Tuesday.

 One thing I can say about today is the hope that I don't have another one like today or tomorrow.  It wasn't a bad one, just busier than a hive of bees going here and there.  But at this point just a little busy is what I need.  

Today started with a slow get-up, a little news, a great bowl of oatmeal, and then on to get Eric to the bus.  Then it was home for a few minutes and then getting the grandsons to school.  Kat had to go to work early. I love seeing the family like that.  On the way home I stopped at Lowes to check on their large indoor plants.  I think we'll be shopping in Carmel on Thursday for our church purchases.  I bought 12 great-looking dianthus plants while there.  A great find and in super good condition.  I needed a few places filled and these plants can take cooler temperatures.  In fact, we had frost last night and the ones I have from previous years are just fine. By then it was 8:30.  I finished the crossword and checked on things in the garden.  

And then it was time for the appointment with Dr. Moore in the Swartz Cancer Center at I U North.  Yesterday I wrote that I really like this guy.  Today I marked one more new reason.  He travels to Kenya to work with the Vanderbilt group in eastern Kenya.  Vanderbilt is also a part of the I U Kenya program.  Dr. Moores' specialty is working with head and neck cancer patients needing surgery.  There are so many Kenyan children who developed very large neck tumors.  Why?  That's my next question.  So we talked about Joe and Sarah Ellen and a whole lot of good stuff. He stayed with them in their house although he thinks they don't remember him.  Dr. Moore has an intern working with him and she was peppered with questions. I have answers.  And I'm moving to an every six months visit.  Baby steps but they are getting bigger.  I guess one reason for still being tethered is to make sure this kind of cancer doesn't recur somewhere else in the body.  

This is how Sum and Substance appears as it comes out of the ground.  When the leaves are open it will be more than 6 feet across.  It's near the very top of my list of hostas I like.  

Back home and then back in the car to have lunch with my great-old teaching friends.  Yes, we are old and it was a long time ago that we taught together.  Everyone always has a whole lot of words to share.  Lunch started at 12 and we left the Old Carmel Library restaurant at 2:30.  

Home again and I worked in one of the flowerbeds scrubbing out all the weeds I could find. It's weedless.  The ground was fluffed and I spread Preen throughout this one bed.  It's a big bed.  The dianthus found a home.  I think there is room for two more perennials.  I'd like at least one of them to be something new.  Something to look forward to seeing.

This is the big bed all ready to show off its stuff.  The only thing to do now is grow.  Dianthus and Thyme are at the forefront.  The rest of the bed...a multitude of things planted over the years. 

Our supper on the patio was short.  It was fine when there was no breeze but that didn't last.  

I called Sarah Ellen to talk about Dr. Moore.  I love finding Kenya connections and hearing about healing hands. Tonight  I'll be on the chair resting my back.  It really got a workout today.  It's satisfying to realize that I still can play in the dirt making the world a better place.  I am more than grateful even with sore muscles. Come on body.  Get over it!  Sometimes I think the body has lost it's hearing aids.