Summer….then Spring….then Summer…

Our weather has been very strange once again. We had temps that were so hot you would think it was the middle of August!! Everyone was in shorts and tank tops and on motorcycles and bikes for a couple of days….then reality hit….summer was gone and spring was back…thank God!!! I hate the hot heat of summer weather and especially cannot handle going from winter right into that. Spring gives us a chance to get used to the warmer weather gradually….ahhhhhhh that’s the calmer, gentler way to do it…but that’s just me!! I am a fall girl but for you summer people, I am sure you are loving it!!

I’ve been staying quite busy, other than a brief stint with an abdominal virus that visited itself upon me for a week. A nasty little devil that really wanted to move in but I sent it packing….and I think it just may have taken half of my intestines with it! ~..~

I am still practicing embroidery stitches and have mastered a couple more. My latest venture though is doing genealogy. I am searching for my great great grandfather, who would be my dad’s great grandfather he never met. I don’t know his name yet, but I have someone else helping me in my search. Meanwhile, I have the task of taking all of our family photos and scanning them into the computer. When I get ready to make booklets with the family history in it,  I will need copies of those photos. It’s a daunting task but I have to do it. One of my favorite photos I have of my dad is one from a WW2.  He was stationed in Italy during the war and he was also a musician as many of you know. He played his guitar in a little USO band and this was a shot taken from then…

     

Everyone says my brothers son, my nephew Adam, looks a lot like him. Adam has in his possession, that very guitar and still plays it. It’s a 1937 Epiphone. He also has my dad’s candy apple red Les Paul Electric guitar from the sixties. Here’s a photo of him with another electric guitar……

Soon I am hoping to create a flower garden in my yard. I used to have lots of raised beds full of beautiful perennials, annuals, and herbs. I got rid of them for some reason years ago and focused on my big vegetable garden. This year I hope to do a smaller vegetable and add a flower and herb garden. Here’s a cute one I found on the web!….What a nice idea that is not the norm!… Just recently, I had to have an x-ray taken on my lower back. The results were severe degenerative changes, multi-level, in my L3, L4, and L5 section of my Lumbar. Also one area of my Sacral….S1.  I am positive my neck is involved but I have not had the x-ray yet. What does this mean? Here is what I found out…..  Degenerative Changes   So….I am going to get worse with this. If the pain increases,  I can eventually have some disc fusion. We’ll see how it goes. I was having chronic pain, but now have it a bit more under control. I take Tylenol a few times a day. The 500 mg ones…a couple at a time.  At the same time, I was diagnosed with a very strange thing…..I had a small bump growing on the side of my right thumb. I just happened to be at the doctor for my back. He looked at it and said “Oh…you have Tophi.” “What-E??….I said.” It is actually a form of Gout and they call it Thumb Gout!! What the? Here’s a little blip I found on the net about it….Thumb Gout  ……….. As my mother used to say….Jesus, Mary and Joseph….what next!!?? The bump is about half the size of a dime right now. I pray it doesn’t get any bigger. My hand does swell and get kind of numb at night….but so far I have no pain in the thumb….just numbness when I press on the bump. Gout is a buildup of uric acid in your blood. Uric acid is caused from certain types of food. Of course it would never be caused by lettuce or celery!!….it is caused by shellfish, and ice cream, and pork and beef and all things good that you love to eat!! But a particular link I found really scared me……Gout especially since I have heart disease. I must show this to my doctor. It’s time to watch what I eat and get some weight off and get healthier. Warm weather is here and I guess I should start to walk some.

And maybe I will find some friends to walk with me? We’ll see…….Here’s hoping I can get off my duff and actually do it!! Hope you all are well and are gently flowing into our new season with a new enthusiasm for life!! I’ll be back soon and hopefully off to visit you all and see what you’re up to!??