Hello! I bet you didn’t expect to hear from me again so soon, did you? It’s been a while since I did a “week in my life” sort of blog, so…I did. Let’s see, when I last wrote I believe I told you I had finally tested negative for Covid 🎉. I was still sick, though. I started some antibiotics for a bacterial sinus infection 5 days ago and am happy to report that I am doing much better. I still have a cough, but I’m hoping it will continue to dissipate with time (and another 5 days of antibiotics 😉).
Surprisingly, my MS hasn’t been too bad this week and I was able to putter around the house with reasonable rest breaks between activities. This has been a HUGE blessing to me ☺️!
Anywho, I’ve been sewing up a storm and enjoying myself thoroughly this week! As a matter of fact, in the pictures you’re about to see I think I’m wearing four different things I either finished up or made this week. (There’s more sewing stuff a bit further down too 🙂.)
Covid wore me out and I hadn’t cooked for over two weeks, we survived on freezer meals I had squirrelled away. I finally found the energy to get in the kitchen again on Tuesday. I made a huge pot of beef barley soup, enough to last us several days. I also decided to get out my Mom’s high school Home Ec. cookbook and made a couple loaves of our favorite bread. Mom’s book has seen better days, but it is very special to me and has some great recipes.
Oh, and I made some chocolate chip bars on Thursday from the King Arthur Flour Cookie Cookbook. 😋. I love lots of chocolate chips but Hubby only wants a few, and the itty-bitty ones. So, I compromised and put half the normal amount of my chips and some of his tiny chips into the batter and they actually managed to please both of us.
I hadn’t cleaned my sewing room for several weeks, it was really bad. I cleared the decks on Monday and gave it a good going over. I don’t know how I didn’t end up at urgent care with 23 pins stuck in my feet! YIKES 😬! I also gave both my sewing machine and my serger a good service and cleaning.
I spent a couple hours cutting patterns out last Saturday, here are a couple.Today (Friday), I cut out the Moire Blouse by Wardrobe by Me from this lovely double gauze from Beyond the Pink Door. I’ve had this in my stash for a while trying to decide what to do with it. I ❤️ double gauze, it’s so comfy.I wear special gloves when I use my rotary cutter so I don’t cut myself. Rotary cutters and MS don’t jive, precautions must be taken.Every Sunday afternoon at 1:00 I always try to catch the Live Sewing Chat with Andrea at Beyond the Pink Door. She has some of the best fabrics I’ve ever sewn and, despite having to ship it from Ireland, it’s quite reasonably priced. And I really like Andrea ❤️I’ve started keeping a bullet journal, mostly for sewing projects. I was having a hard time keeping straight what patterns I had made and the alterations, if any, for each. Oh, and I kinda like stickers. Yes, I’m seven years old.
The next few photos are random.
Every morning I enjoy solving a couple of cryptograms while having breakfast.Laudy is my constant shadow. She sat on my shoulder Wednesday as I ate lunch. This has been pretty typical of the last few weeks – a cup of hot tea, cough drops, Vaseline lip balm, and iced tea close at hand. I’ll save you the visual of snotty hankies.I really enjoy watching Horse Plus Humane Society YouTube videos. They rescue horses from the slaughter pipeline as well as any and all animals surrendered to them as the Humane Society in Tennessee. I’ve learned a lot about horsemanship and horse care.
Of course I watched the birds this week!
Carolina Chickadees and a female House Finch House Finches Male House Finch Male Downy Woodpecker Dark-eyed Junco Female Northern Cardinal
Lastly, I’ll share some of my favorite moments of the week with Pip and Laudy, my constant companions.
Pip joined us for dinner on Thursday.Laudy helped me solve a cryptogram on Wednesday…… but gave up quickly.Pip and I watched the birds on Thursday.Monday night snuggles with Pip while watching TV.Laudy helped me during my Bible study Monday morning.Thursday morning parrot imitation practice.Laudy snuggled with Hubby Tuesday evening.Thursday night snuggles. Are you seeing a pattern yet?😉I was trapped under cats after lunch today, it took 2 hours to get free. 😻😻Sun-bathing on her birthday 🎂!
Thanks for joining me this week. May God be with you. ❤️, Amy
Winter came to our backyard in January, she was exquisite ❄️.White-throated Sparrow Northern Cardinal One morning before breakfast, I looked out the window and straight into the eyes of this fine hawk. I’m lousy at identifying hawks. I think it’s a Red-tailed, but it might be Sharp-shinned. Please let me know if you know which it is.The same lovely person who gifted us a 6-month subscription to International Yums as a Christmas gift decided to spoil us for Valentine’s (a little early) too! We’ve had such fun tasting our way through these goodies. Though I must confess, Chicken-Larb flavored fried seaweed was not a hit in our house 😝.On the other hand, these easy home-made whole wheat english muffins are one of my favorites. I frequently make a double batch of these and stick them in the freezer for a toasted breakfast delight. If you’d like to try them, I’ve snapped pictures of the recipe and added them below 👇.
At the end of January I had a blood test to see if my immune system was rebuilding itself after stopping my MS treatments about a year ago (March 1st to be exact). The good news is yes, I have some nascent cells emerging. The bad news is I don’t have very many. I’m still immunocompromised, but the tide is slowly turning 🥳.
My MS has been all over the shop. Two weeks ago I had a string of good days and was able to cook and sew and putter around the house. Yesterday afternoon I couldn’t sit up or hold my head up and spent hour after hour in bed. Today, I’ve been able to sit up and ride around the house on my scooter, but my legs are like concrete and won’t work. Tomorrow? Your guess is as good as mine. The only predictable thing about MS is its unpredictability.
Laudy and Pip finishing my oatmeal a couple weeks ago 😆.
Thanks for staying tuned and stopping by. May God be with you! ❤️, Amy
Sometimes I’m really proud of myself for being able to keep the rhythm of breathing going, such is the joy of MS fatigue.
In my last post I said I would try to write something about my MS, so here it is. Whew, this summer has been a challenge! I have had a smattering of a few good days here and there and even a few strung together in sequence, but more often than not I’ve been under the thumb of pervasive, domineering MS lethargy. Nope, it’s not the kind of tired that needs a nap and sitting to rest for a spell doesn’t shift it at all. Like having a bone dry fuel tank, no matter how hard you try to go, you end up getting absolutely nowhere. The engine won’t start, the wheels won’t go anywhere, the brakes won’t compress, the electric windows won’t budge… technically it’s a car, but it’s good for nothing. I still look like Amy on the outside but there’s no juice to animate me. The electrical wires of my nerves are stripped and the signals my brain tries to send to make my body move either can’t or only partially get through. As a result, I don’t walk right, my hands don’t work the way they’re supposed to, my bladder doesn’t know if it’s holding or letting go, my thoughts struggle to be strung into words, and my balance is all over the place making me stagger around like I’m drunk. Normal things like showering, getting dressed, eating, and even sitting up use inordinate amounts of energy because my nervous system is having to work 1,000 times harder than yours just to get the signals through. Some days, for some inexplicable reason, I spontaneously recharge fairly quickly and I get to do things other than basic human functions – these are my good days. Other days, most days if I’m honest, time passes from my favorite chair or lying in bed. I read, listen to audiobooks, put puzzles together on an app, watch TV, and snuggle with our cats.
MS and heat don’t mix, it makes all symptoms worsen, so I haven’t been on the patio taking pictures much the past few weeks. However, the past couple of days have been milder allowing me to snap a few pics of my feathered friends.
I’ve learned to love bluejays and all the sounds they make. Matchy, matchy red!I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, cardinals are one of the most beautiful birds of all!Male downy woodpeckerFemale house finchSweet lil’chickadeeMourning doves are another personal fav.The butterfly bushes we planted in the spring have more than doubled in size and smell wonderful!There have been 5-10 hummingbird moths around the butterfly bushes all summer.Oh, and the skippers love them too.Hubby has just a couple more days before he heads back to work. This chore has been on his list and he’s glad to have it done. It’s still hard to believe God has blessed me with such a perfect guy ❣️
It’s been a month of MS fatigue and quiet living. I’ve ridden my scooter a few times to the lake in our neighborhood and enjoyed the dragonflies and flowers always present. Here are a few of my favorites.
One of these days I’ll write more. God be with you! ❤️, Amy
Hello! The weather has been beautiful the last couple of days so I’ve been soaking up the unseasonal coolness by bird watching on the patio.
I got a couple of new feeders, they work a treat!YarrowVerbenaAmerican Goldfinch, maleCan you see the 💛?This female cardinal is a looker!American RobinI think this pair of House Wrens is moving in!He’s been singing all afternoon 🎶Red-bellied WoodpeckerCarolina ChickadeeWhite-breasted NuthatchI’ve named this little Chipping Sparrow “Chippy”, he is particularly friendly and let’s me get close to him.I’ve been learning how to get action shots. This one didn’t turn out too badly.This one isn’t bad either.Blue Jays are very skittish but I can occasionally get a good portrait shot.This is just a funny pic of Pip riding around the house with me while I’m on my scooter. I haven’t written much about my MS lately. Maybe I’ll do that some time soon. The abbreviated version is, yep, I still have it.
I hope you have a wonderful week. God be with you! ❤️, Amy
Have you ever done something that you look back on a bit further down the road and wonder just how you could have been so oblivious? Well, I’m there. I shot straight up at 4:38 this morning and thought, “Copyright! I’ve broken copyright to Merrill C. Tenney’s The Genius of the Gospels“! I was going to post the notes I took on John today, but instead I took down my previous posts on the first three Gospels. Perhaps you were quicker on the uptake than I was. All I can say is I’m really sorry. It was such a good study, I got carried away and shared before thinking things through all the way.
So, back to the regularly scheduled programming…
My nephew came and stayed with us for a while last month. He made his Aunt very happy when he took my camera and, with his artistic eye, took pictures like a pro. Just look at his gallery!
Pretty impressive, eh?!
Here’s the young man himself.
Playing some Thin Lizzy with Uncle Todd.
The weather has been somewhat mild for our area this time of year so I’ve been able to get outside and take a few snaps. Heat and MS don’t mix so summer photo sessions are usually few and far between.
Common grackleTitmouseFemale cardinal, almost fully adult (I think).Juvenile female cardinal. Can you spot the differences between the adult in the picture above and this juvenile here?I went to the lake yesterday for about 20 minutes before tiring out. It was super busy!The fire department showed up with lights flashing for a water rescue.Suiting upIn action!This common whitetail dragonfly watched the rescue crew at work too.AND, I got to see a purple martin being fed!Meanwhile, inside, Pip has learned to appreciate birds as much as I do 😉.Laudy, as ever, knows how to snuggle and relax better than anyone.
All my best to you and may God be with you! ❤️, Amy
If you’ll remember, we’ve had some sick birds at our feeders. I submitted photos and information to the Missouri Dept of Conservation and they told me they think it is salmonellosis, a common problem among birds at feeders this year. Our feeders are still down but my feathered friends are still coming by to visit, which makes me happy 😊.
A couple of weeks ago I went to the lake near our house and enjoyed watching the pelicans and purple martins. The martins were very chatty and were all paired off into couples and busy making nests in the boxes. I have no idea who the kayaker is but she took a good picture.
I could hear the squirrel nibbling on the nut before I spied him on the fence near the blooming bushes and flowers. A pair of house finches have built their nest on top of our front door wreath. We can hear them chirping and chirring at all hours.A carolina chickadee built a nest in one of our boxes for his lady love’s approval but, sadly for me, she chose another one of his offerings in the woods across the street.Our skink is back! He’s been sunning himself a lot on the grill cover where he has been hanging out on warm, sunny days.
I am so grateful my Dad is still in good health and is able to go and do whatever he wants. We went to Austin to visit my sister and her family for a few days. Matter of fact, he’s driving us home as I write this. One of dad’s friends has a golf buddy in Georgetown so he rode down and back with us. It’s great for this bladder troubled MS gal to take road trips with a couple of old guys, they need the loo as often as I do 😉. My nephew Andrew is so grown up at nearly 16. He loves photography too!My sister got a cake for all of the April bdays in the family. Hubby wasn’t able to come down with us to celebrate his special day so we each ate an extra piece of cake in his honor 🥳.
The wildflowers were in full bloom in Texas! What a beautiful and wonderful lasting legacy to Lady Bird Johnson, wife of the 36th president, Lyndon B. Johnson. Evening primrose, bluebonnets, prairie verbena, and Texas thistle.
The grasshopper was a lucky shot but this scissor-tail flycatcher was a permanent fixture on the wire in my sister’s backyard. I saw him gracefully swoop down, catch an insect, and then resettle on the wire countless times. ✌️
My first Northern Mockingbird! He sang every song in the book all day every day of our visit and made incredible displays to attract a mate. Wow, he was cool to watch and hear!! I saw another mockingbird with him the last evening we were there. I hope he found “the one”. My sister took this pic of me being “such a nerd”.I’ve always wanted to try bubble tea and now I can say I have. I don’t need to have that experience again 😝.The chewy tapioca balls were… interesting. Fun fact: I bit my tongue off when I was in a car accident in 1987. Can you see any of the suture scars?
My sister is a master of smoked meats, especially pork butt. Hubby requested some of her pork to bring back. So what did she do? Made a whole one just for him 😋❤️!
Doesn’t everyone have shooting tourneys in the kitchen?
Thanks for following along to the end of this post. May you go with God!
It was 70*F this afternoon! I decided to lie on the grass and watch the clouds pass between the budding limbs of our river birch and the neighbor’s trees. The warm rays felt so good, I felt winter melting away!
The birds are getting used to me being outside again and have been coming closer. I wish I could describe the glorious yellow of the goldfinches sitting in the trees and visiting the feeders. I can’t stop taking photos of them. Their color reminds me of rich, farm fresh, creamy butter.
If you look closely, can you see the number 2 on this bird’s head or is it just my imagination??
Not to be outdone, the cardinals have been showy and coming to the yard a lot. It’s incredible that one bird can have so many shades of red. Some of their breast feathers seem shimmery, as if tipped with frost when the sun hits them just right.
Since taking up photography two years ago, I have tried to get a good picture of a carolina chickadee. Somehow their glimmering black eyes always manage to get lost and blend in with the strip of black feathers on their heads. Well, today I found success! I’m right well pleased with this picture.
Trees, shrubs, and flowers are coming alive and it won’t be long until hubby can add a bit of landscaping to the backyard. I can’t wait to get some flowers planted that will attract not only birds but butterflies too.
My only connection to the world beyond our front door. I’m homebound for a month after my Ocrevus infusion (see the previous post for more information).
Thanks for stopping by. May God be with you. ❤️, Amy
WARNING: The following is an extremely exaggerated, fanciful description of a much less exciting story. No one was injured in the actual exploit. Names are not used to protect the identity of those involved.
She opened the top drawer of her cabinet and paused thoughtfully. She ran her fingers over the neatly aligned collection of scissors of various sizes, thicknesses, brands, and purposes. Nothing there seemed quite right. Suddenly, I saw the flash of inspiration turn her usually dull, milky-garnet eyes into lustrous gems. She quickly closed the drawer, bent down, reached under the cabinet, and pulled out a large plastic case. I heard the release of two clasps as she opened it on the ground directly behind me. Strangely, I noticed a faint whiff of gasoline mix with the scent of hairspray, botanical shampoos, and foamy mousses.
With absolutely no warning and the simultaneous feeling of fight or flight that only true terror can create, the whine of a two-stroke, single engine weed eater filled the retail space. The din reverberated off the mirrors, tiled floor, and rows of adjustable metal chairs. A deafening “thunk-tunk, thunk-tunk, thunk-tunk” whirred into life and ramped up into a high pitched scream just over my right shoulder. It swiftly came closer until I felt the very hair on my neck begin to move. I could tell the length of trimmer string was too long and was flicking past the protective case, like the tongue of a cobra tasting the air. Instinctively, I pulled away from the droning sound and was nearly out of the chair when I heard the stylist’s voice filtering somewhere through the bedlam. “Don’t worry, I know what I’m doing. I’ve done this hundreds of times and you’re going to love it!”.
Was she like a chainsaw artist and could sculpt ordinary hair into a beautiful pixie cut with this outrageously deadly tool? After all, I’d shown her a picture of what I wanted. Wasn’t that her license hanging right in front of me on the mirror saying she knew what she was doing?
It’s strange how much faith we put in a little slip of paper with an embossed seal. It gave me the courage to sit back down. As I felt the first chunk of hair whacked off, I squeezed my eyes as tightly as I could and hoped for the best. Thirty minutes passed and I was still alive when she told me she was done.
Because it was a really tired MS day and I didn’t want to be out any longer than absolutely necessary, I got a wet cut without having her blow out my hair and style it. I don’t know if she was trying to cover up the mess, but she showed the back of my hair to me through a small hand mirror. The little bit I saw looked pretty short but okay.
When I was about 10 years old I remember my Mom telling the stylist to cut my uber thick, long, blonde hair into something more manageable. Somehow the lady translated that into a female mullet. I cried uncontrollably until Mom took me back an hour later and had the stylist rid all traces of Liza Minnelli from my head. I haven’t felt like crying about my hair for 40 years. I tell that story because this is what I saw when I got a closer, fuller view in the mirror at home…
Disast-hair!!!
Obviously, I couldn’t leave it like that and I certainly wasn’t going to go back and let her take another whack at it (😜😂). Though I’ve trimmed up my own hair before, this was way beyond my skills. Besides, it’s hard to see what you’re doing through misty eyes. So, I ended up going to my Hubby’s barber. Though I had to wait my turn for two hours, he was able to get me in on the same day as the disast-hair and, well, see for yourself…
Aft-hair Hubby’s barber shaped it up.
Ahh, much better! Hey, local friends, do you have any recommendations for a good stylist who can handle short hair?
Photos from the last few weeks.
Southwest Missouri got a lot of snow last week, about 5-6 inches in our backyard.All the snow had melted by the middle of this week. These are the last few water droplets draining from our gutters. Isn’t that a pretty piece of bark? It reminds me of a tunnel.
We have had some beautiful birds at the feeders this week. These are a few of my favorites.
White-throated SparrowEastern BluebirdAmerican Goldfinch and Eastern BluebirdA study in balanceI read that American Goldfinches weigh about the same as five teaspoons of granulated sugar.Female Northern CardinalMale Northern CardinalEarly in the week I added this corn holder to give the squirrels their own feeding spot. They still prefer to eat under the bird feeders. 🙄
I had a moderate amount of energy on Monday so I decided to squander it by going to the lake near our house. (And I do mean squander. I’m still recovering 😒.) Though it was still a bit cold, the sun was shining and it felt good to sit in it by the edge of the water. The lake was still frozen over but the ducks and geese didn’t seem to care.
There’s always one who doesn’t like to get in line.Mallard pairJust look at that patch of purple 💜!
I’ve been practicing using portrait mode with my camera this week. It’s impossible to take a bad picture of these two beauties 😻!
LaudyPip
I get the next dose of Ocrevus for my MS on Monday of this coming week. I have to wait three months after I get the infusion, but then I will FINALLY be able to get a Covid vaccine, Lord willing. I wish you health and happiness! ❤️, Amy
This weekend, from the comfort of our own living room, I joined bird enthusiasts from around the world to count species and track their populations in a group effort sponsored by The Audubon Society and led by The Cornell Lab. The app “eBird” made it easy-peasy as I watched birds come to our backyard feeders. There was a cool global map that lit up in real time as people from around the world turned in their lists. The most flashes were in North America, Europe, and Asia during the times I looked, but I saw some from Australia and South America too. I kept data from Friday through today, Monday. I saw the most birds Sunday with 15 different varieties and a total count of 42 individuals in about 45 minutes. I imagine the freezing temps and constant snow made for a larger than normal number of birds at our feeders. You can see a bit of the progression of the storm in the pictures below.
I had help counting on Friday morning which was a mildly icy day.Our first visitor. I couldn’t turn anyone away in such nasty weather.American GoldfinchHouse FinchI think we ended up with four individual Fox Sparrows. It was pretty exciting to see them since they’ve never been to the feeders before.A flyover 😉. For any photographers out there, I went Manual this weekend for the first time ever. I played around and learned a lot by trial and error. That is, I made a million errors and it was very trying.House Finch, femaleBy far the biggest number of birds at the feeders were White-throated Sparrows.I spread a lot of sunflower seeds on the ground and many of the birds camped out there to eat during the day. Birds need lots of food when it is so cold. Look at the sweet little Junco’s eye, frosty from the blowing snow 😢. The are two Northern Cardinals in the background braving the wind as well as a Sparrow.A female Cardinal hunkered down.I usually shoo away the European Starlings because they are aggressive and a non-native species, but I didn’t have the heart in the bitter weather this weekend. This little fella has his feathers all fluffed out and his beak in his wing in an effort to stay warm.Although the lighting in this pic is not right, it does highlight the snow stuck on the Cardinal and shows the blizzard-like conditions.This Junco is pecking through the snow in search of seeds.This White-throated Sparrow dove into the snow and scratched out a spot to sit in.Here he is all settled in and fluffed out. Our feeders about 2:00 Monday afternoon. There’s about 3-4 inches of snow with more supposed to come in overnight and again Tuesday night. I’m glad we got birdseed last week!The indispensable tools of the trade, my specs and trusty binoculars.
I plan to continue to keep track of the birds that visit us using the eBird app, it was fun. And, you know I will be taking more bird pics soon! Thanks for stopping by! ❤️Amy
Amy's Axons 