It’s June. I can hardly believe it. June is Scleroderma Awareness Month. June is the month of thunderstorms and tornado watches. June is the month of the miller moth migration (Mateo’s favorite time of year!) June is the month that Hannah came home to live with me. June is the month, year after year, that my scleroderma begins to improve after a long, cold winter. This year June has been just great! After a very rainy May hot, sunny weather finally arrived this week and the yard began to burst into bloom. First, let me show you the weather…
Crazy weather May!! That is hail on the catio, all of that rain appeared in my pot on the deck (you can see it in the first picture… the pot was partially covered by the table above it…) in just 48 hours, and then there was an exciting outbreak of tornados just east of me. Whew! In the breaks between the storms I managed to give the lawns their first mowing of the year, and I made great progress pulling weeds out of all of my gardens. I kept thinking of a saying someone said to me recently as I worked in the yard and gardens: How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time. How do you clear a weedy wilderness? One clump of grass at a time.
Look at how great the yard is starting to look! The grass is growing like crazy after the deep soaks, and there is lots of wildlife. I managed to get the catio all finished, and the cats and I are outside every day now enjoying the show and soaking up some sun.
Mateo is enjoying the emergence of a new, tiny baby bunny!
So, here is the crazy thing. I have been struggling big time with my symptoms. I have been unable to knit (or type for that matter) for several months now. I rely on the knitting to help me keep my hands functional, and also for mental health reasons; the loss of knitting has been hard. Even cranking the knitting machine has been too much for my healing ribs and sternum. My other joints are so bad I have spent most of my time moving a heating pad from joint to joint trying to manage the symptoms. My heart has been misbehaving again, and my lungs have been unhappy. It has been a hard winter, and I have to admit, I’ve been concerned that I may be through the tipping point and on the downward slide of my scleroderma journey.
Then June arrived.
Like magic, after every morning in the sunshine drinking my latte, after every afternoon clearing out a small section of the gardens, I have been getting slowly better. My joints are recovering. My heart has stopped having tachycardia events. My oxygen levels have improved. My hands and wrists are much better. I am writing this post. I am better. I am knitting again. I’ve started a simple summer tee in a happy pink yarn, and my wrists are letting me knit for an hour a night. I usually bristle up when people suggest that I can just get better with some sunshine and exercise, but in this case it did help.
Other fun that I’ve been enjoying on the internet is the journey of Sunny and Gizmo, two Bald Eaglets that fledged early in June from their nest by Big Bear lake in the San Bernardino mountains in California. Sisters, the two have remained with each other in various trees and have returned to the nest several times. The other fun was the adventures of Ed as he ran free in Tennessee for a week. Yay Ed!! You know that I had to cheer the zebra running wild!!
I do hope that you saw the strawberry moon. It was a happy, bright object in the sky, lighting up the back yard and the bunnies chasing each other over the lawn. The moths entertained the cats, and I sat in the dark with them on my swinging patio chair last night feeling pretty upbeat. This full moon was the last of the spring; what is coming now is the heat of summer. Usually, I kind of dread the summer heat, but last night I felt absolutely sure that I was up for the days to come. How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time. How do you knit a sweater? One hour at a time. How do you face down the scleroderma monster? One beautiful day in the yard/catio at a time.
This is scleroderma awareness month. I went to a scleroderma conference in Denver last month, and this Saturday I will go on a fundraising walk with all of my sclero-friends. I plan to rock the teal! Bring it sclero-monster! I am ready for you!!
Friday is Hannah’s gotcha day. She is now 5 years old.
Last night I started reading the latest edition of Scientific American Magazine. The cover article is about new research that shows… wait for it… sunshine can suppress the immune system and make autoimmune diseases improve. Look at that! I’m kind of thinking that happened to me over the last few weeks. Evidently, it is a balancing act: sunshine can also make things worse. Yay! Once again, I get to use myself as an experimental animal as I figure out how much I can tolerate. 🙂
Zebra running wild!!
Yarn, Books & Roses 
Ah, “Gotcha Day.” I’ve been calling Charlie’s equivalent “Homecoming.” Hannah was such an adorable kitten! How could anyone resist that?
You’ve been so busy! All that outdoor activity, and so much to show for it. I’m envious (but still insanely lazy). The miller moths remind me of my childhood, when we would come up from OKC for a vacation up near Allenspark. Lots of millers in the cabins. Yuck.
I was cheering for Ed while praying he wouldn’t get hurt. I can’t believe they allow zebras as pets in that city, wherever it was.
I’m so happy to hear you are feeling so much better! Spring will do that, especially with all that great rain this year. I remarked once when leaving the hospital after several days, “Never underestimate the healing power of fresh air and sunshine.” We are blessed with plenty of both in Colorado.
I was so very lucky to get Hannah. She had been returned to the shelter as a failed adoption because she cried all night after being closed up alone in a room as the family had a dog. She stayed glued to me all day and night for the first week, and there weren’t any problems; she just needed to be with someone. I got lucky!
It is crazy what is allowed in the pet department, and then there is the farm communities… I laugh every time I pass an emu farm down south of me.
Thankfully the miller moths aren’t that bad this year; I think that it must be all of the rain that we had. Mateo is still finding enough to keep himself busy.
Dear Marilyn, it’s absolutely joyful to hear of your feeling so good and so positive. Although, come to think of it, you’re always positive, regardless !
I have read of your tornados, and shivered. To live where the weather can, in fact, kill you seems weird … horrible … appalling even. But just look at your garden, and your cats, and your wild life ! – none of those adjectives can possibly apply to Aurora …
Of course, I particularly like seeing the glorious Hannah as a kitty: she was always a stunner. 🙂
And that shot of Ed in a net is simply hilarious ! – although how anyone is allowed to have a pet zebra is a bit of a mystery. 😦 Love that pair of young eagles, they’re so impressive. I do love birds of prey – not for their eating other living things, but for their speed and size and beauty and agility and nobility. And so many animals eat other animals – like us, f’risntance.
Please give Hannah a birthday kiss from her Aussie mate, even if she says she doesn’t remember me. [grin]
And you enjoy June as you’ve been doing: soaking up that sunshine in your glorious garden and celebrating YOUR month.
Many hugs from Downunder !!
We are at the edge of the prairie where I live, and the wildlife is abundant. No zebras, though. I was so happy to see Ed going home unhurt, and laughed to see him in the net, being choppered to the travel trailer, still looking bad ass and ready to run again. Watching the eagles has been really fun this spring, and I’m amazed at how many fish they eat! We have bald eagles here in Colorado and I’m pretty sure that they are munching on the prairie dogs and bunnies. I love watching them soar high overhead on clear blue afternoons!
Hannah says thanks for the kiss, and please to send TUNA!!
Thank you for the hugs!
Whaddya think of Michele’s suggestion – voice dictation software for the bad times? Your son could set it up for you, surely …?
Marilyn, I’m happy that your quality of life has returned. Exiting from all that misery must feel like such a relief. I know that fresh air and sunshine benefit us in many ways, but as you’ve said, it can back-fire too. As an aside, I grew up as a pasty white girl in a world that had yet invented sunblock. I had to learn to hide from the sun or pay a terrible price. I’m glad the weather is currently working in your favor. Mateo’s then and now pics are a charming pair.. I hope you’ll continue on this current path of feeling better.
An then there’s Ed. xo
Sunshine is such a mixed blessing. In general, I am told to avoid it as it will make me sicker, and it is definitely advised against with some of the medications that I’m on, but I’m thinking that there much be a happy medium here. The other problem is the heat from direct sunlight, which is a bad one for me as I can’t dump heat as easily as others because… thick skin and damaged sweat glands. Anyway, spring and fall are good times for me, and I am enjoying the period of grace the return to knitting.
Love Ed!!
You manage all these complications well. My skin doctor suggeseted exposure during the early part of the day which makes sense. In your case, you have even more to be cautious about. I hope the warmth and fresh air bring comfort, even when you can’t sunbathe. I can’t wait to see your summer top.
Marilyn, I’m so glad you are doing better! I know there aren’t easy fixes to serious chronic illness, I have two rare conditions myself. So good to enjoy the cats, which I do also, and Happy Gotcha Day to you and Hannah. I too live in tornado country, and have been in a direct hit from an EF-4. I think my husband has been watching that same nest of eaglets! Hadn’t heard of the zebra though!
Oh, no. An E-4?!!!! Not a good day, and I am so sorry. I am more concerned about damaging hail, since we are pretty close to the mountains, but there is still a risk, and our tornados along the front range tend to be smaller. I grew up in earthquake country, and now I live in the land of extreme weather and fire seasons.
The eagle family is still together. I just saw a video of them all eating breakfast together in a tree at dawn today… more fish!! In my little backyard ecosystem I am waiting for the robin babies to fledge. I have some dried meal worms waiting for them…
Wait what! People in the US can keep zebras as pets??!! Are there no rules there on keeping wild animals? Good for the zebra running away and having some freedom for a bit. I’m glad the warm weather is helping, it’s a shame you don’t live in Hawaii or somewhere else where it’s warm all year. The garden looks lovely. Enjoy your summer.
I’m laughing because… Highland Huffalump! I was not aware that it was legal to have a zebra as a pet, but there isn’t much that surprises me anymore. I once had words with the principal of a middle school that I worked with (I was the instructional coach for the science teachers there) for keeping a 12-foot python in the school. They actually took it for “walks” in the hallways! I threatened to report them to animal control and the snake was gone two weeks later. Those teachers were mostly grateful. Mostly. I think that it was taken over by the Denver Zoo.
My parents used to live in Hawaii. That would be perfect!!
I really feel the phrase “only in America” has really taken on a life of its own the last few years. So much crazy news I don’t know why I’m still surprised at things. I mean I watched tiger 🐅 king…of course someone would keep zebras 🦓 😂
May June last forever.
🙂
Mr. Bun lives at your house, too? I call them all Mr. Bun. Saw two of them on my walk last night. And the Strawberry Moon has been gorgeous. I went to a concert with friends the other night, and we all howled at the not-quite-full moon together!
I’m glad you’re feeling better. For those times you can’t type, have you tried voice dictation software? My DH has Parkinson’s, and he relied on that before he retired. He’s actually able to type again, with the right meds on board. But still glad to be retired!
Ah, medication that actually WORKS. And without side effects, Michele ? How excellent !!!
I am overrun with the Buns!! I absolutely love them, but they are a little hard on the lawn.
I have tried dictation software, but I am more of a visual processer, and I struggled with it. I literally can’t write unless I am at a keyboard. I do wear my wrist braces while typing now.
So glad you are feeling a little better. Hope you continue to feel better as summer progresses. Hope you are going to have better weather than we are. Supposed to be rainy for at least the next 10 days!!!
Glad that your symptoms are improving and you are feeling better! You are dealing with so much, and I’m so glad you get these lovely days and nights with so much loveliness around you 🙂 Happy Gotcha Day to lovely Hannah, and welcome to the new tiny baby bunny! Hope you keep feeling better and better!