This is the place I have spent a lot of time lately. If the pillows are at the head of the bed I can look into the kitchen. If they are at the foot of the bed I can see out the windows.
I have been quite ill for the last several weeks. I have mentioned before that I have Meniere's disease, tinnitus and Hyperacusis.. It all has to do with the ears. Balance, nausea, vertigo, ringing, roaring, whishing noises and then if that is not bad enough add a megaphone in your ears making "All" sounds too loud. And to make it sound crazy but everything is too loud and yet I have hearing loss. Everything from water running in the sink to someone talking, setting a tea cup into a saucer to tearing a piece of paper. Motorcycles make me want to cry and fire trucks I run and hide. Going to the store is almost impossible and only possible by wearing ear plugs if I do not have the staggers. During all of this my vision is not good either so I cannot hold out to do posts when I am like this.
Add a new heart issue to that and a tail bone issue I could have stayed in this bed curled up forever!
But I try to go through life with the question what can I learn from this. So when things are difficult for me, I move furniture. It is similar to when you first feel you might be getting the flu and go into panic mode to clean the house, get all the laundry done as fast as possible.
What can you do when you are like this and you cannot sit down due to it hurts to sit? You knit laying down. Now let me tell you, it is not easy to knit laying down. Especially if you are wearing ear plugs, you are dizzy unless you lay in one position. You just have to laugh about this otherwise you will cry all day long or take up drinking! Then there is move furniture if all else fails. By the way, I have a box of sliders and most of them are under the furniture.
The "Ear" Attacks so far for me run a course. The last one before this one was 6 miserable weeks. This time has been 9 wicked weeks. But the visit to the heart doctor and I went into Pity Party mode for about a day and half and then decided it was time to make the house easier when I do need to have surgery again.
I arranged to where a walker can easily maneuver through the house easily if I need to use one. Surgery is not imminent at this time but will eventually happen at some point. Also it is good to have furniture arranged to where a walker will clear through because we can have a fall or sprain an ankle at any age.
We decided it was time to solve some issues that we could, one was the pantry gets too warm in the summer so Charles built a new door (above) that would let air into the pantry. This has worked wonderfully.
Another issue is planting vegetables in pots is not working because they just cannot survive the long span between rain. We need rain so badly.
So we are making lasagna beds that will hopefully hold better moisture. Some of you have experienced, drought then floods then right after the flood, it gets too dry again. So we have put newspaper to hold the grass and weeds down, then logs then paper, then sticks....
Then grass on top of that...
Then peat moss or coconut moss....
Then more newspaper and some logs to hold more moisture and decompose to compost..
Then more grass. Isn't that picture pretty? Try to keep your balance and take a picture like that. :) Charles was doing 98 percent of the work.
Then Hay and then good rich compost on top of that.
And here is the modified lasagna garden bed. What little rain we have gotten goes straight into this and is absorbed and the worms like it in there. This is our second bed and we have decided anywhere we have placed pots to grow vegetables we will put one of these. At least Charles will. Over time this will settle and compost and we just keep adding good rich compost to the top of this. We have a nice compost pile in the back making us soil for our beds.
Some days I am able to walk up to the clothesline and I hope that keeps increasing. Charles has been carrying them up when I am not able.
This is a reminder picture of where the table and hutch were.
Now the table is back in the kitchen again, actually off the kitchen where our small den was.
The hutch is in one corner over by the table and Windsor our 1920's icebox is in another corner.
I put a chair to sit on in the kitchen and lower cabinet for making bread.
But the best part of all of this is I finally figured out how to make the cozy sitting areas around the living room. I have had this thought in my head for a long time to have sitting areas that are comfortable to sit and feel alone or part of the conversation if others are there. Our house is very small so this has been a problem to accomplish. I decided it was time to do it, now or never.
A sitting area next to the treadle sewing machine and a cabinet to the right that holds fabric and sewing items.
We pulled the old white wood table out of the storage room and placed it in the center of the room. We can read, write, play games or eat at this table in this room.
Placed a chair to one corner beside the front door next to a small antique table that lets out as a full table, half table or flat folded table. This is a wonderful reading area.
We love to read books since we did away with television and I decided to lay some horizontal around areas in the room Charles and I love it because it makes us want to sit and look through a book. I will change out the books periodically. Another sitting area here.
This is entering the front door. A chair to sit and take off and put on shoes.
It is a mix and match of things that make us comfortable and happy.
Here I am sitting on the back porch. The garden is finishing up it's produce. We have been eating cantaloupe, bell peppers, cucumbers, tomatoes, beans, onion, garlic but not enough to can. As you know if you read earlier posts we had drought pests and rodents to attack our garden.
Everywhere you look there is some kind of vegetation.
It is a sea of herbs, vegetables and flowers.
Where one thing leaves off another begins. We barely can walk the path between them.
There is much beauty in all of it.
But we will once again adjust because it does require water to survive. Next year will be smaller but at least this year we learned the vegetables that we enjoy the most and the flowers that will attract bees. Our yard is an odd shape and with the trees and the shape we do not have space for what I would call a normal garden. I planted more vegetables and flowers than I normally do and it was because I knew I was having health issues and I just wanted this possible last chance to do this as I just have had a feeling that I might have to quit gardening. I hope not but I might and if I do then I got to see this beautiful Whompus garden! It reminds me a bit of Tasha Tudor's garden. :)
It has been worth the work because there is nothing like eating a vegetable that was just picked. If okra is small it is wonderful boiled or in soup and if it is getting to large to boil then it is good fried.
We are still harvesting celery. We grew Utah Celery this year and it has done wonderful.
All types of peppers...
Sweet potatoes and Petunias.
Life is going on all around us no matter if we are on the hill or in the gully. I use distraction to get through my trials in life. I try and focus on something, anything that can draw me in. Creating, reading when I can, and a non vintage thing, watching youtube to see how people do things. I like to learn new things or improve a skill. Sometimes I just cannot but then some times I can. When I cannot I think about what I am going to do when I can and when I can I try to do that thing such as improving the function of the house.
My thought about when we are in the gully. Plan like it is going to get better because most times it does. :)
Now that I have improved the function I want to make those curtains I am going to embroidery. :) Grandma Donna
