February wasn’t very kind to us this year. It started out well enough with a couple of nice walks but then we were hit with a couple of weeks of viruses, and several days of snowy, icy cold weather. Worrying about my sister’s worsening health problems has added to the feeling of the rug being pulled out from under our feet. But yesterday the temperature reached 71°F and we made a brief afternoon visit to the botanical garden.
We were looking specifically for the tiny sandhills pyxie-moss that we saw last year but were disappointed to see only one little flower on the clump. Maybe February was a bit too harsh for this ‘rare minute creeping subshrub,’ too. But we were happy to see some of our old friends from last winter.
aka square-pod water-primrose
Last year we had daffodils blooming in the woods behind our house on February 21. Not this year. I think the 3.5 inches of snow we got on the 19th, followed by days of cold temps, made them wait a week or so. But now they’re blooming! Today I’m dealing with malaise and the chills from my second shingles vaccination. But I hope to get back on track soon.
I like Lenten roses but see few of them around here.
Good luck getting over the shingles vaccine side effects. I had the shots because who wants to get shingles? I figured a little bit of controlled suffering now was better than the alternative.
Lenten roses are pretty poplar down here, I see batches of them every time I turn around now. Tim had shingles back in 2015 and it was so painful they put him on a narcotic. Needless to say, we were both highly motivated to get the shots now, in spite of the side effects.
Looks like spring has come your way, hopefully bringing better days ahead! 🙏🏼
Thank you, Eliza! One can always feel more hopeful when spring is around the corner. 🌷
If the bad weather wasn’t enough, yuck to February’s health was a struggle. Good news is that spring has sprung and turning the page to March is a short time away.
March was spectacular here last year here, including finding many new-to-me birds and flowers, so I’m very excited that it’s only a day away now!
Oh, dear. You have my sympathy on the “creeping crud,” Barbara. Having just gone through that virus myself, I do know how wretched it can make you feel. Here’s hoping you’re all better soon!
That Lenten rose is lovely. I haven’t seen crocus or daffodil here yet, but something tells me it’s just too early. We’ve been flirting with 60 degrees off and on, but the weekend is supposed to be COLD again (and one meteorologist dared to speak the dreaded “snow” word). Hang in there!
Thank you for your sympathy, Debbie! It does sound like we had the same rotten virus. I had to wait until it was over before I could get my 2nd dose of shingles vaccination, making me feel (not quite as) awful all over again, but I think I’m doing much better today.
We don’t have crocuses around here, probably because of the deer population, but we have scores of daffodils which are toxic to them. We’re supposed to get cold again this weekend, too, with mornings below freezing. Hope you don’t get any of that snow!
Your pretty Spring flowers, especially the pink Lenten rose, are a delight to see, especially for me who has not seen colorful flowers since mid-October. I’m sure the walk lifted your spirits somewhat Barbara. I’m sorry that medical woes have occupied so much of this shortest month of the year, which, for you, has seemed much longer. I hope you’re feeling better by the time you read this comment. I hate how the side effects of the vaccinations make you feel sometimes.
It did feel good to get outside into the pleasantly warm and fresh air, although the flowers and buds were few and far between. 😉 I do feel better today and am looking forward to some more spring color coming soon. However, temperatures both mornings this weekend are supposed to dip below freezing — ugh. Looks like your weather won’t be too bad for your travels today, thank goodness! Praying your trip will be uneventful. 🙏
I have not even investigated the neighborhood for the Snowdrops I usually see in late February. I hope to get a walk in Sunday or for sure Monday as we have some rainy days next week. It was horribly windy here today – 45 mph gusts all day. I was holding my breath for the weather today Barbara, even though I wasn’t driving. When they called for a wintry mix yesterday I thought “please don’t let it be ice tomorrow.” I normally schedule as little as possible in Winter. My allergist stopped doing walk-in appointments after COVID, so now you must schedule an appointment even for shots, which take five minutes at the most. But I had to cancel last Tuesday (the 18th) because of ice everywhere in the driveway and end of my driveway and instead took the senior bus this Tuesday (the first time), but walked home as it got to 41 while we were driving around picking up and dropping off passengers and I could see ice melting away in the main streets and it’s only a two-mile walk each way … then I came home and went to the Park. So thank you for your thoughts and prayers – weatherwise it was uneventful thankfully.
So relieved to hear your trip was uneventful! Maybe someday I will be needing to make use of a senior bus. I remember my aunt loved using hers, and had nice relationships with the drivers who were very friendly and accommodating to all the passengers’ different needs and desires. We went to a workshop at the senior center on Thursday, in spite of my feeling yucky from the shot. I think I would have enjoyed it more had I been feeling better. It’s nice to have something other than medical appointments to look forward to.
Yes, uneventful thankfully and I am assured I don’t need to return there, but likely will have some follow-up to do depending on the last set of fingerprints taken yesterday. I assure you I will have follow-up, though I had a different woman take my electronic prints and she said they looked “promising” … I think she said that to console me since I was surprised and angry we had to go through the picture taking again, like starting from scratch and I had to remove my N-95 mask with the double headstraps for the photo. Of all the people in the waiting room and the workers, only one person had a mask on, one of the workers and then me. She wore the last time too.
I thought I’d try it out – really, for the allergist’s appointment which is not like it is a doctor’s appointment, just going in for shots from the “shot girl” so I could be more flexible as to my arrival. In the Winter I would do it again and he would have picked me up, but I walked over there to buy tokens. It is the next block over.
Many many years ago an elderly Hungarian lady lived next door and she walked to the Senior Center every day and spent the day there playing cards and visiting with others. She told us that many of the seniors were Hungarian, so they would enjoy speaking English as well as in their native tongue. On weekends she told us she was bored and sat around in her nightgown. She’d get dressed up, high heels and purse and off she’d go from 8:00 a.m. until they closed at 4:00 p.m. She had her Meals on Wheels delivered there and they have snacks there – she was all set. I agree with you. All the seniors on the bus were very chatty and knew one another by name as the senior bus only does appointments every Tuesday and Wednesday in a certain time slot.
I haven’t quite warmed up to the activities available at our senior center. We did sign up for a walking group but it got cancelled for some reason. It might be fun to play cards with people, but not every day. I really enjoyed a gardening lecture and workshop we went to last spring. We got to keep a vase full of lovely flowers we were taught how to arrange, and it was all for free.
They just play cards at our City’s senior center. The senior center in Trenton where I took the watercolor class has not had that painting class again, nor have I seen any similar craft classes advertised. There is a rescue group that sponsored a class on how to make a fairy garden with supplies included. I wish I’d seen it, but it was too late to register. All the proceeds went toward a local animal shelter.
The Lenten rose is very pretty. I like the idea of a “subshrub.” I don’t know why. It just sounds cute. 🙂 I hope you’re feeling better now, Barbara. We’ve had a variety of viruses this past winter. Let’s hope spring sweeps them all away.
Many thanks for your well wishes, Robin. We’ve become quite attached to that little clump of sandhills pyxie-moss, which isn’t a moss, but a very tiny shrub, which grows only in six counties in the Sandhills of North and South Carolina. I hope it will put out more flowers in the coming days. 🙂
I hope that you are feeling better by now, Barbara. I did the shingles vaccine back in 2020 after witnessing a close friend suffering through the illness. I remember having the side effect of a little of the shingles popping up on my stomach and for what little I had it was very painful. I was glad to be able to get vaccinated. I have a lot of sympathy for you feeling poorly from the vaccination so soon after having viruses!
Oddly enough I have not had Covid. I also have not had a cold in over 15 years and the last time I had the flu was Christmas 2003 after saw a Musical with my parents when I lived in Colorado. Because of my autoimmune disease, I would catch colds and flues that walked past me during my working in an office years.
Last fall I got the vaccine’s for newest variant of Covid, flu and pneumonia all on the same day. That knocked me into bed for a week! If you two decide to get the pneumonia vaccine, I recommend doing it separately.
I live close to the measles breakouts and I’m worried because I don’t know if I’ve had the measles or not. I would think my parents would have vaccinated me. But they are no longer living to ask. And having an antigen test is out of my financial means. I worry.
I understand that you are expecting another blast of winter this weekend. We are too next week. The daffodils and irises are not blooming here yet. It’s mostly looking like dormant trees with the only greenery of oak trees. A male Cardinal showed up last week singing as loud as possible from the top of the bare hackberry. He looks slender and small. So I wonder if he might be a juvenile from the batch of babies the I watched last May from eggs to fledgling. No way of really knowing.
Thinking of Pres Z and your homeland today as I watch on CNN the unfolding. Pres Z stood his ground and I’m quite proud of him.
There’s so little in our control. One day at a time.
Thank you for mentioning Ukraine and Zelenskyy, Teri. When I put on PBS news last night I watched in horror as they showed what happened. I finally had a good cry this morning. I hate this feeling like our hands are tied and we’re stuck with that despicable man as our president.
I hope your spring arrives with its daffodils and irises soon! Like you, I’ve been enjoying listening to the birds sing as they look for their mates and stake out their territories.
I don’t blame you for being worried about the measles. It probably wouldn’t hurt to get another shot if you’re not sure if you have immunity. We did get the pneumonia vaccine. Now I’m wondering if they will recommend a covid booster for seniors this March, like they did last year. I’m surprised we haven’t heard anything yet. We haven’t caught covid yet, or the flu, but I still worry about the possibility. The last time I had the flu was in 1988.
Lucky you, not having a cold for 15 years! I’m feeling better but am a little wary of getting back out in the germ-filled world again…
It’s incredible that we have not had Covid or Flu in decades.
That is a great idea about the measles. I will ask my pharmacist if MMR vaccine is in stock. I had not thought of that possibility. Thanks for suggesting it!
It is my understanding that the Covid, Flu and RSV Vaccines can be taken together and are recommended in the Fall to cover current variants.
CNN today just reported FDA FLU PANEL HAS MEETING CALLED OFF. It was set to discuss what strains to target in Fall vaccine for 2025. (Just more of the domino effect from the Trump administration of our government creating extreme chaos.)
I heard about that. But according to Katelyn Jetelina, who writes the newsletter I susbscribe to on Substack, “Your Local Epidemiologist,”
“This doesn’t mean there won’t be a flu vaccine this fall. The FDA and vaccine manufacturers will likely follow WHO’s formula recommendation (set last week). The U.S. rarely deviates from WHO. … That said, it’s ironic that the administration is pulling the U.S. out of WHO and has little communication with the agency, yet it is still deciding to depend on WHO’s guidance.”
That is interesting about Katelyn Jetelina Subtack information, Barbara.
I did talk with my pharmacist this afternoon and found out that I did qualify to get the MMR vaccine because I have no knowledge of having measles nor vaccination; and more importantly because I was born in 1960-1963. So I did get vaccinated with MMR today.
I also told the pharmacist that while I have been keeping up to date with all the COVID and flu vaccines, I have never been vaccinated for RSV. It was determined that I had not qualified for RSV vaccine because a person must be 65 or older. I just turned 65 a couple of weeks ago, so now I qualify! So I did get vaccinated for that today too.
I took both shots in my left arm because I need to be able to sleep on my right side due to my wild a-fib and CHF.
I read your reply to one of your reader’s comment that you and Tim are planning a visit with the grandchildren to see the Tigers! And doing it before your scheduled spring Covid vaccination. That sounds like so much fun!
Glad to hear you got the measles vaccine and RSV vaccines and can rest a little easier now. 🌷 Spring is coming!
time goes fast (unfortunately) and it will be spring before we know it. No signs here, unless you count an occasional robin.
So true, the older we get the faster time seems to go, except on sick days, which seem unnecessarily long. Do some robins stay for the winter up there?
Yes, there are robins that stay all winter, but, for me, the mythology of the first robin of spring holds.
I agree!
Sorry to hear you both have been under the weather, glad to see you made it out briefly for some nature-loving fresh air. Hopefully, in a couple days you’ll be feeling better still. We got the 2-shot shingles vaccine last fall, I felt a bit off with it. So you’re getting double-whammy with recouping from being sick and the shot with feeling malaise. Prayers for quick recoveries for you both!
Thank you so much for your well wishes, Donna! And now Tim has scheduled us for our spring covid booster next week — ugh. At least he waited until after Friday, when the grandkids have a day off of school and we’re planning to take them to see the big cats at the Carolina Tiger Rescue. It’s good having something to look forward to.
March came in like a lion here; hopefully, it will leave as a lamb. Hope that you continue to feel better.
Thank you, Sheryl. It was the opposite here, March arrived quietly with no drama whatsoever. 🙂