I have been in the yard, trying to salvage the lawn that was left unwatered for who knows how long. We have but a small pair of pruning shears and lots of hedges to trim.... I was left with a very sore hand!
But, we will see, on our very tight budget, what we can do to make this little lawn of ours pretty. Naturally, I tend to overthink and become obsessive, wanting to do everything at once, a compost pile, a vegetable and herb garden, more flowers! But, only time and patience will tell if our 5 rose bushes will come to life again and how the bare patches of removed dead plants will be filled in.
If you are not a green thumb, but enjoy the vibrant colors of nature, I am sure you will love these gorgeous garden projects!
This silk ribbon flower garden embroidery reminds me of my grandmother's shower curtain.
So beautiful, each stitch and square was so lovingly executed. I love how cheerful it all is, I'm sure it is like a little visual journal as well. The 39 squares project by Amy of inspire co. had many different people participating and can be viewed here.
*This post is dedicated to Urangoo. I blogged about her last year as she was fundraising for treatment for Leukemia, the same disease that took my father from me. She passed away today after her Chemotherapy treatment in India had failed. She was a student at Utah University from Mongolia and traveled the world to find healthcare. I pray her spirit and those of her friends and family will have peace.
A beautiful and intelligent young woman, Urangoo, found out very recently she has Acute Leukemia. She is a recent college graduate and immigrated to America for education 8 years ago from Mongolia. Unfortunatly, like many Americans, she has no health insurance and without a bone marrow transplant in the next few weeks, she is likely to die within a few months. The hospital has donated her first chemo treatment and is trying to outreach to foreign hospitals who may be able to help her case, but there have been no takers yet. You can read the complete article here in the Utah Daily Herald Newspaper along with the donation link in her blog.
She has raised $10,000, but her treatment is between $100,000 to $350,000 so they have a very long ways to go. But small amounts add up quickly, especially in the blogging world!
My father had Leukemia, and died when I was 23. So, this is just heartbreaking to me.
Well, Father's Day was yesterday, but I didn't get on the computer AT ALL as part of my "gift" to my wonderful hubster, he heh.
my dad as a toddler in the 50's
(my dad's dad, Grandpa James Alton Smith, who also died of leukemia before I was born).
But I did want to write a little about my Dad. He was diagnosed with Chronic Lymphacitic Leukemia when I was 6 months old. He underwent 2 bone marrow transplants, complete sterilized isolation, various rounds of chemo and radiation, a spleenectomy... He then developed squamous cell carcenoma in the face from his radiation poisoning throughout the years. He had almost all of his teeth removed, bones in his face removed as well as his upper palate in his mouth. He had exposed bone in his cheek that he covered with a thin gauze until he was healthy enough to receive a skin graft to patch the hole up that his skull peeked through.
He was fed through a feeding tube in his stomach for a couple of years and I still remember hearing him scream from the hospital waiting room the day he had it removed. So many memories. 14 different times, we were told as a family to go home and prepare funeral arrangements. 14 times.
His body was his worst enemy, a total wreck. He went almost completely blind, couldn't hardly speak, he couldn't go in the sunlight, walk, read... which was so sad because he loved outdoor sports like hiking and he was an avid reader and talker/jokester. He endured vigorous and painful excersizes to restretch his mouth with a large rubber mouth block, so he could speak a little. His frail frame wasted away. His eyes were uneven, food sprang from them like tears when he attempted to eat. He considered having one of them removed. Some people stared, even adults who knew better laughed at his Frankenstein like face, for it was horribly disfigured from all the bone removal and skin grafts over much of it. Wretched people, he didn't choose this!
But he kept on. He caught when doctors misdiagnosed him several times because he did his own studying (before the days of easy internet research.) He broke isolation by leaving his sterilized room (which can be fatal for a zero immune system patient after a bone marrow transplant) because the nurses wouldn't check him that his lungs were filling up with fluid... had he not taken that step, he would have drowned and died within minutes. He could barely lift his head or finger, he was so weak, but he knew he had to somehow get out of the bed, walk across the room and open the door to save his life. He did, then collapsed on the tile floor.
He continued writing poems and songs, he told jokes and was a master storyteller, even volunteering at children's camps. He dressed up in clown costumes and did cartwheels to make THEM feel better. He loved God and trusted in his plan, never cursed him or asked "Why me?". He accepted his challenge with fate and learned from him, perfected himself because of it throguh Christ's example. He continued on his spiritual journey and inspired so many through his struggles and sunny outlook. He was a total refined and perfected being.
His last email to the family he wrote was, "I am going to have this thing beat in June." He died June 1st 2002, and so, he DID beat it in June. His beautiful spirit was no longer confined by a broken and agonizing painfully weakened body. A nurse injected him with a dirty needle and he got MRSA in the blood. It happened at the VA... many many many horrible things happen at the VA, news and lawsuit worthy things, but you can't sue the government. His end came in the same hospital that I later delivered my two children in. I was in Utah at the time of his death. My mother called me with the news and I was in denial. I flew home to say goodbye and never looked back. His death changed me for the better, as I strive to live up to his example if I can.
he was always so cute, with such a happy grin and bright eyes
I love you and miss you, you would love my husband, you would be the best father in law and grandfather. But I know that you escorted my children's spirits here, I know you were there on my wedding day and I know you watch out for us. I love you and will see you again Daddy!
