Wednesday Jan 17 Update

Jo and Sam leave tomorrow, so we spent today at the sandy beach. They didn’t want to be belted into a car seat since they’ll spend several hours tomorrow belted into an airplane seat! None of us were willing to have pictures from the sandy beach go out on the Internet, so I didn’t take any of those. J These pictures are me at the Old Coast Guard Road beach where we watched their whale finale and a final sunset and rainbow. They were all more awesome than I captured on the camera. I wish I could do better catching the whales on the camera, but they are too fast for me.

I continue to feel good. This week my meds are switched around so that I don’t have as much of a timing issue with them because I’m leaving one off. However, I’m doubling some of the others. It’s easier to keep up with because of the timing, but they make my stomach feel nervous. That’s such a minor complaint because I’m eating fine; I just notice the difference. I still have plenty of hair, but I am beginning to miss it. I don’t find any bald spots but it’s not the mop it usually is. It is still no big deal, but it’s interesting.

After Jo and Sam leave we will be here alone until the 27^th, when Davy and Susan are coming. That’ll be a really fun birthday for Don! We’ll love having them here for a week. They’ll add some gorgeous youth to our pictures! We’ll spend this next week catching up on some things, getting ahead on others, and relaxing. I traded hammock time for a beach nap today. J

The healing continues! Thanks for checking on us. I love you all!

Tuesday Jan 16 Update

Today, we stayed home and did chores around here. Then I got to have my hammock time! That’s the first picture.

The next picture is from yesterday. I was standing on the lava taking a picture of the steam in the distance. That is where the lava is currently running into the water causing the water to turn to steam. You can see Don in the picture walking down to see what kind of waves he could see toward the edge. This is the old lava; no danger of it falling into the ocean, like there is with the newer lava shelf.

The third picture is also from yesterday. We were delighted to find the arch that we had seen pictured, but we had always missed. I wanted a picture of it so badly and took lots of shots, but I was looking into the sun, which causes those white circles. I had no choice; this is the best I could get because there was a wall here to keep me from falling off and if I went anywhere else there was no wall.

Jo and Sam went to Kona to tourist around and go to a Seniors Golf tournament, I think. Sam is a golf pro, so he wanted to see some of their friends, there. We went to the grocery store this morning after we went out and watched whales for a while. The whales are so awesome! We came home and did our chores. Don did all the house sitting chores around here; I just did laundry, cooking, etc. The hammock was the best part of today after watching the whales. J

Thanks so much for keeping an eye on the blog to keep up with us. It helps me so much to not have to give details to so many individuals.

God bless and I love you all!

Monday Jan 15 Update

Here are pictures of Don and I just as you go into the lava tube; Jo and I sitting on a big hunk of lava that had a tree growing out of it (an awesome example of what God can do); and, finally, a picture of where the lava ran over the road.

Of course there were lots more pictures from today, but these were the best ones. It was a long day and we are all tired. The rest are in bed, and I’m headed there. Sam has done an awesome job of driving; I know he’s really tired. Bless his heart; he’s 6’3” and we are in a Grand Prix. You’d think that would be big enough, but we were joking about getting a can opener and a shoe horn to get him in and out of the car.

Tomorrow we’re taking a day to stay here and do chores and they’re going to go check out a resort for their daughter’s honeymoon and see about doing some golfing. My chores will be centered around the hammock, so I’m hoping it won’t rain me out!

Love you all!

Sunday Jan 14 Update

Today went fast! We went this afternoon to watch for whales and they were having some kind of celebration so there were another gazillion people there. Not our style, so we left it to them after we saw a couple of whales. We then drove toward Kona to the Hilton where we like to watch the dolphins and ride the tram and the boat. It was another awesome show; this time the sunset! I included a sunset shot. We missed the dolphin show, but we got to see them feeding the dolphins, so that was show enough for us. The dolphins are really cute, but they are also really fast. I got mostly pictures of splashes, but I included one picture of a dolphin. Then we came back by Tres Hombres and had supper. I included a picture of Don and I, so you can see that I’m doing fine. You can see I’m not losing any weight and you still don’t miss my hair. If I look sick to you it’s because you’re used to seeing me in eye makeup, but I’m not fooling with that anymore. I’m feeling really fine.

Today I figured out that the hammock is where I get the best cell phone signal! Man! That is the best news. I love that hammock, but I really never get into it. Today, when I found the cell phone signal was so good from there, I climbed in and called all the canasta crew except for Jack and Tillie and Tony and Lois. It’s a great way to relax and get to talk to folks, too! I’m going to prescribe some time in the hammock for myself! Hehe climbed up there with me and I was afraid he was going to dump me; he’s a really big cat! We did fine, though. I’ll have to have Don take my picture out there in the hammock one day soon, and I’ll post it on the blog.

Tomorrow we’re going to the volcano, so it’ll be late when we get home and get the blog to Trish. It’ll be morning before she gets it, so she won’t be able to get it on until Tuesday morning; please don’t anyone get frustrated.

We’re exploring lots of God’s wonders and sharing all we can with you. Praise Him for taking care of all of us! Thank you for caring about us. I love you all!

Saturday Jan 13 Update

Today was a long, but fun day. Sam drove to the complete opposite end of the island and back, so that’s a lot of driving. It’s about 120 miles from here, but it’s all 2 lane and lots of time you can only go about 35 mph or less because of the traffic. We learned that the locals go places on the weekend, so we’ll know better than to do that on another Saturday! We saw more people than we usually do.

We weren’t hunting whales today, although we saw lots jumping just from the car as we drove down the road. We started out at the city of Refuge, where you’ll see Jo and I with our arms around some of the ‘locals’ there.

The next picture is a couple of huge turtles that had half buried themselves in the black sand of the beach. We saw lots many turtles today. They are pretty cool to find.

The last picture is the point down at South Point, the southern most tip of this state and our country. It has a wind farm on it that I don’t remember being there 2 years ago when we were here. The wind nearly blew us away, so I’m sure it’s a good place for it!

We are all as tired as we’ve been since they’ve been here, I think. Don has had his shower; it’s my turn, now, so I’m done. I love you all! Thanks for stopping by to check on us. All is good with us. Rest is the first thing on our agenda right now . . . well, after the bath!

Friday Jan 12 Update

Today has been the icing on the cake. Every day we see things that top the days before, it seems. They just called off the tsunami watch they had going for us due to the earthquake in Japan. What a day of excitement! We are 1500 feet up, but if the airport, water, and power went, we’d be sort of in a bind.

The cool day went like this. We took Sam and dropped him off for his fishing charter. Then Don and Jo and I went cruising around Kona, shopped for bread at the day old store and other groceries at Safeway, then parked and walked through the farmers’ market and the tourist trap portion of Kona. We had lunch right on the Ocean at the Kona Canoe Club. We went back and picked up Sam and his FISH. WOW! There were two fish caught on his boat and one was his. The boat that came in beside him had only one fish caught, but it was a 157-pound Marlin. We got good pictures of that! We also got good pictures of Sam and his fish. We don’t know what it weighed, but you can see in the picture that it was the length of Sam’s leg. I was way impressed. It was an ono fish. They filleted it for us and we ate some of it for dinner. It was delicious! We’re having it again on Sunday and maybe another day. There’s a lot of fish in there! (I don’t even like fish, but I enjoyed this one; no fish smell.)

On the way home we stopped off at Mahukona beach, to watch whales and got a great whale show. Besides the whale show was an awesome wave show and sunset. On top of that a couple from Alaska was having a wedding there and we got to watch that, too. They had the limo, long white dress; the works. They had a cooler full of orchid lays and came over and gave one to Jo and I! How fun was that!?

God is so generous! I love you all!

From the blogmaster...

Hi guys!

OKC is having a big ice storm today and all weekend. They are predicting tons and gobs of ice and possible power outages. If we lose power, I won't be able to update the blog. Don't worry! Mom and Dad have no ice problems in Hawaii - they are nice and toasty and enjoying the tropics. Don't worry about us either, we are stocked up, bundled and ready to snuggle should the need arise. It may be that we don't lose power at all - which would be cool! Just didn't want you guys to worry if the blog goes un-updated for a day or so. Back to your regularly scheduled day!

Tricia

Thurs Jan 11 Update

Would you believe this is Hawaii? Maggie and Faye and Steve and Mary will recognize the first two as on the way into ‘our favorite hike.’ NO TOURIST would ever find this place! The last picture is Jo with the lighthouse in the background. This was the beginning of ‘our favorite hike.’

Sam forgot his camera and had to go back to the car to get it. As he was coming back it rained on him. We get momentary showers frequently. We teased him about wearing an outfit so that we’d never be able to lose him in a crowd. We were certainly in no crowd. Nobody was there but us! There were some cows; 4 just stood and stared like they’d never seen people before and a bull took one look at us and ran!

We had a great hike, and then when we sat down to eat lunch a shower caught up with us. We just walked out of it. The showers are too funny.

After our hike we went back out to the Old Coast Guard Beach and the whales and waves put on an awesome show for us! The whales even breached. We were beside ourselves! It was a 10 day!

Tomorrow Sam is scheduled to go out on a fishing charter, but the rest of us don’t have good stomachs for such an adventure. We’re going to drop him off at the boat and go tour Kona while he fishes. We need to get groceries, etc., so we’ll get some details covered.

All is good here. It was kind of funny to watch my hair go blowing by as we sat at the beach watching the waves and whales. It wasn’t so funny when I came back to order a wig and none of the ones I like come in my size. I guess I’ll buy a scarf. There still seems to be a lot of hair on my head, but eventually it’s got to be gone, I think. We’re going to have a good example of God’s sense of humor with this no hair thing.

Love you all!

Wed Jan 10 Update

Hello! This day has been so much fun! Sam and Jo got here just perfectly last night, but THEIR LUGGAGE DID NOT ARRIVE! So, how fun was that! We found out that they fit right into some of our clothes and look better in them than we do! We kept calling but could get no response from any airline! They had their vital stuff with them, but they were starting to get a bit concerned. We finally drove into Kona and poked around until some wonderful girl from United FOUND THEIR LUGGAGE!!! They didn’t even fly United! They started out on Continental, which couldn’t fly, so they were transferred to Northwest to Honolulu and then took Go Airlines to Kona. We love this girl, Gloria from United. We came home with the luggage!

Before we went to Kona, we went to Pololu this morning and got the first 2 pictures. (That one print is still on my lens; ugh.) One picture is of Jo and I; the other is Sam and Jo. We went to Kapaa Beach and had our turkey sandwiches and tangerines from the yard. While we were there Sam and Jo got to see their first humpback whale show! It was great! On our way back we stopped at the Old Coast Guard beach and got the last picture. The waves were AWESOME! We got to see more whale shows, so it was too cool! We were pointing every direction at first whales and then big huge splashes. It was so fun. It was great that Jo and Sam enjoy the same kind of natural kind of things that we do.

You can see in the picture that I still have plenty of hair; it’s falling a lot, but there’s still a lot. Thanks for caring!

Tuesday Jan 9 Update

Today was a fun day. We went to Hilo and beyond to see a friend of Don’s from high school and college. It was so fun to meet him and his wife. They retired and built a house here in 2003, I think. They took us to a great Mexican restaurant for lunch, so we felt right at home.

It was a long drive there and back, so we’re pretty tired. We did some grocery shopping and Wal-Mart shopping, too. We’re waiting now for our first guests. I’m so excited to have Jo and Sam Emerson from Minneapolis join us! Jo and I are like sisters from the Overseas Brats organization and we both grew up in Japan, though at different bases. Sam and Don have never met, but they’ve heard so much about each other that they feel like they know each other. I’ll get them in some pictures and post them one day soon.

I should have taken pictures today when we were visiting with Don’s friends, but I forgot I even had the camera in the car. It was our first big excursion away from the house and I was so concentrating on remembering when to take my meds that I forgot to relax and enjoy; ugh! I’ve got to get better at that!

I did remember to take some pictures when we headed home. It rained all the way there, so I guess that had me out of photo mode, too. The pictures today are taken from Kohala Mountain Road. One is looking down toward Kona from the lookout point. You can see the big clouds hanging over Kona! Then the other picture is looking toward ‘home’ and you can see Maui peeking through the clouds and the pastureland on each side of the road. I love this drive! That view of Maui is what we see off the back lanai when the clouds break like that. It’s beautiful and a pleasure to enjoy!

I’m feeling fine, and so is Don. God is good to all of us; it’s so wonderful to personally know the painter of the big picture and have Him in our every corner!!!

Monday Jan8 Update

Okay, now you’re going to know how little it takes to excite me. That first picture is some fisherman showing me what he called the Tyrannosaurus of the ocean. He’s a little pink fish about as long as that guy’s index finger, but look at the TEETH on him! I wouldn’t want to run into his daddy! I thought it was too cool, so this picture is for my grandsons!

The next picture is of a black crab on the black lava. Look close; he’s right in the middle of the picture sitting in a puddle of water. It’s so wild to walk along on the lava and it sort of looks like it’s moving; then you realize it’s a crab, which IS moving. I think they’re cool. Two years ago when we were here, one of our grandsons came and he and I enjoyed watching these black crabs on the lava.

The last picture is the hump of a whale. You’ll see the dirty places on my lens; it’s right under that. I cleaned off the lens when we got back to the house, so I hope that won’t be in any more pictures. We went whale watching today and saw another great show. I kept thinking that surely I could get a good picture. I called Gretta and told her about it and she said I should get a video camera. Right. We have the same VCR we had when she was at home (she’s 34) and neither one of us know how to run it very well. The last thing we need is a camera that takes videos. That would be the thing to get these whales in action, though. First we see their spout, so we know they’re about to appear. Sure enough, then out comes the hump, and then the tail. It’s so cool to watch. Sometimes we get a good long view of the hump or the tail. Sometimes they stand up nearly; that’s called a breech. We haven’t seen a breech among these whales yet, and I doubt if I could catch it with the camera, anyway. I was pleased to get this shot of the hump of one, today. You’re probably thinking, “That’s the big whale deal???” It doesn’t look like much here, but it’s sure fun for us! It made our day.

Tomorrow we’re going to Hilo to meet with Don’s friend from high school and college days. He retired here. Then in the evening our friends from Minneapolis are coming to be here for a few days. We’re excited about tomorrow and the next few days.

I continue to do well. Don is fine. The cows didn’t like the skins of the grapefruit after I juiced. Go figure. I love you all. Thanks for caring and checking on us. God is taking good care of us.

Sunday Jan 7 Update

Wow, today was the day we paid for our ‘keep.’ It didn’t rain, so Don was able to mow. While he mowed I did some upkeep around the trees, picked up leaves, etc. After he went past the part that we water, I watered. It was the most work I’ve done in a while, but I managed it just fine. Then we came inside and I vacuumed and dusted. He got the vacuum out and carried it up and down the stairs for me and helped me get things out of the way so I could get around good. It’s so nice to have him helping and doing so much of the work. I played farmer and picked up the fruit and shared with Zoe and Stewie.

We went to church this morning, and it was really good to see everyone that we’ve come to know and love since we first came here 7 years ago. Little kids have grown into adults and they are still such good people. They don’t meet on the first Sunday night of the month, so we didn’t go back tonight. We had a good Bible class study in Jude and a good New Year’s lesson that followed. They had a potluck dinner after services at the home of one of the members, but we elected to abstain since I have to watch what I eat and I have all this hair escaping; how rude to go to a place where people are eating and I’m shedding!

We would never have gotten our chores done if we’d gone back, anyway. We gave thanks in the yard for the ability to do all that work under these awesome conditions. As I was pulling weeds and raking, I thought how nice it is to get to do all that in 75-degree weather instead of 90-degree weather. I love home, but this is sure a nice home away from home! Working here is not a life-threatening thing; I never thought for a second about a heat stroke. It was just a nice day and God was so good to give it to us.

I also did lots of research today. I’m ready for bed, but I need a bath. I love you all; thanks for your patience. It’s not even 7 here, but I know you all have probably gone to bed and won’t see this until tomorrow. It won’t matter; just keep in mind that we are 4 hours behind Central Standard Time and 5 hours behind Eastern Standard Time. California is only a couple of hours ahead of us.

Today’s pictures are the yard where I work to keep the trees looking neat and the cows. They have that look of, “Yeah, I see you have the bucket, but where’s the real farmer?” I thought I’d try to rush an orange and pull it off the tree and Zoe looked at me with a look that said, “Cool, can we do THAT???” I had no clue that a cow’s tongue is so LONG! I quickly decided to let the orange come off when it’s ready and not teach the cows any tricks! I can just see Bob coming home and finding the trees cleaned off wherever the cows could reach! They are so polite right now; they just wait for us to toss them their share. I couldn’t believe it today: there was one grapefruit that something (maybe a mongoose?) had cleaned out the whole fruit and just left the skin. I threw it over to Stewie and he scoffed it right down. I guess the fiber is good for them? I think I’ll save the skins for them the next time I juice.

Saturday Jan 6 Update

I haven’t been out to take new pictures, so I’m going to share some pictures we took on our last trip here. This is a hike we will NOT be doing this time. I’m glad that we did it before, but I think I’m smart enough to not go there, again. One of our very favorite spots is Wapio Valley. If you’ve been to the Big Island you’ve seen Wapio Valley. We were able to hike around the TOP of Wapio Valley and get these pictures. It was awesome but pretty scary. I don’t suspect either of us are willing to take the risks involved in that hike, again. Can you see the cut along the top? That’s where we hiked. Some places there was no place to put my hiking stick down and I was just hanging onto the growth on the side of the mountain. It was the dry season then or those places that look like cracks would be waterfalls. I imagine it is way to wet to go there, now, anyway.This next one is looking back down into Wapio Valley, with the ocean in the background. You can see the cut of the hiking trail that we hiked along the side on the right side.

Here is a shot looking down into Wapio Valley from the lookout that most people see.

Here is a shot taken from Wapio Valley looking back up to the mountain side that we had hiked. See the cut out trail along the edge at the very back. That’s me waving.

All is good here! The cows and cats are happy and so are we. We have juice up to our ears and sunshine today! We went to see whales and there they were! It’s a great way to relax. I’m working on sewing Don’s suitcase today; it split open just as he arrived here! I came equipped with a huge sewing needle, fishing line and a thimble, so we’ll get home all in one piece.

Thanks for caring and stopping by to keep up with us. God loves us all, and I love you all, too.

Friday Jan 5 Update

Today was a different kind of day. It was like when we lived in Springville and drove in to Paris to shop. Or live in Hobart and drive in to Altus. Well, here we ‘live’ in Hawi and we drove over to Waimea. It’s my favorite drive on the whole island. It’s 20 miles from here. We drive up over the peak of the mountain and get to see green on one side and dry cactus land on the other side. Off on past the cactus side we can see the Kona side of the island, where the ocean washes up to the island. It’s a beautiful drive.

Waimea is the same as Kamuela. I don’t know why they use two names a lot, but they do. Anyway, it’s a bigger town, nestled in the mountain between Kona and Hilo. They think it’s winter up there. It is cooler than here. We wore our long jeans and tennis shoes and were glad to have them. That’s paniolo country (cowboy country) because the big ranches are there. I got a couple of pictures from the car that I’ll put on today’s blog. You can see the ranch lands and hillsides where I was trying to get a picture of the poinsettias growing like we have iris growing. Of course I missed the best part, but it’s a pretty good shot of the hillside with the fog coming over the hill. This is the Hawaii you never expect to see! I got a shot of the stop sign coming out of the shopping center; it’s too cool. It says, “Whoa.” I’ve never even seen that around our cowboy country at home! These pictures aren’t great, but they’re the best I could get out of the car window. There was always someone in a hurry behind us, so we couldn’t stop to get a good picture.

We didn’t go whale watching today. We were watching paniolo! Imagine that! I love it. We went to the Salvation Army Thrift Store and bought a backpack to take hiking. We like to take a lunch and I pack it on my back so my hands are free to catch me if I fall. I came off and forgot to bring a backpack, so I got a brand new one today for $4; still had the tags on it. I got a visor for 50 cents, too. I’m in business for hiking and whale watching, now!

Oh, the update on the hair is that it’s still coming out lots and lots, but I don’t miss it from my head. I think I have plenty to spare! I feel great.

The update on the weather is that the sun has been out for the last 3 hours or so; solid. It looks like the Hawaii we recall!

Love you all!

Thursday Jan 4 Update

I can’t believe it’s raining here and has been all year, as Don would say. Actually, we’ve had lots of sunshine and lots of beautiful rainbows. But, today has been mostly rain here at the house. We had a dry spell to go out and pick up the fruit and share with the cows. Usually, when it rains we can just go to the beach and it’s dry there. We even got rained out at the beach, today! We weren’t to be outdone, though. We went to the next beach, just a little farther south and it was dry. There we saw whales, too! They put on an awesome show for us and they were headed south, so we went south to the next beach, as our greed to see the whale show had set in big time. It was just a couple of miles, so we pulled up just as the whales were arriving! It was the closest we’ve ever seen them and they just kept on with the show. They did everything but breech for us. It made up for the rain out we’d gotten at the first beach. Don and I were grinning wall to wall. It’s amazing that 30 tons in motion can be so graceful!

I’m not losing hair by the handfuls, anymore. Maybe that was just a phase? The wind blew me so much at the beach today that I thought this is too much hair, anyway, so I’m cutting the top tonight. Maybe this will be one last cut if it starts to fall out, more. We’ll see what happens. I’ll keep you posted. I still feel really good; just tire easily and sleep like a brick.

Love you all!

PS: Today’s pictures: The first one is a carving down by the beach with the rainbow in the background to the right (between the trees). We don’t know what it means, but we thought it was interesting. This is the Hawaii that only the locals see and the few folks we take. The next one is Zoe and Stewie with their new best friend, Don. They sure make us feel welcome!

Wednesday Jan 3 Update

Today’s update is pretty much the same. Don says I’m shedding worse than the cat, but I have lots of hair to spare, so maybe I’ll be left with plenty. Even if it all goes, that is God’s gift to me; I could have nausea and I don’t! The problem with my arm is superficial phlebitis, which will go away with a couple of weeks of warm compress treatments. I liked the ice better, but this is the thing to do, so I don’t get my likes, here. I can do everything I need to do and want to do. Don is a big help; he feeds the cows, which I’d rather watch than do. I don’t mind throwing fruit to them, but I’d sure hate to hit them with one! They love him!

He does the watering outside, so that’s a big help, too. God has been watering a lot, but the winds carry it right on past the dry side of the house. We have to be sure to get under the overhang on the house. Don does that really well.

Today I’m sending pictures of the house from the front (we don’t have to water out there), the house from the back pineapple patch and a picture of Zoe and Stewie scoffing down the grapefruit. They love it like I do, but since I found the juicer, they don’t get as much. Zoe is the brown one and she really pays attention to us. If we come outside with a 5-gallon bucket she runs to meet us. If we don’t have a bucket, she just calls to us to remind us to get the bucket, I guess. They are really fun.

We didn’t go to the beach today; we just enjoyed a beautiful day here at the house.

Thanks for checking in on us. All is well here and we love you for caring.

Tuesday Jan 2 Update

Okay, you learn it first right here on the blog. Everyone has been asking if I’ve lost my hair yet. I didn’t expect to lose it at all because the doses of chemo in IPT are small and side effects are minimized. But today is the day that we’ll see if my feeling on hair is really true. I always say, “The best hair is gone hair.” Well, today a lot if my hair is gone. I don’t miss it and there is a lot left, but a LOT is gone. We went to the beach and hiked for an hour and a half. We saw whales and beautiful rainbows. The whales are too fast to get a picture, but I’ll send a picture of the rainbow and the kitchen window from the inside. Notice the beautiful orchids growing right in the window!

There were several common side effects to the chemo I had, and I have none of those. An uncommon one is the loss of hair and it comes 3 – 4 weeks after the beginning of the treatment. At least I’m right on time with it. Don can be proud of me being on time. It won’t take it long to grow back and I think we will find a way to chuckle about it. Maybe I’ll just lose some. I have plenty to spare, so maybe nobody will ever know the difference if I don’t lose anymore. The folks who come to visit us will have to keep an eye out for loose hair; there might be hair everywhere. They have a good Kirby, so maybe we can keep up with it. I’ll have to wear white shirts so it won’t be so noticeable on my shoulders. Maybe it’ll all be gone by red shirt Friday; yeah, like anyone will notice the hair on my shoulders if my head is bald! Ha! Bob has a hat I can borrow.

I probably should have some concern about this, but I’ve had plenty of hair over the years. I’m over quota on hair, so it’s a blessing to be free of it for a time. I’m hoping it will take this one whisker on my chin that I can feel but can’t see to tweeze! God will provide the hair I need and the humor to deal with it. This is way better than the other more common side effects, and we know the chemo is in there doing something!

One of the other patients, at the clinic lost her hair and she was enjoying ‘portable hair.’ Maybe that’ll be the thing to do, then I can have it or not! We’ll see. I’ll keep you up to date on the hair or balding status.

Love and prayers! Mary Jo

Happy New Year!

The first picture is the back side of the house. There is a dormant plumeria tree with just a few leaves on the top. These are the trees that make the blooms they use a lot in making lays. Some places on the island they are in full bloom, but these will bloom at some other time. Notice the kitchen window sticks out. Another day I'll send a picture of the beauty in that window from the inside. Notice the pretty pink leaved hedge that marks the back edge of their property.

The second picture is the driveway going out to the main road. On the left of the drive are the huge bushes with reddish leaves. On the right are the citrus trees that keep me and the cows happy. Notice all the grapefruit in the driveway; it looks like this every day until we get out there and pick them up and share with the cows. I'm so surprised that the cows love them!

My view from Bob's office where I sit and work with my laptop has a dormant plumeria tree with a few blooms and leaves on top and the driveway to the road in the background. Around the plumeria tree are the poinsettias with little white blooms. I guess God makes it even better in heaven, but this sure must be a preview!

Today is the first day of 2007 and I’m getting to be lazy. I cooked and did laundry the other days. Don is watching football. We are in a different time zone, so the games started at 6 this morning. He is faithful, so he got up and watched. I can watch football, but I’m not faithful at it. So, I slept until 7.

I got up and made real biscuits from whole-wheat flour. Maybe the next ones will turn out better? What kind of flour doesn’t come with a recipe on the bag? Whole-wheat! I found a recipe on the Internet, but I didn’t know how to work the oven. When you bake biscuits for 15 minutes on 210, it’s not a good start. Bless Don’s heart, he’s just like his dad; he THANKED me for them! They were better than the NO BISCUITS that he’d been making for himself, but they’ll get better. While I was baking the biscuits the second time on 425, I squeezed juice out of 5 grapefruit! I found a juicer and went right to town. Man, that juice is so good!

No wonder I was tired after breakfast and went back to bed! I forgot I did all that. The juicing was the most tiresome part, but it was worth it.

That last 4-hour hyperthermia and IPT session left me with a really sore arm. If I didn’t know better I’d think I had a spider bite. I’ve been in touch with Dr. Santa Cruz and he told me to put something cool on it 3 times a day. So, I’ve got my ice pack wrapped in a towel and it has become my best friend. It has helped the swelling and the pain is better as long as it’s ‘frozen.’ This is such a minor deal, but I tell you so that you will know this is not just heaven here; I really am suffering some. J That’s an exaggeration; this is NOT suffering! This is heaven and I am grateful that it’s not something really horrible happening. This is just where the veins are unhappy that they had strong stuff going in and they are complaining about it so that I won’t ever do it again! The veins kept trying to get away, but we managed to always catch one. This one is really angry about being caught and used! I’ve emailed with Dr. Santa Cruz, and he told me to put some salve on it, which we hope to find tomorrow. I don’t expect any place that has it would be open today. How wonderful is it to go through a month of treatment for cancer and come out with only the complaint of a sore arm? God is so good.

I love you all!