Saturday, October 11, 2025

Saturday, October 11, 2025

Tonight's picture was taken in October of 2007. Mattie was five years old and was in his element here..... at a Fall Festival, outside, in nature, and surrounded by pumpkins. Here's the irony of all of this! Before I had Mattie, I wasn't a pumpkin fan. I truly did not like pumpkin muffins, pies, and cakes.... you get the picture. But since Mattie loved these big orange orbs and LOVED eating anything pumpkin, I grew to love it. Now of course, I love the color orange, I love everything pumpkin, and seeing any pumpkin reminds me of my special boy. 

Quote of the day: The mind replays what the heart can't delete. ~ Yasmin Mogahed

In addition to juggling my parents care this week, I was also concerned about my former mother in law. It is a dance to figure out what to call each other now. Since I can't legally call her my mother in law anymore, what do I call her? I could refer to her by her first name, to make things easy, but when talking to other people how do I describe our relationship? A former mother in law, sounds ridiculous to me, because we did not chose to sever our connection with one another. Any case, since I can't be called a daughter in law anymore, I have learned that I am now called..... a daughter! That brought a smile to my face. When I tell you that I literally was on her portal multiple times each day this week, trying to make sense of tests and data coming in, and then explaining it to her, I am not kidding. I know how scary it is to be sick and I also know how crucial it is for a health system to know that family and friends are paying attention.  

Since we are expecting non-stop rain for the next several days, I decided to spend some time in the backyard after I took my parents out for lunch. I was determined to transplant my five hibiscus and bring them inside for the winter. It is a labor of love, and I should really make it easier for myself and just keep the plants in the same pots that they spend the spring and summer in, but that is NOT what I do! So I have to gingerly dig them up without hurting the roots, to transplant them inside!

When Sunny died in 2023, I bought two beautiful SUNNY yellow hibiscus in his honor. I take these hibiscus in when it gets cold and of course they spend the summer outside, growing beautifully! 
 

These are two of the glorious Sunny hibiscus flowers! 

One of Sunny's hibiscus! You can see the huge terracotta pot it is housed in during the summer! I cut the plant back and spent time digging it up to transplant it.

One of the rooms in our house, which gets wonderful sunlight, is where I place all of my plants over the Fall and Winter. So as of tonight, five cuties are now inside. 

I have become a huge fan of hibiscus and bought three small pink ones this spring. They are growing so beautifully, that I decided to bring them inside for the winter. 

I have more to do outside to prepare for the colder weather months, but I am so happy I took on this task today. The weather was glorious and just too lovely to be inside. I find when I am outside and either digging or pulling weeds, I feel better. Or let's put it this way.... I forget about the numerous problems, stresses, and hurts in my life. It is a positive diversion and a pause from my usual existence.