When we last left our heroine....

First of all, my sincere apologies for disappearing for so long. For better or worse, I am one of those people who gets flustered and freezes like a deer in headlights when life gets even marginally complicated, hectic, or physically demanding. I did fully intend to resume blogging, more times than I can count, but the more time that passed the more difficult it became to get back to it.

For the rest of 2014 -- after my May Day post -- and for nearly all of 2015 I was up to my elbows in house projects. New ceilings, painting walls and woodwork, converting my tumbling down garage into a proper garden shed, a new furnace (and removal of the old), as well as several major purchases, e.g., fridge, washer, dryer, mattress. All in all things were a bit madcap and the "To Do" list seemed relentless. So much so that I rounded off 2015 by telling my colleagues at work that I had decided to retire. Retirement, as some of you might already know, is fraught with at least 137 things one has to do. But all went smoothly and I was released into my own custody as a lady of leisure in February 2016.

I fully expected to recommence blogging, in between lots of knitting, lots of reading, and lots of gardening, but within a few months of retirement I became ill and last November I was diagnosed with Stage IV Non Hodgkins Lymphoma. By December 1st I was in hospital for the first of six cycles of aggressive chemotherapy. My treatment lasted until early April of this year and various complications meant that during those five months I had to spend nearly 73 days in hospital. The upside was that I learned where they kept the popsicles ... and I lost 40 lbs. (I reworked my favorite line from The Devil Wears Prada: 'I'm just one chemo cycle from my goal weight.')

As a fellow blogger wisely said, one doesn't battle cancer, one battles the treatment. (Which really is like being carpet-bombed with pesticides.) But despite the challenges and setbacks, I'm relieved to say my latest two PET scans show that I am in remission. I can only attribute this to the love and support of my family and friends, the brilliance of my remarkable doctors, and the combined power of prayer and magical thinking. God and Science may seem like strange bedfellows to some, but as far as I'm concerned they work together very well.

So... here I am, back again, hoping to be able to check in now and then to jot down, as I said long ago, some 'quirky and inconsequential musings'... scattered though those musings might be for awhile. Oh, and if I don't make sense please just be patient and ignore me. Like they say: 'This is chemo. This is your brain on chemo.'

Carry on.