PROGRESS EVERYWHERE

First Medical Transfusion.

I'm not quite sure what this entails, but I'm assuming it is some kind of blood transfusion to help heal the infection.  Our granddaughter has to have one every 8 weeks.  They are so busy taking care of Haley that I have hesitated to ask too many questions just yet. It all must be very overwhelming for them. The photo below was taken while Haley was in the hospital two weeks ago.  She is home now and getting antibiotics by IV and very small amounts of food of very limited variety.

This one is of Haley while she is sleeping during the transfusion.  It takes a while and they give her 

something to make her sleep.  She has another session in a couple of weeks.

 The doctors are pleased with her progress.  Mom is happy with her great attitude. Thank you for your prayers and good thoughts.  Please continue to pray.  It is going to be a long process but we know God is good!

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In the mean time summer is almost here and the Jacaranda trees are in full bloom.  They really must have liked that hot weather we had a couple of weeks ago because they are spectacular all over town.  They are my absolute favorite tree.  This one is in our park just a couple of streets over, but we can see it from the back of our house.

By the way, I've been told this week that we don't live in a park but a community, and the homes we live in are manufactured or modular homes! 

To me 'park' is the right word because it is a community located in what we Brits officially consider park land.  But I do understand the feelings of those who do not want us to be confused with a trailer park.  So... we are a 'senior community' with lakes, flowers, many trees, grassy stretches, beautiful front yards, (carefully administered and held to high standards by the HOA !) and my beloved creek, which is having a hard time to keep flowing in this our fourth year of drought.  

As for our house, this is the view from the back. If you compare the photo below with my blog banner photo above, you would think it could hardly be the same place.  But it is.  All the brightly glowing ice plant is over, and now we have what looks more like heather on the moors when it is not in bloom.  So bit by bit we are trying to add some color.  The small yellow euonymous bushes really help.  The empty pot of just soil in front of one of the bushes contains bulbs of the Lily of the Valley, so generously given to me by a friend at church, because she knows I like them. Unfortunately they will not bloom now until next spring. The creek is in the top left part of the photo.

Now that we are settled into the house and my husband is not doing all the traveling this year, we are putting a lot of effort into the yard, as small as it is.  A couple of days ago I took time to go to the other side of the creek to see what we looked like from there. 

 Hmm...not as good as I would like.  Got to get more creative for this view of the house.  

We have a wonderful back porch, verandah or deck, whichever you'd like to call it. We are able to sit out there probably two thirds of the year. It is protected from cold winds in the winter and spring and from hot sun in the summer and fall. Our actual property ends at the bird feeder. How nice of the bird to perch there for my photo! From there, the land slopes down to the creek. That is all park property, not ours. Officially we are not supposed to do anything with it. Behind the central large pine tree, actually on the left in this photo, on our land we have a couple of bird feeders, and two or three small trees/bushes that are now doing quite well with Moth's conscientious care. 

Between the ivy and the heather-like ice plant there is nothing much growing. We have planted four or five small jade plants that will in time grow enough to fill in like a low hedge.They are planted in a line from the bouganvillea to the little red stone Mexican man. On the right hand side of the pine tree the soil is poor and there are large roots from the trees. So I'm thinking something like a low picket fence or a line of fairly large, light colored rocks would help to delineate the boundary. Got to give it some more thought and then meander around the garden centers. Expense, minimum upkeep and little water will be our guidelines I'm thinking.

Well, I'll see you all on Creative Tuesday.  Have to get to work on that next.