Chemo day (but it's not really chemotherapy)

Demi kept me company this morning while I received my every-three-weeks dose of Herceptin, a monoclonal antibody, whatever that means.  Some cancer patients research the bejesus out of their treatments, always questioning the decisions recommended by their oncologists and staying on top of every charted note.

Maybe I would be like that too if I believed the health care being offered merited such monitoring, but the truth is, I've lived about eight years (and counting) longer than anyone anticipated so I'm not particularly interested in second guessing the experts.  Instead, I just sit and draw while Demi sits and watches.

So we're done.... for another three weeks.....

Chilly night at the end of May

Quail

I was standing outside watching the chickens a few days ago when I saw a flutter on the ground and realized there was a quail taking a dust bath right in my own back yard.  I've seen quail in this area before - a whole covey walked through a friend's yard one morning while we were sitting with tea - but this was the first time I saw quail in our neighborhood.

Unfortunately a black cat that roams our fences also took note so I don't know how this story turned out.  I see the cat often, but I don't know if anyone actually owns it.  It looks sleek and healthy so is obviously getting enough to eat, but it may or may not have official owners.  The quail wouldn't care about such details....

One week later

I don't know when I've last left my blog stagnant for an entire week!  I haven't drawn anything to post either.

All is well and I haven't even been overly busy.  I've been reading more (good), got hooked on two British series (Doc Martin and Downton Abbey) and time got away.  I also wrote several snail letters - does anyone do that anymore?  I've re-started a walking program and have a streak of 15 days and counting, only one mile or so, but my plan is to walk 1,000 days without missing.  And I'm futzing around pretending I'm gardening...

My blog is important to me, I haven't given it up.  Let's just say I inadvertently took a week off.

Grab that leash and walk it!

Artist:  Yanell

The children in the library who enjoy reading to Demi often gift me with drawings that they made during the week.  This one eventually became the illustration for the weekly bookmark I make for the kids with the words, "I read to Demi today."

My heart breaks for the folks in Joplin, Missouri - and it was already broken for the folks suffering from the flooding Mississippi and the earlier tornadoes.  I heard on the news that 2011 has had more natural disasters than any other year in U.S. history and we're not even half-way through!

I'm embarrassed to say that our own weather has been absolutely spectacular.  The skies have been clear with a warming sun and the temperature has been in the low 70ºs, the kind of weather that makes you want to take a walk and be grateful that you're still alive.

So I did.

Now what?

'Tis a blustery day, but sunny and lovely all the same.  I can hear the wind rustling through the oak tree across the street.  The geraniums are loaded with fresh blooms and many buds.  I groomed, pruned and fed them about a month ago and they are thanking me for that.

Forecasters are holding their collective breath about the snow pack in the Sierra Mountain Range.  It is our water source and is abundant this year - no drought - but now we have the opposite concern.  Because there was so much snow - great for ski resorts - what might happen if the temperature rises quickly and it all melts at once?

Steve's mom was right, "There's always something."

Rapture and me

It's past 6:00 here in northern California and I have to admit I enjoyed my "last" day.  Nothing went wrong and the world didn't end.

It's Saturday and I rarely work on Saturdays and had nothing else scheduled - so I slept in, began my day slowly and opened the drapes to clear blue skies and bright sunlight.  I finished planting the daisies given to me by a friend, walked to the library to pick up several books being held for me, bumped into a friend on the way home and had a nice chat, observed a male California quail taking a dust bath on our property, watched a documentary and curled up with a book.  I sketched this bottle-brush tree, one of my favorites and groomed the cat.

And I'm still here.

Chicken recess

The chickens are running loose for a while, a treat we give them for about 30 minutes before sundown.  They search the ground for bugs, worms and green leaves, all the while murmuring and cooing to themselves, sounds of five happy girls.  Then the sun suddenly plunges behind the mountain and they hustle themselves back into the pen, up the ramp to the coop and jump up on the roosting bar.  Perfect!

An up-the-street neighbor brought me daisies she had thinned from her own garden. They are now surrounding the mail box and are likely to spread and take over the front yard.  This is a good thing.  Flowers are good and daisies are especially good.  They ask for very little, water perhaps, but no mowing and little grooming.  I'm going to enjoy watching them settle into their new home.

Anchored!

Several readers offered suggestions as to how I could anchor my bird so it wouldn't be floating in space.  I added a tree and that seems to help.

It's been raining off and on since midnight and more is forecasted for tomorrow.  Looking out the window with no calendar I would swear it is the middle of January, but I guess the trees are too leafy to make that stick.  It is chilly and I wore my winter jacket every time I left the house today.

Good weather for a game of Solitaire!

Beginning to rage

This bird isn't floating, I just don't have the skills to anchor it!  I was drawing in front of Doc Martin again, my new favorite series.

I'm beginning to hate FaceBook, the latest spam sender to all my friends.  (If you got the stalker message, I didn't do it, honest.)  I went through all the help messages and can't figure out how to delete it, the fake message ostensibly sent by me.   Grrrr!

May showers bring June flowers?

Just as predicted, off and on rain all day and during last night with more on the way.  Makes me very happy!

'Tis that time of year

I drew and painted in front of the telly again.  Steve and I are so incredibly addicted to the Doc Martin series from England.  I've never seen village life in Cornwall and doubt that this series is an accurate representation, but we sure are enjoying it anyway!

A spring storm is headed our way and expected to reach land in the next few hours.  We've had a couple weeks of stellar weather so it's about time to have something more active.

In the meantime, I've taken a few steps toward preparing a summer garden.  I have five tomato plants, all different, sitting on my kitchen counter ready for planting as soon as the weather clears.  I was also gifted five cucumber plants and several pole beans. The flowers are already in pots and half-barrels.  As much as I enjoy and look forward to our long rainy season, I also enjoy preparing for summer.

Planning for quiet

I planted flowers today and I don't even know what they were!  They were part of the flat of plants given to me yesterday, the goal being to plant everything else tomorrow.  (I don't mean these, they're supposed to be nasturtiums.)

Wednesday is always my busiest day so I'm welcoming the respite offered by tomorrow.  I'll work a half day, but I'll be in town and  not pressured.  Which means I'm feeling more pressure from getting the plants in the ground than in working.  I'll even have time to draw and paint.  That's my favorite sort of day!

Summer is a-comin'

A friend brought over a large flat of seedlings - flowers and veggies - so I don't even have to go to the nursery to get started planting this year.  What I do need, however, is a block of time so I can stir up the soil, add some amendments and sink in the plants.

The next part is easy -- watch 'em grow!

Library dog

Several kids read to Demi at the library today and, in between their turns, I had pleasant chats with their moms.  Demi works as hard as any library staff person and sometimes all her effort puts her to sleep.  It's so sweet to watch children reading stories and rubbing her soft ears or absently stroking her fur while reading, reading, reading.

Forward, march!

Nana, Mom or Mother, whatever they call me, I'm pleased to be the one this sunny Sunday in May.  It was a pleasant one spent quietly at home. We went to church and the donut shop (the owner has my sketch postcard posted on the wall above the first two dollars bills earned when he opened the shop).

Steve and I have gotten hooked on the "Doc Martin" TV series from England and watched several episodes together this afternoon and evening. (NetFlix streams them on Roku.) Now I want to visit Cornwall, a part of England I've never seen.  And that means I need to bone up on my King Arthur literature since it's all in the general vicinity.

It's always nice to have something to look forward to, right?

In admiration

If I thought I could grow roses of any color as gorgeous of these I'd be digging up a garden plot in a rush to get started! These are from the rose garden in Sonoma Plaza and I was stunned by bush after bush of perfect color and unblemished leaves.  Definitely out of my league!

Airing cultural differences

Allergy medication for Youngest Daughter

It's allergy season here with high pollen counts, un-mowed fields and blossoms everywhere. It's lovely to see with all the greens and colors, but nearly deathly (or at least it sometimes feels like it) for those prone to seasonal allergies.

In spite of that, a new screen door is being installed as I speak. There are almost no such doors in northern California - only one other on our block - partly because of air conditioning, but historically a cultural difference because we have so few bugs. Before there were safety issues it was customary to simply open the front door. Now I worry about who might walk in - and if the dogs would walk out (Brix would) - so security screen doors (with extra bars and a lock) are necessary, not because of the bugs but because of the humans! Still and all, the air blowing through is, well, it's a breath of fresh air, greater than opening a window (we have window screens). Another way of saying it, You can take the girl out of the midwest, but you can't take the midwest out of the girl. I grew up in Illinois, a state with a screen door on every home.

Summer, it is arriving!

Wednesday is always my busiest day so now I'm headed right into a three-day weekend. We're almost setting weather records here for heat (79ºF yesterday, record is 80ºF) so windows are open all over the house. Tomorrow a carpenter is coming to hang a new screen door (not very common in northern California) so we can enjoy a nice through-breeze for the next six months.  Can't wait!

Tired!

I'm tired today. We're having a mini heat wave, but I was in Juvenile Hall, a temperature controlled environment, until evening so I didn't realize how warm it was until I walked through the parking lot.

It was a busy day and I was wearing all three of my Juvenile Hall hats - interviewing a potential new tutor and getting her fingerprinted and ready to work, facilitating a psychotherapy group of girls who don't want to be locked up in detention and facilitating a recreational art group for some boys who were looking forward to the time to draw.

Let's just say I'm peopled out!

Donuts and trees

Our watercolor class went on a field trip to Bartholomew Winery in Sonoma, California for some outdoor drawing. I like to work small so I limited my work to a single tree that I added to my sketchbook. It was a wonderful day for drawing. I was sitting with a friend, chatting and catching up with each other as we drew and watched the lizards running around the rocks.

Earlier this morning I sketched at a local donut shop, much to the delight of the owner who asked to see my work. After I was home I copied my page to fit a 4" by 6" postcard which I mailed to the guy at the shop.  He'll receive it tomorrow -- and won't he be surprised!

What a week!

I'm going to wear out my television if the news keeps coming this quickly. First, the tornadoes. Then the floods. A royal wedding. And now the death of Osama Bin Laden. I can almost keep up with it all.

It's so overwhelming there's nothing I can do but sit quietly and construct zentangles to maintain my own equilibrium.  So I will!

Even better!

Just when I thought the weather couldn't possibly get any better - and it did! What glorious days we're having.

The wild radish is all over the county so I plucked some from a field yesterday while out walking. It's probably more of a weed than a wildflower, but I take delight in anything I can bring home to paint!