Retro Glider and Chairs at Lowe's look great in our yard

A "quick" trip to Lowe's with Motorcycle Man yesterday ended with finding the most awesome retro glider and chairs that reminded both of us of our childhood and being at our grandparents' houses.  It would not do until he picked out 4 chairs and one 2-seater glider.  They had the retro colors of green, yellow or blue and all of them were really very beautiful.  We bought 2 green and 2 yellow chairs and
the yellow glider.  Then we find some cushions that are yellow with greens, blues and darker yellows that match both colors great.

I also found some great deals inside on their signage.  Most of the larger items were $12 - 16 earlier in the summer and the most I paid for any of them was $5!  I love to put these in our yard and on our decks.

Motorcycle Man in surgery today and Update

I am at the Surgery Center trying to somehow sanely pass the time while Motorcycle Man is having surgery.  Due to a childhood accident at 11, he lost his right eye.  Today he is having surgery to save the
sight in his left eye.  My Hero is depending on the skill of a good eye doctor and his staff and of course the watchful care of God.  My heart is in my throat but I know for a fact that he will be fine.  He is my Motorcycle Man, my Hero - he has to be fine.



Update:



Thank you God - he did just fine in the surgery.  We are still waiting for the patch to come off later today to see what he sees and how he sees it.  He is sleeping off the meds right now.  It was funny - they called me back to his room and as I gathered my bag I asked her how he was and the nurse said 'awake and hungry and ready for you to get him some food'.  Whew!  At least I knew he had not lost his sense of humor.  


I entered the room and there he sat on the bed - his "good eye" patched and his hand reaching towards my voice as I called in and asked how he was doing.  It hit me like a cold chill at that moment - my Motorcycle Man was sightless at that moment in time.  A patch taped down covering his eye that had just gone through the trauma of invasive surgery to give him the sight he needs so desperately.  He is the head of our home, my lover/husband/best friend, our children's father, our grandchildren's PawPaw, second in the chain of command at his daily job, the rider of the Harleys in the garage, the driver of the motorhome  and all the other vehicles in the driveway and also to his newest toy in the yard - the golfcart - for the folks that do not play golf - just want to ride in one on those little short trips to here and there.



It is amazing how we can all take some things for granted until we do not have them.  I have always been the one that leaned on him and today as I guided and talked him into the garage, through the laundry room, up the stairs into the kitchen, into the living room and finally onto the couch that I realize how he has done this for me for years and never complained - has always been there and it was an honor to be able to do the same for him!  That is until he needed to get right back up and go to the bathroom and whether it was meds or not seeing the toilet or what alot of that 'I am really doing good blah blah blah' feeling dropped a bit when I was jerked back into reality - please tell me I am dreaming - please tell me that the tub just sprang a leak - just please don't tell me he is peeing on my shoe.  I just love it!  There is always humor in every situation - some you don't even have to look for - it might just be as close as your shoe.
 


Also, as the other day when my Golden Girl kept her vigil next to me, she is faithfully laying on the floor next to the couch watching out for her Daddy.  Right before she laid down she sniffed all around his face, especially the patch and gave his check a nice lick and settled in to wait.



Sleep it off dear man, sleep it off.

Standing Guard...

But again, Let us pray...

I forgot to mention that I love gardening too!

We built a 20x20 deck on the front of our house in 2005 and the last time I was able to really spend time decorating it with plants was in May 2007.  Motorcycle Man had bought me approximately a pickup truck bed full of plants - annuals and lots of perennials.  Plus I had about 50 solo cups with
seedlings of Moon Vines and all other kinds of wonderful climbers.  All of these beautiful plants were lined all over the deck floor and the tables just waiting for me to grab a shovel and get out in the yard looking for just the right spot for each one.  

But.....that was when I got "the call" from my doctor telling me that the MRI did indeed find what was wrong with my legs and feet - it was an egg size tumor in the spinal cord.  I had been going to doctors for over six months trying to find out what was wrong with me.  Either I was in such intense pain I was barely functional or my legs and feet and abdomen would start burning - I would describe it as going to McDonald's and standing in oil in the deep fryer. 

Off I was to surgery the very next morning, leaving all my beautiful plants and seedlings at home alone.  I stayed in ICU for over a week and then in a step down room for another week.  When I came home all I saw was my sad plants on the deck - drying for a drink of water, looking out over the deck rail just wanting to jump into the ground and find their home.  I could only feel sympathy for them as i was ushered quickly into the house.  No, Mama would not be able to help them in their time of need - she was not able to walk at all and was bedridden for months - many, many long months.  As she still had two more emergency spine surgeries and another month in the hospital plus staff infection and a tear in the spinal column causing spinal fluid to want to get out.  My poor little plants were on their own and all Mama could do was watch them from her post at the window and pray for them.

Now about this time, Motorcycle Man took pity on the poor pitiful plants and opened the blinds in the bedroom so I could watch as he loving planted each and every one.  Picking the dead leaves off and brushing the dust off of them and them stood there with that lovely watering hose and gave them a huge gulp of much needed, much wanted, life giving water.  He was their Hero and mine too.  My plans ws to have planted them scattered all over the yard - front and back - but he in his knowledge of where I would spend the rest of the next several seasons planted each and every one where I could view them from my bed or the front deck as I was able to be moved out there.  He gave me a sanctuary.

Ok, now long story short.  Here are before and after pics taken of this deck that has not had that much thought and love in 3 years.  And once again guess who was at my side helping me trying to get slowly back in the swing of my love for gardening?  You guessed it - Motorcycle Man.  My Hero still.

Before

After

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After

This is in the shade so I am calling it a day LOL.

What did I get myself in to? But...there is a silver lining - precious video found!

I bought a MacBook Pro.  I bought Adobe Photoshop Elements 8.  I sent off for Adobe PSE8 - Classroom in a Book.  I am being a good student and learning this very comprehensive program.  Most of my photos (or so I thought) were already loaded into iPhoto on the Mac.  Then I remembered that I had alot backed up on 2 external hard drives as well as some on a desk top in my studio and of course

that old laptop tucked away in my bill desk.  And maybe a few on Motorcycle Man's computer that he had taken and downloaded there.  Long story short, I stayed up till after 2:30 this morning downloading all these pics on the Mac so that I could organize them.  And then noticed that I had to start double checking and deleting the duplicates.

Got up early this morning and rode with Motorcycle Man across town for him to do some work and took the laptop with me - spent over 5 hours (until the battery went dead on Mac) continuing the delete the duplicates and naming the pics, grouping them, sorting by child and their families, the trips and the date.  This is a full-time job!  No really, this IS a full-time job - one that might take me weeks.  But in the end I will be able to open the pics in Adobe Bridge CS4 and edit them all different kinds of ways.  I already tried it on a few and let's just say it blew me away!  

I love the added bonus of seeing memories that had been placed away and all of a sudden there it was in front of me.  Our children very young, our children grown and with their children, the trips we have taken alone, with family or friends.  The wildlife that travels through my yard and I caught pics of.  Just a flood of memories.

By far one of the best part was finding the short videos I took of Our Angel that I have been searching for that his mother has never seen or heard.  He lived just 6 1/2 short months and all of it in hospitals but he was a fighter!  He taught me SO much in his short life that I will carry with me to my grave.  Seeing his pictures since he passed away has been a blessing but hearing him for the first time in two years was the most touching thing all of this venture has brought me.  I can not wait to burn all his pics and the videos to a CD and take them to Mother Goose and let her have a blessing through this too.

An hour after he was born 2 months early

3 months later with his Mom

2 months later at 5 months with me singing to him

2 Bucks came to visit today

Looked at the back door on the way to the kitchen and there were several of my deer family friends.  These were two young bucks - both 6-pointers - feeding on the polk salad that grows wild behind our fence.  Motorcycle Man told me that this is one of the last times we will get to see them together before
the season and they divide up to hunt on their own.  I remember when they were half this size last year and we have another set of twins this year that have recently lost their spots.

Golden Girl at play and sleep

Pictures I took of her in her first snow, begging with her Tweety cup (while hiding her tennis ball in her mouth at the same time I later saw after I zoomed in on the pic!), "listening" to my iPod with her nose,
sleeping on her back after she covered herself with a towel and just being out and out beautiful!  I love this dog!  We are so blessed to have her as part of our family!

Resting in the sun

Listening to her favorite music on the iPod

holding the Tweety cup AND her tennis ball

begging with her Tweety cup

Priceless

A 'lil snow on my nose Mama

her and her Tweety cup again

while camping with Mama and Daddy

she has two different color eyes

taking a nap under her play towel