Home Made Baby Gifts

 Early on in the process of recovering from my accident, my physical therapist told me to do small precise movements with my left arm and hand as I was able. I asked about crocheting and he said that would be perfect. So, with all the time I have had not doing other things, I have had time to crochet. It was hard work at first, but is getting easier as time goes by. I just finished the above hat and sweater, and it will be going to a baby shower in October for a baby girl. The mother-to-be is a special friend of my daughter JoAnn and our family.

 

However, it's always nice to see the finished product on the babies the gifts are intended for. Here are Isaac and Elijah, a pair of twins born right after my accident. Their matching sweaters were my first attempt to crochet post accident, and it filled my time up nicely. Such cuties. I also crocheted 'summer' sleeves, just a cap really and that worked nicely. The boys are growing by leaps and bounds and already wearing 'big boy' clothes now.

My Autumn Garden

My Autumn Garden

 

 

Past the deck, beyond the fence, the garden has begun it's autumn rituals. The weather has been cool, windy and drippy. The Virginia creeper, covering a patch of back fence, was the first to respond to Autumn's seductive whispers. It's leaves are now a glowing scarlet, and that wonderful color is beginning to be echoed in the burning bushes, the vine maples and the sedum. The dahlias, 8-10 feet tall are holding their breaths, hoping for a reprieve from the frosty nights to come. Never have we had a late summer like this one. Never have we had so many dahlias to cut and enjoy, as there has been no frost to turn them black and end their days of riotous bloom. Each morning I go out to the dahlia bed and cut an armful of blooms to brighten the rooms in the house. This morning I cut the last of the blooms as there is finally a hard frost predicted tonight or tomorrow.

 

 

The cosmos, all pink, purple and white have run riot, overgrowing their boundaries and spilling lavish blooms across the gravel path. They seem totally ignorant of the changes creeping up on them.

 

The colors are unusual for this time of year. We normally have to be satisfied with late summer reds, deep yellows and oranges. The baskets of petunias are dying back now and beginning to turn brown, in spite of their usual doses of daily water.

 

 

In the vegetable beds, the peas and beans are finished, and the plants have been pulled up, the dirt raked smooth in readiness for winter snows. The cabbage and swiss chard are loving the cooler air and growing ever bigger. We dug several pounds of potatoes out of the cool moist dirt, and the leeks will be left to pick fresh in late autumn or early winter. The mint has had it's own way this year, growing and trying to take over the strawberry bed and then the earth. It took a full afternoon to pull it all out, and a decision was made to limit it to a planter next spring.

The crab apples are heavy on the trees, inviting the birds every day to a feast. They dart busily back and forth, shedding the languor of high summer. The flickers are especially busy, sharpening their beaks on our metal chimney tops, or hunting in the grass.

 

 

The hummingbirds are gone now, I wonder where to? And how do they get there? I don't see or hear much of the mourning doves, the July baby quail are as big as their parents now, marching across the grass or taking their daily dust baths. Grey squirrels race everywhere, seeming to be super-charged in their frantic race to be ready for winter. No longer playing with each other, they race up the trees or along the fence, intent upon tasks only they know.

 

The light has changed too. There is a softer, more mellow glow now. The morning sunrise creeps softly to a warm/cool golden-lit day. I love sitting inside our pergola, surrounded now by wasps and late bees instead of ants. The sunbeams slant in at an angle, warming me only slightly.

 

 

Some days there are sprinkles of water from the sky on my face and skin as I go about my garden chores of cutting and trimming back summer's lush overgrowth, preparing my plants for their long winter hibernation.

 

This garden journal is going to remind me of the year there was no frost in August. No frost until September 25th on the High Desert. The year we almost had a long growing season. The year of the dahlia....and tomatoes, and geraniums. The year of amazement, and payoff in gardening here.

 

Past the deck, beyond the fence my autumn garden is truly amazing.

 

 

 

 

*Note    Many of these photos are blurry, and for that I apologize. I can only hold my camera with my right hand, and I can't steady it yet with my left. No tripod either. So, bear with me a while longer...thanks!



 



A Wonderful Visit

Well, the dust has settled once again and Julie and her girls are back home in West Virginia. We found we just couldn't squeeze another minute into our days to post pictures, so we decided to wait until the visit was over. Here is a sampling of all the fun we had:

 

Having friends over for a visit. Here is our friend Carrie and her two girls, Maya and Audrey, with Cecily and Amelia, and popsicles of course.

 

 

 Coloring and Drawing, with a new coloring pad of pictures and new markers!

 

Attending a soccer game with the family, and doing cartwheels and somersaults on the field grass.

 

Cutting out and playing with paper dolls.



 

 

Having a tea party with Aunt JoAnn.

 

 

Having cousin Macy and Aunt Joy come to visit.

 

Amelia and Macy were our 'Gap Kids'

 

 

Getting dressed up and going to church as cousins

 

 

Picking dahlias in Grammie's yard.

 

 

Enjoying the beautiful weather and garden, and having Julie home.

 

 

Happiness is having a flower in your hair!

 

 

Having great grandma and grandpa over to visit.

 

 

Taking a generational photo. Grandma's hand is top right, then counter clockwise is my hand, then Julie's, then Amelia's and then Cecily's. (At 11 months we just couldn't get Bronwyn to agree to keep her hand in our photo.)

 

 

Going to visit friends. This was taken while visiting with our friend Kathy on her lovely porch.

 

Going to visit the insurance man at his office

 

 

And....having our family all together again!

All the way from West Virginia!

 Julie and her three girls are here, for a whole week to visit!!

 

 On our way home from Portland, we stopped to visit Kory at her college, Corbin University. This is Amelia, Kory and Cecily.

 

 Kory, her aunt 'JuJu'

 and Bronwyn.

and the girls all tucked in for their first night in the 'bunny room'. We will be showing you all our fun as the week goes on, but for now it's grocery shopping.

Natural Remedies for Bronchitis

Sometimes it takes me a while...a very long while. In this particular case, a long while to wise up to natural remedies. I think it took so long because I just didn't want to invest the time into learning more data and running to the drug store was quicker and what I knew. Both the insurance man and I grew up in the '50s and '60's, when the age of 'over-the-counter' medications was just blooming. These so-called miracle cures were handy, and sometimes worked quite well when I was raising my kids.

 

A couple of weeks ago I succumbed to a cold virus. I know of no one that is sick with a cold, or of anyone I had been around with one. I am suspecting that there was a dormant virus bug lingering from a cold last spring, and while my body was fighting to heal my broken arm and shoulder and resistance was low as well as my immune system, it snuck out to attack. I took my homeopathic remedy, which didn't do much good, and settled down to wait out the virus. But, it wasn't going to be that easy. It went into a case of severe bronchitis, which scared me on several levels. I was fearful of pneumonia in my weakened condition, and fearful of dislocating my shoulder again by the violent coughing attacks. I was also severely disappointed to put off again the start of my physical therapy. After a couple of days of the insurance man treating me with our standard cough medicine to no effect, he found an old prescription one on the medicine shelf. I was pretty sick and didn't check it out. Well, it had a pain med in it that contained codeine, and I am allergic to codeine (got that from my Mom). I won't go into detail about the next couple of days other than to say I was once again very sick and delirious from the pain med in the cough syrup.

 

Afterwards I determined to research bronchitis on the internet and what I could do to help myself. This was the best decision! It took the fear away, and I felt stronger and more determined. First, I remembered that I had suffered from croup and/or bronchitis often as a child. My mother called me a 'barking seal' and I remember my head over a boiling pot on the stove covered with a towel to keep the steam inside so I could breathe it in. I also remember how it made me cough up my insides. Not a very pleasant memory. I also remember many nasty, smelly things being rubbed on my chest and being forced to smell them all the night long as I coughed like a seal. I looked up croup on the internet and found it is also a viral infection, but usually in the upper respiratory areas, most often affecting children. Bronchitis is also a viral infection, usually caused by the same virus that starts out as a cold, and is found in the bronchials or lower respiratory area. Anti-biotics will do no good, as these are all viral. The bad news is that you just have to rest and wear it out, no immediacy here.

 



 

My next research led me to find some natural remedies. Out went the nasal congestion pills, the cough syrup (which I found was probably the worst thing possible) and all my other arsenal of meds. I was pleased to find a nice concise list of easy remedies, all including things I already had on hand specifically for bronchitis. Here's the list I found:

1) Onions   Eat lots! I also made up an easy cough syrup, by slicing 1 whole onion and coating it with honey. You let that sit on the counter for 24 hours, then take the onions out, and use the syrup by taking 1 teaspoon 4 times a day. I was amazed at how the honey quickly rendered the onions into soft moist pieces. I took out the onions last night and fried them up in a little butter and put them on our hamburgers like grilled ones. They were a little sweet, but I got double medicine.

2) Lemons  Good in all forms. I have been making honey lemon tea every day. I have tried making the tea by zesting 1/2 a small lemon and steeping the hot water with it for 5 minutes before adding a bit of honey to soothe, and also by steeping a lemon wedge for the same amount of time. The zesting works by far the best.

3) Almonds  They are good in all forms, except candied! I had some smoked on hand, and have been using them to munch on as snacks along with my lemon tea.

4) Bay Leaves, fresh or dried.  I have taken these and broken them up, and steeped them for 5 minutes in boiling water, making a little bay leaf tea, as shown in the photo. 

 

 

5) Fenugreek capsules and Thyme water. This one I got from my daughter Joy, not the internet. I had never heard of Fenugreek, but after looking it up found it was a Mediterranean herb, highly recommended for fighting the cold virus. This I didn't have on hand, but the insurance man was able to find it easily at our local natural food store, dried in capsule form. My daughter had been able to find it in capsules, mixed with dried thyme. Our store didn't have that, so he bought some thyme extract. I add 1/2  dropper full to a little cold water and use it to take my Fenugreek capsules.

6) Mustard Plaster This one I wrote down, but am kind of glad that I starting recovering so quickly that I didn't need to use it. But I'm keeping it for future use. You mix: 1 Tablespoon Dry Mustard with 4 Tablespoons of Flour and a little warm water to make a runny paste. After spreading some oil (olive or vegetable) on your chest, you put the paste between two cloths and apply to your oiled chest and let it remain there all night, or for a few hours.

7) Gargling with Salt Water  This one I remembered from my childhood. The solution was recommended to be 1 teaspoon per glass of warm water. I have never thought about it, but suppose this is cleaning and sterilizing the mouth and throat somewhat.

8) Humidifying  This would encompass the head over the pot of boiling water etc., but I think there are better ways of doing it as well today. Yesterday I stood in a shower just as hot as I could bear it, and breathed in all the steamy air for 10-15 minutes (until I was a lobster). It did soothe my airways a lot. We also got rid of our old humidifier that never worked well, and purchased a new one. Last night was my first night to breathe in the moist cool air, and did it ever help. I had my first good sleep in weeks.

 

I am amazed at how much natural wisdom our mothers had about how to treat various minor illnesses. Somehow, that didn't really pass on to me, as I don't think she ever actually 'taught' me about what she was doing. But as I remember things now, and read the same things on the internet, I realize they did know so many things that have been lost in recent generations, and are being rediscovered by our youth. I have spent a deal of time researching, reading, and attending lectures on nutrition. But that is not the same as the healing with natural substances that I have found now. But the good news for me was that I don't have to spend the time in researching it, but it's all been done and the information is all available on the internet. One very good use of the internet.

 

I am on my third day of treating myself in this way. My head congestion cleared up in the first few hours of dosing myself with the Fenugreek and Thyme, at least enough to breathe freely. My fever is gone, and my coughing GREATLY improved. The feeling of having something huge sitting on my chest is gone as well. However, my strength is still on the shaky side and I still need to rest and recover. That of course is good for reading!

 

One drawback to all this is the time and strength it takes to make and dose yourself. When I was really sick, I couldn't have done it. That's where having your Mom at home to care for you comes in. So sad that today most Moms aren't there. So sad, that I didn't know some of this to care for my kids better when they needed it. I have one daughter, JoAnn that has also inherited this tendency to have chronic bronchitis and croup. I have informed her that the next bout she has, she will have a mother waiting to dose her up and take care of her while she heals more quickly. It does take someone willing to take care of you, nurse and help you out until you can do it yourself.