Ending 2023, my year in review. A tough year and glad it's GONE.

I probably should not wish a year to end as the coming year could always be worse, but it's hard to imagine. It was a year full of anguish and hard work. Once I got a breath, more bad news arrived but conversely some really depressing moments ended up positively.

Judy loved her cats!

Early in the year a dear friend passed away and I was named Executor of her estate. Prior to her death I was her Power of Attorney during her long illness. I had never been either so it was a learn as you go experience, emotional but educational and interesting. When I signed the original agreement we lived in the same town but as the years traveled along we had moved 3 hours away, making assisting more difficult. Fortunately I worked closely with her dearest friend to inventory her belongings and gained a new friend in the process.

My Mother-in-law loved Schnauzer's

As soon as I managed to get her estate in order, my mother-in-law passed away after a long illness. My husband ended up practically living with his mother and father for months (they live 6 hours away). I was glad he had the opportunity to do this for his parents. After her passing, we switched gears to figure out his father's situation, researching health care workers for him because he didn't want to leave his home. I discovered a veterans program where they pay for home health care for a certain number of hours a week. It has been a life saver.

A few of our amazing chickens from the past

Oddly, with each human death one of our chickens would follow. We now have no chickens after 10 years of managing and watching out for their safety from hawks and foxes. There is nothing sadder than looking out to an empty chicken yard, but we're planning for our retirement by not adopting more animals as we're determined to flee the coop and travel... ONE DAY. We still have our three cats which amazingly are hanging in there with various senior issues.

In between the ups and downs, I've somewhat neglected my online vintage business but I found time to kick it in gear for the holiday season. Surprisingly I've have a good sales year. I presume it's because I've been selling for 13 years now which gives me an online presence and I also have keyed in on what and where to sell.

My mother still lives with us and is very independent. Shopping for herself and pitching in with packing up goods to ship for my shop. We finally got her to visit our new Senior Center in the Fall to pick up a bridge game or two and the next week we all got COVID so that new venture has been put on hold until Spring. I also developed a sinus infection which was worse than Covid! Shutting me down for a month.

I captured this Bee sleeping in a Crocus

Unfortunately for our pocketbook we had to get a new roof but we're hopeful we will be dead and buried before needing another one! Happy to at least get that behind us because we suspect the roof might have been 43 years old! It was a positive experience and the contractor was awesome so that helped swallow the bitter price pill.

We ended our year with my husband, my mother, and me needing a tooth crown, all in the same week. As I was waiting for the permanent crown a different tooth decided to break. So I'm ending 2023 with a temporary tooth reconstruction awaiting a crown in 2024 (which Cigna insurance pays zero for - they only pay for 1 crown in 60 months - what a racket). So technically my 2024 is not starting well, but we'll just lump that with 2023 since it happened in that year. I am very grateful to my new dentist for stepping up for my two emergency visits.

We didn't have any big health dramas other than teeth, so we can consider ourselves fortunate on that front. My husband is now officially 65 and signed up for Social Security but will not retire for a few more years - wow - seems impossible.

Finishing the year refreshing the dining room in time for Christmas dinner. The table was overtaken with Estate business and my Grandmother's Chandelier was jerry rigged with a piece of wire for the last 14 years! We managed to clear out the stuff, clean and rehang the chandelier, and hang a large painting that belonged to my deceased friend over the table.

I always try to adopt an eco-resolution and this year I'm trying to limit my plastic purchases to #1 and #2 recyclable containers (or better yet - purchase none) since any other number can't be recycled and most of #1 and #2 are landfilled anyway - ugh. I'm also testing our appliance consumption with a device and researching solar panels, an all consuming research project. Better to generate less electricity and waste to begin with!

Wishing you a positive and healthy 2024! Keep the faith that turning the page to a new year can refresh and renew.

~Rebecca

What a year 2020 has been for the world! My year in review.

2020 is DEAD and gone. There is no disagreement on this topic - Dead, gone, bye bye, flushed and crushed. Somehow our big plans for the year were realized; finishing mom's apartment renovation, selling her townhouse, and moving her in. Thankfully both my husband and I continued to work because we're both involved with businesses that sell items online.

In spite of Covid-19 mom managed to move. We had strict rules for anyone coming into mom's home and luckily everyone stayed safe. In order to find room in our split level house, two years ago we launched a garage build project which we finally completed in the Summer. We moved my online vintage shop out of the basement into the new upstairs area over the garage. It ended up being a super smart thing to do. The lower level garage area has proved to be a great spot to stash mom's excess and also use for contactless item pick up for my online selling.

Because my mother lived 2 hours away, selling her items online was more difficult. We finally decided it would be easier to just load up most of what remained and try to sell it here. After months of driving back and forth packing boxes and bringing back fragile items in the car (mainly by my husband) mom listed her place and sold it in 6 days. We hired movers who loaded all day and arrived to our house at 8 pm, unloading a stuffed van until midnight. The moving day started later than anticipated when the movers called to say they ran out of gas on the way! We chalked it up to 2020, the year when nothing goes as planned! The movers were awesome once they arrived and we sold more than enough of mom's excess furniture here to pay for the move.

This Fall I helped my in-laws research their Medicare part D drug plan. For a government program, it's fairly straightforward but there are glitches which made it horribly infuriating. It took me days to figure it out and I've worked with technology for my entire adult life. I can see now how a senior gets stuck with the same plan year after year potentially costing them big bucks if they do not have the capacity to research all the plans available to them. It shouldn't be this hard!

My health changes day to day. We had planned to move mom in the Spring but unfortunately things were originally delayed because I began having vertigo attacks (which finally resolved after taking an antihistamine daily). Also getting to Roanoke and packing boxes was a challenge because my wrists hurt so badly. In the middle of all my health ups and downs the coronavirus hit. My left wrist was so bad from osteoarthritis that it was unusable. I finally got three cortisone shots in that wrist and held off on the other as the pain getting the shots was unbelievable. I had gotten cortisone in one foot a few years ago and it was magical! The shots in my wrist were not as successful but tamped down the worst pain. I do have to limit what I do or it gets back in bad shape again. I've been keeping a food and medicine log for a year now trying to trace what causes my inflammation. Basically I've found no definitive food triggers (I typically eat very little dairy and sugar) but I began taking a teaspoon of virgin coconut oil every day and there "might" be something to it. I've tried a host of other things without benefit (even hemp oil). I also take D and Zinc from time to time which doesn't seem to have any bearing on pain.

We lost our dear chicken Bluebell in 2020. She would fly up on top of the coop and yell at the passing hawks to dare come around (HA). It's often hard to figure that out why a chicken is ill and usually the time is near once they start going downhill. One of our remaining four chickens, Buttercup, is 12 years old, which is a near record for a chicken. Mom likes to spoil her when feeding scraps. Our three cats remained well this year thankfully. Very excited for Mom to see her first Spring here which will blow her away! Trying to train her to leave the plant stems and seeds as she comes from years of townhouse living where every leaf is raked and dead twig removed. Life here is certainly different but she's very happy. She's even packing up boxes for my Etsy and Ebay Shop sales!

I can't think of a better moment to take my annual trip to Richmond to Lewis Ginter Botanical Gardens as offer a FREE WEEK every January! I really enjoyed my trip last year. You need to make an appointment this year! Nature walks seem to be highly popular events because of the safety factor. Hopefully the pandemic will have a few positive outcomes, people will gain an appreciation of protecting our planet and the wild spaces we have left. I have been videotaping more wildlife this year and finally have more than 1,000 followers on my youtube channel so I get a little kick back when you watch :)

Cheers to you and a hopeful 2021. The world is going to explode when we can all get back together.

~Rebecca

Lewis Ginter Botanical Gardens in the Winter, always something green to see.

Very surprised to see Cherry blossoms!

A few weeks ago, Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden in Richmond offered FREE admission, so of course I had to go! One might think that January is a drabby time of year to visit but there is always something to see. Right now there are plenty of little shrub berries, ornamental grasses yellow Winter Jasmine, Camellia, Cherry Trees, Snowdrops, and even a few Daffodils opening. The bare deciduous trees provide a nice view of the bones of the garden.

My new discovery, The Woodland Garden

I wanted to see if there were Daffodils blooming on the far backside of the Asian Gardens as I remembered spotting them a few years ago in that area. I was happy to see a sign for the  Woodlands Garden, a little hideaway off the beaten path.

First Daffodil spotting of 2020

This trip I really wanted to make time to visit the extensive library. Normally I visit Ginter in Spring or Summer so I'm totally distracted by the glorious gardens. Winter is a perfect time to check out the books and the "seed library". I was really excited to see they have a seed loan. You have to pledge to "attempt" to grow the seed you take and harvest seed and return back to the library. I was quite greedy but I hope to have some success. I've been saving seed for 25 years and I've always wanted to start a seed library in Charlottesville. I'm sure someone else will eventually do this as it's becoming more and more popular.

Weeding and preening never ends!

I'll have to admit that not seeing even one rose in bloom is a bit of a downer but the bodies of water help make up for this loss. Volunteers were packing up the thousands of lights from the annual Light Show. It takes months to get the garden ready for the big Spring burst. There were certainly a lot of people involved with this effort.

Several varieties of Camellia popping open

I enjoyed testing out my new camera and look forward to having more to shoot soon. The birds outside are providing the most opportunity and I'm filming our continued home renovations and posting on YouTube.

Get outside and look closely and you will find those first signs of Spring!

~Rebecca

Starting the 2020 new year finishing construction projects in preparation of mom's move

My first decent bird photo with my new camera

My annual look back at last year's accomplishments begins with the completion of several projects in order to find space for mom in our house. Our prefab garage was erected Halloween eve 2018 and last year we finished the interior and added touches to the exterior to give it a barn look. Upstairs over the garage would house my Etsy vintage shop and my old space in the house would become Mom's renovated apartment!

Anthony installing handmade barn board window ledges

Anthony and I completely finished the second story of our little barn garage by ourselves for the exception of hooking the main electrical line to the house. During 2019 we hung sheet rock and painted, installed a door between the non-insulated garage and upstairs Etsy shop area, installed a mini split heat and air system, and installed flooring and shelves. Then the fun began when we had to move the racks, cabinets, clothing, and boxes of vintage upstairs. Any and everyone that came to our house was put on notice that their price of admission was hauling a box or piece of furniture. My husband's brother got stuck helping us haul the biggest piece of furniture up the stairs. Thankfully he figured out how to get the old train station wooden bench through the doorway!

Anthony's barn board bookcase

I couldn't be happier with my set up and am so much more organized. I currently have 9 consignment clients and sell mainly on Etsy and Ebay. I have a photography area, shipping station, computer desk, and plenty of room for storage. I'm most in love with the big windows and the barn board detailing made from an old shed that stood on my family farm. My talented husband decorated the front of the barn garage with some and built a bookcase and window ledges out of others. I found an amazing 1930's green gas station light on Etsy for the front exterior that I also treasure.

Busting out a wall, Snoopy cat strikes again

We also began the interior work in Mom's basement apartment. Finishing a bathroom, creating a hallway, installing new windows, a new entry doorway, and installing a small kitchen. The four window replacements were super easy while busting out the new doorway was the hardest. The creation of a kitchen was not too difficult but all the details were time consuming. Installing Pex hot and cold water lines was super amazingly easy but the laminated counter top was a bit tricky. We utilized the family barn boards again for accents in the kitchen and all the cabinets were randomly discovered at two local Habitat Stores.

Beginning of cabinet build, amazingly it comes together!

I sadly didn't participate in construction after early Spring because my arthritis gave me such a fit. I so wanted to hammer and saw but my wrists would not let me. Having RA and Sjogrens for 20 years has been a royal PAIN. My Morton's Neuroma in one foot has thankfully calmed down after the cortisone shot that provided a lot of relief but the other foot is echoing this ailment. My husband has pretty much had to do all interior house renovations himself. I pick up a caulk gun every now and then just to remind me how much I love construction work. I still do all the design and cabinet hauling since the Habitat and Lowe's folks are so nice to load everything for me!

My favorite photo of Cesar

We had a few pet events last year. Our little broken down cat, Cesar hurt himself early in 2019 and was dragging his legs behind himself. He is much better now and just has a little limp. Somehow late in 2019 he managed to get an ear hematoma and we decided surgery would have been horrible for him so we're letting it deflate on its own. We also lost our chicken Big Red to a hawk so we had to start locking the chickens under a wire run for most of the day.

A memorable photo I took of a Tiger on a Clerodendrum

Mom is doing really well but is very anxious to move in this Spring! It's going to be an eventful and challenging year as she needs to also sell her condo. I really really hope we can have some downtime after she gets settled.

I'm starting 2020 with a new camera. So there will be a lot for me to learn.

~ Rebecca

Yellow Blooming Spring Shrubs, the difference between Winter Jasmine and Forsythia

Very appropriate setting for Forsythia hedge, open spaced area

One of the most common garden plant identification errors is confusing the Winter Jasmine for Forsythia. Spring after Spring people excitedly claim how beautiful the Forsythia is, when in reality, it's Winter Jasmine. Differences between Winter Jasmine (Jasminum nudiflorum) and Forsythia vary between bloom time, height, and flower shape. It's an easy mistake to make, especially when we're all so thrilled to see anything blooming! Forsythia and Winter Jasmine can both bloom when it's snowing and most varieties have yellow flowers. They are both grouped in the olive family genus, Oleaceae and most varieties originated in Asia.

Looks like a yellow magic marker hit this shrub border!

Forsythia is the more familiar plant and every old roadside farmhouse had a Forsythia shrub or two. This is probably why any yellow Spring blooming shrub is referred to as Forsythia. It's very common in Virginia and many consider it a pest because it's a non-native, fairly aggressive rooting shrub. It's probably the most dastardly hacked shrub known to man! How many bad Forsythia hair jobs have we all seen! DON'T SHAPE UP THE FORSYTHIA. A random shortening of extra long branches is often warranted, but DON'T SHAPE THE FORSYTHIA!

Clump of Forsythia near my garden gate.

For these reasons I've never thought about planting Forsythia but it's interesting that I ended up buying a home with a view of Forsythia from every single window and door in the house! I've grown to appreciate the ability of big clumps to provide shelter for birds, deer, and foxes and of course the Spring cheer that it brings. I wanted to name my property and business after a plant and Forsythia Hill was a perfect fit.

Small and cheery, Winter Jasmine bloom.

Winter Jasmine is a more difficult shrub to acquire as it's not as common. It took me 10 years to track down a free start of this shrub. I've not looked very hard, but one came to me at a plant swap last Spring. I was thrilled to finally have this shrub. It too is fairly aggressive but if planted in the right spot allowed to do its thing, it can make quite a splash. It also is a non-native and should be planted with care. I would like to think my gardening acquisitions would be limited to only natives but I've not been able to control myself. Even natives can be aggressive so care should be given for any planting decision. There is a good FB page that identifies invasive plants which is very informative and there are some horribly destructive plants that we each should never plant.

Forsythia shrub bud when in full bloom. 

There are several ways to determine the difference between these similar Spring blooming plants. The first is bloom time. It's very slight and can overlap but the Winter Jasmine will begin blooming before any other Spring plant. Possibly crocus will peep up at the same moment, but it will show color while everything is gray and asleep. Winter Jasmine is also typically a shorter (2' - 3' tall) arching shrub. Forsythia is straighter and taller. Stems eventually arc over and root but the standard Forsythia is much taller (5 - 6'). There are shorter dwarf Forsythia shrubs which cause extra identification difficulty. Forsythia also has been bred in a white form but is quite uncommon.

Forsythia bud, just before it begins to open

The blooms on the plants are also quite different if you look closeup. In general the Forsythia has a longer tighter pointed petal bloom and the Winter Jasmine has a flat faced rounded petal tip bloom. Of course things become more complicated depending upon where you live and the variety. But I hope these few general differences will help you better identify these common Spring blooming plants.

For local identification in Charlottesville Virginia, there are appropriate uses of Winter Jasmine on Earlysville Rd. near Ivy Creek Nature Center and downtown on McIntire Rd. under the overpass. It's mid-March and the Winter Jasmine is fading and the Forsythia is showing a nice bit of color.

Happy SPRING!

~Rebecca 

Spring has sprung, Garden flowers are coming up quickly and Charlottesville Gardening events abound.

Spring fever has hit as the sleet rains down but the Robin's have arrived so no one thinks this burst of bad weather is going to last. Just a few clumps of Daffodils have begun to bud so hoping there won't be grave losses of flowers as the bad weather rolls in over the next week. Lots of changes are happening in Charlottesville on Forsythia Hill.

Spring is my favorite time to garden because its not humid and the plants are just emerging. It is super easy to divide and relocate plants while foliage is short and buds have not appeared. I've even divided Daffodils during this time but you may sacrifice some of their show until next year. Check out my garden as it grows on youtube.

Line to enter native plant sale at Ivy Creek Nature Center

On the hunt for unique plants this Spring? You should not miss several upcoming annual Charlottesville events. Insects are searching for their favorite plants so add some beneficials to your garden. The Native Plant Sale always has a little this and that for me to snag. Truth be told, they have tons of plants and I've purchased so many over the years that my selection choices have nearly been exhausted. A few of my favorite past purchases were Asters and Viburnum shrubs. Check it out on Saturday, April 27 from 1-3.  Another popular sale with tons of great plants is the Master Gardeners Plant Sale. It has relocated to the Shops at Stonefield outdoor lawn on Saturday, May 4, 2019. I also follow an active local gardening Facebook site that often hosts a Spring swap, https://www.facebook.com/groups/cvilleplantswap.

The chickens have begun laying again! Many chickens go on strike during the short days of winter and Spring brings on lots of coop laying action. A friend gave me 3 of her hens so we're experiencing a recent influx of eggs at the moment. We are now getting 3 - 4 eggs a day from our 6 girls.

I love Cville

To tide you over until the garden gets going, check out the Tom Tom Festival in Charlottesville the week of April 8, 2019. The Tom Tom Foundation is a nonprofit that celebrates entrepreneurs, civic leaders, and creators who shape cities and communities across the nation. The summit convene experts, practitioners, and innovators for a week of keynotes, workshops, round tables and mixers. Over 200 speakers will present this year. The theme this year is Building Better Hometowns.

~Rebecca

Turning the page to 2019, Looking back at a busy 2018

Our big shed is now gray with touches of light blue.

This past year we were stretched to the limit completing renovation projects.  Seems I could hardly breathe at times. Thankfully my husband took over when I pooped out or just got bored with a task. I do have a brain that likes to stay busy so finding projects is very easy for me but completion is another matter all together! My husband does such good work that I pester him until he can't stand it any more and finishes the project so I'll leave him alone.

I started 2018 by falling off the front porch backward while swapping out a suet feeder and fracturing my ankle. So I was worthless for a solid 2 months and gardening was near impossible!

Our little shed that was painted in 2017

While I was crippled up, my husband painted our large shed. I had no part of this for the exception of small design details. One day we will attempt to paint the house to match. At least the two sheds and coop finally look like they belong in one yard together.

Another fun project which was a little more complicated was to install an outdoor rain barrel shower. Only available for use when it's hot outside, I used it exclusively this past summer. I love outdoor showers and feel as if I'm doing my part to save resources by not turning on the indoor shower. It works amazingly well and saves time after you get out of the pool. Also no more tracking water through the house to get upstairs to the indoor shower! A friend donated a rain barrel and we used shutters that were in the shed as partitions. I picked up a shower head at the habitat store. Our only purchases were a hose and connector piece.

Our patio incorporating the outdoor DIY rain barrel shower.

Summer and leading into Fall was spent on two bathroom renovation projects. We still have not laid the floor tile in the master bathroom, due to other more pressing projects, but we've completed the hardest parts. I'm very happy with our tiny bathroom remodels. We enlarged one bathroom and stole some space from the other to even the sizes out. Ripped out an old plastic shower surround and installed wall and floor tile. It's such an improvement. Long lost friends came to visit during construction and their auto rental happened to be a TRUCK. Danny hauled some shower boards for the project, he loved every minute. Great timing for that visit! 

The last pair of Monticello Lions were tracked down!

Taking a Spring break from construction projects, we took a very quick trip to North Carolina to investigate a solid report that the Monticello Levy Lions were sitting peacefully gazing out over the lawn of a historic estate. One of our highlights of the year, we enjoyed lovely company and visiting with the lions! A massive discovery being they were the real deal with a long history. Catch up on this interesting mystery.

Jethro the magnificent.

During the summer months, our dear Roo Roo Jethro passed away suddenly. I so miss his morning call and alert noises. He was a commanding rooster that was well behaved. We were lucky to have experienced a flock with a rooster as so many are discarded due to noise and behavior. He was just plain cool. We miss his antics, it was a sad day when he passed. A friend gave us three hens early in 2019 so we now have six pretty girls. It's going to be a whole new egg laying dynamic this Spring!. Watch my funny viral video about the noises that chickens make.

Our little barn garage. Shutters to be added next.

For a solid year I interviewed contractors and researched an addition to our house in order to move mom here. We started big with a full on mother-in-law suite and ended up adding a 2-story garage. We decided to turn our basement into Mom's space. Getting the garage layout ironed out and the prefab structure here was not as easy as it sounds. I acted as the general contractor and independently hired a foundation guy and builder. After the foundation was poured, and the structure went up in an amazing 2.5 days, it was time for us to do some work. I installed most of the electrical wiring (we did hire an electrician to hook up the big wire from the garage to the house).

In the middle of all this, I had some weird health issues creep up. I developed something called Morton's Neuroma of the foot. It just made me so angry that I worked through the pain. It took several months to get in to see a doctor but it looks like a cortisone shot is forthcoming next week, which I hope will provide some relief. It is unbearable burning stabbing pain that worsens the more you walk. My nature walks have come to a grinding halt. This shall not do! I also developed an allergy to meat called Alpha-gal! Which sounds unbelievable but it's a real thing (it so happens the allergist that discovered this is right here in Charlottesville). My ankles and feet were attacked this summer by what I call chiggers (could have been seed ticks). Talk about horrible, the only thing that helped the itch was a baking soda paste. A week later I ate pork at a restaurant and thought I was going to die. Massively ill, hives all over, go to the emergency room ill! An antihistamine curbed the reaction but it was hell. At that time I thought it was food poisoning and I even called the health department! Because I only eat meat a few times a year, I did not realize this was a meat allergy until it happened again in the Fall after I ate a hamburger and I experienced the same violent reaction. A near vegetarian in 2018, needless to say, a complete vegetarian in 2019!

Two of the three cats, Cesar was injured in 2018 but better.

I still sell vintage online and hope to ramp things back up once we get mom here and settled. I sell online mainly on Etsy and Ebay on consignment for seven friends and family members. I also try to market art and vintage through my Facebook and Instagram pages for our local talented Etsy shop owners.

Looking back, it probably was the busiest year since we moved into our home nearly 10 years ago. We will be putting the finishing touches on the garage in 2019 (we just finished insulating and will begin hanging sheet rock ourselves this weekend) and next redoing the basement for mom. Hoping to get things wrapped up in a few months. Then we have to get mom's place ready to sell and her moved. I'm looking forward to possible rest in 2020 already!

~Rebecca

Spring Flowers and Nature in Charlottesville Virginia

The first flower to bloom, Winter Aconite

It's going to be another early Spring in Charlottesville, Virginia. I recall such a Spring about 5 years ago. I didn't care for it much because EVERYTHING bloomed all at once! I prefer the gradual blooming that typically occurs. We may have one problem though, it looks like by the end of the week, temperatures may dip below 30 degrees! NOT GOOD for the thousands of Daffodils that are in bloom and budding in my yard on Forsythia Hill.

The first daffodil to bloom in my yard on Forsythia Hill

Don't get me wrong, I'm very grateful to live in such a beautiful State and experience such a glorious Spring. It's year number 8 for us in Cville and several areas in the yard that we have "landscaped" are starting to form. The 2 new Forsythia shrub patches are coming along quite nicely. One has formed a clump as intended, the other has another 3 years to form the long serpentine hedge as planned. We now have 4 forsythia patches in our yard plus an additional outcropping along the property line that belongs to a neighbor (that I begged to not bulldoze - so far so good). Our neighbor across the street bulldozed their huge patch (I guess they didn't like yellow). "sigh".

Fat Bluebird ready to find a mate.

We had one big patch to the right of our house and we installed the serpentine patch to the left of the house and it now looks quite balanced. It's becoming a riot of color in the Spring with my neighbors strip of mammoth white Bradford Pear trees and my blinding yellow Forsythia and splashes of thousands of Daffodils. I wonder what my neighbors must say as they drive by -- "Wilbur, hand me my sunglasses - PLEASE" or just "Please make it stop"! I do love the shock value of such plantings.

Little miniature white and yellow Daffodils

Up next will be the Tulips and Iris along with creeping Phlox and other ground covers. I did notice the blue Vinca Vine is blooming. A plant that I tolerate but don't care much for except in the Spring when it blooms. The Naked Lady foliage is looking like water fountain sprays at the moment, a freeze could do them in. Luckily the blooms spring up much later in the season after the leaves have died back.

Once again, Historic Garden Week in Virginia occurs during my Birthday week. I can't wait to snag a catalog and start planning a trip somewhere in the State!

I'm fearless when it comes to transplanting!

HAPPY SPRING 2017.

~ Rebecca

Dangers of a common antibiotic Levaquin / Cipro / Fluoroquinolones

First snow of the season!

We finally had SNOW in Charlottesville, Virginia. I've been a busy bee all winter long selling mainly on Etsy and Ebay. It's my peak season so I tend to not have much time for anything else.

I did run into some health troubles after Christmas. I'm not sure if it's from working online so extensively or if something else is up. I've been experiencing lasting, severe red eyes that my eye doctor said was severe dry eyes (which worsen in the winter and are due to RA / Sjogren's Disease which I've had now for 15 years). I was diagnosed by my general doctor with a Sinus Infection and prescribed Levaquin, the generic for Levofloxacin. It is in the family of drugs called fluoroquinolones along with Cipro among others. These drugs are the most prescribed antibiotics in the US.

Mr. Squirrel appears with the first flake panic eating bird food!

Before taking Levaquin I read the warnings... tendinitis or even a ruptured tendon. I'm so used to hearing the laundry list of possible side effects on TV that I've become numb to them so I proceeded to take this drug, thinking my doctor certainly knows best. I never thought that I would actually experience any of the side effects (three doctors have told me that it's quite uncommon). I was given a course of 1 pill for 14 days and on the 6th day my calf muscles began to feel stiff. I talked myself into thinking that it was just psychosomatic so I took another dose. The next morning I could hardly walk from the bed 10 feet to the bathroom. My calf muscles were so tight I could not bend my ankles. I was dragging my feet on the floor for 2 days so as not to have to bend them. I made my husband stay home from work as I was unable to go up or down the stairs. On day 4 I decided to rake a few leaves and my heart began to race (5 swipes of the rake) and stopped. I began to research this family of drugs more online and based on consumer comments, the potential damage is extensive.

Sure, people do have reactions and when I read a handful I don't worry but when there are pages and pages of accounts then I start to worry. There is even a tag line given to it called floxing or I've been floxed.

My neighbors horse in the snow.

It's been a week since I stopped taking this drug and my legs have improved but my tendons still feel like a rubber band being stretched. I can now go up and down the stairs but I'm fearful of putting any additional stress on my tendons and am not taking my daily walks down the street which was my form of exercise for the health of my body and bones. I've not pushed much exercise but my heart has not raced with normal daily activity. It has been mentioned that tendons have ruptured months after stopping this drug and especially if a lot of stress is put on the tendon, like in running. Interestingly, a friend mentioned she took Cipro without any issues and then it dawned on me that months ago she complained about peripheral neuropathy, another possible side effect of this drug that she never equated to taking it.

Please, please, please have the sense, because I did not, to ask you doctor for something less powerful if they attempt to give you this line of drugs. I would classify this line of antibiotics as one to take when all others fail. I have not taken an antibiotic I would estimate in 10 years and another one with less side effects could have been prescribed. I wish I had taken the risks seriously given I already have health issues. Now I have to wait for months and possibly years in fear of rupturing my Achilles or developing something worse. Read this and especially the comments from Consumer Reports if I have not convinced you, too risky to take.

-Rebecca