2022 Summer Solstice

With the roller coaster temperatures the Cascadia peas, pictured above, have been cooked in their shell. I plant this particular pea because both the pods then peas can be enjoyed. I ate my fill of delicious pea pods then fresh peas but unfortunately Dwight was in the hospital for the abundant harvest. He did get delivered to him soup I made for him with peas and pods as one of the veggies. 

So now all the plants have been pulled out and are recycling in our compost pile. Pea seeds are drying for planting in 2023 when I will put them in the soil in January. The seeds are super smart sprouting only when the soil temperature is to their liking.

 

Monardella villosa (Coyote mint ‘Russian River’)

Summer solstice, the longest day of the year, is Tuesday, June 21, 2022.

Phacelia tanacetifolia (Bee’s Friend or Lacy Phacelia)

Happy, happy, happy Summer solstice. And enjoy many a

Trying Times

Shasta and I pass this sign each morning
on our walk.
There are a plethora of wild turkeys in the area!

Let me share with all of you that these last few weeks have been the most "trying times" I have experienced in many years. My husband over the past few months has been coughing more . . . and more . . . and yet more again. Then he began sleeping on our guest bed so he could sit upright at night to breathe. Finally a week ago, early Monday morning he relented to the paramedics being called to transport him to the Emergency Room at Kaiser Santa Rosa Medical Center. Mid day he was finally admitted to the telemetry unit after patients were discharged thus freeing up an RN to care for him.

Pneumonia in his right upper lobe of his lung AND a blood clot in each of his lower lobes was his diagnosis. The treatment the entire hospitalization is resolving both of these issues. IVs to provide an avenue for a blood thinner and also for intravenous antibiotics. The latter has had to be altered a number of times to find one or two that actually kill the organism causing his pneumonia. Unfortunately, a culture was not obtained before starting antibiotics so by the time one was done nor organism grew thus no sensitivity could be identified. A perfect example of "the cart before the horse".

Oh my gosh, dealing with the necessary restrictions (no visitors, no outside food allowed) related to the recent surge, again, of COVID patients, has not been an easy task for me! Having worked for many years in both Intensive Care and Coronary Care Units, him there and me at home has created "trying times" daily for both of us. 

We have both figured out that the best way for me to know what is happening.  To hear the results of his doctor's daily assessment Dwight calls me when his doctor arrives. 

I am ever so grateful for the outpouring of support AND prayers offered in Dwight's behalf. A friend from across the county, literally, is sending both of us reiki "for as long as needed". The warm and heartful greeting from Roshi Joan Halifax of the Upaya Zen Center in Santa Fe, N.M. notifying me that his name was placed on their altar to be included in their prayers. Prayers do indeed hasten the recovery of those who are ill as a study done in the early '70s confirmed. Up until that study health professions rather dismissed prayers as a method of speeding recovery. 

I am hopeful that by Wednesday Dwight will be able to be home!

Wild sweet peas blooming 
along the fence 
by which Shasta and I pass each morning.

And while I wait at home for not only an update to Dwight's medical status but his return home as well, to dissipate all the emotions, I have a frequent belly