On a Serious Note,,,,,,

Several of you know already, but some don't. On April 13th, 2010 I will become a six (6) month survivor of breast cancer.

It has been a rough battle at times, fighting this insidious disease, which creeps up from behind and hits you when you are not looking.

I am no longer ashamed of the fact that I had a mastectomy of my right breast in October of 2009. And I am looking forward to the day when I can have my body somewhat back to normal, after reconstruction.

I have come to terms with my mortality and accepted the fact that I am no where near as "bullet proof" as I thought I was this time last year. Nothing like those three little words "You have cancer" to bring you down to earth quickly, sort of like a slap in the face.

I have made it a personal goal to watch over my friends and harp on them to get their mammograms done when needed and to do their monthly breast exams. I ask all of my lady friends who are reading this to take care of themselves. get your mammograms and do your monthly self exams. I found my first lump because my right arm brushed across my breast in an unusual way and I felt a lump. Tests later revealed a second lump. It had been 5 months since I had last done a self exam. The lump I found was about 1/2 inch across, not very small, maybe the size of a small pecan my surgeon said.

I am one of the lucky ones who did not have to have chemo. It would have only increased my chances of being cancer free in 10 years by 2% and the drawbacks were the hair loss, the puking and a risk of heart damage. Since I had the mastectomy and the cancer had not yet spread to my lymph nodes radiation treatments would do me no good. So, I am taking one pill each day, Tamoxifen. It gives me hot flashes from hell and makes it almost impossible to lose weight. But it beats the alternative.

I intend to go sailing in the Bahamas again with Richard. I intend to be there when I become a grandmother and I want to be there to teach my grandchildren the wonderful feeling of racing along at 8 knots under the power of the wind alone and to show them the beautiful places the wind and a good diesel engine can take you.

We're Getting Started

It is really Springtime here in the mountains. I have spent many, many previous days figuring out how many of each type of certain plants I wanted in my garden this summer. Then, for the first time I decided to grow them all from seeds, thus saving me a lot of money (if I am successful). In all I have spent a little more for all the seeds and starter kits than I would for just the flowers for the back deck and front porch. "Such a deal" I can hear Richard saying with his best Yiddish accent.



In the four starter containers below I have a lot of Pansys which will fill 8 planter boxes on the back deck; Wave Petunias for the hanging baskets on the back deck; Dahlias for the flower pots to go on the tables on the back deck and in the planter box on the front porch. I also have cucumbers, green beans and sunflowers. Whew! In the two starter kits below I have assorted sweet peppers, basil and eggplant in the one on the left. And on the right I have two types of tomatoes. I have about 3 weeks until I can plant outdoors for the summer.

Not shown are the garlic bulbs which have sprouted in the planter in front of the woodshed. Back in the fall Richard and I planted a LOT of garlic (it's a major food group in our house), some Daffodils and Tulips. The garlic and tulips are coming up but the daffodils seem to be MIA.

I hope that this turns out to be a good year for the garden. In 2008 a few days after I planted everything we had a hail storm from hell and it beat all the basil, and most of the tomatoes to death. I had a hard time replacing the plants.



Last year it rained so damn much that is was late August before the basil started to really grow and the eggplants never produced. Most of the tomatoes rotted on the vine before maturity. I have heard that this summer will be hot and dry. Hot for us is 75 degrees at this elevation. But we'll see how things work out.

Easter Weekend

Liliuokalani (Lili for short) and I packed up and head off to meet Richard on Hale Kai for Easter weekend. We arrived about 7pm on Good Friday. Saturday started out chilly and very foggy but by the afternoon we were enjoying the warm day in the cockpit.



Saturday afternoon we had some dock mates over for sundowners. By the time they left it was too late to make dinner, roughly 10 pm.



On Easter Sunday we slept in until Lili got us up because she had to go ashore to do her business. Again it was a foggy morning but by the afternoon we were once again sitting in the cockpit enjoying the warm temps. Lili was enjoying herself so much that she was giving Richard lots of puppy kisses.


Monday morning there was no fog and we were able to enjoy our mornig coffee in the cockpit before I had to get packed up for the 6 hour drive home. I can't wait to get back over for another weekend. There is nothing in the world like being rocked to sleep on a boat.

Ah, Springtime. The days are getting longer and hopefully warmer. In other parts of the South the trees are in full bloom and the Daffodils are up. But that's not here at the house. I went south towards the Atlanta are this past weekend to meet up with Richard. We spent Saturday at Stone Mountain Park and had a really good time.


We played a round of mini golf and I lost by three strokes. I tried to challenge him to play me a round of golf on a real course but he would not take the challenge.

We toured the Antebellum Plantation area and got to walk through some really old houses. This is a kitchen for a large plantation house. No Cuisinart! But they did have an apple peeler and a cherry pitter. Some things never change.

After we left Stone Mountain, Richard took me to the historic district of Norcross to get an ice cream cone. We found this neat little coffee shop/deli/cafe called 45 South Cafe. Every Saturday afternoon a group of men show up and have a jam session. They go around the circle and each man gets a chance to pick the song, play the lead guitar and sing. They were really good.

Now I am off to my kitchen to start the seeds for my Basil, Tomatoes, Sweet Peppers and Eggplant.

A Narrow World

I am currently in Rancho Mirage, California spending a few days with my mother while my step father opens up their summer home in Sioux Falls, South Dakota and also enjoys a break from his care-taker duties.

We got out to the barn every morning after walking the dogs and take my mother's former horse Hana her "goodie bucket" Momma had to sell Hana because she was too much for her to handle sometimes.

Wildflowers growing along the road. Every morning we take the dogs Maui and Nikki and go for a short walk. We take bird seed for the wild birds and sometimes left over corn cobs and stale bread. After the walk we go to Starbucks, get coffee and the LA Times an then go home for awhile.

Out where we walk there is a pavalion built on a ridge. I can imagine the views are great from up there.

It is a small world my mother lives in and it is getting smaller all the time. I was so proud of her for agreeing to go to the mall with me yesterday even if it was only for about 30 minutes. She did ask me a couple of times if I was sure I could find out way back to the car and I assured her that I knew exactly where it was.

By mid afternoon most days we are back in the house watching taped episodes of Jay Leno and Oprah from the day before. Then it is an early dinner and an early bedtime.

So far I am lucky and have not had to put my foot down about something she is doing or wants to do. I hope that does not happen during my stay. We are supposed to have lunch with my brother Patrick and his wife Denise tomorrow.

I will post more when I get home.

Welcome to the Lough Life

Up here in the North Carolina Mountains it has been a very long, cold and snowy winter. Yesterday was the first time I saw our froggy fountain since before Christmas.

I look forward to the warmer days when he is running again.

In anticipation of warmer weather I went out and bought several seed starting kits and lots of seeds. We have seeds for Dahlias, Pansys, Wave Petunias, Sunflowers, Basil, Cucumbers for pickles, Eggplant, Green Beans, Sweet Peppers and two types of Tomatoes. I also bought onion sets.

We planted garlic back in the fall and I really hope it comes up when the weather gets a little warmer.