SUMMER IN THE REAR VIEW MIRROR

Our temperatures are cooling down, we've had our first frost, it's actually getting dark at night, the leaves are turning and the geese are heading south. Yes, summer is in the rear view mirror. 

Here's some things I'll miss about summer. 

• Flowers  

             

    

• Eating, visiting, celebrating in the yard with family and friends.

• The long daylight hours

• Reading outside in the swing and hammock. (If you're interested, check out my summer reading list below). 

• Dinners on the back deck

• Less clothes (no jackets, boots and gloves)

• Bible reading and prayer in the sunshine on the front deck

• Driving with the windows down

• Daily walks outside

• Butterflies

• The smell of fresh mowed grass

• The fragrance of lilac lingering in the yard

• Ladybugs

• Barbecues 

• Digging in the dirt to plant flowers

• Flip-flops & visors

• The kids playing basketball in the driveway

• Ducks from the river visiting in our yard

• Green leaves and grass

• Open doors and windows

• Driving on dry roads  (no snow)

• Birds at the bird feeder outside our front window. (I'm wondering if they'll visit during the winter and hoping they will).

• Being outside

• Bare feet

Goodbye Summer, Happy Fall Y'all

 

Created by Nancy Welch

 

Summer Reading List: 

The Marriage Lie, William Krueger    

Cold Tangerines, Shauna Niequist 

Ordinary Grace  William Kent Krueger

When God Winks at You, Squire Rushnell 

The Color of Light, Karen White  

The Tender Land, William Kent Krueger
Chasing Vines, Beth Moore
The Devil’s Bed, William Kent Krueger
The Undoing of Saint Silvanus, Beth Moore  

Pay It Forward, Catherine Ryan Hyde 

Stay, Catherine Ryan Hyde
Sweet Magnolia Series, Sherryl Woods
The Rescue, Nickolas Sparks
The Book of Lost Friends, Lisa Wingate  
Midnight Sun, Stephenie Meyer
 

MOM'S PAINT BRUSHES

My Mom, Theresa Zakit Covey, was an artist so I grew up around paint brushes, oil paints, easels, paint palettes, murals, paintings, lettering, banners, signs, etc. She painted on canvas, walls, rocks, feathers, fungi, railroad spikes, power line insulators, boards and even a toilet lid. Dad would create things out of wood and then she would paint scenes on them. They were quite an artistic team.  

When she was a young girl, still at home, she and her siblings would sit around their kitchen table in the evenings and draw. While her siblings would all draw different things, Mom mostly drew scenery.

The artist gene (drawing and painting) was passed along to several of my cousins, but it definitely skipped me. When I was in school and needed an illustration or lettering for a project I would always have Mom do it for me. In fact, I used her skills for a lot of my projects even in my adult life. These days I ask my artistic and creative children to help me.  😊

My granddaughters and I often sit around our table doing arts and crafts. I know my Mom would have enjoyed drawing and painting with them like she did with my kids when they were young. 

After she died (2008) I kept a jar of her paint brushes. They just sit in my craft closet….unused, except for one brush.  

This summer we repainted our back deck and shed. There were areas which required a smaller brush so I went to the jar of Mom's brushes and pulled out my favorite. It was the perfect size. While Mom would create something beautiful with that brush I simply applied an even coat of paint to renew and refresh boards and trim. 

Mom’s paint brushes now lay idle, except for the one I use occasionally for mundane projects, but her art work lives-on all over the world. 

Sometimes I look at a sunrise or sunset (especially one with vivid colors) and wonder if the good Lord let Mom help paint that one. 

It’s not the magic of the paintbrush, 

but the talent of the one who holds the brush.

THIS OLE HOUSE

I recently received (from a 2nd cousin) this picture of the house in Virginia where I lived as a kid.  It's my wallpaper on my laptop and I find myself just looking at it and reminiscing back to when I was 7, 8 and 9 years old.

Dad built this house when he was working for the Church of God of Prophecy on the Virginia State Campground.

• The windows for the living room were on the left of the house.
• Behind the living room was the kitchen and dining area.  
• There was a back door off  the kitchen with a screen door. One summer I remember Dad made me open and shut that screen door 100 times. I never slammed that door ever again. 
• Mom and Dad's bedroom was on the right front of the house with my room behind it and a bathroom in between the kitchen and my room. 
• In the area around the bedrooms and bathroom was an under the floor furnace with forced air heat. I remember often in the wintertime coming home from school and finding Mom sitting on chair over the furnace floor grate crocheting. 

Behind the house Dad had built a huge shop.

• We always had cats and kittens that lived in the shop. They weren't allowed in the house. We never had a dog while we lived here....only cats. I would dress the cats in doll clothes and play with them and feed them milk from a doll bottle. They were more fun than dolls. 
• Dad always had left over pieces of lumber and wood laying around which I loved playing with.  A long remnant of lumber became my friend, Lolly, which I would carry all around the many acres of property on the campground. I never took her inside the house. She was only my outside friend, I guess. I also remember tying wooden wedges to my feet for high heel shoes. 

I got my first bike at this house.  We had visited my cousins in Ohio one summer and I was trying to learn how to ride a bike. Dad told me if I learned he would buy me one. I don't think he thought I could do it, but I did and when we got home he bought me a bike. 

On this property the church held annual conventions, youth camps and other activities. 

• There was a large tabernacle on the property where the conventions were held and there was also a church building where we attended church for a little while until a new church was built a couple miles down the road.   
• One of my cousins came and spent part of the summer with us. When there wasn't church activities going on, we would play "church" in the tabernacle. We would bang on the piano and sing and have church. We would take turns being the "preacher" and the "sinner."  I would preach and my cousin would be the sinner and come to the altar to be saved. The next time he would preach and I would be the sinner. We knew how to have church! Several years later (after we moved to Tennessee) I started taking piano lessons and eventually became the pianist for churches I later attended. 
• I attended my first Youth Camp here. I was too young to be an official camper but I was allowed to stay with the girls in the old church they used as a dormitory for camps. It was actually at the end of this youth camp that I gave my heart to the Lord and became a Christian.  

The last year we were in this house (before moving to Tennessee), my Mom got deathly sick. If I remember correctly, it was around the Christmas holiday from school.

• The doctor came to the house - back when they made house calls. She had the flu, pneumonia...several things going on at once. She was in bed and continually got worse - not better. I remember on numerous occasions laying at the foot of my bed, crying and afraid.
• After about two weeks of her being in bed the doctor told Dad that she was dying and there wasn't anything else they could do for her. He prescribed a couple sleeping pills for her so she would go out in her sleep. Dad gave her the sleeping pills, and he sent me home with the Pastor's family. He didn't want me at home when Mom died.  
• The sleeping pills had no effect on Mom, although the doctor said they were strong enough to put a horse out. She knew she was dying and had Dad help her get out of bed so she could kneel and praise God till the end. It was at that particular time that God chose to instantly, divinely heal her. She got up and didn't go back to bed. Dad called the doctor and the doctor thought Mom had passed away and Dad had lost it. Dad called a friend to go get me from the Pastor's house. Apparently the Pastor didn't have a phone. It just so happened that the friend who went to get me was the town mortician so the Pastor also thought Mom had died. We finally got to the house and found Mom alive and WELL, and not in bed. Later that day Mom made cherry pies and, if you knew my Mom, she didn't sit down much after that.  
• When I look at the picture of this house, I think how differently my life would have been if she had died there. Instead of losing her when I was 9 years old, I was able to enjoy her another 50 plus years. 

I love the line from the song "This Ole House" by Shakin' Stevens:

"This ole house was home and comfort 

as we fought the storms of life." 

This picture was taken during an annual Virginia State Convention.

My Dad's uncle, Willie Lowman, was the State Overseer and in this picture they were honoring him and his wife.

My Mom is in the front helping with this presentation.

My Dad is the one in the rear looking up.
 

THESE THINGS MAKE ME HAPPY

It was 52 degrees here in Fairbanks, Alaska today.  

As I was outside walking I was overwhelmed 

with a "happy" feeling that spring is here.  

There's other things that make me happy too...

• I got a haircut before things closed down
• We haven't run out of toilet paper
• Bella Grace magazines
• Zoom-with-the-family-celebration for Dave's birthday

• Handmade face masks

• $1.99 gasoline. We haven't seen gasoline this cheap here for probably a decade. 
• Daffodils

• Easter celebration, even though it was very different this year
• Visit with the family on Easter...with social distancing

• Drive-throughs and pick-ups for meals when I get tired of cooking, which is fairly often.
• FaceTime, Marco Polo and Zoom apps
• Connecting with the LifePoint Church family by Zoom
• Airline credits on trips we had to cancel
• Longer daylight hours
• Water boots for walking in melting snow.
• Sunshine and 50 degrees
• A snow-free driveway.
• Isolation Survival Kit (created by Jami)

• Connecting with the granddaughters

We can’t change how things are, but we can change how we will approach today. And yes, an attitude can spread. Begin with us.  Seth Godin

Thank You for Making a Difference in My Life❣️

It's been three weeks since my last radiation treatment. My skin, which looked like a terrible sunburn with peeling, is now back to normal. I never experienced the fatigue that usually goes along with radiation and I'm so thankful to be on this side of treatment. 

In my follow-up appointment this week with the oncologist, he prescribed the Anastrozole pill to try and prevent the reoccurrence of breast cancer. It decreases the amount of estrogen the body makes and helps to slow or reverse the growth of breast cancers. There's some possible crazy side effects - the worse two being bone pain and osteoporosis. The doc says my bones are perfect so I'm hoping they'll stay strong and healthy. I could possibly be on this pill for up to five years. I'm praying it will be effective with none of the side effects. I took my first pill yesterday.

Another follow-up appointment is scheduled in 3 months, but this should be my last blog on this subject. I'm happy about that and I know you are too. 😊  

I am so grateful for all the people God has put in my life....my family, friends and even the people I've met briefly during this season. Each person has added to my life.

❣️ Life is better with a friend like you.

❣️ Together we can get through anything.

❣️ You make my heart sing.

❣️ Thank you for making a difference in my life.

❣️ Thank you for your part in my journey. 

PS  I've survived cancer, now hopefully I can avoid the Coronavirus!

ZERO TREATMENTS TO GO

I had my last radiation treatment today (2/24).

Twenty-one treatments finished.

ZERO treatments to go.  

Thank you Mary and Vickie for the beautiful flowers.

The family helped me celebrate over dinner

and then we lit sparklers in the street.  

Jami and Geoff

I'm happy to be done with radiation

TODAY IN FLORIDA...

Joy, Marilyn and Steve helped me celebrate by eating one of my favorites - Krispy Kreme donuts. 

It was so thoughtful of them to celebrate with me by eating my share of the donuts.   

This journey is about over.  

• I have a few follow-up appointments over the next several weeks, but I'm so thankful the DAILY treatments are finished. 
• I've been blessed to have had only a few minor side effects.
• Kudo's to the radiation staff at the Cancer-Treatment Center here in Fairbanks. They always treated me with upmost respect, kindness and care.
• So many of you have been such a great support to me during this time. I will never forget it and I thank God for you.  
• 85 days since my doctor said, "You have breast cancer." 85 days and now cancer-free!

  

   

SIX MORE TREATMENTS TO GO...

As of today, I've finished 1️⃣5️⃣ radiation treatments.....6️⃣ more to go.

During the last ten treatments....

• I had a sinus infection and was on antibiotics for ten days. That was definitely worse than any of my radiation treatments.
• I spent my birthday in bed sick. Number seventy-four did not get off to a very good start, but it's improving rapidly. 
• Maddy spent the week with us while her mom and dad were in Phoenix (business trip for Nicole).  It was a fun week with our youngest granddaughter.  
• I enjoyed a belated birthday celebration at Pagoda (in North Pole) with all the family. Pagoda did not disappoint...it's one of my favorite places to eat, especially when surrounded by family.
• Flower delivery. These flowers are so cheery in our sub-zero weather, and a reminder from Nancy that I'm not alone.  ❤️

• Happy Valentine's Day!  Dave and I enjoyed  Cold Stone ice cream this afternoon at -15 degrees. Sweet cream is my favorite flavor.  We'll have dinner and a movie at home tonight since it's suppose to be -25 to -30 degrees. Don't worry, we have a good supply of chocolates on hand.  
• Even with being sick I didn't miss any of my radiation treatments so I'm still on schedule to finish February 24th. 
• I continue to THANK YOU for your thoughts, prayers and expressions of love.  
•  IT'S ALMOST TIME TO PARTY AND CELEBRATE!  

Thanks, Teresa!  😂

FIVE DOWN....SIXTEEN TO GO

MY FIRST WEEK (5 days) of radiation treatment is 

done, 

finished, 

over-with, 

completed. 

16 TREATMENTS TO GO.  

Everyday (Monday through Friday) at 2:00 pm finds me at the Cancer Treatment Center waiting for treatment to begin.

Last night at the Ice Dogs "Stick-It-To-Cancer" Hockey game, Jami and I were on the ice. Jami was honored to drop the puck. They featured Jami's work with Kisses from Kena where she and her team donate bags filled with useful and thoughtful items for cancer patients undergoing chemo and radiation. They shared my cancer story because I was a recipient of one of her bags. It was an exciting evening full of energy and determination to "Stick-It-To-Cancer.      

Kathy and Jami on the ice.

I'm wearing the #66 jersey and carrying the bag I received from Kisses from Kena. 

This is just prior to Jami dropping the puck!

SEE VIDEO

Kathy and Jami

Our family in full support

Today at my treatment, one of the therapist asked, "Was that you on the ice last night at the Ice Dogs Game?"  That put a smile on my face as I was being zapped with radiation.  

I'm looking forward to no treatments this weekend and then on Monday I'll start round two. 

Happy Birthday to me!

I FINALLY HAVE A PLAN

My radiation theraphy plan is finally official.

 

2️⃣1️⃣ Treatments

First Treatment - Jan 27

Last Treatment - Feb 24

(5 days a week)

The actual treatments will only be 10 - 15 minutes each day, except on Mondays when the doctor will check in with me.  

I went in today for a "trial run."  During our cold weather the HEATED BLANKETS will be my favorite thing. 

I HAVE RECEIVED KISSES FROM KENA

Last week, 3 weeks after surgery, I had a cold.  I swear it was worse than the surgery.

Also, last week I had several post-op appointments with the oncologist and radiation. I've been mapped and marked - getting ready for treatment to begin.  I'll be free for the next 2 weeks while the team reviews my images and calculates the plan for treatment.

It's starting to feel "real" and I'm ready to get this ball rolling.

When I checked in for my last appointment, I was given an IKEA bag filled with helpful and fun items for people dealing with cancer treatment (lotions, chapstick, puzzle book, blanket, leggings, hand-made neck warmer, Color Street nails, toothbrush/toothpaste, Kleenex, washcloth and more).  I RECOGNIZED  the bag right away as the ones my daughter, Jami and her team, put together and donate to the Cancer-Center.  Her passion for this project, Kisses from Kena*, started several years ago when a good friend's baby died of cancer.  She partners with many different people through the year to put together 300 bags (annually) to be given to patients undergoing chemo/radiation.

(Jami, her husband and Dave 

delivering Kisses from Kena chemo bags to the hospital

the beginning of January, 2020)

I have helped pack these bags, I have donated items for these bags, but on this day, I was a recipient of one of these bags.  I have received Kisses from Kena.  😘

Thank you, Jami and your team, for your mission of love and care.  

*You can follow "Jami Welch Martinson - Kisses from Kena" on FB.