2001
| April 21, 2001
Another holiday where we are not up to speed. It isn't the same when you cannot do the traditional things that you used to do. Like hide eggs - and then let the boys hunt for them. They used to tear all over the house - room by room. I used to keep a score card (they made me do that since I would forget where I hid them - since it was usually very late at night or when I stumbled out of bed early). This year, my younger son rolled his wheelchair into the kitchen on Easter day - we were a bit late - and dyed 12 eggs. He used that swirling oil stuff that you can't put down the sink. They look awful when they come out of dipping but dry all swirls and pastels. Lovely. We did not hide them - how could he search? But we ate them all week. The oil stuff was the kind that you can't wash off easily - and he didn't wear gloves. So Tuesday, when we went for chemo, the doctor saw the green edges to his fingernails. Fungus! They became alarmed. They were going to call in a consult. I put them out of their misery - Easter egg dye! Cracked the doctor up. So she had us try it on the nurses. Freaked them all out. He was enjoying the reactions. Great fun. He felt like he was getting even for all the stuff he's been put through. We also forgo the candy Easter egg baskets this year too - because we know I am back to 180 lbs. and he's over 222lbs and we both have high cholesterol. He has high diastolic blood pressure. And no ham because it is salty and I am supposed to keep salt down. For both of us. But I do something I've always wanted to do. I got lots of flowers. Two Easter Lilies. Big bunches of blossoms. They bloomed one a day all week from the three days before Easter and the rest of the next week. One bloom per day. Big lilies. Multiple flowers. Beautiful. I replant the bulbs. Sometimes they come up all on their own. Normally they come up in the summer. I got two big pots of daffodils. One is the buttery kind - white with orange centers. One is a lighter version, white with yellow centers. They are in sandy pots. I will put them in the ground too. They lasted all week. The cuts ones I got from the Easter Cancer drive at work were dead in a few days (100 blooms). But I have a big beautiful blue glass vase. I have two pots of purple callas - I have huge growing white ones (they stand 4' tall, blooms as big as dinner plates) growing wild in the yard. These are small ones, I will plant them outside too. As soon as they droop. Someplace I have small pink ones from some former holiday. And last of all they had Amaryllis at the Orchard Supply store. Amaryllis. A Christmas flower. But I didn't really get to do Christmas this year so I grabbed two pots - planted - and ready to bloom. They are now open - multiple blooms One is a soft orange-red with a white center - must be 6-7" across. The other is white with a lime center and only the very edge of the petals have red on them - lovely. They too will go outside. Last year I had a red one come up. It had two stalks and 8 blossoms altogether. They open one a day and die one a day. They last about 10 days. Depends on the weather and the rain. All these bulbs like water. Flowers are Easter to me. It used to be the corsage. Or an orchid. But I love lilies and they have a strong perfume. Outside I have day lilies opening and lilly clumps that look like wild orchids. They are growing like weeds - which is good because the weeds are growing that fast as well. I love flowers. I miss the yard in San Diego - with all the bougainvillea and the flowering fruit trees and the flowering bushes. We used to drive into the big nursery for a day - running the 4-wheel drive station wagon and loading it down with one of a kind plants. It was an adventure for the kids and me - got them out of the house. Got them into the air. Got them looking at all kinds of plants. It was a big yard. We planted every tree on it. And every bush. And I pruned it every 6 months - honeysuckle. 25' foot tall plant. Hummingbird heaven. I have some bougainvillea - one plant - that I just trimmed ruthlessly because it was strangling my tree. It's still regrowing from the horrid frost that killed it back. A little fertilizer should help it out. I have purple maples and liquid ambers. And one birch tree - half dead. I need to put some trees in the side yard to shade the windows and the house - they help cut cooling costs. They also cut heating costs. A few dwarf fruit trees would not be amiss. Of course, that will assure that the squirrels stay active. Even if I did remove the big redwood tree that was lifting the garage. The squirrels like eating the rabbit's food. I think they are eating dog food too. Cheeky. We didn't do a movie last week, Easter Sunday. But today I wheeled him into Crocodile Dundee in Los Angeles. He sat in a normal seat and I parked the wheelchair out with the refreshment stand (the unused side). He had soda but little popcorn (I ate myself sick). He was concerned since he had touched the arm rests and forgot his antibacterial lotion. I was ignoring the rules and enjoying the salt and butter. Movie theaters are dirty. I will have to learn to travel with a kit to keep him clean. He didn't wear his hearing aid either. Missed a few punch lines. But it wasn't a high thinking movie. He liked it. It was a cute continuation of the series. I like Paul Hogan being cheeky. George Hamilton was a crackup. The important point is that we got out to a movie theater. It was the first time in many months. Now that's how to celebrate Easter. |
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