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Wild Greaniums, garden, birds.

Today was a beautiful day here. We planted 18 Rudker tomato plants. The Rudker plants are my favorite tomato plant. They are ever bearing,are high in acid, and are just the right size for canning. The Rudker tomato plant is what my mother always planted and what I always plant.I am going to plant some cherry tomatoes too,

We went mushroom hunting here in our woods, but did not find any mushrooms. I do think the turkeys are eating them all. We have lots of wild turkeys in our woods. We had a few hunters out this week and three turkeys have been taken. One was a big tom turkey.

It makes me sad to see any wildlife taken from our woods. I am told that the turkey population is too large here so we need to let some of them get killed.I have never eaten wild turkey and I would like to try it, but my husband is not a hunter.

While in the woods today we discovered a creek. It was hidden by a thicket of briars and fallen trees. I love creeks and was very excited to find this one on our property.We have only owned this property for about 5 yrs and I have been too sick to go exploring it.This creek is about four feet deep with only about a foot of water in it. I love to look at all the different rock that collect and smooth in creeks.I am always looking for arrow heads or fossils. I have not found an arrow head yet, but have found some very interesting fossils.

At one point we had to squat doing a duck walk and almost crawl to get through the briars.There are long tunnels of briars that lead down to the creek.Now  I know where to get my blackberries this summer:)We did find some white violets, wild geraniums, and some other wild flowers. We dug some up and planted them in our wildflower garden. We started this wildflower garden this spring. It is in a shady spot behind our house and it consist of flowers that we have found growing in our woods. This is a picture of wild geraniums. The ones we found are the same color as the one in this picture. Aren't they pretty?I just love it when I find such beautiful things growing out in the wild.

    Tomorrow we plan to do some planting in the garden.While palnting today we had some tree swallows swooping down around us. They are great insect eaters and this is why they were swooping. They have a very interesting sound and are beautiful. We have many of them nesting in our Bluebird boxes.I am happy to have them because they keep the flies under control. In fact, we are never bothered by insects while they are here.This is a picture of a male Tree swallow.

We have barn swallow too, lots of them in the barn. They keep the flies gone from the barn.

I never get tired of watching the birds.I have heard people say"Im bored" and can not understand how anyone could get bored. Just go outside and take a look at all of the fascinating creatures and the rest of God's great works, how exciting it is.

I am off to work on a quilt block now. It is for one of my blogging friends here.

                maa's mom

English paper piecing for a Grandmothers flower garden quilt.

 Each piece in the quilt is pinned to its own paper pattern piece. The paper serves as a guide for sewing and a support for the pieces.Freezer paper can be used for this, but if you iron it on then you will have to make a pattern for each block. I like to reuse the patterns so I try to use a heavy paper that will hold up.

Years ago women would use newspaper for patterns and leave the papers in the block. This was to add extra warmth. If you find a vintage quilt that makes a rustling sound then it might have papers left in the quilt. I will not leave the papers in my quilt, this way the quilt can be washed if needed.

To paper piece a hexagon pattern, a paper hexagon is placed on the wrong side of a fabric hexagon and held with a pin. The fabric has been cut 1/4 inch larger than the paper hexagon to allow for seam allowance which is turned down over the edge of the paper and basted in place.

 Next the edges of two pieces are lined up with their front sides together and whipstitched.Remove the papers after the hexagons are sewn together.

These are very simple to do and make great 'take-along' work. I have done many of these blocks,but have not completed a quilt with them yet. Someday I will:)

Just for fun, try to make one or two hexagons, you can make them any size. Be careful though.......these can be very addicting:)

         maa's mom

Cancer and me, round three.

I have been battling cnacer since 2003 .It all started as Ovarian cancer.This past summer it returned in my liver, colon, and other places in the abdomen. Now it may back again.

The results of my biopsy of my colon are benigne, no cancer there.My CA125 is up near 290 so this is an indicator that cancer might be back. Just finding it has been the problem.

I had a CT scan done last month and this month,both look good.My oncologist is convinced that I do have active cancer cells again, since the CA125 is elevated so much.

Some times the blood test will detect the cancer before a scan can show anything.I had a colonoscopy done on Tuesday to see if anything is in the colon. It was a horrid test. Most people are sedated for a colonoscopy as I was, but the sedation did not work on me. I don't know why, but I was awake for the entire procedure. It was a very painful experience. There is a blockage in my colon so the doctor could not get the scope beyond this mass, he take a biopsy.I screamed during the entire procedure and the doctor kept on working.

I got the results today, but did not get to talk to my oncologist. I don't know what the next test will be. I don't know if I will need to have surgery to remove the mass that is in my clolon, I don't know much at this point. Only that  I most likely do have cancer again and if so I will have chemo again for the third time.

Since the colonoscopy I have been having much discomfort. I was given a prescription to help relieve the pain.My family is worried sick. The waiting is so hard for everyone. We all just want to get down to business, surgery, chemo, or what every is in store for us this summer.

Last summer I went through chemo, I was very sick.I had a surgery prior to the chemo and had a very difficult time healing. I was in the hospital for ten day, I developed a very nasty infection while I was there. I had several different "bugs" as the doctor referred to the infection.Most likely staff was one of them. I had to wear a Wound-Vac for about 6    weeksto help with the healing. That was a pain all in it self. A wound-Vac is a mini suction machine that sucks infection from a wound.I had a visiting nurse, a wonderful lady, who came twice a week to change my dressings and tend to the wound-vac.

I had chemo treatments every three weeks.After each treatment I was down for about ten day, very sick.The first three days after each treatment were the worst.I would go to bed and only awake to go to the bathroom or take  some forced nourishment.By the fourth day I would venture out of bed onto the sofa, this made everyone less worried.

Most days I would sit on the sofa in the sunporch, a room that is all windows, and watch my son play outside.He would keep his eye on me making sure that I could see him. He would tell me to watch this or watch that and I would nod my head and smile. He is used to me being there with him while he plays outside, playing along with him, but me watching through an open window worked out ok .

We have a pool next to the sunroom so I was able to open the window and talk to him while he swam. He liked that because he could do all sorts of tricks in the water to amuse me.He was so cute, trying to make me smile with his tricks. He would tell me to watch every time he would make a jump or a dive under water. This is what little boys are supposed to do you know, make sure mom is watching every little trick or stunt that they do.lol

The girls were my nurses, always there for me, no matter what time it was or what they wrere doing, they came to me if I needed help. They made sure I got my meds on time and made sure I got enough to drink or eat. I had my mom here cooking and helping out during the day, but the girls were always here.They would sit and talk to me and tell me stories or we would talk about exciting things that we were going to do as soon as I got well.God has blessed me greatly with these three wonderful children.

My husband fell apart, he needed more help than he could give. He was a mess. He is handling the situation much better this time. He is accepting the fact that God is in control, not himself, and he is turning to God for strength and comfort instead of the bottle.

My mother devoted her life to me each time that I had cancer. She put me and my children before herself. She gives  up everything for her children and her grandchildren. She is a selfLESS person who devotes her time to helping others. I don't think I would have made it through the first round of cancer if it was not for my mother.She forced foods and drink upon me when I was wasting away. She cooked something new every few hours and got me to eat a bite.This kept me strong enough to fight the battle.

Well I could write pages and pages about my experiences, but not now.lol

           maa's mom

Quilting

I have found a wonderful blog that is dedicated to quilting. This woman is a very talented quilter and has shared many pictures of her quilts. Go here to see them. http://lucyquilting.blogspot.com/2008/03/purple-quilt-i.html    

                  maa's mom

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