Day #587 Here We Go Again

Remember last April when I had to stop attending the Gwinnett Citizen Fire Academy?

I’d made it all the way through the hose work in Class #5,   but was in too much pain to go any further in the training. 

Well, I’m back in class again—this time it’s the 18^th GCFA. I’m not going to bore you with a repetition of all the stuff we’re learning for the next five weeks. After all, I already told you all that stuff in March and April. 

I was just getting ready to say that I’ll be happy to tell you all about classes 6 through 12 -- but it occurred to me that I’ll be past my 600 days well before those classes happen. 

What to do?

I’m going to think about it.

Should I change this to a once-a-week blog posting?

No. Here’s a better idea. My brand new website (with an associated blog) should be launched within another week or so. Fran Stewart dot com as we now know it will disappear, to be replaced by a new (improved!) site. I’m thinking what I’ll do is transfer all my blogging activity to that site. After all, with the bee allergy, I’m really not interacting with bees much anymore, and these blog entries have ranged far afield of beekeeping.

I know, I know. I can hear you saying—they've ALWAYS ranged far afield. Yeah. You’re right.

So, I guess I’ll just have to wait for Day #600 to let you know what’s going to happen. 

With maybe a preview a little before then.

BEEattitude for Day #587:

       Blessed are those who know where the best pollen is, for they shall fly home laden with gold.

_______________________________ 

The teeny details:

my books:  http://www.franstewart.com Please buy them from an independent bookstore or directly from my website.

my eBooks for Kindle:  http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Ddigital-text&field-keywords=Fran+Stewart 

Day #586 Structural Integrated Therapy®

Bees probably don’t have back problems. Or if they do, we have no way to find out about it.

But people do. When I was in my 40^th year, my mother tried to kill me. It was completely unconscious—at least I hope it was—but she turned her car left into the path of an oncoming vehicle and stopped in the middle of the lane.

The door caved in on me.

The funny thing was that it was November in Colorado, and I was wearing a heavy pair of corduroy slacks. A week or so later, back home in Vermont, I looked down at the side of my leg to find blue, purple, yellow, and green-striped bruises in an exact imprint of the corduroy’s wale.

I went to an orthopedist who found that my spine took a rather strange L-shaped bend in the middle, where the top half of the vertebral column was pushed to the left. 

A couple of years of pain later, I found a chiropractor and, later still, a neuromuscular massage therapist. Between the two of them, they managed to get my spine back into shape. Thank goodness.

Now I’ve found someone (something) else. And I have to tell another story to lead into this. When I was in my early thirties I became very, very ill. In the middle of one coughing, vomiting bout, I felt something tear inside me.  I asked my then-husband to take me to the emergency room, but there was a flu epidemic going around Vermont at the time. He said—and I’m sure he felt this was quite reasonable—“No. They’ll just tell you it’s the flu and send you home. You probably pulled a muscle.” He went back to the TV and I kept throwing up. 

Ten days later I took our two small children to a babysitter, told them Mommy has to go to the doctor, but I’ll be back. I then drove myself to our family doc, who diagnosed a ruptured appendix and told me to have my husband drive me to the emergency room. “I can’t,” I said. “He’s at work.”

The doc thought I was crazy.

I drove myself to the hospital, passed out from the pain in the emergency room, and was admitted. They pumped me full of antibiotics overnight and operated the next morning. The after-effects of peritonitis kept me in the hospital for 21 days.

And my kids both developed abandonment issues—I’m sure they must have.

It was a couple of years before I could even touch my abdomen. Although the pain has lessened since then, it’s never really gone away.

Now—and this is the point of all this rambling—I’ve discovered Pam Reagin, who practices Structural Energetic Therapy® in Hoschton, GA. She explained to me that both of these incidents resulted in internal scar tissue, called adhesions. The ones in my neck and spine have pulled one shoulder lower than the other. The ones from the appendectomy have affected my entire belly area.

I’ve had five or six sessions with Pam now. And I can finally touch my belly—push on it even—with no pain for the first time in more than 30 years. Now she’s beginning to work on my neck and collarbone area. I’m looking forward to not being lopsided. 

I don’t know what sort of adhesions you have—but you might want to Google Structural Energetic Therapy and find someone in your area. If you’re in Georgia, email me and I’ll give you Pam’s number.

Balance is a good thing.

BEEattitude for Day #586:

       Blessed are those who fly carefully, for their wings shall uplift them.

_______________________________ 

The teeny details:

my books:  http://www.franstewart.com Please buy them from an independent bookstore or directly from my website.

my eBooks for Kindle:  http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Ddigital-text&field-keywords=Fran+Stewart 

Day #585 Uncommon Sense

8/29 UnCommon Sense

In 1986 I bought a book. I read it and underlined a lot of passages. The book was a series of common sense essays. When I moved from Vermont to Georgia in 1993, I packed the book away in a box.

I did finally unpack it (probably in about 1997 or 8), stuck it on a bookcase, and pretty much forgot about it.

Kim Williams’ Book of Uncommon Sense: A Practical Guide With 10 Rules for Nearly Everything sat there for a while, got put into another box seven -- almost eight -- years ago when I moved to this house, and has lived on yet another bookshelf for quite a while.

What on earth must Ms. Williams think of me for ignoring her such a long time? And what a lot I’ve missed. The book appears to be out-of-print now, which is a real shame.

It’s been interesting to review the things I underlined all those years ago:

• In one essay, next to the phrase “eat a turnip,” I wrote, “Yuck.” Now, why would I write that? To the best of my knowledge, I’ve never eaten a turnip.
• In another, an essay about the fun and practicality of pot luck dinners, she wrote that the best invitation is “I have the spot. You bring the pot” -- even if it’s for a wedding reception.
• “Eating bean sprouts will not save your soul.”
• And - one of my favorites -- “I will not fall into the toothpaste trap. I will write down how much money I spend on toothpaste in a year; then I will spend it on something else.” -- I vote for this one because my teeth have done quite well for years on a "tooth-cleaner" mixture of salt and baking soda.
• Another little gem - talking about a mountain spring that had a frog living in it -- “Funny that we never thought to question the right of that frog to live in our drinking water.”

I’d like to keep a little uncommon sense in my life.

If I’m missing any, I’d like Ms. Williams to help me usher it back in. 

Just wish she were around to bring me a turnip.

BEEattitude for Day #585:

       Blessed are those who provide water for us bees in the summertime, for they shall have the joy of watching us drink and flap our little wings.

Day #584 Wish I Could Remember

No, this is not a post about Alzheimer’s, although with such a title, one might think so.

Years ago I read one of those quotable quotations, and I know the author was mentioned, but over the years I’ve simply forgotten who said it or wrote it to begin with.

One day, a woman knelt beside her house.

A man ran up and said, “What would you do if you knew that you would die within the next hour?”

She looked up, smiled, and said, “I’d finish planting this tree.”

I thought about this because someone commented about yesterday’s post, saying that between hurricanes and tornados, they hadn’t a tree left in their yard. 

What to do? 

My advice would be to plant a forest. A single tree here and there can be bowled over by the wind. As trees are grouped together, though, they seem to provide protection to each other.

My neighbors up the hill have a grove in their whole front yard. The only mowing they ever have to do is around the edges. It's wonderful!

While a single tree spreading over an open field might be a beautiful, even awe-inspiring sight, that tree is highly susceptible to lightning damage. As trees cluster together, though, leaving enough room for roots and canopy, they divide the danger and multiply the benefits.

If you can’t plant a forest, at least try for a grove. One or two tall native species trees, intermingled with four or five lower-story trees can create a natural picnic spot (in about twenty years). And some lovely shade well before then.

I have a bunch of Arbor Day trees, native to Georgia, that I received seven years ago in return for a small donation. I now have yard chairs underneath a couple of them, and the shade is restful indeed.

A single tree is like a single bee.

BEEattitude for Day #584:

       Blessed are those who plant trees that flower, for we bees shall help those trees (and those people) thrive.

_______________________________ 

The teeny details:

my books:  http://www.franstewart.com Please buy them from an independent bookstore or directly from my website.

my eBooks for Kindle:  http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Ddigital-text&field-keywords=Fran+Stewart 

Day #583 Solar Power

Bee hives like to be in the full sun, or at least only partial shade. When they’re in full shade, it’s easier for mites and stuff to grow in the hive and weaken the bees. I’m not sure why, but that’s what I’ve read. Bees are very efficient, as I’ve mentioned before in this blog, about cooling their hives in the summer and warming themselves in the winter.

Some people are like bees. They need lots of sun, full sun. Those are the folks who migrate (or wish they could) south--or, for my Australian readers, north.

I would have made a lousy honey bee. I’m a shade kind of person. That’s one reason I’m real happy with these woods behind my house. And people, unlike bees, don't necessarily have to sicken in the shade. In fact, they can thrive.

In the summer, while my neighbors up the street are enjoying (or not, as the case may be) the western sun through their windows, I’m wallowing in delicious, soft, cool (sort of) shade. At least, it’s cooler than up the street.

And my electricity bill last month for this all-electric house was $37. 

Not too shabby, eh?

BEEattitude for Day #583:

       Blessed are those who sing to the sun and the wind, for their wings shall be uplifted with joy.

_______________________________ 

The teeny details:

my books:  http://www.franstewart.com Please buy them from an independent bookstore or directly from my website.

my eBooks for Kindle:  http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Ddigital-text&field-keywords=Fran+Stewart 

Day #582 A Mug of Pencils

What is it about a cup full of pens and pencils? I have one in almost every room of my house. Well, okay, you’re right. I’m a writer. But I don’t need thirty pencils, forty pens, and three big fat erasers for that. One pencil, one notebook (at a time), and one computer keyboard should do it.

Still, I find a certain measure of contentment when I look at those sharpened pencils, propped in an old snowman mug, ready to be picked up and written with. There’s so much possibility there.

And, speaking of possibilities, I just have to share something with you. Friday I sent in a proposal for a three-book mystery series to a New York  agent who had contacted me some months ago. His first email to me said that he thought I’d be the perfect person to write a series he had in mind. He gave me very few details, just one phrase to pique my curiosity. The books, he said, would have a “Scottish flavor.”

Well, knock me over with a bagpipe, I said yes pretty quickly. We’ve been trading emails and chapter drafts for a while, and the proposal is finally ready. Now it’s in his court. He said an editor he’d already talked with was “very interested.” 

What does that mean? Don’t ask me. I haven’t a clue how that part of the publishing industry works. All I know is that I’m pretty excited about the nine chapters I’ve written so far. As time goes on, I’ll share more details with you about how this process works.

And you will definitely be invited to the launch party!

p.s. I can’t even tell you the name of the series or the proposed names for the three books. Publishing houses often change the names. That’s why what we send to an agent is said to have a “working title.” That means, don’t get attached to it.

BEEattitude for Day #582:

       Blessed are those who hum along with us bees. It doesn’t prove anything, but it brightens the world a bit.

_______________________________ 

The teeny details:

my books:  http://www.franstewart.com Please buy them from an independent bookstore or directly from my website.

my eBooks for Kindle:  http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Ddigital-text&field-keywords=Fran+Stewart 

Day #581 The World in a Simple Rug

At the risk of sounding like a pale reflection of something out of Horton Hears a Who, I’d like to tell you about a world I found in a section of rug. This rug has seen better days. It used to be in my daughter’s house. When she was getting ready to toss it out (about 15 years ago), I said, “Naw, don’t do that. I’ll take it off your hands.”

What I actually did was take it off the top of her big blue garbage bin.

I hate to see things wasted.

She’d had various dogs, and later, children. I’ve had various cats. The rug has, as I mentioned, been through a lot and come out--well, I’d say it’s come out pretty well considering all it’s been through.

For some reason, don’t ask me why, I decided to get down on my hands and knees and take a really close look at this entity that has shared my living room, my family room, and now my office for such a long time. I walk across it all day long, but seldom look at it.

Hence the hands-and-knees bit. 

As you can see from the photo, there are quite a few flowers and fanciful leaves on it, each one formed by multiple tiny loops, each loop a specific color. They’re getting rather mushed down.

But then, out of lingering curiosity, I turned back a corner of it. The pattern is just as striking on the other side. 

The colors are softer somehow. I should think they’d be brighter, since they’ve never seen the sun, but the greens aren’t as green. 

Hmm. There probably is some deep philosophical lesson in all this -- something about how the different aspects of a person come out in different ways under different circumstances -- just how much sun has there been in someone’s life?--and so on.

Then again, maybe this is just a rug.

With toes on one edge of it.

There HAS to be a story in that...

BEEattitude for Day #581:

       Blessed are those who let native vines clamber around the yard, for they shall be rewarded by seeing us bees when the flowers bloom.

_______________________________ 

The teeny details:

my books:  http://www.franstewart.com Please buy them from an independent bookstore or directly from my website.

my eBooks for Kindle:  http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Ddigital-text&field-keywords=Fran+Stewart 

Day #580 Goodbye to the Garage Faces

Remember when I shared with you those cute faces that have lived on my garage doors ever since the summer seven years ago when I moved into this house?

Well, we have to say goodbye to them. I received a notice from the Police Department saying that I had to remove the "graffiti" -- I kid you not, that's what they called it -- from my garage doors.

So, here's a very sad goodbye to these cute little folk:

I've just about decided to paint the garage doors either bright purple or emerald green. What would you vote for?

BEEattitude for Day #580:

       Blessed are those who fly with flexibility, for they shall have a much more interesting flight through life.

_______________________________ 

The teeny details:

my books:  http://www.franstewart.com Please buy them from an independent bookstore or directly from my website.

my eBooks for Kindle:  http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Ddigital-text&field-keywords=Fran+Stewart 

Day #579 My Very First Honey

Honey! Honey! I have honey!

You’d think, from those exclamation points that I harvested some today, but the truth is that I’ve had it for about a month. And I'm still excited about it.

The hives that I donated to Rancho Alegre made it through the winter, but Rob said only one of them was producing enough to harvest. He gave me half the honey (since I gave him the use of the bee hives), and I ended up with TWO GALLONS of honey. 

It’s been so much fun, having honey to give as gifts. And fun, too, to watch the faces of my grandchildren as they discover real honey (as opposed to store-bought, part high-fructose corn syrup honey). This stuff is just plain ole downright delicious!

Because Rob harvested the honey in June, and I still wasn’t supposed to lift anything much heavier than a quart of milk, my dear friend and fellow beekeeper Geri Taran bottled the honey up for me in jars I’d been collecting for ages.

She even put on some of my stickers that say:

How do you know

it’s pure honey

if you don’t know

the beekeeper?

Here’s just one of the happy, beautiful jars:

BEEattitude for Day #579:

       Blessed are friends who help when help is needed, for they shall rest easy.

_______________________________ 

The teeny details:

my books:  http://www.franstewart.com Please buy them from an independent bookstore or directly from my website.

my eBooks for Kindle:  http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Ddigital-text&field-keywords=Fran+Stewart 

Day #578 Totem Birds

Every once in a while, something happens that is so out-of-the-ordinary that I simply have to share it.  I hope you haven’t gotten tired about my (two so far) surgery stories, because I have one more for you:

Around about the time I was beginning to circle the wagons, not able to go anywhere or do anything, Kathi Moon (a friend of mine in the Raleigh area who is a minister and conducts the most incredible weddings ceremonies) told me, There are going to be so many angels around you, you'll probably be able to smell the fathers!"

We laughed, and I didn’t think much more about it.

On the morning of the surgery, David Hamilton showed up at the hospital at 6 a.m. to be with me and give me Reiki throughout the surgery. He brought with him a little chicken-fabric doll he’d made himself. It was infused with Reiki energy. Sticking out from the top of its crazy little head was a row of (fake) feathers. Ha. Ha. Isn’t that a funny coincidence? Smell-the-feathers jokes. He said it was called a Dammit Doll -- you can read the story here. Just scroll down to the second item in David online store.

Although the hospital wouldn’t allow David in the operating room, they did let me have the chicken in there. The chicken was on my tummy when I woke up i the recovery room and David was there, too. His sweet energy helped calm me from the effects of the anesthesia. 

When they took me to my room, they asked David to leave for a few minutes. He walked out to the end of the hallway, where a big window overlooked the rooftop of another hospital wing. As he stood there, two vultures descended and spread their wings. He took this picture through the thick plate glass of the window:

Now, the funny thing about vultures is that they are unique in the bird kingdom. Their digestive systems are capable of destroying the plague virus, and any other yucky stuff that might go through. You’re welcome to disagree, but I’m pretty sure those two came to say that I would be safe -- that no disease would get through into me.

They also pee on their feet, which helps kill germs as well, but I’m not gonna go there.

BEEattitude for Day #578:

       Blessed are those who see how pollen and nectar lead to honey, for they shall appreciate us bees.

_______________________________ 

The teeny details:

my books:  http://www.franstewart.com Please buy them from an independent bookstore or directly from my website.

my eBooks for Kindle:  http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Ddigital-text&field-keywords=Fran+Stewart 

Day #577 The Not-So-Gory Details

About three weeks after the rectocele repair surgery, I emailed Petie about the experience. I’m sharing part of that email with you. If you don’t read anything else, read the second paragraph of the email:

As to the surgery? Well, dear friend, it could have been a lot worse. I went on line yesterday and found all sorts of horror stories about people who'd had rectocele repair surgery -- glad I didn't read any of them beforehand. The surgery was successful, but what I'd thought would be a simple one or two week recovery period is stretching out much longer. I still can't drive -- still can't sit comfortably. I'm STANDING at the kitchen counter right now, with my laptop on it. That's the only way I can handle e-stuff.

I made hospital history by being the only person the nurses had ever seen who'd gone through this type of surgery without any narcotics for pain management. Despite an anesthesiologist who ARGUED with me ("You're going to need it. The pain will be horrible otherwise") and a surgeon who was vocally supportive at my pre-op appointment ("Sure - we can try intravenous tylenol") but who left the operating room to tell my friends in the waiting room that, although the surgery had been successful, "She's going to need morphine to handle the pain. I know she wants to do it without narcotics, but be sure you encourage her to ask for the morphine when she needs it."  Good grief. Not only did I not need it, I wasn't even tempted. The Tylenol worked just fine. On a scale of 1 to 10, my pain was zero. Of course, when I left the hospital the next day, things became a bit more challenging, but I'm dealing with them.

My blessed friends in the area have been so supportive. Don't know how hermits manage. Scooping litter boxes, bringing food, returning library books, checking my P.O. box, driving me to the doc for my two-week follow-up appointment. I tend to forget how much I use my car, until I can't drive any more. It'll be another two weeks, probably...

I was feeling like a real wimp there for a while, but I ended up calling the surgeon's office a week and a half after the surgery. Talked to the nurse.  "I run out of breath and run out of energy all the time," I whined, "and the stitches itch and I can't sit down without crying." I might have gone on like that a long time, but when I paused to take a breath she said, "Sweetie, you've had major surgery. Your body needs all that energy that you usually spend on other activities just to heal." She went on to say that this type of surgery is worse for women than a hysterectomy. Just have to give myself time to heal.

So, that explains the four naps a day. Miss Polly absolutely loves it, because she gets to curl up in the curve of my body and keep my tummy warm. The other day I woke up to find her in the crook of my arm. I managed to take a picture of her paws and two of her face before she squirmed out of reach.

 

There is something so comforting about an old green flannel shirt when I'm feeling lousy. Add a cat, and the picture is perfect.

Then I noticed that Daisy was asleep on the piano. She stayed there until I could get up. Photo's fuzzy, but I love the way it shows her perky white whiskers:

And this gladiola (first one to bloom this summer) was waiting for me when I finally made it to the mailbox.

Enough. Time for my first nap of the day.

     --Fran

A week later, I was begging a friend to bring me M&Ms - I was VERY tired of eating all the healthy stuff.

BEEattitude for Day #577:

       Blessed are those who bring M&Ms when asked to do so, for they shall create happiness.

_______________________________ 

The teeny details:

my books:  http://www.franstewart.com Please buy them from an independent bookstore or directly from my website.

my eBooks for Kindle:  http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Ddigital-text&field-keywords=Fran+Stewart 

Day #576 So It Was More Than 3 Months

I know I said I'd be gone for a month or so, and that was three months and 11 days ago. Sorry about that.

It's been a busy three months -- the first one was spent learning how to ask for help -- not something I was real good at. A rectocele repair turned out to be a lot more major than I had thought it was going to be. Dr. Hearrin said it was a very common surgery. When I told him I'd never heard of it before, he said, "How many people do you know who are willing to talk about their rectum in public?"

I guess he had a point.

Well, I'm here to say the surgery was successful; once the stitches were out, I started getting right back to normal. Don't pay attention to all the horror stories you read on the internet. As with any surgery, things can go wrong, but usually they don't.

In July, as a reward to myself for healing so well, I went with a group of artists to Sapelo Island for a 5-day retreat. What an absolutely magical time that was. This was during the time that Venus, Jupiter, and the Moon were putting on quite a display, so 4 or 5 of us got up at 5 am each morning, drove to the beach in a quiet little golf cart, and watched the wonder. Then we watched the dawn, which was pretty wonderful as well. My photos can't possibly do justice to it, but here are a couple to give you an idea.

While I was there, I tried to call my e-friend (and frequent blog-commenter) Petie Ogg, on her birthday, but there was no cellphone service on the eastern side of the island.

Ah well, I DID think about you, Petie. Hope you and your twin had a great day.

Happy (Late) Birthday!

Tomorrow I'll tell you a few more details about the surgery, in case you're interested. You may know someone who's facing the same sort of problem. Of course, they may not have shared with you that they're facing it. After all, who (except Fran) talks about that in public?


It's good to be back!

BEEattitude for Day #576:

       Blessed are those who love the work they do, they they shall have a full basket of joy each day.

_______________________________ 

The teeny details:

my books:  http://www.franstewart.com Please buy them from an independent bookstore or directly from my website.

my eBooks for Kindle:  http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Ddigital-text&field-keywords=Fran+Stewart