My Recent Absence

I'm not really sure how to begin this post.  I guess I want to apologize for being absent from my blog and the gardening blogosphere for so long, but somehow that seems to me to be a bit arrogant, as if I'm expecting people to want to hear from me.

There's been a lot going on in my life in the past few months...some good, some not so good...that has consumed most of my time and energy.  But things have settled down somewhat and I hope to return to blogging a bit more regularly.

The good thing in my life recently is we are finishing up the building of our summer home on Howard Lake in Southwest Michigan and in a word...it is beautiful!  We are so excited to be heading North for the summer!  In addition to being surrounded by family, it will be a wonderful escape from the brutal Texas heat.  And y'all know how much I griped about the heat last summer!  I plan to do a post on the Michigan summer home in the very near future.  But if anyone has built a home (especially remotely), you know how time consuming it can be.  We are in the final stages, but the devil is in the details.  Our closing date is set for April 27th!  I hope to get the post written and published before then.  And since we are leaving in May for Michigan, it is pointless for me to get a garden going so there's not much for me to blog about.  But I will post a few recipes from time to time.  Actually, I have two recipes that many of my friends on FaceBook have asked me to post.  So expect those soon.

Now for the not so good.  Late last fall one of my oldest and closest friends was diagnosed with Stage 4 metastatic breast cancer.  The type of cancer she has is very rare and very aggressive.  When she was diagnosed, it was all I could think about for weeks.  She has three children, two still living at home.  Here is this smart, energetic, feisty, independent, beautiful woman facing this terrible ordeal.  How does this happen to someone like her? I know, it happens all the time.  But it just hit so terribly close to home.  And to someone like her with a full, fun life and wonderful family.  The unfairness of it all hit me like a ton of bricks.

But for now, the worst is over.  She has been through six rounds of chemotherapy, a radical mastectomy and is now recovering and beginning to get her life back.  Next comes physical therapy to regain use and mobility of her arm and six weeks of intensive radiation.  After that, time will tell.

When she got sick, blogging was the furthest thing from my mind.  I tried to spend as much time with her as possible and to help out when and where I could.  But throughout this journey, she has remained positive, upbeat and always had a smile.  She is a fighter and was not going to take this thing lying down.  I was (still am) in awe of her attitude.  And believe me, I learned many things about life traveling this path.

I hope Spring finds each of you eagerly anticipating the coming gardening season.  I know for us in South Texas, we really didn't have much of a winter and summer began in March :/  It will be a welcome change to head North for this coming summer.

My best to each of you and happy gardening :)

This is a picture of an old (very old) oak tree that lives in the back yard of our ranch house.  She is the most beautiful tree I have ever seen and to me, she symbolizes strength, endurance, beauty and life itself.