April 10, 2021

   The beginning of each entry here, I will post one of my favorite photos that brings me joy. The photos will be past or current. Due to not being able to get out to photograph, many of the photos will be past ones shared. I tried going out on my own around the block in my neighborhood was so hard because the pain would come and go, unexpectedly. To ease the pain, I would have to put my right hand in a clutch and put it on my chest where it was hurting. There were a couple times on the walk that I thought I was going to pass out. I don't want to be found on the sidewalk to have fallen down trying to ease the pain with clutching onto my chest while out on my walk. I rarely take my ID with me out on these walks. I don't worry Damon. However, I could put the GPS on my phone so Damon knows where I am. That would be a good thing to do, I guess.

  This is a good time of the day (mid afternoon) to write in this blog as I am not too tired but it's close to taking my pain medication. My daily schedule has completely changed. No more doing my daily activities that included gardening. I can barely lift anything up due to the chest pains. It's sad, disappointing and frustrating not to keep up with my outdoor passion. I never got into gardening until the last few years of having lived in Shoreline before we moved here to Seattle.

  I have no idea how I picked up this new love in life. The transformation of the front and back yards in Shoreline was hard work but it was so rewarding. The same can be said here in our Seattle home. I was blessed to have a dear Shoreline friend who came all the way from Shoreline to lend me a hand on developing a plan to transform the backyard into a wildlife habitat garden.My friend was full of information and helped design a layout plan for what plants to have and where they would go. I think I went a little crazy on the plants. I ended up giving some away as I had way too many that would have crowded the space in between the plants. Poor Damon. But, I really nerd to thank Damon for giving me leeway and trust to pull together a nice backyard. I feel I have not disappointed him, my friend and even myself. I will say that this is still a learning lesson - a lifetime at that. 

  My neighbors across from us helped me design and put together my Little Free Pantry Judkins Park that I started back on April 15th, 2020. YES, that would be Tax Day! lol They were outside earlier this morning. I walked across to tell them about being diagnoses with esophageal cancer. Apparently, they already knew. My neighbor right next to me told them. It's all good. Less for me to use my voice. I am finding that I need to limit the amount of talking I do as it hurts my throat when I talk too much. DO you know how hard that is for me?!! To limit my talking. HMPH! 😉

  We got to talking about gardening. They have been impressed on the nice changes of our front yard. Nicole offered to help with any gardening. OH how my eyes lit up and my face had a HUGE smile (she couldn't see due to us all wearing a mask). I said I would love to take them up on that. Of course, I would not abuse that offer. But, I do have two plants I want to buy to put into two planters I have. AND she offered to plant some Dahlia bulbs she has in my front yard where it gets quite a bit of sun. I am super excited as I love Dahlias and photographing them! I got into Dahlias many years ago when I visited Volunteer Park on Capitol Hill here in Seattle (a 10-15 minute drive north of us). Now, I will have my own small garden of Dahlias. 

  It's the simple things that make me happy. It truly does not take to make me happy.

  I am going to have to make this entry short. Perhaps it will be better to start writing in my blog earlier so that I can write more. I will say that I am fortunate that our children, Amanda and Jack, are older. I can't imagine going through this, if our children were toddlers or teenagers! Yikes. I am so grateful for that. It is nice to have a nap whenever I want and not worry about working around schedules of young children. 

  I know that Amanda is not here to visit my house when she comes here for a month or more. But, this house needs to be cleaned! I own up that I am not a good housekeeper. In fact, I have a sibling who has OCD and would be so disgusted of the condition of our house. I would do the minimal. Oh. I hope that doesn't deter any future guests! 😉 I think I better get a housecleaner to do just the surface work or deep cleaning?

 The Little Free Pantry Judkins Park has been keeping me busy which has caused me to neglect my house work. Yep, I am blaming the Little Free Pantry Judkins Park! 😀

 Right. It's time to take my pain medication. I am being a good patient and listening to my doctor's orders to stay on top of my pain medication. So, I better sign off as you don't want to see the results of what the pain medicine and writing could produce. Not sure if it would be called 'entertainment'. 😉😉

 Thank you all to those who have checked in on me via private messages, e-mails, cards in the mail, voice messages and etc. You are all helping a difficult situation less painful with bringing joy. 

 THANK YOU. I love you all! 💗

Liennie 💜