It's Monday, Isn't It?

 It's another beautiful summer day. There's a light breeze blowing, and the temperature has just reached 80 degrees at 3:00 here on this Monday afternoon. I know it's Monday because Monday is house keeping and laundry day.

I was able to help with those jobs a bit more this week, doing the dusting, the dust mopping, and the laundry folding. I still have to be very careful about bending over or twisting, but my back is getting a little stronger as the weeks go by. When I'm up and about I wear a back brace that helps. 

I had Tom take my photo just now so you can see I am alive and , if not kicking, at least mobile. The brace is the one I saved from my last back surgery six years ago, and since they did not offer me a new one, I am grateful that I saved this one. I wrap it around, fasten the Velcro, and then pull the tabs to cinch it up. It feels like a hug. 

Tom is out in the garden, snipping and clipping. After a bout of lethargy that left him feeling low, I have been encouraging him to be more active, take less care of me, and more care of himself. It is working.

We still pick flowers together. He gathers them and I arrange them for the house. Here are the flowers I put in the powder room. I loved the colors. 

Yesterday we got away from home to visit a friend. She had just had some major re-landscaping done and we went to check that out and then we sat on her shady deck in a gentle breeze with a view of the sound and just had a good, relaxed visit. It felt great to be somewhere else for while.

I'm still working on digestive system issues, but at least I am no longer tied to the bathroom. I actually spent almost all night in my bed last night. These are my milestones. Tomorrow it will be four weeks post surgery.

Tom and I are still cooking evening meals together, but I am doing more. I do need him on standby to fetch things out of lower cupboards that I can't bend over to get. He is happy to be my assistant and he says he is eating too well these days. Today we'll have shrimp and grits and green salad, my own recipe. He can prep the shrimp.

My planning calendar is empty this week. The one thing I can plan is our evening meals each day, so I do that each evening before we retire. It's good to be able to plan something. Oh, and I have asked Jill and the kids to visit us one afternoon later in the week. I have promised them ice cream sundaes. They are home from the ocean and have a week before the kids fly to North Carolina to visit their father. We will have to distance ourselves for a while after they return. 

And so the work is done for today. I fell asleep while reading in my chair at the patio table, and ungrogged myself by blogging. Now I'll go back to my reading, perhaps to stay awake this time. 

Tomorrow is Tuesday, right?