A spring leaning update!

I think it's time!!!

Love my lenten roses!!!

• Brent and I, along with 150+ hardy (hearty???) souls, spent yesterday morning at a rally in Chattanooga to remember those lost in the Parkland shooting last year, those murdered via gun violence DAILY in our country, and plan moving forward with common sense legislation to prevent more needless death and pain.  TODAY 8 children younger than 18 will die from gun violence in the United States, 39 will be shot and survive.  TODAY 96 Americans will die from gun violence.  Don't believe me?  Check out these and other horrible statistics here:  Key Gun Violence Statistics  We can do better.  We SHOULD do better!  We WILL do better!
• To refresh my soul, I spent the chilly, drizzly afternoon going through my knit remnants!  Allocating tiny, irregular bits to my "POUF" stuffings, storing larger cuts with potential use as future contrasting neckbands and such, and piecing/cutting out two tops from same.  It was a bit of a puzzle!  We'll see how they turn out!
• Earlier in the week, B (I mean, Willie!) and I removed ALL the dirt from our front raised bed, laid down wire mesh, returned the soil and added more!  Hopefully, this will stop tunneling critters from eating the roots of my plantings there.  I envision an incredible display of cosmos and pole beans in that bed this summer!!!
• Beyond the gardening I've been working on - clearing brush and briers from wooded areas, moving hydrangeas, roses, peonies and a willow to new locals where they will hopefully be happier, refurbishing existing beds, transplanting propagated forsythia, taking down useless fencing - honeysuckle and gooseberry plants are ordered and I have hosta and peony bulbs as well as specially selected seeds ready to go!
• New sewing projects are in the works as well!!  Having already created a pretty good work wardrobe of me-mades, I have happy plans for play clothes and sleep wear.  It is a real hole in my wardrobe currently, so I think it will be a useful, fun, stash busting project!
• I finished a selection of Edith Wharton novellas and short stories.  How I'd never read Ethan Frome, I don't know...but, WOW!  What a twisted, touching, sad, love story!  I found Xingu to be such a modern woman's story - exposing women leading cliques, those following, and those who simultaneously give no shits while standing up for what's real!!  Excellent! It is so nice to be able to focus and read again!!!
• Still working hard on building physical strength and endurance!  Running a mile or doing 2 on the elliptical most days along with core and weight training.  I am stronger despite continued pain to hips, knees and ankles.  I no longer lose huge handfuls of hair when I run my hands through it (wasn't that big a deal other than a mess...just keep'n it real), the weird brown crusty lesions to face and hands are gradually resolving, and I no longer have ooey gooey conjunctivitis!!  So, YAY!!!!  Neuropathies to fingers and feet are about the same ~ maaaaybe a little better?  I have developed problems with swelling to my hands, to the point it causes pain and even wakes me at night.  At first I thought, I had done something to them - hurt them with garden work, slept on them strangely.  Perfect patient blaming, right?  But, then it struck me (and B agrees) that while the pain and irritation at the Oxaliplatin infusion sites to both forearms is resolving, those veins are hardened and probably considerably, if not completely, occluded at this point, significantly decreasing my venous return in the area!  Ergo - pooling of fluid to my hands and fingers especially when at rest.  Nifty, huh?  Oh, well.  Hopefully this too shall pass!
• Still working to help various melanoma peeps.  Still waiting for the day when there is no longer a need.  Still appreciating my dear ones.  Still in love with my best friend.
• I leave you with this ~

                 "Love is not two people gazing at each other, but two people looking ahead together in the same direction."                                        ~ Antoine de Saint-Exupery

Live and love chaotically!! #RememberParkland, #MarchForOurLives, #NeverAgain, #NotOneMore, #WeStillCallBS ~ les