Once around the block

After limited activity for over a month, I am allowed to start exercising again.  Today I walked around the block.  This took nearly twice as long as before the latest drama.  But I took it slow and I did it.

Northern California always has something in bloom.  Right now the neighborhood is a blast of color.

Our next door neighbors' front yard.  They love plants and keep planting more stuff.  But it is pretty if just a little bit overgrown.

California poppies.  This is our state flower and it grows where it wants to grow.  The middle of the driveway, on a bridge, with luck in a flower bed.

Two doors up, California poppies, roses and alstroemeria.  

  

Iris and roses

I have no idea what kind of trees these are.  But they are well worth looking at.

Love the neon colors.

It really is a very pleasant trip around the block.

I 

I like this house and yard.  The colors of the house and of the plants just make me smile.

Home.  Only 20 more steps to the back door.

On our back porch orchids starting to bloom and lots of herbs for good eats.

San Leandro is a lovely town. Flowers and trees are always blooming here.  Marty and I are convinced you could stick a baseball bat in the ground and it would leaf out and produce flowers.  

Things that happened this week

Monday was lab work day.  Marty was booked solid, so friend Pat took me for the blood draw.  We used my new handicap placard and parked at the door.  She then took me for lunch because she said I needed to get out and be normal.

On Wednesday the parents of a good friend sent Marty and me roses.  The note said it was to cheer us up.  And the roses did cheer us up.

They arrived just as I was throwing away the flowers my brother and his wife sent me two weeks ago.  Perfect timing.

Yesterday I felt pretty good.  Marty had meetings until early evening so I told him I would cook. This was my first attempt other than toast or a sandwich, at cooking in three weeks. 

This is healthy baked chicken breast with mixed vegetables and a medley of wild mushrooms.  There is just a little wild rice and the broth sans fat from the chicken, veggies, and mushrooms poured over it. 

Today not such a normal day.  I have been tired, and cranky.  Lucky for Marty he wasn't home.  All week my blood pressure has been in the safe range.  My pulse is still erratic, but not dangerously high. 

I am being good, eating healthy and walking every day.  I am up to walking 25 minutes a day. That is 22 minutes more than I could walk when I came home  That is not real fast, but steady.  I have to be able to walk strongly without tiring before I can go back to volunteering.  I also have to stay up longer than an hour at a time.  Baby steps.