My Dad

I just realized a couple of days ago that I have not given an update on my father in quite a while.  The picture above is his graduation picture from high school.  He was and continues to be a handsome guy in my opinion but that's because he is my dad.

So far so good.  His cancer treatment continues and he is in a "remission" state.  Which is interesting in itself because this was never supposed to happen.  Right now his treatment is every 6 months.  So he goes  for treatment every six months and he does 1 treatment every week for 4 weeks.  Then at the end of treatment he has a couple of scans to see how the tumors are responding to treatment. 

He is also at the end of the protocol for his treatment.  What that means is that this particular drug has only been studied for a 3 year span.  ***(Interesting note here....this much of my post was published and I swear  did not click on the publish button)  As I was saying.....the particular drug that my dad is taking has only been studied with people taking it for 3 years.  But it appears to be working so his Dr. is recommending that he continue to take it every 6 months...for the rest of his life I imagine.  There shouldn't be any trouble with this unless his medical insurance doesn't want to pay for it because it has not been studied beyond the 3 year mark.  His Dr. is hopeful that insurance will pay because he is recommending it.  So fingers crossed.

His heart issues remain the same...there is no option for surgery because he is "too old" and he would probably expire on the table.  He can't run a 5K but he manages to keep house, run errands and go out to dinner with friends.  For 83 I think that's just fine.  He still drives and his eyesight is good and the longer he is able to take care of himself then the happier he will remain.  I'm fairly certain if we had to put him in assisted living that he would not last a fortnight. 

So there's the update.  I remain hopeful that the cancer will remain in remission for however long he wants it to.  And that his health remains in the state that it is in currently so that he continues to want to live on this earth.  I know that he misses my mother terribly but he is a practical guy and he knows that there is no amount of love that would bring her back.  He's faced the unthinkable and walked through the door and there is no looking back. 

Happy Birthday Mom!

Today would have been my mother's 83rd Birthday.  Time does indeed march on. 

This picture was taken at my wedding.  And she was 49 years old..her 50th birthday was just a month away.  I just knew that she would live forever.

"Now there is one thing I can tell you; you will enjoy certain pleasures you would not fathom now.  When you still had your mother you often thought of the days when you would have her no longer.  Now you will often think of days past when you had her.  When you are used to this horrible lthing that they will forever be cast into the past, then you will gently feel her revive, returning to take her place, her entire place, beside you.  At the present time, this is not yet possible.  Let yourself be inert, wait till the incomprehensible power..that has broken you restores you a little, I say a little, for henceforth you will always keep something broken about you.  Tell yourself this, too, for it is a kind of pleasure to know that you will never love less, that you will never be consoled, that you will constantly remember more and more."
-------Marcel Proust

Front and Backyard Update

I've been delaying the update on the front and backyard because I wanted to be able to show the before and after photos.  That way it would make more sense and you would be able to see the tremendous difference it has made.
So without further ado,

This is what the yard looked like originally, dull, dull and dull.  We always wanted to "do" something to it but it took us a long time to figure it out.

So much improved.

The planting is coming along, although we are in the midst of the hottest part of the summer and so planting will come to a stop for now.  It's just too darn hot and sometimes there is no amount of water that you can put to a new planting and make it live.  We are water misers as it is so we don't want to use any more than necessary.  

This next picture shows a real good before and after from relatively the same spot.  With the new path you can see more of the pond system and with the glider in place it temps you to stop and set a spell.
This is before.

And this is after.

I'm so happy with the way things have turned out and sometimes it's just hard to believe that it ever looked the way it did and it looked that way for such a long time.
The backyard before:

After:

 

Before:

 

After:

I think that we have a lot to be proud of.