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I'll be sending out good thoughts to you towards the middle of June anticipating a successful surgery and a good recovery for you.

Your garden looks to be in good order and things will wait for you to recover your strength so don't hurry the recuperation along.  We will all miss your posts but know that you will need time to get your strength back and return to your regular routine.

Best of luck!  May your recovery be easy, uneventful and faster than expected.

I know several people who make pound cakes and then deliberately slam the oven door while it bakes, trying to make it fall. They like it better when it has fallen.  Has anyone else heard of doing this on purpose?

Sometimes gardens have to be let go.  Hopefully, you'll get the most out of yours as is possible.  The carrots are pretty, the bean plants look great, and so does the zucchini.  

Grandma Donna,

I will be praying for you and for Charles regarding your upcoming surgery. Visiting your blog is like visiting with my older family members that have most all gone now. So many of us get caught up in living that we don't slow down enough to appreciate those that are older than us until they are gone. Your blog is a peaceful retreat in the world and so many of us have come to think of you and Charles like family. Take care and don't rush the recuperation. 

Carol

Best of luck with your operation, gdonna. Take care of yourself before and after the surgery; I am seeing you come out just fine! My prayers and best thoughts; and don't worry about getting back too soon. We will be here wiating for you and have plenty to read until then. 

Thank you for the much needed reminder to walk away from electronics. I too feel that they drain my energy and my spirit.

I will be praying for quick healing and a speedy recovery. I'm sure you'll receive excellent, loving care from Charles and your family!

Thank you for the update.  Your garden and flowers look wonderfully healthy and big.  Prayers and healing sparkles will be headed your way for a quick recovery.   Love to you and Charles.

Dear G. Donna,

 I'm so thankful for the technology that has allowed you to live a full life and that can be monitored to know when it's time for replacement. You're a living miracle. Yes, God does use people and technology for miracles, too.

I'm praying for you right now for your mind, your spirit, and your body to be strong through this, that God will give you peace and rest, and for God to heal you fully and completely in Jesus' Name.

Gentle hugs,

Laura Lane of Harvest Lane Cottage, Carthage, Missouri

glad you now know your date and what to expect.  It must be a real comfort to you to look around your home and see the things you already have in place to ease the way during recovery.  Prayers will be going up for you and Charles

I really appreciate your blog, Grandma Donna; it's been very inspirational. Since I started reading it (months now), I've been stepping away from the craziness of the modern world and turned my focus to my home, family, and friends. I've been finding my own projects to work on, and my house is slowly coming together--and it's been so satisfying. I cook from scratch more, created an outdoor space, I'm learning about the birds in my own backyard--and today my husband planted basil plants in a planter we  had (we don't generally garden). After all of this I can definitely agree that the old way is better! Good luck with your surgery!. I'll keep you in my prayers.

Hi Donna, when I read your post, it's what I have been thinking about for months. I think a balance is like you said, AFTER chores or the obligations I have are done.  I have often thought of stepping away from using the internet so much, but I also know that so many young folks come here looking for info. Particularly the old way of keeping a home. 

We don't have 'books' like we used to. We have blogs. Still, there is a balance. Just wanted to high five you and say I get it. And I feel the same way. 

You have been on my heart and I will be praying for you. I look forward to any updates that Charles or your son will give. You are a strong woman, and I know you will be back to gardening when the time is right. It will give you something to think about and plan with a lovely cup of tea. 

Hugs to you from Durango! 

PS I am so grateful to see your garden. I would love to learn a bit more how you garden from containers.   Aging is changing my gardening and you are so successful. Things like: How you keep up with watering, do you have to weed much? Do your trellises start in containers etc.?  Do you replace soil every year. Thanks. 

The weeds here in the country are so bad that I joke ' I grow bindweed, not plants'.  The only way to garden is raised beds or pots. but I am not familiar with that. I sure would be easier for me though,

Dear Donna. You are a true and caring friend to those of us who read your blog and correspond with you. 

I also pray for the peace that passes understanding to be with you before, during and after your surgery when you recuperate. Don't feel you need to rush anything in your life.

Electronics.... our house is peaceful. When watching a TV programme of interest I mute the ads. I don't watch the news and only have 3 people on an Instagram account. It's all about choice and I choose not to listen to everything happening in the world and our country today. Lawlessness has increased to epidemic proportions and i feel it's better to stay quietly doing things at home.

Blessings to Charles and your son for a future post after your surgery. 

God bless and keep you

Karen NZ

So happy to see a post.  Will be thinking of you !

Thanks for the update. I'm sending you love and hugs and prayers. I know how you feel about not being able to garden as you usually do. The way it looks now, I will not be able to put in a garden until Fall, due to obligations I have overwhelming me here. It will all be okay eventually, but I have to roll with the flow and not fight it. I will send you photos of my jungle of a garden. And you will see why I will have to wait to garden until I can clean these beds out. 

I often wish I would never have gotten a computer. I can tell you I got more done BC, (before computer), than I do now. I am trying to limit my time online. But I am grateful to have found your blog and Rhonda's, too. So, maybe computers aren't so bad after all?  ;-)

Take care, my friend~

Darlene

I will be holding you in my heart and thoughts during the month of June.  Aren’t we so blessed to have people who devote their lives to others by having studied so they can successfully complete your heart operation, that they have the skill set to make the device in the first place and that the pacemaker has successfully been replaced so many times.   We live in amazing times. I, selfishly, wish you a speedy recovery from this huge operation dear friend.  A hug is sent to you and Charles from Australia.

 Thank you for the ‘kick in the pants’ to limit screen time.  It certainly can gobble up your day and kidnap you from living a productive life.  I marvel at all the jobs the generations before us did and am in awe of them.  They baked not just one pie but many and shared them with whoever walked through the door at dinner time.  And all the other jobs they did!  And how social were they!  Always extras around the dinner table!  It has prompted me to invite more people into my home and give them lovingly cooked home made food.  My home doelook like a magazine article...it just has to be filled with love and welcoming ..with a few candles to add some charm.

We are only here for such a small time.  Last night I was driving my g.daughter 13 home from a tennis match and reminiscing on how lucky I am to have 7 extra years of living post chemo, and how in 1986 I would have lasted 3 years.  That warm young hand that slipped itself into my old one, was a priceless gesture of pure love.  Ahhh the blessings.

Your garden is a delight.  So productive.  Time now to watch and enjoy as you recover.  Your time  to sit back and smell the roses.

You, and your words of wisdom and photos,  are so precious to so many of us.  You give us a quiet, safe oasis in this busy world.  Just know that you have so many ‘hands’ holding yours as you face this operation.  Wishing you a peaceful and comfortable recovery dear friend.

Grandma Donna wrote,  Thank you everyone for the well wishes, it really helps knowing that you are praying.   I am enjoying my new project at this time pre-surgery and have planated some perennial onions so they can be out there in the garden each year without planting.  I planted Egyptian walking onions, some Welsh onions and some bunching onions.  We have many perennial herbs and we added an Anise Hyssop to the yard last week, divided and transplanted some Bee Balm from the back yard to the front so now we have it in both places.  And have some seeds planted for replacement vegetables.  Charles knows what to do with them. 

We cleaned out the small freezer and organized everything in same size containers for vegetables, fruit and meat so meals will be easy to make while I am recuperating. Charles enjoys cooking so no problem with meals.  Everything is frozen in the portions we eat.  We have cleaned the Fridge and condensed down to keep that simple as well.  Topped of extra pet food, and staples so there will not be any need to to have to go out for groceries more than once a week or every two weeks for fresh food. 

I am staying home now so I do not chance catching anything so now it is time to set up my knitting and crochet projects for after surgery. Sewing would be more than I should do so that can wait.   I have some books picked out to read, including two companion planting and seed saving books.  I must read again pride and prejudice, oh that Mr. Darcy ;) 

Thank you again, Love, Grandma Donna

Dear Donna,

It is lovely to see the pictures of your lovely and productive garden! I wish you and your family all the best with your surgery. Good luck and I hope to read your stories soon again.

Best wishes, Mirjam from the Netherland

prayers for you and Charles that the surgery goes smoothly and that your recovery is uneventful. 

For those pf you working outside the home, please make an extra effort to be kind to your coworkers. I truly feel like it's the reason I am back at work. I may not be in the office with them, but everyone is going through such a stressful time. Being appreciative and complimenting someone can help them get through it all. 

Blessings for another successful surgery.  We were out of service for 4 days and it was wonderful.  I would have liked it to be even longer, but had to come back to work.

Love seeing the pictures of your garden so lush and productive.  Far ahead of ours.

Hugs!

Dear Donna,

Sending you my prayers also for a smooth operation and speedy recovery!

I loved your pictures of your garden!  So lush!  It is so dry here, so lots of brown grass unfortunately. It could be worse.  It has been rather cool as well....when it heats up it will be parched if we do not get rain.  Such an odd year so far.  The past few days we have had a lot of smoke from the fires in Quebec and the skies have been dark and smokey.  I actually wore a mask out yesterday as the air quality was so bad!

I just have a few container veggie plants this year.  After the deer and squirrels ate everything last year, I decided to just go with a few pots that I can move to safety if need be!  Oh to have a fenced in garden!  I have a couple of small flower beds that I have been keeping looking nice so far.  We all need some beauty in our world, and flowers are it for me.

Thank you for your blog...it is such a grounding blog to read and I come away always feeling uplifted and at peace.  It has a ripple effect because I try hard to "be somebody's sunshine" as you wrote in one of your posts (that was directed to your then teenage children, i believe, but it's applicable to anyone!)  We could all use some sunshine!

Thinking of you on this Sunday night and hoping all is well--Sheila 

Your lucky your carrots get so large! Ours never get even half the size of those. The rest of the garden photos look very nice and neat. I too want to learn more about seed saving and companion planting. I'm trying to plant and plan for more perennial flowers. I really dislike have annuals, but some are very pretty. I limit my annuals to very specific ones for certain pots. I was reminded how much sewing I need to catch up on. Thank you for that reminder! Praying things go smoothly and a quick recovery.

Grandma Donna wrote, Andrea B, it is the type of carrots that I grow and I do push the limit of how long to keep them in the ground sometimes.  The purple carrots are Dragon Tongue, and Danver carrots are good for us here because we often grow in containers and Danver carrots are shorter and plump and can grow most anywhere.  I learned a long time ago to try different varieties of heirloom carrots and since then I have had much better success.  There are many good heirloom seed companies and I encourage buying heirloom so we can save seed. :)  Also remember to save your annual seeds to plant the next year.  :)

Hi Grandma Donna, thank you for letting me know about the carrot varieites. I will only grow heirloom varieties in our garden so I can save the seeds. I'm not very good about it sometimes because I don't always have it go to seed due to a crop failure or it got rained out. I've never heard of the Dragon Tongue before. They look really neat! I will definitely be saving the annual seeds too! Thanks for everything you do.   :)