Thursday, June 17, 2021

Sweet relief, and a garden update

I have a functional neck again! Hooray! When I saw my doctor on Tuesday she gave me a shot in the hip (cortisone, I think) as well as prescriptions for a muscle relaxer and a week's worth of prednisone pills. That night I got my first decent night's sleep in almost a week. That's medicine in itself.

Yesterday morning I started taking the prednisone. I know that oral steroids can cause major problems for people who have to take them long term, but for occasional use they're like a wonder drug. For me, at least. I felt like I'd had a small dose of speed, and combined with the easing of the neck pain and the comfortable night's sleep, I felt good yesterday. I gave the kitchen a fairly thorough cleaning and mopping, dusted a couple of rooms in the house, watered the garden, and then made it to book club to see my friends! 

Marian was hosting this month, and she has a pool, so we wore our swimsuits and had our meeting out there. And that felt positively heavenly. Floating on my back in the cool, cool water was almost as good as a massage for my poor tense muscles. It's a salt water pool, too. I felt so relaxed and comfortable when I left that when I got home we took George for a leisurely late walk around the neighborhood. Another restful night's sleep and now I feel like a new woman. Oh, the relief!

I'll leave you now with some recent pictures of my garden, which is growing like gangbusters. Today I'll pick my first vine ripe tomato (dozens more will be coming along shortly), and I've already had two or three cucumbers and lots of peppers. So far there are at least 6 baby cantaloupes growing and the bees love those flowers so I'm expecting even more. My first garden at this house has been a delight so far!

Cantaloupe vines climbing our repurposed wood trellis:


The first baby melon!



French marigolds I started from seed. 


I plucked a "sucker" from my San Marzano tomato plant and started another one. 


Tomato heaven.



Nasturtium flowers started from seed, now growing happily around the base of the banana plants.


Shhh! Don't tell anybody! These pond plants are illegal to sell or have around here because they can be invasive. A friend of Gregg's gave him these from his little backyard pond. Of course we're responsible people and would never allow them to end up in a local waterway. And aren't the flowers pretty? The dragonflies, frogs, birds and squirrels love this little container pond too--we're providing drinking water to the wildlife!


The first tomato, plucked this morning. It weighed in at just over half a pound.


The cucumbers on this salad came from my garden yesterday.



Finally, a few jalapenos I plucked yesterday. I've started slicing them in half, filling them with soft cream cheese, and wrapping them in bacon. Jalapeno Poppers for the grill! 


39 comments:

  1. Great news about your neck and applause for your fruit and vegetable growing! Well done! Just out of interest, are there any pictures of the reading club ladies in their swimsuits?

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    1. Thanks Neil! Sorry to disappoint you, but no swimsuit pictures were taken. HA!

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  2. I can almost smell those tomatoes growing - that smell at this time of the year on a warm day is delightful.

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    1. I love the smell of tomato foliage in the warm sunshine! It's one of my favorite smells on earth!

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  3. I'm so happy your neck is better! Thank goodness for doctors and meds. Your garden is a real beauty. I can almost taste those tomatoes. Enjoy!

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    1. We'll be eating that first tomato at dinner tonight. I'll report back on how it tastes!

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  4. Hurray for pain relief! So happy you got that taken care of. And of course your garden is just beautiful. We're ahead of you on tomatoes but behind on cucumbers. Quite frankly, I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed. I think Mr. Moon may have overplanted.

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    1. Overplanted? There's no such thing, right? Surely if you have more than you can handle there will be plenty of folks who would appreciate some fresh vegetables, maybe even a food bank... Please don't let it go to waste! :)

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  5. Flower and vegetable gardens seem to be doing really good this year to all i talk too! And yay for the pool!!!! Pool time is always a good thing...and with a few drinks too I might add.

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    1. I love having a friend with a pool, and she loves having people over to swim! Her husband, Bruce, mixes drinks for the ladies and brings them out to use while we swim. It's nice!

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  6. Replies
    1. Thank you! I'm really happy with how it's going so far!

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  7. I can't match you on the veggies, but my peaches are to die for.

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    1. I envy you those peaches, and your glorious roses! I wish we didn't live so far apart, we could exchange goodies!

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  8. Those pills sound good. I could do with some of those. Swap you for some of my thyroid pills?

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  9. I am jealous of your garden! All of that food you are producing will be so delicious! Glad you are feeling better!

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  10. I can smell that beautiful tomato!

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    1. Aren't vine ripened tomatoes a heavenly scent?

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  11. Glad you got some relief! Your garden, both flowers and produce, is very impressive!

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  12. Lucky you, that all looks so good. I picked a few Courgettes, and some Spinach yesterday, but nothing else is ready. Good to hear your neck is better.

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    1. Oh, but your garden will be a paradise of fruit and veggies in no time flat, putting my little efforts to shame! I'm hoping to start a little fall garden of salad greens and spinach--it's far too hot and humid to grow them in the summer around here.

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  13. So glad you’re pain-free and able to sleep. Hope that’s the end of that. The garden is so lush and looking delicious.

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    1. Lush is the correct word! I'm astounded at how good everything is looking because gardens I planted in the past never did this well. Usually by this point in the summer some pest or disease will wipe everything out. One year a hailstorm ruined my garden! So I knock wood every time I mention how well things are going.

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  14. Yay, you!!! It is wonderful what a good night‘s sleep can do for us, isn‘t it! You did loads on that first painfree day - just be careful, please, and do not overdo things and risk a setback. (I know what I am talking about, because I am like that.)
    Your garden is doing great! Like Pat said, I can almost smell it.

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    1. I'm trying to be very careful, the last thing I want to do is re-strain something! I've begun a new daily routine: gentle stretches after I walk to try to improve my flexibility. Hopefully that will help me avoid the pulled muscles I keep getting (two weeks ago it was my lower back after working in the garden). :)

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  15. Your book club meeting sounds a whole lot nicer than the one I had last night.....sitting on a hard chair in front of a computer on zoom, while it rained on the windows! We don't even think that the next meet can be together properly. Good to hear that your neck is getting better, and your garden is going great guns!
    My son gave me some left over small broccoli plants recently, and they only lasted about 5 hours after planting as the pigeons had found them and nibbled all the leaves off...same with the peas he gave me!! Luckily they leave the runner beans and tomatoes alone. It is pouring with rain at the moment, 8.30am, and set be be doing so all day. Steve and I won't need to water for weeks! (He is about 20 miles south of here) The schnauzer will need his mac on this morning for what will be a short walk.

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    1. I'm so sorry! I understand we're in much better shape with vaccine availability over here and at this point anyone over the age of 12 that wants one has had it by now. Our Covid numbers are down so much locally that post vaccination we all feel comfortable meeting in person again. We couldn't do so for 14 months and it's been wonderful seeing gathered together, sans masks, catching up.

      I hope things get to that point for you and your group soon!

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    2. We have all had our 2 vaccines, but our government is still being ultra cautious and keeping us apart. At the moment we are allowed 6 people or 2 households to meet indoors..there are 7 of us , although there is a husband and wife in that number! We should have been set free next Monday, but Boris, in his wisdom? has decreed that it will be another month. The goalposts have been moved so many times it is hard to keep up!

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  16. Great news on the pain relief. And the garden look good, too. Nice to have some happy news.

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  17. Coming from Florida, I recognize those water hyacinths right away! I guess as long as they stay in your yard they won't do any harm but you'll probably have to thin them out periodically because they DO take over.

    You're making me want to take some prednisone myself! LOL

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    1. Yup. Gregg brought them home in a giant plastic bag and we've already let some dry out and die--we had way too many. We've got wood positioned in the container pond to keep the plants back so the pump can turn over the water properly.

      This prednisone is the best thing I've taken lately! Makes me feel like being "up and doing". Lol.

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  18. It's all very pretty and wholesome! I do wonder whether there's a chance the invasive plant can escape without your help? Birds? wind?

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  19. Congratulations on the neck improvement. Nothing like your very own fresh tomatoes and cucumbers in a salad.

    Love,
    Janie

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