Guess one of us should maybe alert them?

What's wrong with it today?

We have lost all but 4 pages of the old posts. Using the search function only works for these four pages. It will bring up older gallery posts. The 4 November 2009 post that is empty is hanging on the top. I reckon a note to Tamara would do the trick but I've haven't bothered to run down the link again.

I think I have copies of our better posts, but it was always easier to find them here.

The zinnias are still blooming their heads off along with LF's knockout rose. Just beautiful. The hostas have turned yellow and withered, along with the Amsonia. I am sad to know I won't see them next season. That Amsonia, the Thalictrum, a clematis 'Belle Woking' (I have only seen one bloom on it ever), and the sedums came from Shelbyville, three homes and as many counties ago. They won't move this time. The new cherry tree is happy in its new home and changed colors. The leaves are now falling off. The Euonymous and a crepe myrtle and red leafed.

LF and I were headed off to work/school one day last week, when he said "What are these?!" And I said "What?" He said, "Bumps on my arms." "Um? Those are goose bumps." You're 10 and never had goose bumps? was my thought. Boy, I thought I lay off if being overprotective, but sheesh, it's obvious I haven't! It was about 50 degrees and inbetweenish weather. It's hard to figure out of one should wear layers and remove them or just change clothes. We've done both. Saturday morning he started out in jeans and a long sleeved sweater, but by midday he was in shorts and short sleeves, begging to sit outside on a deck for lunch. And comfortable both times. Shrug?

The other day I decided I would replace one bad habit with one good habit. Instead of treating myself to dinner (money I don't have, eating calories I don't need), I would instead, work out, an aerobics, a disc I have used many times. I was winded 5 or so minutes into the warmup. Ugh. I told myself keep going, move what you can move. About 30 minutes into it, I realized my arms and legs weren't moving, just my hands and my knees. I was laughing so hard because I was realy really sure my arms and legs were moving and that I was doing well keeping up. My hands looked like a T-rex's, only inches from short bent stubs. I laughed so hard, I couldn't move any more. I just folded over and rolled around on the couch laughing at the way I must've looked. Laughing is good for exercising many things.