A Rose is a Rose is a Rose.

I have an herb and flower garden going in on the gravel side of the driveway... but I've long wanted roses on the rock side.  In particular, I want a rainbow of roses... purple at the top, red at the bottom, and a favorite variety of every color I can find in between.  I have my purple (still picking between Guy and Mitch for the name, as Singin' the Blues is the variety, and Guy Mitchell sang the song), and I have a lighter pink, though she needs some love.  She's nothing fancy, just a very basic pink rose, I can't even remember the name of the variety (hopefully the little metal tag is still there), but I love her anyhow.  This was an idea I'd thought of nearly a decade ago, but I had a neighbor who objected, so I abandoned the idea.  That neighbor no longer lives at that house, so damn the torpedoes, I'm moving full speed (or maybe half speed) ahead!

I never thought I'd want roses.  Only ever really knew the ones in the grocery store, and those get boring.  But years ago, when we first moved to Bellingham, the old house we were renting had a huge rosebush out front that became my first clue that growing your own isn't as boring as the store ones.  Then I won the pink one in the driveway at a raffle. It's not even a fancy one, but I love it. It needs better soil, which is why it still needs some love.  (It's surviving, and even blooms every year, but it's not growing much.)

Topping it all of was when I fell in love with the Singin' the Blues variety... and then killed mine.  I started the search for another, and along the way was introduced to more, fascinating varieties.  And even better, my fabulous friend has been periodically showing me her roses as they wake up for the season, and I'm just loving them.  She's got two in particular that I'm just in love with.  They're beautiful, and they smell incredible!  One dang near looks like it glows in the dark, and I'd bet good money that it looks even more impressive when the light of sunset hits it.

So, I'm revisiting the idea.  One of the things I want to make sure of is that I plant something between them to help hid the base of the plants.  I think that's about the only part I still don't like, the bare lower branches.  I have a peony already planted in the spot, and some blueberries, I betcha I can make this work out nicely. 

Another thing to think about is the actual spot to plant.  The area is a sharp drop to the neighbor's driveway.  It's covered in plastic landscape material, and then covered with rocks.  I tried before just cutting through the material to plant, but I have learned that the soil beneath is just not worth it, and may be risking heavy erosion by cutting the plastic.  So I think I'll have to build some sort of planters.  But I'll want to make sure they're anchored safely... I wouldn't want some sort of washout to take them to the bottom of that drop.  I even wonder if there is something I can do with the big pile of river rock I'd snagged from another neighbor when she redid her yard!  That would be cool...

So I'm back to learning about the different categories of roses, and trying to pick favorites.  I'm mostly searching online, but hope to take field trips to see and smell them in person before actually buying them.  I'm also hoping to successfully learn how to root cuttings, 'cause I'm totally wanting to steal a stick or two from the ones my friend has.  😋  I've come to the conclusion that if I fall in love with too many of any color, there's room in the backyard for more.  Hahaha!  Especially along the wall along the west side of the house.  Maybe even to the east side!  It may or may not actually happen in the long run, and it may take me a couple/few years like usual, but I'm excited to be inspired again.

And There It Is.

   On Valentines day 2017, my Doctor has finally given me the diagnosis I knew was coming.  I've been sick for a long time, and about a year and 1/2 ago it was pointed out to me by my dear friend that my symptoms really seem like I have something going on and I might want to look in the direction of autoimmune.  After a year and 1/2 of back and forth (probably dragged out through my lack of communication and self confidence as much as his stubbornness) with the doc, some really scary moments (Needle biopsy to the throat, anyone?  I get to keep at that one here and there in the future too.) I finally got the bloodwork I'd been looking for, and it proves it... I'm not crazy.  (Well, not out of the ordinary)  I'm not a hypochondriac.  I'm not just being lazy, brain dead, or wimpy.  All the mood swings, the aches and pains, the multiple general but impactful symptoms... It's not in my head.  I have a real, honest to God, there it is, showing in my blood, condition. 

   My body is trying it's best to kill my thyroid.  My body is working in overtime to try to keep my hormones at level, while it tries so hard to kill off the component that produces those hormones, and is in doing so, throwing me way out of whack.  I've likely been sick for a very long time, as I was symptomatic for at least a year or two before I was nudged in the right direction.  I just got back from the Doc's office, where I got the official word... Hashimoto's Thyroiditis.  And now I get to start treatments, which means tinkering with hormones, until they get level, so if I get extra kooky, above and beyond my usual, please forgive me. 

   I have to tell you, I couldn't be happier.  It's real.  It's treatable.  I wasn't making it all up.  And it's something I've been already working on at home by changing diet and lifestyle.  (Restarting that same program from scratch as I speak, even.)  So I've got a head start.  For those of you that have been in the know, thank you for putting up not only with my repeating myself over and over, but for sticking by me and being SO supportive through all of this.  And Shannon, I would never have caught on if it wasn't for you.  I wouldn't have known the direction to push.  And I wouldn't have had the head start on healing that I've got.  And to my Hubby and my Kids who have, more than anyone else, truly endured the brunt of all of this...  I am such a lucky woman to be so blessed.

   So today begins the very first day of the rest of my brand new life.  Today I'm enabled to bring myself back to the person I know I am.  I take my next steps to no longer being my symptoms, because I tell you this, they take over if you let them.  There's still a road ahead of me that will have it's bumps, but today I know what direction to travel. 

How Come It's Always The Good Ones?

I guess if you're going to find out of the death of a friend from cancer, finding out at Relay for Life is the place to do it. On March 1st of this year, Hubby promised his friend from high school that he'd walk 100 laps for him this year. His friend had pancreatic cancer, stage 4. I know Trucks (as we know him) from meeting him a few years ago at their high school reunion, but Hubby has known him since back in his school days.

Left to right, Todd, "Skip", and "Trucks" at their high school reunion in August of 2013.

Saturday Hubby was busting his butt to get through 100 laps. He was wearing old shoes and the sun was beating down. He'd posted on FB that he was doing it for his friend, and tagged him in the post. I guess that's how his Truck's wife learned of Hubby's efforts, and reached out to tell me that he'd passed the day before. I read the message when Hubby completed lap 98. I was furious. I guess we all saw it coming, but hoped otherwise. We hoped so much that we'd planned our summer vacation around going down to see him. I like to think that even though he probably knew he wasn't going to make it that far, it gave him something to look forward to as well. Lap 98 out of 100. I didn't tell Hubby. He asked what was wrong, and I told him to keep walking. I didn't tell him until after his promised 100 laps were done. He'd walked 100 laps in 10 hours where he normally does around 107 in 18. He's got blisters on his feet to show for it. Including the luminaria lap, he totalled 102 laps. He kept his promise.

The luminaria I made, before I got the news.

For my part, I only met Trucks twice in person, but we kept in touch online. He made me feel welcome at the reunion where I was an outsider among a crowd that all knew each other. He laughed easily, which of course makes him my favorite kind of people. He was scrawny and spry and full of crazy. (Okay, everyone is scrawny to me.) I clearly remember him at the reunion in 2013, introducing me to everyone as "My girlfriend, and Skip's wife". I remember showing up at his house in August of 2014, and him making time to meet our kids and spend time with us. I remember Littlest Prince smacking into his glass sliding door, and how hard we all laughed. And I remember the stories... so many stories of the wilder, younger days of Skip and Trucks. My Father-In-Law still laughs and tells stories of their misadventures.

We were really hoping, and looking forward to seeing him. I don't know how this will affect our plans, but regardless of what we do, you can bet there'll be a bottle (or two, or three...) raised in his honor, and I'd be willing to believe that he'll be there 'round the campfire in some tiny way too.

Dagnabbit!

I did it again!  How am I ever going to call myself a "blogger" if I fail to keep up with the blog?  SO much has happened worth writing about.  We took an amazing hike on a fabulous camping trip!  (And I baked red velvet from scratch over the campfire!)  We've had baseball season going on.  We did another camping trip and another fantastic hike.  (The hike in which I learned that when my husband says "I hiked this trail with the Scouts.  You guy's will love it."  he really means "I'm going to get bored, and while I've not looked at any trail maps, I'm gonna mix it up and get us really, really lost adding miles and hours."  And I'm learning more and more about food.  I'm edging closer to my AIP diet change.  Batch cooking, tricks with new ingredients, Co-op memberships, online ordering for really hard to find ingredients..... SO much to write about.  I'd promise I'll catch up, but we've learned how that turns out.  So I'll promise this:  I'll try to catch up.  But if not, at least I'll try to post more anyhow.

So, Here's the Deal.....

   Okay, so we've established that I'm a basket case with chronic health drama.  I may never be able to fix all that.  But, I'm always hopeful that I can fix at least some of it.
 
   I've made a goal.  A dear friend and neighbor has some of my very same and similar symptoms.  She's just not as crazy/dramatic as I am.  And she's smarter than me.  By, like, a longshot.  ANYHOW, she has discovered she's got an autoimmune thyroid condition.  It started with what she thought was an injury, but it wasn't getting better and it seemed no one could figure it out.  But somehow it came around that it could be an illness rather than an injury, and it seems that turned out to be the case.  She's been wonderful at listening to all my woes, and lemme tell ya I dump 'em.  She's found some interesting similarities.

   Now, I'm not saying that she and I have or might have the exact same condition.  All I'm saying is that there are similarities in symptoms that may point to some interesting solutions.

   The other day, my beautiful friend and neighbor hiked up my driveway and we got to see just how much better she's doing.  Holy wow!!!  The difference is incredible!  She looks great!  And I don't just mean weight, I mean skin tone, face expressions, overall in general looks awesome!  So she told me what she's done.  And now I'm doing a lot of research and planning.

   See, here's the thing, there is no one cure all.  Just because something worked for her, and just because we share some symptoms, doesn't mean that the same solution will work for me.  But, I've got to agree with her, some drastic changes in diet may go a long way.

   I'd looked into elimination diets a long time ago.  Some where there was something about giving up 7 foods for 7 days and then 7 weeks of re-introducing.  Can't seem to find it anymore.  But it barely made sense.  Something about the way it was structured didn't sound right.  And 7 days just didn't seem like it would be enough to really be ready to re-introduce foods and actually know what's going on.  Almost every other thing I found hit several of my pet-peeves.  They'd be weight loss based.  I want health based.  They'd be dripping with celebs that push the diet.  To me that's annoying and distracting.  They'd have Dr. Oz's stamp of crazy.  I just have a hard time taking anything Dr. Oz seriously.  Or they'd be selling all kinds of shirts, kitchen gadgets, "specially formulated" crap, etc.  If I have to buy all kinds of things to work my eating plan, I am not interested.  I don't have the room or money to line someone's pockets for something that may or may not work in the first place.  Or there would be some serious imbalance.

   Another factor, I am not a decision maker.  I need something to tip the scales in one direction or another.  So when my friend told me what she's been doing, it helped give me a direction.  And with an added bonus, she's right there for questions and support.

   So here I am.  I'm reading and researching on Autoimmune Protocol.  AIP.  And I am in love.  Okay, there's a lot of giving up stuff.  The list is very long.  But the reasoning behind it all actually makes sense.  And I still keep tasties, and even new goodies.  It's not about losing weight.  It's about eliminating common problem foods for a period of time (at least 30 days) and then re-introducing them over time to find out which foods may (if any) be causing some of my symptoms.  It's about letting my gut heal up if it needs it.  (And it probably does.)  It's about finding out if there is food I'm putting into my body, thinking it's doing me some good, and actually throwing it out of whack.

   I was surprised to find that giving up coffee was one thing, but the one that really broke my heart was the idea of giving up tomatoes and peppers.  I love my tomatoes and peppers.  But, I keep reminding myself, I have a time I get to try bringing them back, and I hope they aren't going to prove to be problematic.

   I'm not diving in right away, however, and if at all.  I'm making a goal of January 2, 2016.  It's a long ways out, but there's some advantages here.  I can slowly remove some of the items from the no-no list ahead of time.  I can introduce some of the things on the add-in list.  I can try recipes ahead of time.  Oh and the temptation factor... Garden season is early here this year, and giving up my nightshades right now is just cruel.  We camp and road travel a lot this time of the year, and it's especially heard to maintain a new diet plan while on constant travel.  And then there's the holidays.  January I get a break from all these temptations.  So, I get the highest chance of success by setting that as my start date.  It's possible that by then I decide no.  But in the process of getting ready, I'm still making steps to improve my diet, so it's a win-win.

   For now, I've printed out two charts, the no-no's and the good foods.  I've got them taped up inside one of my kitchen cabinets where I can refer to them while I cook.  I've crossed out the foods I already don't eat, and put marks next to the one's I'm working at eliminating (on the no-no chart) and the new ones I want to try (on the good foods chart).  And I'm working with my snacks.  I'm going through AIP snack recipes and trying to start relying on those as I graze.

   Today I'm baking plantain crackers, dehydrating zucchini chips (with lemon and dill), and making banana chips to eventually make into cinnamon banana chips.  I'm kinda excited, because these are ingredients I already love.

   Okay, so this, and the last couple, entries are long, and bland with no photos.  That'll change, I hope.  I'm trying mostly to document things for myself at this point.  But I am hopeful to keep it up, and get back to great photos, blogging about the trips we have coming up (as soon as this weekend!), and the garden again.  ;-)  But for now, bear with me, 'cause I need this loooong story stuff at the moment.

Oh! Hey There!

Huh, true to my nature, I've stopped writing for ages now.  One day I'll get myself together.  It's been a lot of ups and downs, but we're still trucking right along.
 
   We just started our 5th year at the garden!  Had a few things to work out.  We had to re-size our plot to keep in line with the rest of the gardeners.  As it's a large raised bed, it was a lot of work.  Unfortunately there's plants that had to be uprooted in order to get the work done, and a lot of soil to relocate.  I put my delphinium back in the ground, but it's still up in the air if it survived or not.  My gigantic thyme plant that's large enough to declare itself a sovereign country is looking pretty sad.  Hopefully I'll be able to put her back in the ground soon, and give her a good haircut, get her feeling all refreshed.  And then there's my lavender.  When I first got the plot, there was one big lavender plant.  I took a dull, somewhat rusty shovel and split him in two.  Both halves survived and thrived at opposite ends of the garden.  But now, his twin had to be dug up for this move.  However, she's seeming to survive the uprooting just fine for now.

   So far all we have planted, that isn't a perennial, is peas, onions, and a couple leeks.  Two years ago I put one little bitty strawberry plant on the south end, and now it's taken over most of that half of the plot!  'S okay though, there's plans in place to add a new strawberry box they'll be moved to so they can be contained.  I still have the gigantic rosemary plant that used to be planted in a McDonald's cup as a natural air freshener in my car.  Thing is chest high to me now, and I'm 6'2"!  At least one of the dahlias have begun to poke out of the ground.  It's going to take some cleanup to find if the others are still kickin' under there.  For some reason my crocus' only gave me leaves, never flowered.

   Other things going on this year... I met my Grandfather!  I'm turning 38 this year and have finally met my Grandfather.  It's a long story, and as it affects so many still living I'll not get into it, but it is what it is.  It's as simple as this... I grew up with the understanding that I had two Grandmothers and three Grandfathers.  All but my maternal Grandmother and birth Grandfather have passed on.  The opportunity to meet and know my Grandfather wasn't there for various reasons.  But this year we all were finally able to say "to Hell with the reasons" and make it happen.  I couldn't be any happier!  I swear he and I are so much alike it's scary!  There is no way this trip would have happened without the help of my parents.  I couldn't afford it on my own, and so they foot the bill.  My husband also helped out... he dipped into his retirement fund to make sure I had any spending cash I needed to be comfortable.

   It was a fantastic trip!  I haven't ever really flown alone, so I was terrified.  I've flown many times, mind you, but never alone.  I've always had family, friends, or shipmates to hold my hand.  Heck, I've even been on a flight where mid-air we lost an engine and hydraulics, but I had so many folks with me I wasn't nearly as terrified as I was to get on this commercial plane all by myself.  I did have the doc prescribe me anxiety pills, but apparently just knowing I could take them was enough.  There is so much to the travel and meeting that I should write an entire separate post about it.  Maybe I'll finally get to it.

   My eldest has bridged from Cub Scouts to Boy Scouts.  That kid is growing up way too fast!  He's still bright, happy overall, and so smart.  The Twinnies are getting huge as well.  They'll be starting Cub and Girl Scouts this summer.  We're even starting a Girl Scout troop just so that we can ease scheduling for other Scout families.

   Eldest Son is about to have a birthday, and this year we're camping as a family where normally it's his boys only trip.  But as this year his birthday falls on a weekend, when the whole family had a chance to make a trip he's been dying to make happen, we're doing it.  He's asked for a red velvet birthday cake... we've readied the dutch oven.  ;-)

   I've had my share of health problems.  I have medications for my migraines finally, but if I took meds for everything I would have an all out pharmacy going on every day.  That doesn't sound appealing.  I had heard of elimination diets and how they can sort out if food is your trigger.  I'd done some reading on them a while back, but was irritated by the "lose weight fast" angle, or the gazillion celebrities backing it, or, God Forbid, Dr. Oz puts his stamp on anything.  And nothing made sense just right, and I knew no one I could ask about it.  So I pushed it aside.  Recently a dear friend brought it up because it's what she had to do to regain her health.  I've been able to personally see much of the difference it made for her.  So now I'm looking into the format she tried.  Autoimmune Protocol.  It's pretty extensive, and giving some of those foods up for even a while breaks my heart, but I am still considering it.  It makes sense, and I'm loving the people writing about it, their qualifications, and their experiences.  And I've not seen a bunch of money making, celeb backing, Dr.Oz waving or the rest of the crap that distracts and annoys me.  And I have been able to ask my friend if I have any questions.  As of now, the plan is to slowly phase out some of the no-no's to brace for impact, but to actually and officially start January 2.  Why so late?  Time to prepare for one.  My garden is reason two.  I don't have the willpower to give up my tomatoes and peppers while I'm already growing them.  And then there's travel and holidays, it's awfully hard to stick to anything new during those times.  So January 2 is my goal date.

   Of course there has been so much more going on, but trying to cover it all at once is impossible.  So basically I'm writing to catch the basics and hopefully remind myself to write more later.  ;-)

A Little Fruity Daydreaming.

   I want a pie cherry tree.  I have an apple tree I can't identify, and the apples never seem to ripen.  I have a grafted multi-sweet cherry tree.  It produces, and has since the first year, but it's only a few years old and doesn't make any kind of big batch yet.  But I can buy sweet cherries anywhere.  It's the sour pie cherries I can't easily find.  But even on this fairly large (for a neighborhood) plot of land we own, there isn't room to plant anymore fruit trees.  See, not only do I live on a hill, most of it is full of alder trees and blackberries.  Clearing that out is potentially a very dangerous, and very difficult task.
   As long as I can remember, I've wanted my own personal mini-orchard.  Growing up in California, there were several orchards of various types.  I remember both nuts and fruits... apricots and walnuts being the most prominent in my memory.  I even remember an almond tree at the apartments we lived at when I was really little.
   When we moved to Washington, I remember our first house having it's own selection of tasty goods.  Behind the house was a handful of plum trees back by the blackberry patch.  I've never been a big plum fan, so mostly what I remember was the smell of the rotting fruit as it dropped to the ground.  But, off to the side of the large yard was an apple tree I remember very little of aside from climbing it, and my personal favorite, a cherry tree.  Not just any cherry tree, but a pie cherry tree.  Beautiful, bright, shiny, tart pie cherries.  That tree was absolutely loaded in them!  For me, even with such a very small knowledge of what the heck was growing in the yard, and what it took to take care of it all, these trees were heaven in a small chunk of suburbia.
   Now I own a home, and I have two fruit trees that don't have use as of yet.  (At least the cherry tree has promise.)  I am hugely overrun with blackberries, and while that is unpleasant, at least it's useful.  Somewhere buried under the blackberries is some thimbleberries and raspberries.  Or at least I've found the thimble berries and I'm told by my husband that raspberries are under there somewhere.  But none are trees, and none make up for an actual pie cherry tree.
   So I shall continue to dream.  I don't really want an all out orchard, but the cherries would be nice.  Both pie and sweet.  And an apple tree or two that produce edible apples.  A couple plums (since the rest of the family enjoys them).  God I'd love some peaches, but I don't think they'd grow here.  Pears.  Oooh!  Apricot.  I'm told those might grow here.  But seriously, I'd be perfectly happy with just the pie cherries and an actual edible apple.