The Saga Continues............

The saga continues.  The above photo was taken on a street in San Miguel of the jacaranda trees which were blooming profusely as I prepared to leave for the USA.  They are such grand, exquisite trees.

I arrived in Houston and dealt with all the things that come up when you arrive somewhere, like getting a rental car, getting my US cell phone turned on and one unexpected inconvenience, my computer would not link with any "open" wifi and I could not get the password initially for my friend Martha's internet site.  It took five days of patience and persistence to rectify that situation.  Thank goodness for a service called Geek Squad. And, the patience and persistence of a young man named Robin at Best Buy who spent two afternoons plus a phone call to get the computer and me connected to wifi.  Whew.

I did get out one evening with my old friend Bob to see Chris Smither, musician and song writer extraordinaire who happened to be in town last Friday night at the Mucky Duck.  It was a last minute thing that worked out for me to go.  So welcome and enjoyable.  I love live music!

My friend Martha, who I am staying with at present received this lovely bouquet of flowers from a granddaughter who lives in Maine.  The two of us have oohed and aahed over the fragrance and beauty since their unexpected arrival last Saturday afternoon.

By the way, I have no idea why these photos are floating all
over the place and not in their usual place. Whatever!

As I arrived at my brother and sister-in-law's house on Monday to head to the doctor appointment, finally, this is the view that greeted me of their front gardens!  It just made me smile with joy.  My sister-in-law, Annette, is an avid gardener.  It certainly shows when you see their home.

Off my brother and I went to meet with the orthopedic surgeon to find out the process prior to surgery that was scheduled for April 18th.  You are not going to believe what I am going to write.  There is NOT going to be any surgery..............Yes, both knees are "bone on bone" but the doctor wants to take  a "conservative" approach with other methods and surgery as a "last" resort.  Of course, you can imagine, after thinking about this, making arrangements and planning this for the last eight months, I was speechless.  Totally.  All of his comments and suggestions made sense, but I just "wanted to get on with it and get it over with".  No way.  Instead I received cortisone shots in both knees.  I have been pain free since yesterday morning.  The doctor wants to see how long this lasts and try this for a while............his reasoning is that it is major surgery.  Not all is successful and if I can return to my way of life comfortably without the surgery, I would be better off.  We'll see.

I truly have not been able to wrap my head around all of this.  I'm still in a quandary as to what to do.
Get a second and third opinion; take it as it is; or what.

I now have almost two months in the USA to do whatever............At this point, "one day at a time."

Plans had been made prior to my arrival to go to see the Texas wildflowers yesterday.  Rather then sit around and try to figure things out, I went.  Never even thought about my knees all day.  A LONG day, but so worth it.  Here are some of the scenes we saw as we drove to Chappell Hill for lunch, then went to see the wildflowers and ended up at a magnificent ranch in the Hill Country before heading back to Houston which was only a 45 minute drive, but truly another world away.

Enjoy the shots of the bluebonnets. Indian paintbrush, the farms and ranches and the pond at the ranch that we stopped at prior to returning.  Beautiful day.  Beautiful country.  (You can click on the photos to enlarge, if you wish)

                 The ranch and this magnificent oak tree.  We even saw some larger then this! 

Scene after scene of bluebonnets with sprinkles of Indian paintbrush along with a dab of buttercups.  Oh my, a panoply of color.

To be away from the city, in nature, was just what the doctor ordered, even though he did not know it!

                          Texas back roads always include farms and barns with great Texas skies.

This ranch had the largest herd of longhorns that I've ever seen.  Quite amazing and beautiful.

Back at the one hundred acre ranch of Mr. Smith, he told us the story of he and his wife buying this property in the 1960's, having an architect from Brenham designing the house, the pond, the tennis court and moving a couple of houses already on the property around.  It was fascinating to imagine.

As you can see, we are near the edge of the stocked fishing pond.  The back story is, there were seven of us in this van, on this little dike driving around this pond.  Of the seven occupants, one is wheel chair bound, one uses a walker and the other three of us use canes.  Mr. Smith wanted to drive around.  The ground was a bit soggy.  The driver was so terrified that we were going to bog down (me too).  But, we finally made it around it and drove up the incline back to the ranch house for drinks and appetizers.  Can you imagine, if it had gotten stuck, the seven of us either trying to walk through a field to the house or pushing the van or whatever?  It made me chuckle inside myself to think of it and be grateful that it did NOT happen.  Life is definitely an adventure!