Last of the lilacs

My neighbour's mother surprised me with these lovely white lilacs a week ago!   She lives further north and east of us so her lilacs were still blooming beautifully.  My white lilacs had just a few blooms this year so I didn't cut any.  Which made these all the more special!

I'm so grateful that she extended the lilac season for me for another week! 

I saw my oncologist a couple of days ago to get the results of my last CT scan.   Unfortunately, the tumours are still growing.  He said because of the location of the tumours, it could take awhile before I start to feel any symptoms.  If I start chemo now, I'm going to feel sick but to just sit back and let the tumours grow is hard to do.  So we decided to try tamoxifen.  It has few side effects and has a 10-15% success rate in treating ovarian tumours.  If it works, I can stay on it for a long time (years).  Our goal is to stabilize the tumours and ultimately, start shrinking them.  I'll see my oncologist again in a month's time to see how I'm tolerating the tamoxifen then will probably have another scan a month or two later to determine if it's working.

One last thing ... the peonies are blooming!!  :)

Have a lovely weekend!

Notes from the garden - lily of the valley

Another favourite Spring flower - lily of the valley!  Everything bloomed 3-4 weeks late this year because of the cool weather and seemed to stick around just a little bit longer than usual.  A few years ago, I moved my lily of the valley from one side of the house to the other so that they'd have more room to spread.  And spread they are!  I'm imagining a carpet of them in a few more years.  I can't wait!

Lilac time

I say this every year, but I love lilac time!  I have six lilac trees; three in the front and three in the back.  The lilacs at the front were gorgeous.  The ones at the back had just a few blooms each.  The ones at the back of the house are more protected so it can't be because of the weather that there weren't many blooms.

This is one of my favourite shots.  I love how the lilacs look against the picket fence.

The marmalade jar is a recent find.  I was thrilled to find it at a craft/vintage show last month and I know it will show up again in photos around my home.  I tucked some cutlery into it for now but it will get filled with flowers (and probably other things) too.

Lilacs don't last long - either inside or out!  The blooms are pretty much faded now but I enjoyed cutting them to bring inside while I could.

I told you they were covered!

I love the detail on the handle of this vintage ironstone pitcher. 

I'll never get my fill of lilacs! I don't think there's any such thing as having too many.  Sadly, it will be another year until I can enjoy them again.

Just a quick health update ... I had another CT scan yesterday.  While I was being scanned I kept praying for it to be good.  I see my oncologist Wednesday for the results.  

Have a lovely weekend!

Notes from the garden - redbud and lilacs

We were delighted that our redbud bloomed this Spring!  After the damage it received during last Winter's ice storm, we were sure we'd lost it.  Although scarred, it seems to have recovered.  I love the tiny pink flowers and would really miss this tree.  It's funny how attached you can get to a tree!

Here's a little sneak peek of my lilacs!  Although they were bent right in half from the weight of the ice, there was no damage done to them at all and they've bloomed beautifully.   More photos to come!

I've been busy getting the garden weeded and planted.  Yesterday morning, I went out to water some new plantings only to discover that the rabbits had visited during the night.  They destroyed most of my morning glories (I think two have survived), all of my perennial sweet peas, about half of the annual sweet peas and had a nice feast on one of my hydrangeas.  Needless to say, I'm not very happy with rabbits right now.  I sprinkled blood meal in the garden and hopefully that will keep them away.  I just have to remember to reapply it after it rains or when I water!  So frustrating!

 

Grape hyacinths

I'm just popping in to share my grape hyacinths!  They've pretty much faded from the garden and the lilacs and lily of the valley are now blooming (I'll be sharing those with you soon).  Things are about 3-4 weeks late this year.

Grape hyacinths have always been one of my favourite early Spring flowers.  They make great cut flowers and have a soft, subtle fragrance.  I tucked these into a tea tin.  It seemed like the perfect container.

From the few bulbs I scattered throughout the garden about ten years ago, they've spread and filled in nicely.  I love seeing a sea of lavender blue flowers when I look outside.

I'm making really good progress with the garden and am very happy with how it's looking.  This afternoon I'll finish planting the pots (at least that's the plan).  Digging is still really uncomfortable for me so I get my husband to dig the holes and I plant!  Works out perfectly.

Last of the scilla

Hello dear friends!  I didn't plan on taking a blogging break but one day turned into another and before I knew it, two weeks had passed!  I've been trying to get a little spring cleaning done and spending more time out in the garden.  Isn't it nice to finally enjoy warm weather?  I find myself looking for things to do outside because I don't want to come in!

Spring flowers fade away so quickly.  The scilla have finished flowering and are quickly being replaced by grape hyacinths - definitely one of my favourites! 

We've had a lot of rain this week and the garden has loved it.  Unfortunately, so have the weeds.  I spent the weekend pulling out some pretty big ones that weren't there a week ago.  I'm hoping for a trip to the garden centre this week.  I'm keeping the garden simple this year and just buying plants that are hardy and that the rabbits don't like (if that's at all possible).  Every summer I fight a losing battle with the rabbits.

And the spring cleaning?  It's been put on hold.  I'd rather be in the garden!  :)

Choosing joy

 

Happy May, dear friends!   I'm sorry I haven't been around much lately.  I still haven't replied to your comments from my last post but I promise I'll get there soon!  

April and May have brought back memories of our last days with my Mom.  It will be a year tomorrow that she left this earth to go to her forever home in Heaven.  Since Easter, I've struggled with a lot of sadness and grief.  I wondered how I was going to get through this first anniversary.  Then I realized, why would I miss her anymore on the 365th day than I do on the 364th or 366th?  Every day I continue to learn how to live without her.   I will always miss her, whether it's been one year or ten.  Anniversaries will continue to come - some happy and some sad.

So I've decided to choose joy instead of sadness.  I'm choosing to celebrate all the blessings in my life.  Like these purple crocus in my garden.  (I thought I'd better photograph them before the rabbits finished them off.  Every morning I go out to find a few more blooms missing and the leaves nibbled to the ground.  The rabbits are very hungry after such a long winter and I guess anything fresh and green is delicious right about now!)  Mom loved the colour purple and she enjoyed seeing these crocus bloom in my garden every Spring.  

We have a choice as to how we live our days.  We can be sad or we can choose joy.  I'm choosing to remember Mom with joy.

I'm closing comments until I can get caught up with you all!

 xo

Hydrangeas, iPads and pies

Did you have a nice Easter?  I was feeling a little under the weather last week with what I think was just allergies.  But I was all stuffed up and headache-y so I took it easy for a few days and caught up on some reading.  I've really taken to reading books and magazines on my iPad although nothing can ever replace the feel of holding a real book in my hands.

This wasn't my Easter table setting but just something I was playing around with.  I had baked a lemon meringue pie and indulged in a pot of hydrangeas the same day.   They looked so pretty sitting on the table that I grabbed some plates and glasses and took a few photos. The hydrangeas have faded now but I'm going to plant them in a pot outside just as soon as our temperatures are consistently above freezing at night.  We had a gorgeous Spring day on Monday - 22° celsius!  As tempted as I was to get out there and pull off the garden's winter coverings, I realized that it would be short lived and we'd be back to cold temperatures the next day. 

I'm wondering if any other iPad users have a problem leaving comments on Blogger.  I use my iPad to read blogs but whenever I try to comment, it freezes up.  So frustrating!  I've tried using Chrome instead of Safari but it still happens.  It only seems  to be Blogger blogs that are affected.  So I end up commenting all at once when I turn on my desktop (which is becoming less and less often).  I'd really like to know if anyone else has experienced this and if so, if it can be fixed.  I miss commenting!

I'm enjoying reading and seeing photos of what's blooming on your blogs.  By the time Spring reaches us in earnest, some of you will already be into Summer!  Hopefully, I'll get things fixed up and back to commenting regularly very soon.

"That is one good thing about this world ... there are always sure to be more Springs."

- Lucy Maud Montgomery

What a difference a day makes!

This morning we awoke to a Winter wonderland ... in the middle of April! 

The snow fell in big, heavy flakes but it won't last long.  In fact, it's already melting.  This was just Winter's way of saying good-bye ... and don't forget me.

Yesterday ... and today!

Remember those scilla from yesterday?  Well, this is what they looked like this morning!  I think this is it for the snow and cold.  Warmer days are coming!

Hints of Spring

This morning I took a walk in the garden and was pleasantly surprised to find these scilla blooming!  Surprised because I didn't plant them there ... but I like this kind of surprise.

The lilacs are starting to bud.  A few warm days and a little rain does wonders!  The snow has finally melted from our yard and we've gradually started to clean up.  It feels so good to be outdoors again!

Thank you from the bottom of my heart for your comments and emails on my last post.  I'm so thankful for friends like *you*.

April showers, pussy willows and a health update

It's raining.  There's something so very welcoming about a Spring rain.  Not only does it wash away the last remnants of snow but it also washes away the dirt and grime Winter has left behind.  The grass becomes greener and life begins to stir in the garden.  April showers bring May flowers ...

Pussy willows have always been a favourite Spring addition to my decor.  I love their soft catkins and usually keep them around well into Summer.  I can't seem to let them go.

I had another CT scan last week and got the results a couple of days ago.  The tumours are larger than they were in December.  In fact, they've pretty much tripled in size since last October.  Not the news I was hoping for.  But there is a bright spot.  My CA125 dropped from 5700 at the beginning of March to 4400.  That's significant.  And hopeful.

After a lot of discussion with my oncologist, nurse and my husband, we're going to delay restarting treatment for a few more weeks.  I'll have another CA125 at the end of this month and another scan next month.  (I swear I'm going to start glowing in the dark!)   I'm feeling well and still not having any symptoms, which is good.  I'm not sure if I've ever mentioned this before, but I began adding curcumin (turmeric) to my diet last Fall.  One of my neighbours gave me a bottle of it along with the book Anti-Cancer by David Servan-Schreiber.  Among other things, he highly recommends adding curcumin to help destroy tumours.  I added it faithfully to my salad and in cooking on a daily basis and I think it helped a little.  After the 5700 CA125 reading, I decided to switch to capsules to increase my consumption.   My CA125 went down.  It could be a coincidence but my oncologist has other patients taking curcumin that have had good results.  So he told me to double the dose I've been taking and see if it goes down again.  Now I'll take curcumin capsules over chemo any day!  Especially since he told me that second line chemo has a 1 in 5 chance of working.  Yeah.  How's that for sobering?  Thankfully he's a little more optimistic - he says we just need to find the right drug and gave me info for 8 different chemo drugs we could try.  The remaining cancer is referred to as "platinum resistant" which is why the chemo didn't get it all the first time and why they won't use the same chemo again.  (Remember when I posted about those red, white and green jelly beans?)

I've made a lot of lifestyle changes since my diagnosis.  I've increased my intake of fruits and veggies.  I've cut back on refined sugars and flours with the goal to eliminate as many of them as possible.  I pray.  I meditate.  I try to exercise regularly but still need to work on that.  I think the warmer weather will help.

It took me a few hours to digest this latest news but I'm more determined than ever to fight and win.  I know that God has this under control.  He sees the big picture and knows what the next step is.  After all, it was expected that I would resume treatment last August and I still haven't needed it.  He's put healing into my path and all I have to do is trust Him and let go.  That's easier said than done but I'm working on that too.  Every so often I get scared.  And worried.  I have to remind myself to surrender it all to Him.

 

I hesitated whether to share this with you or not.  I haven't gone into much detail about the cancer or treatments, mainly because I want to focus on everything that's beautiful around me.  And believe me, I have a lot to be thankful for!  Having a life threatening illness really makes you appreciate the little things in life.  But every so often I need to share what I'm going through.  Thanks for being there when I need to.

Ranunculus and tea cups

Do you think Winter is finally winding down?  It's a beautiful Spring day here today.  I've got the windows open just a little to enjoy the fresh (although still cool) air.  The mounds of snow are getting smaller every day and yesterday, for the first time in ages, I was able to get out for a walk in the garden.  I even noticed a few green shoots coming up!  Unfortunately, the rabbits have already gotten to most of them (darn rabbits!).

I've always thought that ranunculus were beautiful.  I've never seen them as cut flowers where I live but they are sold in pots in the Spring.  I nabbed this one last week.  It had one little flower but it also had a couple of buds so I bought it, hoping that it will keep blooming for a couple of weeks.

The buds are getting larger and I think will probably open up later this week.  I've enjoyed a steady stream of potted plants this year without spending a lot of money.  A local garden centre gave away small pots of primulas as a promotion every weekend in March and this pot of ranunculus was only $3.99.  Pots of flowers last so much longer than cut flowers which means I get to enjoy them longer. 

This tea cup belonged to my Mom.  We've started going through her things.  I know some of you have had to deal with this so you know how difficult and emotional it is.  I'm trying to keep only the things that I will use or want to display.  Of course, there will be a few sentimental things that will be tucked away but I don't want to stash everything in boxes and shove them in the basement, never to look at them again.  Mom wouldn't want that.  She enjoyed her things and I believe that they should continue to be enjoyed.

I kept her tea cups.  I plan to display them and change them seasonally - and enjoy a cup of tea in them every so often!  They always sat on a special shelf, some of them given to her when she was married 60 years ago.  As I washed them up, I thought how often we stop noticing the beauty of the things in our homes.  I made a decision to try to enjoy my pretty things and actually use them for more than just photo props.  Do you use a pretty cup when you have a cup of tea?  Or, like me, do you grab the closest mug?

My grandmother always thought tea tasted better in a pretty tea cup.  I think she was right.

xo,

Lynda

Random bits and how I edit my photos

It's anything but Spring-like on this first day of Spring! A cold, blustery wind is scattering snow flurries around which, thankfully, are not adding up to anything. But yesterday, there were two rabbits scampering about my front garden and a robin sitting on the fence chirping merrily away. Today, a pair of mourning doves are attempting to build a nest on our front porch. Unfortunately, the winds are scattering their building materials as fast as they gather them.  I'm taking this to mean that warm weather is coming!

As I mentioned in my last post, I thought I'd walk you through my editing process. I used to literally spend hours on each photo, running photoshop actions and applying texture upon texture. Now, I spend 2-3 minutes editing a photo.

Here is my image SOOC (straight out of the camera).  All I've done here is cropped it square.  I usually crop my photos either 5x7 or square.

I use Lightroom 4 to edit my photos.  At first I found LR intimidating but after taking Kim Klassen's Round Trip class, it began to make sense and I don't know how I edited photos without it.  I wish I had discovered LR when I first started photography.

My typical LR edits include:  increasing the exposure (if necessary), lowering contrast, lightening shadows and lowering vibrancy and/or saturation.  Lowering the contrast, saturation and/or vibrancy gives my photo a softer look.  My camera tends to read reds and oranges very strong so I'll often reduce the saturation more for those colours.

That's pretty much it for LR.  Sometimes that's all the editing I want to do.  Other times, I want to add a texture or apply an action to further soften the photo so I make the final edits in Photoshop CS5.

Here's my final version.  In CS5 I used a couple of Florabella actions - Soft Centre Light and Light Haze.  I usually lower the intensity of the actions then, using a layer mask and a soft brush (opacity about 30%), I mask off the areas that I want to stand out.  In this photo, it was the primroses and the flowers on the tea cup.

You can see the progression from SOOC to LR to CS5 in the photo about.  Nothing drastic but you can definitely see the difference.

Sometimes I'll apply a texture instead of using actions to get that hazy softness.  If I do, my blend mode is usually Soft Light with an opacity of around 55-75% (sometimes even higher).  Again, I'll use a layer mask and a soft brush to remove the texture from the areas that I want to emphasize.

My favourite actions are from Florabella Collection.  I use some of her textures too but Kim Klassen's textures usually give me the soft look that I'm trying to achieve.  If you're not already on Kim's mailing list, make sure you sign up.  She's very generous and regularly sends free textures to her subscribers, which is a good way to try them without spending a fortune.

So now you know all my secrets.  :)

I'm not familiar with the free editing programmes that are available (like PicMonkey) but you could probably make some of these edits using them.  Any programme that uses layers will allow you to use textures.  Again, if you have any questions, ask away!

xo,
Lynda