Well what a great report from you, pitimpinai!! The last I heard you were still very low in energy and still on a ton of medication and little appetite, and listen to you, helping the neighbor till up a lawn! LOL What a nice neighbor you were to plant tomatoes and Dahlias. :-) I am happy to hear that you've also benefited from a shorter work day. Great that you had all that time off saved up. I bet you really needed it to get your energy back. We have gotten pretty much back to what is normal for us here. The weather has been stupendous in the past month! I have never seen the cover crop in the veggie beds so high. We've also gotten all the leaves mowed and collected in bins, ours and three neighbors. [g] We have gotten somewhat cleaned up for the year in the garden, but I keep adding to my list of what I want to get done before the weather turns. Still have a small amount of bulbs to plant and three shrubs to get in the ground, some pots to clean and put away and that will just about do it. I am actually looking forward to a break from the garden. Not that we don't get outside and enjoy it, but it's nice this time of year, to focus on other things. During the gardening season, the garden seems to push out other priorities. [g] I enjoy the winter garden and by the time spring comes, I am just itching to get back to a new growing season. Glad you are able to enjoy gardening again and hope you stay well this winter! :-)

Hi Red! I love the colors in your skirt. It's beautiful. Great embroidery too. I really like the blackwork (is that the right term?) Looks like you're enjoying your embroidery machine. doris

Sue, your life is so full. I can't imagine how you do all you do. My days are mostly filled between going outside to fuss with the flower gardens and puttering inside with puzzles and the day to day cooking and 'light' housekeeping. So much rain that I am not getting as much outside time as I would like. On the 4th we did travel 100 miles to my husbands family reunion. Rain started the day, but by 2 pm it stopped and a good time was had by all in spite of the mud all around our shelter and the playground in the park. Only 21 of the usual 35 or so attended. So disappointing. Seems a lot of the 'young' crowd opted for Fourth of July picnics where booze and fireworks were available. This past Monday a couple that we spend a lot of time with came to lend DH a hand with general maintenance of my elevator that gets me up from the garage level to the kitchen door level. We met this couple just 5 years ago, so we are still getting to know all about each other's lives pre meeting. We ladies had a great visit in the house while the guys worked out in the garage out of earshot! My lift chair needs replaced, so DH and I went chair shopping on Tuesday. We have looked at several brands over the past few months and settled on the 'Golden Technologies' brand chair. Much, much better made than any others we looked at. I chose an upgrade in fabric that added almost $400 to the base price, but I am worth it!

Everyone is working hard already. Soon I'll need to get out there too - winter vacation is over for us gardeners! I went to the hardware this morning and bought a carbon monoxide detector and a carbon monoxide/gas detector. Put the first one in my bedroom and the second in the kitchen. Been feeling so lousy with allergies this Spring, the worst ever. Plus the weather here today is grey and dreary and chilly, so that doesn't help. Mostly I just lulled about until time to take both cats to the vet for shots. The youngest one at 21mos. has never been to the vet except when neutered at six months by a lo-cost spay/neuter clinic that makes the rounds of communities so many times a year. I wasn't even sure I'd get him into the carrier, but I was sneaky. I already had a carrier hid in the bedroom. Then I picked him up and covered his face with my hand and before he knew it he was being put into the carrier. He was not happy! He thought he could dig his way out. lol But he was surprisingly good at the vet's, didn't act all wild or anything. He was give a leukemia shot and has to go back in three weeks for a booster. I never heard of that before, but apparently if a cat has never had one before it has to be "boosted" later. Then while checking out the other cat's teeth, the vet noticed both his big canines on top were broken off! More than likely from fighting, even tho he is neutered he still gets into brawls with other toms. He showed me where dark spots could be seen in each tooth, which were the blood supply. Because this makes them prone to infection, they need to be pulled. ugh. I told him I needed a little time to save up for the surgery. Came home and basically lazed about on the sofa for the rest of the afternoon.