summer came quick

Spring turned into summer so quickly.

We planted a container garden with herbs and tomatoes and peppers and

               they started out fantastic

                                and grew

 

 

 

                                                                          and grew some more

 

 

 

and they produced beautiful tomatoes and peppers. 

 

The squirrels got to the tomatoes before we did though

                                   so the peppers were the only thing harvested.



They were super tasty and we had a fun time growing our first veggies.  Next year we will have to work on our squirrel defense.

















The school year finally ended and the mister was able to celebrate having completed his first year as a full time first grade teacher.  Yay!

His school celebrated the end of the year with an outdoor water themed field day and I was lucky enough to be there and took photos.  Everyone had a blast.

June we celebrated Daddy's 70th in Yosemite.

 

 

Walking through Mariposa Grove with Grandpa.

 

 

  Yosemite is such a special place.  Photos can never really convey the true beauty found there though.

July we took our first really big road trip adventure.  We packed up the car with our camping gear and the dogs and did a tour of southwest national parks.  12 days, 2,500 miles, 7 scenic parks and preserves.  It was a doozy of a trip worthy of it's own post.

spring sprang

Can't believe first roses have already come and gone.  We sure did enjoy them though.

 

 

 

Loved going out the front door and getting greeted by beautiful lush big fat roses.  We weren't sure what type they were going to be but we loved them so much we decided to put more bushes in front.  They were so fragrant and they compliment the lavender bushes wonderfully too.

 

 

They looked wonderful inside too.  The whole kitchen was smelling of roses for over a week.  I decided to dry them and I'm hoping to add them to candles I will be making in the fall.  So beautiful!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1000 origami crane mobile complete!

Finally finished putting my 1000 origami cranes together in a mobile! 

 

 

1000 origami cranes and over 5000 glass beads 

 

Larger cranes at the top were created from left over programs from our wedding

and the six of them represent our family including me, the mister, Tucker dog, Lake dog

and our two children we have yet to know and love! 

 

 

It feels really good to finally have the cranes hung instead of just sitting in a pile in a bag.  I love what the whole mobile represents for me and it really was a wonderful way to help me process my hysterectomy surgery and cervical cancer.  With its completion I have closure.  I have one more post op appointment in May but feel good now.  I had some unexpected pain last week but other than trying to be patient and respectful of the healing process and not lifting, pulling, pushing too much weight my body, mind, spirit, faith, and life are good!  It was a long road wrought with pain, anger, guilt, and questions that for me were inexplicable to others.  I am very blessed and grateful that my story has a happy ending and I am so very thankful for all who were there for me.

more springtime surprises

 

Our first bird of paradise bloomed and there are six more blossoms just waiting to burst open.
 

 

And a calla lily bloomed under the redwoods.  The lush green leaves have been there for a month but we had no idea it was a lily plant.  Every bloom is a surprise.

 

Another wonderful surprise today...we had a visit from an opossum.  She walked across the top of the fence with her tiny little feet ever so carefully.  We think she might be pregnant.  Or maybe she already had babies and her pouch is full.  Either way she was very very round and cute.

 

 

 

 

Cancer free!

Finally received results of pathology from surgery and I am now cancer free!  So very thankful and grateful!  Looking forward to a quick recovery and no more doctor appointments. 

Looking forward to celebrating life with family and friends!
 
Excited for my Dad's seventieth birthday in Yosemite, summer vacation and visiting the Grand Canyon and Arches National Parks and going on our makeup honeymoon to Hawaii.  Enjoying our new home with my husband and furries and working towards adding little feet to the mix.  Making and creating art and food.  Working in the yard and bringing it back to life.

For a start this week I think I need to learn how to make marmalade as the lemon tree just keeps on giving.  I think lemon ginger marmalade.

Lake loves lemons too!



springtime change and growth

from  blossoms to green nuts
from preop to postop surgery
from 300 to 600 to 1000 origami cranes

Change is abound everywhere!

Our tree with the beautiful February pink blossoms is now covered in amazing green almonds!  It was such a wonderful surprise.  We thought the tree was a crab apple tree. 

 

Our mulberry tree is covered in green berries too!

 

And the lemon tree just keeps on giving!

 

The lemon tree smelled so good I decided to bring a little bit of it inside.

The whole kitchen smells like lemons.

 

 

I finished folding my 1000 origami cranes the day before my surgery.  It felt good to finish them and it really put me in a positive space before surgery.  I had so much quiet contemplative time while folding.  It really was a very positive experience.  My surgery went well and I was home the same day.  It was a long day but I was glad to be able to not have to stay in the hospital.  The doctors said that all went well and they believe they were able to get all of the cancer and my ovaries are still intact.  We are still waiting for a pathology report which we will hear about at my first post op appointment next Wednesday but I feel good and am praying for the best.  Recovery has been quick.  I was off of pain meds before the first week and now I am just waiting release from restrictions.  I have been able to rest a lot and I've been working on my crane project.  I have been stringing them together to create a mobile and I now have 400 done.  Hoping Wednesday appointment goes well and I will be released to exercise, walk the dogs and drive again.  Driving again would be nice.

from 300

 



 

to 600

 

to 1000!

 

 

 

 

and now strung together

 

100

 

200 

300

 

Can't wait to put them together in a mobile!

 

 

 

 

                                    

 

 

1000 origami cranes

I can't believe it's already March.  And I can't believe I haven't posted in over two weeks.  I wanted to do a post a day for the month of February but then I got sick.  Flat on my back sick with the crud that everyone is passing around.  It totally wiped me out and it's still lingering. 

 

Two weeks has brought me closer to my surgery.  I had my preop appointment with my doctor last week and today I go in for preop lab work. 

 

 

After my preop appointment my surgery became much more real and I  realized I needed to do something to prepare for the loss of my womb and honor all that I am currently experiencing.  I came across the story of 1000 origami cranes in the months before our wedding when I was doing a lot of wedding project blog reading and after more reading I've decided it's just what I was looking for. 

 

Legend of the 1000 origami cranes tells that anyone who folds 1000 origami cranes can be granted one wish.  I found online that the cranes have come to represent many things for many people and they've been folded for many different wishes including peace from war, happy fulfilled marriages and recovery from illness. 

 

For me the most inspirational reading I found was by Stacie Tamaki on why she folds origami cranes:

 

"I think the wish for peace encompasses all of the other things people wish for, peace for our bodies, minds and souls. As is so often the case in times of war, it is the story of a single child that crosses national boundaries and touches the world. My inspiration comes from the hope that someday we will all find peace within ourselves, and by doing so, will create peace in the world."

 

I would like to find peace with my body and all that I am experiencing.  I don't want to be angry anymore.  The process of folding has been therapeutic and meditative.  It is helping.  My husband and friends will be folding cranes too.  We have lots of leftover programs from our wedding that my husband will be folding cranes from and friends will be using paper that is meaningful to them.   

 

 



nature's valentine treat

Pink blossoms just in time for Valentine's Day.  I love how they cheer the yard up on yet another grey day and they are such a wonderful surprise.  As the first year passes in our new house it's always a treat learning something new about the trees and flowers in the yard.  Very glad to be posting about tree blossoms as opposed to snow which is just about everywhere else.  It might not be sunny California right now but I'll take pink blossoms in February always.

smile giggle be happy

Cupcakes for the mister's classroom. 

Love the words of wisdom found on the candy hearts.

 

Smile

Giggle

Be happy

Dream big

Let's read

Oo la la

a little bit of color on another grey day

Tiny bottles with little pink flowers.  The flowers are from table centerpieces at our wedding reception and the bottles are from Vermont dug up at an old dump site more than 20 years ago.  Love the bit of color they bring to a small corner of the kitchen.  And in another corner a bit of blue and yellow and photos of our children. 

Love the blue and yellow together.  The sweet photos on the bottom shelf are a few of my son that his adoptive parents shared with me years ago.  They are precious.  I am very grateful for all that they shared with me through the beginning years of his life including wonderful detailed letters and photos.  As we start on our path of adoption I hope that I can be as gracious and accepting as his mother was.

serene scene

Such a serene scene, wonderful little topiaries just outside the Front Street Shelter in the morning fog.  The last thing little puppy saw before he went in to get neutered.  Poor baby.  Now we have to keep him quiet and still for the next week.  No small task.  He may be spending a lot of time in his crate.  Can't wait till we can all go to the park to play or go on a hike.

Missed a post yesterday.  Busy day full of good stuff.  We went to our first Exploring Permanency meeting at Sierra Forever Families to learn about the adoption process.  First step on our way to becoming a family with children.  Eased the finalization of the date of my hysterectomy surgery which I found out today, March 18, a little more than a month away.  So many different emotions surrounding both. 

sweet sleeping puppy and big dog

They're adjusting well and so sweet together.  Big dog gets grumbly sometimes when puppy energy is over the top but mostly they are happily coexisting.  Can't wait till puppy is done with shots and we get to play out in the real world.

home sweet home

Another wet rainy winter day.  Glad to be spending the day inside our cozy little house with the furries and my favorite man.

rainy day baking

 

 

made ginger cookies

while puppy kept a watchful eye

 

 

are they done yet?

grey winter skies

Blessed with rain today and forecasted for much more. 

midweek muffins

banana crumb muffins for morning coffee at work 

mister's favorite

planning summer vacation

road trip
camping
hiking
Grand Canyon National Park
Arches National Park
California
Arizona
Utah
Nevada
2,000 miles
my favorite man
my favorite furries

 

 

 

 

 

Yosemite campsite Memorial Weekend 2012

 

Excited to be planning and looking forward to getting away and spending some quiet time in nature.

fabulous february winter's bloom

and
the
California
sunshine

sunday is for pancakes

sunday is for pancakes
super sunday is for super berry pancakes
blueberries, blackberries and rasberries

happy to make them for my favorite man on a grey rainy winter morning

warms the kitchen and my heart and super yum!