Changes All Around

 

The cold nights this past week have brought on the fall colors. I don't ever remember my neighbor's hydrangea bush having such bright leaves in the 4 or 5 years since it was planted. 

He is not home right now. He went to Kentucky to propose marriage to his lady friend. They have been burning up the phone lines the past 5-6 months (well figuratively because I think that they use their cell phones). He told us he would be gone 2 weeks, but we have heard that they went ahead and tied the knot. He and his new bride will return around Thanksgiving. I met her this summer when she visited and stayed in a guest apartment. This is marriage two for her (she is a widow) and marriage 3 for him (his previous 2 wives are deceased). He knew her and her husband in the past. She has no children; some of his children live near Winona Lake so they decided to move her to Indiana.

In just one week the fothergilla leaves have put on their red shawls. I think by the end of next week the central leaf will turn yellow. It makes for a pretty contrast.

My backyard maple whose leaves normally turn a dull yellow and brownish red is the brightest since we moved here 11 years ago.

That is my house in the background. This tree is usually vibrant in the fall. It's working on presenting a finished picture. It has been windy today and yesterday. Because the leaves are still firmly attached there have been few falling, but next week will probably start the downward floating.

I love autumn. We are in the middle of all its glory now.

This morning my spine doctor and I agreed to schedule surgery. No date picked yet. I have to get clearance from my primary care doctor, have an EKG and some labs done, and get authorization from my insurance company. Probably by the end of next week I will know more. He at one time mentioned doing some fusion with rods and screws, but on this visit he said a simple laminectomy would suffice. That makes for a shorter less complicated operation though it will probably still include 2-3 levels. He will remove bone spurs and do cleanup besides removing the back layer of lamina to decompress the nerves. 

 Because I had quite a bit less pain in my legs after the steroid injections, he seemed encouraged there would be a good outcome. He said the back pain itself may or may not get better. Of course, the surgery will do nothing for the spinal arthritis and there will be more degeneration down the road. But for now I am going to focus on the potential for standing longer and walking farther. I have missed out on so many activities this past year. 

Before our first hard freeze this past week, I clipped the last rose on my front bush. It has a little stem coming out the side with a tightly closed bud. The main flower started dropping petals Wednesday; the bud has opened; it truly is the last rose of the season.

Smoked Paprika

 I follow the food blog Cafe Sucre Farine. Although her recipes and ideas seem to produce attractive food, I have made very few. Mostly, because she uses ingredients that are hard to find in my small town or that cost too much for just one recipe. However, after reading her tip to buy smoked paprika at Costco, I plan to try several of her recipes that use this ingredient.

I can buy over 8 ounces of smoked paprika at Costco for what it costs to buy 2-4 ounces in my local grocery stores. I have sprinkled some on grilled vegetables, grilled shrimp, and on chicken fajitas. None of those are from recipes, just me doing my own thing. Chris assures us that the spice stays flavorful for a long time; I can take my time experimenting with it.

Last night was the second time I have made a version of chicken fajitas using the paprika.

I used the leftover peppers from Saturday's vegetable/sausage skillet, some onion from the bulb I bought at the farmers' market, and towards the end I threw in a few small tomatoes. The frozen grilled chicken strips make this dish easy. The only seasoning I used was the smoked paprika. The chicken/pepper mixture was spooned into warmed flour tortillas and topped with some shredded cheese. We had Spanish rice along side. It all was very tasty.

The ad circular for my Kroger store featured a dozen roses for $6. I added a bunch to my online order which I picked up after my doctor's appointment this morning.

My x-rays showed no "gaps" between the vertebra replaced in December; the bone is maturing in the "cages" and the motion and instability is now gone after the posterior fusion done in May. My roses became celebration flowers.

 I have some low-level pain toward the top of my shoulder blades. When I mentioned it to the surgeon today, I didn't even have to point to the location. He knew exactly what I was talking about and instantly touched the spot. He said it is muscle pain and should continue to decrease. He offered to write a prescription for a muscle relaxant, but I told him I still have some tizanidine I use at bedtime. I would use it during the day if it wasn't so sedating, but the pain is tolerable enough during waking hours.

 We won't know for probably another 6 months if the healing/fusing of C4/5 and C5/6 is a complete success. It takes a long time for the body to generate new bone to fill in the spaces. I will go for another set of x-rays in one month, but so far things are progressing well. My neck feels tight when I move it different directions so I need to continue with range-of-motion and strengthening exercises at home. I had slacked off the past 10 days because I developed pain at the base of my right thumb from using the therabands. 

Today's Gems

This morning I took a more round-about way to the grocery store by going south to Pierceton Road which becomes King's Highway in Winona Lake. I was pleased to see that I knew the couple hosting a garage sale; they attended the Brethren Church with me back in the 1970's and 1980's. I am quite sure they did not recognize me. When I brought my 2 books, packet of notepads, and a decorative dish to the payment table, the daughter told her mother not to charge for the books; the lady then said you can have the notepads free too. So I paid $1.00 for all of my items. I told them I would be glad to pay the $2.25 but they insisted I pay only the dollar.

I don't have any autumn plates. I really like this one. I will put it on a stand probably and display it in my living room or use it to serve cookies, etc. I can't believe how quickly the summer is passing us by.

The two books are for me, not Grace Village library. I do have several pads for grocery lists, but mostly winter scenes. 

I especially like these two pads. I tucked the purple floral one into my stationery drawer to add a note when I send a card. The other one went into the grocery coupon/list drawer.

I continued on to Walgreen's, then Martin's grocery store. Martin's has Michigan blueberries for sale (5 pound box). Craig's Blueberries in our area has been advertising they have berries to pick for the last two weeks, but my husband wants me to buy them at the store instead. I will wash and sort them tonight. Most of them will be frozen. Next week I will go again for a second box.

After doing my regular grocery shopping at Owen's, I drove to Sweetcorn Charlie's where I bought half a dozen ears of corn, some tomatoes, and a large red pepper. The corn at the produce stand is more expensive than that at Owen's. We will see if it enough better to justify the expense. We have lots of sunshine today but fairly low humidity. It was 55 degrees this morning when I got out of bed.

Owen's seems to have an overstock of roses. They were selling a dozen for $6.00. True they look a little past the prime. Whenever I feel like I am splurging, I do the Starbucks Test. If I was like the typical person buying specialty coffee, would it cost about the same as my splurge. The coffee only lasts a short while; the roses will last several days. I decided the floral purchase passed the test. How we rationalize our decisions, right?

I decided to cut the roses shorter and put them in a smaller vase so they would be more compact and closer together.

June Bloom of the Month and More

I picked up my bloom of the month from Martin's today. I prefer pink roses to red blooms. They had one yellow and one mauve bouquet as well. The pitcher I bought at Heart of the Lakes Antique Mall a few weeks ago when my husband was away on a jaunt with his brother to Mackinac Island in Michigan.

Yesterday my husband and I ate lunch at Baker Street restaurant in Fort Wayne to celebrate our 41st wedding anniversary. The setting and food are nice, but it is the scrumptious desserts that make it special. They comp a dessert if it is an anniversary or birthday. They comped my crème brulee, but we didn't share it. LOL. My husband wanted to try the carrot cake. He halved his piece and brought the rest home, but it is so rich (icing, nuts, caramel) that when I ate a piece today while he was at a men's event for Grace Village, I only ate half of the half. I did eat my whole dessert yesterday all by myself. ;-) 

I bought 13 books at the Saint Ann's Tent sale last Wednesday. The inventory was much better organized this year. They even had the books sorted into rough categories. 6 of the books I am giving to Grace Village library. The non-fiction books I will read and then see if they make good additions to the collection. They are mostly exploration/travel books. I did buy one book about writing. I have a desire to write, but not the discipline, though I did a few of the suggested exercises from this book.

3 of the Christian fiction books I bought I have been reading before taking to the library. They are the Hope Beach series by Colleen Coble. This series set on the Outer Banks of North Carolina has suspense plots. Of course, that made me want to read and read to see what happened. I have stayed up late 2 nights, well past midnight. The good news is that I finished the 3rd book early this morning; I will be going to bed at a reasonable hour tonight. 

Tomorrow night we plan to go to a community barbecue put on by the Winona Lake Grace Brethren Church to celebrate their 75th anniversary I think. A lady in our neighborhood came to our door with a flyer. We were married in that church and still know many people who attend there though it isn't our current church. We have been having rain, but tomorrow the clouds are expected to blow out and the humidity drop. It should be a nice outdoors event.

June Roses

Though the landscaper pruned my Knockout rose bush almost to ground level, it is blooming profusely right now. Because these grow in clusters and have short stems, only a few work in a vase.

At our Robin Hood monthly lunch today the centerpieces were small vases of roses, too. We were invited to take the flowers but leave the vase.

The Bloom of the Month is roses in June, too. I will pick up a bunch in the next few weeks.

Although not roses, I am sharing the blue flowers I bought this year to hang on the porch. I don't think I have had blue flowers on my porch before.

In this cool day with strong wind, I am surrounded by beauty. Thank you God.