“And so with the sunshine and the great bursts of leaves growing on the trees, just as things grow in fast movies, I had that familiar conviction that life was beginning over again with the summer.” ~ F. Scott Fitzgerald "The Great Gatsby".
I am afraid I have to apologize once again for my absence from this blog. I was assaulted yet again by some nasty respiratory viruses. The doctor I had seen for antibiotics assured me I had bronchitis and it was heading into pneumonia and then immediately following that another nasty virus, similar to strep throat. At this point I was sick of being sick, and the doctors assured me that I was fine (except I wasn't, because I kept picking up respiratory viruses). I did some research and realized that an OTC pain reliever that I had been taking had been interfering with my immune system's response to foreign invaders such as germs and bacteria. By decreasing the inflammation in my body it also decreased the immune system response, as inflammation is one of the methods the body uses to begin the immune system response to a foreign invader. I had been taking the pain reliever as I lead a very hectic life and don't often give my body the time it needs to recover adequately. Since quitting the pain reliever I have been far healthier.
In other news my gardening plans have begun in earnest. I also have had several new house plants join my jungle and I also have been doing some landscaping trying to create the property that I envisioned. So far the plants that I have in containers have been doing magnificently. The herbs I have on the Kitchen porch are doing wonderfully. My Honeysuckle plant and Bleeding Heart plant also came back this year. My vegetable garden is almost planted and the picture above shows a very rough outline of my one raised bed that I wanted to try; if this works well I'll expand to another raised bed next year. The following are some of the pictures of my new house plants. I love the cute containers, but a person does have to be careful to keep a small plant in a small container, and not a plant that's going to grow a lot in a small container. All of these adorable finds were Wal-Mart plants and or starts from friends, and the containers were from local thrift stores.
The family itself is doing well. My daughter is preparing to start Kindergarten in the fall. My husband is still helping his daughter out with her restaurant. My mother-in-law I usually drag into all of my schemes, much to the horror of my husband and amusement to the rest of the family.
Not much else has been happening, but hopefully now that I have been feeling better I can start writing again. I still love writing my poetry and want to start writing daily on my novel. We'll see what tomorrow holds.
Until Next Time
Yoko
