5/21/07

Garden visitors

Bull Snake





Nice colors, eh?




(my first video here - let me know if you can't see it)


And Mr. Turtle

Carnations coming up well. Gee, I wonder if they are a dyeplant...

5/9/07

Life gets in the way again

Lest you think I have been cavalier about my blog, I wanted to let you know what’s been happening. I have hundreds of photos ready, but not much energy right now. The blendalong only needs a couple more words; all the charts and photos are ready, yet I won’t get it posted for a little while.

Ok, the immune treatments are rough. Much rougher than I expected.

You know you aren’t doing as well as expected when they start using phrases like ‘She’s a real trooper’ and ‘keep your chin up’. I do my part; I drink 120 oz water/day and have been working out my arms with weights and using lotion to soften my skin in prep for the 5 hours of IVIG drip and shot. But the side effects are scary, dangerous and painful; screaming headaches, vision changes, breathing problems, and the very real possibility of stroke. And for those out there getting IL2, as a knitter I strongly recommend getting it in the tummy – see that spare tire really is useful for something, right? Last one in my arm gave me days of burning and no knitting.

The worst is that I can only knit for about ½ of the treatment. It is mind numbingly boring while struggling against the effects. I really need the soothing qualities of knitting there. I have gone so far as to learn to translate dvds to my phone for distraction. Too bad I have no knitting videos.

I will be back in blogland regularly in about 6 months, but until then the reports from this end of the spinning/knitting etc. universe will be a bit spotty.