Around the Garden

 

Baking and Knitting

My baking mojo is coming back! Yesterday I baked bread for the first time since Day X and for the first time ever I used sourdough starter (my new - rather demanding - pet). It is a little pale but it tastes very good and has a nice texture. 

I bought myself some lovely yarn and cast on a spring cardigan. The yarn is very nice to work with and the pattern is uncomplicated and perfect for knitting while binge watching 'Call the Midwife'. 

I have a busy week ahead and find that keeping myself busy makes life a little easier and more enjoyable. Every night when I go to bed, the memories are playing in my head like a movie and I get very little quality sleep. I stay up very long, get up late but still feel not really rested.

New Socks

In between taking care of house, garden, cats and myself, I knit socks. These are my latest finishes, now all my singles have a partner. 

Gardening Part 2

When I stepped outside today a racoon walked nonchalantly through my garden and then disappeared under the fence into the neighbors yard. Last night there was a lot of screaming going on and I wonder what was fighting what. I did not see any traces this morning but it smells like something died in my shed.

I planted the herbs today and there is room for more in the bed, maybe I'll get some lemon balm, I already bought a separate planter for the lavender.

Then I put the decorative border around the newly cleared and mulched area (don't tell anybody, the bricks are not real).

And lastly I put a little fence around the bearded lily. It has spread out quite a bit and I don't want whoever will be doing the mowing this year to run it over. The fence should be visible enough.

 

I also started on my home improvement project by putting the big planters with the boxwood outside the front door. Next up is cleaning and painting the screen door and the posts. I am waiting for drier weather to do that. 

Gardening

After going back and forth a couple of times on whether or not to garden, I decided to take the plunge and revive my garden. I bought new beds and soil and ordered plants and seeds. I cleaned up the area where my rose bush used to be - it died last year while I was away - and found 'Son of Rosebush'. I hope it is strong enough to survive. I spread 10 bags of bark nuggets, luckily the bags are not too heavy. The decorative border I ordered will be delivered next week.

 

I assembled the first bed and I also got a special little planter for strawberries which I still have to put together. I am buying all my garden supplies from Home Depot and I am very happy with their service and the quality of the products.

This is my new herb garden, or it will be, once the plants arrive.

And I placed two of the doggie pools for planting flowers. I will grow dwarf sunflowers in the bigger one before the shed and nasturtium and cosmos in the other one.

I have given up on trying to find a house painter and will paint the posts outside my front door and the wooden screen door myself. I have all the materials, I am just waiting for dry weather. I bought two huge planters that will go to spruce up the front of my house, with boxwood plants in them. 

It is all a lot of work and exhausting but also very satisfying.

More Socks

 I knitted 3 more pairs of socks last month, I am on a roll.

 

Socks

 My first pair of socks in a long, long time. I had almost forgotten how much I enjoy knitting socks.

Burns Night

Today is the birthday of Robert Burns, the great Scottish poet. Here is one of his lovely poems.

 A Red, Red Rose

By Robert Burns

O my Luve is like a red, red rose

   That’s newly sprung in June;

O my Luve is like the melody

   That’s sweetly played in tune.

So fair art thou, my bonnie lass,

   So deep in luve am I;

And I will luve thee still, my dear,

   Till a’ the seas gang dry.

Till a’ the seas gang dry, my dear,

   And the rocks melt wi’ the sun;

I will love thee still, my dear,

   While the sands o’ life shall run.

And fare thee weel, my only luve!

   And fare thee weel awhile!

And I will come again, my luve,

   Though it were ten thousand mile.

 

A new blanket

This is the second project I finished in 2021. I started it in August and finished it last week. The pattern is called 'Hope' which I found very fitting for my situation. Yarn is Lion Brand Mandala in Pixie.

 

2022

 A very Happy New Year to everyone who is still reading this. 

May the new year be peaceful and gentle and a lot kinder than the old one was. 

I am not doing resolutions, but I have set some intentions for the new year:

- be kind to myself and take care of my body, mind and spirit

- make self care a priority

- be kind to the cats and to my house

- focus on the things that give me joy, my cats, my many craft projects

- and maybe do a spot of gardening again

Although the wounds and scars of my body are now healed I still need a lot of healing for all other aspects of my being. 2021 was brutal and violent for me and I need peace and quiet to heal my soul, mind and spirit. 

My word for 2022: GENTLE

Coming Back

 I was released from the hospital on April 22 and today, after more surgeries and painful procedures than I care to remember, I was declared physically healed. I cannot thank the nurses and doctors at the Plastic Surgery Clinic and the Burn and Plastic Surgery Ward at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center in Winston Salem, NC, enough for their excellent care. I will miss them.

Now that my physical wounds are healed it is time to focus on my mental and spiritual health. I started online grief counseling yesterday and I am getting back to doing the things that give me joy. There are three things I will focus on most in the coming months - myself, my cats and my house. And I hope to get back into gardening next spring. I am also making plans for the future with regards to finding a work from home job and doing some online courses to get there. 

After my last surgery on June 23, I picked up my crochet hook for the first time since all this started and rather than working on one of my WIPs I decided to start something new. I made a meditation rug. With yarn held double and a 9 mm hook it was finished quickly. And yesterday I started a new blanket, the name of the pattern is 'FOR' and I named my blanket 'For Me - My Healing Blanket'. I am glad that I am able to read and understand a crochet pattern again, I really could not concentrate on much in the last 3 1/2 months. 

I cannot really believe that it is over and I am feeling a lot of mixed emotions at the moment, but I know over time it will get easier. I have one more appointment at the clinic in 2 weeks and I plan to keep it to get my head wound checked one last time. 

My meditation rug, Mr. Moose approved.

Rough Times

 On March 29, 2021 my husband died suddenly from a heart attack while at work.

On the same day I was diagnosed with a rare form of skin cancer and I have been in the hospital since then. After 4 surgeries the cancer is gone but I have a long way of reconstructive treatment ahead of me which I will continue as an outpatient. The cancer was on my head (it develops around the root of the hair) which means that most of my scalp had to be removed and in the areas where they used a skin graft from my thigh I will never grow hair again.

Needless to say that my new circumstances frighten me but I am determined to get on with what I call Maria 2.0 - my new life. I have friends that will help me and support me and the future is not as bleak as it could be, but it will be very, very different.

And this is what I looked like after two long surgeries.

 

Finish #19

 Bubble Gum Shawl

Finish #18

 

Finish #17

 Del's birthday hat.

Finish #16

 More new socks.

Finish #15

 New Socks!

Finish #14

 

 

Finish #13

 New socks!

Finish #12