It's Been Rough...May as well start out with the bad news. Took Tippi to the vet a while back for swollen lymph nodes. Our regular vet is good - we trust her. We thought it might be an allergic reaction to something so we went with that, but it wasn't getting better.
Went to a specialist, and it turns out that it's lymphoma. So I'm beating myself up about catching it sooner...We could've pushed harder to get to a specialist earlier. There IS a light at the end of the tunnel: she's basically in good health. It hasn't metastasized.
BUT - she's 12. Doc (specialist) says she's a good candidate for chemo. But, she's 12.
We go on the 31st. I've done major switching around of appointments to get there. Not that I don't trust Hubby to listen to the doctor - and we all know that Tippi is my heart-dog (I've been lucky to have a few of those) and I'd do just about anything for her. And I want to be there. Through thick and thin. That's what it's about.
On the other hand, Raisa...our crazy problem child Husky - has had her thyroid medication adjusted, and the doctor gave her an appetite enhancer. The dog wouldn't eat. Huskies can be picky, but she refused every kibble, and at one point, also refused: chicken; rice; scrambled eggs; cheese; buttered toast.... We knew it was serious when she stopped eating toast. She would scale Mt. Everest for toast.
Anyhow, hoping that the drops work because the dog's gotta put some weight on. And -- at some point sooner than I want to think about, I want to get her ready to take over for Tippi's therapy work.
Springtime, Randomly...
Some pics that prove, sort of, that spring may finally have come to Illinois. Though it's still debatable, this Memorial Day weekend. A tree in Bolingbrook; I was taking a walk during lunch, and saw this beauty. Yes, it's one tree. Crabapple, I think, or maybe some sort of "mock apple" that was grafted, because it clearly has 2 different flowers on it. Same shape, just pink and white together on one tree.
This is the fire alarm on the building. Needless to say, the birds have been enjoying themselves building their home there. What a pain! But it's not the only place; they've built nests in all the neon signs in the plaza. And you'll see another picture later on...
My front garden is going like crazy. The milkweed is actually sort of taking over; my parsley is bursting out of its pot (the pot I set out specifically for the butterflies - I have another set of parsley that we'll actually be eating!). The Monster Bleeding Heart is back in good form. The other wildflowers are coming along nicely, and the seeds I planted have, for the most part, come up.
The Icelandic Poppy is nearly ready to pop.
Remember, this is the big white one. And each year, it seems to get "poufier" in the front garden.
We put out 3 new hummingbird feeders, but with the rain and the cold, we've only seen the hummers zip by. Hoping to see them landing and eating soon.
This weekend, we'd like to get 2 more pots of basil planted, and get the gazing balls out on their stands in the garden. And clean off the front porch.
The veggie garden is bursting. We've already done 3 harvests of romaine, and we've got about 6 radishes. The herbs are doing nicely and the leeks (see the front of the nearest bed) are going to be lovely.
I've been really happy with the early planting; it seems to have made the lettuce happy, at least. I think it appreciated the heavy rains, and definitely likes the cooler days. The first radish of the season was very peppery, and with a bit of pink Himalayan salt, it was very delicious!
Speaking of gardens, I went past the Cathedral the other day and noticed that they actually have done something interesting with their front yard at the Rectory. They've given it over to public gardens for fruits/veggies for the local families in need. That's actually pretty freakin' cool!!
Our vicar over-planted...I've got about a dozen Roma tomato plants to find homes for, and I may just drop them off there - maybe they have space, or maybe someone knows of a yard they could grow in. Either way, Hubby has said that we are NOT growing tomatoes this year; and Kid #2 doesn't want them.
So here's the other nest. This is a robin's nest at our church hall. And there's another one on the other door. Yeah, lovely signs of spring, till they nest on your building; then they get kind of shirty. I hope all the little ones have fledged; we had a rummage sale and they used this as the EXIT door. The robin wasn't happy... 
And...the chickens are laying again. Not mine - heaven knows we have no room for fowl. But a patient in the clinic has provided us with a couple dozen eggs the past few weeks. Yummy. Seriously, yummy. I'm spoiled now...
And that's the wrap up for spring, so far. Lots of green stuff growing, but no blossoms yet. Well, the Bleeding Heart and the Lilac have bloomed. And the lily of the valley. But nothing in the "big flower beds."
I trimmed up the bushes (butterfly bush in the front and a flowering tree in the back) and they've perked up nicely. Funny what a little trim will do.
The Knitting...
Well. Progress of sorts. The Kid #2 afghan continues to move bit by bit. However - it's getting warm outside! I traded the Green Sock for this today just because I needed to NOT have it on my lap. I'm feeling this afghan starting to "zip along" so I'm not going to abandon it; I want to get it to him for THIS Christmas! After that next red section comes the first black section.
And as you can see by the Copland Shawl, black is a stinker to knit with.
I'm really not enjoying the black parts. Copland is also zinging along. For a simple shawl, it's actually got a few hundred miles (or so it seems) of garter, and luckily, this yarn's stitch definition is amazing. It's also squishy and warm, so the recipient will really like it, I hope. And while my camera doesn't do it justice, the warm tones of the brown really pop against the black, which is blacker than this...Go figure.
For the heck of it, I whipped up another small bag. I needed something to put my gemstones in because I carry them in my purse and didn't want them rattling around in a plastic bag, or at the very bottom getting scratched up. This is using leftover of the MadTosh "Robin's Nest" that I used for socks a long while ago; they were short-cuffed socks, so I had lots left over. Frankly, I dislike this for socks because it pills like crazy. And it was one of my maiden forays into "real sock yarn" so I really was sketchy about whether that 400 yards would "really" make socks with cuffs; my cuffs on these are barely 5" whereas now I know how far to stretch a sock leg!
This bag actually took me about 2 hours from start to finish. It's not great, but it holds my gems. Instead of an i-cord, I did a crocheted chain; and it's smaller than my other mala bag. It serves the purpose though, so that's all that matters. And I didn't have to buy yarn to do it. Just went into my "Oddments" bag and found this.
And then there was my "personalized yarn crawl." This is "Yarn Crawl Week" for a lot of stores; but I didn't want to hike my butt up to Chicago to troll around there. Hate driving up there anyway.
My friend Roberta and I did our own. We hit two stores, Knitche in Downers Grove and String Theory in Glen Ellyn. In Downers, we had, by the way, a fantastic lunch...But I digress.
Knitche has QUINCE!! I have some Quince in stash for an open-front cardigan. I love it. And they were having a sale!!!
So I have "Tern" - a wool/silk blend, and I got the maroon one on 40% off!!! This will be a long-ish, very open cowl. I also got the pattern. I'll have to fill you in on that one later; it's in my Ravelry library.
Then I got "Kestrel" - a linen yarn, flat-braided structure. This was in their "last chance" bin. Do I have a clue what I'm doing with it? Nope. Probably either kerchiefs or a table runner. Not sure yet. But it's lovely stuff, and for something around $7 a hank, it was a bargain.
I've got one project that I started in linen, and it's a table runner but the linen is a bit more coarse than this. This stuff would be easier to wear next to your skin. They had a sample of a sweater (another open cardigan) that I'd have bought yarn + pattern for in a heartbeat, but it would definitely have busted my budget.
So I'm glad I didn't see it till we were done and ready to leave! Yarn gods had mercy on me in that case.
Random Picture...
After yoga tonight, the sky was just so pretty. I pulled into the local cemetery to take a picture. And I thought I could find my great-granny's grave, but somehow, I couldn't locate it. That bugs me. Mostly because I've always known where it was, and this is hardly a huge plot of ground... Maybe if it's nice tomorrow, I'll see if Tippi is up for a walk and we can trot over there to see if we can find her. We may have our share of crap going on in Illinois, but in my little corner, we still have open space and lovely blue skies.
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