freedom!

Oh, yes! Freedom! I ripped them off and threw them in a trash can. Freedom from support stockings (that pinch your legs and slide into the most uncomfortable positions, and feel like jaws are gripping at both your legs, but especially the sore one)! Freedom from 28 staples! -- removed today, at last. Freedom to shower, to lather on the lotion on dry skin, freedom to raise bare legs to the sun and enjoy the splash of summer today!

It's a warm day, indeed a hot day and I have an appointment with my surgeon's assistant. But before that, I get to step out and breathe deeply. The fragrance in May is exquisite!

(first irises)

And the birds! To the usual, add yesterday's Meadowlark (doesn't the name conjure up images of English meadows full of wildflowers?), I have the following new visitors this morning: a Scarlet Tanager and an American Redstart. I wish I could spot the Tanager (so beautiful in the pictures!), but I don't pause too long. Not today.

After breakfast (on the porch!!)...

I have to head out to the hospital to get freed from the constraints of post operative  imprisonments. I do ask about my difficulties in keeping the leg happy at night. You're probably doing too much walking and standing. Let the pain be your guide! That again. I'm not in pain when I walk. That comes later! Ah well -- finding a balance is one of life's biggest challenges in all domains. I will continue to adjust. In the meantime, I gently massage a Botanist lotion into my freed lower extremities and it feels sublime!

It strikes me that I should be able to ride the tractor mower and I do need to mow down some paths, so right around noon I hop on (that is such an exaggeration! I slowly crawl on) and give that a whirl. At least I'm not ignoring the needs of farmette lands! This is when I get my first tick of the season, likely falling at me from a shrub branch. Country living prepares you for this. Our tick load is very low, but this season always delivers a few. 

Snowdrop is here in the afternoon, buoyed, too, by the sunshine, the warmth, and I have to believe -- the colors all around us!

And in the evening I get takeout Chinese -- my concession to the suggestion that I tone it down in the evenings. 

Ttonight, finally, I get to sleep without imprisonments.. Total bliss!