Things are looking UP

This weekend, Emma had her friend, Emily, over for a 2 day sleepover and they had such a blast (well, except for occassional squabbles about who got to choose which thing to do next and that sort of thing :). They played in the FEMA trailer in our yard, converting it into a secret club house. Okay, so yes, it was all a bit draining, but I think it would be under even normal circumstances ~smile~

We learned it had been Emily's birthday last week, so I took the girls to see Shrek 3 (what a total hoot!), then made them pizza, ate ice cream and sang happy birthday to her. They spent most of the weekend parroting Shrek's "No you Did'ent" line - LOL. Okay, so I was doing it, too :)

I'm really feeling very optimistic lately about this treatment. I'm up and about and, apart from the occasional riba emotional thingie, I'm really okay. Yep, I got the fatigue, but it's not devastating by a long shot. Instead it just means that I'm moving a bit more slowly and not taking in the zip line (kidding ;)...and I have the ocassional speedy, rapid HB, breathless feeling from the ribas. But all in all, I'm sensing that things are evening out and I'm staying on top of it all! I know, I know...it's only week 3....but so far, I'm very encouraged by the way things are going.

I'm going to make this brief as Emma and I are heading outside to do a bit of gardening. Our little kitchen garden is becoming full of blossoms and filling in quite nicely. We've got a ton of tomatoes (cherry, creole, roma, yellow) that will begin ripening soon, and blossoms aplenty on the squash, watermelon, strawberries, several kinds of peppers and eggplants. It makes my heart sing just looking at their progress each day :) All of the 7 fruit trees (satsumas, navel, persian lime, meyer lemon, fig and tangerine), 4 blueberries, and couple of huckleberry bushes are bearing as well. I want to find some pears to put in at some point, too, and am investigating what else will grow in our zone.

I'm very interested in edible landscape and just want to keep planting more, and more, and more on our 3 acres. ~Imagine~! Eventually we'll be able to just go out and pick our food to eat, and maybe supply our friends and neighbors with a bit as well.

Afterwards, Em wants to go for a walk on the Trace. The Trace is a 40 mile bicycle trail that runs along the back of our property. It was an old abandoned railroad line that our parish purchased, pulled up the rails and paved for cyclists and jogger/walkers (and horses). It runs through woods, swamps, over bayous and is absolutely beautiful. The part that runs past our property is full of wild wisteria and honey-suckle and is about 1/8 mile from Lacombe Bayou.

When we first bought our wooded 2 acres here, we discovered by exploring it that the Tammany Trace was very close... but... we had to walk through a bit of property that was owned by someone else. We found out who owned that acre and arranged to purchase it so that we would have direct access. It is lovely being able to take a walk or ride bikes on it anytime we wish - and so easily!

Wishing everyone a lovely day and hoping your weather is as glorious as ours!