Gift of RA

Sometimes my body tells me when it is going to rain – usually if it has been a long time since the last storm.  I start to notice it in my hip – just about where my leg and hip come together.  Essentially it feels as if my leg is being torn out of the socket; it comes suddenly and hurts like the dickens.  It starts to rain and suddenly the pain is gone – boy, am I glad to see the rain come.  Not so much this last time, it was both hips and it was a day or two after the rain and about to start in again.  I saw my chiropractor and she did some adjustments which helped, but it was still very uncomfortable.  I was with a friend at lunch and I suddenly remembered something my Occupational Therapist in Connecticut told me – “You don’t do change of seasons very well”.  Maybe it’s true.

I started looking at what I was doing at the time, was I moving in a different way or did I remember an unusual movement.  I couldn’t think of anything but then as I was getting up from the chair at the computer, I noticed I was bracing myself a little differently – maybe that was it.  I put the chair a little higher so it was easier to get up – though it can’t be too high or it hurts my neck and shoulders.  Some days life feels like a delicate balance.  So far, with the chair a little higher, I am doing better.  I am also sleeping well.

Last Monday it was warm and sunny, so nice I went out in my bare feet to do some “earthing” in the grass.  I also took out my bottle of bubbles and blew bubbles in the sunshine.  That was fun!  They were so pretty shiny in the sunlight, I’m waiting for it to be warm again.  Yes, we have had sunshine and it is usually very pleasant in the sun.  In the shade it is chilly with a north wind – still nippy.   I am wearing turtlenecks and sweaters to keep warm while so many people are out in shorts and tees.  Am I out of step?  It is working its way up into the 60’s today and maybe into 70 tomorrow.  As for the garden, it is doing very well.

Thanks to Eddie who did it for me, the fruit trees have fertilizer stakes and we also had a bit of rain afterwards.  never did get to spray the trees for all the lichen and fuzzy stuff, maybe I will just have to pick it off.  Anyway, the pear trees are in full bloom and gorgeous – if the rain and windy don’t come too harshly, we may have pears this year.  The Gravenstein is just beginning to bloom, not fully out like the pear trees.

We also did the blue berries and they are also blooming, plus we did the fig tree – not sure if it has recovered from pruning or not.  Eddie thinks we made a mistake pruning it, I am willing to wait and see.  I am so glad we gave them fertilizer this year, it hasn’t been done for 2 or 3 years.

You can’t really see the Scillas, but they are there and blooming.

The grape hyacinths are still blooming and now the Scillas have finally begun to bloom.  So we have purple in the beds and it is lovely.   The camellias are still blooming, though they make a mess on the sidewalk.  I need to check the rhodos, Delores brought over some red buds for me to take to Mom, unfortunately I left before she came.  So I have them in a vase on the kitchen window sill and they are beginning to open up.  I will see how ours are doing and take some to Mom.

It feels as if everything has burst into bloom.  I have seem rhodos blooming, magnolias and azaleas – it is such a glorious time of year.  The trees have a lot more leaves and it is truly amazing.

My sister Ellen has some of her photos online – just click her name and see what beautiful pictures she has taken.  I’m so very proud of her, she is an amazing talent.  My sister Candy is too, she also has many facets and talents.  They have both captured spring – in Nashville and the Jersey shore.

The first flowering fruit trees have lost their blossoms, almost like a snow storm.  Now it is the puffy cherry trees, like balls of pink fluff.  It is such a pleasure to drive places and see colors and beauty all around.  Hmm, am I starting to wax poetical?

I need to get dressed now, I cleaned the bathroom this morning, Eddie vacuumed and the laundry is almost done.  He didn’t have to go to the Museum of Flight today and since we went to service his car yesterday, Saturday chores were spread between both days.  It is certainly a lot more fun to be out in the sunshine than the rain and wind.  We will all be wanting rain if it is too dry for too long, it’s a Seattle thing.  If you wait for a nice day to do things, you wouldn’t be going out very much.  Unless it is a gale and hard rain, you just go and do.  I remember a January day in L.A. when I went to renew my driver’s license.  It was a rainy day and there was hardly anyone at the DMV.  One of the advantages of growing up here.

The wisteria will soon be out, but I will have to enjoy my neighbors because we had it dug out last year.  It’s so lovely when it blooms, but the rest of the time it does a really good job of taking over everything, no matter how much I trimmed it back.  I am not going to miss it.

Tags: apple tree, blueberries, Candy, Ellen, fertilizer stakes, flowering trees, grape hyacinths, pear trees, rhodos, Scillas, Spring

This entry was posted on April 13, 2014 at 10:58 am and is filed under Musings. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.