Oh Yeah

Finally! What a game! Woohoo Boston! On to Florida!

WTG Bears!

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Beach Bums

Spotted these two yesterday at the beach.. I no sooner sat down and the little one hopped right onto my lap 💕 Made my day! What a cutie!

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Sweetest Saturday, Baby Jewel

Whew… Knick of time! I got the call, dropped everything I was doing and made it just in time to see little Jewel’s arrival on this earth. 💕 … what a little doll she is!

Just born, Jewel

Mama did a great job delivering her first beautiful little heifer, but it took baby Jewel nearly an hour to get up on all fours alone. Just when we began worrying.. she finally made it! 👏 And as of this morning, she’s up and running all around the stall. Isn’t nature grand? 😍

First bath

Mama prodding her along.. very wobbly legs.. her front legs just didn’t want to cooperate.. we were beginning to worry & pray.

Finally up on all fours! 💕 Good job, Mama!

Bundled up, keeping her warm.

This morning she is doing just splendid.. I do believe Ms Jewel will be loved a lot!

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Relieved

I seldom get stressed. I mean what’s the sense? What’s going to be, will be.. why stress over it. I say this in retrospect now. LOL

Yesterday I had to go into Boston for my post-op checkup, and found myself unable to sleep the night before, in anticipation I think, more than anything else. I’ve been feeling fairly well, since my surgery, considering all.

Crazy I know! I’ve been pretty good (that in itself a miracle) LOL… I’ve followed docs directions to a tee, continue with my P.T. (even on days when I just want to toss the walker right out the window!) Kicked myself in the patootey ( is that a word? LOL) because I forgot to bring said walker with me to Boston! Ugh! For that, doc gave me hell.. but then he smiled. The only concern he had with me was the weight loss ☹️.. 23#’s!

I was a little surprised myself. Though I’d never recommend this type of dieting to anyone! I told him, ‘ listen doc.. ice cream season is right around the corner.. watch me pack it back on then’ LOL Again he smiled. Otherwise he was pleased with his handiwork as well as my achievement to date. Whew! One other important post-op with the other surgeon in two weeks… then hopefully it’ll be clear sailing from there.

The days will be getting longer, this morning Punxatawny Pete announced we will have an early Spring this year! What a great announcement on this Groundhog Day. Yippee! I’m going to hold off a bit longer going out to purchase a new wardrobe.. in the event of ice cream season 😀.. but boy today I really couldn’t stop thinking and remembering a perfect sailing day last year and can’t wait to get back out on the water, once my ‘sea legs’ get a little stronger.

A great sailing day last summer. 😊

The next week it’s predicted unseasonable mild for us here with plenty of sunshine. 😊 The first of the seedlings are slowly popping up in the greenhouse. Today I’ll be sowing my onions, shallots and leeks. Seeds keep arriving daily here… some, I don’t even recall ordering! Darn drugs!

Love when the first seedlings emerge out of the darkness..

Tomorrow, friends are meeting up for a lunch date which will be fun to partake in.. though I’ve already made arrangements for a designated driver… LOL.. a crazy bunch of women that have a lot to catch up on! 😉😂 Enjoy your weekend, take a walk, start a new project for yourself and enjoy the day… or just relax.

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First Night

Catching up! Way behind here.. but a fun New Years Eve ice skating in Cambridge and enjoying all the events Boston had to offer for ‘ First Night’ celebration.

Perfect weather for ‘First Night’ in town w my family. 🎉😍🍾🥂 Events all over the city tonight.. fireworks up next & performances in Boston Public Gardens. My personal chauffeur did a fine job navigating me about & the boys blanketed Grandma up when my toes started to go cold. Such a fun night 🤗😍

… a little brunch first… this warmed us all up 😉

Hard to choose!

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Good To Be Home

Storm and all! Slow going, but I finally made it back home to Maine yesterday. There is another storm brewing for tonight… and yet another for the weekend. You know what? I don’t even care if we get ten feet of snow… I’m just so happy to be back!

It’s been one heck of a ride for me these past two months I’ll tell ya though. What began with a trip to the local E.R. back in early November for what I thought was a bad bout of an eight day flu snowballed. Literally! One ambulance ride into Boston… three unplanned surgeries, a visit into the ICU, then three weeks in a re-hab hospital and last three weeks recovering at my daughter’s home. Still a little slow going for me, but with my trusty walker, I’m able to be fairly mobile.. in moderation. Stairs are still quite the challenge.. glad I have only a few here at home. They say things happen in threes, so I now should be all set for (god willing) years to come. 😊 Great to be home!

How I’ve been missing my beach and hearing the slapping of the waves as they crash… rocking you to sleep most nights. 😍

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Last Cutting

…. of my dahlia’s for this year. I can’t ever recall them lasting this long! I picked the last of these stragglers this morning, before these next three days of heavy rains would spoil them. Hopefully we’ll see your cheerful faces again next year! 🌺

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Major Cheat

But.. I’m so worth it! 😋

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Little Fishy

This little guy’s lips and toes will turn blue before we can get him out of the water. 😄 Today has to be the all time best beach day of this summer.. and the water a warm 71 degrees. Our whole gang is up to celebrate #2 daughter’s birthday. I’m so glad Mother Nature, so accommodating. The perfect beach day. They’ve moved over to the pool now.. and then it’s her birthday dinner out at her fave restaurant tonight. So much fun when they are all here. 💕

Little fishy

His ‘gift’ to his fave Aunty.. a pelican.. that didn’t want to fit in the new Jeep. Oy vey! 😄

Where there’s a will.. there’s a way. Problem solved! 😄

Birthday girl finally relaxing! 💕🎉🎂

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Heartsease

Johnny-Jump-Ups aka viola aka.. heartsease

I have always loved Johnny-jump-ups, they always make me smile when I spot them. They just seem like such a happy plant that you just want to smile when seeing their happy faces.

An early common name for these little viola’s was heartsease. According to colonial-era herbals it’s three petals were likened to the valves of the heart, which likeness was a sign that heartsease was beneficial to the heart. Today, we prescribe medicines, we drink, smoke and disappear behind blue screens to gladden or numb our hearts.

As a gardener, and believer in the Hippocratic oath, I’d much rather begin with the simple aromatherapy of stooping down to inhale a flower’s intoxicating scent… followed up by a salad of seasonal medicinal greens and edible blooms. Does it actually ease and gladden my heart? Of course. Does it work as well as a prescription? I’m grateful in part.. but think the jury is still out on that one, and that I just don’t know… but do know they won’t hurt me. What I also know is that heartsease comes in many forms and flavors and fragrances from my garden… and they all make me smile 😊 These days, the humble Johnny-jump-up wins my favor because it knows how to subtly integrate itself into my perennial borders or at my farm poking their cheerful faces along the ends of veggie rows of seedlings just emerging from the earth or indiscriminately “jumping-up” outside my back door in the kitchen garden.

The older I get, the less I care for fussy flowers or the botanical divas, and the more I care for the honest heirloom and humble natives with a story to be told. Plants that serve my household, wildlife and pollinators alike. Plants like Johnny-jump-ups that do not require tilling, hybridization, or for that matter.. even annual replanting. Instead, I have come to favor plants that are reminders of the stories, flavors, and remedies that can be shared between gardeners, farmers, cultures and centuries. I suppose if I am to be completely honest… simply any old fashioned plant that brings my heart ease… I am the fondest. Happy gardening.

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