I have great friends!

I had a productive day - worked on that article, repotted plants, worked on the mosaic, then played softball. We won 16-14! Not through any singular effort on my part - I walked once and got out another time and didn't have any defensive plays. But it was still fun and nice to get out there!

I wondered if I would get short of breath when I ran and I didn't, so that's a good thing. I can't throw as far as I used to, though, because of the radiation and surgery to my right side. My right shoulder is tight, but my partner is going to help loosen that up.

Scott and I made a goof on the mosaic last week - after putting the grout on it, we (or I) didn't take the time to wipe the damp grout off the tiles. So, the grout dried on the tiles and now we've just spent 5 or 6 hours this week-end trying to scrap the damn stuff off the tiles so that you can see the design. It's hard, painstaking work. Scott's doing the bulk of the work - my arthritic fingers get sore faster and I don't quite have the strength that he does. We were encouraged, though, by seeing the tiles pop out again. As long as we can see the results of our labor, we can keep going. We should only have another hour or two left - you can see the tiles with grout still on them on the bottom of this picture. (Actually, the picture is kinda cool - the light was shining through some trees and highlighted one of the two "galaxies" in the design - see it on the right side?) Then, I need to regrout a few areas. Then seal it. Chalk this one up to "live and learn". I've never done a mosaic before . . .



A couple of lurkers read my post today and sent me emails . . . saying that they are visualizing, too. Thanks to all of you, too!

I enjoyed chatting with my friends at the ball game and last night, we played cards and had fun. One of my good friend's daughter's husband said last night, "At our last game, something seemed to be missing and I realized, you weren't there!" He missed me, apparently, and said something like, "it's just not softball without Dee!".

Scott also did some massage work on me today - he was getting ready for his practicum test. Did I say he was in massage school? Anyway, I thought I should only take an hour, but it felt really good, so we went another 30 minutes and he worked on my calves and feet.

I have great friends, you know? Thank you everyone!