Mama Said There'd Be Days Like This...

Rhonda, at one of my favorite blogs, Down-to-Earth, writes eloquently today of disappointment and "down" days and asks other "Simplers" about their experience with these. I raise my hand.

Yesterday we went to Penticton (20 km or 12 m) for the usual monthly purchases, cat food, litter, vitamins, odds 'n sods we haven't been able to find locally etc.

Our first stop was the garden centre where I was delighted to find seeds for yellow crookneck squash and (gasp!) dwarf okra, which grows only 28" tall and thus will be much easier to find a place for and harvest than the six-foot-tall variety. I also was thrilled to find Japanese painted fern which I wanted for the shade garden. I bought seeds for a climbing bean from China called "Painted Lady" which has lovely red and white blossoms, seeds for bell peppers, yellow pear tomatoes, patio-container tomatoes and numerous other potentially delicious and beautiful things. I got forget-me-nots, red poppies and bachelor's buttons, all easy-to-grow annual seeds I can sow in spots which get a bit of sun but not enough to grow veggies.

But it was a long day with visits to seven different stores. While I did okay with the walking; climbing in and out of the truck, and even maneuvering in and out of tight parking spots are not things I find easy to do, and I did a lot of both yesterday.

When I had polio as a 10-year-old my right side was more severely affected than my left. My post-polio-syndrome has been relatively stable for many years but I've noticed an increase in my scoliosis and a reduction in strength on entire my right side in the past few months. I'm simply having trouble getting my right side to do its fair share of the work.

I am desperate to get more seeds started, and I need to carry water to my garden, as some things of the plants I uncovered are now wilting due to the dryness of the soil and we still don't have running water outside. And yet, here I am, lying on the heating pad, having taken two pain pills and a muscle relaxant to try and head off the migraine I feel coming from the muscle spasms in my neck and back. I am in pain, top of head to soles of feet.

So my disappointment is centered around the restrictions imposed by my physical limitations, and my "down" is as "lying down", not down-in-the-dumps. I know that I will recover over the next three or four days, the ferns will get planted, seeds will get started, and the conversion of regular containers to to self-watering-ones will happen before it's time to plant them.

It's cool (10 C - 50 F) and very windy today. The sun keeps disappearing behind rafts of clouds. But Tony just checked and the little greenhouse is a toasty 26 C (79 F) with the help of the trouble light. The seedlings are looking good. I am beginning to wonder if the Sweet Million tomato seeds were no good - they were several years old - so far not a one has come up. But if they don't grow I have about eight other varieties of tomato to replace them with.

While I rest I surf and I blog. I plan, I watch the birds out the window. I am loved by the cat, who is snuggled beside me, purring happily. He hates napping alone. So even a "down" day has its compensations.