Art for Heart's Sake

I'm Home!!

Hi there everyone, wow it seems an age since I blogged properly.  I know I did one yesterday but I was so tired, I just hope it made sense?!  I got home late yesterday pm after a rather torrid car ride.  We left the hospital without them giving me any instructions about how to sit in the car and I have to say I felt very precarious to say the least.  Top that off with a 25 minute wait while John went into a pharmacy to get my prescription and you could say I was a bit ''beside myself''.  After a 20 minute drive we got here! 

I went to bed at 8.30pm last night and managed to get 5 straight hours before I woke up needing to go to the toilet.  Bless his heart, I had to wake john up to get him to help me get my legs back into the bed.  I'm about 1'' away from being able to get them over the top edge of the mattress!  I'm determined to manage that sooner rather than later.

Today was a bit hard because John had to leave for work at 7.30am so I sat in my chair from 8am (with walks inbetween) until he came home with lunch at 2pm, bless him.  He had to work longer than he thought.  Needless to say I was about to eat my chair, giggle.

Today something very special happened.. I got a care package of art etc supplies from a friend in the States, some BEAUTIFUL flowers from my sister-in-law in the UK and a gorgeous ''art'' card from another sister-in-law in the UK too.  The card is stunning and such fine, fine work.  I am going to frame it!  John has taken a photo of the flowers and I need to take one of the card too.  I'll post them when I can. 

More tomorrow, time for a rest.  Smiles..

Crikey what a couple of days

Hi, just a very short post to say op went well on monday, i had a torrid day with nasty pain meds making me ill tuesday and yesterday i was much better. I was up walking a bit and think i did too much as i cant sleep. It's 330am thurs here. So sorry i haven't posted before now! Hope to go home tomorrow. Only on paracetemol and can only take 8 a day so bit sore. Smiles

Hi from Hospital!

Hi there, just a quick post today because I'm feeling pretty sleepy!  I had my op yesterday at about 10.45am, earlier than I thought and was back in my room around 2.15pm.  I dozed off and on until the evening and managed to sleep fairly well overnight.  I was/am in a lot of pain, a lot more than I thought I would be which was a bit of a shock to my system.  I spent the night on oxygen with three different types of pain meds, one of which was a drip in my arm that I could operate with a button every 5 minutes if I needed it. 

This morning I saw the surgeon briefly and my left leg is now 2mm longer than my right because they had to stretch it to fit the new cup and ball.  When I had operations as an adolescent it stunted the growth of various bits apparently.

I got up briefly this morning, took three small, tentative steps with a walking frame and then promptly was ill, oh ugh!  A combination of pain meds and slightly low blood pressure.  I still have the catheter in and will till this pm when we try getting me up without nausea again. Fingers crossed!  I think I'm going to put up with the pain and just stick to paracetomol during the day, taking something slightly stronger at night.

More tomorrow honeys.  At least I have internet access here!  Smiles..

Out with the Old, In with the New!

Eeeek and crikey, today's the day!  We're about to leave for the hospital - I have to be there by 9.30am and I'm second on the list so imagine I'll be in theatre around midday or so.  I'm excited to get a new lease of life in my left leg and also a bit apprehensive about things too, as is totally normal!

Wish me luck.. the next time you hear from me it will be done and I will be recovering for a couple of days in hospital. 

Until tomorrow.. smiles and hugs to you all wherever you are!  xxx

Phew is all I can say! Giggle!

Hi, yikes it's almost 1pm and I'm only just posting this!  I've been rushing around like a mad woman trying to get everything done that needs to be done before I go into hospital tomorrow (yes TOMORROW.. OH LORDY)! 

I'm feeling good though because I've almost crossed everything off my to do list!  We've just realised the blackboy peaches are totally ripe and I'm looking at them in horror because I don't have time to do anything with them.  They are perfect for stewing and putting in the freezer.. aaaaggghhh I think I'll pick them and put them in the fridge and John may stew them if he gets time or otherwise I will ask Jeanne if she'd mind doing it for me when she comes to stay next weekend.

Phew, okay spare room now vacuumed, dusted and sofa bed made up for Jeanne, it's now 2.20pm!!  Crikey time is flying by!

I've planted some rainbow chard in the glasshouse and some lettuce and broccoli in the kitchen garden today.  I'll give all of my vegies etc a good water tonight and then that's it, I just have to breathe and let others take over for a few weeks!  No mean feat for me, but I will do it!

Right, what's next on my list??!!  Sorry for no photos in the past few days.. I've just been too busy.  I promise some will follow!  Smiles..

A Gorgeous Day!

Hi on this too hot Saturday morning!  Yesterday was just the most perfect day and I am so thankful because it was cloudy with light drizzle until early pm and then remained cloudy here for the rest of the day.  The universe was looking after me.  I managed to get quite a lot of weeding done before lunch! 

Yesterday pm we went into Nelson and I got to watch the doctor ''releasing pressure'' on John's dead varicose veins.  For some this may sound really horrible so if you are squeamish go on to the next paragraph right  now!  He put some local anaesthetic in the areas he needed to de-pressurise and then took a scalpel blade, making a little hole in two areas and a 1cm long one in the biggest area.  He then forced the ''dead'' blood out which I have to say was fascinating for me.  I really would have loved to be a pathologist (oh to be good at science, physics, chemistry and maths when I was at school) and because of Dad being a GP, I adore anything vaguely medical, yes even my own operation which I'd love to watch!

I woke up this morning with a slight face-numbing headache, either from air pressure which is really heavy today or from my own blood pressure (not suprisingly!).  I'm trying to breathe deep and am telling myself everything will be okay.  It's the not being able to feed or say hi to my animals for weeks thing that is really getting to me, I know it is.  This too shall pass!

I must get back outside before the afternoon heat kicks in totally. It is roasting out there!!  Smiles..

Time for a Tea Break!

Hi, yay, yippeee, wahooo and every other wonderful squeeee I can think of!  It's been cloudy with a very, very light drizzle falling since I got up this morning.  I've just come in from an hour in the kitchen garden and I'm feeling so happy!  I've managed to finish weeding two very dusty, dry, hard beds so at least when I can garden again in a couple of months or so I won't be trying to get weeds out that have grown on top of weeds.  Mind you the ground is so dry right now that nothing will grow in them anyway!

I've also managed to weed around my wonderful blackcurrant bush.  It has had long grass through it for months so I am determined! to get it watered as deeply as I can, fed and then mulched before Monday.  Giggle, at this rate I'll be going into hospital for a rest!!

Yesterday I had 5 lots of customers visit my nursery which is SO exciting.  I knew two of them were coming but then 3 came up the drive after seeing my new sign!  Yay, it's working.  Ironic when it's going to have to be closed next Monday and Thursday.  When my friend Jeanne comes to stay I'll get her to put my sign out and man it for me.

I got a bit of a fright yesterday.  I had two different lots of customers in my nursery at one time and one of them wanted to see my art.  I rushed (well as fast as I can at the moment) into the house to grab my main pieces that I usually hang on the outside of the house under the verandah.  Yes, you guessed it, as I was rushing back through the bedroom door my biggest canvas got caught and I rammed into it right againt my upper abdomen... it winded me and made me stop in my tracks for a minute or two.  My first thought was ''oh crikey hope I haven't done anything awful to myself before my op''.. but no I'm fine today!  It really hurt though!  Silly twit!

It's drizzling a bit more heavily now so I may have to give the kitchen garden a miss for a bit, bother!!!  I'll pop out and move the hose in a minute to get it onto the blackcurrant bush.

This pm we are off into Nelson for John to have a check up at the clinic where he got his veins done before Christmas.  I'm a bit annoyed with them because I think it's a long time to leave his veins considering he hasn't had a follow on appointment since a week after they did it on December 10!!  There is a possibility they might need to release some pressure in the veins apparently and if that's the case we have decided we will ask if they can delay it for at least 2 weeks.  John doesn't need to be in compression stocking/s again while he has to do lots of extra things around here!  Wish us luck!!!  Smiles..

Hottest Day of the Summer Ahead!

Morning on this magnificently hot Thursday morning!  Crikey and oh bother it is over 30 degrees C here already.  I have a feeling I won't be getting much done in the garden at all today.  I am aiming to find a shady spot in the flower garden this pm though.

I have a couple of customers coming to my nursery this morning so that's really neat! 

Yesterday I spent some hot time in the kitchen garden.  I am so pleased - I managed to get the artichoke bed composted and mulched, two other beds composted and deeply watered (tossing mulch on them today) and a few other things done.  Yes I was hot beyond belief but I was DETERMINED!

I went off to have my pre-op blood tests done this morning and heavens the woman who took my blood was not the best example of a lab technician I can tell you.  She had no smile, didn't even say ''hello, how are you''.  She then proceeded to tell me my blood type test ought to be done two days before my op (Saturday???) and why was I there today.  My specialist's PA told me to get them done today.  Apparently with the blood type one, my blood only has a shelf life of 7 days and by the time Monday comes it will be the 5th day (they hold it in case I need a blood transfusion).  Personally I don't see why they can't just take more blood on Monday at the hospital, but oh well.  Anyway her attitude stank and so did her needle skills.  It went in without a problem (I love to watch blood tests) and the first phial was quick but the other two were slow to fill.  I realised why afterwards, as she pulled the needle out it was obvious she had been holding the needle too upright.  My entire upper arm is slightly sore - thank you, you horrible woman!  Crikey a smile costs nothing!  I have a good mind to ring up and give them some anonymous feedback.  Grrrrr, giggle.

I did some work in my art journal briefly yesterday and I had such fun.  I am going to take a few things to the hospital in case I feel like sketching a figure, face or something.

I must go and get ready for my customers.. Keep cool or warm wherever you are, just for me!  Smiles..

Happy Wednesday.. Happy Wednesday!!!

... she said trying really hard to ignore the fact that it was 18.2 degrees C overnight, it's hot and humid and the sun is about to force its way out of the clouds.  Oh groooooaaannnnnn, NO, ermm giggle!

Yesterday was cloudy for some of the morning and I managed to get aged cow manure (mmmm I'm eating my breakfast as I'm typing this, hehe) and the remains of my barley straw spread around my gooseberry bushes.  I just have one little section of the bed left to mulch and I'm going to do that this morning because John picked up another couple of barley straw bales.  I'm so happy because they are spray free - something that can be hard to find around here is spray free mulch! 

Once I've done that I'm moving on to the artichoke bed.  I need to spread oodles of horse manure or something on there first though.  I don't think the cloud is going to last long enough unfortunately so I'll just have to get hot.  There is so much more I need to do out there but at least if I can just get these two beds mulched I will be more happy about having to leave the kitchen garden alone for a few weeks. 

Our beautiful peaches have just started to ripen out there too and the trees are loaded.  Oh boy there are going to be quite a few things that need doing while I'm out of action - picking peaches and quinces as they ripen amongst them.  

I sowed some peach, plum & apricot stones yesterday.  They won't germinate for about 9 months to a year but I needed to do it because otherwise they would end up being thrown out.  The plums and the apricots are an experiment but the peaches will result in trees that will produce fruit.  I love that about peaches and nectarines - they may not fruit true to seed but they definitely fruit.

I took some cuttings of the dianthus plants I have in my nursery too.  One thing about the grey-leaved dianthus, it is very hard to keep them looking good in a plant nursery (they go very straggly no matter what I do to them).  I will be having a plant stand at a local landscape supply yard that is run by friends of ours from Spring onwards so I decided I'd better take cuttings and just sell them, then forget them.  I do love dianthus in the garden but in a nursery they are too much like hard work.

Crikey, I've been busy it seems.  Today will be similar and I'm loving that I have my motivation back.  Last week I really struggled which was so frustrating.  If I'm honest I think I'm keeping my self super busy so I don't have time to dwell on my operation.  When it pops into my head butterflies start in my tummy so I shove the thoughts away again! 

I need to go and walk said dog.. oh pant, pant (is that him or me???!!!).  Smiles..

 

 

Humidity Plus Plus!

Morning on this magnifently humid (oh blech) Tuesday morning.  It is cloudy, oh yippeeeeee, at least so that's something.  I daren't move outside without a good coating of mosquito repellant though.  If I could avoid using it I would because I know I'm putting fairly nasty chemicals on my skin.  We can't use anything citronella based because both John and I feel nauseous when we smell it.  I love citrus but here is just something about citronella that is repulsive!

Yesterday I spent quite a bit of time tying little sacks of mickroclima cloth around the best bunches of our E A Robinson grape.  It is pretty fiddly but it is very much worth it.  If our grapes were in a different area, not twining around wires along our verandah I'd be able to completely cover them.  At least this way I know I'm definitely keeping the birds away from the best bunches and I'm still leaving some for them to enjoy.  Let's face it, there are only so many grapes two people can consume.  I give away a lot too.

Today my main aim is to get the gooseberry patch in the KG (kitchen garden) well and truly mulched.  I have the hose running on the bed as we speak and I have some aged cow manure that I will chop up with a spade and spread quite thickly on the bed.  I still have some barley straw left too so will use that as well.  If that is the only bed I manage to get mulched this week, I will be happy!

I pulled the beetroot our of my little glasshouse yesterday because it really wasn't doing anything much.  I added gorgeous aged horse manure (like rich, black soil) and I'm going to get some rainbow chard seedlings to put in before the weekend. 

I haven't managed to do a thing in my studio over the past week and this is making me feel a bit frustrated.  Still, I have to make the most of time outside in the garden while I can.

When I talk about getting butterflies about next Monday, the funny thing is I'm not really nervous about the operation, it's more having a catheter for 12-24 hours (hopefully no longer).. Ick, I just don't like the idea of it - silly I know.  I'll talk to them about it when I go into hospital on Monday and I'm sure they'll put my mind at ease.  It's funny the way the build up to an operation is worse than the actual operation sometimes.

Enough about that, you must be getting tired of hearing about it!!  I know I'm tired of thinking about it. 

I am going to make another lot of Tomato Passata this pm.  I just love doing this so much - the hardest part is chopping up the tomatoes!!  Giggle.  Time for a cup of tea.  Smiles..