UPDATE, with a video - Some soothing photos that I decided to share with you.

UPDATE: Here you have it, my latest hat to cover my easily chilled, stubble-covered head. Plus my newest cup to use when I enjoy Twinings English Breakfast Tea. I lucked into it on Saturday at the Albertina Kerr thrift shop, known as Albertina's Closet.



Click on the video and you'll go to my Flickr account, then click on it again to watch. Enjoy!

Slept plenty last night, woke up right before 4 a.m. and stayed up because I didn't feel sleepy any longer. Tomorrow by this time I will have had blood drawn for the pre-chemo Round Two tests. Then on Wednesday morning, I have an 8 a.m. appointment with my chemo doctor which is scheduled prior to Round Two Chemotherapy.



Ginkgo tree leaves and April sunshine, taken at Lownsdale Park, downtown Portland.



Blossoms in the spring sunshine. I don't remember for sure where I took this photo because I see so many beautiful blooming trees in Portland. It's a lovely place in the spring.



My favorite shadows, these undulating along the sidewalk. I lucked into this photo in August, 2007, as I walked to the bus stop. We used to live in the Alphabet District in Northwest Portland, so my early morning work commute took me eastward.

UPDATE - Sunshine and shadow at the Portland Farmers Market at the Portland State University in the South Park Blocks, downtown Portland, June 6, 2015.

UPDATE: Fell sleep during the 3rd quarter of the Seahawks' game. Woke up after it was over to find out they'd been beat by Denver. Shoot. I finally went back to sleep around 1:45 a.m. and woke up at 6 a.m. Better than no rest.

Yesterday after I had posted a video of some of the hair that came off my head when I washed it, my sweet friend and hairdresser Rosa and I texted back and forth about the next step in dealing with it. I realized I needed to take Rosa up on her offer to come cut my hair again, this time with clippers. She'll be here at 10 am. Portland time.

Once I saw some of it blowing off my head yesterday evening when the wind gusted, hairs catching the sunshine as they flew away from me--I had walked the 400 steps to the Blue Diamond's back door to pick up some food I had ordered because I needed a break from what I have here--I thought to myself, "Just in time!"



Lovely flowers.



Juicy berries.



Can't resist sharing this closeup of the flowers, y'all.



Man-made shade aids produce shoppers. How's that for a caption for this one?



Can't resist sharing this closeup of the peonies, y'all.

UPDATE and why I went outside again this morning.

UPDATE:

Yesterday evening the outer dressings came off my two incisions without any trouble. Hooray! Woke up at 1:45 a.m. and finally got back to sleep around 2:30 a.m. Slept until 6:15 a.m. which means I got some rest. I ate breakfast after I woke up the second time. Still no nausea or taste alterations. The peripheral neuropathy continues to get better--thank goodness. When it does happen, it's mostly in my feet. Since I need to build up my stamina before Chemo Round Two, I walked outside in the shade yesterday for a total of 4583 steps, according to the Health app on my iPhone 6 Plus. That's four times my daily average. Hooray! This morning when I went outside, the skies were overcast, so I was able to walk in my neighborhood and made it 1194 steps in about 20 minutes. I'll be back outside in the shade until much later today because the sun has come out. I am blessed to live where I do, to have the opportunities during my recovery. Thank you for your continued prayers, love and concern.



Yesterday when I walked outside on the south side of the building in the shade, I made it to the corner of my building and saw the beautiful sunshine in the banana tree in the southern end of the front yard. The two-story Albertina Kerr building across the street makes great early morning shade.



I continued toward the front steps and took this photo at a different angle from all the others I've taken of our front sidewalk and entrance.



Here's the sunshine that I needed to avoid. Isn't it beautiful?



To me, the proximity of these roses and the difference in the age of their blooms makes for a great photo. What do you think, please?

Chemo Round One, Day 2. Three cheers for the window unit and the anti-nausea meds!

I slept from 11:30 until 4 a.m. When I woke up, I was hungry. I toasted a King Hawaiian bun--there really is very little Land o' Lakes butter on that bun, I have no idea why it looks so shiny--put a few blueberries, grapes and cherries with it on my sunny yellow salad plate, filled up my cup with hot Twinings English Breakfast Tea and my mug with 28 ounces of water. Before I took this photo, I ate two bites of half of the bun. Between 4:30 a.m. and 7:30 a.m., I ate the rest of this, interspersed with napping in the recliner and talking on the phone with Lamont to be certain that I understood my meds' schedule for Day 2. I believe I finally have it straight and have entered correct reminders in my phone in case I'm napping. I want to take those anti-nausea ones on schedule since I'm getting ready for Day 3 which could be the day that I get hit with nausea, etc.



I was told yesterday to not go out in the sun without sunblock. Since we are supposed to get to 100 degrees, or at least close to it, today, I will not be wasting any sunblock just to get in some walking. I have a great place to walk indoors, through the hallways and up the various carpeted stairs. Here's a photo looking down onto my apartment's windows, to the left. You can see my splendid window unit in place and doing its wonderful thing for my little studio. Three cheers for the window unit! When I took this photo at 8:34 a.m., I checked the weather app--it was 73 degrees.



I walked through that multi-glass-paned door, across this landing and explored the hallways off it. Then I took this photo so that you could get an idea of how great a place I have for indoor walking, with carpet and stairs and handrails almost everywhere. My window unit is peeking through the bottom right corner of the rightmost window. Three cheers for the window unit!



One more photo from the landing before I explored some more. You can see someone who lives upstairs from me has a window unit. I also know that the people who live next to me, as you look to your right, have a window unit. They also have a darling little pug named Charlotte. Their window unit is not visible in the photo, like mine and my upstairs neighbor's. Three cheers for all of these window units! Not everyone in the building has one, though, so I hope all of them have lots of fans and/or shade from trees to help them out during these continuous days of mid-90s.



This is the first floor vestibule--the sun coming through the front door makes a sort of church-window-like impression on the tile floor. I like this vestibule a whole lot, especially that brown bench on the left which is a great place to sit for spell if one is spent, energy-wise. I had plenty of energy and walked through the multi-glass-paned door and up the five stairs you can sort of see through it, at least the white-painted wood not covered by the carpet on each step. I walked up and down my hallway and decided to go out onto the completely shaded sidewalk. I had my keys with me, of course, so I knew that I could get back inside without getting into the sunshine.



Shade to the west.



Shade to the east. Outside that gate I could go either across the street to Albertina Kerr and its rose gardens, or I could sit in my aluminum folding chair. Not doing any of that today unless it is after sundown which is supposed to happen at 8:43 p.m. I'm going to set a reminder on my phone to check it out then, sunwise, especially if I'm going stir crazy in here. Who knows, I might get up early again tomorrow and feel like going out for a bit before sunrise. I imagine it will be close to when it came up today at 5:53 a.m.



I walked east and into the other building in my little apartment complex, straight through it to its front entrance that faces south. I looked out and realized that I could go out there for a short walk in shade. Hooray!



When I reached the top of the stairs, I realized I was going to be holding onto that handrail because these are a bit steep.



Here's the side entrance to my building which I use very often. I like the gate's shadow on the sidewalk. I could tell that it was pretty warm already out there and believe the weather man's report about what we will have here today. As I'm typing two and a half hours after I took these photos, it is already 82 degrees.



I walked in the grass beneath the trees as far as I dared go and was able to at least see Albertina Kerr's building and that massive and well-tended hedge around the front yard. I turned around and walked into my building through the side entrance. I'd have been foolish to have continued up the sidewalk and in through the front entrance which is to the right, off that sidewalk beside the street. I don't want to tempt fate where any possible chemo side effects are involved. So far, so good, y'all! Thank you for your continued prayers, love, and concern.

Bottle tree, powers that be.

Monday evening I came across a fine painting by Ellen Langford, a friend of mine, an extraordinary artist in Jackson, Mississippi. Her paintings are emotional, memorable, comfortable, like that feeling known as old home week, defined thusly: a reunion of former associates marked by special warmth or cordiality, as in a little knot of alumni having an old home week in the stadium parking lot. For me, the former associates are the paintings' subjects which harken to memories of mine. The paintings then gather me in with that special warmth and cordiality. I feel good all over.

I messaged Ellen on Facebook and let her know that, of all those images of chickens she'd just finished, I wanted to buy the one that included Gertrude, her voluminously-tailed backyard hen, some wash on the line, and her bottle tree. We agreed to settle up on Tuesday.

Tuesday morning she texted me, saying that someone wanted to buy the entire chicken collection, would it make me sad if I let go of the one I wanted and waited for another one, that I certainly had first dibs on it. I immediately told her that I could wait for another one as long as it included the three elements--Gertrude, wash on the line, bottle tree--whenever the muse struck her to paint it. The thought of all those paintings being together on someone's wall excited me.

Ellen replied. "Wonderful. Very generous of you! Do you have a bottle tree there to take away all of the bad cancer spirits?"

"No," I explained, "I don't have a bottle tree mainly because I don't have a yard." She said that maybe a bottle tree painting would serve the same purpose. I told her that's what I had been thinking when I saw the painting. She said, "I'll make you one." I didn't mention to her that I knew where to find the photos that I had taken of mine and Mama's Mississippi bottle tree back in 2004. I didn't say anything about those photos because the idea for this blog post popped completely formed in my mind instantly.



Immediately, I could see the bottle tree that my brother Howard had built for Mama and me, that we had at the end of our deck beside the fifth-wheel camper trailer we lived in at the Swinging Bridge Campground in Byram, Mississippi, right outside Jackson. Mama and I loved that bottle tree he'd made out of treated wood, complete with low shelves to hold potted plants.



We enjoyed when the sunshine lit up the bottles like jewels on a crown.

My mid-morning snack. Thank you, Lord. Let me count my blessings.

--> Blessing No. 1 - After spending about 40 minutes outside in my folding aluminum lawn chair when the temp was 70 and the breeze comforting, I came inside for a pit stop and went right back outside for another 50 minutes. That time I had to move my chair so that my legs were in the sunshine because it was actually chilly out there in the low humidity breeze. Later on today when it gets to 97 I predict that I will be in my studio apartment, comfortable even with five one-week-old-one-inch-long slices in my abdomen--praise the Lord that they are healing nicely.



Blessing No. 2 - The electricity to run my frig and my window unit and my TV and my computer--you get the picture. It's 82 now, and I'm comfortable.



Blessing No. 3 - These strawberries, blueberries, and cherries that one of my sons picked up for me earlier on at Freddie's.

Blessing No. 4 - Those two loving, helpful sons of mine, Lamont and Leland!

Blessing No. 5 - My job and the wonderful folks with whom I work and the Family Medical Leave Act which protects my job for me.

Blessing No. 6 - My little Mama's old blue plush recliner where I'm headed in a little while. I woke up at 1 a.m. and stayed awake for at least three hours before falling a sleep for may two, so I will listen to my body and take a nap soon.

Blessing No. 7 - The massive number of folks praying for me as I experience these changes in my life. I thank the Good Lord for each of you, and I can feel the power of your prayers and love.



All that's left after I've enjoyed my blessings, y'all.

Leland took these photos on Saturday while I picked blueberries.

There I sit in my folding lawn chair, picking blueberries at Bella Organic on Saturday. I'm so glad that I thought to take that chair outside my building so that Leland could put it in the trunk of his car for the ride to Sauvie Island. Then he and/or Rachel carried it for me. I am so blessed. Thanks, you two!



I really like this photo that Leland took! Such a unique perspective!